Former California newspaper editor to speak at Southeast's Davis Lecture

The nation's newsrooms need a more diverse staff, says a former editor of the Oakland Tribune in California.

"There are still a number of small newsrooms around the country that have no diversity," said Pearl Stewart, the first black woman to become editor of a major daily newspaper.

Stewart, who now lives in Jackson, Miss., will present the Michael Davis Lecture today at Southeast Missouri State University. The adjunct professor at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg will speak at noon in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. The event, part of Southeast's Black History Month festivities, is free and open to the public.

The annual lecture recognizes the contributions of blacks in the media. It also honors Michael Davis, a mass communication student at Southeast who died from a fraternity hazing incident.

Reached by telephone Monday, Stewart talked about the need for diversity in news organizations. "When you don't have diversity in the newsroom, you do not have people covering stories and editing stories who are part of the overall life experience, who represent the people and the communities that we live in," she said.

"When you don't have a diverse newsroom staff, then coverage is limited," she said.

Stewart said various internship programs across the country help train minority journalists. "I think it is critical for newspapers and news organizations to look to some of those programs or develop their own internship programs," she said.

Some newspapers may not be well-read by the black community, Stewart said. "Sometimes people have gotten out of the habit of reading the paper," she said.

Decades ago, newspapers reported little about black residents in their communities, she said. "There was a time when there were no people of color mentioned in the paper except in a stereotypical way," Stewart said.

The news media today does a better job of covering minorities, she said. But even now, newspapers must deal at times with racist readers, she said.

As editor of the Oakland Tribune in 1992 and 1993, Stewart said she received "horrible, racist letters" from one man.

"It is kind of frightening," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123