Friday, April 06, 2007

Albany Times-Union Tries To Outdo Itself Trying to be Politically Correct

Ghetto, What Ghetto?
The Times-Union in Albany, N.Y. has been in a lather much of this week over what might otherwise be viewed as a throwaway tag line at the end of a story about a rape near a downtown bar.
As a T-U editor's blog explained, a reporter was sent out to supplement the March 31 article b y Brendan Lyons with reaction from bar patrons about the assault. One person, who lives in a town just outside the city remarked: ``That's the thing with Albany, there's always a ghetto nearby.''
A few things: First off, that's not true, although the heavily minority Arbor Hill and South End neighborhoods are in the vicinity of the bar. Second, even if it was true, the woman raped said she was attacked by a white man.
So, we have a case where someone is tacitly blaming minorities for what happened, even though a person of color was apparently not involved. Debatable, then, whether such a quote should have made its way into the story, even though there always is that temptation to end a story with a saucy quote, relevant or not.
Well, the T-U brass came down square against using the ghetto quote, in a blog entry on April 2 penned by managing editor Mary Fran Gleason titled "We Made A Mistake." She took the unusual and highly dubious step of publicly taking those involved out to the woodshed.

The reporter exercised utterly poor judgment by including the quote when she updated Brendan’s original story. Ditto for the night city editor who failed to delete the quote and for the copy editors who also failed to red-line it.

So much for the buck stops here.

Depending on your Albany frame of reference, "ghetto" is not necessarily code for minority. Hundreds of SUNY Albany (my alma mater) students live off campus in what is commonly referred to as the student ghetto. Nothing sinister intended. It's what everybody called it, plain and simple.
True, the context for the article in question was different. Either way, it didn't merit Gleason's response, especially one so public. These are the types of issues you handle in-house. Newspapers have enough problems without letting their dirty laundry hanging in the breeze. For readers offended by the remark, a proper response could have been issued without having to point fingers. Gleason should know better.
Going by her own standards, she is ultimately the one who has to be held accountable. But that would be too much to expect. Maybe the blog entry should have been titled "We Made A Mistake (Well, Not Me)."


4 comments:

Anika said...

I applaud Gleason. Whover made the comment about Gleason is the one drawing attention the the Times Union's dirty laundry. Obviously the person who made the comment "ghetto" in the first place practices stereotypical behaviors. We are aware as people that this happens all the time. However the media (tv,newpaper, etc) has the responsibility to use discretion in regards to the news they produce. If there were more people in this world such as Gleason this world would be a better place. I was born and raised in Albany and never in my life have i heard Suny students being refered to as Ghetto students and if they have only Suny students are aware of it. As people let's take responsibility. people definitly have a right to their opinion. However it does not make everyones opion appropriate for the newspaper. I can gurantee you that if the comment was an offensive coment towards a Caucasian person this would be a big scandal in Albany. In otherwards it is not about tit for tat, however the person making the comment about Suny students in my eyes tried to justfy a statement that was totally in appropriate for print and I also dont feel like He/she cares if the comment is offensive to minoritys. This happens all over the country. Look at the nappy hair comment from the radio station guy. Is there a justification for that too. Oh and lets not forget there is alot of crime that goes on in prodominently white neiborhoods too wether it's being published or not. I wonder how the person feels now who made the "Ghetto" comment feels now that it was said to be a white man who commited the rape. This is not just comming from an African American women but a person. For we all bleed the same blood so in God's eyes no one race is more inferior or superior then the next we are equal. If one man could realize that. Peace

Anika said...

I was so into it I did not spell check. sorry

Anika said...

Please send a response to my email at Nahgina@yahoo.com

Anika said...

I applaud Gleason. Whoever made the comment about Gleason is the real colprit drawing attention to the Times Union's dirty laundry. Obviously the person who made the "ghetto" comment in the first place practices steryotypical behaviors. We are aware that many people do this often. However the media (tv, newspaper, etc.) has the responsibility to use discretion in regards to the news they produce. If there were more people in the world such as Gleason, this world would be a better place. I was born and raised in Albany and never in my life have I heard of suny students beig refered to as ghetto students. If this is the case only suny students and employee's know about it, not the rest of the capitol region. Lets be honest here, people have a right to their opinion. However it does not make everyone's opinion appropriate for the newspaper. I probably can gurantee you that if the comment was an offensive comment toward a caucasian person it would be inappropriate also but it would be a big scandal going down in Albany. In other words it is not about tit for tat, however, the person making the comment about suny students in my eyes tried to justify a statement that was totally inappropriate for print. Nor does he/she care if the statement is offensive to minorities. This happens all over the county. Look at the radio station guy being accused of his nappy hair statements. Is there justification for that also. Oh and please lets not forget that there is alot of crime in prodominently white neigborhoods also (drug and alcohol usage of minors) is just one unreported or not crime goes on there also. I wonder how the person who made the ghetto comment feels now that it was said to be a white man who committed the rape. This is not just coming from an African American women but a person. For we all bleed the same blood and in God's eyes no one race is more superior or inferior then the next, we are all equal in his eyes. Unfortunitely not in man's eyes. That's one to grow on!!!! peace