MPR And American Public Media Employees Demand Leaders Address Racial And Gender Inequities

From the Minnesota Reformer:

By Max Nesterak

September 22, 2020

Employees at Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company American Public Media authored a letter to readers on Tuesday saying they’ve “lost trust in the company’s senior leaders” and have issued a list of demands to improve racial and gender equity.

The demands, listed on a new website called “Transform MPR,” comes a week after the public resignation of veteran reporter Marianne Combs and firing of Garrett McQueen, the classical station’s only Black host.

[Disclosure: I worked at MPR News as a producer from 2016-2019.]

Combs announced she quit on Twitter and accused editors of slow-walking her investigation into allegations that a DJ on the Current had been accused of “sexual manipulation and psychological abuse” by at least eight women. MPR President Duchesne Drew defended the newsroom’s editors for not running the piece, writing in a statement “it does not meet our journalistic standards.” Still, following a wave of public criticism, MPR fired the DJ, Eric Malmberg, the next day.

McQueen said he was fired for playing music that was more racially diverse and more appropriate during months of protests for racial justice across the country, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.. Drew, who is also Black, said McQueen was warned more than once but refused to follow company procedure. Drew took the helm of MPR four months ago.

The letter, signed by the MPR/APM union committee on anti-racism and inclusion, says these two high-profile departures are the result of the company mismanaging racial and gender concerns for decades.

“Our company culture and our news coverage routinely prioritizes white audiences and their stories, neglecting communities of color. The company, over its 53-year history, has also fostered a harmful working environment for women and journalists of color,” the letter reads.

The demands of the MPR/APM employees include:

• Appoint employees and community members to the board of trustees
• Publicly apologize for “decades of failure to support employees of color” and acknowledge that “public donations have been spent to maintain a white-centered power structure”
• Disclose any financial payments it has made to settle discrimination complaints and commit to ending the practice of nondisclosure agreements with employees.
• Immediately disclose racial breakdowns for hiring, interviewing and attrition across MPR News and APM Reports newsroom positions, and update twice a year.
• Hire or promote journalists of color to senior editorial positions at MPR News and APM Reports within six months.
• Correct pay disparities within six months.
• Make an annual newsroom diversity report public for audiences.

The action by employees at MPR and APM, which also owns Marketplace and Southern California Public Radio, are part of a larger reckoning in the media industry following the events since Floyd’s death. . In July, employees at the Star Tribune announced a similar list of demands on their largely white bosses to rectify persistent racial and gender disparities in the newsroom, which they say has eroded trust with their readers.

Employees at the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others, have also challenged their employers to improve staff diversity and their coverage of race.

APM CEO Jon McTaggart, among the highest paid public media executives in America, issued a statement about the company’s commitment to diversity in August. He reported that about a quarter of the company’s 645 full and part-time employees are Black, Indigenous or people of color and said the company was working to increase its diversity. He also said the company would invest in inclusion training and professional development.

MPR and employees with “Transform MPR” could not immediately be reached for comment.

This story is developing and will be updated.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..