Media

Virginia Newspaper Issues Racial Disclaimer Ahead Of New Project

(Photo by Mike Heffner/Getty Images)

Michael Ginsberg Congressional Correspondent
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The Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper serving southeastern Virginia, offered a racial disclaimer ahead of a series about segregation in Norfolk, VA.

“We’re white. When launching a project about racial divisions, it’s only fair to start with that fact,” the article “Dividing Lines: How The Pilot is reporting the series—and our blind spots,” published on Jan. 21, begins.

The two writers on the Dividing Lines project, Ryan Murphy and Sara Gregory, said that “it [would] be better if a person of color or a Norfolk native — or both — were among the reporters.”

“Ryan and Sara have covered the city and its educational system, respectively, for years and have the context and sourcing to be able to report on the issue authoritatively,” the article said.

Murphy and Gregory express worry that The Virginian-Pilot itself is not integrated enough. Less than 10% of the paper’s reporters are black, they explain.

The project includes interviews and graphics which are intended to demonstrate that Virginia’s second-largest city is still as segregated as it was before the Civil Rights Movement. The paper has won two Pulitzers for its coverage of racial issues, one in 1929 for an editorial that promoted anti-lynching legislation, and another in 1959 for a series criticizing Virginia’s decision to close schools rather than integrate them. (RELATED: NYT Union Condemns Colleague, Newspaper After Op-Ed Criticizes 1619 Project)