Last Updated: August 13, 1999
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A
note from the president
About the time this issue of The American Editor is distributed, many
ASNE members wi ll be in Seattle for the Unity ’99 Journalism Conference.
I will be one of them; perhaps you’re reading this column while attending,
too.
Why are we here? Why does it make a difference?
We come to learn. We come to be part of the conversation about the future
of journalism. In particular, we come to talk about how journalism — in
our case, journalism practices at newspapers and online services — will
best fulfill its role as community builder.
I talked about this briefly as I addressed our convention in San Francisco.
This forum allows me to add some more thoughts.
Newspapers at their best tell us all about where we live and how we
live. To me, that means no two newspapers are alike, because no two communities
are the same.
In fact, one of the things that has surprised me in my first few weeks
as president of ASNE is the number of phone calls I get from reporters
asking me to comment on some issue of journalism. I am surprised because
I do not feel any wiser for serving as ASNE president, nor do I begin to
reflect the views of all editors. (I had a saying when I was an editor:
“I edit only one newspaper at a time.” Now it has become: “I publish only
one newspaper at a time.”)
I remind the callers, and myself, that each newspaper editor ought to
determine what is right for the communities his or her newspaper serves,
not on the basis of what a group of fellow editors has to say.
Still, there is a universal truth, it seems to me, when it comes to
serving communities. It is, of course, that we must cover the wholeness
of our communities if we are to hope to succeed.
When we partnered with the Associated Press Managing Editors in May
for the National Time Out for Diversity and Accuracy, we sought not to
focus just on the makeup of our newsrooms. David Yarnold and Suki Dardarian,
the APME leaders who initiated this effort, suggested that thinking about
accuracy would allow us to reflect not on numbers but on the imperative
that we get things right. Coverage of the Time Out begins on Page 4.
In newsrooms all around the country, healthy conversations focused on
accuracy — with a broad definition of that word. In most conversations,
it meant not only factually correct but also complete and truthful. That’s
reflecting the wholeness of our communities.
Still, the conversations were not complete without a discussion of the
makeup of our newsrooms. And that brings us back to Seattle.
Here, we are part of the conversation about the power of diversity.
We’re talking about the business imperative of diversity. We’re talking
about the moral imperative of diversity.
All the officers of ASNE planned to be here. We will continue conversations
that occurred at the minority journalists’ conventions last year. We’ll
talk a lot about the initiatives that ASNE has launched and is launching
this year.
In that regard, it’s useful to remind ourselves that the ASNE board
not only adopted a strong mission statement on diversity, but also authorized
staff and officers to pursue additional funding for diversity initiatives.
Your officers and Wanda Lloyd, our diversity chair, along with Scott
Bosley and Bobbi Bowman of our staff, met last month in Atlanta with key
executives of foundations to tell them of our plans — and, of course, to
ask for their support.
It will take some time to craft specific requests for grants, and time
for the foundations to determine if those requests are worthy of their
support. Nevertheless, we felt very good about that meeting and the prospects
for success.
Another reminder came to us at that meeting, and it surely will be reinforced
in Seattle: Newspapers will fully reflect communities, and build communities,
only if their newsrooms reflect those communities. And finding the people
to build those newsrooms will be a result of many partnerships.
We already have a covenant with Unity. We have a partnership with APME.
We must strengthen those partnerships. While we may expect criticism from
many sides, we may take it as a compliment that ASNE stands for leadership
in the business of editing newspapers. That also creates a very strong
set of expectations from our partners.
How we respond says much about our commitment to the future. I hope
all of you are joining in this commitment, whether you are in Seattle or
in your office figuring out how to do a better job of serving your community
with tomorrow’s edition. I also hope, though, that if the latter is the
case, you will spend a minute looking around your newsroom. See if the
faces and the experiences they represent help in knowing the wholeness
of your community.
Anderson, ASNE president, is publisher and CEO of The Orange County
Register, Santa Ana, Calif.
