MORE women and minority reporters are on TV today than ever before, according to a media watchdog at Southern Illinois University.

Women comprised about 33 percent of last year’s crop of TV correspondents – up from only 17 percent in 1991, says Joe Foote, a dean at the school’s College of Mass Communications.

Foote notes that 53 women belonged to the 163-member corps seen on network evening news in 1998. ABC employed 26 women, CBS had 13 women and NBC had 14 women.

Thirty women logged enough airtime to land among the top 100 most-visible reporters on TV, compared to only nine back in 1991.

Among 1998’s most seen female reporters were ABC’s Jackie Judd, 97 stories; NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, 88 stories; NBC’s Claire Shipman, 88 stories; NBC’s Lisa Myers, 85 stories; NBC’s Gwen Ifill, 78 stories.

According to Foote, the percentage of minority reporters on the evening news has skyrocketed more than 100 percent since 1991. Thirty one minority reporters fielded assigments last year – 24 were African-American, four were Hispanic and three were Asian.

However, of the 6,230 stories that aired last year, Hispanics reported only 2 percent and Asians only reported 1 percent of those stories.