Newsrooms Disproportionately Coastal

The U.S. news media sector in recent years has struggled with an image problem: a biased, liberal-leaning industry controlled by “coastal elites” whose ideological leanings have left them disconnected from the communities in which many Americans reside.

As it turns out, at least one of those perceptions are true, as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. are now home to a disproportionately large share of the nation’s newsroom employees, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

While only about 13 percent of all U.S. workers live in the New York, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. metro areas, these three areas account for 22 percent of the nation’s newsroom employees.

According to the report, 22 percent of U.S. newsroom employees (more than one-in-five) now work in either the New York, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. metro areas.

New York is home to the largest share of U.S. newsroom employees (12 percent), more than twice the share of newsroom staffers living in Los Angeles or Washington D.C. (five percent each).

The report notes that while these cities staff nearly a quarter of the nation’s newsroom employees combined, they account for only about 13 percent of the total U.S. workforce

According to the report, newsroom employees are about twice as likely as workers overall to live in either New York (12 percent of the nation’s newsroom employees, compared to seven percent of workers overall) or Washington (five percent of the nation’s newsroom employees, compared to two percent of workers overall). Los Angeles maintains about the same share of each (five percent of newsroom employees versus four percent of all U.S. workers).

Among the top ten metro areas in the country for media, the seven that follow after New York, Los Angeles and Washington—Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia and Houston—each staff between one percent and three percent of U.S. newsroom employees as well as between one percent and three percent of total U.S. workers.

All together, the nation’s ten 10 media metro areas account for about 35 percent of all U.S. newsroom employees, but about 28 percent of all U.S. workers.

Pew Research Center’s report was based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data covering the years 2013-2017 and included all U.S. adults (ages 18 years and older) employed in the civilian labor force. Workers identified as “newsroom employees” included staffers holding the occupations of reporter, news analyst or correspondent; editor; photographer; or television, video and motion picture camera operator or editor; and those working in the fields of newspaper publishers; broadcasting; Internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals.