Slipping Backwards: The Loss of Two Journalists of Color at the Chicago Sun-Times Reflects the Growing Whitewashing of the News

Teresa Puente's bad day started when she learned that Deborah Douglas, her colleague on the Chicago Sun-Times' editorial board, and the last African-American voice on the board, had been laid off. Her day got worse when she found out that Douglas wasn't the only one to get the boot; Puente herself was out too.

With that, the five-person board was down to three, all of them white, purporting to speak for a city of almost three million, 60 percent of them people of color.

Why the cuts? Because the Sun-Times has found itself caught in the slow and painful drip-drip-drip of a newspaper on life support. It laid off 20% of its newsroom in January. It got kicked off the New York Stock Exchange in June because its stock value had fallen below a dollar (that value is now less than a dime). In the name of "innovation" it has redesigned itself so many times it's hard to recognize one month to the next. Lately, the largest item on the cover has been for a promotional sweepstakes. It's become one of those papers.

It's also been, historically, the exact kind of paper that spoke to and for the marginalized communities in the city (excluding its brief dalliance as a NewsCorp property). All the gumshoe reporters, "sticking up for the little guy" newspaper cliches apply: That was the Sun-Times. And as that little guy became not so little anymore -- as the minority population in the city became the majority -- the Sun-Times labored (though some would say "lumbered") to keep up.

In July 2007, editor Cheryl Reed proudly announced that the paper was "returning to our liberal, working-class roots, a position that pits us squarely opposite the Chicago Tribune -- that Republican, George Bush-touting paper over on moneyed Michigan Avenue." Perhaps it's overwrought sentiment (after all, until it sold the land to Donald Trump, the Sun-Times was across the street), but it was worth saying.

But it didn't last long. The layoffs this year cut two positions from the board. Reed herself quit the Sun-Times shortly afterward, and the eight-person board had been slashed to five. And now five becomes three.

The carving up of newsrooms is not a new story -- it's become so commonplace that it was written into the storyline of the last season of The Wire -- but it is a big story. The blog Paper Cuts carefully tracks and maps the layoffs, buyouts, and firings that have been eating away at traditional journalism. The latest count? 11,719 jobs lost this year alone. When it happens to the auto industry, it's big news. But when it happens to the news itself, who reports it?

"I believe newspapers should be reflections of the communities we live in and write about," Puente told me earlier today. "But that's being lost in all the layoffs -- there's no thought to preserving diversity."

Rick Attig, who won a Pulitzer for his editorials at the Portland Oregonian, echoes Puente's concerns: "The cutbacks in this industry are likely to follow those in most every other business, based on seniority. And you know who generally has the seniority on newspaper editorial boards."

If you don't, just look at the new makeup of the Sun-Times.

And of course, you can read that and say, "Well thank god for the internet," and you wouldn't be wrong. Online, opinions are like assholes: everyone's got one. But, says Attig, "I'd argue that there still is a place, an important place, for editorial boards that provide well-reported, well-considered local opinion writing. There are precious few institutions left that speak with a clear, strong and independent voice about the issues of the day."

In Chicago, a city that's 36% African American and 26% Latino, those issues are a reflection of the people who live there. Who's going to voice their issues now? Put a mirror up to the Sun-Times, and it no longer reflects back the diversity of the city it took its name from.

For Puente, it's not about her job. She teaches journalism at a college in Chicago and the Sun-Times gig was part-time (full disclosure: I teach in the same department). But it is about "ensuring that diverse viewpoints are at the table." There's no time more important than right now to make sure that newspapers reflect the changing world around them, she says. "Look at where our nation is now -- about to elect the first African-American President of the United States -- and what that means for how far we've come as a society. But newspapers? They're slipping backwards."

Cross-posted at MEGO, My Eyes Glaze Over: thoughts on the future of journalism.

Comments

[df26]

You know i will be so happy when the day comes when people drop this cancerous tendency to try an slap a label on everything from ones opinions, ethnicity, humanity or utter lack of. Those who articulate and use labels merely want to recruit others to their ideology, group, race, religion, culture etc through division. When you live a life where the only thing you truly need to emphasize is. What kind of Human being are you..? What are you doing daily to make this planet a better place to live and share with others. It does not require a lot of effort to begin to change who you are to become someone you truly would like to be. Why can we not begin a new era by placing some emphasis on making sure the children of today and tomorrow. Will have more lasting values invested in their own "Sense of Humanity" and less in the misguided fraudulent labels. Many of their Parents and so called leaders are determined to corrupt and poison their tender minds with. We have no right destroy this earth or each other. But if we listen to those who label. You no doubt soon will always be given a reason to disagree by someone. When labels are replaced with none and in use by no one. Maybe better decisions we will be made without reaching first for the nearest gun. Unless I am wrong and we truly are just another "Culture of the Gun."

[ponderingmuch]

I really want to hear from people who are not white (though lefty and female views still appeal to me personally). I really like to hear from pretty much anybody who is not in the majority of whatever group has the majority voice. I am very saddened (or maybe pissed) that yet another institution is firing the people I most want to hear from.

[Centaur]

Unfortunately, that old saying is alive and well-"Last hired, first fired".

[DuPageDem]

The S-T hasn't been for the little guy for decades. Mike Royko quit when Murdoch bought it, and turned over in his grave when Lord Black took his turn. Black's in prison, but the present managment all were put in place by him -- so how much has really changed? Your concern would have been more helpful three years ago, when S-T management cut all locally-written editorials from its suburban flags, replacing them with downtown retreads. Too little, too late. The paper died in the '80s, and has staggered around like a horror flick zombie ever since.

[kingink]

But the alternative is truly horrible. The Trib is even more dreadful. I regret that the S-T is losing staff and voices. And it is a sorry comment, but fact, that the best writer for any newspaper in Chicago is Roger Ebert. I will continue to read the ST every day as I have for 25 years and buy it from the street vendor at my train stop.
As to Chicago as fly-over country, you may want to rethink that notion. Our soon to be president learned politics in the city at the time of Harold Washington and those of us who remember that time recognize his style of governing as a model for what is to come.

[mmgbizgirl]

Thank you for informing us. Let's get it all out on the table...

[Dr. Alchemy]

It was evident to me that when they began deregulating the media market, allowing a powerful few to own huge stakes in multiple media markets that journalism as we knew it was a thing of the past. Whenever I hear the phrase, "the liberal media", I cringe. The media is no longer liberal. The people on the editorial boards around the country owe their jobs to the owners of these companies and increasingly, they are far from liberal, or in some cases even remotely impartial..R. Murdoch comes to mind immediately. When is the last time you saw ANY impartial reporting being done at "faux news"?

[larry278]

At the risk of showing eastern liberal bias, neither of the Chicago papers ever were newspapers of record. Chicago, despite the University of Chicago & other institutions isn't a mecca for scholars, intellectuals or pseudo-intellectuals. Chicago jazz & blues started & grew in spite of Chicago's papers. Purging black people from an editorial board & letting go of black reporters could be a symptom of death for the Sun-Times & Trib. Is the CHICAGO DEFENDER dying too? Sen Obama also grew in spite of Chicago's papers. In politics, sports & culture, we have enterprises which acheive excellence because of the talents of individuals & bands of talented individuals. Chicago's papers were never magnets or the final destination of original & talented writers.
Chicago has a tradition of doing good, sometimes great, things without newspapers. That happens in the rest of the country too. Most papers only report trends after a trend becomes a tradition or institution. Chicagos blacks, latinos & egg heads are used to doing without papers recognizing their acheivments; they do well be cause of the satisfaction & pride of doing well. That may be an American trait. Print journalism is more of an occupation or craft, not an intellectual pursuit. Papers never did get that. They were too busy being boosters.

[DuPageDem]

Ever hear of Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur or Mike Royko? How about David Axelrod? I guess they're all knuckle-draggers, since they wrote for Chicago newspapers.

[Daniel Sinker - Huffpost Blogger]

I know it's mentioned above, but if we're making a list and all I'd add in for sure Roger Ebert. Not only did he revolutionize film reviewing (for better and for worse, though mostly better), he also went to the mat with Conrad Black when the Sun Times writers were threatening a walkout.

[Monroe Anderson - Huffpost Blogger]

DuPageDem: Did you notice that your four examples are all white men? That three are dead? And did you realize that David Axelrod was at the Trib for just three years?

[Miande]

Of course, this assumes identity politics extends to opinions: there is a "black opinion," a "Spanish opinion," a "female opinion." Let's do a thought experiment: how comfortable would you be if the woman on an editorial board was Sarah Palin? Is her's a representative "female opinion"? Or if the black editorialist were Alan Keyes?

[uheardme]

The problem is that white women are often regarded as speaking for ALL WOMEN. They do not speak for me.

I find that whites are NOT informed about minority communities, which is why when issues like RACE, IMMIGRATION, ABORTION, SEXISM, and other issues are discussed, the conversations are rife with generalizations and antiquated stereotypes.

No there isn't A BLACK OPINION, but the WHITE MEDIA could benefit from opinions from a wide variety of communities. Either that or we can support a more relevant and sympathetic BLACK MEDIA.

[PATina]

Maybe there isn't a Black Opinion... but I believe there is certainly a BLACK (or other racial) perspective. A GENDER perspective. A LIBERAL perspective. A CONSERVATIVE perspective. It's these varous PERSPECTIVES that make diversity important in all walks of life. I believe, in a country as diverse as America... we do need outlets for these different perspectives... and it doesn't have to be divisive. Our problem, in America, seems to be that we don't VALUE other people's perspectives if they don't come into agreement w/ ours (just check out the comments on the articles re: Kathleen Parker and Christopher Buckley).