Hispanics Less Likely to Enter Journalism at ASU Than Other Programs

Tempe, AZ – Hispanic students are less likely to enter the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication than Caucasian students, although they remain the highest percentage of minority journalism students, according to the annual ASU enrollment study in 2007.

According to the Fall 2007 enrollment statistics, Hispanic students composed 14.2 percent of the ASU undergraduate student population, a nearly 4 percent increase from 10 years ago. The total 2007 population of minority students is 25.9 percent, and includes African American, American Indian, Asian American and Hispanic students. But in the Cronkite School only 22.2 percent of journalism students are minority, 11.2 percent are Hispanic, and 74.8 percent are Caucasian.

“It never crossed my mind not to go to college or not staying with it. It’s something that I knew I had to do if I wanted to get to where I wanted to go,” said Anthony Martinez, 21, an Hispanic journalism senior interested in sports reporting. He will be the first person in his family to graduate from a four-year college this December.

Martinez pays for school with numerous scholarships and government grants, but has had to take student loans that he and his parents will work to pay for after he graduates. He decided on ASU because of the strong sports program and the fact that he knew he wanted to be in journalism since he was a sophomore in high school.

“I like the story-telling part,” he said. “Getting stories that people tell, or that people hide. It’s really cool.”

Another survey conducted in July by UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc and the Cronkite School revealed that only 13 percent of the Washington daily newspaper press corps are journalists of color, and major newspapers including The Dallas Morning News, the New York Daily News and the Houston Chronicle, reported no minority journalists covering Washington.

ASU Professor Rick Rodriguez, the first Latino to serve as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, said it is important that journalism students immerse themselves Latino issues. He is heading the Southwest Borderlands Initiative, a program that focuses attention on the people who reside farther away from the cities, and are more likely to not receive adequate news coverage.

“It’s really important as the Latino population continues to grow in the country for journalists to understand the fast-growing section of the population,” Rodriguez said. “And that’s what we’re attempting to do, by giving the background, story ideas for them to pursue.”

Martinez worked with the East Valley Tribune, which specialized in the areas around Chandler and Gilbert. He covered high school sports and other issues that normally wouldn’t find press coverage.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “Those student’s stories probably wouldn’t get out unless we were there to get them.”

Guest article contributed by Jessica Parks
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism

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