Twenty Years' Difference—What Do You Notice?

 Easter morning here, and I spent part of it reading the Sunday Times. (In my younger years, I liked to jibe that Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses, whereas in this more secular era, the Sunday Times is the opiate of the middle classes.) Opiated or not, I was struck scanning the lead stories on the front page that a striking change had occurred over the last couple of decades. I went back and hunted up the Easter Sunday front page from twenty years ago, and sure enough... Take a look at a listing of the primary front-page stories two decades apart. (The fact that it's Easter has nothing to do with it!)

April 12, 1998
Political Interests Arouse Raging Debate on Census
Steven A. Holmes
 
In W.N.B.A., Hope for Union of Their Own
Lena Williams
 
Can-Do American's Patience Paid Off With an Ulster Pact
Warren Hoge
 
A Straight-Arrow Policeman Turns Loose Cannon at C.I.A.
Tim Weiner
 
Evidence Is Scant that Workfare Leads to Full-Time Jobs
Alan Finder
 
 
April 12, 2018
Years of Claims of Harassment in Justice Dept.
Katie Benner
 
Extortion or the Price of Freedom? Bail Bondsmen Accused of
Exploiting Poor Clients
Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Shaila Dewan
 
Taliban’s Move into High Tech Puts U.S. in Bind
Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Jawad Sukhanyar
 
Cuomo Budget Sticks Thumb in Mayor’s Eye
Vivian Wang and Jesse McKinley
 
Catching a Whiff of Faded Ballpark Memories
Corey Kilgannon
 
Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
Sapna Maheshwari

Notice anything? This is not an earth-shattering revelation, but out of the five main stories fronting the 1998 paper, four look to be done by white males. Compare that with the by-lines of 2018. The diversity of the reporting staff has increased sharply, both in terms of gender and ethnicity. My admittedly impressionistic sense is that same diversity extends through the paper as a whole; and the OpEd section has gained a much wider and more diverse line-up as well. All to the good.