Rocky Mountain Hire

...That came from practices that were in effect in this country which had their origins in Europe...

...A nother sign that management is prepared to take "aggressive steps" to reduce the presence and influence of white men is seen in the Rocky' s new hiring and promotion policies...

...Later, I passed a roll of toilet tissue to a female editor in the Clearwater office...

...Now the politicians were being invited in to help direct the newspaper's coverage...

...We did this through a series of games and exercises that involved a lot of touching and being touched by strangers...

...If that were not enough incentive to choose the minority candidate, the memo ends on this riveting note: Twenty-five percent of the [managers'] bonus of each vice president and department head involved in employment decisions shall be dependent on their adherence to the procedures of this program and the company's overall progress toward achieving the program's objectives...

...Strutton's message was headlined, "Valuing Diversity—Rocky Mountain News Creates a Win-Win Situation": When I returned to the News after spending about nine years at several other newspapers, I looked around at the executive meetings and said, "We're all white males and there's something wrong with this picture...

...Nonetheless, it's still my impression that a white male desiring upward mobility in journalism will want to avoid confrontations with the Fongs of this world...

...The wonderful thing about this program is that it is win-win...

...For one thing, task force participants began turning up in puff pieces about Denver's movers and shakers...

...Managers were warned not to take lightly the presence of DTF members...

...For example, if we have ten hires, this goal can be met by hiring five Hispanic women...

...Instead he took the more common step of instituting a series of re-education sessions entitled "Diversity 2000," whose purpose he explained in his article: "If you start adding a greater percentage of diversity to the workforce without giving people exposure as to what it's about and why it's important, you build up a lot of resentment and a lot of 'us against them' feelings...

...Yet this lighthearted quip was completely misinterpreted by our task force member, who responded to the brief item with a memo of several thousand heated words...

...What's it like to have a run-in with a Diversity Task Force member...

...His employee was talented, hard working—a sure hit...

...While this plan was theoretical and did not target people already working, its message was clear enough—and especially chilling in a time of newspaper industry downsizing...

...There is no alternative...

...The article, written by four female reporters, appears to be another typical news media spin that Americans have grown accustomed to seeing...

...I've encouraged Joe to look at your newspaper, and other publications, because I think in the next few years he will move farther and faster taking that approach...

...Any minority employee who applies for transfer within the company but is not selected to fill the position shall receive a letter from either the department head involved in the employment decision, or the vice president to whom the department head reports, and/or from the Human Resources Department representative involved in the employmentdecision, stating the reason/s the minority employee was not selected for the position and specifying skills, training, or experience required to enable that employee to be a more qualified candidate for transfer and advancement in the future...

...Women are often introduced in stories as "attractive...

...For purposes of disclosure, this correspondent, who is white as a bleached skull, worked at the Rocky Mountain News for nearly six years, leaving recently for Virginia and self-employment...

...A memorandum from the paper's vice president for labor and human resources explained the new policy: DTF members would sit in on interview sessions, where they would participate "by asking questions that will increase cultural awareness...

...Watching management devising and implementing affirmative action plans can be as amusing as watching dancing bears being trained to roller skate...

...Polls do show that female newspaper readership is off nationwide: two decades ago, 78 percent of women said they read the paper every day, while only 60 percent do now...

...In other words, from here on out, a political officer with a serious interest in not furthering the prospects of any white male applicants would be present at interviews...

...The controversy arose over a short item that must be presented in its entirety in order to understand the DTF mindset...

...Nonetheless, they are blatantly discriminatory...

...Old White Joe, wherever he is now, knows better...

...His problem, however, was that he was a white guy...

...Observed Mr...

...The memo went so far as to suggest that it might be time for the paper's white males to consider other professional activities, which sent one white male columnist into the author's office in a rage...

...Indeed, there are many white male managers who have made a mission out of implementing affirmative action plans, whether Gannett's odious Al Neuharth or the Rocky's quite pleasant Larry Strutton, whose various titles include publisher, president, and chief executive officer of the Rocky Mountain News...

...It's all part and parcel of a master scheme," said an immigration official...

...Fong, for that is her name, and sample the tenor of her protest: While it's not necessarily clear that the Chinese who are coming here are doing so for political or economic reaThe American Spectator December 1995 47 sons, I feel it is hardly fair for you to characterize them as some sort of special threat which must be dealt with...

...A summing up of the editorial page's sins was contained in an internal task force document tallying members' complaints...

...It fell under the general rubric "Editorial page is biased, too conservative, and not balanced...

...In other words, failure to discriminate will endanger a manager's pocketbook and career...

...Its sins...

...Stereotypical descriptive labels are attached to women...

...I seem to recall the Spanish Inquisition wasn't exactly known for having gentle methods of extracting information...

...W ell, maybe they ought to be, and not only because their boss had promised to hold them back whenever possible...

...And let's not forget the ingenious ways that a number of European and American clergymen extracted confessions or "proved" large numbers of women were witches...

...A ffirmative action is much written about in the abstract, but how does it really work...

...A gregarious fellow with a winning smile, Strutton worked his way up from the Rocky's composing room, left Denver for high jobs at several prominent papers, and returned to command the Rocky in its fight with the Denver Post...

...It could also be met by hiring five white women and five black, Hispanic, or American Indian men...

...the Times, he has handled difficult assignments with dispatch and accuracy...

...Now, back to the story, in which Ms...

...Ruth Shalit, who holds the Molly Ivins chair in Acceptable Plagiarism at the New Republic, recently reported in that magazine that race-conscious policies at the Washington Post may place incompetent minorities in jobs they shouldn't have, and that the paper trims its coverage in sensitive areas for the purpose of reducing racial tensions...

...It is also determined to change characteristics that are much more than skin-deep...

...The Rocky's reform strategy took the paper on a new course that overturned a few historic journalistic credos...

...in Los Angeles, where we had a heavy Hispanic population and a lot of Hispanic employees...

...I'd had a wonderful experience in Detroit, where the black population in the city limits is much higher than the white population...

...Affirmative action supporters are fond of pointing out that America's management class remains white male territory, and thus will not be changed without government-backed arm twisting...

...O'Grady: "When I returned to the News after spending about nine years at several other newspapers, I looked around at the executive meetings and said, 'We're all white males and there's something wrong with this picture...

...He is leaving me after a one-year internship for a very straightforward reason...

...It happens that this correspondent once collided with one of its leading lights...

...If you have concerns generally about the influx of immigrants, then say so...

...The direction such changes would go was never in question...

...That's the nub of it...

...This may reflect a perceived shallowness in the current talent pool (though in truth it takes only medium intelligence to run most newspapers, as white guys have been proving for years), or it may confirm the suspicion that senior management has exempted itself from these rules...

...Most notable was in the composition of the TFW, whose mission it was to determine how to make the paper more "female friendly...

...We have information that there are dozens of [Chinese smuggling] ships out there...

...s there hope for the white man who hopes to enter the profession that made room for Dickens, Hemingway, and Marx...

...The pace of advancement for young reporters at the Times is glacial...

...The political nature of the undertaking was reflected in Strutton's greeting to TFW participants, which beganby a retelling of that traumatic day at an executive meeting when he "looked around and said, 'It's all male and it's all white.'" He then assured participants that his actions were not appreciated by the old guard: "Quite frankly, I am sure this has a lot of people in the newsroom nervous—especially the senior people...

...And whining by white males, as Justice Clarence Thomas has made clear, is both useless Dave Shiflett is The American Spectator's former Rocky Mountain correspondent...

...Joe is a solid, energetic and reliable reporter...

...Neither was the practice of drawing and quartering—a particularly cruel way to die, wouldn't you say...

...Having promised as much, and also having implicitly endorsed the notion that white males were alienating female readers, Strutton took his bows and left it to the task force to straighten out the mess...

...So best to sit back and enjoy the discrimination as much as possible—which is not so hard as it sounds...

...Routine readers also noticed a heightened interest in getting the "female" view into the news...

...I was never disciplined, nor was Ms...

...Interestingly, the balance of the group was made up of three high-ranking leaders in women's organizations espousing their wish that more women would take over "leadership" positions in this nation...

...It was like he believed we were guilty of racial crimes...

...Please, do the right thing because we can't...

...We are telling him that he may have to move 1,800 miles away from family and friends for reasons that we deem both moral and appropriate...

...Yes, at least for now...

...All managers are compelled to go along...

...Let us call the complainant Ms...

...There is an anti-woman sentiment in many stories and editorials...

...Whether the TFW will improve the paper is uncertain, but it has certainly changed it...

...A partial list of the paper's shortcomings was included in the minutes of the TFW's June 1, 1994 meeting: • Women are routinely overlooked as experts in stories...

...The rack, the Iron Maiden, and other such wonderful devices weren't invented by the Chinese...

...In August of 1992, a prominent columnist for the New York Times, whose name will not be used because personal correspondence is quoted, wrote the editor of the Rocky Mountain News seeking a job for a former researcher...

...It is good for the company and good for employees...

...Man the battle stations...

...A burly man from the Circulation Department sat in my lap...

...They are afraid that what happened to women and minorities for years will happen to them...

...His passion for affirmative action was made clear early on in a company publication...

...According to the TFW, white males are responsible for declining circulation—a serious charge at any newspaper and especially at the Rocky, where, on Strutton's watch, the Sunday lead over the rival Denver Post, and much of the daily lead, has been lost...

...To many adult readers, the point of this editorial was clear enough...

...My attacks on Europeans have been roundly denounced by many readers, especially those of Italian and French ancestry...

...Remember the American prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment...

...That didn't come as a result of people being tortured or punished by the Chinese...

...Reader Mike O'Grady was inspired to respond to a July 4 article in which honored members of the community were asked to describe "A Wish for America...

...He is a terrific catch," wrote the columnist, a natural newsman with an instinct for news and a gift for words...

...Instead, he took the more common step of instituting a series of re-education sessions entitled "Diversity 2000...

...46 The American Spectator December 1995 The group included a globalist theology professor, a liberal lawyer, a businessman wanting cultural respect, a cab driver wishing for the good old days, and a science-fiction author wanting peace, freedom, and prosperity...

...White men are concerned that they won't get fair opportunities to get promoted or hired...

...There is a notion that race-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion don't discriminate, so long as there are no firm quotas and timetables...

...About half of them had been on the task force...

...The American Spectator December 1995 45 throughout history, and how that was going to change...

...This came as a strange development to some traditionalists, who had been taught to keep politicians at arm's length...

...Here's a guy with my future in his hands telling me and all other white guys that he's going to actively discriminate against us because of our race and sex...

...Complaints by blacks that white girls with Vassar diplomas should not be considered their equals in victimization (which they surely shouldn't) will not change the ability of privileged women to step to the front of the line...

...The cultural sentiment that males "do" and females "serve" is pervasive...

...They were being mocked...

...Among the instructions handed down were two of particular note: After interviews with all finalists are completed, the representative of the Diversity Task Force who participated in the interview shall be included in the formal discussion of the candidates that leads to the employment decision...

...Can you guess what's coming next...

...His writing has verve as well as discernment...

...Working for me at Strutton, alas, did not begin righting old wrongs by handing over his own job to a deserving minority or woman...

...and embarrassing...

...N ewspaper management nowadays is not only interested in changing the racial composition of its workforce...

...The hordes have arrived...

...Last summer, the Rocky promoted two white men to the news department's top jobs, editor and managing editor...

...Scripps-Howard's company-wide editorial policy opposes mandated affirmative action plans, and its hiring and promotion policies may well be less punitive than most...

...Not only was the TFW made up of women who worked in various professions other than journalism...

...I didn't see that here, so I felt we needed to take aggressive steps toward improving that...

...CI 48 The American Spectator December 1995...

...Despite having been targeted as over-represented circulation killers and bonus robbers, white men continue to advance...

...With my teeth...

...A similar message was contained in an electronic memo, which was sent through the Rocky's computer system, by the senior-ranking female editor on the news staff...

...The nub of it can also be translated this way: "We are refusing to put Joe in a new slot because of his skin color and sex...

...Affirmative action is deeply embedded in American life, and those who speak against it are no more welcome in boardrooms than preachers at a keg party...

...It almost goes without saying that I consider him a fine editor—I trust him with my own column copy twice a week...

...Until recently, this correspondent had a "throw open the borders" immigration policy, which has been altered out of fear of further reducing his sons' ability to fairly compete for jobs...

...Clearly, this particular "goal" would be most successfully met if not one of the hires were a white male...

...There were other crusaders pushing the idea that white males not only benefited from an evil type of nepotism, but were actually bad for business...

...He said white males should not plan on advancing as readily as we might hope: If he had a white male candidate and a woman and/or minority shooting for the same job, he would hire and promote one of the latter because, he said, it is the right thing to do...

...One Sunday magazine cover had pictures of about a dozen women," recalls one task force dissident...

...If you actually talked to any Chinese immigrant, you will find that taking over this country is not a high priority with them...

...Robert Friedman writes of life at the St...

...One of the things you quickly learn when you start talking about diversity is that it is extremely threatening to some people...

...Supreme Court decisions will not affect voluntary attempts to hire and promote minorities and women...

...The exercise may have boosted the newspaper's circulation in some indirect way, but it didn't help mine...

...Strutton, alas, did not begin righting old wrongs by handing over his own job to a deserving minority or woman...

...This notion was at the heart of another internal reform agency known as the Task Force on Women (TFW...

...Petersburg Times, where employees are subjected to harrowing mind-stretching techniques: 44 The American Spectator December 1995 My bosses sent me off to Management Boot Camp a couple of weeks ago...

...One white man's story from his rocky tenure at Denver's Rocky Mountain News...

...While these sorts of messages no doubt create a "hostile work environment," it is pointless to confront any one editor or senior manager when feelings are hurt...

...We spent the first day outdoors, frolicking in the woods and developing a new sense of self-reliance and camaraderie with fellow employees in other departments of the newspaper...

...They would also "contribute to the discussion of the candidates' personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, particularly by addressing ethnic or cultural traits that might otherwise be misunderstood...

...Many of them were political activists from such groups as Colorado NARAL and the Colorado Women's Agenda, while others were actually sitting politicians: state representatives, city council members, judges, and high-ranking aides to the governor and mayor...

...Major news stories rarely address how an event or issue might affect women...

...and Baltimore, where we had a nice mix...

...Making a better life for themselves is paramount among their concerns, but that was the goal of most of the immigrants who come to the U.S...

...Anti-pro-choice (most recurring theme)," "pro-family values," "only liberal women roasted," "very narrow," "very male (often repeated theme)," "sarcastic about women," "hostile to women," "hostile to progressive ideas...

...This sort of pep-talking is a mainstay of corporate life, yet the more Strutton talked, the more suspicious some white males became that his win-win policy would lead to their professional stagnation...

...Suspicions reached a high point when Strutton delivered a small speech at the conclusion of one diversity training session, later recalled by a white male attendee: "Strutton came in and began telling us how white males had all the advantages The memo went so far as to suggest that it might be time for the paper's white males to consider other professional activities, which sent one white male columnist into the author's office in a rage...

...The underlying assumption is that white males are uniquely hostile to race-based remedies...

...This particular employee also recalled Strutton's closing line: "If this makes white males nervous, maybe they ought to be nervous...

...This has been denied by Post management and a sizable group of company valets, but there is little dispute that preferential policies cause tension and nervousness in the staff, as race-based policies are bound to do...

...Fong, if we may interrupt her harangue, is dead wrong on this account...

...Why female readership has declined at a time when more women than ever are writing for newspapers is a question better left for another day...

...What follows is a snapshot of how such policies work at the Rocky Mountain News, the flagship paper of the historically conservative Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and, from time to time, the twenty-fifth largest circulation daily newspaper in the United States...

...Let's end with a grim anecdote...

...Fong permitted to have her intemperate theses posted on the Rocky's electronic bulletin board...

...In an attempt to make a political hit, the complainant sent copies of this memo to senior management...

...The immigration officials were overreacting...

...Top slots are customarily held by reporters with much more experience than Joe has, new slots lately (and appropriately) are going to minorities and women...

...These new policies actually insert members of yet another special interest group—the Diversity Task Force (DTF)—into the interviewing and hiring process...

...Fong tells of earlier sins: In your March 22 editorial this year, you wrote about the use of "Chinese strategies involving dripping water, sleep deprivation, thumb nooses and even scalpels" in trying to rid ourselves of haunting lyrics...

...The quip came at the end of a signed editorial summing up the week's most prominent stupidities: Meanwhile, authorities in San Francisco say at least 169 Chinese were dumped near the Golden Gate recently...

...This is fully humiliating, though maybe not as bad as being denied the opportunity to work for racial reasons, which was clearly the desire behind a memo by former Rocky Managing Editor Mike Finney, which, like the other documents quoted in this story, was widely distributed through the paper's white male samizdat network: The job reviews of supervisors and others involved in hiring should address race and sex...

...The most certain outcome of these policies, it seems, has been to stigmatize minority staffers and cause deep resentments among white males and their families...

...Each review should have a hiring goal of at least half of our hires being women and at least half non-white...

...Please, the Chinese do not have a monopoly on torture techniques, nor should they be characterized as having particularly inhumane ones...

...The label "obese" needs to be used with great caution...

...Yet these complaints, which are common throughout society, don't really matter...

...This assumption, though perfectly reasonable(indeed, it could be argued that persons not hostile to policies that single them out for discrimination are sort of crazy), is perfectly false...