MATTHEW HOY HAS DIVERSITY ADVICE for the New York Times:

There is not a major newspaper in the country whose collection of columnists are so dominated by one ideology. Diversity doesn’t just mean skin color.

The Times needs a makeover. But can the oped pages be diversified without getting rid of Gail Collins? If Bill Keller wants it, and the Sulzberger family thinks the paper’s in trouble, yes. The question is whether the wall of denial has really been breached.

Meanwhile, it seems that at the rest of the paper, diversity was only skin (and stereotype) deep:

Halloway’s problems could lead to similar questions, since she is also African-American. Like Blair, she had caught the attention of Raines, who put her in the media section of the paper, insiders said. “She was a Howell appointment,” said one insider. “He wanted to increase coverage of hip-hop music.”

As Andrew Sullivan observes:

I guess I’m lucky I didn’t work for Raines. He’d have had me covering hairdressers and musical comedy. And he’d have expected me to be grateful.

No doubt.