THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408170432
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PETERSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Have you seen yourself in the pages of today's edition of your daily newspaper?
If you are a white male between the ages of 25 and 50, you probably have.
If you are an African American, you probably have too. But it was most likely in a crime story or an article about welfare or some other social program.
If you are Filipino, Muslim, gay, indigent, 70 years old, or a person in a wheelchair, you probably haven't.
On Tuesday, about 50 newspaper reporters and editors from across the state gathered at Virginia State University to talk about how newspapers can better mirror the diversity of their communities.
``We are miserably, miserably, miserably failing the communities we serve,'' said Karen Howze, a black multicultural consultant and a founding editor of USA Today.
In the news pages, ``people over 50 don't exist,'' Howze said. ``People with disabilities don't exist. Children don't exist. We've got people reading us who never see themselves. What do we do? We fix this or we die.''
As immigration and other demographic trends continue to change the face of the nation from majority-white to an array of ethnic and racial groups, more inclusive coverage is not only good journalism, but good business, said Howze and other editors.
Women, ethnic minorities and immigrants will represent 85 percent of the 25 million people who enter the work force between 1985 and 2000, according to a study by the Hudson Institute.
How will newsrooms full of mostly white reporters cover them? The seminar, sponsored by the Virginia Associated Press Editors Committee, found some answers.
For starters, reporters need to work harder to get to know ethnic groups whose customs may be quite different, said Marc Tibbs, an African-American columnist for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
``We can't just swoop down into these communities with our notebooks and our cameras,'' Tibbs said. ``You've got to build trust. Basic journalism. Basic journalism.''
Most reporters use minorities as sources only when a story focuses on a minority or ethnic issue, said Teresa Wasson, a news executive for Gannett Inc., which owns about 71 daily newspapers.
To motivate change, Gannett now conducts an annual contest that rewards reporters for including minorities in stories that have nothing to do with race or ethnic issues.
Hiring more minority reporters and editors is also key to more diverse coverage. But editors complain of the difficulty of holding onto scarce minority staffers who are sought after by many papers.
By the year 2000, the American Society of Newspaper Editors aims to have the number of minority staffers in all newsrooms match the proportion of minorities in the population. Minorities make up about 20 percent of the nation's population but only 10 percent of its newsroom work force, according to the society.
Newspapers that move away from the traditional white- and male-dominated power structures to cover ethnic communities often arouse criticism from readers, said Mark Bailey, night city editor at The News & Advance in Lynchburg.
``Avoiding the traditional power structure reflects a liberal bias,'' Bailey said. ``The biggest thing that I hear when anybody talks about National Public Radio is it has a liberal bias. The only thing I can figure is that's because NPR avoids the traditional power structures.''
Said Louise Seals, managing editor of The Richmond Times-Dispatch: ``There is a segment of readers that aren't happy about reading about anyone who is not like themselves. I think we have to realize that and go on about doing our jobs.'' by CNB