Every day, it’s a given that something in the paper will anger some readers. It’s the nature of the news business.
Often I hear: The paper purposely maligns people like me, is insensitive, fails to cover my group’s good news or ignores my group in words and pictures. The paper becomes anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-Palestinian, anti-black, anti-Hispanic, anti-at-home-moms and anti-Marine, plus hundreds of others.
The diversity of biases is breathtaking.
One way to counter this ill will is to talk. Frankly. Journalists and readers sitting down together, to gather ideas, away from the hustle of deadlines.
Last Monday, 10 Star journalists met with 16 Hispanic readers to begin a discussion.
Among the ideas: Write more positive education stories about Hispanics. Describe the tensions among various minorities. Detail the diversity of opinions and backgrounds within the local Hispanic community. Analyze census results to show how they may affect political redistricting.
Write more about Hispanic businesses and entertainment. Describe new immigrants, the jobs they find, their pay and the lack of benefits. And expose the scams that target immigrants.
Consider publishing, perhaps once a week, a section in Spanish and English.
The roundtable was part of a national effort to repair newspaper credibility. The Star focused on Hispanic coverage. Hispanics are the area’s fastest-growing minority. Elsewhere, newspapers heard from critics of gun coverage, education coverage, accuracy and conflicts of interest. (More details on the project are available to Internet users at www.apme.com).
The meeting at The Star was a beginning. Journalists listened and offered explanations as readers described newspaper shortcomings. It was a chance for the paper to gather new sources and story ideas.
Those who participated in last week’s roundtable liked it. As Ana Melgoza of Kansas City told me afterward, it made her feel good that the newspaper listened to Hispanics and focused on Hispanic coverage.
The evening’s longest discussion centered on political ads by a group called the Coalition for the Future American Worker, which opposes Mexican immigration. Several participants said the ad was “so demeaning to Mexicans, both descendants and new arrivals” that it deserved to be rejected.
Publisher Arthur S. Brisbane explained that the newspaper accepts ads unless they are “explicitly biased or have wrong facts.” The newspaper avoids advertisers with well-known reputations objectionable to community standards, such as the Ku Klux Klan or ad copy with objectionable words. The Coalition for the Future American Worker wasn’t well-known here prior to the appearance of the ads.
The news department had followed up with three stories, including a front-page report detailing the hostile reaction among Hispanic leaders and others, and fact-checking points in the ad.
In addition to advertising complaints, roundtable participants urged editors to make sure the staff resembles the community by including Hispanics in top jobs, both in news and opinion spots. Among the senior newsroom department heads, two are Hispanic.
One meeting can’t expect to fix longstanding unhappiness. The first roundtable guests kindly left more names for future meetings.
Others, as always, also are welcome to join a future visitor program. Come for a tour and sit in on the afternoon news meeting where editors gather to decide what belongs on the next front page. Guests are encouraged to offer their opinions and stay for a question-and-answer session with editors. The more voices, the better. Let me know whether you would like to join a visitor program.
