'COLORING' REVISITED: The new online issue of "Commentary" is out, and it features a book review of William McGowan's "Coloring The News." I know I've been pointing this book out a lot over the past couple of weeks, but I can't emphasize how much more important this book is than Bernard Goldberg's "Bias." Let's face it: Goldberg's stuff about Dan Rather's "bitches" is a whole lot sexier than a fairly dry dissection of the drive for diversity at newspapers you've probably never heard of (Burlington, Vermont, for example). But I've lived through the kind of ham-handed diversity enforcement that McGowan describes (see the Profiles in Discourage series at the right). Commentary's reviewer, Vincent Carroll of the "Rocky Mountain News," is absolutely correct when he writes:

"One of the justifications for this heavy emphasis on diversity at major newspapers and television stations has been that it would help produce deeper and fairer reporting. But in chapters devoted to issues ranging from immigration to affirmative action to homosexuality, McGowan shows that this is not the case at all. On the contrary, the various internal quota schemes have been accompanied by an enforced conformity of views about race."

To get an idea of what he's talking about, check out this "review" of McGowan's book from a black journalist. It's hard to tell if he even read it; he just dismisses McGowan's arguments out of hand and implies that he's a racist for even raising the issues. As more people hear about this book, expect more of the same from even more prominent voices.