Still, the effort boasts the support of some of the nation’s leading newspaper executives. James Batten, chairman of Knight-Ridder, Inc., recently told members of the Newspaper Association of America’s diversity committee, which he also chairs, that promoting diversity was one of NAA’s “absolute top priorities.” And as the group attempted earlier this month to assess its work, Batten observed that, despite all the sniping, progress had been made. just under one quarter of all entry-level professionals hired over the last year, he noted, were members of minority groups–the highest proportion that the annual employment survey of the American Society of Newspaper Editors has thus far recorded.
Batten’s desire to highlight good news is understandable. The industry, in more than one sense, is out on a limb. Not only has it embraced what amounts to a social crusade–something that some journalists find discomforting–but it has set a goal it almost certainly will not meet. In 1978, when the ASNE board pledged that the proportion of ethnic minorities at daily newspapers would match the percentage in the general population by the year 2000, the objective seemed attainable. At this point, in order to meet it, newspapers would have to more than double the current pace of minority hiring.
Even as ASNE struggles to make its numbers, the very concept of diversity is expanding. Some journalists question whether nontraditional minorities–gay and lesbian whites, for instance–should profit from an effort launched primarily in behalf of blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Americans. At a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association workshop this month, Audrey Edwards, an Essence magazine editor, admonished homosexuals not to hitch their wagon “to the civil-rights star.” Leroy Aarons, NLGJAs president, says gay journalists are trying to do no such thing, pointing out that their “issues” have more to do with coverage and benefits than with hiring.
In a society where the majority of employees would prefer to work with people “like themselves” (according to a new survey by the Families and Work Institute), controversy over the newspaper industry’s efforts was predictable. And given that management and workers (or members of minority and “majority” groups) often view the same situation differently, disagreements were inevitable. A poll of its membership by the National Association of Black Journalists, for instance, found 59 percent of respondents agreeing that blacks had to meet a higher standard for promotion than did whites, and 73 percent saying they were less likely to be considered for “career opportunities.” (White managers polled by NABJ disputed those assessments.)
Some publishers see controversy as the price to be paid for bringing about necessary change. “if you don’t get a fight, you’re not doing a good job,” says New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. And he shrugs off criticism that the diversity push has softened coverage of certain groups. First, he says, “you have to get them on the agenda.”
As one who has been not only a longtime observer but a participant in the so-called diversity debate. and who (in the interest of full disclosure) sits on one of NAAs subcommittees, I have no illusion that the disagreements over diversity will be easily resolved. Even so, newspapers have little choice but to continue to recruit minorities. As Batten argues, newspapers must report on a broad cross section of society. To do that well they must employ people who understand communities that are foreign to the typical white executive. Many editors learned that to their chagrin during the 1960s when riots broke out in inner-city ghettos across America and they were forced to make black salesmen and copy clerks into reporters. The lesson-reinforced by last year’s outbreak in Los Angeles–still resonates.
Editors nonetheless have had difficulty defining a proper role for “diversity hires.” Evelyn Hsu, president of the Asian American Journalists Association, believes “opportunities are drying up” for veteran minority journalists. Professionals in other industries also report difficulty moving beyond designated minority jobs.
Those frustrations underscore the folly in seeing integration merely as a numbers exercise. Regardless of why people are hired, they ultimately must be seen as individual human beings. And to the extent the newspaper industry can learn (and share) that lesson, it will benefit not only itself, but the larger society.
