Time-Out 2000
Dear Editor,
In May, more than 200 American newsrooms and an estimated 2000 journalists took
part in the National Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy. It was an encouraging
beginning, but there's no question that we'll be judged by our follow-through.
The diversity committees of APME and ASNE invite you to participate in Time-Out
Two in 2000 for Diversity and Accuracy. And this year we're working with
educators to introduce the Time-Out's premise to journalism students.
We're again asking every American newroom and, this time, journalism
schools to take time out during an assigned week -- April 17 to April 21 -- to
discuss diversity in coverage as a core journalism issue based on the following
premise (which has been recast in a more positive light):
We want to accurately reflect life in our communities. If our newspapers are to
present a fundamentally accurate report, they must regularly portray the
diversity of our communities. Failure to do so undermines our journalistic
credibility.
We found in 1999 that using the language of the newsroom -- taking a
content-focused approach to this diversity conversation -- created consensus in
most newsrooms because every journalist shares the basic value of accuracy. We
found that reframing the issue can provide motivation for significant change.
While America's editors say they value diversity in their newsrooms and in their
coverage, change has been incremental. It's not our intention to undercut the
business case for covering a diverse community, nor to diminish a principled
commitment to recruiting and retention. Moreover, we're aware that we're not the
first to think about diversity as a journalism issue. In fact, without decades of
hard work by many to make our newsrooms more inclusive, we wouldn't be at the
point where we can even have this conversation.
What do we hope to achieve in Time-Out Two?
The discussion would focus on three areas:
1. Consider the disturbing reality that we are being told -- and many of us
acknowledge -- that our daily reports are inaccurate. We want to raise
consciousness by reframing the conversation.
2. Celebrate the successes that have made our newspapers more reflective of
our communities and codify those best practices for others.
3. If your newsroom participated in May's Time-Out, honestly assess the
results. What did you promise? What did you deliver? What remains to be done? If
it's the first time your newsroom is participating, it's a chance to talk about
your best practices and commit to improving on this crucial score. We want to
encourage tangible results.
We're again asking that you sponsor staff meetings, brown bags, pizza parties,
whatever works for you. The purpose is to debate the premise we've presented and
to see what changes -- if any -- you might want to make to achieve a higher
degree of accuracy and authenticity in your daily report.
The diversity committees of APME and ASNE, working with the Maynard Institute and
the Freedom Forum, will furnish you the following:
* A set of discussion guidelines, including suggestions for change that have worked at some newspapers.
* Three audit forms, enabling your newspaper to dive deeply into empirical data
--or to just skim the surface.
The audit tools and guidelines are yours to use, to ignore or to modify. If you'd
rather define reflecting a diverse community as thoroughness or fairness, rather
than accuracy, that's fine with us. The key is to view diversity through a
journalism lens. And we're defining diversity broadly, encompassing ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic class, physical ability,
religious and political affiliation.
We're asking that you send us a brief follow-up report by May 5. We'll publish
preliminary findings at ASNE's conference in Washington in early April and the
full report at APME in October, as we did this year.
If you're interested in participating or want to discuss the premise or the
process, please contact one of the people listed below by March 1. The deadline
for signing up for the Time-Out is March 1, 2000. Fifty-three papers enlisted at
APME in Memphis in October.
If you intend to participate, please contact:
* Suki Dardarian, APME
diversity committee vice-chair (after Jan. 2) at the Seattle Times.
* David
Yarnold, San Jose Mercury News and APME diversity chair at (408) 920-5254 or
dyarnold@sjmercury.com
Thanks for your consideration. Please let us know by December 15.
David Yarnold
APME Diversity Chair
Wanda S. Lloyd
ASNE Diversity Chair
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