Author: Tonnya Kennedy
Published: August 11, 1999
Last Updated: August 13, 1999
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Time Out

Agreeing to participate in the Time Out was a no-brainer. It was an opportunity. A chance for us to re-examine our methods, challenge our assumptions and, we hoped, rekindle our commitment to fair and accurate coverage of all of our communities.

Like most American newspapers, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader is asked to cover an increasingly diverse and demanding community. How do we define diversity? Perhaps, broader than most. Lexington has a growing minority population — primarily African American, Asian American and Hispanic. The paper is committed to covering the often overlooked segments of our region — the disabled and the poor. We’ve also placed priority on reaching teen-agers and young adults. Circulating in about 80 of the state’s 120 counties, we have the added responsibility of reflecting the distinctness of central and eastern of Kentucky.

Our Time Out activities included daily critiques and a special roundtable discussion with five members of our community, each representing particular populations.

Admittedly, we fall short on diversity on some days, as our critiques during the Time Out pointed out. Our morning budget meeting usually does double duty as we plan tomorrow’s paper and critique today’s. During the Time Out week, it was working triple time. Each day, a staffer was assigned the task of measuring whether that day’s paper mirrored the communities and neighborhoods we cover.

I think many of us heard what we already knew. Blacks were the most represented minority in stories and photos — appearing mostly on the sports pages — but still underrepresented and more often than not involved in conflict. Other races and nationalities were nearly nonexistent. The affairs of the haves greatly outnumbered the daily doings of the have-nots. And white males over 50 ruled our world, too. Our features sections came closest to giving readers a true picture of the world.

There was at least one surprise. Although criticized for lacking women on its pages, the sports section front had female athlete centerpieces twice during the Time Out week.

More than two dozen staff members attended a lunchtime panel discussion on diversity. Our assembled panelists — a retired white male; a male Hispanic small business owner; a female African-American teen-ager; a white male disabled teen; and an African-American male — were supportive of what the Herald-Leader had achieved toward making the newspaper mirror our part of America.

They echoed much of what we had seen ourselves and brought to mind some things we had overlooked:

• Recalling reports of the shootings at a high school in Columbine, Colo., a teen panelist was concerned over our portrayal: “I felt like it was a bad depiction of teen-agers,” she said, adding that the stories quoted more experts and adults than teens. “If they had had a chance to talk to teen-agers that would have been more informative. A lot of us work hard to do things that are good for our communities.”
• One of the African-American panelists, a lifelong Lexington resident, was encouraged by the presence of African Americans in the paper. “I’m just basking in the fact that blacks are in the paper, but if I was Asian or (from another minority group) I don’t think I’d be pleased,” he said. “Your newspaper should reflect all of us.” While we celebrate our successes, that same panelist reminded us there is much left to be done. “The only image many people have of minorities is the image that the media projects because they don’t have any daily interaction with them,” he said. “What you print is very, very important because we have a lot of ignorant people in the world.”