Chicago Tribune Cuts Hit Journalists Of Color

The Chicago Tribune laid off 40 newsroom employees Friday, a disproportionate number of whom were journalists of color, according to Trib employees in a report on Richard Prince's Journal-Isms.

Among those called in Friday and told their jobs were eliminated was Ray Quintanilla, a 14-year Tribune veteran. "It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad," he told Journal-isms. He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color. He recalled that owner Sam Zell had told employees to question authority.

Quintanilla said the columnist publicly challenged him to a fight, and said he has filed a complaint with the Tribune's human relations department.

The reporter said he could not prove his layoff was related to the Thursday incident, but said, "It just smells bad to me."

Neither the columnist nor Tribune editor Gerould W. Kern responded to requests for comment....

Quintanilla, 46, said he expected more from the paper after he returned from covering Iraq in the early days of the war, which began in 2003. "The Tribune is where minority reporters can go to die. They get lost in the bureaucracy and they're ignored," he told Journal-isms.

Read the rest of Prince's story here.

Lists of departed staffers can be found here and here.

New editor Kern's memo on the layoffs and buyouts can be read here.

Comments

[Bobleblah1]

I am so glad that I don't live in Chicago anymore.
The midwest is moving backwards when it comes to race.
I cant even count anymore how many people of color, as well as creative artistic people are moving away.
I personally know about 20 people who have left Chicago and the midwest as a whole because of stuff like this. It's funny but if someone said to you, "Chicago is racist as hell" You might think they were crazy in comparison to the south. As someone who has spent 90% of their life in that town.
I got to say that the racial views of the midwest are not alright. The biggest problem is that people in th midwest are not really ashamed of being seen as racist. You cant shame racist action by labeling it as such in the Midwest. whereas in the south (Alabama, mississippi, Georgia) they actually would prefer to not be seen as bigots anymore.

This story does not surprise me at all, its typical Chicago business world conduct.

And please nobody get on here talking that Obama stuff as some kind of validation that Chicago isn't racist. You have to live it to know it, and I sure as hell have lived Chicago.

[hilaritee]

that is a really interesting point of view. thanks for sharing it because i had not heard this sentiment about chicago and the midwest anywhere else.

[maninla]

Where's Ward Connerly when it affects people who look like him...

[rwe]

with unions , merit has no merit..... hey , actually is this not reverse affirmative action?

[Sandnsea]

Zell's gutting of the press continues. He's wrecked havoc on the LA Times, totally decimated the Orlando Sentinel and now moves on to continue the train wreck with the Tribune.

While I've not always appreciated the Tribune's editorial positions, they have put out a paper that is notable for its coverage - their architecture critic is outstanding, for example. How many papers in this day & age of corporate crap, bother to have an informed writer to comment on the development that is shaping their community?

the net result is that we're losing a lot of local news - the news that keeps people informed about their communities, while corporatrons like Zell push papers into bland imitations of USA Today.

perhaps the intent is to create as many "low information voters" as possible.

[bdl0715]

Zell is well known for buying companies, gutting them and making them almost worthless, then selling the spare parts.

[Desertmatt]

I think it has more to do with Zell wanting to run as cheap a paper as possible, I get the L.A. times and since he has taken over it has gotten worse every week. They have lost the Opinion page on Sunday to the point where it is three pages in the back of the front section and the Calander sucks on Sundays now to it filters all the way down to the delivery service when I didn't get my paper on Sunday I called for service and they assured me a replacement would be there in a hour and nothing, I called back and they assured me it was on it's way again nothing. Sam Zell is horrible for the news bussiness.

[poomplet]

I don't see "disproportionate" spelled out anywhere.

HOW MANY of the 40 were minorities?.. What was their seniority? How many were journalists vs. support staff?

Until ALL of that is defined, it's a little pathetic to be saying "you can't argue with numbers & facts".

[FdeBear]

Last hired. First fired.

[obamanation31]

I am ashamed that the Chicago tribune is my home town paper.

[08politicaljunkie]

Last in. First out.

[robinhood2]

Yes, that is the union way.

[edwarvir]

What else is new?

[clearthinker2008]

Sounds like American is going about business as usual.

[larry278]

Writers for ink on paper newspapers are like the last buffalo on the prairie. The paper is the prairie. The writer is the starving creature that has been hunted to extincition, be they an albino or brownish/black.

[Eric8869]

The Tribune has long been a right wing paper in a left wing town - good riddance.

[HDR]

This is an incomplete story if the John Wayne-minded columnist who challenged Mr. Quintanilla isn't named.

[steamboat]

I noticed that, also.

Listen, they've got Clarence Page, Deborah Douglas, Donna Trice Turner, and syndicated articles by the likes of Leonard Pitts. None of whom is white, or conservative......This is just a cheap-shot piece. And like you said, the guy doesn't have the guts to put down his name.

[westreal]

Ray Quintanilla provided the name of the columnist. This particular reporter decided not to print the name.

Hence, "Neither THE COLUMNIST nor Tribune editor Gerould W. Kern responded to requests for comment...." indicating that Quintanilla disclosed the columnist name and the reporter requested a comment from him. Don't blame Quintanilla. Blame the writer of this column for not printing the name.

Your attitudes veers toward the "blame the victim" mentality. You can't argue with numbers and facts. Particularly when minorities account for a small percentage of Tribune's journalists but end up being the larger number of people let go. You can't argue against race being a factor here. I bet you are voting for McCain or maybe you're a Clinton backer.

[08politicaljunkie]

Clarence Page IS CONSERVATIVE, a registered Republican. Or do you see his Black skin and assume liberal and Democrat?