The AP’s New Man on the ‘Race and Ethnicity’ Beat
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David Paulin, American Thinker, July 21, 2008
The Associated Press just announced an important change in a high-profile news beat that’s overseen by its national desk—a beat called “race and ethnicity.”
AP’s editors, perhaps sensing a racially charged presidential election at hand, picked a writer from 449 candidates they’d been considering for their new “race and ethnicity” writer. And last week, they named the lucky writer, a long-time AP staffer named Jesse Washington. Previously, the 39-year-old journalist was the “entertainment editor” at America’s most influential news outlet, the source from which most Americans get their news from outside the areas covered by their local newspapers and TV and radio stations.
Earlier in his career, [Jesse Washington, a long-time AP staffer] was an editor at two prominent hip-hop magazines. And recently, he published his first novel: “Black Will Shoot,” which is about America’s hip-hop culture. Its cover jacket calls it a “compelling look at the most impactful (sic) and influential cultural movements of the past thirty years.”
{snip}
So what does the AP’s “race and ethnicity” beat mean for the type of news coverage Americans can expect?
In . . . the post-modern journalism world, beats like “race and ethnicity” have become popular. And in a sense, they often feed the perception—the false perception—that America’s race relations are in the dire state that’s usually portrayed in the mainstream media’s stories.
How come? First, consider the very first bias that invariably creeps into a news story: It’s that reporters and editors even choose to write a story about something; and in the case of a news beat, they have to produce stories on a particular issue on a regular basis. By itself, the decision to create a news beat says a lot; for it defines a particular subject as being an issue—one worthy of news space and air time. And a news beat also places a certain onus on reporters and editors.
Those covering “race and ethnicity” beats, for instance, are expected to flesh out the basic elements of a story. And the very best stories, of course, invariably revolve around conflict and controversy. But what if no obvious conflict or controversy exist? Well, for clever reporters entertaining a certain worldview, it’s usually easy to come up with something.
{snip}
And so then, the “news beats” created by editors say much about what those editors think is important, reflects the potential conflicts they believe are festering all around them. According to his memo on Washington’s promotion, published at trade magazine Editor & Publisher, AP’s manging editor of U.S. news, Mike Oreskes wrote:
“Few subjects permeate every corner of American life more fully than issues of race and ethnicity. {snip}
Does race in fact “permeate every corner of American life” as Oreskes claims? There is good reason to believe that it does not, at least not in the way Oreskes and his AP colleagues think it does. And certainly not in the way Barack and Michelle Obama may say or imply. And definitely not the way that’s described by Obama’s former hate-filled minister and spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright, who recently resigned as pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.
{snip}
Yet Washington, rather than considering himself a lucky insider, considers himself an outsider, at least if Oreskes’ memo is anything to go by. The memo not only calls attention to Washington’s considerable achievements, it portrays him as something of a scrappy contender—and even a victim. According to Oreskes’ memo:
“Jesse brings to this new assignment more than just a resume of achievements. He has lived the subject of race and ethnicity every day of his 39 years.
Son of an interracial marriage, Jesse is, as he puts it, ‘a kid from the projects who went to Yale and married a doctor. I’m a person who fits in everywhere and nowhere.’” {snip}
Given the AP’s evident preoccupation with race and ethnicity, it’s interesting that Oreskes’ memo makes no mention of Washington’s own racial or ethnic background; but a photo of him posted with the AP’s online news release reveals what is all but obvious: he appears black.
But perhaps the failure of Oreskes’ memo to mention Washington’s race is consistent with some of the AP’s news coverage. Recent AP articles about gang violence in the nation’s inner cities, Chicago in particular, made absolutely no mention of the racial or ethnic background of the young thugs rampaging through city streets with high-powered weapons. It took a little Googling to learn that Chicago’s gangbangers are part of the city’s dysfunctional black culture.
Washington himself has been guilty of such oversights during the early part of his AP career in the mid-1990s. Writing in October, 1993, about Detroit’s annual “Devil’s Night”—an arson spree occurring on Halloween—Washington made no mention of the ethnic or racial backgrounds of the young thugs torching vacant buildings during a night of mayhem that “added insult to the city’s already injured reputation.” (“Detroit Hopes to Stifle Devil’s Night Fires Again,” AP, Oct. 1992.) {snip}
According to a check of Factiva, the news archive, Washington wrote a variety of stories while assigned to the AP’s national desk in the 1990s, the kinds of stories one might expect on the national beat—crime, political scandals, etc. But he returned repeatedly to stories about race. And invariably, the stories on race that really “moved” on the wires (get picked up by lots of newspapers across the country), involved those that highlighted an earlier period of racism in America’s history.
{snip}
Americans, of course, ought to reconsider their history and look back on their past. But in the post-modern journalism world, the approach to news coverage that does that inevitably has a cynical tone—the equivalent of repeatedly tearing a scab off an old wound. And invariably, progress in the nation’s race relations is never noted; it never stresses what America has accomplished, thanks to Americans of all colors working together. Instead, news stories are invariably about white Americans have done to black Americans; {snip}
{snip}
Of course, it may never be possible to eliminate every vestige of individual racial prejudice; we humans, after all, are imperfect creatures. The more important issue is whether lingering white racism plays a significant role in the treatment of blacks or other racial or ethnic minorities in the United States today. Here, the record is unmistakable and irrefutable.
By every measure, barriers based on race have essentially disappeared.
But don’t expect the AP to concede that. Indeed, when announcing Washington’s promotion to its “race and ethnicity” beat, the AP’s official news story reiterated Oreskes’ memo, and it called attention to Washington’s first assignment:
“Few subjects permeate every corner of American life—and can expand our understanding of America—more than issues of race and ethnicity. The presidential candidacy of Barack Obama will be an early focus of Washington’s coverage, as well as topics such as immigration and the Arab experience in America.”
So there you have it: AP’s game plan for covering the presidential election. It’s all about race. It will be interesting to see how Washington covers such issues, because perhaps he does not in fact agree with his editors. Indeed, one can only hope his reporting is infused with the perception and intelligence that was evident in an AP story he wrote in December, 1993, “An Explosive Word Still Divides the Black Community.”
That word, of course, was the n-word.
{snip}
(Posted on July 21, 2008)
Comments
Mr. Paulin is right on the mark: The Associated Press cannot be trusted when it comes to reporting on race. I noted the AP trending this way for years as a newspaper reporter. AP reporting on racial conflict in the early to middle 1960s was pretty matter-of-fact; I can recall a story about 20 blacks jumping onto a street car and beating up every White they saw in which the writer said the blacks were reportedly “reeking of beer.” That line would never, ever, make the final cut in an AP story now. Jesse Washington, their new nabob of race and ethnicity, sounds like an Obama type: half black, half White, but contemptuous of his White heritage and probably striving to be “black enough.” I’d say we can expect many White-bashing stories to come from his PC (personal computer in this case, although “politically correct” would probably be more apropos.)
Posted by Wayne Engle at 6:25 PM on July 21
Why are there no White male Christian heterosexual “diversity” consultants and diversity managers? Because those jobs were created to benefit anyone but White male Christian heterosexuals.
Posted by at 6:34 PM on July 21
After reading this story by David Paulin of the American Thinker I’m left with the impression that there are two realities. America is overrun with white supremacy and privilege, or things really aren’t that bad. How is that different from the mainstream press?
Posted by Dr. Smith at 7:33 PM on July 21
First he was the AP’s entertainment editor. How he’s the AP’s race editor. With the way the AP treats race, they needed someone who had experience with mindless amusements, trivialities and fiction.
Posted by Question Diversity at 9:22 PM on July 21
A sane person needs to google to ascertain the ethnicity of a group of rioters lootin, shooting’ an’ scootin’? I defy someone to name the last time federal government fearing whites did this. On the other hand the fascist government protected minorities can terrorize without fear of reprisal. Yes Dorothy racism is still prevalent but only one side is enabled to carry out their agenda. Political correctness is fueled by white fear of the minority hoards.
Posted by THE OLD SAGE at 9:41 PM on July 21
In the past I was startled by a couple of events hearing n-word used in public. One time it was a white-male crane operator shouting out in question, “Where are the n-words (workers dropped off from a temp agency) supposed to go?” They were in the way of his crane and he wanted to get back to work. One of the black workers had made his way to me when he said this. The other white guy and I were kind of put in an uncomfortable position, being in a public downtown area in a city and not being white people who use n-word. We expressed confusion to the black guy that the crane operator was talking this way.
It was no later than a couple of days that I found myself at a municipal park. As I made my way into the facility I met the black caretaker. He was a friendly gray-bearded black man in his sixties. The black temp was with me. The caretaker warmly greeted him with, “Hey my n-word. How ya doin?” My eyes automatically went to the temp. This was a new experience. The temp seemed unsettled the caretaker had spoken this way in front of me. The question in my eyes was one of wondering if this friendly use of n-word was normal talk. Apparently it is.
For all their whining about how the white man is oppressing them and complaining about how the white man needs to give them more stuff, ownership of n-word seems to be the only area where blacks have made it explicit that as a basic sign of respect, whites are not to use this word. To preserve a sense of dignity, they have made this a line in the sand that one crosses at their own peril. So I acknowledge this one clear demand for respect and act accordingly. This makes it all the more irritating when I see blacks taunting white people to say n-word.
Posted by Drew at 10:20 PM on July 21
Print journalism is on the way out, so I don’t suggest this guy get too comfortable. In the coming hard times, there won’t be a budget for frilly jobs like this.
Posted by at 11:16 PM on July 21
I’m glad to see that his Yale education was ‘impactful’ on his writing.
Posted by at 7:53 AM on July 22
“So what does the AP’s “race and ethnicity” beat mean for the type of news coverage Americans can expect?”
More PC - Group Think - Mind Control, of course. No committed Ideologue is an Innovator, so you can expect more of the same. Only now a Dumb and Dumber version that will be uncritically praised for its “impactfulness” and, (hell, why not?) “imaginativity.”
“In … the post-modern journalism world, beats like “race and ethnicity” have become popular.”
But of course they have; and why? Because its practitioners can appear hip and enlightened without having to do anything. They’ve just got to believe. And, of course, ruthlessly demonize anyone who is on to them and won’t drink the Kool-Aid.
“And in a sense, they often feed the perception—THE FALSE PERCEPTION (emphasis mine)—that America’s race relations are in the dire state that’s usually portrayed in the mainstream media’s stories.”
Do ya hear that folks? They get crazier by the minute. Dishonest and Crazy.
The AP IS the MSM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But anyway, the above paragraph is obviously a bit of carefully orchestrated damage control in an election year when, surprise, surprise, a “Black” person is “Running” for President. (“Running for President”? Ha, what a laugh. How about “Is Being Strategically and Aggressively Inserted Into the White House By the REAL OWNERS of This Country.” Brought to you by the same ones responsible for Mass Immigration).
What an absurd and stupid article. Plus, notice two other things.
1- the condescending tone of voice. As if they alone know that it’s “false” and that reality just isn’t what it is until THEY fill us in.
2- that the MSM is stuck applying the same old techniques of Mind Control that a HUGE chunk of the White public has been actively transcending for a number of years now.
The main point not to be missed is actually one that has little to do with Race. The craziness and dishonesty is the inevitable fate of all rigid Ideologies. As they say in Family Systems, “the sicker the system the more RIGID the Roles.” Rigid Roles, Narrow Point of View, Limited Reality, and Symptomatic Behavior, ie; Crazy and Dishonest. After that their motto becomes “Millions for the Ideology, Not one red cent for Reality.
THIS is the reason I support Race REALISM, and Immigration REALISM and What I call “Family Realism or, Social Realism, since we are all socialized and the socialization process begins with the family. Not because these movements are “True” but because they are commited to uncovering facts and responding accordingly. In short, because these movements are more sane, sober, and adult. In other words, they’re healthier.
Posted by Dedalus at 10:59 AM on July 22
I have race and ethnicity , but it’s not fashionable to be educated , white and proud to be from Goddodin. Only non whites get to have the super double plus good “Ethnicity.”
Posted by Len at 1:38 PM on July 22
Print journalism is on the way out, so I don’t suggest this guy get too comfortable. In the coming hard times, there won’t be a budget for frilly jobs like this.
Posted by at 11:16 PM on July 21
This is the very reason he was hired. If he can get attention through trendy PC articles, more papers will be sold.
Posted by Whiteplight at 2:57 PM on July 22
“I’m glad to see that his Yale education was ‘impactful’ on his writing.”
Posted by at 7:53 AM on July 22
This needs posting twice!
But it appears that he and GW Bush had the same professor!
Posted by Whiteplight at 2:59 PM on July 22
“Black man selected among 449 applicants to cover race beat”
Could that be an Onion headline or what?
Posted by Hugh Lincoln at 3:26 PM on July 22