| Feb. 8, 12:15 EDT |
Diversity needed in newsrooms to better reflect society, forum told |
| Avery Haines episode cited as example of media insensitivity |
Nicholas Keung
STAFF REPORTER |
| When Marcie Ien first started reporting for CTV News in Halifax a few years ago, she felt like a messiah to the black community there. ``They looked at me as a reporter who came to rescue them to get the black issues out,'' recalled the Toronto news anchor, one of the few black Canadians who holds such a position. ``To the whites, I was considered as a safe black because I was a reporter and I was articulate.'' Ien and other speakers at a forum on ``race and media'' yesterday said ethnically diverse newsrooms are a starting point to bring about changes - and sensitivity - in covering racial issues. The forum, organized by the Black Law Students' Association at York University, was one of many events in Toronto to mark Black History Month, which celebrates the achievements and culture of people of African heritage. Ien said she often comes across news copy with phrases like ``three black youths apprehended at store robbery.'' ``They're apprehended. So why are we talking about their colour?'' she said to about 60 listeners. Ien was not amused by the on-air flub by one of her ex-colleagues, former CTV Newsnet anchor Avery Haines, who last year created a furor when she joked, after a verbal stumble, that ``I kind of like the stuttering thing. It's like equal opportunity, right?'' Haines went on to say: ``We've got a stuttering newscaster. We've got the black, we've got the Asian, we've got the woman. I could be a lesbian, folk-dancing, black woman stutterer.'' ``I was really offended,'' Ien said. ``Avery is a lovely woman and I was shocked that she said something like that. I think it highlighted that diversity in the newsroom is still necessary.'' Ashante Infantry, one of six black writers and reporters at The Star, agreed. The six-year veteran at the paper said one of the most frequent questions she gets is whether she was assigned to a black-related story because of her skin colour. ``Reporters reach out to write about particular issues of their interest, like education and health policy. I write about things that appeal to me,'' she explained. ``But when they ask me to do something because I'm black, whether my skills make a contribution to the story or not, that offends me.'' Infantry said most reporters of colour may feel obliged to cover their own community but at the same time don't want to be pigeonholed. ``I don't feel I'm obliged to write those stories, but I do have the responsibility to have the community covered accurately and fairly,'' she said. The speakers at the forum agreed Canada's media outlets lag in reflecting the country's diversity. ``But every step is a step forward. There is still a long way to go and it definitely wasn't the way it was when I started (in the business) 10 years ago,'' said Ien. |
Courtesy of the Toronto Star
February 08, 2001
Previous Coverage of the Avery Haines Controversy
Racism in Corporate Canada Media: CTV NewsNet anchor Avery
Haines insults Blacks on-air in an anti-black diatribe
Loose lips sink NewsNet anchor
Canada TV firm fires announcer for abusive comments
Dropped anchor supported in polls
CTV fires Newsnet anchor after she makes off-the-cuff comments that
minorities found offensive
CTV Newsnet Anchor Dismissed Newswire Press Release
This is CTV. You will not be funny Christie Blatchford
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