More Bad News Out of the Trib's Newsroom

By Margaret Lyons in News on Aug 19, 2008 8:08PM

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]