'Newspapers wanting to improve diversity needn't go it alone'
Remarks
By Jim Strauss
Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune
10.29.02
Jim Strauss, executive editor of the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, was a first recipient of the Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership. Here are Strauss’ remarks in accepting the award at APME in Baltimore on Oct. 24:
When I first read of the Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership a few months ago, I recall thinking what a wonderful idea the award was. And that in an industry not short on contests and awards, this was a fresh idea.
One thing I didn’t think about was being a nominee, much less standing here as a winner.
In winning this award I, of course, first feel very honored. But I also feel a bit guilty. Guilty because I’m winning an award for the parts of my job I love the most. The parts of my job that keep bringing me back for more day after day, year after year. I don’t say that about all of my job:
You can take my budgeting duties.
I gladly would have let you head up the task force I led for the 50-inch web conversion we just completed.
I won’t even get started on reports.
But there are things I won’t give up. Such as:
Meeting with readers and working with my newsroom so we put out a newspaper that reflects the communities we cover and reports on the good and the bad.
And I won’t part with recruiting and developing staff, especially those trips to universities and colleges to talk with classes and meet with student newspapers and to hire interns. I’ve hired well over 100 interns in the past 15 years, and they continue to keep me young with their never-ending energy and keep me in my place with their you-don’t-impress-me attitude.
Let me tell you a little bit about Great Falls, Mont., where I’m editor. Montana is many things; overly diverse is not one of them. Montana is more than 90% white. By far our largest minority population is Native Americans, most of whom live on the seven isolated reservations in the state.
When I first arrived at the Tribune, it was evident that we were out of touch with and under-covering the four reservations in our area. Bringing improved diversity to our newsroom and our pages was a goal set early on.
We have, as this award signifies, made huge progress. But the main point I want to emphasize is that even as a small daily newspaper in rural Montana, we had a lot of help.
It’s a tremendous credit to our industry that if any newspaper — small or large — wants to improve the diversity in its newsroom and in its coverage, it needn’t go it alone. There are countless people to talk with and resources to tap to help achieve that goal.
In Great Falls, I believe I provided desire and commitment, but from there the credit goes to many. I’ve been overwhelmed by the support we have received.
Support from, No. 1, my newsroom. I’ve been asked if our diversity effort was hard to sell to staffers who didn’t get it. It wasn’t. I’ve been asked if our diversity effort created any resentment in our newsroom. It didn’t.
Not when the staff understands that we can provide an important outlet and voice to our Native American readers.
Not when our staff understands that we won’t sell any newspapers in our rural reservation counties if we don’t provide coverage that goes beyond negative breaking news.
Four years ago, shortly after our only Native American staffer had taken another job, staffers in my newsroom commented on how much that voice was missed. They realized we needed that perspective in our newsroom to shape and plan our coverage. It was evident then and still is today that it is a newsroom that gets it.
We’ve received support from my publisher and from the Gannett corporate staff. Gannett is a company that annually reviews its papers to see if our stated commitment to diversity is resulting in more diverse newsrooms and in newspapers that reflect all parts of the communities they cover.
More important, Gannett also is a company that encourages and supports editors striving to improve diversity. Gannett regularly helps fund our minority intern program. Corporate staff embraced our idea for opening a bureau in northern Montana that puts a reporter in much closer proximity to the reservations in our area. The improved coverage of our Native American communities has been noticed and praised.
We’ve received support from the Freedom Forum. Our newsroom is the Freedom Forum’s biggest fan. As we have worked to develop young Native American journalists and to demonstrate to them the challenges and rewards of a career in newspapers, the Freedom Forum has been there to help at every step. We’ve had eight Chips Quinn Scholar interns with us in three years. Two are now with us full time.
And I also must credit APME and ASNE for their many efforts, especially the ASNE/APME Fellows program that they sponsor in conjunction with the Freedom Forum. The fellows program recognizes that one hurdle for smaller papers trying to attract minority journalists is pay. The two-year program supplements the newsroom pay with generous stipends and also provides mentoring, coaching and training for fellows. We have two fellows, and that training not only benefits them but all of our staff.
I also must credit my former employer, Knight Ridder, and the top managers at The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., who supported my efforts to establish a minority recruitment and development program there, where the need was to better cover Fort Wayne’s African-American community. I used my experience in Fort Wayne to build upon in Great Falls.
While in Knight-Ridder, I never had the opportunity to meet Bob McGruder. I certainly knew of his reputation and learned from examples of his leadership that were used often in Knight Ridder meetings and training sessions.
I give a special thanks to the folks in the Gannett corporate news division who suggested to my publisher that I be nominated for this award, and I thank my publisher, Pat Thompson Frantz, and my staff for doing just that.
In closing, let me say that the staff of our newsroom is more diverse. We have more minorities and women on staff and in management. Our news discussions are fuller and the Great Falls Tribune is better because of it.
Our news pages offer far more news from rural Montana and do a far better job of reflecting the area we serve. And the Tribune is better because of it.
Bob McGruder devoted much of his career to opening up our newsrooms and our news pages, and our industry is certainly better because of it.
This award means a lot to me.
Thanks very much.