The New York Times ‘preaching the gospel of diversity, but not following it,’ says editor

The New York Times is “preaching the gospel of diversity, but not following it,” according to Liz Spayd, the public editor for the news organization.

“Only two of the 20-plus reporters who covered the presidential campaign for The New York Times were black. None were Latino or Asian. That’s less diversity than you’ll find in Donald Trump’s Cabinet thus far. Of The Times’s newly named White House team, all six are white, as is most everyone in the Washington bureau,” Ms. Spayd writes in a surprising new essay published by The Times.

“Metro has only three Latinos among its 42 reporters, in a city with the second largest Hispanic population in the country. Sports has one Asian man, two Hispanics and no African-Americans among its 21 reporters, yet blacks are plentiful among the teams they cover and the audience they serve. In the Styles section, every writer is white, while American culture is anything but,” she continues.

“The executive editor, Dean Baquet, is African-American. The other editors on his masthead are white. The staff with the most diversity? The news assistants, who mostly do administrative jobs and get paid the least.”

Ms. Spayd concludes: “It is possible to change this. But The Times will need more humility, introspection and openness than has been its habit in the past.”