Some gains for journalists of color in local TV news … but declines for women
By Keren Henderson, Tim Mirabito and Akshaya Chandrasekaran
Local television newsrooms saw modest gains for journalists of color in 2026 even as women lost ground across nearly every measure, according to the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.
The overall minority TV news workforce dipped slightly to 27.1%, down from a near-record high the previous year, while African Americans were the only group to see representation increase, edging up to 15%. At non-Hispanic stations, the minority workforce held roughly steady at 26%, still below the 2023 peak of 28.3%.
Minority representation in the news director ranks reached a record 20.5%, driven by gains among African American and Asian American news directors, even as Hispanic/Latino and Native American representation fell or remained at zero. Minority general managers settled at 13.4%, roughly midway between a "startling" jump three years ago and last year's pullback, with most minority GMs identifying as Hispanic or African American. Women fared far worse this year.
The overall women's TV news workforce fell sharply to 39.1% from 44.5% the year before, and women news directors dropped to 33.8% from a 2024 high of 41.8%. Women general managers also declined to 22.1% from 25.2%, marking a second consecutive year of losses following a multi-year high.
Gender ratios shifted within some demographic groups as well: Asian American men outnumbered women in the workforce for the first time, while Native American representation remained evenly split.
The survey also captured non-binary TV newsroom employees for the first time, at just under half a percent of the workforce. LGBTQ+ representation remained strong, with 73.5% of news directors reporting LGBTQ+ staff members, though the share reporting openly transgender staff continued a gradual decline from a 2024 peak of 23.5% to 17.7% this year.
This annual survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025, drew responses from more than 1,100 television stations and nearly 600 radio stations, and is supported by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association.