Lonely At The Top

having seven top black editors among its titles. Before the demise of Vanguarde Media, which published Savoy, Honey, and Heart & Soul, Honey Editor-in-Chief Amy Barnett was hired as managing editor of Teen People, and Savoy Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief Roy Johnson returned to Sports Illustrated as assistant managing editor.

Top black talent remains scarce at Hearst and Condé Nast, two of the nation’s leading magazine publishers. Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines and former MPA chairman, was unavailable for comment, as was Ruth Diem, senior vice president of human resources. Letena Lindsay, senior public relations manager, openly communicated that Hearst has six “senior-level” African American editors, though five of them don’t meet ASME’s definition of top editors and the sixth is at an ethnic/urban publication. When asked about its diversity recruitment efforts, Condé Nast’s human resources representative said, “That information is kept personal and confidential.”

“Many major magazine publishers say they want more diversity,” says Curry, “but… they have to start encouraging people early, at the junior high school level, that this is a career that welcomes them.”

Bell, however, finds that there are no incentives for publishers to recruit people of color, and that there are fewer opportunities in the present economy for younger people to be mentored. Outreach efforts may get minorities in at entry level roles, but those efforts haven’t changed the landscape at the top.
–Additional reporting by Joyce Jones and Christina Morgan

 

* DOMESTIC, CONSUMER PUBLICATIONS ONLY. SOURCE: JACKLYN MONK, B.E. RESEARCH.