The presidential media pool lacks racial depth

When the first black president of the United States walked into the White House press room to talk about Trayvon Martin and the complexities of race in America, the people poised to convey his remarks to the world were overwhelmingly of one race — white.

At a time when one of the most contentious subjects in Washington is immigration reform — an issue of great import to many Hispanics — the people questioning the President on a regular basis are unlikely to be Hispanic themselves. But does that matter? Of the 53 correspondents who regularly report from the White House, seven are African American or Asian American, according to head counts by a dozen White House correspondents, journalism organizations and other sources (figures on other minorities aren’t available). The mainstream news media have always been disproportionately populated by white journalists. The numbers haven’t budged over decades, and may in fact have declined over time.