In his "Journal-isms" column on Monday, the Maynard Institute's Richard Prince noted that the recent layoffs at the Tribune apparently targeted a disproportionate number of minority reporters. Prince's piece include this tidbit about an altercation between veteran reporter Ray Quintanilla and a "powerful white Tribune columnist":
Among those called in Friday and told their jobs were eliminated was Ray Quintanilla, a 14-year Tribune veteran. "It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad," he told Journal-isms. He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color. He recalled that owner Sam Zell had told employees to question authority.
Quintanilla said the columnist publicly challenged him to a fight, and said he has filed a complaint with the Tribune's human relations department.
The reporter said he could not prove his layoff was related to the Thursday incident, but said, "It just smells bad to me."
In a blog post yesterday, The Reader's Mike Miner named names:
Prince alludes to an encounter in the newsroom the day before Quintanilla was fired but doesn't name the columnist Quintanilla says he encountered -- John Kass.
Miner goes on to provide more detail on the argument:
Quintanilla heard that Kass had just hired another white legman so he e-mailed him to let him know there were minority reporters at the Tribune who could do the job too. Next thing he knew, Quintanilla tells me, "Kass is standing right on top of me. I can see all of the wrinkles in his shirt, kind of a tan shirt, he was that close to me. His shirt was practically touching me. He said, 'You're calling me a racist' -- something to that effect, I said, 'No, I'm not.' I said I admire his work. And he was screaming again, I had to hang up the phone and at that point I had to stand up. He was physically intimidating." Quintanilla says Kass challenged him to step outside. Kass hasn't gotten back to me with his side of the story.
Quintanilla says he couldn't sleep that night. The next day he was fired and he couldn't sleep that night either.
Always classy, that Kass.
markg8 on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 15:22
I don't know if Kass is a racist but from everything I've read he's a jerk. I suppose when he grows up he wants to be Royko. I'd love to read another Royko in a Chicago paper. Kass couldn't carry Royko's notebook.