N.Y. Times Draws Blacks' Scorn Over New Florida Paper

There has been a public outcry, and the managing editor was fired only 24 hours before the presses began an inaugural run. Nevertheless, the New York Times has a new presence in Florida with the Gainesville Guardian, a weekly paper targeted to 15,000 local black residents (hat tip: BlackElectorate.com). The paper irks critics who are convinced the Times is simply looking for revenue from blacks. Clint C. Wilson, a journalism professor at Hward University, called it a "white newspaper in blackface," noting in an op-ed for the black-owned Chicago Defender that the Times had "turned to people of color for their economic salvation." The Bay State Banner, a black paper in Boston, called the Times management "journalistic carpetbaggers," adding, "only the black press can be entrusted" to address subjects of importance to black readers.

My people, my people. So what stopped any of the critics from pooling their money and starting up a local paper in this underserved community? Or expanding their existing newspaper empire to this locale? That is where the energy should be placed here. Capitalism, not socialistesque rants.