Determination
81
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
The City, Inc. against the Star Tribune
The City, Inc. is a social and educational community
service organization working with troubled inner-city youth and their
families, particularly in the African American and American Indian communities
in Minneapolis. On October 7, 1989, the Star Tribune published an article
titled "The City Inc. and The Way survive criticism." The complaint
is twofold:
- That the article gives an inaccurate and racially
insensitive portrayal of The City
- That a representative of the organization is misquoted
as making a racist remark.
Background: The article gives a historical
review of The City and of The Way (a similar community service organization),
mentioning some of the controversies in which the two organizations
have been involved. The article states that the two organizations
"walk a fine line between befriending gang members and appeasing funding
groups," but adds that "some social service experts say the two agencies
and their unorthodox methods more than ever need to be sought out
. . . as Minneapolis' growing social problems defy orthodox solutions."
In recent years, The Way has been inactive, and apparently
the idea for the newspaper article was prompted by talk that The Way
might be reactivated and merged with The City. However, as the article
reports, merger talks had been suspended. The story tells about a
school operated by The City, as well as a federal grant received to
help troubled youngsters find alternatives to gangs. Recent successes
are mentioned, particularly the role played by The City in providing
crowd control at a south Minneapolis nightclub the previous summer.
A police commander is quoted as being "impressed" by some aspects
of The City's programs.
In the article, Spike Moss, an employee of The City,
is identified as a long-time black activist and former director of
The Way. In responding to criticism of The City, Moss is quoted as
saying: "This is a center of healing and growth . . . . The way they
paint the picture, they make it sound like we're all Indians and savages."
Moss claims that what he actually said to the reporter (as confirmed
by two other witnesses) was: "I, for one, am sick and tired of the
racist reporting on blacks and Indians in this town, as you print
us up to be nothing but a bunch of savages." The reporter claims he
correctly quoted Moss and produced his notes in confirmation.
Decision of the News Council: The News Council
finds that the article, overall, is not an unfair or inaccurate portrayal
of The City, nor is the article racially insensitive. The organization
is somewhat unorthodox and controversial, and the article portrays
this. Favorable comments are also made, and the general thrust of
the article is that the organization is uniquely qualified to handle
unique social problems.
The City complains that the article omits mention
that its programs provide many services to the Indian community. While
this fact would have made the article more informative and complete,
its omission does not detract from the article's overall fairness.
More troublesome, however, is Spike Moss's quoted
remark. The reporter says he accurately reported what Moss said, while
Moss and Nelson claim just as emphatically that Moss was misquoted.
The published quote clearly conveys a derogatory racial meaning. It
perpetuates a stereotype that Indians are savages. It does seem to
us out of character for Spike Moss to make the remark attributed to
him. He is a well-known civil rights activist. He is considered an
advocate for Indian civil rights. At The City, he works closely with
American Indian youngsters and their families, as well as their staff
who are Indian. One would expect Moss to be sensitive to racial concerns
and therefore to not make a remark offensive to the Native American
community. After the quote appeared in print, it caused considerable
consternation and embarrassment.
It is unclear if the newspaper realized that the
remark it was attributing to Moss carried a negative racial connotation
and, further, whether the newspaper realized that reporting such a
remark by a well-known civil rights activist would be a surprising
reversal of form. The fact that the remark was buried within the article
strongly suggests that its astonishing impact was not noticed.
Ordinarily, a reporter who has taken notes during
an interview should not be expected to verify quotes again with the
interviewee. The Council agrees with the newspaper's contention that
controversial quotes are recorded by reporters and printed in the
paper every day and that it would be impractical to compel a reporter
to verify every one. In this case, we certainly accept that the reporter
acted in good faith and accurately reported from his notes. Nevertheless,
the quoted remark was so unusual under the circumstances that we think
this should have raised a red flag. The newspaper then could have
taken appropriate steps to demonstrate its awareness of racial sensitivities.
The reporter could have verified the quote's accuracy and intended
meaning with the source. Alternately, the quote could have been paraphrased
or even eliminated.
However, The City might have helped its own case
by taking advantage of an offer made by the reader's representative
to possibly present their viewpoint in his weekly column. Pursuing
this avenue of redress might have been fruitful, particularly in explaining
in greater depth The City's programs and goals.
The grievance as to the overall article is denied.
The grievance as to the Moss quote is sustained.
Concurring: Ashmore, Beaulieu, Dornfeld, Falkman,
Hanley, King, Persons, Simonett, Sundin, Swain, Tanick
Dissenting on first part of grievance only:
Givens, Larson
Abstaining: Parrish - As a general observation,
the Council notes that this case might illustrate a certain lack of
racial awareness in newsrooms throughout the newspaper industry. Daily
newspapers across the country have not yet succeeded in making their
newsroom staffs representative of their communities. This conclusion
was validated in survey results recently released by the American
Society of Newspaper Editors. The survey of 1,642 daily newspapers
across the country showed that minorities make up less than 8% of
the newsroom workforce. (The report showed the Star Tribune having
6.7% minority staff members and the St. Paul Pioneer Press 6.2 %).
Perhaps if more minority reporters and editors were employed, racially
demeaning remarks or stereotypes would have more chance of being spotted
and challenged.
March 30, 1990
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Determination 82
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