Representation increases for people of color, women in TV news
Aug. 11, 2025 — The latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey finds the minority workforce in TV news rose nearly 2.5% to 28.1%. That’s the second-highest level ever — but below 2023’s all-time high of 29.6%. The minority workforce at non-Hispanic TV stations went back up from 24.5% last year to 26.7% this time around. That’s closing in on the all-time high of 28.4% also set in 2023.
Overall, the TV news workforce is 55.5% men and 44.5% women. That is virtually identical to last year. Historically, in TV news, men have outnumbered women for all groups except Asian Americans (where women have always outnumbered men) and Native Americans (which have commonly been about even). But those ratios have changed.
The percentage of minority news directors dropped, though are close to what was reported in the Survey last year.
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About the Authors
Bob Papper is Research Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked extensively in radio and TV news.
Keren Henderson is Associate Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked as a news producer and video editor.
Tim Mirabito is Assistant Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and worked in television, radio, print and online media.
This research was supported by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
About the Survey
The RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2024 among 1,918 operating, non-satellite television stations and a random sample of 4,763 radio stations. The television response rate is different for every question, but valid responses came from as many as 1,406 television stations (73.3%) and 599 radio news directors and general managers representing 1,632 radio stations. Some data sets (e.g. the number of TV stations originating local news, getting news from others and women TV news directors) are based on a complete census and are not projected from a smaller sample.