Two years ago, a headline writer wrote this over a story by Lynette Holloway for The Root: "Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has been charged with eight counts of murder. Both sides of the abortion debate are having a field day with this case. But what happens to poor women of color facing unwanted pregnancies?"

Holloway wrote, "The grisly murders and gruesome discoveries inside Kermit B. Gosnell's West Philadelphia abortion clinic leave one wondering what would make mostly poor, minority women so desperate that they would utilize his filthy clinic, where body parts of dead fetuses allegedly were stored in jars that lined the shelves of the macabre scene."

She included this figure: "Overall, African-American women account for 36.4 percent of all pregnancy terminations in the United States, although blacks make up only 13 percent of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Now Gosnell, himself African American, is on trial, and in the last two days the Internet has seen a dramatic rise in commentary asking why the Philadelphia case hasn't received national media attention.

"Obviously, conservatives believe the media is ignoring this story because it's about abortion, and the lefties who run our media empires hate stories that put abortion in a bad light," Kevin Drum wrote Friday for Mother Jones. "Alternatively, it could be because it's a Philadelphia story, and the national media doesn't usually give a lot of time to local cases like this. Frankly, I don't know — though I'll note that even the conservative media didn't give it a huge amount of coverage until fairly recently, when Gosnell's trial started. . . ."

Others say the Gosnell story — and it is a horrifying, grisly one — is also a story about race and the media.

When the case broke in 2011, Jill Filipovic, who blogs as "Jill" on the Feministe site, wrote:

"Gosnell's clinic hadn't been reviewed by the Department of Health in 15 years. Members of his staff were unlicensed and not properly trained. And Gosnell knew that he could get away with offering sub-par care to women who he thought were less likely to complain — young women, immigrants, poor women and women of color."

Filipovic quoted Lori Adelman, who wrote in January 2011 on the Grio, "buried deep in articles describing 'bloodstained furniture' and 'jars packed with severed baby feet,' is a less gory but equally as horrifying insight that, at Dr. Gosnell's clinic, 'white women from the suburbs were ushered into a separate, slightly cleaner area' than Gosnell's regular clientele, which was comprised primarily of poor minority women, including many immigrants. Gosnell reportedly treated these white suburban clients to a more pleasant and sanitary experience because he believed they were 'more likely to file complaints' about substandard care."

Irin Carmon wrote Friday for Salon, "I can't speak for big news organizations like CNN and the networks, but let's think about this question another way: How often do such places devote their energies to covering the massive health disparities and poor outcomes that are wrought by our current system? How often are the travails of the women whose vulnerabilities Gosnell exploited — the poor, immigrants and otherwise marginalized people — given wall-to-wall, trial-level coverage? . . . "

Laura Bassett and Ryan Grim, Huffington Post: Kermit Gosnell Trial Is A 'Peek Into The World Before Roe v. Wade': NARAL President Ilyse Hogue 

William Bender, Philadelphia Daily News: Kermit Gosnell's son can't stand dad's name

CNN: Tonight on AC360: Doctor’s 'House of Horrors'

Jill Filipovic, Feministe: What Kermit Gosnell tells us about late-term abortion (Jan. 20, 2011)

Joshua Gillin, Poynter Institute: Media coverage swells over the lack of media coverage for abortion provider Kermit Gosnell

Patrick Howley, Daily Caller: Black leadership group condemns defense tactics, media coverage in abortion-doctor murder case

David Knowles, Daily News, New York: Former worker testifies that Dr. Kermit Gosnell snipped the spines of moving babies following abortions at Philadelphia clinic

Kirsten Powers, USA Today: Philadelphia abortion clinic horror: Column

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Philadelphia Inquirer: Gosnell intern testifies on teen years at clinic

David Weigel, Slate: Kermit Gosnell: The Alleged Mass-Murderer and the Bored Media

Erik Wemple, Washington Post: Washington Post pledges Gosnell coverage

Journalist-Turned-Car Dealer and Other Personal Stories

Cliff Brunt worked for the Associated Press for seven years when Associated Press Sports Editor Terry Taylor told him he would have to transfer to Indianapolis or take a buyout. He couldn't move, so he took a buyout. Now Blunt is a used car dealer, and this week he offered readers of the Indy Sports Legends website "the top 10 most important things I've learned since April 11, 2012," the fateful day Taylor called him with the news.

Brunt wasn't the only journalist of color offering a personal story in the last few days. To help inaugurate "Code Switch," a new NPR site, Eric Deggans, television critic for the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, recalled Wednesday how he had to "code switch" between his black boyhood neighborhood in Gary, Ind., and the white-dominated private school he attended outside of it.

" 'You guys doing anything today?' " Deggans began.

"That might sound like an ordinary, even dull question. But in my old neighborhood — mostly poor, entirely black '70s-era Gary, Ind. — that kind of question was grounds for serious ridicule. Or worse.

"The problem: I had dared use a word none of my partners ever let pass through their lips, unless they were making fun of a white person: 'guys.' . . ."

In collaboration with the Huffington Post, Terrell J. Starr, associate editor at NewsOne, wrote Thursday for Facebook, "I Found the Father I Never Knew I Needed On Facebook."

"Growing up on Detroit's west side, my neighborhood was rife with gang violence, drug abuse and semi-hopelessness," Starr wrote. "Manhood was measured by ghetto Darwinism: only the toughest young guns who dared not to fear the pistol-toting bullies, stray bullets or the temptation of the drug game survived." He had no idea who his father was then, he wrote, "but I knew I wanted him in my life."

Starr said he "ducked and weaved those travails by doing well in school, participating in after-school sports activities and being a pretty good kid."

In fact, according to the tagline, "Starr has a bachelor's degree in English from Philander Smith College and two master's degrees (M.S. in Editorial Journalism) and (M.A. in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a Fulbright Journalism Scholar (Ukraine 2009-2010) and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Georgia 2003-2005). He is an expert in African diasporas in the former Soviet Union and lived in the region for four years. He is pursuing opportunities to write a book on his life."

Brunt listed these as his 10 most important lessons: 1. "Job titles don't mean much. . . ." 2. "The journalism business as we knew it is dead. . . ." 3. "There are some good people in journalism. . . ." 4. "I can create a website (with a lot of help).. . ." 5. "I'm not good at selling cars. . . ." 6. "I'm not the only one. . . ." 7. "We're not missing meals, so I have no right to whine. . . ." 8. "Terry Taylor is a good person. . . ." 9. "My readers and the athletes like my writing, even if it’s not for the AP. . . ." 10. "My wife is my biggest fan. . . ."

R.L.G., Johnson blog, the Economist: How black to be?

J-Professor Tracks Gang Legacy of Central America's Wars

"Donna De Cesare had just walked into the AIDS ward at a public hospital in El Salvador one day in 1989 when a young voice greeted her," David Gonzalez reported Wednesday for the New York Times' Lens blog.

" 'What's up?' she recalled hearing. 'Finally, someone from my country!'

"She was taken aback. The voice was in English, with the rhythmic cadence of Chicano Los Angeles, where the young man had once lived. His name was Franklin Torres. Though he was born in El Salvador, he had fled during its violent civil war to what his mother thought was the safety of Los Angeles. Instead, he found refuge in gangs and drugs. Gangs led to his deportation, and back in El Salvador, drugs would claim his life.

"The unexpected encounter stayed with Ms. De Cesare, who had traveled to Central America to photograph the civil wars wracking the region. She would, in time, document the overlooked legacies of those bloody proxy wars, zeroing in on how witnessing unspeakable violence scarred young minds both in Central America and in the barrios of Los Angeles.

"This month, Ms. De Cesare released 'Unsettled/Desasosiego' (University of Texas Press), an urgent and moving work that chronicles those who grew up amid political wars, gang wars or both. It is a look back on lives that were lost, and some who triumphed, during her many years in the region. It is also, for her, a motivation to continue to examine these issues and to push for action through her bilingual Web site, Destiny's Children.

" 'We need to consider what we are doing as a society when we abandon so many children,' said Ms. De Cesare, who is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. 'We need to see these young people as they truly are — children who have been burdened with so much that is painful from an early age and whose fragile hopes and dreams are being thwarted.' . . . "

Lizzie Chen, KERA-FM, Dallas: UT's Donna De Cesare Trains Her Lens On Central America, Children And Civil War (April 5)

Irish Nanny's Illegal Status Doesn't Rate Top Billing

The prominence given immigration status in contrasting stories from the Boston Globe illustrate a bias against one group of unauthorized immigrants, but not another, according to the advocacy group Latino Rebels.

"Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a one-year-old girl she had been caring for in a Cambridge apartment, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.'s office said today," began a story Friday by John R. Ellement.

In the 12th paragraph, readers learn that "Brady, a native of Ireland who has been in the country illegally, faces deportation to Ireland if she is freed from state custody, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency."

By contrast, a Globe story by Maria Sacchetti from Sept. 28, 2011, begins, "Scituate police arrested an illegal immigrant from Brazil for motor-vehicle violations three months before he allegedly stabbed his former girlfriend to death in a brutal attack this week, reigniting debate over whether Massachusetts should participate in the federal Secure Communities program."

Globe editor Brian McGrory did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Latino Rebels also pointed to a 2012 Hill+Knowlton Strategies online survey for the Latino Donor Collaborative that "showed that one-third think that more than half of the country's Latinos are undocumented and nearly 80% of non-Latino Americans think Latinos are involved in crime and gang activity."

Hill+Knowlton and the Latino Donor Collaborative tried to interest CNN in exclusively broadcasting the data in May 2012, Latino Rebels said, but CNN said online surveys did not offer the same credibility as those using other methods.

David Iannelli, president, global, of Research+Data Insights, disagrees. In fact, he told Journal-isms Friday by email, "Aside from the approach we take of (using demographically balanced panels, etc.) the methodological benefit of using an online approach for a survey on such a sensitive topic is that it neutralizes the problem of the socially-desirable response bias that tends to occur in telephone interviews where the respondent may offer what they believe is the politically correct response to be seen in a positive light by the interviewer. . . ."

Jacquellena Carrero, NBCLatino: The Immigration Line: Who's on it and for how long?

Juan González, Democracy Now!, Pacifica Radio: Immigration Debate "A Battle Over What America Will Look Like in 21st Century" 

María Hinojosa with Juan Cartagena on "Latino USA," NPR: The Enforcement Taboo (audio)

María Hinojosa with Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill., and  Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., on "Latino USA," NPR: The Congressional Potluck (audio)

John T. Moore, Ventura County (Calif.) Star: Ridding our news pages of labels

NBC News: NBCUniversal News Group Plans Editorial Initiative Dedicated to Immigration in America

NBC News: NBC News/WSJ Poll: Strong Majority Backs Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants

Rand Paul's Speech at Howard University Called a Dud

"The Republican Party is struggling with its future," Charles M. Blow wrote Wednesday for the New York Times.

"Will it be a regional, Congressional party fighting a last-gasp battle for a shrinking base in a David and Goliath war against ominously expanding federal government? Or will it become a national, presidential party capable of adapting to a new American reality of diversity and expression in which the government serves an essential function in regulating public safety, providing a safety net and serving as a safeguard against discrimination?

"Senator Rand Paul is trying to find a balance between the two. The same week that a dozen defiant senators threatened to filibuster any new gun control legislation, Paul ventured across Washington to historically black Howard University and gave a speech aimed at outreach and bridge building.

"The man is mulling a presidential run after all.

"The speech was a dud. . . ."

Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, the Atlantic: The Conservative Black Hope (April 4)

Ta-Nehisi Coates, New York Times: He Wears the Mask (April 3)

Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: McConnell should apologize to Judd, others battling mental illness

Charles D. Ellison, Philadelphia Tribune: Black Republicans Lost in GOP Rebranding

John McWhorter, Daily News, New York: Dr. Ben Carson's bad medicine (April 4)

Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Black Doctor Stepped in over His Head (April 3)

Adam Serwer, Mother Jones: Rand Paul Does Not Deserve a Gold Star for Speaking at Howard University

"42" Film Captures the Hero, but Maybe Not the Human

"Whenever it is that an icon passes from being human to being a saint is the point at which it's probably too late for a good movie," Wesley Morris, who won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism last year while at the Boston Globe, wrote Thursday for Grantland.

"All you get is the lessons learned and very little of the naturalism or idiosyncrasy or personality that made the person iconic in the first place. Or you get all that courtesy of a great performance, but then there's no filmmaking or storytelling to support it. You rarely get both acting and an angle, the way you did, say, with Walk the Line and Lincoln. It's usually that the subjects mean so much to the filmmakers that they can't bring themselves to take the subjects out of their historical packaging and play with them, lest they lose their value.

"That's the Jackie Robinson situation. . . ."

Not all shared Morris' view in reviewing "42," the Robinson film biography that opened Friday, but many did.

Journalists might have a special interest in the portrayal of Wendell Smith, the legendary African American sportswriter who also helped to desegregate baseball. Smith was inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists in January. Andre Holland, the actor who plays Smith in the film, was present for the occasion, and La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, now president of the Baseball Writers Association, accepted the award for Smith.

David Germain wrote for the Associated Press, "The story of black baseball writer Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) parallels Robinson's, but the film burns up a lot of time trying to establish camaraderie between the two that never quite gels."

Zeba Blay, Shadow and Act: Review — '42' Is A Well-Intentioned But Watered-Down Telling Of Jackie Robinson's Story 

Cal Fussman, ESPN: "I Was Allowed To Dream After That" — Henry Aaron

Dana Jennings, New York Times: The Superhero Who Leapt Color Lines

Jonathan Kim, HuffPost BlackVoices: Review: 42 — Which Side of History Are You On?

A. Stacy Long, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: Skeeter Barnes on Jackie Robinson movie: 'It's not just a baseball thing'

Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: Dr. Phil! Help Me Fall Back in Love With Baseball

Eric Metaxas, Religion News Service: Jackie Robinson's faith missing from '42' movie

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Bill Simmons talks to Grantland's film critic Wesley Morris about the upcoming Jackie Robinson biopic '42' and discusses why some movie biographies work and why others don't. (podcast)

Mark Newman, MLB.com: '42' movie receiving rave reviews

Chris Oberholtz, Emily Rittman and Dave Jordan, KCTV-TV, Kansas City: KC rolls out red carpet for stars of Jackie Robinson movie '42'

Rob Parker, the Shadow League: Black People Shouldn't Waste Jackie Robinson's Legacy

Duane Rankin, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: '42' better get it right ... and inspire another generation 

Alyssa Rosenberg and Travis Waldron, ThinkProgress: What '42' Misses About Jackie Robinson's Integration Of Baseball, And
About The Civil Rights Movement

Andrew Schall, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Wendell Smith: The Pittsburgh journalist who made Jackie Robinson mainstream (June 5, 2011)

A. O. Scott, New York Times: That Rookie at First Is in a New Position

Larry Stone, Seattle Times: As Jackie Robinson is celebrated, African-American participation in MLB dwindles

Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports: Looking for next Jackie? Won't happen

Jason Woullard, the Shadow League: In The Life Of Jackie Robinson: Branch Rickey

Public Broadcasting Called Underfunded for Covering Gun Violence

"The mass shootings last year in Colorado, Wisconsin and Connecticut reawakened Americans to recurring tragedies of gun violence and rekindled a national debate about gun control — one that public radio and television have chronicled and analyzed through ongoing programs and the package of special broadcasts that aired on PBS last month," Debra Blum wrote this week for Current.org, which covers public broadcasting.

"But along with news coverage and the occasional specials, pubcasters and documentary producers could be doing much more on the gun-violence issue, observers say, if more funding were available in the field.

" 'Philanthropy is really sparse on this topic,' says Vince Stehle, executive director of Media Impact Funders. 'There's some attention paid to it, and maybe a little more now, but it's not well-resourced.'

"Audiences have already demonstrated their interest in programs dealing with gun violence:

"A two-part radio series examining the crisis of gun violence in one Chicago school, 'Harper High School,' proved so popular when it aired on This American Life in February that the show’s distributor Public Radio International is arranging for rebroadcasts on other nonprofit and commercial radio stations. More than 1 million listeners have downloaded the programs from the TAL website, and so many listeners expressed an interest in helping the school that administrators set up an online donation page. . . . "

Natalie Neysa Alund, Oakland Tribune: Memorial service set for former Oakland Tribune freelance photographer gunned down Friday

Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | the Times-Picayune: Murder of AmeriCorps volunteer challenges our indifference to killings

Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: Michelle Obama and community come together for youth

Barry Saunders, News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.: Seeing the victims of crime can send a powerful message

Short Takes

"The Supreme Court hearing cases this year on same-sex marriage [has] thrust gay rights issues to the forefront again. One dominant voice continues to reflect the perspective of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in news: the white male," Sherri Williams wrote Wednesday for Quill. She added, "The absence of the voices of people of color, women and transgender people from news stories about LGBT issues implies that they don’t exist, said Daryl C. Hannah, director of media and community partnerships for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. . . . "

The Washington Post has hired Alice Rhee, who spent more than 15 years at NBC and MSNBC, as senior producer of shows as it staffs up in preparation for the summer launch of an online politics channel, Michael Calderone reported Friday for the Huffington Post. He cited a Post memo.

Dr. Shelley Stewart is the recipient of the National Association of Black Journalists' 2013 Community Service Award, NABJ announced on Friday. Dr. Stewart is a broadcast journalist, president and CEO of O2Ideas, and founder of The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation. His "InsideOut" is a 26-minute documentary that presents the stories of [prison] lifers, in their own words, and exposes the lasting and devastating effects that can occur when one drops out of school. It has been viewed in 47 states and Canada.

The American Society of News Editors is teaming with the American Press Institute to hold its Minority Leadership Institute June 23-24 in Washington, coinciding with the annual ASNE convention. The institute provides leadership and management training to 15 mid-level editors and business executives. The program was conceived by ASNE's Diversity Committee and first conducted in August 2012 at Unity.

"With Oprah Winfrey's OWN cable network gaining traction with African-American viewers, Bounce TV picking up advertisers on broadcast and Magic Johnson and P. Diddy backing new channels, long-time leader BET isn't ignoring its rivals," Jon Lafayette reported Thursday for Broadcasting & Cable. Louis Carr, BET's president of ad sales, "pointed to research on engagement with African-Americans that showed BET was the No. 1 among 400 media brands they were unwilling to give up. BET beat ESPN by 22%, TV One by 41% and OWN by 89%. BET's Centric network beat OWN by 7%. . . ."

"*Co-host of MSNBC's daytime show 'The Cycle' Touré joined HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill Thursday and defended his network's all-white primetime lineup," EURWeb reported. The item added, "But Touré said that within MSNBC's modern era, there have only been five hosts to fit into three valuable slots — and the current lineup of Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell is 'brilliant' and 'extraordinary.' "

"While their English-language counterparts have struggled in the ratings so far this year, Univision and Telemundo are headed in the other direction," Rick Kissell reported Thursday for Variety. "The Spanish-language broadcasters recorded some historic highs in the first quarter, with Univision closing in on NBC in 18-49 and pulling ahead of it in the younger half of the [demographic.] And for the 2012-13 season to date, Telemundo, Univision and its sister network UniMas are the only broadcasters showing any growth in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen. . . ."

"More African Americans wear the union label than non-blacks, but the number of union members declined in 2012 compared with the year before," the NorthStar News & Analysis reported Friday. "The University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education reported in 2012 that 13.1 percent of black workers in the United States were union members compared with 11.0 percent of non-black workers. . . ."

"The new president and c.e.o. of dual licensee Lakeshore Public Media in Merrillville, Ind., is James Muhammad, currently director of radio services for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. He begins work in his new post May 20," Dru Sefton reported for current.org on Thursday.

"Margaret Sullivan, the public editor of The New York Times, writes about technology writer Jenna Wortham's recent admission that she shares passwords for Netflix," Chris Roush wrote Thursday for Talking Biz News. Sullivan quoted Jeff Sommer, an assistant business editor who worked with Wortham to conceive the column idea. "The column is supposed to be experimental, and Jenna is deliberately on the frontier – that's the whole point. It's wonderful to have someone who's ahead of the curve. . . ."

In Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Winnipeg Free Press was honored Thursday "for bridge-building journalism that has helped Manitobans better understand the province's Muslim community," the paper reported. "Free Press diversity reporter Carol Sanders and faith writer Brenda Suderman received the Ansar and Ihsan Awards from the Islamic Social Services Association Inc." It continued, "Sanders used her speech to thank the Islamic community for their patience and understanding in the 104 stories she has written since 2004 that involved questions about their religion. . . ."

In Venezuela, "The late President Hugo Chavez appeared constantly on TV, and attacked media that criticized him," Juan Forero reported Friday for NPR. "Now, only one opposition TV station remains. The left-leaning president called Globovision part of a right-wing conspiracy. Though Chavez is gone, the station's end may also be near."

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday it "welcomes Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's announcement that he will withdraw legal complaints against journalists who 'spread wrong information.' The announcement was posted on the presidency's Twitter account and confirmed by Presidential spokesman Ehab Fahmy. . . ."

"In a return to old tactics, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Sudan have resumed strict pre-publication censorship," the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Friday.

In Tunisia, Free Arabs, a new secular-minded website, "includes skits poking fun at Islamic legal opinions by dramatizing them far beyond their logical conclusions," John Thorne reported Wednesday for the Christian Science Monitor. He added, "Launched last month by Moroccan journalist Ahmed Benchemsi, it aims to sustain the spirit of intelligent irreverence that helped drive the Arab Spring. . . ."

The Nigeria National Committee of the International Press Institute declared Friday, "Detaining journalists while investigating their alleged professional infractions is a throw back to the best forgotten dark days of dictatorial regimes. The courts, not detention centres, are the proper place to take alleged offenders. . . ."

Reporting on Ecuador, Reporters Without Borders said Friday it "hopes for quick results from the investigation into journalist Fausto Valdivieso's murder yesterday in Guayaquil. The motive is not yet known but press reports quoted local sources as saying he had been the target of a murder attempt 24 hours earlier and had received threats. . . ."

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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.

The contraction of the news industry and the recent recession hit black and Latino journalists harder than whites, the American Society of News Editors has established, and a new study suggests that those journalists might have been less financially equipped to withstand the layoffs than their white counterparts.

The Pew Charitable Trusts' "Hard Choices: Navigating the Economic Shock of Unemployment" did not specifically examine journalists, but it did look at the effects of unemployment on African Americans and Latinos.

"The study finds that while families at every rung of the economic ladder experienced unemployment, their ability to withstand and recover from losses differed dramatically," it said.

"Low-income families and those of color had both the greatest risk of job loss and the least access to resources to buffer negative effects."

It continued, "For example, when comparing those households that experienced unemployment, the median wealth of white households was at least seven times that of black households in each year of the study," which covered 10 years.

"Moreover, families that experienced unemployment not only suffered lost income during their period not working, but also longer-term wealth losses, compromising their economic security and mobility."

ASNE reported last year that overall, total newsroom employment at daily newspapers and online outlets declined by 2.4 percent in 2011, while the loss in minority newsroom positions was 5.7 percent.

"The decline in minority newsroom employment . . . appears to be stabilizing," the organization reported. But it noted "a decline of approximately 800 minority newsroom positions in both 2008 and 2009," followed by a loss of 500 jobs over 2010 and 2011. ASNE counts participating newspaper and online outlets, but not broadcasters.

(Bob Papper of Hofstra University, who tracks local broadcast numbers for the Radio Television Digital News Association, told Journal-isms by email, "At this point, total TV news employment is slightly ahead of the last pre-recession number ... and the percentage of minorities is virtually unchanged. No progress … but no loss either.")

The National Association of Black Journalists said after last year's ASNE report, "Since 2002, African American journalists have lost [993 newsroom] jobs -- more than any other group of minorities, including Hispanic, Asian and Native American."

No one seems to have tracked what happened to all those who were laid off, and African Americans have no doubt proved resilient in many ways. But the Pew report includes among its interviewees a laid-off African American news reporter named Bob Johnson, who eventually found another job yet was still financially challenged.

The Johnson family "did not have family wealth to draw on, felt squeezed and challenged by financial obligations, and had to make difficult choices," the report said. " 'When you have aging parents who you're helping,' Bob said, 'and you've got a daughter who's going through what she's going through [health and disability challenges] and another daughter in college, it just gets spread out so thin.' The Johnsons' loss of income affected not only their immediate family, but also the well-being of their aging parents, and these responsibilities affected the speed with which depleted resources could be rebuilt."

The researchers said, "Data from the interviews reinforced that the economic position of families at the onset of unemployment strongly influences whether and how they are able to maintain their well-being.

"Inherited assets are not evenly distributed among families. Research has shown that black and Hispanic families receive lower overall levels of support from private transfers than white families and are five times less likely to receive inheritances and large gifts."

The report concluded, "The findings in this report provide insight for policymakers seeking to help families build assets that can protect them in times of need and provide a foundation for future upward mobility. Mechanisms that encourage families to build savings and access low-cost loans in times of economic shock, as well as public safety-net programs that prevent downward mobility and also promote recovery and return to the labor market, are all needed."

Krissy Clark, "Marketplace," American Public Media: Recovery from job loss: Easier for whites than blacks

Big Papers Cautious in Following AP on Immigration

Large newspapers were in no rush to follow the Associated Press Wednesday in its declaration that the word "illegal" should describe an action, not a person, when discussing immigrants who are in the country illegally.

"We generally follow AP style, but in this case we're still discussing whether or not to go along," Joe Knowles, associate managing editor/editing and presentation at the Chicago Tribune, told Journal-isms by email, "... partly because it makes headline writing difficult if not impossible. One of our copy chiefs sent a note to Ask the Editor on what they recommend in headlines. 'Perpetrator of illegal immigration' isn't going to fit too well."

While many journalists of color and immigrant advocates applauded the AP, others, ranging from conservative politicians and commentators to the CNN anchor Don Lemon, ridiculed the decision or at least were strongly skeptical. "File this in the overflowing cabinet labeled: No Wonder the Mainstream Media Is Dying," right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin wrote.

"I disagree with the Associated Press," Ruben Navarrette Jr., the contrarian syndicated columnist, wrote on Facebook. "But I'll give this decision the consideration it deserves. Which is, not much." Navarrette referred his followers to a November column in which he listed 10 reasons he thought "illegal immigrant" was accurate.

The AP's new stylebook entry for "illegal immigration" reads, "Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.

"Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented."

The note from Kathleen Carroll, the AP's senior vice president and executive editor, said, "Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?"

The AP Stylebook is used by most newspapers in the United States, and an overwhelming number of them publish stories from the wire service.

Still, some large newspapers have their own stylebooks.

After the AP announcement, Margaret Sullivan, public editor of the New York Times, told readers of her blog, "The Times, for the past couple of months, has also been considering changes to its stylebook entry on this term and will probably announce them to staff members this week." But, Sullivan added, "From what I can gather, The Times's changes will not be nearly as sweeping as The A.P.'s."

Martin Baron, executive editor of the Washington Post, which also has a stylebook of its own, told a reporter, "We have not addressed this subject since the changes at AP and the New York Times, which occurred within the last few days," according to a Post spokeswoman.

At the Los Angeles Times, "The Times' Standards and Practices Committee has been studying this issue for several months and has not yet reached a decision on whether to recommend a style along the lines of what AP has announced," spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan told Journal-isms.

However, the Los Angeles paper had already nixed "illegal" or "illegal aliens," though it approved of "illegal immigrants."

Its "illegal immigrants" entry reads, "Use this term in referring to citizens of foreign countries who have come to the country with no passport, visa or other document to show that they are entitled to visit, work or live in the United States.

"Do not use illegal aliens or illegals except in direct quotes.

"The nouns alien and illegal should not appear in headlines. The term undocumented immigrant is acceptable as a synonym for illegal immigrant under certain conditions, such as when a form of the word illegal already appears in a sentence. Example: Although their parents are not legally eligible for welfare, the children of undocumented immigrants qualify for benefits. Take care in assigning people the status of illegal immigrants. Those arrested by border police are held or deported by the INS if they are suspected of being illegal immigrants. It is wrong to accuse someone of illegal activity if it is untrue. We cannot know without asking, for example, whether particular dayworkers are illegal immigrants or immigrants at all."

Freddie Allen, National Newspaper Publishers Association: Immigration isn't just a Latino issue (March 30)

Hugo Balta, voxxi.com: NAHJ: NY Times, stop reconsidering 'illegal immigrant' and be sensible

Esther J. Cepeda, Washington Post Writers Group: Stealing a childhood through identity theft

Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune: Don't blame Korean culture for Oikos massacre

Latina Lista blog: It must be the year of the Latino: AP announces it's dropping the 'i' word

David Leopold, Huffington Post: There Is No Such Thing As An 'Illegal Alien'

Jack Mirkinson, Huffington Post: Fox News Objects To AP Dropping 'Illegal Immigrant'

Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post Writers Group: Reforming immigration the right way

Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post Writers Group: A rightward tilt to immigration reform

Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Give students a chance to step out of the shadows

Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Prosecutor puts focus where it should be in undocumented worker case

Tavis Smiley, HuffPost LatinoVoices: LATINO NATION: Beyond the Numbers

Peter Sterne, Columbia Journalism Review: No more 'illegal immigrants' in AP stories

Taylor Miller Thomas, Poynter Institute: Why San Antonio Express-News stopped using 'illegal immigrant' five years ago

Seth Freed Wessler, Colorlines: Immigration Reform May Throw Siblings Under the Bus (March 26)

MSNBC Names New Black Host; "Buffoonery" Ensues

"Hey, Reince Priebus: Here's some more top-notch minority outreach from your partners at the right-wing Media Research Center," Joan Walsh wrote Tuesday for Salon, referring to the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"MSNBC just announced that Karen Finney, a network political analyst and former communications director of the Democratic National Committee, will host a new weekend show. MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham immediately Tweeted:

" 'MSNBC touting Karen Finney as another African-American host. Would the average viewer be able to guess that? Or is Boehner a shade more tan?'

" ' -- Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) April 2, 2013' 

"Finney is African-American, although MSNBC didn't particularly 'tout' that in its press release; it mentioned that she was the first African-American communications director of the DNC and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. I'm not sure what would cause Graham to even muse about her racial bona fides, let alone share his idiocy publicly. When mocked on Twitter, he just dug his hole deeper . . ."

Walsh continued, "Graham's buffoonery reminded me of when former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown mocked and questioned Sen. Elizabeth Warren's American Indian background, and when Tucker Carlson accused Barack Obama of exaggerating his 'black' accent when speaking to black ministers. . . ."

Rebecca Shapiro, Huffington Post: Tim Graham's Controversial Tweet About Karen Finney Provokes Backlash 

Velshi Leaving CNN After 12 Years for Unspecified Project

"CNN's chief business correspondent Ali Velshi is leaving the channel, TVNewser has learned," Alex Weprin reported Wednesday for TVNewser.

"CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker noted the change in a meeting with CNN staff today. Velshi's last day will be Friday. Zucker said that CNN and Velshi were parting as friends, and that the channel was sorry to see him go.

" 'It's been an amazing almost 12 years at CNN. Love it more today than I ever have, and CNN is going to be great under Jeff,' Velshi says. 'I basically grew up here, so it's sad to leave, but I've got a great opportunity to stretch some new muscles and grow something, and it appeals to my entrepreneurial side.' "

Weprin wrote, "It isn't clear where Velshi is going just yet, but Zucker said that Velshi is leaving to work on a new project that 'he couldn't pass up' according to an insider."

Armed Men Storm 3 Baghdad Newspaper Offices

"Men armed with pistols, knives and steel pipes stormed into three Baghdad newspaper offices, beating employees and smashing computers after publication of an article about a Shi'ite Muslim cleric, police and editors said on Tuesday," Ahmed Rasheed reported for Reuters.

"Monday's attacks illustrated the stubborn influence of hardline Islamist militias in Iraq, where Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents often imposed their own fundamentalist vision on the streets during the height of sectarian war a few years ago."

The story continued, "Iraq's media landscape has loosened dramatically since the days of dictator Saddam Hussein, when state-controlled media churned out endless propaganda. Now Iraqis have a choice of 200 print outlets, 60 radio stations and 30 TV channels in Arabic and also in the Turkman, Syriac and Kurdish languages.

"But while press freedom has improved, many media outlets remain dominated by religious or political party patrons who use them for their own ends. The government has also occasionally threatened to close media outlets it regards as offensive.

"The Iraqi media are still frequently targeted for their work. Five Iraqi journalists were killed in 2012, according to the International Federation of Journalists. . . ."

Meanwhile, Jackie Spinner, a former Washington Post journalist and its Baghdad bureau chief, interviewed correspondents who had covered Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003. Spinner, an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia College in Chicago and a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Oman in 2010-11, wrote for the February/March issue of the American Journalism Review.

"Hannah Allam, who was Baghdad bureau chief for Knight Ridder (now McClatchy) from the end of 2003 through 2005, continued to cover the story after she left, returning from Cairo after becoming bureau chief there," Spinner wrote. "She spent much of 2010 in Iraq while pregnant with her son.

" 'I was lucky in that my editors always fought to keep the Iraq story in our papers, so I've always had a great deal of support,' says Allam, now McClatchy's foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington. 'But, yes, after the U.S. military withdrawal and even during the winding-down period, it became much harder to get people excited about Iraq stories. There were only so many ways to write about suicide bombings, government collapses, the rise of the Sadrists, the marginalization of the Sunnis, the Iranian influence, the huge and cloistered U.S. Embassy, the oil industry picking up, disputed mixed-sect provinces/neighborhoods, etc., etc. All those tropes had been explored in depth, and it became very difficult to find something new and fresh to cover in the country.' . . . "

Allam was the National Association of Black Journalists' "Journalist of the Year" in 2004 when she worked for the now-defunct Knight Ridder chain.

Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers: War forever changed lives of six Iraqis we knew well (2011)

Fake Somali Pirates Scam Time Magazine, Documentarians

"The story begins in the slums of Eastleigh, a sprawling suburb of Nairobi in Kenya and home to a huge Somali community," Jamal Osman reported for Britain's Channel 4 News in a story reprinted Wednesday for the Daily Beast. "There, I met Adan. He and his friends are running an industry that had been fooling some of the best journalists from around the world. Their business? Pretending to be pirates. 

" 'We pretend because we have the talent,' Adan told me. 'With ships being regularly seized and crews kidnapped, Somali pirates have been much in demand by the news media. 'They [journalists] go to the boss and say, "We need pirates," ' Adan said. 'The boss comes to us and says, "The white men need pirates." So he says, "Assume to be a pirate." '

"The scam is coordinated by a 'fixer' who offers journalists the opportunity to interview 'real live pirates' -- for a fee. Touting his local knowledge, he promises to reach parts of the community a Western journalist never could. There then follows an elaborate scheme to convince journalists of the plan's legitimacy. The 'fixer' drives the Westerners around -- sometimes for days -- in search of the elusive pirates, telling them it is too dangerous yet to approach the men.

"The scheme culminates in sit-down interviews with the so-called pirates -- interviews that have made it into the venerable pages of international newsmagazines and broadcast in documentaries, one of which was reportedly shown in some 18 countries across the world. . . ."

The duped magazines include Time, which still has a 2010 interview with one of the impostors on its website.

Kent State Gives Russ Mitchell Its McGruder Diversity Award

Russ Mitchell, the former CBS News anchor now at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, received the Robert G. McGruder Award from Kent State University on Tuesday, "given to today's media leaders who exemplify the commitment" of McGruder, the former Detroit Free Press editor and diversity advocate who died in 2002.

"This was the 10th anniversary of the program," Eugene Shelton, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, told Journal-isms Wednesday by email. Shelton coordinates the event.

"It was a milestone event. Annette McGruder," McGruder's wife, "surprised us with a generous donation to the McGruder Scholarship Fund. We surprised her with an award of appreciation for her 10 years of dedicated support. If Bob McGruder's name is on the program, Annette McGruder is there. His legacy lives on because of her. In this 10th year it was time to extend the award to a broadcast journalist.

"Russ Mitchell left CBS network news to accept a position as managing editor and evening anchor at WKYC (NBC) here in Cleveland. Like McGruder, Mitchell accomplished many firsts in his broadcasting career. He represents broadcast journalism at its finest. The color of his skin has nothing to do with his talent. Who better represents McGruder's message than Russ Mitchell, who is now a member of our own community.

"Betty Lin-Fisher is the first Asian American journalist to be recognized with the McGruder Diversity in Media Distinguished Leadership Award. She is a business reporter and columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal. Too often when we think of diversity we think black and white. Again, in this milestone year it was important to expand and recognize that Bob McGruder's message was not limited to African Americans."

Short Takes

"The Republican National Committee has tapped Raffi Williams to serve as its youth and African-American outreach director," Joyce Jones reported Tuesday for BET News. "For now, the 24-year-old's biggest claim to fame is that he's the son of Fox News commentator Juan Williams. But if things go the GOP's way, he could go down in history as a leader who succeeded where others have failed by cultivating support from African-Americans and other demographic groups that have so far eluded the Republican Party.. . ." Juan Williams is a Democrat.

"The Other Redskins is a deeply reported enterprise reporting project on high schools across the country that, like the NFL team, use the name Redskins," according to Sean Mussenden, director of the Capital News Service's online bureau at the University of Maryland's Merrill College of Journalism. "It features a long text story, interactive Google Earth maps/graphics graphics and it was responsively designed to work seamlessly across mobile devices, tablets and desktop browsers." The site continues, "The project took about three weeks to produce and was spearheaded by three students, Kelyn Soong (who did the text story, the bulk of the reporting and data analysis), Sean Henderson (who did reporting, data analysis built the interactive maps and tables, designed other graphics, and coded and designed the responsive website) and Angela Wong (who did reporting, designed the overall look of the site with help from Sean Henderson, and built some of the graphics). . . ."

At the University of Maryland, the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism hosted a panel on diversity in sports media March 27. Moderated by  Kevin Blackistone, Merrill College faculty member, panelists were Turner Sports' David Aldridge;  Mary Byrne, USA Today managing editor for sports; Kevin Lockland of SBNation; Keith Clinkscales, creator of the Shadow League website; and David L. Andrews, professor of kinesiology. Video.

"During a conversation with POLITICO's Mike Allen Wednesday, White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer criticized what he sees as the media's 'Pavlovian response' to controversial links posted on conservative news aggregator The Drudge Report," Matt Wilstein reported Wednesday for Mediaite. "Pfeiffer also argued that the site actively 'hurts' the White House's efforts to convey their message 'on a daily basis.' . . ."

"Capitalizing on the possibilities of the digital age, the Obama White House is generating its own content like no president before, and refining its media strategies in the second term in hopes of telling a more compelling story than in the first," Nancy Benac reported Monday for the Associated Press. "At the same time, it is limiting press access in ways that past administrations wouldn't have dared, and the president is answering to the public in more controlled settings than his predecessors. . . ."

Farai Chideya, distinguished writer in residence at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, moderated a panel discussion Wednesday at the Newseum in Washington on "Improving Coverage of Race, Class, and Social Mobility." Sponsored by Columbia Journalism Review and the American Civil Liberties Union, panelists were Raquel Cepeda, Dominican-American author and documentary filmmaker; Jeff Yang, columnist for the Wall Street Journal and editor of "Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology"; Richard Prince; and Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the Freedom Forum  Diversity Institute and the First Amendment Center. The discussion can be viewed as a C-SPAN video.

"Melissa Lee . . . is cutting back her anchoring duties at CNBC," Chris Ariens reported for TVNewser. "Lee is moving off the 9am ET show 'Squawk on the Street' which he has co-anchored since Erin Burnett's departure almost two years ago. . . ."

David Plazas, engagement editor at the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., won the Gannett Co.'s annual Leadership and Diversity award for an individual, the company announced Wednesday. The Greenville (S.C.) News won the award for a Gannett unit.

What a difference a "T" makes: The Native American Journalists Association website on Wednesday was advertising its schedule for "Nat'l Naive Media Conference Day 1."

"Let's resist the urge to make Roland Martin out to be some wrongly aggrieved talking head," Michael Fauntroy, who teaches at George Mason University, wrote Monday for Black Blue Dog. "He is a marginally knowledgeable loudmouth who was more sizzle than steak." Martin, whose contract as a CNN commentator is not being renewed, responded Wednesday, "How dumb can you be to write something like that and not even read my bio? . . . "  

In West Palm Beach, Fla., "Juan Carlos Fanjul has left WPEC, where he was weekend anchor and reporter for CBS12 News in West Palm Beach, Veronica Villafañe reported Tuesday for her Media Moves site. "His last day on the air was this past Sunday. 'Management was very kind to offer a new contract, but after 5 years, it was time for a change. I am currently looking at some new and very exciting opportunities,' he wrote on his Facebook page today. . . ."

Donald L. Duster, a grandson of the legendary activist journalist Ida B. Wells, died on March 11 in Chicago. He was 81. "He and I were both members of the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee that has commissioned world-renowned artist Richard Hunt to create a monument to honor our ancestor," his daughter, Michelle Duster, told Journal-isms. For more than 20 years, Duster oversaw the operations of several sites and numerous social service programs throughout Chicago. A tribute service is planned for April 13 at 1 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, 6400 S. Kimbark Ave.

"With media professionals across Mexico continuing to face high levels of violent crime, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the World Editors Forum (WEF) and the International Press Institute (IPI) call on the federal government to do more to protect journalists and reverse the prevailing culture of impunity," IPI reported Wednesday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Tuesday's "decision by a judge in Mali to grant bail to a journalist who was jailed for 27 days in connection with his paper's publication of a letter critical of a military leader. CPJ calls on the public prosecutor to drop the charges against Boukary Daou, an editor of the daily Le Républicain. . . ."

"For media analysts, coverage of the Syrian war has seriously eroded the reputations of channels like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya," Neil MacFarquhar reported Monday for the New York Times. "Where their newscasts once brought a measure of objectivity to a region dominated by servile state-run media, they are increasingly viewed as mouthpieces for the foreign policy objectives of Qatar and Saudi Arabia." MacFarquhar said that Absi Smesem, who became the editor in chief of a new weekly Syrian newspaper, began publishing in February "in the spirit of objectivity." "It was one of several publications introduced at roughly the same time."

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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.