In a diverse society, conflict often plays itself out in the newspaper. How groups are portrayed often influences the way people view one another and whether the newspaper is regarded as accurate and fair. Consider three recent subjects of coverage in The Courant.
Miss Universe: A 20-year-old woman from Puerto Rico, Denise Quinones, was named Miss Universe on May 11. Her selection was reported in a brief on the national news page May 12.
Several readers contended that more attention should have been paid to her selection. “There should have been a photo. It’s such a positive type of thing that happened,” said Jessymar Rosario of Hartford, an incoming senior at the University of Connecticut. “It represents the culture, the islands, when those things happen,” she said. “Miss Puerto Rico also represents the United States because we’re affiliated with the United States.”
Quinones’ photograph ultimately ran in the Java column Tuesday along with the photo of a Hartford man who attended the Miss Universe pageant.
Connecticut’s Latino, including its Puerto Rican, population has been increasing to the point that The Courant now devotes part of Page 2 on Monday to news from Latin America. Beauty contests are closely watched events in that part of the world; about one-fourth of the 77 participants in this year’s Miss Universe contest were Latina.
News events that reflect negatively on the Puerto Rican community are more likely to be covered on the front page than those that engender pride, another reader complained, echoing concerns expressed by readers of other ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The newspaper’s challenge is to identify and report on news of consequence to the many groups that constitute Connecticut without losing sight of its readership as a whole.
The prime minister of Italy: Last Sunday’s elections in Italy led to the selection of Silvio Berlusconi, a conservative leader and media magnate, as that country’s prime minister. The election was covered on Page 1 Monday, but there was no follow-up on Tuesday reporting the final results – or the consequences of his victory.
A Middletown reader, not of Italian heritage, complained that readers were left in suspense about who had won. He also noted that the families of many residents of Middletown came from Sicily.
Italian Americans are the largest ethnic group in Connecticut. This year’s Italian election should be of universal interest as Europe moves closer to economic integration and because Berlusconi controls much of the Italian news media – factors undoubtedly behind the original front-page coverage.
A short follow-up, reporting the final election results, was published after the Middletown reader’s call.
The Italian election and social and political developments in that country belong on the radar screen of a Connecticut newspaper. So do the interests — and existence — of that strong but sometimes forgotten strand of the state’s population.
The governor of Massachusetts: The first time Jane Swift’s governorship of Massachusetts made Page 1 of The Courant was in an article last week that described her contractions before she gave birth to twins. Swift may be the first governor to give birth in office, but she also is the first woman to rise to that office in Massachusetts – more than 25 years after Ella Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut.
The lead of the April news brief on The Nation page that reported Swift’s ascension also focused on child-rearing: “Republican Jane Swift took office Tuesday as Massachusetts governor — apparently, the first pregnant governor in U.S. history — and is sure to be watched closely for how she balances career and family.”
Swift’s policies and how she performs in public life should be of greater consequence than her domestic life. Her husband, after all, is a full-time homemaker. Her accomplishments also should be of interest in neighboring Connecticut, where she graduated from Trinity College.
Her ascension to the governorship merited greater attention, including an analysis of why more women have not held high office in that state. In addition to Connecticut, women have served as governor of Vermont, New Hampshire and of nine other states.
