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Local newsroom employmentIn July 2002 the Radio and Television News Director Association (RTNDA), workingin conjunction with Robert Papper, professor of Telecommunications at Ball StateUniversity in Muncie, Indiana, released the results of its annual survey examining theemployment of women [and minorities] in television and radio newsrooms(“RTNDA/Ball State University: Survey…” 2002). The survey results indicated thatthe number of women and minorities as a percentage of the news workforce was downfrom the 2001 findings, although the percentage of women and minority TV and radionews directors was up in 2002. According to RTNDA president Barbara Cochran, “It’sgood news that women and minorities are increasing their numbers in managementranks, but the decline in total staff percentages is cause for concern” (Eggerton, 2002).Specifically, women held 25.9 percent of TV news director jobs, up from 20.2 percentin 2001. On the radio side, women accounted for 22.3 percent of news directors, aslight increase from the 21.9 percent figure reported in 2001. Overall, women held38.6 percent of the jobs in the television news work force, compared to 39.7 percentthe prior year, while women held 32.5 percent of all radio news jobs, also down fromthe 2001 figure, that was reported at 37.4 percent (Eggerton, 2002). The level oftelevision news directors who are women was reported in the study as being a recordhigh, at nearly 26%. (“Study: more…” 2002, p. 26).iv Papper noted, “Until recently,broadcasters were held to the rule that newsrooms had to reflect the population of thelocal community…. Stations sought out highly talented women and minorities to fillentry-level positions to meet those ratios. These people were then promoted intomiddle and upper management” (“Women and minorities…” 2002, p. 6). Hespeculated that low entry-level salaries may now be discouraging qualified jobcandidates from entering the broadcast news workforce, noting that recent collegegraduates seem to be turning to other communications fields or even other professionsdue to the low starting wages in broadcasting. He said that entry-level pay forbroadcast news reporters is only $17,500 to $19,500 annually, while producers earnonly slightly more. Papper also stated “Women and minorities have so many morewell-paying entry points than just a few years ago. If the salaries don’t increase, we willsee broadcasters hiring people who will take the salaries instead of the most-qualifiedapplicants.” Particularly ominous for the future of the type of women who wouldlikely present at conferences such as the NAB, Papper noted “Unless you can increasethe number of women and minorities coming into the field, you won’t find qualifiedcandidates to go into management” (“Women and minorities…” 2002, p. 6). Besideslow starting salaries, one of the biggest challenges for women in the news business issaid to be the often unpredictable and demanding schedule. An international surveyfound that 64 percent of women said their top obstacle is balancing work and family(“Women’s role…” 2002, p. 45).A 2002 survey indicated that, in general, women are still under-represented inpublic-affairs television (“Women and media,” 2002, p. 33.) The study, conducted bythe White House Project, found that women held only 11 percent of all guest slots onSunday talk shows in 2000 and 2001, and that those women who were invited toappear spoke on average ten or fewer words. They were also much less likely to becalled back to the program, with only 7 percent of repeat guests being women.According to Eleanor Clift, a founding member of the board of the InternationalBEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 21