July 31, 2006

Last week we highlighted what some newspapers did around the country to mark this year's Time Out for Diversity and Accuracy. This week, we share thoughts from editors who say they've raised the bar on coverage of diversity in their communities.

Andy Alderette, assistant managing editor/Sunday and Enterprise, The Courier-Journal:

If you are black and standing trial in Jefferson County, Ky., you probably won't get a jury of your peers. That's what The Courier-Journal found in its 2005 project "Jury Not Of Their Peers" that analyzed where 34,000 potential jurors ended up when summoned last year.

The newspaper found through its created database that residents of the county's five ZIP codes with black majorities were being disproportionately eliminated at almost every stage of the selection process – from the moment they were called for service through the time lawyers decided whether to seat them on juries.

The newspaper also found that while it's illegal to exclude jurors because of race, jurors were being removed legally for reasons such as the kinds of clothing they were wearing, for being single parents and even for the expressions on their faces.

And not only were black faces underrepresented in the jury box, The Courier-Journal found that blacks accounted for only a sliver of the number of lawyers and judges handling most of the county's cases, even though 19 percent of Jefferson County's residents are black.

In the Jefferson commonwealth's attorney's office, only one of 45 full-time prosecutors was black. In the Jefferson County attorney's office, just three of the 57 full-time prosecutors were black. The county also keeps no records on individual juror disposition, making it harder for court officials to explain the discrepancy, the newspaper found.

The Courier-Journal series also revealed that no prospective juror gets penalized for failing to answer the jury summons. This further aggravates the racial imbalance on juries, the newspaper found. Residents from Jefferson County's predominantly black ZIP codes, for instance, were 26 percent less likely to serve in a jury pool than people from predominantly white ZIP codes.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert cited The Courier-Journal series and has assigned a minority affairs manager at the Administrative Office of the Courts to work on increasing the number of African Americans who respond to jury summonses, including using a public awareness and information campaign.

David Cazares, assistant city editor, race and demographics, South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel routinely does a good job of covering its diverse communities with a team that focuses on race and demographics. Among its most recent stories:

Click on the images above to view larger versions.

• We sought to combine a weekend story on Unifest, Broward County's annual Caribbean community celebration, with the 45th anniversary of Lauderhill, a city that in has attracted large numbers of black and Caribbean residents. The newspaper usually writes a routine story on Unifest, one of many festivals in the area. Because the city's anniversary was a milestone, our Caribbean community reporter worked with the reporter covering Lauderhill. The result was a story that delved into the city's roots and its evolution as an area that is becoming more diverse. The story described the waves of immigration that sprang from political changes in the Caribbean, Hurricane Andrew's devastation in Miami-Dade County and the longing Caribbean immigrants to the northeast had for warmer climates. It also described how the area's changing population has contributed to growing black political clout and a mix of new businesses. Of course, we also had an If You Go box. This is the kind of demographics story that can easily be done elsewhere, if reporters pay attention to the changing communities around them, look for simple ways to go beyond the routine.

Click on the images above to view larger versions.

• Another recent story allowed us to tell readers about the Tuskeegee Airmen, a legendary group of black World War II pilots. With this story we set out to cover the news that the annual McDonald's Air & Sea Show in Fort Lauderdale would honor 13 of the pilots. But Greg Lewis, who covers the African-American community, quickly realized that this was a story not only about a ceremony, but also a chance to set the record straight with context about the discrimination the pilots endured during the war. The story struck a chord with one reader, a white World War II pilot who for years had searched for the black pilots who came to his rescue over Europe. He later attended the ceremony, hoping to meet the pilots who escorted him to safety.

• The third story originated with our photo department. After a photographer came across Terry Durham, an 8-year-old preacher, and took several compelling photos, reporter Greg Lewis set out to tell his story. Greg spent time with Terry and went to his grandmother's storefront church. That produced a Sunday package that offered readers a compelling read about how the boy balances his calling with youthful pursuits. I'm not sure we would have found Terry without our photo staff's help. It's a good example of how stories can originate from different parts of the newsroom.

Kathy Spurlock, executive editor, The News-Star, Monroe, La.:

Our Census figures now estimate we're at about 3 percent Hispanic, up from less than 1 percent in 2000. But we sense the true population in our region is much larger and growing rapidly, particularly in the fields of agricultural products and construction. More churches offer Spanish services. Banks are offering Spanish classes for their employees. Grocery selections have grown from a small selection on the "international" aisle to an aisle of their own.

When we hired Arely Castillo as a photojournalist, we began to connect with her world, barred to those not fluent in the language. Her native Spanish has given us entry to new audiences and we have more accurate, more comprehensive stories from the Hispanic community.

When she went home to Mexico this summer, she decided to provide us with a Spanish blog about her experiences. The blog is designed not only for the Spanish-speaking, but also for those who seek to improve their language skills. We have connected with our local university and high schools to let them know it's there; a Spanish professor proofs the work for appropriate grammar and spelling.

Carol Hanner, projects editor, Rocky Mountain News:

After an illegal immigrant was accused in the shooting death of a Denver police officer in 2005, the community was shocked to learn that he had been stopped for traffic violations but wasn't deported (although we now know that is standard procedure.) We wanted to know what level of crime would rise to the attention of immigration in Colorado. What we found after a year of investigation – almost none of it easy within this secret federal system – is that many serious criminals who are supposed to be deported are not. Immigration officials say they lack the detention beds and manpower to take everyone convicted of every offense. The result is that many criminals went on to commit worse crimes after they weren't deported.

But we found another startling fact. Only half the people deported last year, in Colorado and nationally, had a criminal record. The other half were deported only for unlawful presence in the U.S. Why would they be targeted instead of criminals? Why would 40 percent of the detention beds for immigration violators be taken up by non-criminals while criminals went free?

What we found were stories of families and lives torn apart by coming to the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and facing deportation. Many were working families who faced being separated from family members for a civil offense – unlawful presence, including a Korean-Argentinian man who was being held in detention for having overstayed his visa. While in detention, his wife gave birth to their fourth child, whom he has never held, and she has now sold their video store because she couldn't run it by herself. ICE wouldn't let him out on humanitarian parole until his papers could be arranged for a voluntary return to Argentina. It's just one of many stories that raise questions about how decisions are made in a system that isn't following its own list of priorities – terrorism first, criminals second, immigration violations after that.

The series, "The Border Within," was produced by eight reporters, a photographer, two videographers and a team of online producers. We also employed a professional service to translate every story into Spanish, and we published the entire series online in Spanish. Costs prohibited publishing in print in Spanish, but we printed the first-day main story in Spanish in the newspaper, prompting quite a bit of outrage among readers who objected to having anything in Spanish and saw it as a political statement rather than an effort to reach more readers.

The reaction from the community ran the gamut from straight hate mail about immigrants to praise for the factual and informative nature of the series and the portrayal of the sometimes capricious enforcement.