ABSTRACT
Journalists are a bit wary about sensational charges because of the dismal performance of the New York Times in the discrimination suit against Texaco. The Times hammered away at Texaco executives for slurring blacks as "n-rs" and "black jelly beans." Because of the Times' immense authority, the factoid of these "slurs" was endlessly repeated in the media, turning up as true on one network show two months after it had been proved false. It turned out that the Times, and the transcript of a tape of a conversation at Texaco cited by plaintiffs in court papers, were quite wrong. The jelly-bean remark referred to language used by a black diversity instructor and was not a slur. But yes, it is starting to look like another Texaco. It often means forcing employees to endure "diversity training," the only function of which is to ward off lawsuits.
