The American Editor, December 1998

Table of Contents

A note from the President

• A strong trade press fortifies our profession, by Edward Seaton

Diversity

• The mission: Reflect America, by Gilbert Bailon
• The ASNE mission statement on newsroom diversity
• Roundtables abound with ideas
• Aren't we beyond seeing diversity as a burden?, By now, diversifying a staff means more than changing people's minds, it means making managers accountable for improving coverage by hiring people who are different, by Vanessa Williams
• A glass half-full, As contentious as 1998's overhaul of the ASNE diversity strategy was, it was little compared to the flak Bob Maynard and others faced in establishing the original Year 2000 goal, by Alice Bonner
• Norman Isaacs' idealistic quest, In 1972, Isaacs - an ASNE past president - and his Minority Employment Committee took the first stab at diversifying U.S. newspaper newsrooms, by Alice Bonner
• Unity's family remains strong despite hurdles, The covenants that hold the minority journalist associations together in Unity are moving it forward to the Unity '99 convention in Seattle, by Kara Briggs
• Unity '99

Editorial innovations

• Technology finds its place in the Sun, Because the devices are ubiquitous - faxes, computers, GPS gizmos - we decided to start a special section on personal technology; you can, too, by Mike Himowitz

Cartooning

• The rare female cartoonist: If only she wore khaki, Males have 9 out of 10 editorial cartoonist jobs today; is the reason because women don't stoop to juvenile humor as much or is it just that they need those light brown pants, by Signe Wilkinson

International Journalism Exchange

• Happy visits to U.S. newspapers, by Diana Mitsu Klos
• The experience was like a good dream, by Ibbo Daddy Abdoulaye
• What a chance to know America, Learning about a free press - something my colleagues and I may never have - was wonderful, but teaching about the Kosovo crisis made the experience indelible, by Agron Bajrami
• 'Big Dad's' lessons, by Nanya Friend

On journalism

• Institutional distrust, our credibility linked, by Robert M. Berdahl
• Is civic journalism an answer?, Look at civic journalism's goals; keeping public discourse alive, talking to and listening to people, reporting on the middle; given our current path, isn't it worth a try?, by Hodding Carter III

An American editor

• Krenek keeps an even keel in N.Y., Debby Krenek, hands-on editor of the Daily News, makes her mark in a formerly male-dominated newsroom, by John Carroll
• Daily News
• Debby Krenek

Good writing

• Treasure your verbs, for they are golden, Although a good verb can't save poor prose, it certainly can make mediocre prose better; ponder and choose your verbs carefully because they do the most work in a sentence, by Kevin McGrath

On copyediting

• Editing professors form their own discussion list, The teachers of your future copy editors e-mail each other with ideas and tips; editors are invited to join in and write about strengths and weaknesses, by Gene Foreman
• Connect to academics

ASNE on the move

• Diversity director to leave ASNE
• The San Francisco convention
• Deaths
• Moves . . .
• Retirements . . .
• Ex-presidents
• Calendar