Hanson's Folly, updated: There's still no diversity among regular News and Tribune opinion columnists.

I took a gander in February, checked again in June, and updated again circa late August (and posted at Twitter).

Hanson's Folly: There remains a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists. 

Here's a fresh update. Obviously elections bring out the letters to the editor, and so the sample size is slightly smaller than usual for periods of the same length. 

• Letters 20
• White Male Columnists 18
• White Female Columnists 3
• Black Male Columnist 1
• Editorial Board 1

Allow me to calculate (because readers would notice, anyway) that of the 22 opinion columns, whether authored by whites, blacks, males or females, all writers probably are over the age of 50 (with the exception of staffer Daniel Suddeath), and all but one of them are white (95% of column slots).

Back in June, publisher Bill Hanson lamented racial injustice in America and bemoaned his own white "privilege," asking in essence what's to be done? Since then, 80-odd percent or more of his newspapers have continued to be old white people. I'd sugar-coat it if possible, but it isn't possible.

Publisher, heal thyself.  

Here are the screen shots at the News and Tribune's website ("Opinion"), beginning October 8, ending October 30. 

Hanson's Folly: There remains a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

Different mix from May 23 - June 16
but no substantive change.

Bill Hanson is the publisher of the Jeffersonville News and Tribune. Recently he lamented injustice and his own "privilege," asking in essence what's to be done?

Let's look at his newspaper's opinion column scorecard since May 23: Of opinion pieces identified as columns, 25 were authored by white males, 4 by women.

Of the 25 columns authored by white males, 22 came from "older" writers (my guess, above the age of 50), the exception being three written by the newspaper's reporter Daniel Suddeath. Four columns were authored by women, one of them a black woman (another came from Susan Duncan, the newspaper's editor).

The black woman is from Georgia and edits a sister CNHI paper there. Probably it was a one-off.

Actually Suddeath's most recent column takes an oblong glance at the problem, focusing on local elected leaders, but also with this precise comment:

Let’s not pass the buck. We also need more people of color in our newsrooms. In 15 years of full-time journalism, I’ve worked with very few black people. This has an effect on what news is published, regardless of our intentions.

Let's review. Using opinion columns as a gauge, the News and Tribune scores 86% from white male writers, most of them "older" in age; 14% female writers; and 3% black. There's the whole range of societal perspectives gifted to us by Bill Hanson.

It's noteworthy that these percentages haven't varied an iota since the last time I counted five months ago -- except for the black woman from Georgia. There had been no columns by black writers the last time I looked.

ON THE AVENUES: There is a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

To answer Hanson's agonized question -- what's to be done? -- perhaps first the publisher needs to spend some time in front of a mirror.

Maybe HIS newspaper would like to provide topical newspaper opinion column debate beyond that of his old white male buddies: a non-Christian religious perspective, a gay (not) straight point of view, and yes, a regularly recurring outlook from a person of color.

The likelihood is that Hanson is terrified of the backlash from his ... that's right, predominantly older, conservative readership.

The answer is staring you in the face, Bill. If you don't have any intention of embracing it, then at least spare us the crocodile tears, okay?

Diversity isn't the newspaper's only problem ...

ON THE AVENUES: There is a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

It is recorded that the American president Lyndon Baines Johnson, presumably the most powerful single person in the world at the time, was asked why he didn’t terminate the loathsome FBI director and public policy liability J. Edgar Hoover.

Johnson replied with a back country Texas aphorism.

“I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

LBJ omitted a little-known but perfectly plausible third possibility: outside the tent pissing, but pissing in the opposite direction from the tent, which describes my own coordinates during the Great Sabbatical of 2020.

If you’re a slobbering, monetizing Gahanite, a view of my back is about the best variety of neutrality you can expect of me, although I’ve never come anywhere close to harboring the malice (or ugly raw power) of J. Edgar.

Now 59 years into this great experiment called “my life,” I placidly accept the unlikelihood of ever feeling truly comfortable inside any of society’s tents. This isn’t to imply a general refusal to cooperate or to be constructive on a case by case basis. If it makes sense, I’ll pitch in and help.

I merely care not to belong to any club that would have me as a member, and given the tendency of tent dwellers to insist on a certain level of Kool Aid consumption to promote sheep-like conformity, it’s just best that I wheel my beer cooler into the fresh evening air and find other flowers to water.

We're all happier that way.

---

As for my sabbatical, it’s moving along quite smoothly, thank you. I reckon a success rate of 85% in removing myself from local political commentary; with the exception of this column, if something takes more than a half hour to research and compose, it’s not allowed.

Consequently I’m breaking down complicated ideas into smaller, easier digested chunks and trying to be more efficient in organizing my time and taking notes, which also comes in handy with my daily Food & Dining Magazine web site posts and a steadily escalating commitment to blogging about beer at the Pints&union homepage.

One challenge I made to myself this year was to renew ON THE AVENUES. By reducing the volume of my overall publishing regimen, hopefully there’d be more time to write original weekly columns rather than give in to the temptation of plagiarizing myself or relying on reruns. So far in 2020, I’ve managed nine consecutive “fresh” columns. It's a victory.

Today’s column will be a bit shorter than usual. So much for the wind-up; here’s the pitch.

---

Late in the evening of Tuesday, February 25, I squeezed into a full body condom and pointed my browser at the News and Tribune web site.

Somewhere during the course of reading elsewhere, I’d seen a reference to diversity on newspaper opinion pages, and it prompted the recollection that favored News and Tribune columnist Tom May has two different photographs to delineate between his “always about one variety among dozens of religions” column and his other, “general interest with marginally less religion although it’s often still there” column.

(Why does one writer get two placements? They're never answered this question.)

I clicked on the local chain newspaper’s “opinion” tab and scrolled to the bottom, until I could scroll no more. The “diversity” on display at this portal was precisely as I’d imagined it would be, which is to say none at all, and so I took another step and recorded what was revealed.

The sample range was February 7th through the 26th, which represents the “opinion” tab’s available range of dates. News and Tribune guest columns identified as such were omitted, like George Shultz’s recent contribution about the NAFC referendum. News and Tribune staff contributions from editors Duncan and Morris were included.

Here are the results, running chronologically (backward) as the columns appeared; the number following their names is the total number of columns by the writer during the time period referenced.

Mike Matthews 2

Morton Marcus 3

Scott Underwood (1)

Susan Duncan (editor) 1

Leo Morris (2)

Ronnie Ellis 1

Terry Cummins 3

Chris Morris (editor) 1

Lindon Dodd 3

Tom May (religion column) 2

Mark Bennett 1

Lee Hamilton 1

Tom May (general interest column) 1

Terry Stawar 2

Mike Lunsford 1

Barb Anderson 1

John Krull 2

Deb Kelly 1

That's 26 columns by 15 white male columnists, and three by three white female columnists.

Furthermore, of the 15 white males shown here, it’s likely that only one (Underwood) or perhaps even none are younger than 40 years of age; my guess would be an average age in the late 50s. Basically, there are no young faces at all, and apparently millennials need not apply.

Obviously there are no black faces, male or female, nor Latino/Latina faces. It’s possible that LGBTQ faces are represented, though not to my knowledge (and not from a perusal of column content).

Tom May’s dual presence alone guarantees a consistent Christian bias in terms of religion, although he’s not the only columnist from the sampling to reference religion. Needless to say, there are no Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, or Druid faces.

The News and Tribune recently touted its success at winning journalism awards generated by its own parent organization. These invariably strike me as self-serving and honestly laughable, but admittedly I’m in no position to judge their relative merits. All power to the regular news and production staff members who win these awards.

At the same time, any one of us can take a glance around the community and see the human diversity on display here -- perhaps not to the extent of some locales on the planet, but vastly more evident than it ever was when an old white guy like me was growing up here.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at these “opinionated” faces.

Is this really the best the award-winning News and Tribune can do?

---

Recent columns:

February 20: ON THE AVENUES: For downtown New Albany, escaping reality might soon be a bridge too far.

February 13: ON THE AVENUES: War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

February 6: ON THE AVENUES Alas, New Albany is less of a place without a bookstore.

January 30: ON THE AVENUES: Dear Holocaust deniers: If you don't like this post, unfriend me now.

Defending the barely defensible, or when a "chorus of opinions" translates into Christianity alone.

Amid the editor's recitation of "a lot of voices," I see no mention of the two weekly Christian religion columnists, Tom May and Nancy Kennedy, who have been running in the pages of the Jeffersonville newspaper for quite some time now.

May gets an additional "general interest" column placement, which often hints at the religious point of view. It's difficult to accept exculpatory pleas of "a lot of voices" when one guy gets two shots.

ON THE AVENUES: Welcome to "Pagan Life," a weekly column devoted to heathens, infidels, idolaters, atheists, non-theists, irreligious people, agnostics, skeptics, heretics and apostates.

If in fact the object of the local chain newspaper's guest column strategy is to offer a diversity of opinion, when does this noble goal extend to the practice of religion?

After all, there are a good many more religious perspectives than Christianity alone, as well as the equally compelling points of view afforded by those with no religious orientation whatever.

But wait.

I've just now searched the newspaper's cluttered on-line portal and see that no religion columns have appeared there since October. Are they still running in the print copies, obscured by the shadow of your parakeet?

Could it be my prayers have been answered? I doubt it, but a skeptic can dream, and as he does, note also the absence of African American and Latino voices from the roster.

DUNCAN COLUMN: A chorus of opinions, by Susan Duncan (Mostly Jeffersonville News and Tribune)

 ... Back to our former reader. She wrote in her letter, “There is only one Author that writes for you that is worth reading and that is Lindon Dodd.”

Well, I like Lindon’s writing, too. He can be funny, thoughtful, irreverent and more. But I believe many of our other columnists — likely she’s referencing them, as opposed to reporters who also write — have merit and are worth your time to read.

Chris Morris’ writing is replete with homespun Southern Indiana charm. Erin Thompson adds her savvy mom perspective. Terry Stawar entertains and educates. Barb Anderson challenges us to be our better selves. Amanda Beam brings both spunk and heart to her tales. Terry Cummins weaves a lesson or two into each column. Newcomer Mike Matthews brings us together. The descriptions from another Mike, Lunsford, make everyday happenings relatable. So, too, are the musings of Tom May from his view in the Catbird Seat. And we occasionally run columns by Mark Bennett, who gets to the heart of what’s important in life.

We also publish guest columns from current and former elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Todd Young, U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, and Congressman Lee Hamilton. Two of those men are Republicans, and when Democrat Hamilton was in the U.S. House, he reached across the aisle so much he created a bridge for comprise.

Other periodic columnists include Leo Morris, John Krull, Mary Beth Schneider, Shane Phipps, Bill Ketter, Kelly Hawes and Brian Howey, all more politically oriented with a statewide or national focus. Why? They add variety and cause us to evaluate our own opinions on the issues before us.

That’s a lot of voices. I add my own to the chorus sometimes, tackling issues or encouraging more intentional living ...

I got your message: Tom May's sermons are opinions, not news. C'mon, journalists -- get it right.

It says right there it's a "column," which is a questionable assessment in itself, seeing as Preacher Tom May's screed is a religious "message" of the sort distributed by street corner Jehovah Witnesses, except in this instance it is published weekly in the pages of the Jeffersonville newspaper, to be filed on line not under "opinions," which is how columns generally are classified, but as "news," a term implying factual comment utterly absent from an evangelist's pitch.

Or, the News and Tribune's decline continues unabated.

All hail the 'Bama pensioners -- and read yet another of the local chain newspaper's religious advocacy columns.

I'm sure Tom May is a jolly good fellow, but this religious advocacy crusade at the Chronicle of Clark County is drivel. Of course, it isn't entirely the writer's fault.

He's enabled by a fading newspaper seemingly unable to grasp that we live in a diverse community, one deserving a multiplicity of viewpoints. Instead, day in and day out, we witness groveling to advertisers and pandering to low common denominators.

Absolutely clueless management at the News and Tribune.

Are they afraid that alternate points of view might offend the few remaining subscribers?

That performing something approximating investigative journalism would turn off the spigot of municipal advertising?

That letting someone other than Tom May write weekly columns wouldn't be a welcome change for those of us repelled by the dogmatic repetition?

What's really going on here?

Does Tom May have the incriminating photos stashed in a saf deposit box somewhere?

MAY: Collision course with Christmas by Tom May (Bill's Favorite Content Provider)

The paths of the government and Christmas have long been on a collision course ...

 ... In those days, the government was concerned with itself and not the circumstances of an engaged couple expecting a child. Perhaps that is why Isaiah proclaimed that the government would be upon His shoulder. What an incredible promise! The real hope of the world doesn’t depend upon the strength of the government. In those days, just like today, hope depends not on the government, but on the grace of God.

Dan Canon is writing a column for LEO as News & Tribune contemplates a "knitting for piety" foldout.

Dan Canon, a New Albany resident, writing a column for LEO; Danielle Grady, former News & Tribune reporter, now a staff writer for LEO.

Danielle has an excellent piece about the Sherman Minton Bridge: Sherman Minton Closure Could Cut Lifeline For West Louisville.

Seeing as Dan, our favorite fire-breathing socialist, is writing for a Louisvile newspaper with an entire section devoted to beer, maybe the News & Tribune can have Tom May start writing Christian-oriented beer columns -- you know, pairing psalms with IPAs.

That'd be par for the TopGolf mediocrity course for the likes of Bill Hanson, wouldn't it?

THE UNFUCKING OF THE MIDWEST: Of the law, politics and our coming blindness, by Dan Canon (LEO Weekly)

... Over the last 20 years as a musician, an activist, a lawyer and a politician in Indiana and Kentucky, I’ve seen the fucking over of the Midwest play out in an incalculable number of ways, affecting an incalculable number of lives. But I’ve also seen enough to maintain a glimmer of optimism — if just enough to get by.

In this series, I’ll be telling the stories of folks here who, for whatever reason, have been shortchanged by the institutions that govern their day-to-day existence. I’ll be talking to the good people in our communities who are working on solutions to the underlying problems. And I’ll be sharing what I learn from them about meaningful ways you and I can help unfuck the Midwest.

Stay with me. And if you know any good stories, send them my way.