Chasing newsroom diversity: from Jim Crow to affirmative action

266 Pages·2017·3.772 MB·English

by  Mellinger, Gwyneth

CHASING
NEWSROOM
DIVERSITY
From Jim Crow to Affi rmative Action
Gwyneth Mellinger
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Chasing Newsroom Diversity
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the history of communication
Robert W. McChesney and
John C. Nerone, editors
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.
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Chasing
Newsroom
Diversity
From Jim Crow
to Affirmative Action
Gwyneth MellinGer
UNiversity oF illiNois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and springfield
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© 2013 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
All photos and drawings courtesy of the American Society
of Newspaper Editors.
Portions of chapter 2 previously appeared in “The ASNE
and Desegregation: Maintaining the White Prerogative
in the Face of Change,” Journalism History 34, no. 3 (Fall 2008).
Portions of chapter 3 previously appeared in “Rekindling the Fire:
The Compromise that Opened Newsroom Doors,” American
Journalism 25, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 97–126. Portions of chapter
5 previously appeared in “Counting Color: Ambivalence and
Contradiction in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’
Discourse of Diversity,” Journal of Communication Inquiry 27,
no. 2 (April 2003): 129–51.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mellinger, Gwyneth.
Chasing newsroom diversity : from Jim Crow
to affirmative action / Gwyneth Mellinger.
p. cm. — (The history of communication)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-252-03738-2 (cloth) —
ISBN 978-0-252-07894-1 (pbk.)
1. Minority journalists—United States. 2. African Americans
in the newspaper industry. 3. Minorities in journalism—
United States. 4. American newspapers—History—20th century.
5. Diversity in the workplace—United States.
6. Minorities—Employment—United States. I. Title.
PN4797.M48 2013
071'.3089—dc23 2012017777
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To Mike and Cassady,
as always
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Black and White of Newspapers 1
1. Manning the Barricade: Maintaining the White Prerogative
in the Face of Change, 1954–67 19
2. Seeking Justice in a Climate of Irony: The Hiring Initiative’s
Uneasy Prelude, 1968–76 46
3. “A Sensitive and Difficult Task”: Establishing a Framework
for Newsroom Integration, 1977–89 74
4. The Gay Nineties: Reimagining and Renegotiating
a Multicultural Newsroom 107
5. Diversity in Crisis: ASNE’s Time of Reckoning, 1998–2002 138
Afterword: Closing a Chapter of Newspaper History 167
Appendix A. Draft Statement on Newsroom Diversity 179
Appendix B. Mission Statement: Newsroom Diversity 2000 181
Notes 183
Index 227
Illustrations follow page 106
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Acknowledgments
A project of this scope, more than a decade in the making, benefits
from the contributions and assistance of a number of people. Topping that list
are members and staff of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, almost all
of them journalism professionals more accustomed to applying scrutiny than
being its subject. Their remarkable generosity in sharing archives and insight
about newsroom diversity affirmed a commitment to the principles underly-
ing their craft. As I labored to render this dimension of the ASNE’s history,
their voices never left my thoughts. It is my deepest hope that they find their
treatment here to be fair and accurate, even if it is not always flattering.
ASNE members who granted interviews for this project are Gilbert Bailon,
Creed Black, Linda Grist Cunningham, Gregory Favre, Pamela Fine, Albert
Fitzpatrick, Loren Ghiglione, Charlotte Hall, Jay Harris, William Hilliard,
J. Ford Huffman, Wanda Lloyd, Tim McGuire, Greg Moore, Rolfe Neill,
Eugene Patterson, John Quinn, Rick Rodriguez, Sharon Rosenhause, Edward
Seaton, John Seigenthaler Sr., Richard (Dick) Smyser, and William Woo.
Members of the ASNE staff who assisted me are Scott Bosley, LaBarbara Bow-
man, Craig Branson, Richard Karpel, Diana Mitsu Klos, Christine Schmitt,
Connie Southard, and, especially, Lee Stinnett.
In addition, this project benefited immeasurably from the perspectives of
members of the newsroom diversity community who participated in ASNE
discussions as nonmembers. They are Nancy Hicks Maynard, Pamela Strother,
Walterene Swanston, and Keith Woods.
I also would like to extend a special thanks to Lucy Smyser Tashman, who
continued to mail me early ASNE Minorities Committee files after the death
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