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."

Short Takes

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.