BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, January 10, 2005
TIMES COMPANY, METRO
RESPOND. Here is a statement from the New York Times Company and
the Boston Globe regarding Rory
O'Connor's article on
MediaChannel.org about alleged racism and sexism at Metro
International:
The New York Times Company
and The Boston Globe have received reports of inappropriate
comments on the part of Metro USA and are discussing these
allegations with Metro USA's management. The Times Company is
committed to fair treatment of all employees based on respect,
accountability and standards of excellence.
And here is a statement from Ken
Frydman, on behalf of Metro International:
On two occasions two years
ago, officers of Metro International made public statements
quoting other people who had made racially disparaging remarks. In
neither case was the Metro employee expressing his own views and
sentiments or those of Metro International.
In one case, a Metro officer,
speaking at an internal conference, was asked to translate aloud
into English a joke that had been handed to him by another Metro
employee. As he concentrated on translating the joke to a foreign
language, the Metro officer realized, to his dismay, that he had
unintentionally made an offensive racial reference. The Metro
officer, Steve Nylund, was rebuked by Metro's CEO for reading the
joke and Mr. Nylund has since expressed his deep regret at having
been led to make a comment that does not reflect his views and
that he finds offensive. "The comment was made unintentionally
during my translation," Nylund said. "Nevertheless, I deeply
regret having offended anyone and I apologize."
The Metro employee who forwarded
the offensive joke to Mr. Nylund is no longer with the
company.
In the other case, a Metro
officer, in a public attempt at self-deprecation, opened an
internal meeting by citing an offensive salutation attributed to a
German official. That salutation included a racially offensive
word, which the officer awkwardly and inappropriately repeated by
way of illustrating his contention that his countrymen were inept
at public speaking. The Metro officer was reprimanded by a senior
Metro officer and has expressed his regret at repeating a word he
personally finds offensive.
While these isolated remarks do
not in any way reflect the views of the company, Metro
nevertheless apologizes for them. Neither incident should be
viewed as a commentary on the commitment to diversity and
tolerance of Metro International.
As to the false charges about
the gender and racial makeup of Metro's workforce, Metro
International categorically denies recently published allegations
that a culture of racism and sexism exists at Metro. The company
has a commitment to hiring and promoting without regard to race,
religion, sex, or creed; employees who violate Metro's diversity
policy are subject to severe penalties. Metro employs senior
executives of many ethnicities and cultures as well as women in
such senior positions as Publisher and Senior Vice President for
Business Development. In addition, in The United States, Metro
employs African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic employees in
senior editorial and business positions, including Production
Director and Marketing Director.
As the world's leading free
daily newspaper group, Metro (www.metro.lu)
publishes 42 newspaper editions in 16 languages that reach more
than 14.5 million daily readers and 32 million weekly readers in
63 major cities throughout 17 countries
covering Europe,
North and South America and Asia.
posted at 6:30 PM |
6 comments
|
link
6 Comments:
Well, that certainly seems like an intelligent, well-reasoned explanation of what could be a very unpleasant situation.
Except the Boston Herald is treating this as the 12th sign of the apocalypse - seen their front page today? http://www.bostonherald.com
Except the Herald has plenty of good reason to see the Metro fail - it's been taking a big bite out of the Herald's business, and the Herald is notorious for this kind of tabloid journalism anyway.
Except, of course, I know better than to trust any public statement out of a company that faces a huge public dopeslap for having (allegedly) done something really stupid...
Whom to believe, whom to believe...?
- Aaron Read
An intelligent, well-reasoned explanation?! Did you read the original article? Every table was to prepare a joke AHEAD of time to share with the assembly. Furthermore, Nylundh's joke was long and protracted, with SEVERAL uses of the word "nigger".
This was not a case of someone slowly translating from a card and realizing in horror what they're reading.
This was a case of someone cavalierly spewing vitriol and the rest of the room realizing in horror what they were hearing.
Is the Metro's corporate symbol a swastika?
Me thinks many a non-nazis have used the n-word, so the swastiska jab seems pretty gratuitous.
This is what happens when you're from a country where one of the favorite pastries is known as negro balls. Throw in the cockiness of Stockholm's hip and happening black-plastic crowd from Cafe Opera and you get some real whoppers born out of affluent insularity.
But am I the only person who's equally shocked by the fact that the guy tells a joke about guys hauling out their dicks? At a business function? That's pretty studentikost.
Sorry, I sometimes forget that sarcasm doesn't translate well into blogging. Anyways, the explanation does *SEEM* intelligent and well-reasoned, but I should have made more clear that I don't think it actually is.
FWIW, the Metro is on my sh*t-list anyway because they threatened legal action to force BU's student paper (Daily Free Press) to stop calling themselves "Boston's Third Largest Daily Paper". I have a lot of issues with BU, but it's still me alma mater...and I thought that was a real cheap shot by the Metro.
- Aaron Read
Newspapers having a pissing contest is the most annoying thing to read in a newspaper. What happened to the news?
So why isn't anyone reporting that all the racist crap that was going on at Metro Boston happened when a guy named Russell Pergament was publisher there? And Pergament is now publisher of AM New York, Metro's competitor in New York. And Rory O'Connor, who broke the Metro racism story, was until recently AM New York's media columnist? I mean, if there's a racist, sounds like its Pergament. And Metro got rid of him and cleaned house later. All of us who worked there know what a racist Pergament was.
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
