July 24, 2006

By MARISA PORTO
The (Wilmington) News Journal
Co-chair of APME's Diversity Committee

Once again, this year we again asked newsrooms around the country to take some time out and think about diversity as part of APME's annual Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy program.

The yearly program focuses on examining issues of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious preference and physical ability, and is usually limited to one day in May. This year, we expanded the time frame to a month to give more news organizations time to participate. Since many of our communities are dealing with growing immigrant populations, we suggested that as part of the 2006 event we look on in-depth reporting on those communities and hold in-house discussions with staffers and community members.

Here are some thoughts from editors whose news organizations participated in this year's event.

• Brenda Rotherham, News recruiting & training manager, Star Tribune, Minneapolis:

About 40 newsroom employees participated in a two-part training event on immigration. The first class, called Immigration 101, focused on the number of people immigrating to Minnesota, the impact locally and the large share of immigrants in Minnesota who are refugees. A 30- to 45-minute presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with visiting expert Katherine Fennelly, a University of Minnesota expert in public policy. The second part was a primer on the immigration process and agencies, covering what agencies have responsibility for what functions and how they relate to each other. It also explained the different immigrant statuses and the various documents needed for each. Handouts from this class were used later as a Reporters Guide to immigration agencies, status and documents. These sessions served as a catalyst to trigger discussion and a review of our stylebook policies on immigration terms. The reader representative later wrote about the classes in her Sunday column.

The paper also sponsored a discussion between reporters and editors and the Islamic Resource Group. The meeting included a wide-range of discussion topics and helped foster better communication with the group, which is helping editors develop a training session for the fall.

A Newstrain program in May included a session led by Bobbi Bowman, ASNE diversity director, on "covering your diverse communities." About 25 staffers attended, as well as about 60 people from around the state.

The newsroom planned a field trip to St. Paul's Neighborhood House on the West Side of St. Paul, which is often called Minnesota's Ellis Island. It's been the first stop for immigrants here since it was formed in 1897 and has served 50 different ethnic groups, the latest of which are Hmong and East Africans refugees. It offers employment to family services. The event was organized by the "Time-Out for Diversity Committee" at the Star Tribune.

In addition, the news organization covered a number of issues facing its diverse communities. Those stories included:

— Local employers turning immigrant workers into independent contractors.

— A business feature on a new global marketplace opening up in Minneapolis.

— A feature on a program that helps the children of Uganda.

— A Page One story about Muslims trying to regain their foothold in politics.

— Arabic, the new French, about new language training programs in some local public schools.

• Karen Magnuson, editor, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y.:

We began a monthly series called "Who We Are," partly in response to recommendations made by APME Credibility Roundtable participants in 2005, who said our coverage of minority communities often lacked sophistication. So far, the series has covered the Chinese, Puerto Rican, Irish, Asian Indian, Ukrainian and African-American communities.

As a follow-up to 2005 Credibility Roundtable, which included sessions with the African American, Asian and Hispanic communities, a roundtable reunion took place April 25 at the Democrat and Chronicle, with reports to the participants on results of a pre-reunion survey; on diversity on the Web; on local coverage; on newsroom Diversity Committee efforts; and on the work of the Community Liaison Team, which represents the newspaper at community events. The survey results were encouraging: most respondents said the paper's coverage of minority communities had improved in the last year; many said coverage of their particular community had improved; most were reading the Who We Are series.

The newsroom Diversity Committee brought in professors from Syracuse University and Buffalo State to talk with the staff about the media's performance in reporting on diverse communities. Among the key points made:

— Cultural competence by news organizations is crucial to credibility.

— Day-to-day mainstreaming of stories tests a news organization's commitment to diversity more than special reports.

— Covering diverse communities helps the broader readership. 

• Glenn Proctor, Executive Editor, Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch:

This year, the "Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy" programs at the Times-Dispatch attracted about 80 people, mostly reporters and editors. Among the activities were:

— A 90-minute luncheon discussion about the role of race in our lives as we watched snippets of the six-part FX program, "Black.White," which featured a white family disguised as black folks and a black family made up to look white.

— An hourlong "diversity exercise" designed to raise awareness about privileges. This activity was open to all departments to jumpstart or augment diversity discussions.

— A newsroom discussion with leaders of the Asian-American community about our coverage. (These discussions are held every month with guest speakers from diverse communities.)

• David Ledford, editor, The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.:

This year, we began a monthly series called "The Faces of Delaware" as a way to cover our diverse community in a more sophisticated way. The series included a 1A news feature about an emerging ethnic or racial community in our state – from a growing number of Haitians and Guatemalans settling in the rural down state to immigrants from Africa choosing to settle in Wilmington. Each 1A story referred to a doubletruck inside the features section that included culture, history and other information about their former homeland. The feature was linked to the Newspaper in Education program, which allowed us to share those print pages with Delaware students.

The News Journal's diversity committee held two events recently to reach out to diverse communities. The first, held in May, included about 30 participants from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and the United States at a 90-minute session at The News Journal. Guests included university professors, activists, a New Castle County Council member, members of the Islamic Society of Delaware and concerned citizens. The discussion ranged from how Muslims are usually in the media in association with terrorism, to how moderate Muslims are being bullied by fundamentalists. Community members pointed that several positive stories about Muslims have been part of The News Journal's religion coverage but there is still room for more.

The first event led to an ongoing e-mail discussion with participants, who asked for a second discussion on immigration to be arranged by The News Journal staff. About 20 people – including immigrants from Kenya, Nigeria, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico, China, Guinea and Nigeria, as well as activists, immigration lawyers and community leaders – attended the 90-minute session. The event was co-sponsored by CoAfricaNet, an African social service non-profit organization. Topics covered included why immigration is under debate right now; how the political debate ignores the human consequences; and how Latinos are portrayed in the media. Immigration issues vary widely depending on each immigrant group in Delaware. Africans, who largely depend on the lottery system, do not have the same concerns as Latin Americans. For Asians in Delaware, education and maintaining the culture of the home country are the biggest concerns.

More discussions have been held, including two focus groups with African-American readers. And others are in the works, including one planned for later this month that involves the growing Latino community in Delaware and what its representatives want from The News Journal online and in print.

• Rod Richardson, managing editor, The Times of Shreveport, La.:

During this year's Time Out for Diversity 2006, the Newsroom Diversity Committee met twice to brainstorm ideas about how best to participate in ASNE's annual Time Out for Diversity. In the past, The Times has brought in speakers to address various issues related to diversity and held newsroom discussions to assess what the newspaper is doing and what it should be doing. This year, the committee thought it would better to find a way acknowledge a major issue of diversity and produce content that would benefit our readers.

The national debate over immigration has had little impact in our community, which has a small, albeit growing, immigrant population. But we believed readers would want to know the impact of immigration locally, especially in light of the movement to force immigrants to embrace English as their primary language. The result was a two-part series that looked at how English is being taught in schools and through special programs designed to help immigrants assimilate. The second story looked at the local immigrant population and how well they're adapting to life in Louisiana's third-largest city.

Click on the images above to view larger versions.

• Calvin Stovall, executive editor, Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.:

This year, the Press & Sun-Bulletin asked local experts to write columns on the immigration issues in its Sunday Viewpoint section. The writers were a Latino doctor, a Latina educator and the executive director of the American Civic Association of Binghamton, a group that helps immigrants adjust to their new homes. They discussed immigration issues in historic, political and human context. The Latina educator focused on the many reason Latinos want to come to America. The Latino doctor addressed the more basic issue of immigration throughout history, encompassing many races. The immigration expert discussed the current legislation being contemplated and the strengths and weaknesses of it.

The newsroom Diversity Outreach Committee used its May and June meetings with community members from different walks of life and different races to discuss immigration issues. Participants discussed the importance of full and balanced coverage to help educate readers and to reduce misconceptions and stereotypes. They reiterated that newspapers should be careful about focusing immigration coverage only on Latinos, who some misguidedly look upon as the only illegal immigrants.

Valerie Zehl, columnist and chair of our Diversity Outreach Committee, focused her work during Diversity Month on minorities and their achievements and challenges, including columns and stories spotlighting disabled individuals in a public presentation called "Talking Hands" and those with mental illness performing in an annual musical called the "Fundamental Follies"; a profile of a local woman who's surrogate mom to a Lost Boy of the Sudan who's now about to enter a PhD program; a profile of the youngest-ever county budget director, a vibrant black woman who spends her evenings teaching dance steps to girls at a local Boys and Girls Club and who recently was honored by the local Urban League for her contributions to the community; a story about a Habitat for Humanity house customized to suit the needs of a severely disabled child in the resident family; and a story on three local Latinos who gave their points of view on illegal immigrants in our community and illuminated several aspects of the immigrants' experiences.

Coming next week: Editors talk about recent content that has moved the bar in delivering high impact coverage of diversity.