The first article meshes 100% with my observations over the last few years.  Of course the impact on Black folks is FAR worse, than what The Nation has observed for news in general.  I'm just disappointed that I rarely arti8cles like this in the Black press (perhaps because the Black press has been so devastated).

 

On the surface, the articles may not seem to be related, but they are, very much so. 

 

Google's Monopoly on the News
by William F. Baker, This article appeared in the February 11, 2013 edition of The Nation.

The Federal Trade Commission’s premature decision to close down its investigation of Google is a blow not just to Google’s competitors but to the health of American democracy in the digital age.

At issue in the FTC’s investigation was whether Google’s search results are rigged to favor its own products and services, and whether that would count as an abuse of its dominance in online searches. So far, the discussion of the FTC’s investigation has been about the effect on products and services like tablet PCs and travel-planning websites. Left undiscussed is one supremely important product that Google has an impact on: news.

Newsroom Diversity: A Casualty of Journalism's Financial Crisis
by Riva Gold Jul 9 2013,  The Atlantic Monthly Group.

The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) recently released its annual study of newsroom diversity. The results only confirmed what many who have lived through the industry's deep recession have already experienced: a steady decline in minority journalists and stagnation in prior progress. Despite claims by news organizations that they value and promote diversity, the numbers in this year's study show 90 percent of newsroom supervisors from participating news organizations were white.
 

Blacks may be losing ground in the TV newsreader profession, but here in Chicago, it is not Whites who are replacing them.  It is Hispanics and, to a lesser degree, Asians.  I don't think this is an uncommon make-up in the  big cities. 

The article did not address the on camera professionals, but they are such a small percentage of the total I doubt they would have an impact one way or the other.

 

I see similar trends in publishing.  I would be nice to read an article on that subject.  This was one of the things Black Issues Book Review could have writen about -- if they were still around. 

 

I know Random House lost several key Black professionals including, Janet Hill a vice-president and executive editor who ran the Harlem Moon (Doubleday's Blakc imprint). We also know that Penguin Publishers fired Marilyn Ducksworth who was the director of corporate communications for Penguin Group (Marilyn filed an age discrimination lawsuit).

 

Do we think the combined Penguin Random House will have more senior Black professional or less?  I'll give you one guess.   Again this trend is newsworthy.  We just don't have the platforms to share this information and help us understand why this is important. 

 

You won't discover this stuff on the uninformed-opinion-driven-echo-chamber that is social media.  But that is where you will find us... 

 

I read somewhere that Black folks, despite the "digital divide", make up 25% of Twitter's user,s apparently because we are so desirous of celebrity information.