Diversity Diaries: Narda Zacchino

By Narda Zacchino
Senior editor, San Francisco Chronicle

08.01.01

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Years ago the Los Angeles Times had extensive coverage of the Hillside Strangler serial murder case. Every new suburban victim was a front-page story, and a team of reporters was assigned to the Strangler beat. Not long thereafter, a new serial murderer was on the loose — the Skid Row Slasher — killing mostly African-American prostitutes, and the coverage was totally different. It was reported often as a brief — a couple of graphs on the victims.

A young African-American assistant city editor finally went into the metro editor's office and suggested that the coverage was less thorough than the first story because these victims were black, while the Strangler's victims were white. How else to explain the inequitable treatment, she asked. The metro editor quickly saw the point and assigned a team of reporters to look into the story, resulting in a Page One piece and more extensive coverage of the case. The young assistant city editor eventually became a popular lifestyle columnist.

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Diversity Diaries is a collection of true stories from newspaper people around the country who have experienced or observed pivotal moments in diversity.  10.04.01