Dear Guild Member,
Today several of our members, with the support of National Association of Black Journalists, met with top executives of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. Attached is a summary of their talking points, passed on with their permission:
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER DIVERSITY OBSERVATIONS
January 16, 2007
African American (11.3 percent), Asian American (4.7 percent) and Hispanic American (2.1 percent) journalists
are the minorities represented on The Inquirer?s newsroom staff, according to the latest survey of the American Society of Newspaper editors. African American (16) and Asian American (5) journalists represent a disproportionate share (28 percent) of the newsroom staff identified to be laid off by The Inquirer. Philadelphia?s population is 45 percent African American, 5 percent Asian and 10 percent Hispanic, according to U.S. Census figures, meaning that even before the layoffs, The Inquirer newsroom staff was a poor reflection of the community it covers. Inadequate consideration was given to diversity not only in naming those to be laid off, but in subsequently carving out specific newsroom jobs to be protected from the layoffs. (For example, immigration is one of the hottest topics in the nation, yet The Inquirer?s immigration reporter, an Asian American, was laid off.) The Inquirer City Desk has only one black reporter and no black editors as it prepares to cover a mayoral election in which race will be an important factor.
The lack of diversity on The Inquirer Copy Desk puts it at a dangerous disadvantage in sighting cultural and ethnic slights before they get into the paper. The lack of diversity within The Inquirer Features Department puts it at a disadvantage in sighting cultural trends in music, dance, the theater, etc., within the Philadelphia region. The lack of diversity among The Inquirer?s assigning editors puts the paper at a disadvantage in deciding which stories are most important to our readers. The lack of diversity among The Inquirer?s regular columnists presents a monolithic point of view on sundry issues, suggesting to minority readers that the paper doesn?t really care about what they think. The low number of Hispanics in the newsroom echoes this concern. With previous job actions at The Inquirer having decimated its number of more seasoned minority journalists, current layoffs that have targeted junior staffers have destroyed hopes for a new generation to grow and become the paper?s future leaders. The carving out of ?important? beats for protection from layoffs has revealed The Inquirer?s failure to assign minority journalists to key beats. New hires of minority journalists at entry-level positions will only perpetuate that condition. The Inquirer lacks programs aimed at retention of veteran minority journalists. The Inquirer lacks an active recruitment effort, complete with director and staff, which can identify qualified minority journalists at various levels of experience who might be hired at any time in the future. The Inquirer has failed to continue operation of a diversity committee of staff, including top editors, which would concern itself with the ethnic makeup of the newsroom staff as well as coverage of our minority communities. The Inquirer has failed to continue even infrequent content analyses of its pages to ensure that our stories and photographs properly reflect the diversity of our readers. Both Inquirer publisher Brian P. Tierney and executive editor Bill Marimow are to be commended for their stated commitments to diversity, which must now be borne out by their actions. Any finger-pointing at the Newspaper Guild for the impact of layoffs and carve-outs does not excuse The Inquirer for not taking additional steps available to it to ensure that the diversity of its staff was better protected. The involvement of both the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists is indicative of the rest of America?s interest in how The Inquirer handles these diversity issues. The lack of coverage by The Inquirer of these diversity issues, given its previous coverage of other workplace issues, suggests to readers that The Inquirer is trying to hide from the subject rather than take positive action. Considering these observations, minority journalists at The Inquirer collectively request that positive action be taken now, with the immediate object being to reduce the number of minority journalists included in the current list of those to be laid off.
Thank you.
Respectfully submitted by,
Inquirer staffers
Tanya Barrientos
Melanie L. Burney
Philippa J. Chaplin
Sterling Chen
Vernon Clark
Porus Cooper
Ron Cortes
Maisha Elonai
Sarah J. Glover
Thom Guarnieri
Annette John-Hall
Kristin E. Holmes
Sherry Howard
Harold Jackson
Michael Levin
Acel Moore
Dwight Ott
Michael Perez
Keith Pompey
Lita Prout
Claire Smith
Akira Suwa
Miriam Tarver
Ron Tarver
Kevin Tatum
Elisa Ung
Elizabeth Wellington