The Most Important Element of Journalism, Ever. According to Marni.

On page 106 in the earlier edition of Elements of Journalism, I found the following paragraphs extremely important:
"'Far from hiring in the newsroom being an indicator of where diversity comes from, it's knowing your audience, and to be truly interested in your audience from the top to the bottom, from the left to the right, and from all economic levels.'
The criticisms touch a serious point: To what extent does background influence a journalist's work? If an editor determines who covers what simply by ethnic heritage or skin color, isn't that just another kind fo racial and ethnic stereotyping? It implies that there is such a thing as a single black perspective or a single Asian perspective."

I agree completely with this sentiment, it's stereotyping to expect a black person to give the "black perspective" in a newsroom, or a woman or homosexual or disabled person, it's all absurd.
I watched a bit of Working Girl with Melanie Griffith over the weekend and found it a disappointing perspective of a working woman. Similarly, I got in an argument with a friend over the play Death and the King's Horsemen because he was uncomfortable that white people played the part of Africans confronting imperialistic Europeans. I think there's nothing wrong with a white person taking on the task of communicating an idea of an African, whereas he thought it was an updated version of blackface. To me, these are the same ideas, picking a black Midwestern person to play an African part over a white Midwestern person is more blackface to me than choosing an actor based on their ability to act. Same story in the newsroom, picking an Asian writer to specifically give the guise of diversity and Asian perspective is a form of blackface. It's just a stereotypical facade based on exploitation.
It should all be about ability and, most of all, audience. If they would have picked black people who couldn't act or communicate the same idea as well, it would be counterintuitive. So it goes in the newsroom, if the person can't write as well, they shouldn't be assigned front page stories. The solution, then, is having respect for the audience, making sure the paper includes all of the news and features in all groups and social strata, that's being idealistic, but keeping it in mind does more than expecting a token minority to take care of it. It's all news and everyone's responsibility.