Letters: Oct. 3, 2005

• Share

(3 of 3)

Your article about the efforts of Wal-Mart to establish stores and offer jobs in poor black communities [Sept. 5] suggested that Wal-Mart's announced sponsorship of Black Enterprise magazine's 10th Annual Entrepreneurs Conference somehow helped ensure Wal- Mart's inclusion on the Black Enterprise list of the "30 Best Companies for Diversity." That suggestion is absolutely false. Our list of the best-diversity companies, which was published in the July 2005 issue of Black Enterprise, shows there is no correlation between corporations that sponsor Black Enterprise events or advertise in the magazine and the 30 companies selected as the best for diversity. Some sponsors and advertisers made our list; most did not. Also, many of the corporations on the list have no relationship with Black Enterprise. TIME's unsubstantiated implication that the editorial integrity of Black Enterprise can be purchased for the price of an event sponsorship is irresponsible journalism. EARL (BUTCH) GRAVES JR., PRESIDENT BLACK ENTERPRISE New York City

>> In our story, after describing the conference and the diversity list, we followed with the line, "Guess who made the cut?", which suggested a connection between the two. We apologize for implying a connection when we had no proof there was one.