Michael Coleman Quoted in Columbus Dispatch: "Ohio's Whitest Home Newspaper"

Ice Miller LLP partner Michael Coleman was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch article, "Ohio's Whitest Home Newspaper."

The article included: 

The giant, light-up sign visible from The Columbus Dispatch’s newsroom proclaims it to be “Ohio’s Greatest Home Newspaper.” A more honest description might be “Ohio’s Whitest Home Newspaper.” In its almost 150 years of existence, the paper has consistently failed to reflect, and therefore serve, Columbus’s residents of color.

The same argument can still be made in 2020. In May, The Dispatch came under fire for an editorial that warned municipal efforts to promote city contracts for minority- and women-owned businesses during the pandemic should ensure that “anyone whose work is funded by taxpayers is first and foremost capable of doing the job.” After the editorial’s publication, a group of more than thirty people signed a letter to the editor authored by Michael B. Coleman, the first Black mayor of Columbus and its longest-serving leader, accusing the Dispatch of promoting stereotypes that Black and female business owners warrant extra scrutiny. 

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