And this, finally, brings us back to the Blair Affair, and a larger question: What is the relevance of ASNE's (American Society of Newspaper Editors) aggressive pro-"diversity" stance to the way its members write about "diversity"? ASNE's web site, for example, calls for "increasing minority scholarships and internships," even though one Court of Appeals has held such race-specific scholarships unconstitutional at state institutions (Podberesky v. Kirwan, 38 F.3d 147 [4th Cir. 1994], cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 2001 [1995]).
Does membership in an organization energetically espousing such views, and impressing them upon its members, compromise the ability of the press to cover the controversy over "diversity" -- not only in its own newsrooms but also at other organizations? Does it raise the famous issue of "the appearance" of a conflict of interest, or at least of a lack of objectivity?
The short answer is of course it compromises the media's ability to cover diversity-related issues. I don't have time to go into it today, but check out Jim Sleeper's Liberal Racism for more, or William McGowan's Coloring The News.
