Of particular interest to any inquiry into the post-Kerner failure of newspapers to remedy past racial exclusion is why the industry’s seemingly progressive affirmative action efforts have fallen so far short of their goals. This article analyzes the discourse surrounding a moment of crisis in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ diversity initiative to show that the organization’s demographic parity project in fact continually resecures white domination and marginalizes the non-white journalists it invites to work in its newsrooms.
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