Drive toward diversity p.

By: Debra Gersh

Knight-Ridder chairman says newspapers may not be doing enough, but they are doing more than at any time in their history
AS THE DEMOGRAPHIC makeup of society changes, so should newspapers change, not only diversifying their own staffs, but also their coverage.
For all the industry's good intentions and conscientious efforts, it still is behind in hiring minorities and attracting minority readers, noted James K. Batten, chairman and CEO, Knight-Ridder Inc.
Newspapers may not be doing enough, he added, but they are doing more than ever before.
During a morning session at the Newspaper Association of America convention in Boston, four endeavors currently or soon to be under way were explained.

Partners Program

The first presented was the "Partners Program," which is designed to "form partnerships of large and small newspapers in order to increase the flow of talented minorities into the newspaper business," explained William L. Winter, president and executive director of the American Press Institute in Reston, Va.
The Partners Program, according to Winter, will begin with the larger papers taking the role of lead papers and identifying smaller newspapers, usually within the same state, to work with.
Coordinators from each paper will then meet to plot their strategy.
The large paper, or others within the partnership, identifies talented minorities who will work in the small-paper environment to season them and give them training before they move to a large paper.
"The agreement will be that if recruits meet agreed-to performance standards and demonstrate appropriate skills and professional commitment, they will have an opportunity to move eventually to a larger paper within the partnership, then possibly to another, so long as both the recruit and the receiving paper are agreeable," Winter explained.
"Presumably, as recruits leave the small papers, new minority recruits would be available to succeed them," he added.
Five test partnerships in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; Ohio; Texas and Arkansas; Colorado; and Washington state are slated to begin this summer.
"Our goal," Winter said, "is to make the program work, and within two years or so, to see dozens of partnerships established all over the country."

Business-side training

Most minority students do not get into the newspaper business through family connections, or even high school journalism programs which are often cut because of budget restraints, commented Louise Reid Ritche, human resources consultant at Knight-Ridder Inc. in Miami.
Then at the college level, students who do not have previous experience may be shut out of working for the newspaper or other publications, she explained.
"So unless we reach minority students before they enter college, it'll be too late to get them to include newspapers in their career dreams," Ritche said.
To help combat that problem, specific projects for high school students have been developed by NAA to focus on training in the business side of the industry.
The reason the focus is there, Ritche said, is twofold: one, there are already a number of programs focusing on training minority journalists; and, two, giving the students the ability to design and market advertising also gives them the ability to support school papers.
"Benefits result whenever newspapers invest time in communities," Ritche noted. "So even as little as a two-hour, one-time investment by one of your staff members could help."
She added that test programs have shown "well-organized workshops, lasting at least a day, have the biggest potential for achieving our goals: attracting minority students to journalism and giving them the skills to succeed."

Drive to '95

Over the past 13 years, the Hispanic population in Long Beach, Calif., grew tremendously, and by the year 2000 is expected to hit 47%. In 1980, the population there was 23%, according to Long Beach Press-Telegram city editor Andy Alderette.
The newspaper discovered, however, that while the Hispanic population was increasing, readership figures were falling.
A strategic plan called "Drive to '95" was developed after the paper conducted surveys and focus groups, as well as speaking with newspaper employees in all departments and Latino community leaders?readers and non-readers.
Alderette explained that the result was Project Leadership, which focused on news of interest to the Hispanic community ? and that happened to match up with interests of the non-Hispanic community as well.
The Press-Telegram created special sections and expanded coverage of issues important to the Latino community, but spread it "throughout the paper in such a way that it would not alienate long-time readers," Alderette said.
"Latinos also told us: 'Don't give us special treatment. Just write about us,' " the city editor noted. "Our staff listened and responded. There's a diversity here that you probably would not have seen on our pages a few years ago."
Staff diversity also is crucial, Alderette said, noting the paper heavily promoted its new columnist, Angelo Figueroa.
"I can't emphasize enough the importance of diversifying our staff to relate to people we are trying to reach," he said.

Content audits

Although it is not a cure-all, a newspaper content audit can help uncover unfair or biased coverage of women and minorities, according to Gregory Favre, executive editor of the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee.
Content audits "are not a raid by the PC [politically correct] police," he said. They are simply "a way to make sure people are accurately portrayed in the newspaper."
Audits should be conducted regularly, even if they cause some hurt feelings, Favre said, adding those who criticize should know they can do so without risk.