SAN FRANCISCO (January 16, 2007) --The Asian American Journalists Association today sent a letter to Brian Tierney, publisher and CEO of The Philadelphia Inquirer expressing concern about the disproportionate impact of the paper's announced layoffs on journalists of color.
In the letter, AAJA said that while it understands that economic challenges faced by many in the news media have led to difficult decisions to lay off newsroom personnel, such decisions should not be made with total disregard to the importance of diversity.
Following is the full text of the AAJA letter:
Brian P. Tierney
CEO and Publisher
The
Dear Mr. Tierney:
As an organization whose mission is to ensure
that Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders are adequately represented in
newsrooms and in news coverage, we are writing to add our voice to the growing
concern regarding recent developments at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
While we understand that economic challenges
faced by many in the news media have led to difficult decisions to lay off
newsroom personnel, we strongly believe that such decisions should not be made
with total disregard to the importance of diversity. After all, newspaper readers are better
served with a more diverse newsroom staff, especially in your very diverse
market.
The numbers that we have seen in the recent
layoffs at the Inquirer shows that journalists of color – particularly African
Americans and Asian Americans -- have been disproportionately affected by this
business decision. It is extremely disappointing
to us to see that the combined number of African American and Asian American
journalists identified to be laid off and reassigned represents a staggering 28
percent of the announced list.In contrast, the number of minority journalists working at the Inquirer represents 18.2 percent of your total newsroom staff, per the latest survey of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE).
For many years, the Asian American
Journalists Association along with our coalition partners under UNITY:
Journalists of Color, have worked hard with ASNE to improve the vast disparity in newsroom employment, especially
as it negatively affects journalists of color.
The Inquirer’s decision to lay off many of its minority staff is a blow
to the efforts of ASNE and all industry organizations committed to diversity,
fairness and accuracy in journalism.
While it is our understanding from today’s
meeting between the Inquirer and some of its minority staff that the paper has
pledged to create a committee that will explore ways to hire more minority
journalists, we strongly urge you to do everything possible to lessen the
negative impact on diversity of the layoffs that you have already announced.
Truly yours,
Jeanne Mariani-Belding
AAJA National President
Rene Astudillo
Executive Director