The following information was posted on the PRNDI website and is unofficial until the final report is accepted and released by the CPB. We've been posting the topline stats as a running total throughout the census... but more detail is forthcoming in the final report.)
Total Number of Local "Journalists:" 5991
THE CENSUS OF JOURNALISTS IN PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION
PRNDI has submitted a final report to the CPB analyzing the numbers and duties of station-based journalists in public broadcasting.
Now that the data has been collected and sorted, we can say there are 5991 total individuals involved in the day-to-day production of local news and public affairs at public radio and TV stations. Our data covers 91% of all such stations in the United States and its protectorates.
Those 5991 were split into two segments -- professional and non-professional. For our purposes, professionals are the full-time, part-time and contract employees of stations. The non-professionals are those individuals that could be classified as students, interns, volunteers and other community contributors. There were 3222 journalists in the professional category, and 2769 journalists in the non-professional category.
We split most of the data between TV services, Radio services, and Combined Radio + TV services. The R/TV Combo category were all joint licensees that chose to report their results as a combined service.
As you can see from the chart above, Radio is by far the largest provider of journalist positions -- either professional or non-professional.
Official findings with far more detail have been sent to the CPB. PRNDI will share it with the system after it has been accepted and released by the CPB.
On behalf of CPB and Public Radio News Directors Inc, thanks for your support!
Mike Marcotte, Census Project Leader
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: Who is considered a journalist for this census?
A: We seek an accurate count of how many people have a primary role and contribute directly to locally produced news and public affairs content from your station on any platform. In most cases, they exercise editorial judgments and have training in the standards and practices of fact-based news origination, verification, production and presentation.
Q: Do students, interns or volunteers count?
A: Yes, please count them in the "non-professional" category.
Q: What about independent contractors (freelancers) who are not on staff?
A: Yes, count them among the professionals if they contribute regularly to your local journalistic capacity.
Q: Do we count announcers or others who aren't part of the newsroom?
A: You'll have to decide if they are primary contributors to journalism regardless of whether they are "in the newsroom" or not. Simply reading news copy may not be enough. You can list the job titles you want counted. You should feel comfortable that the label "journalist" reasonably applies to the people you count.
Q: Do we count journalists who contribute to national programs?
A: Not if those journalists work exclusively on national programs and cannot be considered part of your "local news capacity." However, please count them to the extent you consider them readily available and deployable for local journalistic purposes.
Q: What if we have unfilled positions?
A: If you have a journalist position that is well established but just temporarily unfilled, you should count it. But don't count a position that has been frozen due to budget restrictions.
Q: What kind of time frame does the census capture?
A: This should be a "current snapshot" of local news capacity. In the case of students, "current" can include the most recent semester.
Q: What if I need help?
A: Call us! The number is 320-J-CENSUS. [320-523-6787] It's a free call if you use the Google Voice link on the census site.
Here is the backgrounder on the project:
Station Managers
Program Directors
News Directors
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What: "The Census of Journalists in Public Radio and TV"
When: July 26-Aug 6, 2010
Who: All CPB-Qualified Public Broadcast Stations
Public Radio News Directors, Inc (PRNDI ) will launch a brief -- but important -- online census for two weeks, beginning July 26.
The census will take a head count of journalists working in all CPB-qualified public radio and television stations. The purpose is to measure public broadcasting's "local journalism capacity."
**** WIN A FREE APPLE iPAD ****
As an extra incentive to participate, each respondent (one per station) will be entered into a drawing for a free Apple iPad.
Your station’s participation in this census is CRUCIAL. There are dramatic changes happening in the media landscape and if we are to measure the growth of local journalism in the months and years ahead, it is extremely important that we get a baseline count of those currently producing local journalism at public radio and TV stations, on-air and online.
The census project team is comprised of Project Manager: Michael Marcotte of MVM Consulting; Data Manager: Ken Mills of Ken Mills Agency; Communications Manager: Steve Martin of SFM Consulting; Research Advisor: Dr. Bob Papper of Hofstra University; and a beta test team from various public radio and television stations. The results will be provided to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is funding the study.
Watch this space for more information as we count down to the launch of the "Census of Journalists in Public Radio and TV."
Census Team Contact: Steve Martin, 703.715.0827 [email protected]
***** CPB ANNOUNCEMENT *****
Corporation for Public Broadcasting selects PRNDI to Conduct Public Broadcasting's "Census of Journalists"
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it has selected the Public Radio News Directors, Inc (PRNDI) to carry out a census of journalists working at local public radio and television stations. The census seeks to establish a baseline assessment of the current journalism capacity of CPB-supported stations, so as to gauge growth in the future.
"CPB has a long history of supporting public media journalism at the local and regional level," said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. "It is important to have an accurate picture of the current number of journalists in public media and this census will help guide our future investments in news gathering and distribution."
"PRNDI is proud to have been selected to carry out this census, in particular, because PRNDI is the only organization expressly devoted to the work of the local journalist in public media -- and this project puts the spotlight there," said PRNDI President Jonathan Ahl.
The "Census of Journalists" will be conducted over a two-week period this summer, July 26 to August 6.
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