Moving forward

EDITOR'S NOTE

Journalism has an ugly history of not being kind to minorities. Nor to women for that matter.

And as for editorial page staffs, it's little wonder that Vanessa Gallman's impression as a young journalist was this: "It was not difficult to see that you could have hung a sign on the door, `No women and minorities allowed.'"

I remember the woman part - without the race factor. Three decades ago, an older male colleague proudly pronounced to me, a then-- green reporter: "We're prejudiced against women in journalism, but that's okay, because we admit it."

And I remember buying my first car about the same time from a black salesman. "I applied to be a reporter at your newspaper once," he said. "But they told me they were not ready for that yet." That being hiring a black reporter.

We've come a long way in journalism since then. We have a long way to go. But I'm proud to know that people in NCEW, an organization I hold dear to my heart, aren't sitting back and waiting "to be ready."

How can we when we have folks among us like Gallman? Or Deborah Locke, one of only two Native American editorial writers in the nation, who challenges us to increase voices like hers? Or Chuck Stokes, whose professionalism as a broadcast journalist raises the bar for all races?

Then there's NCEW member Ruben Navarrette Jr., who writes in a recent issue of Texas Monthly about being challenged about whether he, as a Hispanic who is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dallas Morning News, could objectively cover Tony Sanchez, then a candidate for governor.

As a journalist, he writes, "I am defined by more than my color or culture. I am also defined by my profession. And so, delight as I do in seeing Mexican Americans break down barriers, I am more likely to be extra hard on such candidates than I am to giving them a free ride. As for objectivity, I reject the premise.... Anyone who thinks that journalists - of any race or ethnicity - approach their subject matter free of their own biases or prejudices is buying into a fantasy."

It's troublesome that the question about his ethnicity came up at all. It would never be asked of a white opinion writer covering a white candidate. And it would never be asked that an opinion writer be objective - only that he or she be fair.

Still, as clearly as barriers still exist, barriers are falling, as demonstrated by the writers in this issue's symposium on minorities in opinion writing. And to a one, they all say this: They have the best job in the world.

So do I. Even so, I'm turning in my title with this issue. The capable and generous Frank Partsch takes over as editor with the Spring 2003 issue. I'll take on a new title myself, as NCEW secretary. As for these past three years, it's been a great ride. I've loved every minute of it. And thanks to all you who have written and especially to the crew at Armour&Armour.

See you September 17-20 at the Providence convention on "American history and how we use it." Make your budgetmakers aware that the NCEW conference is a bargain, offering professional critiques and development.

Copyright MASTHEAD National Conference of Editorial Writers Winter 2002
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