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The Trib's newsroom layoffs disproportionately targeted journalists of color, according to one of the dismissed reporters, Ray Quintanilla.
"It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad," [Quintanilla] told Journal-isms. He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color. He recalled that owner Sam Zell had told employees to question authority.Quintanilla said the columnist publicly challenged him to a fight, and said he has filed a complaint with the Tribune's human relations department.
Talk about fightin' words. First things first: Trib columnists have assistants? Could...the Tribune company maybe have cut back on those jobs before eliminating reporter gigs? Second, who is the columnist in question? Let's see: White, male Trib columnists. There are 31 people listed as "columnists" on the Trib's site, 15 of whom are white men. But some are syndicated (Garrison Keillor), some no longer work there (Timothy McNulty), and some don't really seem to work there (Steve Dahl). Of the remaining contenders, we'd be hard-pressed to call most of them "powerful." Hm. [Journal-isms, via GB]
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Kass?
Has to be Kass. Who else could it be? Zorn? I doubt it.
He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color.
If anything, Quintanilla should have been fired for being an idiot.
So he went up to a senior staffer and essentially accused them of racism?
Yeah, that'll get you fired, pretty much anywhere.
Definitely Kass. Zorn publicly challenging Quintanilla to a fight? That's definitely Kass - the Chicago way.
Does seniority enter into any of this?
I agree Jimbo and Albany. Kind of a douche move.
If anything, shouldn't Mr. Quintanilla be arguing for more minorities as journalists, rather than more minorities as journalists' assistants?
Looking at Quintanilla's photo on the Journal-isms site, I'd guess he's got at least two feet on Kass. He should have gone for it.
If anything, shouldn't Mr. Quintanilla be arguing for more minorities as journalists, rather than more minorities as journalists' assistants?
That is SPOT-ON.
The fact he's going to a magazine to have a good cry after all this makes me think he didn't handle his accusation with much care or tact either. But that's just wild and reckless speculation. The very best kind.
I think there's a little confusion -- the assistants *are* journalists. Unless things have changed drastically in the last 10 years, the assistants/reporters are hired from outside the Trib, and after their tenure with Kass they move on to, usually, general assignment positions. It's a plum job.
Margaret, ask David Ochal if John Kass is powerful.
@emme: I said "more" for a reason...
I can't think of any kind of workplace where Mr. Quintanilla's heroic (in his own eyes) confrontation would be viewed as anything other than annoying and idiotic.
Good bye, Mr. Quintanilla. I do have sympathy, though, for the other Trib staffers who lost their jobs. I hope they land on their feet.
@Margaret: I'm confused. "More" what?
@Emme: Argh, more coffee. I meant "most." As in, I'm hard pressed to call most of them powerful. Some of them, though, sure.
D'oh.
@Margaret: After that posting #13 I reread your last couple of sentences -- I misunderstood what you were trying to say. When I initially read the Journal-isms piece, I thought "powerful white Tribune columnist" screamed Kass; I can understand why a third party wouldn't want to come out and say that.
Tower, better watch who you are agreeing with because I'm sure Jimbo aint making no distinctions between minority writers and assistants. He is against the whole "forced intergration" concept
Nice Spook. Had Quintanilla said something along the line of did you hire the most qualified assistant every time? there would be no issue. His problem is that the only qualification he's looking at is race, which is hardly a qualification.
See what I mean AlbanyParker?
Again - nice spook. It's only integration if you classify people based on the shade of his/her skin.