America’s newspaper columnists are both older and more male than the country they aim to write for, Gawker shows with a fascinating new chart.
Readers may have noticed anecdotally that their columnists tend to be graying guys — who also tend to be white. But in one striking graphic, Gawker has confirmed the dominance of older men in the opinion sections of our nation’s newspapers.
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It found that the median age of columnists is 60, while that of Americans 37.2. The columnists included 105 men and just 38 women.
Check out the chart:
A few caveats: This doesn’t include every columnist in the country, but does include most major outlets. And Gawker didn’t include columnists if it couldn’t determine their ages.
But the chart suggests that if newspapers want younger and female readers, they may want younger and more female columnists.