The new T magazine made an impressive start on Sunday. Thick with ads, its editorial content - including a fascinating cover story on the 79-year-old socialite Lee Radziwill - was strong.
“T: The Times Style Magazine†has been redesigned with a well-respected new editor, Deborah Needleman, who came to The Times recently from The Wall Street Journal.
There was much to admire. But many readers found one aspect of the magazine disturbing - its lack of people of color. Indeed, there could be no argument; it was overwhelmingly white.
One reader, Susan Clark of Annandale, Va., put it this way:
The new T arrived yesterday. I’m impressed by its heft. As I looked through the magazine, I was surprised at Deborah Needleman’s choices. There is a complete absence of any people o color in articles or fashion shoots. I assume the ads cannot be controlled, but I saw only one African-American and one Asian-American among the thousands of models in the ads. The T doesn’t look like my neighborhood or America.
Another reader, who described himself as “an older white guy†from Silver Spring, Md., raised the same point:
Perhaps it is because I live in an integrated neighborhood, but when I look at those magazines I always look to see how many non-white people are pictured. As near as I can tell, there was one black face in the entire magazine, as many as there were purple plastic faces. I realize that it is all advertising, but doesn’t The Times have some responsibility to ensure that something it publishes should look at least a little like 21st-century America
I asked Ms. Needleman to respond. She noted that the response to the magazine has been extremely positive but said she agrees with this complaint. And she intends to remedy it in future issues. She wrote:
It was something I noticed and regretted as we were putting the issue together. We are a global magazine and so would like the content , subjects and geography of stories to reflect that. In coming issues, we cover the people and places of Seoul, São Paulo, Kenya, Bollywood actors, Nigeria, etc. A majority of fashion models are still unfortunately mostly white, but it is our aim to celebrate quality and beauty in all its diverse forms. We can and will aim to do better, but our goal is first and foremost to deliver the best stories we find, and it is my belief that quality and good journalism appeal to all of us regardless of our specific ethnic origins.
It will be interesting to see how her plan, certainly a reasonable approach, plays out in future issues.
