March 28, 2006

By CALVIN STOVALL
Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.

Many newspapers are boosting readership and advertising revenue by turning to niche products ranging from magazines that appeal to women and high-income residents to tabloids aimed at the young to weeklies targeting residents in key communities.

APME Niche, a collection of pages showing diversity at various newspapers. Click on the image above to download the .pdf (23 pages).

These niche products provide the same opportunities as our newspapers to include people who make up the broad range of diversity in our coverage – from the cover stories to columnists selected for regular topical features to calendar listings.

Some daily newspapers that have carried their commitment to diversity to specialty products include the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., The News Journal at Wilmington, Del., The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., the Des Moines Register and The Indianapolis Star.

The News Journal's Winter issue of Signature, a high-end glossy magazine aimed at high-income readers, is full of examples of diversity, including photos of an African-American woman modeling clothes for the fashion centerpiece; a profile of an African-American man and his work with a program that provides health care for the poor; photos of African-Americans at The Coalition of 100 Black Women's Gentlemen's Cook-Off and Dance; and photos of people of color among those at social events that attracted people of all races.

Other publications quoted people of color and used them prominently in display photos and accompanying stories. In a cover story for 365, Your Life Made Easier, a magazine about and for women, the Press & Sun-Bulletin featured on the cover and in the story two local residents who helped explain why women with perfectly good husbands need their girlfriends. In another issue of 365, a reporter included an Asian, African-American and a Moroccan/Indian woman in a story rating different cosmetics.

Publications aimed at young readers have provided excellent opportunities to include people from different walks of life. Staffers have included people of color in cover stories on those products and woven them throughout articles that do not focus on race. Examples of newspapers doing a great job with diversity in niche products aimed at young readers include Wilmington's "Spark," Indianapolis' "Intake," Cincinnati's "Cin Weekly," Rochester's "Insider," and Des Moines' "Juice."

In a recent APME Update item, we asked you to send samples of diversity-related work that could be shared with others as part of a best practices feature throughout the year. The goals are to share ideas that others can use to improve diversity in their newspapers and to recognize staffers for their outstanding work to include people from all walks of life in their coverage.

That request to share best practices has yielded no response. We know that all of you care about diversity and that you are doing outstanding work to respond to demographic changes in your markets. As we suggested in the earlier request, choose someone on your diversity committee to collect and send copies of good work that others can model to better serve our growing diverse populations.

Please send examples of good work to Marisa Porto, co-chair of the APME Diversity Committee, and assistant managing editor at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Her e-mail address is mporto@delawareonline.com and her telephone number is (302) 324-2858.

A special thanks to the newspapers that provided examples of good work when we announced plans for the best practices feature: The Houston Chronicle, The Montgomery Advertiser, The Yakima Herald-Republic and The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.