Tag: ProPublica Illinois
Analysis: Do ProPublica and ProPublica Illinois Have a Black Face Problem?
“The best way to judge us on hiring, in the end, is to look at our numbers,” they say.
On Jan. 1, 2019, I published an op-ed calling out ProPublica and ProPublica Illinois for what I believe to be their blatant hypocrisy. The opinion piece highlighted and called into question their advertising and hiring of Black reporters.
In summary, in 2017, Pro Publica Inc. – their legal name, according to the Delaware Secretary of State website – which is operating as ProPublica newsroom out of Manhattan, New York, decided to expand and open a Midwest regional newsroom. First stop: Chicago.
Louise Kiernan, an associate professor from Northwestern University, was tapped to head the news outlet. ProPublica advertised requirements that appeared to be welcoming and liberal, particularly to people of color. Click here for the details.
Soon thereafter, Ms. Kiernan posted a photo of the new hires in Chicago on her Twitter account. And guess what? There wasn’t one Black reporter to be found.
I took issue with the photo, especially after meeting Ms. Kiernan in person at the Lookingglass Theater in 2017. Please read about my revealing encounter with her here.
Within weeks of publishing my opinion, on Jan. 24, 2019, ProPublica published a report titled: “What ProPublica is Doing About Diversity in 2019.“
Three things stood out about their efforts:
- The report states that their “Diversity Committee” was just formally started – despite them taking on these issues as far back as 2015. Shouldn’t the diversity committee have been formed officially in 2015?
- According to the report, black employees make up 7 percent of their employees. They couched their achievements in percentages and not whole numbers. Why not share real numbers with your readers and followers instead of percentages? And tell a more compelling narrative as you often do with your other data-driven reporting? Unless you’re trying to hide something?
- The diversity committee is headed and co-chaired by Lena Groeger and Liz Sharp, two nonBlack staffers.
Who’s Going to Take the Responsibility?
When ProPublica hired its first Black male reporter – Christopher Sanders – in 2015, it appeared to be aiming toward genuine reform and inclusiveness in its NYC newsroom.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. They haven’t hired another Black male reporter since, and they have 42 nonBlack male reporters in their Manhattan bureau and not a single Black male reporter on the ground in Chicago.
That’s a 42:1 ratio for nonBlack to Black male reporters in NYC.
But it would take ProPublica almost two more years before it hired another Black reporter, this time a female – Talia Buford, in 2017. A remarkable feat, bringing their Black female reporters to two. Thus increasing their Black female reporters by 100 percent in a single stroke.
Ginger Thompson – senior reporter – is the first Black female hired in 2014.
ProPublica has 43 nonBlack female reporters. That’s a 43:2 ratio for nonBlack to Black female reporters in NYC.
In Chicago, there are no Black part- or full-time staff reporters whatsoever.
The 7 percent of Blacks mentioned in their diversity report includes all the Blacks ProPublica employs, including on the business side, Black fellows, and maybe a custodian person or two.
Hone in on the reporters only, and Blacks involved in writing and reporting the news drops to a paltry 3 out of nearly 90 reporters, or 3 percent.
Obfuscating the truth and misleading their followers, content partners, and maybe even their board members appears to be their preferred method of running their newsrooms.
“Board members.”
Yes, the nonprofit has a 15-member board of directors, and two happen to be Black: Danielle S. Allen and Henry Louis Gates Jr., according to their website.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. made national news when a white female neighbor called 911 and reported him as a burglar attempting to break into his own home – in Cambridge, Massachusetts – after returning from China in July 2009.
The prominent professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University was arrested for disorderly conduct by Sgt. James Crowley and the incident sparked international outrage opening the door to the ongoing, contentious debate about race, racial profiling, and white privilege.
Charges were eventually dropped, and both men were invited to the White House for a “Beer Summit” with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Gates was the only Black board member since their founding in 2007 until recently. See the entire board membership here.
Also, ProPublica appears to have only one Black on its 15-member Journalism Advisory Board, Cynthia A. Tucker, which also includes current members such as:
Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, and L Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Topping off their governance boards, there doesn’t appear to be any Black faces among its 18-member Business Advisors, which include current members:
Ann Blinkhorn, founder of Blinkhorn LLC, a reported leader in digital media, and Maria Gotsch, president and CEO of Investment Fund, which funds rising entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors across various sectors.
Click here and scroll towards the bottom to view the entire membership of journalism and business advisors.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
This is what ProPublica said in its very first diversity report in 2015.
“The best way to judge us on hiring, in the end, is to look at our numbers.”
Black female reporters in New York – 2
Black male reporters in New York – 1
Black female reporters in Chicago – 0
Black male reporters in Chicago – 0
And the count for executive managers, board members, and advisors:
Black Board of Directors – 2
Black Journalism Advisory Board – 1
Black Business Advisors – 0
Black executive managers – 0
Let that sink in for a moment before we get to the heart of the matter.
After 5 years of committees, meetings, and vainglorious rhetoric: Why do ProPublica and now ProPublica Illinois have a problem hiring reporters with Black faces?
On Feb. 1, 2019, attorney Jill M. Willis filed a federal lawsuit alleging race, age, and color discrimination.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story . . .
#ProPublicaWhereAreTheBlackReporters?
This story has been updated as of July 18, 2019.
Disclaimer:
This is a personal blog for the above named writer. The views, information and/or opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily represent the views of any entity, organization or company that I may have been affiliated with in the past, present or future.
This blog is for education, information and entertainment purposes. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of any entity other than the author(s) and due to critical thinking these views are subject to change and revision.
Op-Ed: ProPublica & ProPublica Illinois Hit With Discrimination Suit!
“The goal was to encourage Black reporters to come forward . . . “
The award-winning newsroom ProPublica NY and its satellite ProPublica Illinois have both been named as defendants in a federal discrimination lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses the newsrooms of age, race, and color discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991; violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution; violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; and violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 as amended.
On April 12, 2019, I appeared as a guest commentator on WVON AM 1690, where I shared what I experienced with the newsrooms with the WVON listening audience. The goal was to encourage Black reporters to come forward with their stories if they may have encountered similar circumstances.
I want to hear your story – if you or someone you know applied to ProPublica Illinois in 2017 or any other time – please message me at: www.facebook.com/ProPublicawherearetheblackreporters?
Here is the commentary that aired on WVON:
#ProPublicaWhereAreTheBlackReporters?
#FactsMatter
Disclaimer:
This is a personal blog for the above named writer. The views, information and/or opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily represent the views of any entity, organization or company that I may have been affiliated with in the past, present or future.
This blog is for education, information and entertainment purposes. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of any entity other than the author(s) and due to critical thinking these views are subject to change and revision.
Commentary: This is What Happened the First Day I Met ProPublica’s Illinois Editor-in-Chief Louise Kiernan
“Little did I know that our brief encounter would transform my life forever.”
On May 3, 2017, I met ProPublica’s Illinois editor-in-chief, Louise Kiernan, at the Lookingglass Theater, where she was a guest panelist discussing the ethics of investigative journalism.
Initially, I was excited to meet her. We both were attending one of the final performances of “Beyond Caring,” a play about the abuses of Black and Hispanic workers at the hands of the temporary staffing industry.
The play, the brainchild of British playwright Alexander Zeldin, was inspired partly by ProPublica’s 2013 “Temp Land” series, written by their staff reporter Michael Grabell. Grabell and I had met the week before. He encouraged me to apply for a reporter’s position even though I initially missed the deadline of March 24, 2017.
I emailed Mr. Grabell asking if he would forward samples of my work to Ms. Kiernan. Included was a letter of introduction, several links to stories, audio commentary from WVON radio regarding the destruction of the Chicago police misconduct records, and a JPEG of a front-page story I wrote that was soon copied by all the major dailies, including the Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader to name a few.
This was a soft inquiry, and I wanted to know if there was any possibility of applying post-deadline.
Immediately following the play was a panel discussion about ethics moderated by radio station WBEZ. Ms. Kiernan and two other female reporters discussed ethics and discriminatory practices raised in the play. They also fielded questions from the audience about maintaining professionalism when dealing with sensitive matters and where to draw the line when conducting interviews in intimate settings.
Post-discussion, I approached Ms. Kiernan and introduced myself to put a face with the name. Little did I know that our brief encounter would transform my life forever.
After shaking my hand, Ms. Kiernan’s body appeared to recoil. As she struggled with her coat while holding some items in her hand, I approached her as any gentleman would and offered assistance.
She said “No” and turned her back on me.
I was utterly stunned and taken by surprise that the Pulitzer Prize-winner and co-director of Northwestern University’s social justice initiative could be so cold and callous.
I graciously thanked her, turned, and walked away to meet my guest, who witnessed everything from across the room. My guest asked me: “How did it go?” I responded, “I don’t think it went so well.”
There was no reason for a new editor-in-chief and ambassador for the ProPublica news organization to react negatively, condescending, and dismissively. Inside, I felt deeply humiliated and profoundly violated, but I was determined not to be discouraged.
After all, this was my first time meeting her, and all I wanted to do was introduce myself and work for the celebrated newsroom.
In an interview with Broadway World News Desk, playwright Zeldin summed up his work: ” . . . I’ve found that looking at the lives of those working in the conditions of the temporary economy, the margins of society, says so much about the moral, spiritual, and emotional place that the country is in, much like it did the UK.
It tells us about how the sentiment that lives are to be lived with dignity, respect and a sense of value is only a hollow set of words. But it says something else, too — here in the U.S., it tells us about race in this country . . .”
ProPublica and ProPublica Illinois: I deserved much better!
Stay tuned for this developing story.
#ProPublicWhereAreTheBlackReporters?
Disclaimer:
This is a personal blog for the writer named above. The views, information, and/or opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer. They do not necessarily represent the views of any entity, organization, or company with which I may have been affiliated in the past, present, or future.
This blog is for education, information, and entertainment purposes. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of any entity other than the author(s), and due to critical thinking, these views are subject to change and revision.
Defending Chicago 