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diversity?!?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by PaperDoll, Sep 8, 2007.

  1. ServeItUp

    ServeItUp Active Member

    PD, please tell your superiors to resist the "sports doesn't count" argument. And for God's sake do NOT allow your paper to mainstream.
     
  2. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    isn't that a bob seger song?
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I agree with you -- to a point. I think its foolish for papers with more than one voice on the editorial pages to have only liberal writers. Or to think that running righty wire columns is sufficient balance.

    However, stories themselves should not have a liberal or conservative slant at all. If you are covering politics and half your population is conservative, I'd think you'd be hard-pressed to ignore the conservatives and only write the "liberal" angle.

    And as long as you've got business pages, you've got your conservatives' light-reading covered.
     
  4. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    At my paper, they complain all the time that there aren't enough women in sports... Meanwhile, in every other section the women outnumber the men 3 to 1. Nobody seems to care about that...
     
  5. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Agree, Ace, that in a test-tube world, it would all be played right down the middle. But it often is not, from the way stories are written or framed to the decision-making process of which stories to pursue, which to ignore, which topics merit enterprise projects and so on.

    And if reporters are detaching themselves from stories and presenting all sides equally, what difference does it make whether they are personally left- or right-leaning? Or, for that matter, black, white, Asian, male, female, gay, straight or from any other particular group? Still, some folks running newsrooms feel that adding diversity shows up, somehow, in what they'll claim is better journalism (some take it to the next shaky extreme and claim -- usually without any evidence at all -- that it boosts readership). If the premise is that an Asian reporter is more sensitive to story possibilities in the Asian community, the same claim can be made about a conservative reporter maybe being more attuned to, for example, the challenge facing small business owners of a new health-insurance law.

    I'm just saying, if we're going down the road of claiming that someone's membership in a particular group better qualifies them to be a reporter on topics related to that group, then apply it across the spectrum. Or stand by the ideal that a good reporter can do his/her job on any story, regardless of gender, color, creed, etc.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    When I was an intern, a popular latin baseball player was traded and they sent me to the latin part of town to get reaction. One of the guys I talked to said, "Did you just come here to get our reaction because we're Hispanic?"

    I didn't have an answer for that...
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    At its most basic level, people want to see themselves/their community in the newspaper. So if you have a large black population and few black reporters, you are more likely to miss stories in the black community, have fewer pictures, etc.

    Many of the best story ideas come from something a staffer notices in his community or on the way to work -- and if no one is in certain communities, they aren't covered as well.

    (Of course, you cover the black or hispanic communities too well, and it drives certain white folks crazy).
     
  8. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    You want to have some fun with news side? Call up the ME and demand to know why there aren't more stories about the Hispanic community. In the message, say you will also be contacting the publisher...
     
  9. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    you forgot to include: while having a beer with their neighbor.
     
  10. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I've served on a diversity committee and was appalled that management was mainly interested in having a committee to "show their committment" to the higher ups in Gannett.
    If you don't live in an area that is very diverse, you might ask why that is? Make an effort to find different communities, religious, ethnic, etc. and find out what they would like to see in the paper. Make your co-workers understand the importance of seeing stories from different perspectives. Also, check out a local college campus. Usually a great source for diversity.
     
  11. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    what was the racial makeup of where you lived? roughly, by numbers.
     
  12. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Growing Hispanic population, 70 percent Anglo, small Asian and African-American population.
     
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