Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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A note from the president
Multicultural newsrooms give us strength
By Robert H. Giles
In his new book, "Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race in a Race-Obsessed
World," Ellis Cose acknowledges that dialogue is by no means a cure-all
for racial estrangement. Conversations about race, he says, are "inevitably
aimed at a select few — those who are ‘relatively conscious,’ those who
make up the empathetic elite.
"Yet, limited as the audience may be, the ongoing discourse is crucial.
It gives those who are sincerely interested in examining their attitudes
and behavior an opportunity to do so, and, in some instances, can even
lead to change, assuming that individuals are willing to do so."
Cose, a contributing editor at Newsweek, says that such discourse between
the races can be honest and effective if each party would "lower its voice
in order to speak more loudly."
Few mainstream institutions in American life have invested more energy
and dedication to equality than the nation’s newspapers. From courageous
reporting and editorial commentary during the civil rights years, to probing
coverage of their own communities, to introducing diversity into their
newsrooms, to funding scholarships, internships and other vehicles of opportunity,
newspaper people have worked hard in the belief they were doing the right
thing.
The fact that journalists see diversity as a positive is reinforced
in a survey released last fall by the Associated Press Managing Editors.
Overwhelming numbers of white and minority journalists agreed with these
two statements:
A news staff should reflect society in terms of racial and ethnic
makeup.
Employing a diverse newsroom staff strengthens news coverage and
credibility.
In spite of this evidence and the tradition of energetic and well-meaning
activity, the honest conversations that Ellis Cose urges are not often
held, a piece in this issue of The American Editor suggests. Andy Alexander
of Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau tells the story of one editor’s conversations
about the lack of communication about race in the newsroom.
The most common sentiment Alexander heard in preparing the report was
"an overwhelming sense of neglect" about discussions of race. Or, as one
reporter told him, "10 years and no one has ever even asked me how I feel
about these things."
Beginning the conversation about race can be awkward, even intimidating,
if the purpose is simply to find a way to talk about the subject. But it
can be a more natural part of the interaction that occurs in an effective
approach to managing diversity.
Bill Hilliard, retired editor of the Oregonian and former ASNE president,
said as much in the introduction to a useful volume called "The Multicultural
Newsroom: How to Get the Best from Everybody." He said that managing
diversity is just that, "simply getting the best from everybody."
The Multicultural Newsroom was published in 1994, a project of ASNE’s
Minorities Committee. It is one of those committee efforts with great
shelf life, a volume that is there to be consulted when editors are looking
for ways to demystify the challenges of managing a diverse newsroom.
"Getting the Best from Everybody" is a workbook that provides step-by-step
guidelines for embracing diversity as part of the newsroom culture. It
offers help for defining a newspaper*s diversity goals, suggestions on
how to create a diversity committee, sample workplace audit questions,
and resources newspapers can use to enhance the management of diversity.
The workbook notes that managing diversity is a broader concept than
affirmative action, which grew out of 1960s civil rights laws that focused
on hiring. It means including diversity in every aspect of newsroom operations
— recruiting, hiring, promotion, training, planning coverage, developing
story sources, editing and story review, art and layout and performance
evaluations.
It is within this range of management activities that conversations
about race can take place; conversations whose purpose is discovery, education
and inclusion, rather than confrontation.
As Ellis Cose says, we must keep the conversation going; "for dialogue,
at its best can provide the wisdom and grace that enables us to focus on
useful strategies and to discard those that are not."
ASNE President Giles is editor and publisher of The Detroit News.
E-mail him at rgiles@ detnews.com.
