Creative Loafing Newspaper Editor Apologizes for Omission of Blacks from "Artist to Watch" Story

It seems that the Creative Loafing newspaper has come under fire recently for its omission of blacks from its "8 Artists to Watch" story. According to Redding News Review, CL editor Mara Shalhoup said the paper made a mistake in not placing any blacks in its story. That's a little surprising, since Atlanta has one of the largest black populations in the country, second to New York City. Here's an excerpt from Redding News Review:

"There has been a lot of people" who have complained about this, Shalhoup said. "We are ready to admit when we messed up and we messed up."

She said that she and her Arts & Entertainment Editor Debbie Michaud realized the day before the issue went to press that no blacks were in the story.

"The problem is that eight to watch did not reflect the community," Shalhoup said. "The paper as a whole reflects the community."

I wouldn't throw the paper under a bus, because it has been inclusive and supportive of all communities in the Atlanta area. I have sent an email to Ms. Shalhoup for her comment on the matter and she responded quickly. Here are the questions and answers:

Hinterland Gazette:  I came across an article on the Redding News Review about an apology you are expected to issue over the absence of blacks in the "Artist to Watch."

Mara Shalhoup:  I will be writing a column on the topic of both the exclusion of minorities in the "Artists to Watch" issue — which was a terrible mistake — and how we generally cover diversity in CL's pages. That column will appear in the issue that comes out a week from tomorrow.

Hinterland Gazette:  What is "Artist to Watch?"

Mara Shalhoup:  An "Artist to Watch" is an artist from any number of disciplines who has a performance coming up in the fall that we want to highlight. Typically, we go for artists who are not big names (big names might include Fahamu Pecou, R. Land, Pearl Cleage, Shana Robbins, Hense, etc.) since the big names already get a good bit of coverage in CL and elsewhere.

Hinterland Gazette:  Atlanta has the largest black population, outside of New York City, why were there no black artists included?

Mara Shalhoup:  I can shed light on how the artists were selected, if that helps. Three of our arts writers — one of whom is a minority — provided suggestions to our arts editor. I just asked the arts editor to go back and look at those suggestions (I wasn't involved in the selection process, which is fairly typical). It turns out that one of those suggestions was a minority, but that artist didn't have an upcoming fall show.

Hinterland Gazette:  Going forward, what will you do differently? What lessons have you learned from this incident?

Mara Shalhoup: I think one of the most valuable lessons, for me personally, is that diversity must be reflected not just in a single issue. The "Artists to Watch" issue as a whole was actually incredibly diverse. Diversity should be reflected story by story, page by page.

As far as my role, with very few exceptions, my preference generally has been that our writers and editors — a diverse group —  come up with suggestions for what lands in the paper. I like for that process remain as organic as possible, and I think the process has served us well. We by and large do a great job reflecting the diverse community in which we live — this one, glaring incident aside. That said, do I need to further involve myself in such matters as the selection of subjects for "8 Artists to Watch" — and do I need to do a better job impressing upon the editors the fact that diversity is essential in those features? Definitely.

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