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Maynard was among the first to articulate notions of diversity, portrayal and demystification to the newspaper industry. This article originally appeared in the Fall 1993 issue of Outlook, the newsletter of the Institute for Journalism Education. By Perry L. Lang For those who knew him well and watched him navigate through life, Robert C. Maynard always seemed to be able to see beyond the horizon. "He was always able to see the big picture," said IJE President A. Stephen Montiel. Maynard, who died August 17, 1993, after a five-year battle with cancer, was an authentic pioneer in the newspaper industry who will be remembered for his reportorial, oratorical and creative entrepreneurial skills. But, perhaps most of all, he will be remembered for charting a course to move the American newspaper industry closer toward a more diverse and inclusive landscape. Maynard's efforts to bring ethnic and cultural diversity into American newspapering is legendary and occurred in large measure, through IJE, which he cofounded in 1977. Through IJE, Maynard helped create programs that have trained an ever-expanding pool of talented journalists--particularly ethnic minorities. Among the more than 500 IJE program graduates are Pulitzer Prize winners, newspaper executives, managers from both the news and business side of newspapers, newsroom editors, editorial writers, columnists and reporters. Not only did Maynard help create IJE programs, he also provided the "intellectual underpinning to this whole notion of diversity," said Montiel. Maynard was among the first to articulate notions of diversity, portrayal and demystification to a newspaper industry that excluded all but white males from its pages and employment rolls. IJE's history and Maynard's legacy around diversity are interconnected. IJE's genesis dates to the late 1960s, when the Summer Program for Minority Journalists was created. Maynard, along with then-New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell, brought new life to that program at Columbia University in 1972 when they become co-directors. "Bob understood the importance and enormity of our roles if we were going to diversify the newspaper industry," recalled Caldwell, who is now a New York Daily News columnist. During that first year at Columbia, Caldwell said, Maynard was instrumental in adding dimension to an otherwise sterile journalism program. Maynard and Caldwell brought in working journalists of all races to teach in the program and had the students produce a weekly newspaper as a training tool. They taught students not only how to write a story but also how to analyze statistics, define news and refine interpersonal skills. "Maynard was interested in developing the total journalist," Caldwell said. "He helped students understand the true meaning of diversity and taught young reporters not to be awed by power." In 1974, to the chagrin of Maynard, Columbia University decided to disband the summer program. Maynard, along with his wife, Nancy, and a handful of other journalists dedicated to diversifying the nation's newsrooms, reopened the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the University of California at Berkeley in 1976 and incorporated the Institute for Journalism Education a year later. IJE conducted the Summer Program for Minority Journalists until 1989, training and placing 206 newspaper reporters. IJE currently operates the Editing Program for Minority Journalists (EPMJ), which was founded in 1979, and the Management Training Center (MTC), which began in 1985. IJE also conducts Total Community Coverage training, which emphasizes inclusive news reporting and editing. Through IJE, Maynard has touched journalism professionals across the country. At most major newspapers, there is an IJE graduate who has benefited from Maynard's vision and philosophy. "Bob was a tremendous role model and story teller. He was also passionate and an incredible fighter," said Dorothy Bland, publisher of the Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette. "I thought if he can succeed, I should at least try ... To me, Bob was a drum major for justice in journalism." Bland is a 1982 EPMJ graduate and a 1986 MTC graduate. Lennox Samuels, assistant managing editor for national/foreign news at The Dallas Morning News and a 1985 MTC graduate, commented: "He was constantly causing things to happen. I hope all of us he has inspired can do at least half as well." Fernando Dovalina, assistant managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, said: "In this day when there aren't a lot of role models, here was a guy who really was one. The fact that IJE exists and became important in my life means that Bob Maynard will always be an integral part of my life." Dovalina taught in both the SPMJ and EPMJ programs. "Bob, along with (his wife) Nancy are the real reasons why I am here where I am today. He touched me personally and professionally," said Glenn Ow, copy editor for The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.). Ow is a graduate of the 1981 EPMJ. Maynard's daily newspaper career began in 1961 at the York Gazette and Daily in York, Pa. In 1965, he received a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. A year later, he joined the staff of The Washington Post, where he covered civil rights and urban unrest as a national correspondent. Later, he became the paper's ombudsman. In 1979, Maynard became editor of The Oakland Tribune. He and Nancy bought the paper in 1983 and became the first African Americans to own a major metropolitan newspaper. "That was an incredible moment in recent journalism history. We were all so very proud," said San Francisco Examinder reporter Greg Lewis, a former IJE staffer. The newspaper, which the Maynard's sold to MediaNews in 1992, won numerous awards during Maynard's ownership, including a Pulitzer in 1990. Through it all, Maynard remained a "lookout" for diversity. Whether through his syndicated newspaper column, guest lectures or his regular appearances on "This Week With David Brinkley" and "The MacNeil Lehrer Report," Maynard never shied away from issues of diversity. "This country cannot be the country we want it to be if its story is told by only one group of citizens. Our goal is to give all Americans front-door access to the truth," Maynard said in his last public address to a group of students in May. In addition to IJE, Maynard was also a board member of some of the industry's most prestigious organizations, i ncluding the Pulitzer Prize panel and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. If Maynard's professional life was his tiller, then his family was his rudder--one connected to the other. Nancy Hicks Maynard, a former New York Times reporter, is an award-winning journalist and was a professional partner. An attorney, she was the deputy publisher of the Tribune and had served as president of IJE. Maynard's daughter, Dori J. Maynard, is a reporter at the Detroit Free Press and, like her father, is a Nieman fellow. She is the first woman in the history of the program to follow her father to Harvard as a Nieman scholar. Maynard's sons, Alex and David, are no strangers to newspapers or newsrooms. For them, journalism will most likely serve as a constant professional foundation, if not a profession. Less than a month after Maynard's death, the IJE board voted unanimously to rename the institute in his honor. "We could think of no higher practical tribute than to rename the organization he co-founded," said Montiel. "By adopting his name, I would like to think we have also rededicated ourselves to the principles of diversity Bob espoused. Through the institute, its programs and its graduates, his legacy continues." |
MAYNARD INSTITUTE @ 25
ROBERT C. MAYNARD: LIFE & LEGACY
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Maynard's Legacy of Inclusion Continues |