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The Color Of Stale

Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell is quite pleased with the ideological diversity of the paper?s op-ed page. She thinks the offerings are nicely balanced between liberals and conservatives ? she lists the usual suspects among the regulars ? but the quality of her judgment here is reflected by the fact that she accepts regular Colby King?s self-description as an independent curmudgeon ?with little tolerance for ideologues of any stripe.? On the other hand, she is bothered by the fact that the WP?s op-ed page is ?too male and too white.?

There are, of course, good reasons for its maleness and whiteness, which she dutifully provides: men submit more op-eds than women ?by as much as 9 to 1?; ?the nation's power structure, often represented in Post op-eds, is white, male and at least middle-aged?; and this big one:

The Post?s longtime stable of regular columnists consists overwhelmingly of older white men. The op-ed page usually runs five pieces a day; four are from regular columnists. So only one of the 80 to 100 daily outside submissions gets in.

And that, to me, is the real problem. The real problem with the Post?s op-ed page is not that it?s too male or too white or too old but that it?s so utterly, repetitively, predictable.

Staleness knows no color.

Full post as published by Discriminations on May 26, 2008 (boomark / email).