Rant #2,464: Words

Yesterday, in between doing my daily chores and going to the hospital in the middle of the Isaiais storm, I had a very interesting and illuminating conversation with an editorial representative of Newsday, our local newspaper on Long Island.

And even though the conversation was focused on Newsday editorial policy, whether you live on Long Island, in Mississippi, in Alaska or Hawaii or overseas, you should really read this and take heed of it; no matter if you are a Republican or Democrat or Independent, you should be aware of it; and no matter where you sit or stand or kneel with the current issues we are going through, you should pay attention to it.

Let me tell you why.

I am an avid newspaper reader, going back to my childhood. I just like the feel of reading a real newspaper rather than read it online. That is who I am, and it isn't going to change any time soon.

I have been noticing a change in editorial policy in Newsday related to the way specific things are presented, and while I have shaken my head at them, yesterday was probably the last straw, the tipping point at my tolerance and patience.

I was reading the paper while eating lunch, and I was reading about a Newsday partnership with a British firm related to a few polls that the newspaper commissioned related to current issues.

I was reading one of the articles, related to how Long Islanders feel about the presence of the coronavirus, their finances, and the protest marches, among other things.

Take surveys for what they are, which aren't very much nor very reliable. But that being said, that was not necessarily what got me thinking. I am reading the article, and the following paragraph was part of the story:

"While 66% of Black Long Islanders backed the protests, only 34% of white residents did, as did 46% of Hispanics and 41% of Asians. Only 8% of Black residents opposed the protests; 28% of white residents did. The rest were 'neutral.'"

OK, those are the percentages they came up with, and that is not what I was a bit perturbed about.

Let's see if you can figure it out ... take a minute, re-read the paragraph ... read ever word ...

I think by now you should see it, although it is very, very subtle.

This paragraph is just one example of a sort of a new editorial stylebook for writing, as the "b" in black has now been capitalized, and the "w" in white remains lower case.

I have seen that new stylebook being used in Newsday for at least the last month, and it has kind of puzzled me. Why the change?

So I called Newsday about this as I was eating lunch, and I give them credit, they got back to me about 90 minutes later, when I had just arrived at the hospital and the winds and rain were kicking up but good. I went back into my car as I spoke with someone from their editorial staff, but I never got his name due to the weather conditions.

Anyway, I jumped back in my car, and here was our conversation, pretty much paraphrased, but here is what transpired:

Me: I have noticed recently that Newsday, when talking about racial issues, has started to capitalize the "b" in black and keep the "w" lower case in white. Why is that?

Newsday: We thought long and hard about this, and many hard decisions must be made in the world that we live in today.

Blacks have been the victim of systemic racism for generations. They have never been treated fairly in this country, and the situations that have been brought to our attention in the recent weeks has forced us to look at our editorial guidelines in a new way.

So following along with other newspapers in the country, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, we decided to highlight the systemic racism in our country by uppercasing the "b" in black.

Me: Am I the only subscriber to your publication that has brought this up to you?

Newsday: No, we have received many responses to this decision.

Me: Look, I am not going to argue back and forth here about systemic racism because this is not the time or place for it.

But do you understand that by changing your editorial guidelines, you are actually feeding into the problem yourself? You are creating an even wider gulf between the races than there may be by making this subtle change in your editorial policies?

Newsday: That was our editorial decision.

Me: By doing this, you are branding every white person in America as racist. That is just plain wrong.

Newsday: It is the style we have decided to implement.

Me: I understand, but you are branding an entire race of people as being racist. That is just so wrong, and what is worth, it leads to a further chasm between the races, and what's more, it also feeds into the belief by many Americans that the media cannot be trusted to provide accurate reporting, that it is twisted toward one side of the ledger, and that, quite frankly, that it is not doing its job.

Newsday: We are sticking with what we are doing, but we value your response.

Me: Look, I am a journalist myself. I followed AP [Associated Press] style for my entire career. Newsday has its own style. For instance, AP style states that when writing out a percentage, you write out the word "percentage," and do not use the symbol [%] for percentage as you do.

Newsday has kind of followed AP style and kind of not, so why are you following this new style, which is so hurtful?

Newsday: It is a tough editorial decision we had to make.

Me: But by doing it, don't you understand, you are branding an entire people, and entire segment of our population as being racist.

I grew up in a place called Rochdale Village, in South Jamaica, Queens, which was a new area at the time, with a mixed white.black population, that rose up right in the middle of one of the oldest black communities in the country, Jamaica, Queens.

Sure we were just kids, but our parents moved us there for a better life, both white and black parents truly believed this. And as a kid, we did not care about a person's race, whether he was white or black. We just cared if he would play ball with us.

So when I see something like this, no matter how subtle, it kind of irks me how you can do this and feel that you are doing the right thing.

I thank you for calling me back so quickly, but I would urge you to really explore this editorial policy you have adopted. It is wrong, and in fact, it is racist in itself, which means it is feeding into exactly what you are trying to combat by implementing it.

Newsday: Thank you for calling.

"CLICK."

And that was that.

To my knowledge, Newsday never announced to its readers that it was making this change, it just did it, perhaps thinking its readership is do dense that it would not pick up on the change.

But at their own admittance, myself and others have not only picked up on it, but complained about it.

And as I mentioned earlier, no matter what side of the fence you are sitting on, this subtle move should really bother you, and whether Newsday or the Times or the Post realize it or acknowledge it, it is further adding to the problems we are going through today as a country and as a civilization.

Yes, that old saying, "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword" is so true, and it is being perpetuated by such drivelish, childish and racist decisions as this one.