North Carolina Now; 4291; Interview with Beverly Wiggins

The It's Monday August 11th. Tonight the implications of our state's rapid growth in North Carolina now. Hello I'm Marina mature I hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for joining us for this Monday edition of North Carolina now. Tonight we begin a multi-part series examining the rapid growth that is taking place here in our state.

Viguerie We'll explore the influence the black owned newspapers have on North Carolina. And we'll examine an opinion poll that shows mixed views regarding affirmative action programs. But up first tonight our growing state since the late seventeen hundreds our state's population has quadrupled. Every 100 years. Imagine our current population of over seven million increasing four fold. The question then becomes how do we plan for this growth and who's responsible for how the state develops. Tonight we begin with an overview produced by Derek along this magazine. This is the magazine cull site selection and it shows. This article is about the states that are having the most economic growth and they chose the governor's in a position skiing down a hill. And of course they have me as the governor of North Carolina the number one state in economic growth and job creation last year. Leading the pack and business isn't the only thing growing in North Carolina.

Population is growing too. Projections are that by 2025 our population will increase from our current seven point three million to over 9 million close to two thirds of that increase will come from people moving into North Carolina from other states. This is a wonderful state. It is a we have a tremendous package that we can market to other people who would like to involve themselves in what we have here in North Carolina. It is a very easy selling job to go to someone and talk about the great things that North Carolina has to offer and encourage them to come here. The environment is wonderful the quality of life is wonderful. This is a great place to live and work because we got a great business climate here people too often take for granted these jobs that are coming in here. It didn't just happen. We had good policies. We did a lot of things to make ourselves attractive North Carolina has made itself an attractive state for business. Such things as the industrial recruitment competitive

fund that was high wage companies by offering tax credits to locate and expand in North Carolina are reduced unemployment insurance tax paid by employers expanded programs to help small and start up businesses. Programs like job ready and tax prep that help train a high quality workforce are all state efforts to make North Carolina an attractive place for business. Spreading out the attractive things about North Carolina having good schools everywhere good early childhood care everywhere having community colleges within 30 minutes of anybody in North Carolina a 30 minute drive. Having 16 branches in our university again scattered all over the state. These are things that is made all of North Carolina attractive and are very different from some of the states that have all the growth in one central area one urban area. We seem to have a better out across the state in a way that I think is very makes all of

North Carolina more attractive and means that we have a chance for more good industry and business and and jobs across the state that if we didn't have these things but planning officials point out that this rapid growth has a downside. The only problem with this widely dispersed settlement pattern as we increase in population and we've added about 1.3 million people since 1980. So we've got to find places for more people to live more water and sewer infrastructure. And given our present pattern of development more traffic growth by itself doesn't necessarily yield benefit. And fact it may have more. Bad things associated with it. Thank goodness the availability of affordable housing throughout the state has declined in the last few years about twice as many African-Americans are

unemployed as White North Carolina. So we really need to work in terms of getting more people working and with good jobs. Our crime rate has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. I do think we need to be thoughtful in how we want to grow to make sure that we don't. I think I always like the term kill the goose that laid the golden egg. So I think that a lot of the challenges are going to be in how to handle the growth that is coming. How are we going to develop. Is it going to be quality develop that preserves and enhanced as the quality of life. Or is it going to be the sort of development that is going to make it harder to live here last pleasant to live here and does not share the growth equitably. More people obviously means more waste being processed and treated and then discharge into our streams. But it also means that more of the

water is running across landscapes that people use and therefore carrying with it more Satam and more fertilizers more toxic materials causing a whole host of water pollution problems that never confronted us before. Increasingly local county and state officials must address the broadening scope of problems related to growth. The most important thing is leadership and political will. You can devise a wonderful plan you can craft wonderful tools techniques policies to implement the plan but alas there is the political will to really implement it to follow through on it in day to day decisions. It's going to be rich like worthless. Now a reasonable question would be where does that leadership come from.

I frankly think we need to plan for our growth and the state ought to encourage that. But that's basically a matter for a city or town or county to decide for itself. But as our population grows and grows more and more onto the landscape the effects of that growth will impact the land and the environment to a greater extent than ever before. The need for increased comprehensive state wide planning will become more important as we grow into the 21st century. You realize that everything is connected and that the world is connected that people are connected. So I think that overall it really is just a concept of trying to. Grow in a way that honors the environment the economy and social equity. The most serious fundamental consequence of the failure to plan is that no vision is imposed on the landscape on which we live. There are no caps to the number of people. There are no effective limits to the

intensification of development that can occur on these lands and therefore we ride the wild bull into the future without regard to the consequences of doing that will continue with our series on our state's rapid growth tomorrow. When we took a look at the problem of supplying fresh water to an increasing population in the eastern region of our state. Well still ahead on tonight's program the views of both blacks and whites on affirmative action. But first let's head over to the news desk for a summary of today's statewide headlines with Michel Louis. Good evening Mitch. Thanks Merida. Good evening everyone. Topping our news of recent data concludes that half the judicial districts in the state have a DWI conviction rate below 60 percent. The private nonprofit alcohol drug Council of North Carolina released their statewide findings today at a news conference in Raleigh. The council found Buncombe County posting the highest DWI conviction rate at just under 74 percent the lowest rate of DWI conviction fell to Cumberland County at a fraction below 29

percent. In 1906 there were approximately 450 people killed in highway crashes involving a person driving while impaired. The General Assembly is close to creating a tracking system that will let voters see how judges around the state handle criminal cases. The state Senate has passed a bill requiring court clerks to record and report the results of every criminal case. Those reports would also include the names of the judge and prosecutor. Supporters of the legislation say it's a simple way to make judges accountable to the public. Critics argue that it would oversimplify a judge's performance. A new state plan to provide health insurance for thousands of North Carolina children currently among the uninsured. Governor Jim Hunt has asked the General Assembly to transfer a 15 to 20 million dollars and existing state funds to partially bankroll the plan for every 25 cents the state puts in. The Federal Government will contribute an additional 75 cents. State Human Resources Secretary David Bruton says he believes anywhere between sixty six thousand

and 90000 children would be eligible for insurance coverage under the proposed program. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. High temperatures will range from the low to mid 80s in the mountains and to the low 90s most everywhere else. Partly cloudy skies a forecast statewide. There is a chance for isolated afternoon thunderstorms across the state as well. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Three fourths of North Carolinians believe that discrimination remains common but Tarheels

disagrees strongly on whether affirmative action should be scrapped. That's according to a new survey conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joining me now to tell us more is Dr. Beverly Wiggins the associate director of research development at human CCH Institute for Research and social science Dr. Wiggins Welcome to the program. Thank you tell me first about your Institute for Research What's that all about. The institute exists to help social science researchers faculty members on campus with all aspects of their research so we offer a number of services. We help people with grant proposals. We offer statistical consulting and other methodological consulting how to write questionnaire questions for example have a statistical lamp and offer editing services and a whole variety of things that try to help faculty members get their research done better. Let's talk about this particular survey about the discrimination. How did you exactly go about doing this research. This question was on the Carolina poll which is a survey that's conducted each

fall and spring by the University of this Carolina poll was started in 1986 by the UMC School of Journalism and Mass Communication as a tool to train its journalism students about polls and how they work. It helps them on how to write good questions how to avoid bad questions how to evaluate questions that they receive as journalists from other polls on what to do with the information once they receive it. So it's continued for that purpose as well as the institute's involvement which began in the early 1980s which is to try to track North Carolinians opinions about various topics over time. And in this survey it dealt with their opinions regarding discrimination and affirmative action. Tell us about the results of the survey. We ask about 60 questions on the survey. And this one about discrimination and affirmative action was only one of those there were other topics we asked about as well. But this one question asked the respondents who were seven hundred twenty

three North Carolinians chosen at random from out throughout the state to be representative of the North Carolina population to choose one of three statements that best represented their opinion. The first statement said that we need to continue affirmative action because discrimination is still common. The second option was discrimination is still common but affirmative action has simply gone on for too long. And the third option was we don't need affirmative action anymore because discrimination has been largely eliminated and the results of the survey a varied widely according to race. Yes overall as you said in the introduction three quarters of North Carolinians endorsed one of the first two statements which both say that discrimination is still common. So there seems to be a fair amount of agreement on that among the residents of the state. They disagreed however on whether affirmative action needs to be continued. About thirty two percent endorsed the first item which said that we need to continue

affirmative action. And about 43 percent endorse the second one which said that affirmative action has gone on for too long. That left about 15 percent who said that discrimination is not common anymore. And about 10 percent who didn't have an opinion. In a lot of polls you can tell that the results might vary just according to how that question is written. Did you find that in this case it's hard to know but it's a pretty safe bet that the exact wording of the question does influence the answers that's very apparent if you look at the variety of questions that have been asked on affirmative action on national and state polls over the many years that that has been a topic of interest. Slight differences in wording can cause big different differences in whether people seem to support or oppose affirmative action in this question we didn't define affirmative action. We didn't mention the word quota which always makes us support decline greatly. We didn't limit it to workplace or to education. So this was a very open ended

and we're gong with whatever happens to be in the respondent's mind. So undoubtedly the wording did affect it but we gave very little definition to the questions so we're sort of going with people's. Instant reaction to the words discrimination and affirmative action. Oftentimes people's instant reaction is the truest feeling something can be it can be. Did you find that possibly a person's need to be politically correct may have slanted their answer to this question one way or another. That's a possibility again it's one that's difficult to measure. On the question that you're interested in and survey research we call that the social desirability factor that some answers are more politically correct or more acceptable than others and you want to word your question to guard against having some of the options be obviously more desirable than others and we tried to balance these three options and make all three sound like reasonable positions to take. But it is possible that some people felt that they couldn't endorse one of the items because it would make them

seem more prejudiced than perhaps they wanted to be saying by other people. Any differences in the answers regarding to the age of the respondent. Yes there were younger people whar the most likely to believe that discrimination is still common. However they were also very likely to believe that affirmative action has gone on for too long. So one of the things we like to do in the future is follow up a question like this with some additional questions about exactly what do people think of when we say affirmative action. And do they have any alternatives to suggest if they in this case believe discrimination is common. But affirmative action does not seem to be the solution. Well Dr. Woods I want to thank you so much for your time this evening it's fascinating research. Thank you. Thank you. African-American

newspapers have a rich history in our state newspapers like the Charlotte prose The Chronicle in Winston-Salem and the Carolinian in Raleigh are just three of the more than 80 black newspapers that have existed in the Tar Heel state since the late 1800s. But today African-American newspapers in North Carolina are undergoing a change in philosophy. A change that as Shannon Vic reports could have a profound effect on all African-American publications throughout the nation. I was going around the black press in the south. Actually I didn't come into being until after the Civil War for obvious reasons. You had laws that

mitigate against literacy and freedom and a majority of African-Americans were in slavery. But when the first African-American newspapers were published in North Carolina in the late eighteen hundreds. They were eagerly embroideries after emancipation under the Freedmen's Bureau. African-Americans gained political power land and developed communities and with these developing communities and literacy there was a need for a communication mechanism so that people would know what was going on. The Charlotte post perhaps best proclaim the mission of North Carolina's black newspapers in its May 14th 1932 edition when it advertises that for a dollar fifty you could buy your subscription to quote the only medium for the publishing of the social religious political

economic educational and sports news. The race for the lotus. A lot of news relating to the African-American community never get published in fact that's how and why black publications came about in the first place. The other thing is that the black press unlike a lot of has has traditionally been a protest press and has existed through animosity I have a very warm day right. It was during the civil rights movement of the 1960s that black newspapers became a dominant force throughout the nation and especially if you remember Carolina racially. People looked hurt more to the African-American newspapers to get a broader perspective of those particular issues. But

we are doing that all the time is that more people will turn to do in those periods to get the broader perspective. Everyone in the black press still carries out its traditional role as the protest press. Even today it's still a business especially here in North Carolina where African-American newspapers are becoming big business. As of yet into the nine is now this kick out of the last frontier as far as African-American publications is concerned and that is the economic front frontier so to speak. We're in business to make money. That that's we feel that's part of our obligation to the people who work for us. If our companies are not solvent then we can't provide career opportunities for people. We can't provide stability for them. And so one of our primary objectives is to make sure that our company is solvent.

So for the first time ever in the history of the black press two African-American newspapers are merging the quantum hole in Winston-Salem is joining forces with its longtime rival the Charlotte post. Together they will form the Consolidated Media Group. It's never been done before in people though. I really don't know if it can be done before but I'm not worried about it being done. And it's exciting it to me is the next step to secure the the future of the Blackberry as a future that for the Consolidated Media Group includes two newspapers with a combined circulation of more than 75 thousand readers and in a time when many newspapers are facing tough competition from television and the Internet these tutorial publishers are thinking about only one thing expansion as we get big or as big as we become bigger companies we can serve the community a lot better and we have to look

at our sales. The neighborhoods that we serve as being in the particular city that we have the neighborhoods that we serve have to be regional and in some cases national. We're going to be very aggressive about you know trying just whatever market we feel has the potential to sustain the candid newspaper that we produce. Both Pitt and Johnson say their next move will be into the triangle with a new African-American newspaper to cover Raleigh and eastern North Carolina. We believe that what happens in Riley what happens in the state legislature and what happens politically is of interest to every African-American in every city in North Carolina. But if the Consolidated Media Group does move into the capital city they'll face tough competition from the Carolinian. There's enough interest in North Carolina to sustain quite a few black newspapers I

believe the count of black newspapers and alkaline is a force of toil. So when you talk about diversifying into various other markets there's still a lot of diversity that has been thought of. There has not been thought of and basically is untapped in North Carolina. So the race is on tap into what many people see as the lucrative market of the black press. But even as I. African-American newspapers become big business in the Tar Heel State. Experts say they can only be successful as long as they remember their roots. There's a group of people who read these papers a regular basis because they feel that they're getting news that they're not getting anywhere else as long as our society has its problems with race and equity. I think there's always going to be a need for the black press that

Consolidated Media group hopes to have a new African-American newspaper on the newsstands in Raleigh by the beginning of next year. And they won't rule out the possibility of one day producing a state wide publication solely for African-Americans. That's all we have time for tonight. Please join us tomorrow when we showcase the new baseball league that holds true to the traditional values of the game. In the meantime have a great evening. See back here tomorrow night. Good night everyone.