One Nation in Diversity Facing
the 21st Century. This was the title of year long project undertaken
in January 1998 by Gannet News Service, with the double aim of exploring the
changing demographics of this nation and “gauging” the impact these changes
could have in the fair sharing of the “American pie”.
The findings of the project are
not surprising. It is projected that by the year 2050, the U.S. will be a
nation of minorities, with non-Hispanic whites holding the majority by a mere
2.8 percentage points, and Hispanics coming in second at 24.5 percent of the
total population. People of color will seek greater roles in government and
will slowly climb the corporate ladder.
One member of the project
thought that the diversity of the nation’s population would come together to
form a colorful picture of harmony, while another stated that “multihued pieces won’t fit together into [a] picture
of unity.”
One thing is clear: ignorance
and stereotypes may block the dialogue on diversity in the years to come. Only
by bridging racial and ethnic divides can we move forward as one nation-- and
move forward we must or we will merely watch as others come together to share
the “global pie.”
Neither naively
optimistic, nor needlessly pessimistic about our nation’s future, we remain
strongly committed to keeping the issue of diversity-learning alive. We urge
other media to do the same.
Wants poetry in our pages
A while back I saw you published some poems in . You have not done so lately. I wonder if you could include not just poetry but perhaps some short stories in your
pages
Helen Morris
On Co-op City
I couldn’t agree more with your reporter Alex Payne. His story about Co-op City was right on target. I too travel to my job in the Bronx every morning. While the morning traffic is I must recognize, fair, the return trip is horrible. The shopping mall, while necessary to the area, is simply torturing those like myself who must suffer the ever growing traffic congestion. It takes me sometimes more than one hour to get home. When I get there I am exhausted, not from my job, but from the trip itself. Growth may be a good thing, but as Mr. Spence said to your reporter: “Co-op City is already bigger than it should be”.
Andrew Preston
UNITY99 and Minority Journalism
I read with great interest you articles on Journalism and Diversity this past September. I am a foreign student in this country; I have been here for two years and did not know that you have here different minority journalists groups. I was also very glad to read that women lead all four minority groups in America. I will be going back very soon to Italy, my native country. I am taking a copy of your newspaper to show it to my family and my friends. It is so very interesting, and it has a whole page in Italian.
Andrea Denaro
We stand corrected
Please note that there is an error in the crossword puzzle answer of your October edition.
Albert Yankovich\
Note from the Editor:
Our apologies. Correct answer is included on page A 12 in this edition.
On TV Interview of Venezuelan Journalist
I understand that your show 168 HORAS recently featured a Venezuelan journalist Ms. [Moraima] Guanipa. Unfortunately I was not able to watch the show, which my friends told me was magnificent.
Is your program shown only on Bronxnet or in other channels as well?
Is it possible for you to ask the producers of the show to re-run the interview so that many like myself could have the opportunity to see it? If not, I would like to purchase a video copy of the show.
Ignacio Barros
When Bigger Isn’t Better
James Carney,
Executive Directory of Bronxnet
Size counts. It is instilled in us as children. Despite protestations of our mothers that “good things come in small packages” we still lunged after the biggest, brightly wrapped package under the Christmas Tree hoping that the name tag contained our name. The conditioning stays with us throughout our life. As adults we long for the bigger house and the larger sport utility vehicle. Of course, the analogy also applies in topics reserved for more intimate discussions. Americans agree - size counts. But is bigger always better?
It seems that corporate America (and the executives and investment bankers who pull its strings) also feel that bigger is better. It requires an up-to-the-minute scorecard (possibly a digital one linked to the web via a cell phone connection) to keep track of which telephone company is merging with which cable TV provider, or which Hollywood studio is being absorbed by which Japanese concern. The rationale for such mergers is simple - economies of scale. So indeed, bigger is better - but for whom?
The argument is made that the economies of scale allow for increased competition and better services for the consumer. However, more to the point, economies of scale usually result in payoffs to the stockholder. Often, despite these claims and sometimes even good intentions, the consumer is left with fewer choices, higher prices and a monopolistic goliath which has little reason to be responsive to the consumer.
Just a few weeks ago, the Federal Communications Commission removed all serious roadblocks from the proposed merger of AT&T and Media One, the third largest cable TV company in America. The combined companies will serve more that 35% of American homes and the companies are lobbying hard to be allowed to reach more. In cases like this, bigger also changes the meaning of concepts like “community” and “local”.
An experiment using the old definitions is underway in a cooperative effort between Bronxnet, and Lehman College’s Multilingual Journalism program. In what can only be defined as an experiment in new media, a program called Bronxtalk AM is exploring the combination of new technology and old fashioned community spirit. Every weekday for two hours, Gary Axelbank - the program’s host - interviews guests from local community boards, neighborhood associations and even “regular” residents on the phone. Tucked in a in a tiny electronic studio in the sub-basement of Lehman’s Carman Hall, the program serves as a “virtual town square” for the Bronx.
Bronxtalk AM is transmitted live into more than 250,000 Bronx households on cable channel 67, and is heard over the Internet at www.bronxnet.org, through the assistance of the Bronx Information Network. Bronxtalk AM - and other initiatives like it - is trying to make the point that technologies created for “economies of scale” can also serve local needs.
While these types of initiatives may not represent the largest and flashiest packages under the telecommunications Christmas Tree, they may just prove that your mother was right - good things can come in small packages.
|
