COMM 337: A nuanced public affairs story in The Trib

"Nuance" isn't a word I often use about public affairs reporting. If something is nuanced, according to the Wictionary open-content online dictironary, it is "possessed of multiple layers of detail, pattern, or meaning." Life is like that. But most political reporting isn't.

If it were, I suspect Barack Obama would be a rising star in the Illinois State Senate and Sarah Palin would still be mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Both owe their political careers to an uncanny ability to play the media.

[IMPORTANT TANGENT: Now is as good a time as any to say this. I'll freely express my opinions when I blog, but you are not, repeat not expected to agree with them. That's especially true of politics, but it also applies to what I say about the media. Even the Chicago Cubs.]


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-met-race-politics-0912-20100910,0,1962528.story

By Bob Secter and Dawn Turner Trice, Tribune reporters

3:20 a.m. CDT, September 11, 2010


Chicago gave the nation its first African-American president, but the only wide-open mayoral election in recent memory may prove the acid test for how far the city has come in transcending its bitter legacy of racial politics.

A political land rush began to build the moment Mayor Richard Daley announced he was heading for the exit, with ethnic and racial interest groups of every hue sizing up potential candidates to make a run at control of City Hall.

"South Side Irish, North Side Irish, African-Americans, South Side African-Americans, West Side African-Americans, Latinos, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, everybody's doing it," explained Ald. Ricardo Munoz, 22nd.

The field of contenders is expected to be large, but it's far too early to say whether it ultimately will be defined by the color of skin rather than the content of character, ideas, money, chutzpah and, this being Chicago, even guile.

great quote

Chicago is simply in a different place than it was in 1983, when the dueling campaign slogans of Washington and white opponent Bernard Epton were anything but subtle: "It's our turn" vs. "Before it's too late."

Timuel Black Jr., a Chicago cultural historian who worked to help Washington break the color barrier in the mayor's office, said the race card still might play with some older voters but would risk turning off today's more open-minded younger generation.

"This is less about black, white or brown, but green," said Black. ...

Black went on to explain what he meant by "green." (Hint: Don't think environment, think money.) "Candidates must emphasize jobs," he said. "Then education, street safety and affordable housing are also important. The racial rhetoric of old won't work on today's Chicago voters. They're far more sophisticated, even if some of their politicians aren't."

It's nuanced.

"Backsliding isn't out of the question," say ____ and _____. "The city hasn't magically been transformed during Daley's 21 years as mayor into a rainbow of harmony. Many ingredients that fueled the bitterness of old overhang the election to replace him ..."

Awfully good kicker at the end, quoting yet another ethnic powerbroker:

Juan Rangel, CEO of the Hispanic-oriented United Neighborhood Organization, credits both Washington and Daley for the way race has evolved in Chicago politics.

Washington, he said, started with a large African-American majority but over time convinced many Hispanic and white voters that he looked out for their interests as well. Daley reversed the order but ended up in much the same place, Rangel said.

"He started with a large white vote in 1989 and a significant Hispanic vote, and you saw his base change over the years to include African-Americans," said Rangel. "Both mayors understood that in order to govern, they needed to go beyond the traditional base and be mayor for all people."

Which does what a kicker should do: Sus up the article and leaves its readers thinking."