One News Feature Fits All

You have to still read the NY Times print edition (and live in the New York metropolitan area) to notice what Daniel Kreiss did on Sunday.

At my parents house in New Jersey last weekend, I got a copy of the Sunday Times. On the cover of the magazine is a white child, a boy, looking down at puzzle pieces of his face. It is The Design Issue of "The Ever More Carefully Arranged, Artfully Blueprinted, Technologically Devised, Painstakingly Organized American Childhood." In Park Slope, Brooklyn it is the same white child on the cover.

Where I live In Boreum Hill, Brooklyn, a black child, a girl, is looking down at that same puzzle.

The obvious question is which New York does the Times report on?

[I]n the waning days of 2004 The New York Times does not expect a white suburban family to relate to a black child on the cover of a magazine dealing with childhood development, and does not expect a black family in Brooklyn to respond to the white child. But perhaps the latter is the more correct assumption; the childhood design magazine was largely geared towards the white suburban set and devoid of any content relating to rearing children on limited budgets, through public schooling and transportation, and with limited space in overcrowded apartments. As the story of demographics and income in the New York City metro-area tells you, those are the experiences of black and Hispanic families.

Go to Exegesis to read the whole thing; Daniel's blog is one of those quieter corners of the blogosphere where you can routinely find quality journalism and good media analysis.