Roster Shows Journalists of Color Overrepresented
The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia late Thursday released a list of the 71 Guild members in the Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom who have been notified that they will be laid off.
“This list was created by the Company and sent to the Guild on January 3rd,” the Guild said.
As reported earlier Thursday, the National Association of Black Journalists said it was “dismayed that black journalists at The Philadelphia Inquirer were twice as likely to be laid off as their white counterparts, according to reports today. . . . Early reports indicate that as many as 14-16 black journalists were among those laid off, or as much as 22.5 percent of the overall layoffs. According to the 2006 ASNE newsroom census,” a reference to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, “approximately 11.3 percent of the Inquirerâ??s newsroom staff is African American.”
Those of color on the list include copy editors Teshia Morris, Howery Pack and Angel Brooks; Christine Ma and Destinee-Charisse Royal of the news desk, and these reporters:
Sports reporter David Aldridge, suburban reporter Kera Ritter, features writer Dwayne Campbell, suburban reporter Keith Herbert, and staffers Stephanie Arnold, Antoinette Callas, Benjamin Lowe, Akweli Parker, Leonard Fleming, Robert Watson and Gaiutra Bahadur.
As reported Wednesday, not all of them are leaving completely. Parker, for example, was offered a job at Philly.com.
Though the tenure of some was relatively brief, in that seniority played a role in who was chosen, the Inquirer left a mark on each of them. Arnold, for example, who covered crime and education at the Inquirer, went to the 2004 Republican National Convention for the paper. She was part of a delegation from the National Association of Black Journalists who went to Tanzania last May to cover the country’s battle against malaria.
Ritter was part of a five-member delegation of African American journalists who visited Cuba last year under the auspices of the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C.
Lowe, a business reporter covering financial markets and investing, had been secretary of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. His wife, Jodie Chester Lowe, readers’ editor on the editorial board, was also laid off. Lowe told Journal-isms that with the layoffs of Parker, temporary hire Maddie Bora and himself, the department lost two of its three journalists of color.
The complete list follows. “SWP” means “suburban writers and photographers,” a special category at the Inquirer:
Aldridge, David, reporter
Arnold, Stephanie, reporter
Bahadur, Gaiutra, reporter
Bathurst, Jeffrey, supervisor
Bewley, Joel, reporter
Brooks, Angel K., copy editor
Callas, Antoinette, reporter
Campbell, Dwayne, reporter
Chester, Jodie, supervisor
Cohen, David M., copy editor
Constantino, Mario T., copy editor
D’Alessandro, Gene, supervisor
Dorazio, Jennifer, supervisor
Esposito Gilbert, Gina, copy editor
Fallik, Dawn, reporter
Fifield, Adam, reporter
Fink, Regina, lab technician
Fitzgerald, Thomas J., reporter
Fleming, Leonard, reporter
Goff, Paula, copy editor
Gorodetzer, Jay A., photo editor
Hall, John, copy editor
Hamrick, Scott S., SWP photographer
Harris, Bettinita, supervisor
Hendricks, Donna M., photo editor
Herbert, Keith, reporter
Hoffner, Gloria, suburban writer
Howerter, Rose A, SWP photographer
Incollingo, Jacoba, reporter
Jaffe, Alan, supervisor
Janco, Mary Anne, suburban writer
Johnson, Dan Z., SWP photographer
Johnson, Linda G., SWP photographer
Jones, Anna, supervisor
Kanes, Joan F., SWP photographer
Kummer, Frank, reporter
Linn, Emmet, supervisor
Lotozo, Eils, reporter
Lowe, Benjamin, reporter
Ma, Christine, news desk
Malott, Glen Alen, photo editor
Mason, Rita S., copy editor
Mason, Todd, reporter
McGovern, Robert, news desk
McManmon, Kevin, editorial assistant
Morris, Teshia, copy editor
O’Neal, Sharon, copy editor
Pack, Howery, copy editor
Parent, Robert, supervisor
Parker, Akweli, reporter
Patrick Gates, Kellie, reporter
Pedersen, Keri, copy editor
Peitz, Charles, supervisor
Pitts, Steven Sinclair, editorial assistant
Pompilio, Natalie, reporter
Reed, Valerie A., suburban writer
Ritter, Kera, reporter
Royal, Destinee-Charisse, news desk
Schiavo, Christine, reporter
Schnatz, Peter L., SWP sports writer
Schuman, Hinda, SWP photographer
Seiders, Mary Jane, editorial assistant
Shaw, Julie, reporter
Shields, Jeffrey, reporter
Shugars, Cheryl A., photo editor
Slavin, John R., SWP photographer
Steinberg, Donald, reporter
Trethan, Phaedra, copy editor
Watson, Rob, reporter
Wilkins, Megan, editorial assistant
Williams, Robert O., SWP photographer
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Student Journalist Found Dead in Durham, N.C.
“An N.C. Central University graduate student, described by the schoolâ??s chancellor as ‘one of our academic stars,’ was found dead outside her apartment building Thursday morning,” Matt Dees reported Thursday night on the Web site of the Raleigh News & Observer.
“Police are treating the death of Denita Monique Smith, 25, as suspicious; they still werenâ??t sure Thursday evening whether it was accidental or intentional.
“‘This is a tremendous loss for this university and the university family. She was an outstanding young lady,’ Chancellor James H. Ammons said in an interview Thursday.
“. . . Smith earned a bachelorâ??s degree in English as NCCU and was completing her masterâ??s degree in the same subject. She worked as a photographer at The Campus Echo, the student newspaper.” She also had an internship at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute in 2004. “‘She really could have done anything she wanted,’ said Thomas Evans, an associate English professor who knew Smith. Smith also got engaged recently.”