What Works ?

This article focuses on the strategies employed by community newspaper, Greeley Tribune in Colorado, to diversify its staff. The Greeley Tribune and the Times-News of Burlington, North Carolina have much in common. Both say their parent companies, the Tribune is owned by Swift Newspapers, do not have corporate diversity initiatives; and both papers are in not-so-attractive cities, places where the few restaurants close at 9 p.m. and nightlife is nonexistent. Both pay entry-level hires about $25,000 a year. Times-News and Greeley Tribune have similar circulations and hometown demographics. Yet while the staff in Burlington's newsroom is practically all white, Greeley's is diverse. Every year, Editor Chris Cobler, who joined the Tribune in November 1995, visits area campuses and meets with students, including students of color, many of whom later come to the paper as interns. In addition, the paper offers $500 internship scholarships for students of color at CU-Boulder and Colorado State University, the annual awards also include a part-time for-credit job. The paper reaches out to younger students of all races by sponsoring a high school journalism day at Greeley's University of Northern Colorado and bringing in 12 high school students to write a Summer Break page once a week.