FYI,
Anita
>X-Really-To: <unknown>
>User-Agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.02.2022
>Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 20:05:43 -0500
>Subject: Debate on Diversity in Journalism
>From: David Honig <[log in to unmask]>
>To: MMTC Board of Directors <[log in to unmask]>,
>        MMTC Board of Advisors <[log in to unmask]>,
>        MMTC Braintrust <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>The following debate on the impact of diversity initiatives in
>journalism might be of interest.
>
>David Honig
>Executive Director
>Minority Media and
> Telecommunications Council
>3636 16th St. NW #BG-54
>Washington, D.C.  20010
>[log in to unmask]
>202-332-7005
>fax 202-332-7511
>11/14/02
>
>
>
>The following is a National Press Club press release.
>
>
>
>NAHJ President and "Coloring the News" Author to Debate  Impact of
>Journalism Diversity Efforts
>
>
>Contact: John Aubuchon, 202-662-7517  or Melinda Cooke, 202-662-7516
>
>Event Information:  November 18, 2002 - 7:30 PM
>National Press Club
>Holeman Lounge
>529 14th Street, NW
>Washington, DC 20045
>
>The National Press Club will sponsor a debate November 18, 2002 over
>one of the most difficult issues within journalism: the decades-old
>effort to increase diversity in America's newsrooms.  The president
>of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), Juan
>Gonzalez, will present the case for increasing diversity efforts,
>while William McGowan, author of "Coloring the News," will discuss
>his book's conclusion that over-eager diversity efforts have
>distorted news coverage.
>
>Terence Smith, the veteran television and print correspondent who
>leads the Media Unit of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will moderate
>the event.  Smith's work on the NewsHour earned him the Arthur C.
>Rowse Award for Media Criticism from the National Press Club in
>2002, 2000 and 1999.  He formerly reported for the New York Times
>and CBS News.
>
>Mr. Gonzalez, a columnist with the New York Daily News, has led the
>NAHJ to step up its pressure on media companies to recruit more
>minorities.  A strategic initiative adopted by the organization's
>board last month calls on the news industry to double the percentage
>of Latinos employed by daily newspapers from the current 3.8 percent
>to 7.8 percent and to boost the percentage of Latinos working for
>local English-language television stations from the current 6.1
>percent to 9.0 percent by 2008.
>
>Mr. McGowan contends in "Coloring the News" that diversity efforts
>have resulted in excessive attention to numbers of minorities at the
>cost to journalism's quality.  He further argues that this sometimes
>extends to word and quote counts to ensure minority representation
>in stories, distorting the essence of the editorial process.
>
>"The question is not whether diversity in the newsroom is good or
>bad,"  said National Press Club President John Aubuchon.  "It's a
>question of how we as journalists are doing and how our employers
>are doing in trying to achieve it."  A resolution adopted by the
>National Press Club's Board of Governors in July 2002 declared,
>"Only by bringing journalists of color and other minorities fully
>into our editorial process can we change the content of our
>newspapers and broadcasts to reflect accurately our communities."
>
>But the National Press Club also honored the McGowan book with a
>Rouse Award for Media Criticism that month, on grounds that his work
>had stimulated debate within the journalism community over an
>important issue.  That decision drew sharp protests from several
>minority journalism organizations, including the NAHJ.  In a July
>letter to Aubuchon, Gonzalez challenged the National Press Club to
>sponsor a debate with McGowan --- a proposal Aubuchon quickly
>translated into an invitation to McGowan, the NAHJ and the National
>Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). McGowan and Gonzalez
>quickly accepted; the NABJ declined to participate.
>
>The event is open for coverage. Admission is free and open to the
>public, but space is limited, so reservations should be made by
>calling the Press Club's reservation line at 662-7501 or emailing
> [log in to unmask]

Anita Fleming-Rife, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Media Studies Department
223 Carnegie
Penn State University
University Park, PA. 16802
(814) 865-8135
Fax#: (814) 863-8161