“It’s not their kind of newspaper. It’s too big, it’s too stuffy. If you will, it’s too complicated.”
That’s then Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler referring to the need to attract Latino and African-American readers. He made the remark in 1978. And Chandler was considered the modernizer of the Times.
From an excellent look at the Times’ coverage of the Latino communities, Shades of Brown by Daniel Hernandez at LA Weekly.
“‘If I’m not in it, it means that the other readers don’t know about me.’ This is a far more profound conclusion. It means the L.A. Times is a separating force,” Parks says. “What Frank got me to see was that the Times had been approaching the Latino communities as ‘Them,’ as the ‘Other.’ We had to approach the coverage as, it’s about ‘Us.'”
(Sometimes it seems to NewMexiKen it’s like no one has ever heard of the motto of the United States: E pluribus unum. Out of many, one. Hello!)
Thanks to Annette’s Notebook for the link. A fascinating article.