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Changing Hawaii
IMAGINE if we all looked alike. Or talked alike. Or loved and hated the same things. Only one letter in the alphabet could describe such an existence. Zzzzzz... The secret of a
diverse newsroomThankfully, this is not the case, especially here. Just look at the bylines in the Honolulu dailies, or at the on-air talent on local TV newscasts, to appreciate the various ethnicities that populate these islands.
But want to know a secret? Newspaper editors and TV news directors don't hire these journalists because they think you can relate to the same race telling you the news. Puh-lease. That would be insulting.
It's because they're trying to do what journalism scholar Victor Merina espoused earlier this week, as featured speaker at the 18th annual Carol Burnett Fund for Responsible Journalism Ethics Program at the University of Hawaii.
Merina was an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times for 20 years before moving to New York to become a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Poynter Institute. Currently, he is compiling a database of news stories on race relations.
The last time Merina was in Hawaii was in 1992, when he happily accepted an L.A. Times assignment to go to Kauai -- until learning the assignment was Hurricane Iniki. Yikes.
Click here for the full text of Victor Merina's speech at the 18th annual Carol Burnett Fund for Responsible Journalism Ethics Program at the University of Hawaii. FULL TEXT
After weeks of roaming the Garden Island, hunkered down at a hotel with working phones but neither running water nor electricity, he discovered "the resiliency and generosity of the Hawaii people, even during a time of disaster."
But Merina's admiration for local residents hasn't blinded him to our ability to all get along, all the time. Neither will he fall for the line that covering "cultures" is easier here than on the mainland, because journalists of different races are on news staffs.
What's the definition of "cultures" anyway, Merina asks rhetorically, before answering the query himself:
"Clearly, we are talking about race and ethnicity, but aren't we also talking about family culture? Socio-economic status? Educational background? Religious or secular affiliation? The people we hang out with? Even our athletic interests because, after all, aren't bowling, stock car racing and professional wrestling considered 'cultures' all to themselves?"
Merina's message is this: Newsrooms must reflect the populations they serve but not only with respect to skin color.
Because if their employees DON'T mirror the real world when it comes to age, gender, marital status, religion, hobbies, passions, dislikes, etc., they probably can't please a versatile readership/audience.
BE honest. Did you really think newspaper editors and TV news directors hired multi-racial talent because they were blatantly trying to pander to ethnic pride?
Nah. Granted, by perusing bylines or watching talking heads on TV, it's often easy to discern whether the writer or speaker is Asian or Caucasian or Polynesian or whatever.
But look closer. Who are they, really? Where did they come from? What made them what they are today? They -- and the especially important ones behind the scenes -- pick what is scintillating or vital enough to get covered, and how it is to be conveyed.
And that decision depends on a whole lot more than whether their ancestors came from the East or the West, North or South.
The reason you can relate to some media people and not others is because of the whole package -- their life experiences -- not just race.
That's why you don't hate everybody (we hope) bringing you the news. Or worse, imagine if you LIKED everybody. Zzzzzz...
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.