Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) today challenged members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) to commit to working with NABJ to better retain African Americans.

At ASNEs annual convention, NABJ presented a 22-page document with personal concerns and experiences from frustrated black journalists willing to speak on the record. NABJ also offered the societys members 12 solutions to help overcome the growing newsroom retention problem.

The document, Voices of Anger, Cries of Concern: Some NABJ Views of the Retention Problem and Some Solutions, also included a sign-up sheet for individual editors willing to partner publicly with NABJ.

President William W. Sutton Jr. issued the challenge directly to ASNEs members two days after learning the retention rate for journalists of color plunged from 96 percent last year to 90 percent this year.

I've said it before and Ill say it again -- this trend cannot be tolerated, said Sutton, a deputy manager editor at The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C., and an ASNE member. NABJ is calling for individual editors to prove that they care about the lack of diversity in Americas newsrooms. Were letting the editors know that its no longer OK to just talk about diversity. Were telling them, If you want to help, that you will put your money, time and staff where diversity words have been.

According to the 2001 ASNE newsroom employment census, nearly 600 journalists of color were hired in 2000. By years end, however, 698 journalists of color had left their newspapers. The retention rate for white journalists decreased by only 1 percent to 95 percent.

Sutton distributed Voices of Anger, Cries of Concern at an ASNE plenary session titled Advice on Keeping the Best and Brightest Minorities in Newsrooms. He said the document includes names, titles and news organizations of each journalist quoted because NABJ wanted top editors to hear what the associations leadership hears all the time.

The document calls for editors to sign up to work with NABJ to create more internship opportunities for black journalism students in copy editing, design, infographics and photography. It also seeks the editors support for NABJ's Media Institute programs for black journalists, and asks that they include NABJ in creative programs sponsored by their news organizations.

The 12 proposed solutions include:

Set specific hiring goals with a specific timetable and benchmarks for each newsroom department.

Mandate that at least one candidate be a black journalist or another journalist of color for every job opening and refuse to fill the position unless and until the department head can bring a black candidate to you.

Create a structured succession plan that emphasizes promoting black journalists and other journalists of color while putting a major focus on hiring senior newsroom leaders of color who can be your strongest advocates and role models.

Black journalists want the basics, and more, just like other journalists. Give it to them. And, don't forget to show them the tools!

Support attendance and participation in NABJ regional conferences by providing paid days off and financial assistance through training or other budgets.

Make diversity awareness an everyday expectation across the newsroom, but focus on newsroom supervisors.

Ask who attends your daily, weekly and other news meetings, then change it to include black journalists who might not normally attend.

Be more black. Might sound crass, but the reality is that most of us want to work around more of us, particularly when it comes to leadership.

Ask who is talking about diversity at your newspaper. You cant have three or four white editors announcing a major commitment to diversity and expect black journalists in your newsroom to believe it.

Make sure your frontline supervisors are a diverse lot and review the diversity among your reporters and others in the field who are the face of your newspaper in your community.

Mentoring is important to everyone, but it is particularly important for black journalists since so many of us so often feel left out, ignored and unwanted sometimes by unintended signals from white editors.

Get black students and black journalists excited about daily journalism.

We can stop this trend, NABJ Vice President-Print Herbert Lowe, a reporter at Newsday in Queens, N.Y., wrote in the document. But it will take some real effort by newsroom leaders to show that they honestly value black journalists and the diversity that everyone says they want and the latest census numbers demand.

Sutton told the editors that ASNE should take more responsibility for training black journalists who become assigning editors. Other NABJ members called on society members to pay closer attention to decisions made every day in newsrooms concerning journalists of color.

Managers still too often hesitate, express doubts and demand some proof that black journalists can handle assignments that they wouldn't think twice about handing to white journalists, wrote Vanessa Williams, an assistant city editor at The Washington Post and NABJ's immediate past president. As a result, it often takes too long for black journalists to get assignments they think they deserve, which leads to frustrations, discouragement and, finally, their departures.

The retention problem is being felt in all market sizes and coast to coast.

Today there are five blacks in our newsroom, wrote Lynne Varner, an editorial writer at the Seattle Times and NABJ's Region X director. Three are recent hires. Those who left the paper left disenchanted and even embittered. They have severed ties with the paper and the industry.

Sutton invited editors willing to sign the official agreement found in Voices of Anger, Cries of Concern to sign up on the spot, to fax a prepared sheet to him within the next 90 days at (919) 836-5911 or email him at will@sutton4nabj.com.

The newspaper editors who sign on will be announced at the 26th annual NABJ Convention and Career Fair in Orlando, August 22-26.