Essence Founder: I'd Sell to Time Inc. Again
Edward Lewis dismissed the recently fired editor-in-chief's complaints about the parent company.
Edward Lewis Dismissive of Fired Editor's Complaints
Edward Lewis, one of the principal founders of Essence magazine, told Journal-isms Monday that he "absolutely" would again sell the publication to Time Inc. regardless of the complaints of fired editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White and readers who support her.
"It's very difficult for any size magazine to be standing out here alone without some other support elsewhere," Lewis said by telephone, adding that the magazine business has faced the additional challenges of changing technology and a punishing recession since he sold Essence to Time Inc. in 2005.
However, another founder, Jonathan Blount, wrote in a message posted on the website Naturally Moi that he stands with White and that Essence had strayed from his vision.
White disclosed in this column Friday that her departure as editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, made public Feb. 8, was involuntary and the result of repeated clashes with Martha Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Time Inc. who White says sought to limit the way black women were portrayed.
"I went in there with passion and excitement and high expectations," White told Journal-isms, referring to her 2011 hiring. "It wasn't what I expected at all."
However, Lewis, 72, senior adviser at Solera Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm, backed Time Inc. "To change the voice, I don't think would make any sense. They don't have a clue about African Americans. That's where we came in, and where we have come in for 43 years," the length of time Essence has published.
The proof that Time and Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., are getting it right, Lewis said, is in the magazine's million-plus circulation and in the success of the Essence Festival, now in its 19th year.
White said she had had repeated clashes with Nelson, who is white, but Lewis said Marcia Ann Gillespie, the editor-in-chief from 1971 to 1980 who assisted in the search for editor-in-chief when White was named, "was a major consultant" for Nelson and White during her tenure. The announcement of White's appointment also named Gillespie as special projects director.
White's story generated sympathetic comments on African American-oriented websites over the weekend, with many saying she had confirmed their fears about what has happened to the magazine under white ownership. Some urged White to start her own publication. The sentiments about selling out to white corporate ownership were similarly voiced when Black Entertainment Television was sold to Viacom in 2000.
The phenomenon is not limited to media enterprises. In a cover story about the natural hair-care business in the current (January/February) issue of Black Enterprise, Tamara E. Holmes says of the makers of black hair-care products, "the black firms did not have the resources to compete with the monoliths and were eventually acquired by these firms and turned into divisions of the majority corporations. Today, most hair products for black consumers are no longer produced by black-owned companies . . . "
Among the top-selling publications targeting African Americans, only Johnson Publications' Ebony and Jet magazines and Black Enterprise, founded by Earl Graves Sr., remain black-owned. In 2009, Johnson Publishing announced that JPMorgan Chase's Special Investments Group would become an investor and part owner of the company, the first time in the company's then-69-year history that it would not be fully family-owned. However, CEO Desiree Rodgers told Journal-isms at the time that it was "very important that the company remain minority-owned."
Lewis also denied that longtime editor Susan L. Taylor had been pushed out, as White said, maintaining that Taylor and he were given severance contracts for the following three years. He added that Gordon Parks Sr., the famed photographer and early Essence editorial director, was not part of the magazine's DNA, as White asserted. "Gordon Parks really had nothing to do with it," Lewis said. Parks at one time unsuccessfully claimed control of the magazine.
Asked whether he had any advice for White, Lewis said, "She's got a wonderful resume and accomplishments. I hope she would continue to stay in the magazine business, and I wish her the best."
White did not respond to a request for comment.
"ESSENCE has not yet begun to be the leading International voice, conduit and amalgamation force of, for and about Black Women globally.
"I firmly believe that 'wherever Black America is going, Black Women are going to lead us.' I never wanted to be acquired by TIME Inc, I wanted to BE TIME Inc. I fought to the last minute to maintain Black majority control. It is still possible if Black women leaders, organizations and institutions will unite behind Susan Taylor and Constance White to buy back our freedom. Constance is to be applauded for her courageous stand. It is not the first but it should be and can be the last. There is much more to the story."
Eric Deggans, Daily Download: 21st Century Black Media: Must They Be Owned By Black People?
Doug Halonen, TVNewsCheck: Armstrong Looks To Build On WEYI-WWMB
Michael Learmonth, Ad Age: How Time Inc. Should Reinvent Itself as an Independent Publisher
Pepper Miller, Ad Age: Except for the Obamas, Where Are Black Couples in the Media?: Showing Love Is a Great Way to Reach the Black Community (Feb. 28)
On the Internet, does anyone know whether you’re black or Latino? (2011)
Black Enterprise Adds to Digital, Trims Two Months From Print Edition
Black Enterprise magazine is cutting its print editions from 12 to 10 issues a year as it shifts to an emphasis to its online editions, Alfred A. Edmond Jr., senior vice president/multimedia editor-at-large, told Journal-isms on Monday.
"All things being equal, we intend to deliver content across 10 print issues roughly equivalent to what we've delivered in 12 issues each year. The savings on printing and mailing two fewer issues each year is being shifted to our other media platforms, particularly digital, which has taken over from the print platform as a source of breaking news and delivers the responsiveness and interactivity our audience expects," Edmond said by email. "Those expectations can hardly be met by printed newspapers, much less by monthly or even weekly magazines."
Edmond was paraphrasing a letter to subscribers from Earl G. Graves Jr., president and CEO, in the January/February edition. Explaining why that issue is still on the newsstands, Edmond said, "One of the unavoidable consequences of preparing for and implementing these changes over the past year has been ongoing changes and disruptions of our production schedule, which has caused late production and delivery of our issues to newsstands and many subscribers for the past year."
Edmond went on, continuing the paraphrase, "Much of the content formerly delivered by our print platform is better suited for delivery via digital means, including our website, mobile and social media efforts; we will continue to shift resources accordingly.
"We are refocusing our magazine (including format and design changes introduced in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue) on content best suited to print periodicals, including more evergreen advice, exclusive lists and profiles, and less news-driven articles and resources, while creating stronger connections between the print product and our ongoing conversation with our audience on other platforms, especially social media and live events."
Graves told readers, "as a print magazine subscriber you are now entitled to an additional digital subscription to the all-new Black Enterprise iPad app at no extra charge, through our new All Access subscription program . . . In short, the subscription investment that once gave you access to just one platform now provides entree to all that we have to offer. . . . "
Black Enterprise had a circulation of 518,602 in June 2012, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, formerly the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Detroit Papers Played Parts in Kwame Kilpatrick Saga
"Kwame Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson headed straight to prison Monday, just hours after a federal jury found them guilty of running a criminal enterprise out of the Detroit mayor’s office," Robert Snell and Jim Lynch reported Monday for the Detroit News.
"Kilpatrick was found guilty of 24 counts of racketeering, extortion, conspiracy and bribery. Ferguson, a city contractor and his longtime friend, was found guilty of nine counts. Both men face up to 20 years or more in prison."
The Detroit newspapers could claim their share of credit.
A timeline published by the Detroit Free Press began with a Free Press report from Aug. 29, 2001, reporting that then-state Rep. Kilpatrick solicited a $50,000 contribution in 2000 from Jon Rutherford, president of a homeless shelter, to the nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund.
There was Jan. 23-24, 2008: "Free Press publishes text messages showing that Kwame Kilpatrick and chief of staff Christine Beatty lied under oath in a police whistle-blower trial the previous fall."
When Kilpatrick resigned that year, Caesar Andrews, then executive editor of the Free Press, told Journal-isms, "It's one of those magic moments that really justifies so much of what we try to do. This shows what aggressive investigative reporting can yield when done the right way. It shows what can happen when you have highly skilled investigative reporters cut loose to do what they can do."
But, Andrews added, "Make no mistake about it. It is a sad day, at least from my perspective, when a person as deeply talented (as Kilpatrick) is forced to resign," even though he was "very proud" of the quality of work his staff performed.
On Monday, Walter Middlebrook, assistant managing editor -- Metro at the Detroit News, told Journal-isms by email, "We've got the best blog going on the trial... and anyone who has read federal courts reporter Rob Snell's daily reports will tell you he has had the liveliest coverage of the trial in his daily blog. Look for yourself.
"We've had reporters double teaming and tag-teaming the trial from Day One with one reporter in the courtroom and Snell reporting from the media room.
"We've been planning for a while for this day.
"We literally form two reporting teams on stories like this -- a breaking news team that then turns the story over to our print team. OK, we don't have that many people to have two teams but we have to think like we're two teams.
"First mission -- get it online and put together an attractive package of stories. We had several stories/ideas ready to go for the verdict and we got them up as soon as we knew where things stood. It was a strong package of stories that got stronger as the day went one
"Second mission -- working with the design desks and getting all of our stories into print.
"It was one of our better team efforts."
Stephen Henderson, editorial page editor of the Free Press, wrote, "It's tragic that the former mayor, who had such promise and potential, will see this city's future from a prison cell. But it's clear that the palpable energy and the focus around Detroit's rebirth is not hampered by his downfall.
"Let's be clear: The city still suffers horrific problems, and much of city government has fallen to a new low on the effectiveness scale. The looming state intervention to better manage the city's finances is eclipsed in importance only by the spectacular difficulties that Detroiters face every day with lighting, police response and other basic services.
"But just as Kilpatrick cannot be blamed for all of the trouble Detroit government now faces, he also hasn't stopped Detroiters from committing to something better. Even before city government comes around and functions for the benefit of the people who live here, the private and nonprofit sectors, as well as rank-and-file Detroiters themselves, have decided that things must move forward.
"Detroit is ready for a reset. . . . "
Michael Cottman, Black America Web: 'First Junior Jesse, Now Kwame. I Hope Ray Nagin is the Last,’ said Tom Joyner, Host of 'The Tom Joyner Morning Show'
Obama's Hispanic-Media Man Steps Down
"An Obama administration official credited with improving White House access for the burgeoning Hispanic news media is leaving his post," Lesley Clark reported Friday for McClatchy Newspapers.
"Luis Miranda, 36, who grew up in South Florida and staffed then-presidential candidate Al Gore's Miami-Dade campaign office, is stepping down to return to the private sector as a communications consultant. The White House's director of Hispanic media, Miranda is credited -- within the White House and the Hispanic media -- with helping to provide access not seen in previous administrations. The outreach came as the White House was courting the growing Hispanic vote, which helped President Barack Obama win re-election last fall.
" 'The Hispanic media too often has been treated as a distant second string,' said Cecilia Munoz, Obama's chief domestic policy adviser. 'Luis really has shepherded a new era of access.'
"That includes the first bilingual White House daily news briefing, as well as invitations to Hispanic TV anchors to the traditional off-the-record luncheons that Obama holds before big speeches, including his State of the Union address.
"Miranda said he’d viewed his position as an advocate for the administration, 'but also an advocate internally, finding opportunities to integrate Hispanic media into everything we do.' . . ."
Administration Rejects More Than Third of FOIA Requests
"The Obama administration answered more requests from the public to see government records under the Freedom of Information Act last year, but more often than it ever has it cited legal exceptions to censor or withhold the material, according to a new analysis by The Associated Press. It frequently cited the need to protect national security and internal deliberations," Jack Gillum and Ted Bridis reported Monday for the Associated Press.
"The AP's analysis showed the government released all or portions of the information that citizens, journalists, businesses and others sought at about the same rate as the previous three years. It turned over all or parts of the records in about 65 percent of all requests. It fully rejected more than one-third of requests, a slight increase over 2011, including cases when it couldn't find records, a person refused to pay for copies or the request was determined to be improper."
The story also said, "The AP’s analysis also found that the government generally took longer to answer requests. Some agencies, such as the Health and Human Services Department, took less time than the previous year to turn over files. But at the State Department, for example, even urgent requests submitted under a fast-track system covering breaking news or events when a person's life was at stake took an average two years to wait for files. . . ."
Amy Argetsinger, Washington Post: President Obama at elite Gridiron Club jokes about sequester, Biden, Rubio
Chris Cillizza, Washington Post: Read President Obama's remarks at the Gridiron Dinner
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Top Democrats [Blew It Badly] on Filibuster
Tom Joyner, Black America Web: Playing the Race Card -- In Reverse
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Sen. Rand Paul due praise for anti-drone stance
Pew Research Center: After Fight Over CIA Director Ends, A Look at Public Opinion on Drones
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Rand Paul makes the right call with filibuster
Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: Targeted killings have led to deadly practices in the past
Margaret Sullivan, New York Times: The Danger of Suppressing the Leaks
Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post: The Sequester Cuts' Impact Goes Deeper Than White House Tours (VIDEO)
Christie Thompson, ProPublica: A Reading Guide on Obama's Latest Appointments
Are Black Journalists in Pipeline for Top Jobs?
"NABJ is celebrating the reported announcement that ABC News is planning to hire Byron Pitts from CBS," Gregory H. Lee Jr., president of the National Association of Black Journalists, wrote on the NABJ website. "We celebrate one of our brightest talents not only in our association, but also in the industry. However, looking deeper into the issue, there are a number of questions that can be asked in the aftermath, including:
"1. Does CBS News have any successors of color lined up to replace Pitts, whose duties included contributions to '60 Minutes?'
"2. Are there any black journalists in the pipeline at CBS to be promoted? Although critics will ask: 'Why does Pitts have to be replaced by a black journalist?' others will argue Pitts replaced the irreplaceable Ed Bradley.
"But why do these questions need to be asked? Shouldn't the question be: 'Why does CBS have only "one" position slotted for a black journalist at '60 Minutes?' Where is the professional development at CBS to properly prepare and position black journalists in these roles and create more opportunities?
"These questions are not posed only to CBS; they are posed to an industry that is accustomed to trading its select few black journalists around like they are baseball cards. It does not happen only in the broadcast industry. It happens also in print journalism. . . .
"There is no real leadership in our industry to fix our diversity shortage, though our nation's demographics are changing at a rapid pace. Sure, there are programs such as the Sports Journalism Institute and the Chips Quinn Scholars programs that help feed the pipeline, but there are leaks in those pipes as people fall out of the industry because of a lack of development opportunities. . . . "
Ronald E. Childs Named Chicago Defender Editor
Ronald E. Childs, a Chicago public relations man who has worked as a journalist and speechwriter, has been named executive editor of the Chicago Defender, Target Market News reported last week.
Detroit-based Real Times Media, which also owns the Michigan Chronicle, the New Pittsburgh Courier, the Memphis Tri-State Defender and the Michigan Front Page, all black weekies, fired Executive Editor Lou Ransom in 2011 amid financial problems.
Rhonda Gillespie, who had been laid off as news editor with Ransom, returned as managing editor late last year, Michael House, the Defender president, told Journal-isms in December. House said then he was looking to hire an executive editor and that four people remained on the editorial staff. The once-daily newspaper became a weekly publication in 2008.
Childs, 53, was founder and principal of OMEN Communications, a media relations firm, and spent 10 years at Flowers Communications Group, where he was vice president of media relations. From 1988 to 1991, he worked as a publicist for Johnson Publishing Co., and from 1990 to 1994 worked at Johnson's now-defunct EM -- Ebony Man magazine, where he was associate editor.
If You Have to Ask About the Diversity, You're Not Doing It Right
Last month, Margaret Sullivan, public editor of the New York Times, said of the redesigned "T: The Times Style Magazine": "There was much to admire. But many readers found one aspect of the magazine disturbing -- its lack of people of color. Indeed, there could be no argument; it was overwhelmingly white."
At a glance, the 138 pages of the latest edition, "Spring Men's Fashion" seemed just as white, but this time with 20-something, European-looking men.
"We just don't see what you see," Eileen Murphy, New York Times spokeswoman, told Journal-isms by email. "Notably, several of the poets we feature are people of color and there are other images throughout. And, we remain committed to a publication rich in diversity of all kinds."
A closer look, turning page by page, did indeed find some people of color, including the three in a "Young Poets" feature who actually dominated their pages. A spread on Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts, at first shown lying shirtless in bed, then, later, holding up the late Gil Scott-Heron's first album, "A New Black Poet: Small Talk at 12th and Lenox." An ad from designer John Varvatos features the young African American guitarist Gary Clark Jr. with Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page.
But then there are all those other pages. Tokenism? Diversity? This edition of "T: The Times Style Magazine" might fuel a discussion of which is which.
Event Planned to Respond to "Being White in Philly"
"Organizers hope Philadelphians of all races will turn out next week for an event at Love Park called 'Being in Philly,' " Jenice Armstrong, columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote Monday on her philly.com blog.
"The gathering, scheduled for 4 p.m. on March 20, is in response to a controversial Philadelphia magazine cover story called 'Being White In Philly.' In the piece, based on anonymous interviews, Robert Huber makes the claim that white people are afraid to talk about race for fear of being called racist.
"The article has a lot of problems, many of them well documented already. But the first-day-of-spring event isn't so much to address the issue of bad journalism but to present another view of what's happening in Philly. . . ."
James Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Can a white person really talk about race?
Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A flawed account of race issues
"One Book, One Chicago," launched in fall 2001 "as an opportunity to engage and enlighten our residents and to foster a sense of community through reading," has chosen "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson as its selection for April 2013 through March 2014. The book "follows the lives of two men and a woman who represent the 6 million black Americans who moved north in the decades between World War I and the 1970s, many of whom settled on Chicago's South Side," Matt Walberg reported Monday for the Chicago Tribune.
"Former Denver television reporter Raj Chohan will speak in front of a jury instead of a camera when he begins his new job as a prosecutor in the Weld District Attorney’s Office on March 18," T.M. Fasano reported Friday for the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune. Chohan worked as a reporter for Denver’s KCNC-TV before practicing commercial litigation and media law for BakerHostetler in Denver.
"A Mississippi television anchorman can keep documents and other materials tied to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that the civil rights leader's estate sued to obtain, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday," the Associated Press reported. "King's estate sued WLBT-TV's Howard Ballou in September 2011 in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The estate wanted possession of documents, photographs and other items that Ballou's mother got while working for King."
Ernesto Romero has been promoted to news director at KYMA-TV in Yuma, Ariz., Kevin Olivas reported for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. "He succeeds NAHJ member Luis Cruz, who is heading to Southern California to teach the next generation of broadcast journalists."
"The Associated Press Media Editors Foundation will offer diversity scholarships to APME NewsTrain events in 2013 for print and broadcast journalists and students who are pursuing careers in journalism," the foundation announced Thursday. "The scholarships will cover the cost of NewsTrain along with the recipient's accommodations and travel expenses. . . . The first NewsTrain will be held April 29-30 in Springfield, Ill." The application deadline is March 25.
Merlene Davis, columnist for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, is "very pleased" that "Starting next year, when the annual American Community Survey is distributed to 3.5 million homes in the U.S., the agency is giving black folk only two choices: black or African American." After reviewing various racial designations applied to the group over the years, Davis concluded, "Our response to those self designations is how people know we care."
"Later this month, the voice of Cleveland native Clark Kellogg will become one of the most closely listened to in the nation," Phillip Morris wrote Saturday for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. "As lead college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, Kellogg will narrate the annual rite of spring known as March Madness." Praising Kellogg's values off the court, Morris continued, "I think he should humor us all by at least studying the political migration of former Cavalier Point Guard Kevin Johnson, who returned to his hometown of Sacramento, Calif., after his NBA playing days were over. Johnson's title since 2008? Mayor."
In the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., Barry Saunders wrote Monday, "if the Al Jazeera television network really is the preferred network of terrorists everywhere, as some fear, that is all the more reason that we in the U.S. and the Triangle should have access to it, too." Saunders added, "we should be able to see what's on the so-called enemy's preferred viewing channel for the same reason men read 'Cosmo' magazine: to know what the other side is plotting."
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
Did Gays Move the Needle for Obama?
His success among LGBT voters hasn't gotten much attention, says a New York Times writer.
Gays, Lesbians Latest to Be Credited for Obama's Win
Gay and lesbian voters are the latest group to be awarded credit for President Obama's election victory. Defeated GOP candidate Mitt Romney, meanwhile, added the large number of primary debates to his post-election criticisms, and took a swipe at CNN and NBC as not among the "reasonable" networks televising them.
"While President Obama's lopsided support among Latino and other minority voters has been a focus of postelection analysis, the overwhelming support he received from another growing demographic group — Americans who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual — has received much less attention," Micah Cohen wrote Thursday for the New York Times.
"But the backing Mr. Obama received from gay voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal share of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida.
"Mr. Obama's more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup."
In ABC News' "The Note" column Thursday, Michael Falcone added more details about Romney's closed-door conference calls with top donors, at which he said in well-publicized remarks that "what the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote, and that strategy worked."
Crediting ABC's Chris Good, Falcone added to the account Romney's suggestion for the next round of debates: "agree that we're gonna do, you know, I don't know, eight debates, and we're gonna, we're gonna do one a month, and we're gonna pick stations that are reasonable, it's not all gonna be done by CNN and NBC, all right, I mean we're gonna try and guide this process so that it's designed to showcase the best of our people as opposed to showcasing liberals beating the heck out of us."
The journalist of color associations say they plan to press for one of their number to participate in the 2016 debates, as
Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, the Atlantic: Republicans Want 'Stuff' Too
Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: The downfall of the demagogues
David Dent, New York University: Romney Logic: Gifts? Bush-Obama County Results
Keli Goff, the Root: Obama Frees His Inner Angry Black Man
Viviana Hurtado, Wise Latina Club: The Latino Vote: The Way Forward
Gwen Ifill, PBS: Gwen's Take: The Political Storm Ends; the Drama Begins
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOP lost because it failed to connect
Latina Lista: In the aftermath of the presidential election, it's time for Latinos to start reclaiming their image
Julianne Malveaux, syndicated: A Post-Election Mobilization Agenda
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: No, Mitt, Even a Lot of White Voters Didn't Like You
Carlos Maza, Media Matters for America: Fox News Downplays Major Election Night LGBT Victories
John McWhorter, Daily News, New York: Let's face it: Racism is dying
Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Why Not Just Go Over the Fiscal Cliff?
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If at first you don't secede, why try again?
Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press: Romney, McCain showing their true colors
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: The Republicans still don't get it
Walter Shapiro, Columbia Journalism Review: Hope and change in unlikely places: Three cheers for campaign coverage from BuzzFeed and the Los Angeles Times
Tavis Smiley, EURWeb: Last of the Loud
Wendi C. Thomas, Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.: Clayton candidate debacle weakens an already weak state Democratic Party
Rod Watson, Buffalo News: What budget cuts should affect you?
DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: NAACP worry of GOP inroads to blacks misplaced
Armstrong Williams blog, the Hill: The GOP needs an immigration policy
Armstrong Williams blog, the Hill: Forward-thinking advice for the GOP
Shakeup at Huffpost Black, Latino Sites
New editors have been installed at Huffington Post's BlackVoices and LatinoVoices sites, a spokesman told Journal-isms on Friday, adding to a history of turnover at the top since BlackVoices came under the control of Huffington Post last year.
"We're thrilled to promote Danielle Cadet to Editor of Black Voices, and Jermaine Spradley to Multicultural Editor," Rhoades Alderson told Journal-isms by email. "Jermaine will be handling much of Miguel's former responsibilities, and we're confident Black Voices and Latino Voices are poised to dominate their respective spaces."
The reference is to Miguel Ferrer, the onetime managing editor of the English-language HuffPost LatinoVoices and Spanish-language Voces sites who in February also became managing editor of HuffPost BlackVoices.
Ferrer left last month to become the first executive producer, Digital for a new news and lifestyle network for U.S. Hispanics planned jointly by ABC News and Univision News.
Alderson confirmed that Gene Demby, who a year ago was promoted to editor of BlackVoices, then stepped down to become political editor, has left the company.
Trymaine Lee, who joined Huffington Post as a lead writer for BlackVoices last year and helped elevate the Trayvon Martin killing to national prominence, left the website for MSNBC on Nov. 1.
HuffPost BlackVoices recorded 1,791,000 unique visitors in September, according to the comScore, Inc., research firm, behind BET, MediaTakeOut and Bossip among black-oriented websites.
Spradley "previously managed the expansive roster of bloggers for the Huffington Post's Black Voices and Latino Voices," Alderson said.
"Jermaine also helped to build and expand the blog singleblackmale.org leading to features in Black Enterprise and Essence magazines and a spot on Ebony Magazine's Power 100 list for 2011. Jermaine was previously an analyst working in various divisions of Citigroup's Global Corporate Investment Bank. A Brooklyn, New York resident, his writing has been featured in print publications like Newsday and for various sites across the web."
Cadet "formerly served as associate editor for the site, covering pertinent issues within the African American community including the Trayvon Martin Case. Before joining The Huffington Post, Cadet worked as an education beat reporter for the Medill News Service, and did extensive coverage within the Chicago Public School system. Cadet is a graduate of Northwestern University-Medill School of Journalism and also has a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University."
Separately, Bill Wong of Sacramento, Calif., has posted a petition on Change.org for Huffington Post to establish an Asian Pacific Voices page. "Huffington Post has a Latino Voices, Black Voices, and Gay Voices Page...why not an API Voices Page?" the petition said.
Spanish-Language Journalists Won't Follow AP on "Illegal"
The Associated Press hopes its new online Spanish-language style manual will become a widely used resource for Spanish language writers in Latin America, the United States and Spain, according to Alejandro Manrique, the AP's deputy regional editor of Latin America/Caribbean. But some journalists say it will have little impact when it comes to encouraging the use of the term "inmigrante ilegal" — or "illegal immigrant," Cristina Costantini wrote Wednesday for the new ABC News-Univision website.
"Pilar Marrero, the Senior Political and Immigration writer for Los Angeles' La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language daily in the country, is one of those people.
" 'I see no reason to use the AP's style as a rule. In the media that I've worked [in] we have always been very sensitive to using a term that implies that the person is somehow illegal, when it's the act that should be under question,' Marrero, who has worked in Spanish-language media for 26 years, wrote in an email. 'I think most Spanish outlets will do what they've always done: have their own rule of style.'
"Other widely read Spanish-language papers in the U.S. including El Diario La Prensa in New York, La Raza in Chicago, and El Nuevo Herald in Miami, prefer the Spanish word for 'undocumented' over 'illegal immigrant.'
"For Huffington Post Voces, which subscribes to the Spanish language AP wire service, the word 'inmigrante ilegal' will continue to be changed by hand to 'indocumentado' before every story regarding the subject is published.
" 'The term "illegals" is obviously insulting, and deliberately so. It is very politically loaded," Editorial Director of HuffPost Voces, Gabriel Lerner, wrote in an email."
Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, wrote an essay last month for Fox News Latino decrying use of "illegal immigrant." He wrote on Facebook this week, "While I'm confident the AP Spanish language stylebook will be a wonderful resource, it is disappointing the term illegal immigrant will be included. NAHJ continues to condemn the practice for its inaccuracy and insensitivity. NAHJ suggests and I personally implore that media and journalists use undocumented immigrant instead."
Tom Kent, the deputy managing editor and standards editor of the Associated Press, told Constantini, " 'We don't insist on 'illegal immigrant. We accept other terms, you can say 'who is in the country without legal permission,' or 'who does not have legal right to live in the country'... We provide a lot of flexibility."
But Constantini added, "However, the entry of the term 'illegal immigrant' in the new stylebook does make clear that one word will not be permitted. 'Indocumentado,' the Spanish word for 'undocumented,' is not to be used unless it appears within quotation marks, according to the forthcoming style guide."
President Obama twice used the term "undocumented" in his news conference this week.
Univision Wants Stories for Immigrant Archive
"The Spanish-language media company Univision and one of its top advertisers are encouraging Hispanics to share their stories about establishing new lives in the United States for an immigrant archive," David Bauder reported Thursday for the Associated Press.
"The Univision network will kick off the effort, called Generacion America, during Thursday's telecast of the Latin Grammy Awards.
"Univision and its affiliated networks will help collect stories from celebrities and average citizens to be part of the Immigrant Archive Project, an independent effort to collect the stories, and show snippets of them on TV. The advertiser Procter & Gamble is helping to fund the effort, although neither company would say how much is being spent."
Mike Vuolo, Slate: From "Wetbacks" to "Illegals" to "Undocumented" to ... ?
Hostess Twinkies Were a Ticket to Assimilation
"When I heard this week that the Hostess cake company was going out of business, I decided to pay my respects: I went out and bought a 10-pack box of Twinkies," novelist Bich Minh Nguyen wrote Friday for the New York Times.
". . . For me, a child of Vietnamese immigrants growing up in Michigan in the 1980s, Twinkies were a ticket to assimilation: the golden cake, more golden than the hair I wished I had, filled with sweet white cream. Back then, junk foods seemed to represent an ideal of American indulgence.
"They've since become a joke, a stereotype of shallow suburbia. For Asian-Americans, to be a twinkie is to be a sellout: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Even the name 'Hostess' seems quaintly outdated, like 'stewardess' or 'butler.' On the box of Twinkies I bought there's a cartoon of a Twinkie as a cowboy; his sidekick is a short, swarthy chocolate cupcake. Whether Hostess meant to evoke the Lone Ranger and Tonto or was simply trying to recapture a glory-days notion of sweet-toothed kids playing dress-up, the company seems determined to be retro.
"Yet maybe that's exactly why the Twinkie has continued to fascinate: it is already a relic . . . "
Rep. Bobby Rush Asks Chicago Public TV About Diversity
Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill., has complained to Daniel J. Schmidt, president and CEO of WTTW-TV in Chicago, about the "glaring absence of African American reporters and anchors on 'Chicago Tonight,' " the station's public affairs show.
In a letter Nov. 9, Rush asked about the station, "Are there African American decision makers working at any level?" and noted that during his tenure on the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology he had "fought hard for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."
Media diversity has long been an interest of Rush. Last year, he hosted a Brain Trust session during the Congressional Black Caucus' Legislative Weekend in conjunction with the National Association of Black Journalists. The panel, "The Deciders...Who Calls the Shots in Broadcast News?" featured the results of NABJ's annual Television Newsroom Management Diversity Census.
Rush sent copies of his letter to members of the CPB board. A spokeswoman for WTTW did not respond to a request for comment.
Geneva Overholser to Step Down at USC Annenberg
"USC Annenberg announced that Geneva Overholser, who has led the School of Journalism since 2008, will complete her term as director and leave USC in June 2013. USC Annenberg has launched a recruitment campaign for her successor," the school said on Friday.
" 'Geneva Overholser is a visionary leader who has spent her career focused on how to make journalism excellent in every way — more inclusive, more democratic, more focused on civic engagement,' said Dean Ernest J. Wilson III. 'When she agreed to put her experience and energy toward the education of the next generation of journalists for a five-year term here at USC Annenberg, we knew we were embarking on a revolutionary time for the school. Geneva has set the bar very high for her successor.'
". . . Overholser enriched the representation of diverse voices throughout the School, culminating in the 2012 national diversity award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The award cited the school's curriculum enhancements, recruitment and retention of students and faculty and its relationships with such organizations as the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. The AEJMC committee also said the school's diversity report, 'Celebrating Difference,' offered a blueprint for other U.S. journalism and mass communication schools."
Deion Sanders Calls Reporter "African American Killer"
"It might have taken a bit longer than some might have expected, but Deion Sanders officially lost it," Cameron Smith wrote Friday for Yahoo Sports, referring to the NFL hall of famer.
"In the midst of an interview with a Dallas-Fort Worth radio station, Sanders was asked yet again about allegations that the charter school he co-founded, Prime Prep Academy, was engaging in illegal recruiting to bring players in for its football and basketball program. His response was to play the race card and blame all the negative attention the school has received on a white reporter whom he called an 'African American killer.' "
"As noted by the Dallas Morning News, Sanders shifted the focus from Prime Prep to an unnamed reporter, believed to be Brett Shipp, the excellent high school sports reporter for DFW TV network WFAA. . . . "
Shipp told Journal-isms by email, "Well, I'm not a high school sports reporter, just an investigative reporter, but the rest sounds accurate. I do really appreciate the 'excellent' qualifier. My only response is Deion is passionately trying to defend his players and his school. I'm just reporting the news. It's all good."
Shipp's reporting helped earn his station a Gold Baton, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards' highest honor, in 2009. It was the first time a local station had won that honor in the awards' 20-year history.
In 2011, Shipp had an unusual confrontation with Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is African American.
"Shipp was accompanying Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey to Price's Road and Bridge district office," the station's Byron Harris reported then. "The only Republican on the Dallas County Commission, Dickey was on a quest to examine county property said to be in storage units in Price's care.
"As Shipp tried to follow Dickey into Price's office, video showed Price shoves him in the neck. Later a camera captured Price saying to Shipp, 'I'm going to split your throat.' "
Two "Visual Storytellers" Named at Marie Claire
"The women's magazine shuffle continues. Alex Gonzalez has been named the new artistic director at Marie Claire and Nina Garcia, currently Marie Claire's fashion director, has been promoted to creative director at the magazine," Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke reported Wednesday for the New York Observer.
" 'Alex and Nina are both inspired visual storytellers, and I am excited about what they will each bring to this new phase in Marie Claire's evolution,' said Anne Fulenwider, who has been the editor-in-chief of Marie Claire since September. 'Alex's impeccable taste and discerning eye will add a fresh point of view, and Nina truly embodies Marie Claire from a fashion and style perspective.'
". . . Both Ms. Garcia and Mr. Gonzalez have other jobs in addition to Marie Claire. Mr. Gonzalez will continue as executive creative director of the branding advertising agency AR New York, which he co-founded in 1996. Ms. Garcia is a Project Runway judge."
The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association raised about $10,000 at a "DATELINE: DC" benefit on Tuesday, Michael Triplett, NLGJA president, told Journal-isms on Friday. "This was our first stab at a fundraiser in DC and we were very happy with the results. It was also nice to be able to honor Michel Martin," Triplett said. Martin, host of "Tell Me More" on NPR, was presented the NLGJA 2012 Randy Shilts Award for LGBT coverage.
"A 19-year-old Oakland man has been arrested in connection with a robbery last week of a television cameraman, who was punched and robbed of his camera while filming in North Oakland," Harry Harris reported Tuesday for the Oakland Tribune. "The suspect, identified as Deliane Phillips, was arrested by Emeryville police on Nov. 8, the day after the attack, in a car that police had associated with the robbery. Inside the car, police recovered at least one gun and narcotics."
In Houston, "Gene Norman, KHOU's (Channel 11) chief meteorologist since June 2008, has left the station, station president Susan McEldoon said in an e-mail message Friday night," the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday. ". . . Norman spent a decade working in Houston for a NASA contractor and worked for five years in the late 1990s for KTRK (Channel 13). Norman spent seven years as chief meteorologist at Atlanta station WGLC before returning to Houston in February 2008 as successor to Neil Frank, who retired in May 2008." [Nov. 17]
"When the news of Wendell Smothers' death got around this week, many very sad people in the Tribune newsroom described him with the word 'fixture,' " Mary Schmich wrote Friday for the Chicago Tribune. "From behind a big reception desk in the fourth-floor lobby, for more years than most of us can remember, Wendell monitored the comings and goings not only of employees but of the celebrities and dignitaries who came through. Even if you were Barack Obama or Bono, you had to pass by Wendell's desk. . . . In March, in a round of layoffs, Wendell left the Tribune. The distress in the newsroom was as palpable as a pinched nerve."
Danielle Cheesman of Loop21 asked T.J. Holmes, host of "Don't Sleep" on BET, "what's been the best and worst part of having your own show?" Holmes replied, "There's no question that the best part is having an opportunity to have my own voice and to give people in my community — the Black community — voice too because we don't have enough outlets for something like this, to be a part of a national conversation. But it's been a challenge because people don't know to turn to BET at 11 o'clock at night for this type of substance. They aren't trained to do that. And to come from CNN, the most prestigious news organization on the planet, to an entertainment network can be a bit of a shock. It's not something I'm used to. I'm like, 'What do you mean we can't just call up that video?' It's frustrating at times, but an adjustment."
"Ivan Carter, the Post sportswriter turned TV host, is leaving Comcast SportsNet, according to a statement from the network," Dan Steinberg reported Wednesday for the Washington Post. " 'Comcast SportsNet has decided to make changes to the on-air team for SportsTalk Live, its daily talk show,' the statement read. 'Ivan Carter will no longer appear on the program; his contract is expiring and he is leaving the network. . . . "
"Noticias MundoFox, the national network news program for U.S. Hispanic audiences, is proud to announce the opening of its New York City based news bureau to serve the East Coast," MundoFox, a joint venture between Fox International Channels and RCN, a Latin American television network and production company, announced Thursday. Leading the bureau is Peggy Carranza, a former correspondent for TV Martí and Univision in New York. "She was also the host of Noticias GenTV for the Caracol network, where she specialized in covering national and international politics and economics."
"On Wednesday, the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University hosted APSE's Day of Diversity," Olivia Lewis reported Wednesday for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. The acronym refers to Associated Press Sports Editors. "Sports editors from across the country spoke with journalism students with an interest in sports media, discussing how innovative and versatile journalists have become. 'Life without a newspaper' was the theme for the day. . . ."
"Pablo Torre has joined ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com as a senior writer after five years at Sports Illustrated. He also will be regular contributor to 'The Sports Reporters,' Josh Barnett wrote Nov. 7 for Associated Press Sports Editors. "Torre has won multiple awards and his work has appeared in the Best American Sports Writing anthology."
In Chicago, "After only 9 months as a reporter/anchor at WSNS, Rolmán Vergara is no longer at the station," Veronica Villafañe reported for her Media Moves site. "Apparently, Telemundo Chicago is undergoing some talent changes. Just yesterday, longtime anchor/reporter Tsi-tsi-ki Felix announced her departure from WSNS as an 'amicable' parting of the ways."
Rwandan editor Stanley Gatera, 22, was sentenced to a one-year jail term and fines of 30,000 Rwandan francs (US$50) over an article that suggested that men may regret marrying a Tutsi woman solely for her beauty, according to a review by the Committee to Protect Journalists of a translated copy of the article. The state prosecutor said in court that the article broke the country's laws about referring to ethnic identities, local journalists told CPJ, the press-freedom group said Thursday.
In Turkey, "The trial of 44 journalists and other employees of Kurdish media accused of being members of a 'media committee' operated by the outlawed Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) resumed yesterday in Istanbul after a two-month break," Reporters Without
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (www.mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
Black Churches Fight to Keep Pastors on Cable
Journal-isms: Demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C., in a bid to save faith-based TV programs.
Black Churches Demonstrate to Keep Pastors on Cable
About 35 demonstrators representing a coalition of 34,000 black churches marched in front of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington Wednesday, saying many viewers of faith-based television programs would lose access to them if the FCC lets expire a rule requiring cable systems to carry the shows.
"Unless it takes action, the FCC's so-called three-year-old 'viewability rule' is set to automatically expire on June 12," Doug Halonen explained Tuesday for theWrap.com.
"The rule ensures that all 58 million cable TV subscribers have access to local must-carry signals -- not just the 46 million who subscribe to digital cable." The "must-carry" rule mandates that cable companies carry various local and public television stations within a cable provider's service area.
"Eliminating the viewability rule would severely undermine the viewership of independent, religious and foreign-language stations that rely on the regulation to reach all cable viewers, broadcasters say," Halonen wrote.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reported late Wednesday that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is siding with the cable industry, not the broadcasters and churches.
"Cable operators will no longer be required to provide both analog and digital versions of must-carry TV station signals as of December 2012 if FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gets his way, with low-cost converter boxes considered a sufficient vehicle for allowing analog customers to continue to view TV station signals," Eggerton reported.
Halonen's story explained, "The FCC originally adopted the rule in 2007 so that the millions of cable TV subscribers with analog TV sets could continue getting must-carry TV station signals after the broadcast TV industry switched from analog to digital transmission.
" . . . The FCC originally set a three-year limit on the rule, assuming that most cable systems would also have switched completely to digital by this time. But about 12.6 million of cable's customers are still equipped with analog sets and could lose access to must-carry signals if the rule is allowed to expire."
The renewal issue pit broadcasters against cable operators. The black church group also demonstrated in front of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents the cable industry.
In a news release, the Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative, said, "we strongly believe that it is the job of the FCC to assure that minority church-based broadcasters should receive the same consideration as large cable operators. We strongly urge the Federal Communications Commission to extend the rule because many of our 15.7 million members will be directly and adversely affected by the FCC not extending the viewability rule. We plan to fight for our right to have comprehensive access to all cable systems whether it is analog, digital or hybrid systems. We plan to let our congressional representative know our position. We will use the full force of the Black Church to be heard on this issue."
Halonen's story added that "Liberman Broadcasting, a Spanish-language broadcaster that owns five TV stations, including KRCA-TV in Los Angeles, said elimination of the rule could result in the loss of 300,000 homes for EstrellaTV, or 4.3 percent of the audience for the company’s new Spanish-language network."
Brendan Sasso, the Hill: Obama nominates Mignon Clyburn to second FCC term
Fox Roots for Wisconsin Governor; MSNBC for Unions
If ever there was a political event to lay bare the partisan ideologies of the cable news media, the Wisconsin recall was it," Dylan Byers wrote Tuesday night for Politico.
"MSNBC was blatantly rooting for Tom Barrett to defeat Gov. Scott Walker, even sending union champion Ed Schultz to cover an event with no apologies for the dog he has in the fight. (Earlier tonight, Chris Matthews even told Schultz that if he wasn't an MSNBC host, he could be head of the AFL-CIO.) When it became clear that Barrett would lose, Schultz looked almost teary eyed. Not long after, the network's contributors immediately began suggesting that this was, in fact, good news for [President] Obama -- who, after all, hadn't even set foot in Wisconsin -- and began attacking Mitt Romney.
"Meanwhile, Fox News was blatantly rooting for Gov. Walker, and the moment it became clear that Walker might win, host Sean Hannity called it 'a repudiation of big unions,' which did 'everything they could do to demonize Scott Walker.' Guest Hugh Hewitt then predicted that, five months from now, Romney would follow Walker just 'as Reagan followed Thatcher.' Fox's Greta Van Susteren later hosted what amounted to a victory celebration for the Republicans.
" . . . Which means it was the perfect night for CNN, the network that bears the slogan 'CNN = Politics' and claims to have 'the best political team on television,' to step up and offer what only it can offer: a semblance of nonpartisan political news coverage."
Among African American opinion writers, Gregory Stanford, a former Journal Sentinel editorial writer, wrote Wednesday, "This is no time to sulk. Ousting Walker from office was a long shot anyway. Besides, in the one bright spot, the Democrats did seize control of the state Senate -- which should keep Walker from ramrodding more of his right-wing agenda through the Legislature. The movement deserves praise for getting as far as it did. Now, it must keep fighting this good fight."
Eugene Kane, a Journal Sentinel columnist, had warned Monday that whoever won should avoid gloating. "Remember, for many folks this was not so much an election as a battle for the soul of Wisconsin," Kane said.
On Wednesday, Kane turned his attention to "a shocking local shooting last week where a 75-year-old white homeowner killed a 13-year-old African-American boy he suspected of stealing from his home." The slain child was Darius Simmons.
" . . . With the recall election decided, more Milwaukeeans are turning their attention to this local story about a dead boy," Kane continued. "The national attention also has been growing."
Meanwhile, an April 3 story from WTMJ-TV, an NBC affiliate known as Today's TMJ4, remained among the most popular on the station's Website.
" . . . TODAY'S TMJ4 and Newsradio 620 WTMJ discovered that several members of our staff signed the recall petitions for Governor Walker," it said. "Some of those employees play a role in our news-gathering and editorial process. Several of them also work on-air: One at TODAY'S TMJ4; four at Newsradio 620 WTMJ.
"We want you to know that we consider this a serious issue. We are in the process of dealing with it internally. Our reputation of being a fair and unbiased news source is of paramount importance to both TODAY'S TMJ4 and Newsradio 620 WTMJ.
" . . . many employees told us that they felt signing the recall petition was not a political act, but instead felt it was similar to casting a vote. WTMJ does not agree and we want to assure you, our viewers, that we are taking measures to make sure all of our reporting is fair, balanced and to ensure something like this does not happen again."
Bruce A. Dixon, Black Agenda Report: Wisconsin: What Happens When Movements Turn Into Campaigns
Editorial, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Walker's challenge: to bring Wisconsin together
Nancy Flores, New America Media: Wisconsin Latinos Will Carry On Fight for Workers, Immigrants
Peter Hart, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: Can We Recall Bad Reporting on Wisconsin Budget Deficit?
Jason Johnson, politic365.com: Scott Walker: The GOP's New Pin-Up Boy
Lloyd Marcus, thyblackman.com: Scott Walker Victory Bash Short On Blacks.
Lenny McAllister, Politic365.com: Total Lack of Recall
David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun: Cable TV news the biggest loser in Wisconsin recall
Cleveland Anchor Leon Bibb Out of 6 p.m. Chair
"Leon Bibb, one of the most familiar faces in Cleveland television news, no longer sits in the 6 p.m. anchor chair for WEWS Channel 5," Chuck Yarborough reported in a front-page story in Thursday's print edition of the Plain Dealer.
"The 67-year-old Emmy-winning veteran newsman has been replaced by Chris Flanagan, who also co-anchors Channel 5's 11 p.m. newscast with Danita Harris. The shift went into effect Monday.
"Sam Rosenwasser, Channel 5's vice president and general manager, said Bibb has been reassigned to do two new programs, 'Leon Bibb's Ohio' and 'Leon Bibb's Perspective.' He will continue to anchor the station's noon newscast as well as its Sunday morning news program, 'Kaleidoscope,' Rosenwasser said.
" 'Leon is still a very vital part of what we have here,' Rosenwasser said. 'We want to put a spotlight on what he has.'
"Attempts to reach Bibb, who was raised in Cleveland and began his career as a Plain Dealer reporter, were unsuccessful.
" . . . Competitors reacted to the reassignment with surprise.
" 'This is a guy who's had a distinguished career,' said Dan Salamone, news director at Channel 19. 'I don't understand what that decision is about. I have a lot of respect for Leon. He's done it the right way, and he exudes Cleveland. He's a fantastic anchor and I'm just shocked.' "
Little Outrage at Prospect of Birmingham Cutbacks
"I've heard the questions all day," John Archibald wrote Tuesday in the Birmingham (Ala.) News.
"Why are people protesting the new printing schedule at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, but not at the Birmingham News and other affected cities?" Print editions would be published only three days a week.
" . . . look at the nature of the cities.
"New Orleans has identity and pride. Birmingham has division and hostility.
"We can't get together to 'save' anything, because we can't agree that anything is worth saving."
Kyle Whitmire, editor of new media of Weld for Birmingham, listed other reasons, one harkening to the News' segregationist past.
" . . . What's clear to me is that the key to having a good newspaper and maintaining a good audience is knowing when to defy readers' expectations and when to live up to them. Historically, the News has done a poor job of doing either.
"The News spent decades building a bad reputation for itself. It defended segregation and was not willing to hold up a mirror to the city it covered. Slowly it moved to the right side of history, but when it did, it did so with reporting that was stripped of any voice or editorial latitude. In part, I think that was the News' way of defining itself against the Birmingham Post-Herald, which was a more writerly paper with stronger positions and a more distinct voice. That has changed too, but again, slowly. From the pages of the Post-Herald, Ted Bryant kicked ass years before the News would even let itself have a metro columnist.
"In many ways, the News is now paying for the sins of its fathers, and perhaps that isn't fair.
" . . . Great cities need great newspapers. It might not matter today whether newspapers are digital or print, but no city has become great without them.
"New Orleans realizes that. It’s time for Birmingham to realize that, too."
Solomon Crenshaw Jr., a Birmingham native, 32-year veteran of the Birmingham News and president of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists, disagreed with Whitmire.
Crenshaw told Journal-isms by telephone that New Orleans has a relationship with its readers "that was baptized by Katrina," which gives it "a unique circumstance." The newspaper not only covered the catastrophe, it went through the ordeal along with readers.
Crenshaw said he had spoken to some Birmingham residents who are concerned about proposed cuts at the News, and that contrary to Whitmire's argument, voices at the News did speak out against ousted mayor Larry Langford, who was sentenced in 2010 to 15 years in federal prison. Langford was convicted on 60 counts of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and filing false tax returns stemming from his time as president of the Jefferson County Commission.
David Carr, New York Times: Rally and Open Letter Signal Pushback to a Less-Than-Daily Times-Picayune
Mathew Ingram, gigaom.com: What happens when a newspaper is just another digital voice?
Kent Jones, the Maddow Blog, MSNBC: T-P or not T-P: New Orleans fights for its newspaper
Jack Shafer, Reuters: The great newspaper liquidation
Harry Shearer, Columbia Journalism Review: The Sometimes Picayune
Roland Martin on CNN Suspension, Personal Brands
Roland Martin, CNN commentator and host of TV One's "Washington Watch With Roland Martin," among his other endeavors, said his attitude toward his recent suspension from CNN is "It happened, you deal with it and you move on." He also discussed building a personal brand, the Sunday television talk shows and the role of the black press in an interview Wednesday with Marcus Vanderberg of MediaBistro.
"Looking back, what are your thoughts now on your month-long suspension from CNN for your Super Bowl tweet about David Beckham?" Vanderberg asked.
"First of all, my thoughts were the same then -- I was cracking on soccer and that's what I talked about," Martin responded. "It happened, you deal with it and you move on. My deal is, if you spend significant amounts of time freaking out and going nuts, you'll simply go crazy. My philosophy is very simple: You keep it moving."
Vanderberg also asked, "What's your secret to developing your brand?"
Martin replied, "Know exactly who you are. The second thing is you have to have no fear in being able to work it. Companies today will fire you, not renew your contracts and when it's gone, it's gone. So you're left with what, saying that I [used] to be with so-and-so and I [used] to work with so-and-so? I love this scene from the movie The Insider where Al Pacino says, 'Lowell Bergman, 60 Minutes, I wonder if my phone calls would get returned if I didn't have 60 Minutes after my name?'
"When you build your own brand, people will still return your phone calls regardless of the call letters or where you actually work, because they now know you and they trust you in what you have to say and what you're doing. That, to me, is the most important aspect when it comes to building your brand. If companies are able to have multiple revenue streams and have their hands in multiple pools of money, then why shouldn't the people who actually work for those brands be able to do the exact same thing?"
"60 Minutes" Has Difficulty Finding Correspondents
Veteran "60 Minutes" journalist Steve Kroft, who, by his count, has interviewed Barack Obama a dozen times, discussed those interviews at the annual awards dinner of the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Monday, and also said it was difficult to find qualified applicants for "60 Minutes."
"The challenge for the show ahead is going to be finding replacements," Kroft said, according to Azi Paybarah, writing Tuesday for capitalnewyork.com.
" . . . Noting the death of '60 Minutes' mainstays like Andy Rooney and Mike Wallace, Kroft said, 'We have to refill the talent pool and that's not that easy right now. We've been looking for someone to hire really as a full-time correspondent for a number of years and have had difficulty finding somebody that has all of the skills that we need in '60 Minutes' that wants to come work on the show, and kind of give up their life and to travel around the world."
"That's because 'so many people think they can make more money right now, you know, anchoring a talk show in the afternoon for one of the cable news networks and not having to leave,' he said. 'And so it's hard to find somebody who's got foreign experience, Washington experience, economic experience, who is pretty well-rounded, that is smart, that can do interviews.' "
Romney Scuttled Affirmative Action Policies in Mass.
"Mitt Romney scuttled the Massachusetts government's long-standing affirmative action policies with a few strokes of his pen on a sleepy holiday six months after he became governor," Andrew Miga reported for the Associated Press.
"No news conference or news release trumpeted Romney's executive order on Bunker Hill Day, June 17, 2003, in the deserted Statehouse. But when civil rights leaders, black lawmakers and other minority groups learned of Romney's move two months later, it sparked a public furor.
"Romney drew criticism for cutting the enforcement teeth out of the law and rolling back more than two decades of affirmative action advances.
"Civil rights leaders said his order stripped minorities, women, disabled people and veterans of equal access protections for state government jobs and replaced them with broad guidelines. They complained Romney hadn't consulted them before making the changes, snubbing the very kind of inclusion he professed to support.
" . . . It wasn't until Deval Patrick, a Democrat who was the state's first black governor, took office in 2007 that the old policies formally were reinstated."
Meanwhile, "The Romney campaign announced Wednesday that its Latino outreach team, called 'Juntos Con Romney,' will be led by three Hispanic Republicans, all of whom said they will remain focused on a message about the economy," Elise Foley reported for the Huffington Post.
The three chairmen -- Hector Barreto, former administrator of the Small Business Administration; Carlos Gutierrez, former secretary of commerce; and Jose Fuentes, former attorney general of Puerto Rico -- join 14 others on Romney's National Advisory Board.
Emil Guillermo blog: Emil may rhyme with schlemiel, but in affirmative action fight are Asian Americans the New Jews?
Jay Jones, Columbia Journalism Review: Dark money targets Hispanics in Silver State
Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN: What Latinos want from candidates? Respect
Whites Wrote 90% of Books Reviewed in N.Y. Times
Roxane Gay, an author and assistant professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, "tasked my amazing, incredibly thorough graduate assistant, Philip Gallagher, with looking at every book review published in the New York Times in 2011, identifying the race and gender of the reviewed titles' authors," Gay wrote Wednesday for therumpus.net. "The project took fourteen weeks, with Philip going at it for about sixteen hours each week because the only way to find out the race of each writer was to research them. . . .
"We looked at 742 books reviewed, across all genres. Of those 742, 655 were written by Caucasian authors (1 transgender writer, 437 men, and 217 women). Thirty-one were written by Africans or African Americans (21 men, 10 women), 9 were written by Hispanic authors (8 men, 1 woman), 33 by Asian, Asian-American or South Asian writers (19 men, 14 women), 8 by Middle Eastern writers (5 men, 3 women) and 6 were books written by writers whose racial background we were simply unable to identify.
"The numbers are depressing but I cannot say I am shocked. The numbers reflect the overall trend in publishing where the majority of books published are written by white writers."
" . . . Nearly 90% of the books reviewed by The New York Times are written by white writers. That is not even remotely reflective of the racial makeup of this country, where 72% of the population, according to the 2010 census, is white. We know that far more than 81 books were published by writers of color in 2011. You don’t really need other datasets to see this rather glaring imbalance."
Reunited After Nearly 30 Years
"Last week, ProPublica, This American Life and Fundación MEPI produced in-depth stories about a father and son who'd been separated for nearly 30 years after a massacre at their Guatemalan jungle village," ProPublica reported on Friday. "Tranquilino Castañeda, now 70, believed his youngest son Alfredo -- now called Oscar -- was dead. On Monday, they reunited -- and Castañeda met his grandchildren for the first time. (Story) (Video)
Does "NABJ" really stand for the "National Association of Broadcast Journalists?" It does in the online bio of veteran Washington television anchor J.C. Hayward, who last year was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. The reference to the faux NABJ has been widely circulated, most recently in a column by Republican-activist-turned-columnist Raynard Jackson, who in writing about "Under-Publicized Black Success Stories," said of Hayward, "Last year, she was inducted into the National Association of Broadcast Journalists' Hall of Fame." Khalim Piankhi, spokesman for Hayward's station, WUSA-TV, told Journal-isms Wednesday, "Obviously it is a mistake and it's being corrected."
"Emails seen by The Daily Telegraph show that [Barbara] Walters tried to help Sheherazad Jaafari, the daughter of Syria's UN ambassador, secure a place at an Ivy League university and an internship with Piers Morgan's CNN programme," Raf Sanchez reported from Washington Tuesday for the London Telegraph. "When confronted with the emails, which were obtained by a Syrian opposition group, the 82-year-old ABC broadcaster admitted a conflict of interest and expressed 'regret' for her actions."
"There's an old well-established rule in TV circles -- anchors anchor," Verne Gay wrote Tuesday for Newsday. "So where's 'Today's' anchor, Ann Curry, in the midst of one of the network's most prestigious coverage events of the year? the Queen's Diamond Jubilee? Curry has been MIA during coverage, and a spokeswoman said, 'Ann had taken two vacation days Monday and Tuesday of this week (been planned for a while). She will be back tomorrow.' (By the way, learned this afternoon that she took these days off to pick up her kid at school...)"
Vivian Toy, known primarily for writing New York Times Sunday real estate section's "On The Market" page, is succeeding Peter Sigal as deputy editor of of the section, Jotham Sederstrom reported Monday for the Commercial Observer. Sigal has accepted a position at the New York Times-owned International Herald Tribune in Paris.
David Trotman-Wilkins, laid off as a Chicago Tribune photographer in 2009, is joining Newsday as a photo editor in early July, Newsday spokesman Paul Fleishman told Journal-isms Wednesday. Trotman-Wilkins owns Milwaukee-based DTW WorldWide Photographic Imaging.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association plans to award José Díaz-Balart, a journalist and anchor for Telemundo, with its 2012 Media Leadership Award June 14 "in recognition of the individual whose efforts in the media most accurately depict immigration and immigrants," the association said.
"Mira Lowe will be joining us as Senior Editor for Features," Manuel Perez, editorial director for CNN Digital, and Meredith Artley, vice president for CNN Digital, told staffers Wednesday. "Mira comes to us after working for the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago as Editor-in-Chief at JET magazine . . . Before her move to Chicago, Mira had a very successful career at Newsday, where she played a variety of roles, including News Editor, Editor of the paper's Sunday lifestyle section, Editing Director for the METPRO copy-editing training program for minority journalists, and Associate Editor for Recruitment. . . . she will be bringing her talents to our team when she joins us later this month to help lead our Entertainment, Health, Living, Tech and Travel coverage!"
The Poynter Institute "recently announced the creation of the Poynter Foundation, a new avenue for the nonprofit to create a 'culture of philanthropy' to help fund the institute," Randy LoBasso wrote Monday for the Philadelphia Weekly. "They've tapped none other than Brian Tierney, former head of Philadelphia Media Holdings and 'nationally recognized expert in branding, marketing and advertising, and an accomplished entrepreneur,' as he's called, according to a Poynter job ad, to head the foundation."
"Journalists from across Africa announced the creation of the first continent-wide professional association of health journalists," the International Federation for Journalists announced Wednesday. "The new organization, the African Health Journalists Association, aims to improve the quality and quantity of reporting on health issues so that people across the continent can make healthy choices for their lives. The group's media coverage will encourage the best possible public health programs and policies throughout the continent."
In El Salvador, "Jonathan Martínez Castro, a 'marero' (gang member) also known as 'Budín,' was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a San Salvador court on 31 May for the April 2011 murder of Canal 33 cameraman Alfredo Hurtado," Reporters Without Borders reported. "His alleged accomplice, Marlon Abrego Rivas, also known as 'Gato,' is currently a fugitive."
"An appeals court in the Dominican Republic yesterday threw out the criminal defamation conviction of Nagua radio journalist Johnny Alberto Salazar, who in January was sentenced to six months in prison for allegedly libelling a local lawyer," the International Press Institute reported.
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (www.mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
Abramson, Baquet Rise at New York Times
A white woman and a black man will lead the New York Times' newsroom. Executive Editor Bill Keller is stepping down to write.
Executive Editor Bill Keller Stepping Down to Write
Jill Abramson and Dean Baquet — a white woman and a black man — will lead the newsroom of the New York Times, the newspaper announced on Thursday, reporting that Abramson, a former investigative reporter and Washington bureau chief, will become the paper’s executive editor, and Baquet, the Washington bureau chief, will become the new managing editor.
"Executive Editor Bill Keller is stepping down to become a full-time writer for the paper," Jeremy W. Peters wrote.
"As managing editor since 2003, Ms. Abramson has been one of Mr. Keller's two top deputies overseeing the entire newsroom. Her appointment was announced on Thursday by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the paper’s publisher and the chairman of The New York Times Company.
"Baquet was previously editor of the Los Angeles Times.
". . . In his new role, he said, he will work closely with the paper’s editors.
" 'The way I see the job is being chairman of the board for department heads, and working with them to shape the news,' Mr. Baquet said. 'I plan to spend a lot of time on the newsroom floor.'
"Mr. Baquet, who was often perceived as Ms. Abramson’s top rival for the executive editor’s job, said he had a collaborative relationship with the new editor, not a competitive one.
" 'Jill played a big role in bringing me back to the paper after I unceremoniously left the L.A. Times,' he said. 'I always thought the competitive thing was too overblown. It was too easy a story line. For the last four years, she’s been my boss. And she’s my friend. Of course we can work together.'
". . . The appointments are effective Sept. 6. John M. Geddes will continue in his role as managing editor for news operations."
". . . Ms. Abramson will be the first woman to be editor in the paper’s 160-year history. 'It’s meaningful to me,' she said of that distinction, adding, 'You stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, and I couldn’t be prouder to be standing on Bill’s shoulders.' "
The combination of Abramson and Baquet speaks to the changes that have taken place at the Times — and in the nation — since the 1970s, when restless women and black journalists at the Times complained about their lack of progress and sought legal redress.
In 1972, 50 women on the daily and Sunday news staffs delivered a five-page letter to management, "setting out in dramatic detail the sorry lot of female workers at a newspaper whose public image — whose image of itself was that of a liberal and benevolent institution," the late Times journalist Nan Robertson wrote in her 1992 book, "The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men, and The New York Times."
The case eventually became a class-action suit on behalf of about 550 women, settled out of court in 1978 with a $350,000 cash settlement, which averaged just $454 for each of the women. The Times also agreed to implement an affirmative action program under court decree for four years.
The Times has since had its first woman editorial page editor in Gail Collins, who held the job from 2001 to 2007, and in Janet Robinson, its first female president and CEO of the New York Times Co.
The conservative Media Research Center was quick to note that Abramson co-authored a book on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment charges, and Eleanor Smeal, publisher of Ms. magazine and president of the Feminist Majority, called Abramson "an accomplished feminist" and said her appointment "smashes a barrier to women's achievement in print and digital media."
As with the women employees, the Times was also hit with a discrimination suit by people of color, led by commerical employees but eventually joined by some in the newsroom. This, too, was settled out of court.
The late Gerald M. Boyd was named the paper's first black managing editor in 2001 but was forced to resign in 2003 along with top editor Howell Raines after the Jayson Blair plagiarism and fabrication scandal. At services for Boyd, colleagues said the pressure of being an African American in such a role helped to kill him. "Gerald's job was not only to publish a good newspaper but to carry the weight of his race and to represent his race every single moment he walked into the paper. That's a brutal weight to carry," his colleague Bernard Weinraub said.
"Jill and Dean together is a powerful team," Keller said in Thursday's Times story. "Jill’s been my partner in keeping The Times strong through years of tumult. At her right hand she will have someone who ran a great American newspaper, and ran it through tough times. That’s a valuable skill to have."
". . . Mr. Keller, who ran the newsroom during eight years of great journalistic distinction but also declining revenue and cutbacks throughout the industry, said that with a formidable combination in place to succeed him, he felt it was a good time to step aside."
No successor to Baquet as Washington bureau chief was named.
Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told Journal-isms that while there is no mandatory retirement age for senior news executives, there is a "longstanding tradition" that they retire at the end of their 65th year. Keller is 62, Baquet is 54 and Abramson is 57.
*Joshua Benton, Nieman Journalism Lab: Meet the new boss: Jill Abramson’s NYT ascent and its potential impact on the digital side of the Times
*Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: Jill Abramson, Just-Named New York Times Editor, Ready To 'Seize The Future'
*Jon Friedman, Marketwatch: New York Times’s new editor faces 3 key issues
*Jill Geisler, Poynter Institute: What Jill Abramson’s appointment as NY Times executive editor could mean for women in journalism
*Keach Hagey, Politico: New York Times shakes up its masthead
*Tom McGeveran, capitalnewyork.com: When Jill Abramson was the only grown-up in the Times building
*Chris O'Shea, FishbowlNY: With Jill Abramson at The Helm, Expect a Digital Focus
*Scott Raab, Esquire: Exclusive Q&A: Bill Keller on Leaving the Times, Fox & More
*Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute: Collins on Abramson’s appointment: 'Maybe we’ve reached the ultimate goal of the women’s movement'
Scott-Heron Service Streamed Online
Poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron leaves some family members who were not involved in planning Thursday's memorial service at New York's Riverside Church.
Other Family Members Planning Later Tribute
A memorial service for spoken word musician Gil Scott-Heron took place at New York's Riverside Church on Thursday morning, but apparently it will be only the first such service.
The tribute was planned by a Scott-Heron daughter, Gia Scott-Heron, and his former wife, Brenda Sykes, church spokeswoman Allison Davis told Journal-isms.
It was not open to the public and the news media, Davis said. The streaming will be available at http://www.ezstream.com/play/index.cfm?id=201E45AF20 after the service for those who missed the live broadcast. Davis is a former broadcast journalist and a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Scott-Heron, 62, died on Friday of undisclosed causes. He leaves other family members who were not involved in planning the Thursday service and cannot be at Riverside Church, according to Lurma Rackley, an Atlanta-based writer and former journalist and mother of Scott-Heron's son, Rumal Rackley.
Lurma Rackley said some of those family members are planning a service late this month or early in July, with "representatives of the music industry, the political world and parts of his life that need to be represented in a tribute of this sort." We are "trying to reach out to a range of people," she said.
Those participating are expected to include Dennis Heron, Scott-Heron's brother; Larry MacDonald, who played percussion with Scott-Heron; Jamie Byng, Scott-Heron's British publisher; and others.
Besides Rumal Rackley, Scott-Heron "also has three daughters from other relationships: Raqyiyah Kelly Heron, 34, who lives in New York; Gia Scott-Heron, 31, of Los Angeles; and Chegianna Newton, 13, who lives in London and goes by the name Che, after the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara," columnist Courtland Milloy wrote in Wednesday's Washington Post.
*Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer: Remembering Gil Scott-Heron
*Glen Ford, blackagendareport.com: Gil [Scott-Heron]: Winters and Revolutions in America
*Patrice Gaines, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Gil Scott-Heron Remembered as Tortured Genius
*Patrice Gaines, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Services Set for Gil Scott-Heron, Tributes Pour In
*Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: In concert: Gil Scott-Heron tribute at Bohemian Caverns
*Linda Jones blog: My Gil Scott-Heron memorial moment
*Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: No turning back Gil Scott-Heron’s sad life
*David Squires, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.: Farewell to a smooth messenger
*Greg Tate, Village Voice: Gil Scott-Heron, R.I.P.
Outrage Over Torture-Killing of Pakistani Journalist
"Hundreds of mourners turned out Wednesday for the burial of a Pakistan journalist who was tortured and said he was threatened by the country’s intelligence services, as his colleagues demanded protection," Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.
"Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, vanished after leaving home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue elements of the navy and al Qaeda.
"His grief-stricken relatives have demanded a full investigation but have not apportioned blame for his killing, which came five years after he was briefly kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan and accused of being a spy.
"Shahzad’s body was found Tuesday, about 150 kilometres southeast of Islamabad. Police said it bore marks of torture.
Shahzad was Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online, a Hong Kong-based news website, columnist Zoha Waseem wrote for the Express Tribune in Pakistan. He disappeared from Islamabad on May 29, "just days after publishing an article for the Asia Times which implicated that officials in the Pakistani Navy had links with al Qaeda (The second part of Saleem Shahzad’s report, ‘Recruitment and training of militants’, is yet to be published on Asia Times Online).
"For those not familiar with Shahzad, he was an investigative reporter who wrote extensively on issues pertaining to global security, especially Pakistani armed forces and religious movements in the Muslim world."
The Dawn report continued, "Around 300 people, mostly relatives and journalists, attended the funeral prayers and Shahzad was buried in a local cemetery in his home town of Karachi.
". . . The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists announced two days of mourning and a spokesman said members would organise protests nationwide on Friday."
ABC News added, "Though militants are often suspected in the deaths of journalists in Pakistan, after Shahzad's death both a colleague of his and a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Pakistan came forward to say Shahzad had said in past months he felt threatened by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
"A spokesperson for the ISI told The Associated Press any alleged link between the ISI and Shahzad's death was 'absurd' and Shahzad's brother-in-law said 'never was there any threat,' according to a report by National Public Radio. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, visited Shahzad's home to offer his condolences and told reporters it was possible the journalist was killed over a personal matter."
The Voice of America said, "Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with at least eight killed in the line of duty, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six died in suicide attacks, the group said in a report late last year.
"CPJ's Asia program coordinator, Bob Dietz said he showed Pakistani President [Asif] Ali Zardari a long list of killed journalists just a month ago. But little was done in response."
". . . U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also strongly condemned Shahzad's killing and welcomed Pakistan's probe. She said the journalist's reporting on terrorism and intelligence issues exposed the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan's stability."
*Karin Brulliard, Washington Post: Pakistan’s spy agencies are suspected of ties to reporter’s death
*Committee to Protect Journalists: Getting Away With Murder: CPJ’s 2011 Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and killers go free *Reporters Without Borders: Asia Times reporter found dead in car 48 hours after going missing
Another Reporter Tortured, This One in Bahrain
"When Nazeeha Saeed, the Bahrain correspondent of France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, was summoned to a police station in the city of Rifa’a for questioning at midday on 22 May, she expected to be back home two hours later and had no inkling of the nightmare awaiting her," Reporters Without Borders reported on Monday.
"On arriving at the police station, she took a seat and waited calmly. Other women, mainly nurses, were also waiting, sitting on the floor.
"An hour later, she was called. She entered an office where there was a male officer. In a quiet but unsettling voice, he told her to answer the questions that would be put to her. He then left her with a female officer, who [accused] her of 'lying' in her reports and told her to admit her links with the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar and the Iranian Arabic-language TV station Al-Alam. 'You must confess,' the woman kept repeating, going on to accuse her of participating in the pro-democracy demonstrations that have taking place in Bahrain since March. . . ."
The piece goes on to detail Saeed's torture and humiliation and says, "She is currently in France receiving medical care and is due to return to Bahrain tomorrow."
Reporters Without Borders concluded, "This young woman’s case gives a glimpse of the treatment of journalists by security forces in Bahrain. The list of detained reporters, photographers and cyber-dissidents keeps on getting longer amid complete indifference on the part of the international community." *Mona Alami, Inter-Press Service: Media War Blurs Picture in Syria
Christopher Farley to Edit Wall Street Journal Blogs
Christopher Farley, who has edited the Speakeasy section of the Wall Street Journal website, has been promoted to editorial director for the Wall Street Journal blogs, Managing Editor Robert Thomson announced to the staff on Tuesday.
"Over the past 18 months, Chris has built Speakeasy into one of the most popular destinations on WSJ.com, thanks to clever posts, puckish essays and ceaseless creativity," Thomson wrote in a memo.
"As editorial director for the blogs, Chris, who will continue to edit Speakeasy, will work with our bloggers to maximize the quality and impact of their efforts. He will serve as their representative in discussions with our technology and business colleagues, and bring new blogs blinking into the world.
"Chris's appointment comes amid ongoing efforts to improve our platform and to expand our use of blogging and liveblogging. Readership of WSJ blogs continues to expand rapidly, with traffic up well over 50% from last year.
"Prior to editing Speakeasy, Chris was an editor for the Marketplace section and Weekend. Along with members of the video team, he helped launch the WSJ Cafe, an acoustic music series that has featured performances by Adele, Jakob Dylan, Sarah McLachlan, John Legend and others. Chris is the author of two novels and a number of non-fiction books (including 'Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley' and the bestseller 'Aaliyah: More Than a Woman'). He was also the co-author and co-editor of the 'The Blues', the companion volume to the Martin Scorsese documentary series. A former senior editor and pop music critic for Time magazine, Chris is a graduate of Harvard."
"Pool" Photographer Will Shoot White House Speeches
"The White House and news photographers have agreed to a new plan for shooting presidential speeches," the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
"The agreement, hammered out quietly last week between the White House’s press office and the White House Correspondents’ Association, ends the long-standing but little-known practice of presidents posing for news photos after making important announcements. The images were then passed off in newspapers and on Web sites as photos taken during the speech rather than the re-creations they actually were.
". . . news photographers will now be permitted to designate a single representative to act as a 'pool' for the entire press corps."
GOP's Herman Cain Deserves Coverage as a Good Story
"Herman Cain’s probably not a serious candidate. That doesn’t mean the press shouldn’t cover him.
"If you headed out early for the Memorial Day weekend, you probably missed an interesting bit of blogosphere back-and-forth about how seriously to take Herman Cain’s run for the White House — and, more broadly, about how the press should cover presidential campaigns," Greg Marx wrote Tuesday for Columbia Journalism Review.
"Cain, for people who haven’t heard of him — which means most people — is an African-American pizza chain CEO-turned-conservative talk show host who has mounted a seemingly quixotic but, to date, surprisingly successful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. A Gallup poll released Thursday had him attracting 8 percent of the vote in the GOP field. A CNN survey out the next day gave him 10 percent, and Talking Points Memo reports that a PPP survey of Ohio Republicans puts his support there even higher, at 12 percent.
". . . So why does Cain’s campaign merit press coverage? For one thing, even on weighty issues — and issues don’t get much weightier than presidential elections — journalists should be alert to good stories, whether or not they are likely to 'matter' in a conventional sense. And, as Jason Horowitz has just shown with a profile in The Washington Post, Herman Cain is a good story. The son of a [chauffeur], he became the first college graduate in his family and went on to a very successful business career. He is, with some justification, entertainingly self-confident. (From Horowitz: 'Being an overachiever, Cain said, "is an understatement." ') He refers to himself in the third person, and goes by THEHermancain on Twitter.
"More substantively, a campaign like Cain’s, even if not a real threat to win, can provide a window to important issues."
*Michael Arceneaux, theGrio.com: Is Herman Cain playing 'plantation politics'?
*Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Santorum gets as little respect as support
*Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Citizen Cain: He's able but unelectable
*Pew Research Center: Top Reaction to GOP Field — "Unimpressed"
*Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: The GOP’s self-destruction derby
*Cynthia Tucker blog, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?
*Cynthia Tucker blog, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Voting Rights Act: I was wrong about racial gerrymandering
*Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Herman Cain Suits Conservatives to a Tea Party
*Jack White, theRoot.com: Forecasting a Nasty 2012 Campaign
*David Zurawick, Baltimore Sun: Steele says he won't be MSNBC's 'punching bag'
In Farewell, NPR Ombudsman Urges More On-Air Diversity
In her farewell column as NPR's ombudsman Wednesday, Alicia Shepard included this among her "laundry list of areas I perceive NPR could improve on:
". . . Work harder to get more voices of women and people of color (including academics and other experts) on the air. They ARE out there; you have to work harder to find them. Margaret Low Smith, now the acting vice president for news, said last September in Current (the public broadcasting newsletter), that 'public radio needs to sound more like a party where everyone is included.' I agree.
"But the invitation list is still pretty much limited to highly educated white folks with money. Why would Hispanics or African Americans (each only about 8 percent of the audience) listen to NPR if they don't hear themselves represented on the air? It frustrates me to hear endless white males quoted in stories and not more women in positions of authority."
Short Takes *Janice Min, "who took over US Weekly from Bonnie Fuller in 2003, brought a strong sense of packaging along with a deft high-low touch, and she doubled its circulation by the time she left in 2009," David Carr wrote Monday in the New York Times. "Then, improbably, she moved to Los Angeles 10 months ago to remake The Hollywood Reporter, a down-on-its-luck daily trade magazine that was losing a horse-and-buggy race with Variety. The competition seemed a little beside the point at a time when Web personalities like Nikki Finke were terrorizing and fascinating the industry." But, Carr writes, Min's vision "seems to be working."
*"On June 6, the 2012 Presidential election dispute begins and CNN en Español will broadcast a special coverage called Voto Latino 2012 (Hispanic Vote 2012), led by anchor Juan Carlos López and the political team of Directo USA from Washington," CNN en Español announced on Tuesday. "This coverage will take viewers through the process of what is anticipated will be the most expensive Presidential election in history with more than 20 million voters, and in which the Hispanic community will play a key role in the outcome."
*CNN anchor Don Lemon said black women have been supportive since he came out as gay last month in connection with his memoir, "Transparent." He told Jozen Cummings of Black Voices on Tuesday, "You know what's funny? Women are like, 'I don't care if you're gay, I still want to marry you. I can still fantasize, because I wasn't in a relationship with you before, so I'm going to keep my fantasy going.' You should read my feed on Twitter or Facebook. I think women get it. People appreciate honesty and that's what I'm walking in."
*In New York, "Veteran reporter Mario Diaz has joined WPIX," Jerry Barmash reported for FishbowlNY. "Diaz, who has roots in the New York area, brings more than 20 years of broadcast journalism to the PIX 11 News at Ten. . . . In 1999, he was the focus of a New York Times feature surrounding his successful penetration of the highly competitive sports broadcasting industry. Diaz continues his relationship with HBO, and has worked as a blow-by-blow announcer and host for ESPN."
*Returning from Cuba, USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham concluded Tuesday that "when it comes to Cuba, the State Department remains stuck in the past."
*James C. Duff, chief administrative officer of the U. S. court system, Tuesday was named president and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, "which operates the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue and is one of the nation’s leading foundations dedicated to the First Amendment and media issues." Duff, 57, was managing partner of the Washington office of the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. "While at the Baker firm Duff served as counsel and secretary to the Freedom Forum and its related entities, the Newseum, First Amendment Center and Diversity Institute," the Freedom Forum said.
*"Oprah ended the 25-year run of her talk show last week, and her magazine has taken full advantage," Lucia Moses wrote Tuesday for AdWeek. "The June issue of O, the Oprah Magazine is a tribute to the show, including a look back at its high points and a walk down memory lane with Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King. . . . The magazine is hoping that it will actually see a lift in subscriptions from the show’s end, as a place fans can get their Oprah fix."
*"A drug gang leader confessed on Sunday to killing Mexican reporter Noel López Olguín, a columnist for a small newspaper in the state of Veracruz who went missing in March, according to local press reports," the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on Tuesday. "Gustavo Salas, the Mexican federal attorney general's special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression, told CPJ on Tuesday that his office is taking up the case."
*Moammar Gaddafi "has pledged to co-operate with South African authorities in finding photo journalist Anton Hammerl's body, the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Tuesday," according to BuaNews in Tshwane, South Africa. "Hammerl was killed in the Libyan Desert on April 5, near the town of Brega, reportedly by pro-[Gaddafi] soldiers firing on him and fellow journalists."
*In Nigeria, "Media practitioners in Edo State have been commended for their genuine commitment to the overall development of the society through quality reportage," Francis Onoiribholo reported for the Daily Independent in Lagos. Welcoming the executive council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the state's monarch said he "appreciated media practitioners for their commitment to the democratic practice in Nigeria and urged them to be more pro-active in their reportage, particularly through useful information dissemination that will aid relevant security agencies in the fight against violent crimes in the society."
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Magic Johnson to Chair Vibe's Parent Company
Magic Johnson and Ron Burkle have agreed to invest in Vibe and Uptown magazines and Soul Train in a deal that will make the NBA Hall of Famer the chairman of the company.
"Magic Johnson Enterprises and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. have agreed to invest in Vibe Holdings LLC, the parent company of Vibe magazine and the music-and-dance TV show 'Soul Train,' in a deal that will install Mr. Johnson as chairman of the media company," Russell Adams reported Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.
Adams reported the investment was "in the eight figures."
The retired NBA Hall of Famer, who is 51, is not expected to have an editorial role in the company. "His role is the chairman," Brett Wright, co-CEO of Vibe and Uptown magazines, which are part of Vibe Holdings, told Journal-isms.
Johnson said in a news release that he would focus on the bigger picture. "History and legacy are paramount in building brand affinity and we plan to integrate this ideology into the resurgence of Vibe Holdings. Through leveraging established brand equity we will create a pertinent message vehicle for major advertisers. We will redefine Vibe Holdings as the center of influence for the coveted urban audience."
The company includes black ownership, but ownership is not majority black, Wright said.
The news release said, "In the role of Chairman, Johnson, a venerated and proven architect of niche market development, will utilize his unparalleled business acumen to fuel the continued growth of Vibe Holdings through targeted brand extensions and the creation of diversified advertiser-friendly platforms."
Brett Pulley of Bloomberg News, who earlier Wednesday had quoted "a person familiar with the agreement" saying the deal was taking place, noted, "Johnson said last year that an affiliate of his company held 'advanced discussions' for him to purchase Johnson Publishing Co., owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, but was unable to reach an agreement.
"At the time, Johnson said that he remained interested in African-American media. Since then, Magic Johnson Enterprises liquidated its interest in about 105 Starbucks coffee shops, giving Starbucks Corp. all of the equity in those stores, according to Lisa Magnino, a spokeswoman for the company.
"Johnson also sold his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, the National Basketball Association franchise where he once starred, the team said in October. Johnson has partnerships with several other companies, including 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Inc. and T.G.I. Friday’s Inc."
The company announcement continued, "Vibe Holdings also announced today that Robert Miller, the co-founder of Vibe Magazine and former publisher of Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine, will become Chairman of the Vibe and Uptown magazine group. Len Burnett and Brett Wright will remain Co-CEOs of Vibe and Uptown magazines, and Kenard Gibbs will continue to serve as CEO of Soul Train."
Vibe, founded in 1993 by Quincy Jones as the first slick magazine targeting the hip-hop generation, announced in 2009 that it was folding under a pile of debt. But it was acquired soon afterward by a group led by the private equity firm InterMedia Partners and its luxury magazine publisher, Uptown Media.
Uptown magazine, an African American-oriented lifestyle publication, began regional editions and recorded a 18.7 percent circulation increase for the second half of 2010, even as U.S. consumer magazine circulation in general completed two consecutive years of declines.
According to Burnett, Uptown founder and CEO, "Uptown currently runs on a hybrid model in which 35 percent of its copies are sent to households with a total income of $75,000+ in smaller cities such as Charlotte and $125,000+ in larger cities such as New York, 30 percent are sold via subscriptions and 15 percent are sold on the newsstand. The rest are sent to restaurants, lounges, hotels and other venues where the targeted audience may socialize."
On FishbowlNY Wednesday, Chris O'Shea speculated that Johnson and Burkle's investment is "sure to attract the attention of competitors Ebony and Jet.
"As a way to combat Johnson’s impact with Vibe, FishbowlNY suggests that Ebony and Jet get Larry Bird involved somehow. The rivalry must continue," O'Shea wrote.
Ebony, Jet Continue Circulation Losses, but Uptown Gains
Ebony and Jet magazines continued a circulation slide in the second half of 2010, missing their rate base — the circulation guaranteed advertisers, according to figures filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations. But Uptown magazine, part of Vibe Holdings, posted an 18.7 percent circulation gain.
Among magazines targeting Hispanics, Time Inc.'s People en Español dropped 2.3 percent, from 571,084 to 558,059, exceeding its rate base of 540,000. Latina rose one-tenth of 1 percent, from 508,002 to 508,406, exceeding its rate base of 500,000. Siempre Mujer (Always a Woman), published by the Meredith Corp., increased 1.5 percent, from 458,873 to 465,654.
Poder Hispanic rose from 306,422 to 399,161, an increase of 30.3 percent, near the rate base of 400,000. Poder Hispanic, "a Hispanic-focused business and lifestyle publication," was created in July in a merger of Poder Enterprise and Hispanic magazines, instantly doubling its circulation.
Overall, consumer magazines slowed a general circulation skid, with total paid and verified circulation dropping 1.2 percent for the second half of 2010. That compares with a 2.3 percent drop in the first half of the year, Matt Kinsman reported for Folio magazine, citing the preliminary figures released Monday.
"Newsstand sales accelerated their fall, down 7.3 percent (compared to a 5.6 percent drop in the beginning of the year). Total paid subscriptions also fell 1.2 percent," Kinsman wrote.
Ebony and Jet, both owned by Johnson Publishing Co., had also missed their rate base in the second half of 2009 and the first half of 2010. CEO Desiree Rogers vowed to return the publications to their rate base in 2011, Kinsman wrote in November. "We're working hard on our circulation and we've given a lot of thought to the fundamentals of the business," Rogers said then.
Ebony's rate base was 1,250,000, but its circulation dropped 14.8 percent in 2010, from 1,169,879 to 997,173. Jet's rate base was 900,000, but it fell 11.5 percent from 795,055 to 703,944.
Jet's editor, Mira Lowe, left in January. Rodrigo A. Sierra, chief marketing officer and senior vice president at Johnson Publishing, said at the time that Lowe's successor would be "a strong leader who has a really good idea of where they think that magazine can go for the future," who will keep it linked to the community and preside over "a very strong digital site."
Uptown, which has been adding regional editions, went from 178,518 to 211,922, meeting its rate base of 200,000.
Essence magazine dropped 1.9 percent, from 1,071,916 to 1,051,208. Its rate base is 1,050,000.
Black Enterprise magazine did not file its figures for either half of 2010, but spokesman Andrew Wadium said it planned to file for a supplemental report published Feb. 22. He said he did not have the circulation figures.
Sister 2 Sister rose 2.4 percent, from 161,122 to 165,041, meeting its rate base of 165,000. The hip-hop magazine XXL dropped 12 percent, from 191,158 to 168,196. No rate base was given.
Widow of Slain Egyptian Journalist Wants Justice
"The only journalist known to have been killed during the Egyptian uprising was honored Monday in Cairo," host Amy Goodman told listeners Monday on Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!"
"Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud was a reporter for the state-owned newspaper Al-Ta’awun. He was shot on Friday, January 28th, when he tried to use his phone to film riot police as they fired tear gas canisters at protesters. He spent a week in the hospital before he died Friday. On Monday, journalists, family and friends held a symbolic funeral in Cairo, marching from the Journalists’ Syndicate to Tahrir Square holding an empty coffin.
"Al Jazeera English producer and writer Laila Al-Arian has just returned from Cairo, where she interviewed Mahmoud’s widow. Laila Al-Arian joins us in Washington, D.C.
Al-Arian continued the story. "His wife, Inas Abdel Alim, is also a journalist," Al-Arian said. "She is demanding a full investigation into the killing of her husband. She says no one knows who the perpetrator is, no one knows his name, although there were six or seven eyewitnesses that she spoke with at the scene who saw everything happen.
"She’s demanding that the Interior Ministry, especially, but in general that the government of Egypt investigate this killing of her husband, the first journalist killed during the Egyptian revolution, along with other human rights organizations who are also demanding the same thing. And she says there needs to be justice.
"She says, 'My family has been ruined. You know, our lives are over.' She still hasn’t actually been able to tell her 10-year-old daughter that her father has been killed. She says she’s too afraid to do so. So, her life has been changed forever, and all she wants is justice for her husband and, you know, for this to be investigated and for the person responsible to be put on trial."
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday that "Egyptian authorities are obstructing international news coverage of the country's political crisis by withholding press credentials and, in one instance, invading the home of a foreign journalist . . . . A well-known Egyptian blogger also remains unaccounted for after being seized by suspected government agents earlier this week.
"After an unprecedented assault on the press last week, anti-press attacks and detentions have been subsiding since the weekend, CPJ tracking has found. But numerous journalists have reported an ongoing government effort to obstruct and intimidate them."
Chris Ariens, Fishbowl NY: Weekly Ranker: Fox News Dominates with Egypt Coverage
Playthell Benjamin blog: Which Way Egypt?
Ben Dimiero, Media Matters: Kristol/Beck Feud Divides Conservatives
Farhad Manjoo, Slate.com: HuffPo's Achilles Heel
Stephen Farrell, New York Times: What Not to Bring to Tahrir Square
Alex Gallafent, "The World," Public Radio International: Reporting the Egypt uprising
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Pew Research Center: Public Now More Focused on Egypt, but Coverage Far Surpasses Interest
Pew Research Center: No Consensus on How Egypt Protests Will Affect U.S.
Louisa Ada Seltzer, medialifemagazine.com: Egypt lifts newscasts to season highs
Marisa Treviño, Latina Lista blog: Dignity — An unequal reality that exists in both Egypt and poor Latino communities
"In the wake of the announcement that AOL bought Huffington Post, the people from their online community are incensed," Tina Dupuy, a Huffington Post blogger, wrote Wednesday on FishBowl LA. "One of their grievances is Huffington Post utilized free content provided by 'independent journalists' and when editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington cashed in to the tune of $315 million, the bloggers were not considered any compensation.
"Some bloggers have told FishbowlLA, they will just no longer post. Others have reported deleting their accounts."
On FishbowlDC, Betsy Rothstein wrote:
"After Politico‘s cartoon shot against HuffPost@AOL this morning, Senior V.P. of Public Relations Mario Ruiz responds to FishbowlDC about HuffPost not paying its bloggers.
"Indeed, everyone at the Huffington Post is benefiting financially from the deal — some through the vesting of options, and others through a special bonus pool that Arianna and the board decided to create to reward employees without options. To be clear, that applies to over 200 people.”
Media writer Tim Rutten wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Whatever the ultimate impact of AOL's $315-million acquisition of the Huffington Post on the new-media landscape, it's already clear that the merger will push more journalists more deeply into the tragically expanding low-wage sector of our increasingly brutal economy.
"That's a development that will hurt not only the people who gather and edit the news but also readers and viewers."
Tina Dupuy, FishBowlLA: Freelancer Union Launches Facebook Campaign Aimed at Huffington
Richard Prince and Tom Rosensteil with Michel Martin on "Tell Me More," NPR: AOL- Huffington Post Merger Shakes Up Online News
Hilary Rosen, Huffington Post: Why HuffPost's Blogger Model Makes Sense
Survey Finds Digital Divide Between Latinos and Whites
"Latinos are less likely than whites to access the internet, have a home broadband connection or own a cell phone, according to survey findings from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center," Gretchen Livingston of the Pew Hispanic Center reported on Wednesday. "Latinos lag behind blacks in home broadband access but have similar rates of internet and cell phone use.
"While about two-thirds of Latino (65%) and black (66%) adults went online in 2010, more than three-fourths (77%) of white adults did so. In terms of broadband use at home, there is a large gap between Latinos (45%) and whites (65%), and the rate among blacks (52%) is somewhat higher than that of Latinos. Fully 85% of whites owned a cell phone in 2010, compared with 76% of Latinos and 79% of blacks.
"Hispanics, on average, have lower levels of education and earn less than whites. Controlling for these factors, the differences in internet use, home broadband access and cell phone use between Hispanics and whites disappear. In other words, Hispanics and whites who have similar socioeconomic characteristics have similar usage patterns for these technologies.
"Survey questions also probed for the use of non-voice applications on cell phones. . . ."
Jannette Dates to Leave Howard U. Deanship After 18 Years
Jannette L. Dates is stepping down as dean of the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University, she announced on Tuesday. She has been dean or acting dean for 17½ years and associate dean for five.
A national search for a new dean is to begin immediately. Dates said she hopes to step down on June 30.
Dates' announcement comes less than two weeks after the university's board of trustees approved an "academic renewal plan" that spans three years and shutters or consolidates 71 of its 171 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.
Dates said she was pleased that the plan caps the number of journalism students. "A lot are very well-qualified," but there is only so much classroom and laboratory space, she said. Some instructors had complained that the school was teaching too many students who lacked the necessary skills; a cap will enable the school to weed out such students.
Dates said she would return to the faculty as a professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Film, devote more time to raising funds for a new building and conduct research. She said she planned a one-year sabbatical for research that includes communication policy and minority access to broadband technology. Dates is a board member of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council.
The school has lately been emphasizing use of social media and entrepreneurship, she told Journal-isms.
"During her tenure, she oversaw the growth of the undergraduate and graduate programs, the naming of the school in honor of John H. Johnson, the influential publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, and the formation of the graduate program in Mass Communications and Media Studies," the school said in a news release.
"She also formed partnerships with such media groups as NBC, NPR and Fox News. Last year she was instrumental in arranging with ABC News to locate a news desk at Howard University, which provides internships for Howard University students and the opportunity to produce pieces for national broadcasts through ABC-affiliated outlets. Likewise, during her tenure as dean, the National Newspaper Publishers Association relocated its news service to the Department of Journalism to give students opportunities to publish their stories and multimedia productions in the more than 200 member Black newspapers."
Study: Loans to People of Color Did Not Cause Housing Crisis
"Conservative Republicans and commentators have frequently blamed the housing crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which encourages banks to make loans in the low- and moderate-income areas where they operate.
"But a study to be released this week and a bipartisan commission conclude that the federal law had little impact on the crisis," Kenneth J. Cooper reported Wednesday for America's Wire, a news service operated by the Maynard Institute's Media Center on Structural Racism.
"This story, as well as others, are available free of charge from America's Wire. . . . As part of a new partnership with the Associated Press, America's Wire articles are also available to AP members," an announcement said.
Afro Newspapers, Google Put 1 Million Articles Online
"The AFRO-American Newspapers, one of the nation’s oldest news organizations dedicated to covering the African American community, has created a comprehensive collection of over a million articles that captures the African American experience in business, civil rights, education, health, law, and sports beginning in the late 19th century," the newspapers announced on Tuesday.
" 'It took us over 10 years to develop and fine tune the concept to make the AFRO’s Archive site a reality and Google played a key role, said publisher Jake Oliver. 'The site includes original page views of complete editions of the newspaper dating back to the early 1900s and in-depth coverage of important stories such as the events of the arrests and national spectacle surrounding Scottsboro Boys trials, the entertainment coverage of Black movies stars such as Dorothy Dandridge, the Army’s use of the Tuskegee Airmen (Fighting 99th) in World War II, coverage of the Little Rock 9 Integration in 1954 and many other events that helped to shape the black community.'
"Researchers, students, historians, teachers, and other groups can use the Archives to trace family roots, develop talking points, craft speeches and gather information on a myriad of topics that affected African Americans. To access the AFRO-American Newspaper Archives on-line, a person should go to http://www.afro.com/afroblackhistoryarchives."
Johnson Publishing Co. announced a similar partnership with Google in 2008. Through Google Book Search, anyone can search the covers and content of Ebony, Jet, the defunct Negro Digest and Ebony Jr.
Some Say a Column Like This Makes a Difference!
"Richard Prince is a firm believer in the power of journalism to make change. And it doesn’t have to necessarily be difficult," Jackie Jones wrote on Wednesday for BlackAmericaWeb.com.
" 'Just asking the question can cause change,' said Prince, author of Journal-isms, an online column published three days a week on the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education’s website. His dispatches are widely considered must-reading for African-American journalists in particular, but for other journalists of color — and mainstream ones also."
Jones' piece appeared as part of a "Living Legends" series that BlackAmericaWeb.com undertook for Black History Month. It was accompanied by an appearance by this columnist Tuesday on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," joining Roland Martin and the Joyner crew in a discussion of the AOL-Huffington Post deal and diversity in the online world. BlackAmericaWeb is Joyner's website.
AOL and Huffington Post were also discussed Wednesday with host Michel Martin, Tom Rosensteil of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and this columnist on NPR's "Tell Me More."
"In its fifth full week of programming (1/31-2/6), OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network was down 17% vs. last week," Bill Gorman wrote Tuesday for TV by the Numbers. ". . . OWN is now well below last year’s women 25-54 averages for Discovery Health."
"In 2005, a series of chilling death threats compelled award-winning Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell to leave Bogotá with his family for what ended up being a two-year stay in California," Karen Phillips of the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote on Wednesday. "Today, more than three years after his return from exile, Coronell and his family are moving back to the States, this time by choice. . . . Univisión announced in late January that Coronell, news director for the Bogotá-based national news program 'Noticias Uno,' had been named vice president of network news — a professional step forward that requires him to move to Miami."
A YouTube video circulating around the Internet shows the artist again known as Prince kicking Kim Kardashian offstage at New York's Madison Square Garden Monday night. But just before Kardashian's turn, the video shows Prince doing the bump with Paula Madison, executive vice president of diversity at NBC Universal. "I met him last week in LA and we had a great conversation," Madison told Journal-isms. About . . . ? "Just say it was about whatever Prince wanted to talk about," Madison replied.
Rod Richardson, who was laid off as managing editor of the Times in Shreveport, La., has been named director of communications for Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"Broadcast veteran José Valle has been appointed vice president and general manager of Univision Radio Los Angeles, the company has confirmed," Laura Martinez reported Tuesday for portada-online.com. Valle resigned in November as president and general manager of Telemundo’s flagship station KVEA in Los Angeles.
Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, is among those to be honored by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network at NAN's 13th Annual Keepers of the Dream Awards in New York on April 6. Griffin is being recognized for the memorandum of understanding that NBC and Comcast signed to increase diversity as they successfully sought approval of the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal.
Patricia Boero, executive director of Latino Public Broadcasting, has resigned effective March 8 in order to care of an ailing family member, Veronica Villafañe reported Monday for her Media Moves site.
"Alfred Edmond Jr., Senior VP/Editor-at-Large for Black Enterprise magazine, has partnered with American Urban Radio Networks to deliver a daily, short form feature entitled 'Money Matters.' Edmond, who is already heard Wednesdays on the syndicated 'Doug Banks Radio Show,' will offer a range of advice to African-American consumers," Radio Online reported.
"The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the well-being of two Ivorian journalists who have been detained without charge for 10 days amid reports that they have been tortured in custody," the committee reported on Monday, referring to the Ivory Coast. "Aboubacar Sanogo and Yayoro Charles Lopez Kangbé have been held by the Ivorian military police in Abidjan since January 28, according to local journalists and news reports. The journalists have been described as 'rebels' by newspapers supporting Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president who has contested November election results that showed him as losing."
In Mexico, "A leading news anchor accused the Mexican president's office Wednesday of pushing her employers to oust her after she discussed on a radio program allegations that the president suffered from drinking problems and demanded he respond, Nicholas Casey reported for the Wall Street Journal. "Carmen Aristegui was fired by MVS Comunicaciones, a Mexican media conglomerate, shortly after she aired the controversial radio broadcast last week directed at Mexican President Felipe Calderón. In it she repeated a congressman's accusation that Mr. Calderón suffered from alcoholism and said that the president owed Mexicans a response."
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