The PD is racist?

[Joe Williams]

Ripped from today's -- OK, yesterday's -- headlines:

http://www.clevescene.com/2007-08-29/news/the-pd-s-racist/1

The Plain Dealer is under fire from black journalists after adding another white guy to its roster of sports columnists, a team that now has the diversity and sex appeal of a Golden Girls shower scene.

In a letter last week, Roxanne Jones, an ESPN V.P. and member of the National Association of Black Journalists, criticized the hiring of former Akron Beacon Journal columnist Terry Pluto. He is white, male, and the love child of a Whose Line Is It Anyway? skit gone bad.

In her letter, Jones criticized the PD's poor minority hiring record, which includes the time editors got drunk and approved Bud Shaw's Sunday Spin column. The paper should have at least interviewed some black candidates for the job, she wrote.

Editor Susan Goldberg, formerly of the more diverse San Jose Mercury News, admits her paper is whiter than a Shelley Long movie marathon. "I came from a much more diverse newsroom," she [says]...

 

[Ace]

Thanks a lot for helping my cause, Cleveland Obscene, Dammit!

And I don't think the Golden Girls ever had a shower scene. I watched every episode and still have my vision.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Ripped from today's -- OK, yesterday's -- headlines:

http://www.clevescene.com/2007-08-29/news/the-pd-s-racist/1

The Plain Dealer is under fire from black journalists after adding another white guy to its roster of sports columnists, a team that now has the diversity and sex appeal of a Golden Girls shower scene.

In a letter last week, Roxanne Jones, an ESPN V.P. and member of the National Association of Black Journalists, criticized the hiring of former Akron Beacon Journal columnist Terry Pluto. He is white, male, and the love child of a Whose Line Is It Anyway? skit gone bad.

In her letter, Jones criticized the PD's poor minority hiring record, which includes the time editors got drunk and approved Bud Shaw's Sunday Spin column. The paper should have at least interviewed some black candidates for the job, she wrote.

Editor Susan Goldberg, formerly of the more diverse San Jose Mercury News, admits her paper is whiter than a Shelley Long movie marathon. "I came from a much more diverse newsroom," she [says]...

I've got five bucks that says the Cleveland Scene doesn't make similar comments should the newsroom swing heavily black.

And anyone who criticizes the hiring of Terry Pluto simply because he's white either don't know, don't show, or don't care1 about the quality of sports newspapering. Seriously, that'd be like criticizing the Cavs for signing Steve Nash.

On the other hand, Ace has to change his side siggy to "I'm so white enough to work for the Plain-Dealer."

1 -- Yes, I'm quoting Doughboy. Eat me.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Also, did something change in the way we adjust font sizes? Used to be that size=7 gave you seven-point copy. Now it gives you screaming big letters.

 

[amraeder]

You mean Brown's Town isn't enough?

Seriously though, Pluto is the best columnist in NE Ohio at least, if not the state. You can't really criticize that hire.

 

[SportsDude]

That may be the most ridiculous complaint I've ever read in regards to a newspaper.

 

[Double Down]

At least now the PD has managed to produce outrage from both ends of the spectrum. Marty Gitlin says they only hire women and minorities, NABJ says they only hire white guys.

My head is spinning.

 

[wickedwritah]

Seemed to me that you people need blue font to pick up any sarcasm.

 

[SF_Express]

I read it, and really, it's two different points, as I see it.

A) The PD newsroom isn't diverse enough, and there seems to be a consensus there.

B) Terry Pluto was a must-hire.

Unfortunately, B) simply served to more starkly point out A). But neither point invalidates the other. The PD just has to work on its minority hiring.

 

[dcdream]

Express has it right under normal circumstances. Taking the best columnist in the state is a must hire. You hurt the competition.

The problem is this. The P-D already had two middle aged, white males.. Now you add a third. Where is the different viewpoint. Second, if the P-D had taken care of its minority hires in the first place, you would not have to worry about groups such as NABJ coming down hard on this choice.

Quite simple, if the P-D had a record of hiring black sports columnists, then it would get a pass.

If Pluto is a must-hire. Why can't a minority voice be a MUST hire.

Consider Cleveland is 53 percent black. Consider the city's top players:

Cavs: LeBron and a team full of black players.
Indians: CC Sabathia, lots of minorities.
Browns: Lots of black players.

While I agree that Pluto was a must hire...I believe having more diverse voices is MUST and can't not be ignored.

I read it, and really, it's two different points, as I see it.

A) The PD newsroom isn't diverse enough, and there seems to be a consensus there.

B) Terry Pluto was a must-hire.

Unfortunately, B) simply served to more starkly point out A). But neither point invalidates the other. The PD just has to work on its minority hiring.

 

[Joe Williams]

dcdream, you left out a demographic breakdown. What is the minority vs. non-minority pie chart of the PD's subscribers? And what can you point to that suggests a minority hire will grow the pie overall or even increase the size of the minority-reader slice?

You can't just assume that the readership and purchasing habits of the various segments of Cleveland's population are interchangeable. A black sports columnist might add and subtract some readers. Same with Terry Pluto. Until you can quantify this sort of stuff, we're all just guessing. Or being fashionable.

In the meantime, hiring on merit seems like a good idea.

 

[SF_Express]

dc, I understand exactly what you're saying.

That's the problem with having such a crappy track record on diversity. When you get to this spot, you don't get the pass, so you're stuck, because again, you have to hire Pluto.

That's why you do this right as an ongoing enterprise, and why the PD needs to get going.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

At least now the PD has managed to produce outrage from both ends of the spectrum. Marty Gitlin says they only hire women and minorities, NABJ says they only hire white guys.

My head is spinning.

Well, isn't proving one of those right or wrong fairly simple?

 

[Joe Williams]

So maybe the sports department "earned" the right to hire Terry Pluto by skewing previous hires for race and gender. Maybe the other parts of the newsroom are "lagging" by not hiring by skin color or sex first and foremost.
Take that, buttinski VP from ESPN!

 

[dcdream]

Well Joe

The black community doesnt buy the paper there because THEY know the hiring practices at the paper is not good. I get that from many Clevelanders I know.

So in the end the PD just hurt themselves even more than helping itself out with the hire.

dcdream, you left out a demographic breakdown. What is the minority vs. non-minority pie chart of the PD's subscribers? And what can you point to that suggests a minority hire will grow the pie overall or even increase the size of the minority-reader slice?

You can't just assume that the readership and purchasing habits of the various segments of Cleveland's population are interchangeable. A black sports columnist might add and subtract some readers. Same with Terry Pluto. Until you can quantify this sort of stuff, we're all just guessing. Or being fashionable.

In the meantime, hiring on merit seems like a good idea.

 

[JayFarrar]

Money talks.
Does the black community in Cleveland have enough money to make their voices heard?
Simply put, if the black community there had the swing and really wanted a black columnist hired, then the Plain Dealer would be welcoming Stephen A. Smith to town.
Not that Screamin' would ever actually step foot in Cleveland.
And given the PD's circulation and metro population, at least part of the black community is buying the paper. They'd have to, unless they have every white person in town subscribing.

 

[wickedwritah]

While it is a newspaper's responsibility to reflect its community, is the P-D obligated to hire a black columnist just because?

I know plenty of papers that are good reads, stellar reads, and reflective of their communities, and they don't have black columnists.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Well Joe

The black community doesnt buy the paper there because THEY know the hiring practices at the paper is not good. I get that from many Clevelanders I know.

So in the end the PD just hurt themselves even more than helping itself out with the hire.

I'm not calling b.s. on your comment, because the closest I've been to Cleveland is either Wheeling or Dayton. But on general principle, I'd be shocked if any community, outside the newspapering community, would be familiar with the hiring practices of any newspaper. Most people want the obits, the lotto numbers, the weather and the news. Usually in that order. How it gets there rarely crosses their minds, at least in my admittedly unscientific experience.

 

[dcdream]

Well Mystery Meat

Community leaders knows from the coverage. Also in my experiences of newspapers, when there is low representation in newspapers, those minority staffers do leak info to community leaders about the practices of the paper. I have seen it at every stop I have gone through in my career. Do not under estimate the power of quietly spreading the word.

I am sure the community leaders in Cleveland received that same letter that NABJ sent to Cleveland.

Well Joe

The black community doesnt buy the paper there because THEY know the hiring practices at the paper is not good. I get that from many Clevelanders I know.

So in the end the PD just hurt themselves even more than helping itself out with the hire.

I'm not calling b.s. on your comment, because the closest I've been to Cleveland is either Wheeling or Dayton. But on general principle, I'd be shocked if any community, outside the newspapering community, would be familiar with the hiring practices of any newspaper. Most people want the obits, the lotto numbers, the weather and the news. Usually in that order. How it gets there rarely crosses their minds, at least in my admittedly unscientific experience.

 

[dcdream]

The paper is not obligated to hire a black columnist, but you would want to give different experiences and points of view in the paper.

Also there are several black sport journalists from around the country who are from the Cleveland area and they didnt get a call.

That is the problem in the industry, black journalist don't get a chance to even get interviews for gigs such as this. That is the frustration of many black sports journalists.

While it is a newspaper's responsibility to reflect its community, is the P-D obligated to hire a black columnist just because?

I know plenty of papers that are good reads, stellar reads, and reflective of their communities, and they don't have black columnists.