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News Blog
Posted // 2010-05-06 -
Media Matters: Deseret News, Now Gentile Free
by Josh Loftin |
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Posted // 2010-05-06 -
The Deseret News makes a strong statement about diversity: it sucks.
At the end of this week, the Deseret News will have an entirely white,
male and Mormon editing staff for their news desk. The last remaining
non-Mormon editor, Brice Wallace, will return to working as a business
reporter and former business editor and current assignment editor Greg
Kratz will take over the business team.
Wallace has officially been the interim business editor, but has held
the position for almost 15 months. So he's an interim editor like Gov.
Gary Herbert is an interim governor.
Before dismissing this shift as business-as-usual for the LDS
Church-owned Deseret News, understand that just over a year ago the
seven-person editing corps on City Desk -- the department where the
news and business reporters work -- included two women and four
non-Mormons. (Disclaimer: I was one of those non-Mormon editors, but
not one of the women editors).
When asked about it Wednesday before a carnivorous meal of roasted
meat, City Editor Tad Walch cringed and said that he hopes the current
lack of diversity changes soon. So, at least, words are being spoken
that suggest diversity is desired. But actions, in this case, probably
speak louder. After all, having an editing staff of faithful Mormons is
closer to Editor-in-Chief Joe Cannon's "More Mormon" utopia. It may
also fit into uber-boss Mark Willes' long-term plans, if only I could
actually understand what the hell Willes is attempting to do (outside
of consolidating control of everything in the Mormon business empire
under him, a strategy that worked incredibly well for him at the L.A.
Times).
To be fair, all of the editors at the Deseret News are experienced
editors ... well, all of the editors outside of Joe Cannon. They are
good journalists with solid ethical foundations, and their religious
affiliation does not lessen their skills. But it cannot be ignored that
they are all of one faith, one gender and one skin color. It sets a
tone for the rest of the staff, and reinforces the perception --
publicly and, more and more, within the newspaper -- that it is a
newspaper by faithful Mormons and for faithful Mormons.
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Agree with other comments that the Des News is not designed to be the New York Times, and looking at it, I suspect it's nearly all LDS in readership. No excuse to stifle diversity... but could it also be possible that there are just some absolute dicks in the newsroom who think they're entitlted to do whatever the hell they want? Not having grown up in Utah it baffles me whenever I read Utah rags and the amount of bitterness that a vocal minority in the press have with the LDS Church and anything related to it. I seriously don't get it.
The 4 non-Mormon/two women editors I mention above are all gone. The hyperlink goes to a CW story explaining what happened to two of them, and also part of the reason I came to City Weekly. I left willingly, however, and was never fired or demoted (even if I should have been). Both of the women were also non-Mormon, which I should have put in the post.
I don't have a vendetta, and I have been very open about saying I actually think the More Mormon business model may be prescient. The problem is, the D-News executives are not being honest. They continue to tell the general public that they are a mainstream paper, yet they are writing stories and adding product that is focused on Mormon readers. If they would simply say that their goal is a Mormon niche paper, then I would have no complaint about an all-Mormon editing staff (or staff, as a whole), and I would never point out instances of censorship.
In short, it is only fair to consumers (readers) that they know all of the facts about the product they are purchasing.
While I'm not entirely sure what your main argument is Josh, you do make a good point with regards to the mormon over-emphasis over at the Deseret News. It is these instances that people used to originally enact laws such as affirmative action and whatnot. It could be said that, since Utah is predominantly white and mormon, that the odds are in favor of a staff consisting of white mormons. However, that still doesn't explain why there are suddenly no women employed. With that all said though, I won't pretend to be surprised by this situation. Mormon businesses have always had a tendency to be exclusionistic with regards to non-mormons. Your latest example simply shows that modern mormon businessmen will continue to utilize this process of borderline segregation.
its apparrent that you and your staff have a vendetta against the growing newsppaer...what's so wrong with how they do things? are they not to your liking? that's supposedly why you no longer work there.