Friday, May 19, 2000
85 demonstrate against paper, claim unfairnessMore coverage of Hispanics among group's 22 demands
By Jonathan OsborneCaller-Times
David Adame/Caller-Times
A group of approximately 85 protesters march past the Caller-Times building Thursday. The group then rallied in Artesian Park. Some of the protesters expressed concerns about the newspaper's role in the community, saying that coverage of recent news events has been sensational. Others said the Hispanic community is not fairly represented in the newspaper's coverage.A group of about 85 protesters took up signs and banners Thursday, marched down Leopard Street to Lower Broadway and tossed about a dozen papers at the door of the Caller-Times. They then gathered in Artesian Park to rally against a paper they felt, for differing reasons, has mistreated the community. "They crucify people," said Susie Luna-Saldaña, one of the leaders of the rally. "Do you think that's fair?" "No," the crowd cheered in unison. "They print negative news," she yelled. "Do you think that's fair?" "No," the crowd yelled back. Luna-Saldaña, who is a staff representative for the American Federation of Teachers, spoke as a member of the Concerned Citizens for Truth, Justice and Equality. She referred to the Caller-Times' coverage of the controversy that surrounded CCISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, who was acquitted of felony charges Thursday.
List of demands: 1. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times will recognize and agree to meet with a committee of citizens composed of a cross-section of our community, including members from the surrounding towns, who will meet weekly with the editorial board and staff to address the following issues:
Stereotyping
Unfair news reporting
Misleading stories
Unequal treatment of minorities
Negative reporting
Equal coverage of all sports events, social events, parties, and curriculums whether at schools, colleges and/or universities or chartered clubs. 2. Discontinue endorsement of political candidates by the Caller-Times, printing only a candidate's qualifications, platform, and background. 3. Hire staff employees on a ratio of ethnically based community - Anglo, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, etc. All positions (Editorial Board, New Editors, Assignments Editors, Reporters, Photographers, etc.) shall reflect the diversity make-up of our community. 4. Require two different opinions or views to be written every time the newspaper editorializes a subject matter. 5. Produce and print paper editions that will address the ethnic make-up of this community. 6. Stop any and all reporting of stories that tend to sensationalize or divide the community. 7. Cease the groundless degradation of members of the judiciary. 8. Investigative reporting of alleged corruption shall be unbiased, exhaustive, fair and equal as to all levels of government. 9. Require all publishers, editors, members of management and decision-making persons to resign from any and all boards, organizations and charitable groups in order to assure fair and unbiased reporting of legitimate news events. 10. Require the editorial board to notify the Citizens Committee of all stories that are not going to be investigated, researched and/or published. 11. Corpus Christi Caller-Times should strive to identify and consult the "true" - "effective" Hispanic/Black leaders in our community who now represent and speak for our people. It's been too long in identifying the "OLD" ineffective leadership in our community. Corpus Christi Caller-Times has continued to consult with the same "OLD" leadership who no longer represent or speak for our people. 12. Teen pregnancy is a tremendous problem. Assist the families in our community by writing stories that pertain to this problem. Articles on the problems of Teen pregnancies, etc. 13. Do some investigative reporting as to how we can bring more industry (jobs) to our community. 14. Write stories on how to bring this community together. 15. Corpus Christi Caller-Times should sponsor an annual newspaper JOB FAIR to attract more minorities into the job market. 16. Corpus Christi Caller-Times must work together or in union with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas A&M-Kingsville, Del Mar College in highlighting their activities and financial aid opportunities. 17. Continue "Hispanic" Supplement (e.g. Vista, etc.) 18. Highlight the "Forgotten Barrio" activities in your coverage. 19. Include more Hispanic opinions by true Hispanic writers in your "FORUM" columns. 20. Reduce the circulation paper's price. 21. Feature more "Hispanic" opinions by true Hispanic writers in your "Forum" columns. 22. Feature more concentrated YOUTH stories. But Luna-Saldaña said it isn't necessarily the way the paper wrote the stories, but instead the way the stories were presented on the page. "It's the presentation," she said. "It's the design. It's like the paper is forming an opinion for me. When I pick up the newspaper, I want to see facts. I form my own opinions." She said the day Saavedra was indicted was an example of overkill. "I thought World War III had been declared," she said. "It's ridiculous. It didn't require that kind of sensationalism." For more than two weeks, the leaders of the group have been circulating fliers announcing Thursday's march of the Caller-Times and demanding changes at the paper. Some members of the same group passed out surveys to Caller-Times employees about two weeks ago asking their salary, gender, ethnicity and job position. On Thursday, City Councilman Javier Colmenero, CCISD Trustee Rene Vela and former Board President Frank Reyes joined the march. Protesters carried signs that called for truth and justice, but they also carried signs that compared the Caller-Times with the Nazis. One sign referred to the paper as the "Korpus Kristi Kaller-Times," with a swastika drawn next to the letters. One flier announcing the march complained about a Caller-Times column that the protesters perceived as not supporting the Robstown baseball team , and referred to the Caller-Times as the Caucasian-Times. Joe Ortiz, one of the group's leaders, the national civil rights director for the G.I. Forum and the founder of the Felix Longoria G.I. Forum chapter, said that he did not know who made that flier but that he did not approve of its content. "This is a community endeavor," he said. However, one of the marchers walking with the group carried a "Caucasian-Times" sign. Along with the fliers, the group also circulated a list of 22 demands, which include asking the paper to stop endorsing political candidates and to inform the group of stories the paper does not plan to investigate or write about. Larry Rose, executive vice president and editor of the Caller-Times, responded in a prepared statement Thursday. "The mission of the Caller-Times is to cover the news, as professionally and completely as possible, including the painful and emotional stories the community has gone through in recent months," Rose said. "The marchers have their right to a point of view. And we have a right to disagree with their 22 demands. "As a professional organization, the Caller-Times intends to continue reporting and presenting news issues as seriously and as unbiased as possible," Rose said. "As a member of the community, the Caller-Times is committed to moving all segments of the community forward." Leaders of the group, which includes the Felix Longoria Chapter of the G.I. Forum and the Tejano Democrats, have described the group as a loose organization. The group, leaders said, is composed of citizens from throughout the community. "This is not a Hispanic issue," Ortiz said. "Don't perceive this as a Hispanic issue but a community issue." Buck Sosa, the president of the Tejano Democrats and one of the leaders of the Concerned Citizens for Truth, Justice and Equality, wouldn't single out any individual groups. "We feel that the Caller-Times has been dealing with people who no longer speak for all of us," Sosa said. The paper should focus on real people in the Hispanic community, he said. "We all have something to say," he said. "LULAC does not speak for the whole Hispanic community, just like the G.I. Forum does not speak for the whole Hispanic community." He said the group is upset because they perceive that the Caller-Times ignores certain factions of the community and reports unfairly. Sosa said he thinks the society page does not feature Hispanic events as regularly as Anglo events. He also said the perception among members of his group is that sports coverage focuses on certain schools. What really set the group off, Sosa said, is that the Caller-Times printed information about the judges handling the CCISD trials. Ken Chastain, another leader of the group, said the goal of the boycott is inclusion. "We're not here to fight the Caller-Times," he said. "Our mission is to be included into the only newspaper in town. We're calling to work with the Caller-Times." Colmenero spoke to the group, telling them they needed to work with the newspaper. Several members of the crowd responded by waving him off. But Colmenero said that some of the group's demands of the paper were, journalistically, unreasonable. He said he wanted to see a dialogue result from the protest. "There are some things that can be worked out," Colmenero said. Del Mar Regent Dorothy Spann said the Caller-Times sometimes "blurs the lines between news reporting and advocacy." But Spann said she admires the paper for fighting for access to public records. Juan Guerra, a local physician, said he stopped reading the paper two months ago, following a story about a company wanting to bus Corpus Christi workers to Austin, a report that turned out to be false. "You've got to do your homework," Guerra said. "That should never have made the pages." Jesse Hix, a member of the Corpus Christi Taxpayers Association, said he didn't like the paper endorsing political candidates. "It puts a heavier burden for the (candidates) that don't have the money," Hix said. Marcher Roman Ortiz said the Caller-Times was not balanced in its reporting when the Saavedra spending controversy erupted. "Nothing positive about the man, nothing about his accomplishments," said Ortiz, an insulation business owner. Joe Ortiz said one item that particularly irked him was a historical column by Viewpoints Editor Murphy Givens that talked about the cattle queens of Texas who paid $50 for every pair of Mexican ears in 1852. The column was one of a series by Givens on Texas history. One marcher carried a sign that read: "My ears are not 4 sale." "This is the kind of thing the Caller-Times wrote on May 10, 2000," he said. "We don't want to read that. We want to read what good people have done." Victor Lara Ortegon, news director at KUNO, accused the Caller-Times of overly negative coverage of the Saavedra case. Caller-Times coverage generally is biased against Hispanics, and Hispanics won't stand for it, Lara said. "This is the new millennium," Lara said. "Hispanics - they're growing every day."
Staff Writer Dan Parker contributed to this report. Staff writer Jonathan Osborne can be reached at 886-3716 or by e-mail at osbornej@caller.com
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