By Kim Brockway

Participants at the recent workshop on journalism, race and ethnicity at Columbia's Journalism School included, from right to left, Stephen Magagnini, reporter, Sacramento Bee, E.R. Shipp, ombudsman, Washington Post, and Aaron McGruder, syndicated cartoonist

Fourteen examples of excellent newspaper and television coverage of race and ethnicity have been identified by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in a two-part project, supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation, designed to improve coverage of race and ethnic issues.

Seven print -- including a syndicated comic strip -- and seven television honorees have been selected from more than 120 entries, all of which were published or aired over the past two years. Twenty-nine finalists were also named.

"As America enters the 21st century race remains our most enduring dilemma," said Columbia's Sig Gissler, director of the Workshop on Journalism, Race and Ethnicity. "Journalism, as a special calling, has a responsibility to help society deal more honestly and effectively with racial and ethnic issues. We hope that these innovative workshops, by invoking the best to inspire the boss, can be a well-aimed prod to better journalistic performance."

A three-day workshop held June 9-11 focused on the honored coverage, with the goal of increasing other journalists' commitment to better coverage of the subject. Many of those men and women who produced the work attended, along with a group of more than twenty newspaper editors and TV news managers from across the country who shape the journalistic mission, set newsroom tone and agendas, allocate resources and deploy staffs.

Acknowledging that no search can be absolutely comprehensive, a group of faculty from the Journalism School and practicing journalists cast a wide net in searching for exceptional coverage. Nominations were solicited from members of such groups as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association. Advertisements were also placed in journalism publications, including the Columbia Journalism Review and Editor & Publisher. The group also examined contests held by major organizations and institutions, which often recognize work with a racial or ethnic dimension.

In evaluating the coverage, the group looked for work that was fresh and imaginative, marked by candor, provided context, and had an impact. The group also asked if the work diminished stereotypes and illuminated the diversity within America's minority communities; if it provided connection, linking factors and forces that explain social problems; and if it made a good case study in terms of lessons learned.

Newspaper honorees

• Gabriel Escobar, city editor, The Washington Post, for his stories on Latinos.
• Angelo Henderson, reporter, The Wall Street Journal, for his portfolio of stories on race.
• Stephen Magagnini, reporter, Sacramento Bee, for his series "Getting Along" and other stories on race and ethnicity.
• Newsday, for overall excellence in covering race and ethnicity and for developing a strategy to deal with the paper's demographic challenge in the decades ahead.
• Lonnae O'Neal Parker, reporter, The Washington Post, for her Style section story "White Girl?"
• The San Jose Mercury News, for its special projects "A Majority of None" and "Diaspora," and for the development of a race and demographics team.

Special citation

• Aaron McGruder, creator of the multiracial comic strip "The Boondocks," distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.

Television honorees

• Alden Bourne, producer, CBS News "60 Minutes," for "Vice Versa," an unusual twist in affirmative action.
• CBS News, for general excellence in coverage of race across a range of news programs.
• Barbara Ciara, reporter-anchor, WVEC-TV in Norfolk, VA, for her report on "The N-Word."
• Paul Gallagher, producer, CBS News "60 Minutes," for "KIPP," a report on education breakthroughs in minority neighborhoods in the Bronx and Houston.
• Emiko Omori, filmmaker, "Rabbit in the Moon," a film on lingering tension over internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
• Lynn Redmond, producer, ABC News "20/20," for "Acting White," an exploration of race and education.
• WTVJ-TV, Miami, for "Does Anyone Speak English Here?" and other coverage of race and immigration in the Miami region.

In addition to the honored media professionals and publications, twenty-nine finalists, both projects and individuals, were cited. They are:

Newspapers (a mix of citations for projects and individuals)

• The Baltimore Sun, Erin Texeira, reporter.
• The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss), "The Preacher and the Klansman," Jerry Mitchell, writer.
• The Decatur Daily (Ala), "The Hispanic Factor."
• The Dallas Morning News, "Mexican Immigrants: Reshaping the Face of America," team project.
• The Detroit News, "The Racial Gap in Lending," team project.
• Gannett News Service, "One Nation in Diversity," team project.
• The Huntsville Times (Ala.), "Faces of Change: North Alabama's Hispanic Accents," Mike Salinero, reporter.
• The Los Angeles Times, Sam Fulwood, reporter.
• Newhouse News Service, Jonathan Tilove, reporter.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, "A Dream Deferred," Dale Mezzacappa, reporter.
• The Portland Newspapers, "The Changing Face of Maine," team project.
• The San Francisco Chronicle, "A Civil Rights Sojurn," Mike Sion, columnist.
• The Seattle Times, "The Future of Affirmative Action," Tom Brune, Lynne Varner, reporters; "A Generation Returns," Paul Bock, writer.
• The Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), "The Racial Health Gap," Stacey Singer, Bob LaMendola, reporters.
• The Wichita Eagle, Roy Wenzl, writer.
• The Wilmington News Journal, "A Turning Point," team project.

Television

• ABC News Nightline, "America's Sons: Project 2000," Ted Koppel, anchor.
• ABC News 20/20, "Sacred Bond: Black Men and Their Mothers," "Sister I'm Sorry," Karen Saunders, producer.
• CBS News, "Eye on America: Portrait of Jane Elliot," Bill Whitaker, correspondent.
• CBS News 60 Minutes II, "Family Ties," Barbara Pierce, producer.
• Court TV, "Fair or Foul?"
• NBC News, "A Few Good Men," John Block, producer.
• The Merrow Report, New York City, "Growing Up in the City," John Merrow, executive producer.
• MTV, "True Life: I Am Driving While Black," Norman Green, producer.
• KDFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth), "Running into Friends," Jeff Crilley, reporter.
• KQED (San Francisco), "Making the Grade," Wendy Hanamura, producer.
• WCBS TV (New York City), "Racist Float," Dianne Ettelson, producer.
• WOWT (Omaha), "Cultures in Conflict," Sonya Pfeiffer, reporter.
• WTLV (Jacksonville, Fla.), "Black and Drowning," Clennon King, reporter.

The workshop is organized by Professor Sig Gissler of Columbia's Journalism School. As editor of the Milwaukee Journal (1985-1993), he increased newsroom diversity and launched a year-long examination of racial issues in Milwaukee. As a journalist, Gissler covered five national political conventions and undertook major foreign reporting assignments, including India, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union. A former Pulitzer Prize juror, he is an advisor to the Poynter Institute's "Diversity Beyond 2000" project on race and journalism, and is working on a book about the interplay of race and media.

More information is available on the Web site, http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/workshops/.