Inside Opinion

If you have questions about how the Daily News makes editorial decisions, this blog has the answers. Editorial page editor Matt Zencey and writers Frank Gerjevic and Rosemary Shinohara will discuss what they're working on, answer questions and ask your perspective on issues facing Alaska.


Contributors

Matt Zencey

Matt Zencey joined the Daily News as an editorial writer in 1985 and was named editorial page editor in May 2007. He has won several. "Best editorial writing" awards from the Alaska Press Club and was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. He lives on the west side of Anchorage, where he enjoys the best weather in town and easy access to the Coastal Trail. E-mail Matt at mzencey@adn.com

Frank Gerjevic

Frank Gerjevic has worked at the Daily News since 1978, where he's been sports editor, copy editor, reporter and columnist. He's been an editorial writer since 1998. He began his newspaper career with the Anchorage Times in 1975. E-mail Frank at fgerjevic@adn.com

Rosemary Shinohara

Rosemary Shinohara is an editorial writer who has lived most of her life in Alaska. She has spent most of her career as a reporter or editor at the Daily News. She covered construction of the Alaska oil pipeline, the Legislature, schools and urban affairs. She has also been an editor for NPR's All Things Considered, and has written for the Associated Press. E-mail Rosemary at rshinohara.com

Archive

Begich Re: Monegan, circa 2006 - 7/21/2008 3:33 pm

Why Daily News editorials are not signed - 7/20/2008 10:28 am

Is ADN unfair to Ted Stevens with our op-ed policy? - 7/16/2008 5:07 pm

For troops, families and friends - 7/16/2008 2:24 pm

Good, bad, ugly photos - 7/15/2008 4:23 pm

Exxon ruling - ADN editorial - 6/25/2008 11:49 am

James Christianson's lucky day - - 6/19/2008 11:18 am

Would you read candidates' op-eds on the web? - 6/19/2008 11:10 am

Who chooses those columnists? - 6/18/2008 4:46 pm

Smoke? At that price? - 6/18/2008 7:59 am

Op-eds from political candidates - 6/17/2008 1:31 pm

Candidate Begich re: Iraq - 6/13/2008 5:00 pm

Why only four letters today - 6/12/2008 5:02 pm

Great unwashed elites? - 6/12/2008 2:23 pm

Politics or pillow talk? - 6/11/2008 4:08 pm

Relatively unarmed - 6/10/2008 3:13 pm

Insured, but still in medical debt? - 6/10/2008 11:42 am

A tribute to Carol Comeau - 6/10/2008 11:27 am

Knik bridge - 6/9/2008 2:43 pm

Obama's macho deficit - 6/9/2008 11:19 am

Sick-ometer - 6/5/2008 11:03 am

Speed doctoring - 6/4/2008 1:49 pm

full archive »

Racism measured by stopwatch

Posted by Frank Gerjevic

Posted: April 7, 2008 - 3:54 pm

From Frank Gerjevic

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece that appears in Tuesday's Daily News in which he recounts his discovery that he's a racist.

A racist by .015 seconds. That's point-zero-one-five.

He wrote about a University of Chicago on-line test in which black men and white men are shown with either guns or cell phones. The idea is to shoot the ones with guns, spare the ones with cell phones.

Kristof found that he shot armed black men .015 seconds faster than he shot armed white men. Wonder what the margin of error is. I'm not sure that .015 seconds is a distinction with a difference when measuring racism, but I take Kristof's point that we react based on subconscious stereotypes.

And given the velocity of a speeding bullet, I reckon .015 seconds counts.

Anyway, Kristof goes on to say that gender may be a tougher hurdle than race in this election. What do you think? If hurdles they be, I could have cleared both with a vote for the late Texas Democrat Barbara Jordan.


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  3     June 3, 2008 - 1:47pm | digitaldot

Excuse me but based on YOUR thinking...

1 you are part of the media
2 the media is responsible for negative portrayals of minorities
3 based on these negative portrayals, the public is more inclined to shoot a black man with a gun.

My thinking is

1. you are responsible for the social ill's of society that you proclaim to hate.

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  2     April 11, 2008 - 9:10am | reinhart

Stop watch everything

.015 is a lucky number, roughly equal to l/700th (I think). Other lucky 7 digits are much promoted by lib doomsday, global warming, climate change denier-deniers. To wit - sea-level has risen by .7 inch in the last century. Temperature has risen by .7 degree C in the same time frame. About 2,500 of the world's 20 million scientists (.007 %) proclaim that we are doomed to perdition unless we repent of our right wing squandering of everything within 30 years.

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  1     April 9, 2008 - 2:39am | cat_train2

Hilarious...

Might one conclude from his scientific study that Kristof is not black and his test scenario is not 50's era Deep South? I so hope our America's future is decided by something more profound than media-fired angst over race and gender.

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