'We can't be a great newspaper if we don't reflect our community'

Remarks

By Don Flores
El Paso (Texas) Times

10.29.02

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Don Flores, editor of the El Paso (Texas) Times, was a first recipient of the Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership. Here are Flores' remarks in accepting the award at APME in Baltimore on Oct. 24:

Thank you APME, ASNE and the Freedom Forum for this very special recognition of our diversity efforts at the El Paso Times. More importantly, I thank you for accepting Bob McGruder’s challenge of making diversity a top priority in our industry and for recognizing best practices.

Last year, Bob won the John S. Knight Gold Medal, the highest honor given to an employee of Knight Ridder, parent company of Bob’s Detroit Free Press.

In receiving the award, Bob said, “I stand for diversity. I represent the African-Americans, Latinos, Arab-Americans, Asians, Native Americans, gays and lesbians, women, and all the others we must see represented in our business offices, newsrooms and our newspapers if we truly want to meet the challenge of serving our communities.”

In that one sentence, Bob said it all.

His passion and his commitment to diversity were clear.

For me, it’s about attitude. I have an attitude when it comes to diversity. I believe my views on diversity at times intimidate some folk. They shouldn’t. I believe very strongly that as journalists we need to understand and appreciate difference. While we don’t have to like diversity and change, I believe we do have to understand it. And I believe that we need to demonstrate daily that we understand the changing world in which we live.

I am convinced that our staff at the El Paso Times gets it. And we are very thankful that our colleagues at Gannett enthusiastically support our efforts.

Friends, our future lives in the bright minds and the caring hands of a very diverse nation. People of color and others from diverse communities will be vital to our survival as a business. They will be our staffers, supervisors, managers and editors. More importantly, they will be our readers and advertisers.

Without newsroom diversity, we will not be able to relate to our communities.

In El Paso, the future is now. Eighty percent of our market is minority. Seventy-six percent is Hispanic. Twenty-six percent of the population speaks only Spanish. With this comes the challenge of communicating with them.

At the Times, I believe our staff embraces my “attitude.” It is a passion that is defined as a commitment that our newsroom — including our managers and supervisors — reflect the region’s population. Additionally, it means that the topics we cover are of special interest to our diverse market. And it means that our news pages reflect our community — that the photos, illustrations, sources and experts we quote in our stories are representative of our community. It’s our mission to publish a newspaper that looks like and feels like El Paso. It is unacceptable to do otherwise.

We strongly believe that we cannot be a great newspaper if we do not reflect our community in our newsroom and in our news pages.

Great journalism is what we are all about.

I pray that over time we can live up to Bob McGruder’s vision. For too long, Bob and a few others have stood alone in their fight for diversity.

On behalf of a very appreciative staff at the El Paso Times, thank you, APME, ASNE and the Freedom Forum. And special thanks to the Bob McGruder family and his many friends who made this award possible.

Thank you.