Press Panel Calls ‘Political Correctness’ Basic Fairness : Minorities: Unity conference members say avoiding demeaning terms is simply good journalism. It is seen as promoting a tolerant discussion.

In recent years many conservative writers have complained that the “political correctness mind-set” has infected academia and the press. They say white males have been made the victims of derision, or worse, simply because they used an ill-advised term.

But Wednesday evening, a panel of minority journalists and prominent newspaper executives who are meeting here this week went on the counterattack. They argued that it is simply good journalism, as well as basic fairness, to describe people without using demeaning terms.

“I think we want a civilized, tolerant discussion. And when we start labeling folks, it cuts off the discussion,” said David Lawrence, publisher of the Miami Herald, during a session at the “Unity ‘94” conference, a joint meeting of groups representing black, Latino, Asian and Native American journalists.

“The struggle with language is a worthy task for a newspaper,” added Los Angeles Times editor Shelby Coffey III. Last year The Times revised its guidelines for terms used in ethnic and racial identification. Under the guidelines, for example, the term illegal immigrants is preferable to illegal aliens.

Coffey said the diverse readers in a major urban area simply demand “some recognition, some respect, and to be listened to.” As for political correctness, “I think the term ought to be quickly retired,” Coffey said.

Robert Bartley, editor of the Wall Street Journal, said he was not ready to give up a term that his editorial page has done so much to promote. It was Bartley’s editorials that drew much of the national attention to the case of the University of Pennsylvania freshman who was disciplined because he leaned out a dormitory window and shouted to a group of black women, “Shut up, you water buffalo.”

“To me, (political correctness) means the use of peer pressure to enforce a certain mind-set,” he said, and not always regarding matters of race, ethnicity or gender. “Clearly there is a politically correct view on the environment,” he said.

But the Wall Street Journal editor conceded that it is a mistake to toss around demeaning terms, even when they are used to make an ironic point. He recalled with regret that his editorial page had used the word “wetbacks” in a headline on a commentary about immigration.

“I think I kind of agree that some words are so powerful they interfere with communication,” he said.

Some minority journalists said the press needs to go much further to clean up its language. Consider the routine use of words such as “Redskins” and “Braves” as names for professional sports teams.

“This is one of the last vestiges of overt racism that is acceptable, that is right out in the open,” said Suzan Shown Harjo, a Cheyenne woman. She and other Native American journalists say the continued use of such terms fosters the stereotype that the native people were violent and aggressive.

In February, the Sacramento Bee angered many of its black readers by printing a cartoon showing a Ku Klux Klansman uttering a racial slur to praise Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. Cartoonist Dennis Renault said he sought to convey the idea that racism was evil, whether fostered by Farrakhan or a klansman.

But most of the panelists said the cartoon did not work as humor and needlessly offended readers by printing a racial slur.

However, Stanley Crouch, an author and contributing editor of the New Republic, noted that rap artists routinely use racial slurs, even as titles for their works.

Most of the panelists said mainstream media must be held to a higher standard. “You can’t use rappers as an excuse,” said Juan R. Palomo, a columnist for the Houston Post. “The reality is shaped by the people in power. This is about respecting people and respecting their sensibilities.”