12
Jan
Metro-Racism: The Community Responds
Outrage over the racist corporate culture at the Metro newspaper group — and at the lack of adequate response by either Metro or its new partners at The New York Times Company –continues to build, as leaders and members of minority communities in both Boston and New York are now offering their own responses to the shocking revelations made earlier this week in this space.
The Times-owned Boston Globe, meant to be the local partner with Boston Metro, yesterday quoted Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP, as saying the MediaChannel reports are “very troublesome, and clearly [The Times Company] is buying into a newspaper whose management seems to have some questionable character problems.”
The Times Company, he said, “needs to deal with the culture of the Metro first and then sit down with the community.”
State Representative Byron Rushing said The Times Company must have the “ability to work on changing the culture of the company. It has to be part of the deal.” Otherwise, he added, “you’re only profiting from a culture that allows this kind of thing to happen.” And two Boston-area African-American pastors demanded a meeting with Times Company and Globe executives, saying “The Metro needs to connect with some group doing cultural and racial sensitivity training.”
Meanwhile journalists’ associations and academic institutes also began to weigh in. The Boston Association of Black Journalists issued a statement saying, “The crude and racist comments reportedly made by Metro executives are inexcusable and should give The New York Times a huge red flag about the insensitive culture within its new business partner. By not condemning these alleged remarks, The New York Times and its subsidiary, The Boston Globe, give the appearance that they have surrendered their once liberal values to making a quick easy buck.” Boston Herald columnist Howard Manly is president of the association, which also recommended a boycott of the Metro. Manly said the statement was written as a collaborative effort by members of the association.
Rem Rieder, editor of the American Journalism Review, said, “It’s very embarrassing, particularly for a company like [The Times] . . It’s hard to imagine worse publicity. . . I think I’d be thinking seriously about walking away.”
Callie Crossley, program manager at Harvard’s prestigious Nieman Foundation, told Globe reporter Mark Jurkowitz that “It is incumbent” on the Times Company “not just to say something but to do something. . . . They need to take this very seriously. This is a publication aimed at young people. What’s the message here?”
Meanwhile the controversy continued to spread, and has now reached the backyard of the Times Company. As reported today in the New York Post, “Black leaders in New York yesterday said they wanted to stop the presses at the free daily Metro after top executives at the newspaper made headlines for telling crude racist jokes.
Speaking of Metro executive Steve R. Nylund, City Councilman Charles Barron said, “He should be fired.” Barron also said he would discuss the issue with the council’s black and Latino caucus, whose members may call for a boycott, noting “It’s a free paper, but if their readership goes down, it doesn’t help their advertisers.”
MediaChannel also received outraged responses from its readers. “Thank you for breaking the silence on this subject. In doing so I have taken action by forwarding your article along to others,” Tonia Shakespeare wrote. “It also points out the need for me as an African American to participate in blogging…something I feel not enough of us are doing. And as your site demonstrates, the need for American media to have a watchdog and an alternate viewpoint.”
Another reader, Mary Ann Mills, expressed her shock and offered to join a boycott. “I just read about the racist comments made by executives of and their pathetic excuse for an apology by one of them. I am at first shocked, then dismayed, and now outraged at these executives and their company, and The New York Times, that is actively working to buy this company. I am MORE than fed up with any people, people in the public eye, and most especially people who hold public trust, be it media or government, behaving as if comments such as these do not matter and do not carry weight. It is inexcusable any way you look at it.”
Meanwhile the Boston Herald reported further evidence of racist remarks and attitudes at the free newspaper chain, amid growing signs that the entire proposed deal between the Times Company and Metro may be falling apart. Although a spokeswoman for Times Company yesterday declined to comment on whether the organization was reconsidering its transaction with Metro Boston, the Boston Globe reported that several analysts are reflecting on the potential of the negative headlines to stall or even kill the partnership.
George Ticknor, a partner at Palmer & Dodge who heads up the firm’s media and communications finance group, told the Globe bad publicity may not kill the deal, but it could give Times Co. executives pause.
“Newspaper operators like The Times [Co.] have to have their ear to the ground,” he said. “The impact of negative publicity on newspapers is very significant. . . . Credibility with the readership and newspaper public is important.”
Thanks for your coverage of this story - as someone who works in the media of African American heritage - I am really shocked that these executives are allowed to freely display their racist and offensive behavior.
The fact that it takes an independent blog to blow the whistle and make a comment on this issue says a lot about Big Media in general.
Keep up the investigative reporting and ignore the “Illiterati” who post such inane ramblings.
January 12th, 2005 at 11:58 amHey, there’s rude remarks about everyone, all the time.
People thrive on insulting “everyone else”, That’s how it is.
Doesn’t make it right, but get over it.
The evil problem facing everyone is the consolidation of media by giant corporations. Everyone should hold a fire to the feet of their congressmen and elected officials to divest the corporate stranglehold over the media. Social engineering by giant corporations has become too dangerous without further consolidation.
January 12th, 2005 at 12:02 pmSpeaking as an African-American woman, the only offensive thing about this, to me, is its profound lack of originality.
Richard Pryor told the same joke back in the early 1970s (in fact, the name of his boxed set released a couple years ago, “And It’s Deep Too…” references the bit). Pryor got a great response from the bit, if you judge from the applause on the boxed set. I’m not sure how much time was wasted afterward (blogs didn’t exist at the time and most mainstream news outlets considered him a genius, which he is) in pondering whether Richard Pryor was racist for telling the joke or for his gratuitous use, at the time, of the “n” word. I guarantee, however, that most people in attendance just shrugged it off as “Richard being Richard.”
I guess this guy thought he’d get the same laugh as when a legendary black comic tells the same joke. On his part, that’s merely hubris at worst and a profound lack of knowledge of what he can get away with at best, but–honestly–it’s nothing more than that.
January 12th, 2005 at 12:26 pmIts high time that the word nazis and thought police who disguise their own racism by smearing others who use the very terms they use should grow up.
Nigger and other words belong to everyone and the last time I checked freedom of speech was still on the books.
I also modestly suggest you nellies get senses of humor.
Everyone knows what a nigger is and the word is here to stay, nigger.
January 12th, 2005 at 1:37 pmHey Geo Kelly
Great comment up until the last sentence. WTF? No one even knows what it means the stuff you wrote…
January 12th, 2005 at 2:04 pmthank you for info. I never read the
January 12th, 2005 at 3:15 pmMetro. I also boycott the Boston Globe
I get my news elsewhere.
Thank You
Carol
The consciousness level of America has been degraded to the lowest level. It is currently way below that of reason, integrity, courage. The world view is hopelessly beneath love, joy or inner peace.
January 12th, 2005 at 3:53 pmThose of us who have, by grace, not forgotten that we are born into memberbeship in the community of life must speak out against the ongoing, increasing outrages
Rude and vulgar jokes are a bad thing but hardly enough to warrant a corporate scandal. It’s also doubtful whether it’s actually immoral to say something others don’t like hearing. Insulting people obviously is immoral but there seems to have been no black people there (surely, that would have been pointed out in the article); therefore nobody was directly insulted.
January 12th, 2005 at 4:59 pmBTW, if Nylund had made a joke about Norwegians (since his name sounds Swedish that wouldn’t have been surprising), would that too have been outraging?
I can’t believe this is NEWS!!!!! This is crap, not news!!! There are many more importand things happening in the world that could be covered instead of this.
I don’t think it is racism at all. If anything it was a compliment to all black men.
Maybe it was his own little way of sharing his sexuality to his coworkers.
However, IF there were no black people there, then the company IS racist for NOT employing black people in the higher levels of the company.
January 12th, 2005 at 6:51 pmAre you the same Rory O’Connor who wrote for the San Jose Mercury News?
January 12th, 2005 at 10:42 pmWithin hours Metro responded. The Press Release of 13 Januari (send 09.40 AM) states that Mr. Albrecht is resigning immediately in light of allegations. “The board also reiterated the importance of upholding its zero tolerance policy.” according to the Metro. Full text can be found on www.metro.lu (news).
January 13th, 2005 at 3:52 amI read the initial response from Metro in the Boston Globe. Apparently Steve Nylund, Metro USA’s president, “unwittingly made the joke”. How did he become Metro USA president? The man obviously doesn’t know what he’s saying! Is he hearing voices?
January 13th, 2005 at 7:01 amThis is without a doubt one of the poorest excuses I’ve ever heard.
Hmm. A racist corporate culture is obviously not a good thing, but as with most social problems you can’t enforce non-racism. Tolerance must come from a moral desire to be so, not a government-sponsored edict, no matter how unpopular.
It all starts in the home doesn’t it?
January 13th, 2005 at 9:18 amIt isn’t a fact of enforcing non-racism. It is a fact of being able to reasonably ensure a professional environment where you are judged on your work for and with others. No one says “stop being prejudice”. Everyone prejudges to a point. No one says “stop freedom of speech”. But professionals are supposed to be able to put their personal prejudices aside and run business based on bottom lines. Freedom of speech/expression is constricted in companies: from confidentiality to codes of conduct.
The fact that they feel this way about blacks, and feel no remorse about expressing these illogical thoughts shows an extreme lack of restraint. The type of lack of restraint that can adversely affect business decisions including promotions of employees. Remember this company brags about encouraging “cultural diversity”.
But if they want to be racist and make money distributing the Metro in Philadelphia, New York and Boston transit stops that are funded by taxpayer money, they definitely should be held accountable by the people of these cities.
This wasn’t even at the bar after business hours. In that setting, who cares. The problem is that these remarks were heard at meetings dealing with official company business.
Vicki, and others: “Ladies and Gentleman and Niggers” is not a compliment to Black men. It automatically implies Blacks are uncivilized. If your boss happened to be a man and came to a meeting and said “Gentleman and Whores”, would that be flattering?
Exaggerating the imagined size of someone’s penis based on ignorant racist folk tales at the beginning of a business meeting is not a compliment. If a manager at your company stood up @ your workplace and commented about how sweet your genitalia probably feels because all women named Vicki are that way, how would like that? What if he said it when you were off, and then when you came back to work you heard accounts of this announcement?
It doesn’t matter if black people were there. These guys have final say over all employees in the company. Obviously someone was uncomfortable, it got to the press with accounts of half the people there being uncomfortable. Understand present were was higher ups from every arm of this international newspaper.
And as far as talking about comedians: Richard Pryor’s job is to make jokes. Nylund and crew’s job is to run a newspaper, and in America they need to be Equal Opportunity.
January 13th, 2005 at 10:12 amYOU GO,Lu!!!! Could NOT have said it better!
January 13th, 2005 at 2:32 pmYou have no idea what type of company this is- Not only do they discriminate against Black people- Women are looked upon as liabilities. The feeling is that women shouldnt be in the work place and if they are sucessful they make too much money.. whatever that means.. then they bring in someone at a small salary to manage the accounts that have been contracted… Metro doesnt think they should pay their employees for their work– each year instead of an increase in salary or commission- they decrease the commission structure so they can keep more of the profit.
January 14th, 2005 at 10:44 amSo for those of you who think this issue is no big deal- its really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to racism, sexual harrasment and overall poor working conditions.
Always remember and never forget: The fool who cuts off the wrong leaf may end up killing the plant.
Don’t piss on people in your business. You never know when it will be your turn to clean up the mess.
Are the folks at the paper related to those who work at Google?
January 20th, 2005 at 10:51 amI’m a former Metro employee, and working there was the worst work experience I’ve ever had. Caucasian employees are assisted in every way possible by management in their efforts to make it in the already tough world of advertising sales. African-Americans are asked to pretty much fend for themselves….but if you manage to succeed on your own, they quickly build barriers to keep you from shining too brightly around the office. That luxury is reserved for “Whites Only”. Remember that sign folks? No, it’s not “physically posted” in the Metro office, but you can certainly feel it’s presence. I say a boycott is the best idea yet. There’s no pain for corporations like the pain of . Don’t read the rag. Without you, they can’t sell the ad-space thats making them millions. All I ever hear is “the media never tells the whole story.” What % of the story are you getting from Metro? They’re really close to the old Tea Party spot on Congress St. Treat them to one. Stop reading the Metro. Then let the environmentalists get them for continually wasting paper, printing all those copies with noone to read it.
January 23rd, 2005 at 11:01 pmhi,
November 4th, 2006 at 10:35 ammetro is not only racist but also discriminating and harassing women in other countries then USA. I have proof because i am an employee. it is good to speak about these facts.
l