The U.S. newspaper industry's recent struggles can be partly to blame on low levels of ethnic diversity in newsrooms, the president of minority journalists group Unity: Journalists of Color Inc. announced in a conference call Monday, Editor & Publisher reported.

"We've been screaming for years that this is about survival," said Rafael Olmeda, who also writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "The industry failed to make changes, and now it is not reaching the audience it wanted to reach."

While recognising the struggle facing newspapers in the contemporary economic and online environment, the representatives of black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American journalists voiced their regret that ethnic diversity had been a victim of the industry's crisis.

All representatives shared similar alarm at the results of last week's U.S. daily newspaper newsroom census, which showed that minority groups are losing newsroom jobs faster than the average rate of job losses, E&P reported.

"Years of progress were erased, and now newsrooms are moving in the opposite direction from the demographic composition of the communities they serve," said Sharon Chan, president of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), according to E&P.

The census conducted annually by the American Society of News Editors discovered that while newsrooms had a total average staff reduction of 11.3 percent, ethnic employees had a disproportionate representation in job losses.

White journalists comprise 86.59 percent of the industry and saw a 11.4 percent employment decline. Black journalists, who make up 5.17 percent of the newsroom, saw a 13.5 percent employment decline, and Asian Americans, representing 4.47 percent of the newsroom, had a 13.36 percent decline, the census found.

However, Hispanic journalists, with 4.47 percent representation in the newsroom, had a below average decline with 11 percent. Native American journalists, making up 0.6 percent of industry employees, reported a 3.17 percent increase, the survey stated.

O. Ricardo Pimentel, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial page editor and head of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said ethnic diversity in newsrooms will "help the newspaper industry remain relevant," E&P reported.