Rob Parker Gets Online Columnist Gig
He lands at Keith Clinkscale's Shadow League after the Robert Griffin III dustup.
Keith Clinkscales Praises "Strong Voice at ESPN"
Less than a month after ESPN decided not to renew his contract over controversial remarks he made during the "First Take" talk show, commentator Rob Parker has landed a columnist's spot on Keith Clinkscales's new digital sports platform.
A Wednesday news release began, "Today, TheShadowLeague.com announced award-winning sports columnist Rob Parker has been added to its roster. Parker’s first column for the newly unveiled website will be published Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.
" 'There is no doubt that Rob's love of sports permeates everything he does,' says TheShadowLeague.com Editor-in-Chief Vince Thomas. 'We are truly excited that he has joinedTheShadowLeague.com. Rob's hard-hitting and honest opinions make him a standout sports columnist who can reach fans in print and online spaces, as well as radio and television.' "
During a Dec. 13 episode of "First Take" on ESPN2, Parker was discussing Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. Parker said in the fateful broadcast:
"Some people I've known for a long time. My question, which is just a straight, honest question, is ... is he a 'brother,' or is he a cornball 'brother'? He's not really ... he's black, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really like the guy you'd want to hang out with. I just want to find out about him. I don't know, because I keep hearing these things. He has a white fiancée, people talking about that he's a Republican ... there's no information at all. I'm just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Tiger Woods was like, 'I have black skin, but don't call me black.' People wondered about Tiger Woods early on -- about him."
At first, ESPN said it was "conducting a full review" of a situation in which the network aired remarks that many considered offensive. Then, on Dec. 20, the network said it had decided to suspend Parker for 30 days, tighten editorial oversight of the "First Take" show and was taking "appropriate disciplinary measures" against employees who played a role in allowing Parker's remarks on the air.
Clinkscales, an entrepreneur, former magazine publisher and former ESPN executive, told Journal-isms Wednesday by telephone, "I've known Rob for several years. He had a strong voice at ESPN. As management decided they were going to go in a different direction with the show, it gave us an opportunity to have some discussions about working together on this venture."
Parker told Journal-isms Wednesday he writes a column for ClickOnDetroit.com and has continued his work at Detroit's WDIV-TV. He is a contributor to that station's "Sports Final Edition," which airs Sunday nights, News Director Kim Voet has told Journal-isms. Parker said he also owns a Detroit barbershop, Sporty Cutz, and hot dog carryout, All-Star Dawgs.
Parker, then a sports columnist with the Detroit News, resigned from the News in 2009. He had been demoted to general assignment sports reporter in the fallout from a news conference question to the coach of the Detroit Lions NFL team that drew criticism from management, readers and other sports journalists.
Before that, Parker apologized for implicating Michigan State University backup quarterback Kirk Cousins in an off-campus assault. Parker made the statement on WDIV-TV's "Clubhouse Confidential."
Back in 1991, Parker was brought up on charges by the Newspaper Guild for crossing picket lines during a bitter strike at the New York Daily News. The charges were later dropped and Parker moved on to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Shadow League news release said, ". . . Parker has enjoyed an illustrious career in sports journalism for more than twenty years. The famed writer has broken many boundaries, garnering acclaim as the first black sports columnist in the newsrooms of the Detroit Free Press and Newsday. He is also a distinguished Baseball Hall of Fame voter.
"Additionally, Parker has written for the New Haven Register, the Detroit News and the New York Daily News. Most recently, Parker spent eight years with ESPN, debating hot topics on ESPN’s '[FirstTake],' riding the airwaves of ESPN Radio and writing for the ESPN.com affiliate [ESPN New York]."
Poll: Blacks Trust Fox Far Less Than Other Groups
African Americans trust Fox News Channel far less than whites and Hispanics, according to a new survey, and trust CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS more than whites do.
Among whites and Hispanics, Fox News Channel was both the most trusted and least trusted television news outlet surveyed by Public Policy Polling, an outfit that predicted, state by state, the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.
Overall, "PPP's annual poll on TV news finds that there's only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS [PDF]," a news release said Wednesday. "52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don't trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters." The Spanish-language networks were not surveyed.
"Just like its actual ratings, Fox News has hit a record low in the four years that we've been doing this poll," the authors continued. "41% of voters trust it to 46% who do not. To put those numbers into some perspective the first time we did this poll, in 2010, 49% of voters trusted it to 37% who did not." PPP surveyed 800 voters nationally from January 31st to February 3rd. The margin of error for the survey was +/-3.5%.
Viewers' choices matched their politics. ". . . We find once again this year that Democrats trust everything except Fox, and Republicans don't trust anything other than Fox. . .," the authors said.
The results for "trust ABC?" were:
Trust it -- Overall, 32 percent; Hispanics, 47 percent; whites, 27 percent; African Americans, 44 percent; other, 42 percent.
For "trust CBS?":
Trust it -- Overall, 34 percent; Hispanics, 51 percent; whites, 29 percent; African Americans, 45 percent; other, 40 percent.
For "trust CNN?":
Trust it -- Overall, 38 percent; Hispanics, 53 percent; whites, 33 percent; African Americans, 54 percent; other, 44 percent.
For "trust Fox?":
Trust it -- Overall, 41 percent; Hispanics, 43 percent; whites, 43 percent; African Americans, 29 percent; other, 37 percent.
For "trust MSNBC?":
Trust it -- Overall, 35 percent; Hispanics, 41 percent; whites, 30 percent; African Americans, 57 percent; other, 45 percent.
For "trust NBC?":
Trust it -- Overall, 39 percent; Hispanics, 57 percent; whites, 32 percent; African Americans, 60 percent; others, 46 percent.
For "trust PBS?":
Trust it -- Overall, 52 percent; Hispanics, 65 percent; whites, 47 percent; African Americans, 63 percent; others, 65 percent.
Tommy Christopher reported in January for Mediaite that MSNBC ". . . enjoyed significant (around 20%) ratings increases across the board" in 2012, "but made astonishing gains with their already-large African American audience, growing that audience by 60.5% for the Mon-Sun 8pm-11pm period. . . .
"In that same time period, CNN grew its black audience by 23.7% (from 131,000 in 2011 to 162,000 in 2012, 23.9% of their total audience), while Fox News' declined by 23.7% (38,000 in 2011 to 29,000 in 2012, 1.4% of their total audience), but MSNBC had more black viewers than both of those nets combined (from 177,000 in 2011 to 284,000 in 2012, 31.4% of their total audience). . . . "
Shirley Carswell Leaving Washington Post After 25 Years
A day after Kevin Merida was named the first African American managing editor at the Washington Post, Shirley Carswell, a black journalist who for years administered the multimillion-dollar budget for the Post newsroom and became deputy managing editor in 2009, confirmed that she taking a buyout after more than 25 years.
"Yes, I am going to be leaving at the end of March," Carswell told Journal-isms by email, adding later by telephone, "I am leaving because it feels like the right time. I've been at the Post about half of my life. I've really been doing some version of the job for 20 years."
She said she doubted she would return to a newsroom -- otherwise, why leave the Post? -- but said she was not ruling anything out. Carswell said she plans to get some rest, then "take some time and travel."
Carswell succeeded her mentor, Milton Coleman, in the deputy managing editor's position. When Coleman left the newsroom in January, it was Carswell who notified the newsroom that his retirement was imminent.
Last May, in the wake of a buyout offer that disproportionately claimed journalists of color, Carswell was named to head the newspaper's recruiting, hiring, diversity and training efforts.
Her duties as the newsroom's budget manager were shifted to Newsroom Budget Director Raquel Edora. She retained authority over newsroom real estate, deciding who should sit where, and was in charge of newsroom IT and operations.
"Anyone who has worked with Shirley knows that she is a center of calm in a bureaucratic [whirl]," Marcus Brauchli, then executive editor, said in the 2009 appointment. "She is a master of her arts, managing the integration of our print and online operations, bringing together our two staffs into a common team, rebuilding offices and running budgets.
"Shirley grew up in Pittsburgh, earned her undergraduate journalism degree at Howard University, and worked in Richmond and Detroit before joining the Post in 1988 as a copy editor. She's been Assistant Managing Editor since 1994, after a succession of jobs that included metro copy chief."
Carswell has also been active in the Washington Association of Black Journalists. In 2005, she won election as treasurer after running because "righteous indignation got the better of me. I was really pissed off when I heard somebody stole the money." WABJ had discovered that $4,200 in chapter funds was missing.
Also at the Post, Senior Editor Peter Perl, whose recent responsibilities included hiring, training, evaluating and other personnel matters, announced Tuesday that he was retiring after 32 years.
U.S. Black Journalists Join Global News Operation
Several black journalists whose names have appeared in this column over the years -- Lyne Pitts, Gary Anthony Ramsay, James Blue, Jeff Koinange and Debbye Turner Bell -- are part of Arise News, a 24-hour international TV news operation that launched Wednesday, the Vanguard newspaper reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
The network is "set to rival existing giants in the global market" and will be "broadcasting from its main News Centres in London, New York, Johannesburg and Lagos," the newspaper said.
"ARISE NEWS, will have a strong African footprint and serve underserved communities in the USA and other parts of the world, supported by a further eight bureaux around the globe stretching from Beijing to Rio de Janeiro.
"A sister channel, ARISE 360, which will be entertainments-based with fashion, music, sport and pay per view films, will start broadcasting toward the end of this year.
"The 'arrival' of the network was announced by company executives in London and New York.
"Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of ARISE NEWS and ARISE 360 is Nduka Obaigbena, owner and publisher of the fashion and culture magazine, ARISE, and the publisher of several other titles including one of Nigeria's daily newspapers, THISDAY.
"Mr. Obaigbena said: 'We will attract a global audience interested in emerging markets, developing countries and evolving politics. With headquarters and bureaux throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, we are ready to speak to our audience and give them a voice as well.'. . . "
Pitts "is heading up the US operation from a vast studio complex in New York." She was named one of five vice presidents of NBC News in 2007 and spent 23 years at CBS News, where she was a producer. She left NBC News in 2009 and is married to CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.
Ramsay, director of U.S. news and operations, is a former president of the New York Association of Black Journalists and former NY1 reporter. He left the station in 2007 after calling an NY1 talk show and falsely identifying himself as "Dalton from the upper East Side" to give his opinion about a story on former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, according to the Daily News in New York. The story says Ramsay "has covered conflicts from Kosovo to Iraq."
Blue, director of current affairs and special projects based in Washington, was an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer with ABC News' "Nightline" and NBC's "Today." In 2011, he produced the documentary "Michelle Obama on a Mission: Impact Africa," for BET.
Koinange, formerly CNN's star Africa reporter, is to be based in Johannesburg as an anchorman and correspondent. He left CNN in 2007 after a blog in Kenya accused him of being "the Kenyan date rape journalist." The Kenyan-born journalist's CNN bio said at the time, "He has reported on major events from all across the African continent."
Turner Bell, Miss America of 1990, has been a correspondent for CBS News' now-defunct "The Early Show." She is to be a regular anchor for Arise America. Turner Bell left CBS last year.
Others named in the story are Nigerian-born John Chiahemen, a former Reuters bureau chief, as managing editor and head of Africa; David Glencorse, a former Sky News anchorman, international reporter and Royal Television Society award winner, as global editorial director of the company; Nick Jennings, a former head of international news at Sky News, as director of news and news gathering; and Gavin Hill, until recently an award-winning ITV producer of documentaries, as director of features.
Rep. Cardiss Collins, Media Diversity Advocate, Dies at 81
Cardiss Collins, for many years the only black congresswoman, the first African American woman to represent Illinois in Congress, and one who took an interest in media issues involving people of color, died Sunday at age 81, according to news reports.
"Family friend Mel Blackwell said Mrs. Collins died of complications from pneumonia Sunday evening at a hospital in Alexandria, Va.," Lauren Fitzpatrick reported Tuesday for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Dwight Ellis, who for two years was Collins' chief of staff, told Journal-isms by telephone that Collins was the first African American to serve on the House Communications Subcommittee. Ellis, a vice president of the National Association of Broadcasters from 1980 to 2004, said he wrote Collins' speeches and advised her on communications issues.
"In 1972, George Collins was killed along with Dorothy Hunt, wife of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt, and CBS News correspondent Michele Clark after their Midway-bound plane crashed on Chicago’s Southwest Side," the Sun-Times story recalled.
"Mayor Richard J. Daley chose to slate the widow as the Democratic endorsed candidate over nine others, saying, 'We’re all convinced she’ll make a great congresslady.' " [Clark became the namesake for the summer training program for minority journalists at Columbia University that evolved into the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.]
The website Black Americans in Congress noted, "Collins also worked to prevent federal tax write-offs for advertising firms that discriminated against minority-owned media companies. Hoping to 'provide black and other minority station owners with a mechanism for redress,' Collins argued that financial penalties for offending agencies would help combat discrimination and level the playing field for all media organizations. She also crusaded against gender and racial inequality in broadcast licensing. On several occasions, Collins introduced legislation to preserve Federal Communications Commission policies designed to increase the number of women and minorities owning media companies."
Collins also became chair of the Communications Brain Trust of the Congressional Black Caucus. Ellis, who also advised Collins in this role, said she brought together the disparate elements of the media -- broadcast, cable and entertainment. While Ellis said he could not point to successful communications legislation that she initiated, he said Collins wielded her influence in other ways.
Ellis explained how this worked in a message he sent to colleagues in 2007 after the death of Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America:
". . . Subsequently, during the 1980s 'financial interest and syndication rule' issue where the TV networks were pitted against the Hollywood studios for greater share in the revenue and ownership of the programs aired on television, Jack approached me for assistance in identifying Black independent producers who could benefit by the studios' retaining their program ownership position," Ellis wrote.
"I agreed to help Jack, who planned to use such producers to bolster the studios' position, only if I was able to recommend certain Black producers for use by the networks -- since I was an executive with the NAB. Jack agreed. Consequently, I helped to position Black producers as spokespersons for the Hollywood studios and the networks. Jack scheduled meetings for me and Congresswoman Cardiss Collins (my former employer and member of the House Communications Subcommittee reviewing the 'rule'), and I arranged for Cardiss and [myself] (with help from [producer] Topper [Carew] and my network contacts) to meet with network presidents in Los Angeles. Because of these efforts, several Black independent producers gained greater leverage for acceptance of their projects in the film and network television industries."
Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: Cardiss Collins was respected, committed
Patrick Svitek, Chicago Tribune: Cardiss Collins, 1931-2013
Two-Thirds Don't Pursue "Pathway to Citizenship"
"Nearly two-thirds of the 5.4 million legal immigrants from Mexico who are eligible to become citizens of the United States have not yet taken that step. Their rate of naturalization -- 6% -- is only half that of legal immigrants from all other countries combined, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center," Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, Mark Hugo Lopez, Jeffrey Passel and Paul Taylor reported Monday for the Pew Hispanic Center.
"Creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally is expected to be one of the most contentious elements of the immigration legislation that will be considered by Congress this year. Mexican immigrants are by far the largest group of immigrants who are in the country illegally -- accounting for 6.1 million (55%) of the estimated 11.1 million in the U.S. as of 2011.
"Mexicans are also the largest group of legal permanent residents -- accounting for 3.9 million out of 12 million. The Center's analysis of current naturalization rates among Mexican legal immigrants suggests that creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally does not mean all would pursue that option. Many could choose an intermediate status -- legal permanent resident -- that would remove the threat of deportation, enable them to work legally and require them to pay taxes, but not afford them the full rights of U.S. citizenship, including the right to vote. . . . "
Maggie Caldwell, Mother Jones: Invisible Women: The Real History of Domestic Workers in America (Feb. 7)
Leslie Berestein Rojas, Southern California Public Radio: 'Out of status?' Rep. John Conyers on what to call undocumented immigrants in U.S. (Video)
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Real data to measure legal, illegal immigration
Blacks Have Used Firearms for Defense, Survival
"The recent debate concerning gun control is complex, particularly as it relates to African descendants in the United States," Akinyele Umoja, associate professor and chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University, wrote Tuesday for Black Agenda Report.
"As almost every other issue in the US, the race dimensions of gun control cannot be dismissed. Slave-holding society fought to prevent enslaved Africans access to weapons to resist and increase potential for insurrection.
"After emancipation, Blacks sought arms not only to hunt, but to protect themselves from white supremacist terror. Gun ownership was associated with citizenship and liberty and as a means to protect those principles. The segregationists continued slave-holding society's practice of attempting to disarm Blacks. Ultimately, Blacks utilized armed self-defense to protect activist leadership and their communities from white terrorist violence. It was a rite of passage for rural Black families [to teach] children to use arms as a means of survival; for food and for protection. Black female youth were trained to shoot for defense from white rapists.
"I have the utmost respect for Congressman John Lewis due to the sacrifice he made during the Civil Rights movement in the Deep South. In responding to those opposing President Obama's gun control proposal’s Congressman Lewis offers that he and his colleagues in the Civil Rights movement, ' ... believed the only way to achieve peaceful ends was through peaceful means. We took a stand against an unjust system, and we decided to use this faith as our shield and the power of compassion as our defense.' . . . "
Mary C. Curtis, the Grio: Will Obama's proposals stop black gun violence?
Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune: Shooting bad PR for Oakland Art Murmur
Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress: Lift Every Voice
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: NRA's dizzying pro-gun spin grows tiring
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Family breakdown goes biracial
Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Gun debate should be about facts, not fantasy
Rem Rieder, American Journalism Review: Too Zany for The Onion
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: The NRA's tone-deaf rhetoric
Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: I didn't need to see Obama firing a gun
Barry Saunders, News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.: Obama's gun photo ill-advised
How Diverse Is Your Coverage of Business, Finance?
" . . . While spotlighting businesses and business leaders merely on the basis of race or ethnicity can be sort of shallow, or even offensive, I do think that this month of recognizing the accomplishments of African-American citizens is a good time to assess whether your coverage of business and finance does reflect the nation's diversity," Melissa Preddy wrote Tuesday for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University.
"If not, start now with some of the ideas below. And on a practical level, like any seasonal or annual event it's a convenient peg for providing market-specific features for consumers and entrepreneurs. . . . "
Preddy listed such angles as corporate observances, African American-owned businesses, news for small-business owners and entrepreneurs and marketing to African American consumers.
". . . Print media is starving for profit, and publishers in Canada and the United States are compensating by thinning their newsrooms by thousands of workers," Natascia Lypny wrote for the January issue of the King's Journalism Review at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Copy editors have been sacrificed more than any other newsroom category. Nearly a third of the copy editors who were working for American daily newspapers in 2007 are no longer employed in those positions today, according to an American Society of News Editors' survey of 985 publications. . . . "
Coverage of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens' hometown welcome left much to be desired, David Zurawik wrote in the Baltimore Sun. ". . . it made my blood boil to see reporters using fans as props. Telling fans to give a cheer or start singing and whooping when the cameras are pointed at them is both stupid and insensitive . . . " Zurawik wrote. ". . . The other thing that annoyed me, and it has been building for weeks, involves veteran reporters acting like they are buddies with the players, referring to Terrell Suggs, for example, as T-Sizzle and calling out to him on the parade route. . . . "
"Today, an appellate court ruled against the New York Times in a suit about gun permits, and public access to an electronic database containing the addresses of permit-holders, arguing that a lower-court judge had 'erred' when, in 2011, she ruled in the newspaper's favor," Dana Rubinstein reported Tuesday for Capital New York.
"Former model, actress, and sportscaster Lisa Guerrero says she's covered at least five Super Bowls in her life, but she says nothing she did as a sportscaster can compare to what she's doing today as an award-winning chief investigative correspondent for Inside Edition," Kristina Puga wrote Monday for NBCLatino.
"U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) was trying to correct the record Tuesday, after Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' movie suggested that Connecticut was not entirely in favor of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery," CBSNewYork and the Associated Press reported. ". . . 'When they got to Connecticut, two out of the three members of Congress voted no . . . 'We checked with the Congressional Research Service, who pulled up the roll call, and sure enough, all four members . . . from the State of Connecticut voted unanimously in favor of passage of the 13th Amendment,' he said."
Karin Berry, an assistant news editor at the Philadelphia Daily News, told Facebook friends that her last day at work was Jan. 31 and that her co-workers put together the Page 1 at left. Berry took a buyout after 18 years at the paper. She added on Facebook, "[BTW], the 'It's a Rap' headline ran the day after Tupac Shakur's murder. That is Tupac's hat on my head. No, I did NOT write this headline although I was assistant news editor for that edition. . . . "
In Somalia, "A Mogadishu court has sentenced an alleged rape victim and a Somali journalist who interviewed her to one year in prison each, court officials say, in a decision that has enraged press freedom groups," Al Jazeera reported Tuesday. "Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, the freelance journalist, and the 27-year old unidentified woman who claimed to have been raped by security forces, faced charges including insulting a government body, making false accusations and seeking to profit from the allegations. . . . "
In Libya, "An attack by security guards on a TV crew outside the National Congress building in Tripoli on 1 February has reinforced Reporters Without Borders' concern about the growing number of cases of threats and violence against journalists in the course of their work," the press freedom organization said on Tuesday.
"Police in Uganda is still the worst torturer of journalists, the 2012 Press Freedom Index launched in Kampala on Feb. 6 said," Tracy Gwambe reported Tuesday for the Independent in the capital, Kampala. "The index prepared by Human Rights Network for Journalists Uganda (HRJN-Uganda) shows that in 2012 alone, the police made 42 attacks against journalists . . . one journalist was murdered. . . ."
"Authorities in Beirut should drop criminal charges against Rami Aysha, a Lebanese-Palestinian freelance journalist who was arrested by Hezbollah forces last August as he was investigating arms trafficking," the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
"In late January, Iranian authorities waged the largest crackdown on the press since 2009, detaining a wave of journalists and issuing arrest warrants for numerous others," the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. "The Ministry of Intelligence accused the journalists of conspiring with foreign media to repeat the alleged 'sedition' of 2009, referring to electoral fraud exposed by the media and the protests that followed. In response to the arrests, IranWire, a project led by our colleague Maziar Bahari, produced this video calling for the journalists' release. . . . "
"Reporters Without Borders deplores the Eritrean government’s censorship of the Qatari TV news network Al Jazeera since 1 February," the press freedom group said Tuesday. "According to the Qatar-based newspaper Al-Sharq, the Eritrean authorities were annoyed with Al Jazeera for carrying reports about demonstrations by Eritrean exiles outside Eritrean diplomatic missions in Cairo, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Stockholm and other capitals in opposition to the government and in support of the soldiers who stormed the information ministry in Asmara during a brief mutiny on 21 January. . . ."
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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.
New Black Leader at Washington Post
Kevin Merida was named to the highest position a black journalist has had at the paper.
Maynard Grad Is First Black Journalist to Assume the Title
Kevin Merida, national editor at the Washington Post, was named a managing editor at the newspaper Monday, the highest position a black journalist has achieved at the Post.
Marty Baron, the former Boston Globe editor who became Post executive editor in January, called a meeting in the middle of the newsroom and made the announcement in person, a Post staffer told Journal-isms. "The applause and cheers were off the charts. Really joyous moment," the staffer said. "Kevin appeared to be genuinely touched -- and also a bit overwhelmed by the moment."
Merida, 56, is a 1979 graduate of the Maynard Institute's Summer Program for Minority Journalists and was named "Journalist of the Year" of the National Association of Black Journalists in 2000. He is also a "Journal-isms" reader.
He messaged, "To Journal-isms readers, I'd say:
"I am extremely honored to be managing editor of The Washington Post. I love our craft and its limitless possibilities. I still believe in what we do. We have a great news organization, with an incredibly dedicated and talented group of journalists. I hope to create more excitement in our newsroom, more energy, more joy."
Merida succeeds Liz Spayd, who left the newspaper on Thursday, and will share the title with John Temple, the former editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News who joined the newspaper as a managing editor last year.
Merida will be responsible for news and features coverage as well as the Universal News Desk.
The last black journalist to be considered for Post managing editor was Eugene Robinson in 2004, when a single person held the title. Robinson instead became a columnist and in 2009 won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Robinson, then assistant managing editor for the Style section, had been called the newsroom favorite, and then-executive editor Leonard Downie Jr.'s failure to selected him prompted questions about the paper's commitment to diversity and a newsroom committee to examine the question.
Monday's announcement reads:
"The Washington Post today announces that Kevin Merida becomes managing editor for The Washington Post, responsible for news and features coverage as well as the Universal News Desk. His new role is effective immediately.
"Reporting to Merida will the editors of The Post's National, Foreign, Metro, Business, Sports, Investigations, Outlook, Style, Arts, Travel, Food, Local Living and Weekend/Going Out Guide sections and The Washington Post Magazine. He joins managing editor John Temple, who in his role will now oversee digital operations and initiatives, all presentation units, the multiplatform desk, budgeting, and newsroom operations.
" 'Kevin is a journalist of remarkable accomplishment, with a record of strong leadership.
" 'During his 20 years at The Post, he has covered Congress and presidential campaigns, as well as stories that called upon his great strengths as a long-form feature writer. He has cultivated a talented staff on the National desk, and he has won the admiration and affection of his colleagues. I'm delighted to have him leading coverage across the entire newsroom,' said Marty Baron, Executive Editor for The Washington Post.
"Most recently, Merida was The Post's national editor, leading the coverage of news events that have consumed the country's attention: the BP oil spill, the killing of Osama bin Laden, the 2012 presidential campaign, the Ft. Hood, Aurora and Newtown shootings, the battle over health care, the debt ceiling and fiscal cliff fights, and more. During his tenure, Fact Checker was introduced, The Fix was expanded, and The Post started a new blog, She the People, to showcase the voices of women. The Post's national staff also enhanced its digital presence through live-blogging as well as The Grid, providing comprehensive coverage of live events.
"Merida was raised in the Washington, D.C., area and graduated from Boston University in 1979 with a degree in journalism. He is the co-author of the biography 'Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas,' and co-author of the bestselling 'Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.' Merida is married to author and former Post columnist Donna Britt. They have three sons and live in Silver Spring, Md."
Merida was named assistant managing editor for national news in 2008 in one of the first appointments by then-executive editor Marcus Brauchli. Merida was then an associate editor.
Steven Mufson, Washington Post: Washington Post names Kevin Merida as new managing editor for news and features
Post's First Black Reporter Says It "Damn Near Killed" Him
Coincidentally, Simeon Booker, the first full-time black reporter at the Washington Post, was inducted last month into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame (video).
Booker is better known as a longtime correspondent for Jet magazine, but he includes his Post experience in his memoir, "Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter's Account of the Civil Rights Movement," to be published in May.
"Washington in 1951 was still a very Southern and very segregated city," Booker, now 94, writes in the book. "I couldn't eat lunch downtown, even in some federal agency cafeterias, including, ironically, the Interstate Commerce Commission, where I might be covering a story related to segregation.
"White taxi drivers didn't stop for me, and even the police treated me more like a suspect than a reporter when I covered a crime scene or a fire.
". . . The stories I covered spanned the gamut of urban and federal news. One of the first, on November 21, 1951, ran under the headline, 'Senate Group Issues Negro Status Report.' A Senate labor subcommittee had found that 'in almost every significant economic and social characteristic that can be measured' including life expectancy, employment, education, and income, Negroes were on the bottom of the pile. No more than a summary of the study, it was the kind of story I would have liked to pursue, to dig deeper, to explain how the system worked, how institutions affected people's lives, I suggested investigative pieces about race relations and other urban topics during my two years on the paper's staff, most were shunted aside.
" . . . I did my best to tough it out at the Post, although it was quite a comedown from the equality and cordial collegiality I had experienced in Cambridge as a Nieman Fellow, and I got to know only a few of the paper's reporters. I struggled so hard to succeed that friends thought I was dying; I looked so fatigued. Trying to cover news in a city where even pet cemeteries were segregated was overwhelming. I set a goal and decided to leave the Post if I ever got a banner headline. After two years at the paper, that day came. I don't even recall what the story was.
"Looking back, I give [publisher] Phil Graham credit. He hired me. The newspaper may or may not have been ready. They had no standards or policies regarding the integration of their ranks, such as the military had developed. If it was a social experiment, I think I passed the test -- although it damn near killed me."
Booker took note of Merida's achievement Monday afternoon on Facebook. "Another milestone. Congratulations, Kevin," he wrote.
Amber Larkins, American Journalism Review: Sixty-Five Years of Covering the News (December 2012/January 2013)
Super Bowl Drew Huge Audience, but Not a Record
It drew a huge audience, though last night's Super Bowl did not break the record for most-watched program in television history," Louisa Ada Seltzer wrote Monday for Media Life Magazine.
"It was third-best.
"CBS's broadcast of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers averaged 108.41 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, the third-largest audience in TV history.
"It finished behind only last year's broadcast of the Super Bowl, which drew 111.3 million total viewers on NBC, and 2011's broadcast, which drew 111 million viewers on Fox.
". . . But it was still an impressive showing considering neither the victorious Ravens nor the 49ers have a huge national following . . . ."
Wayne Bennett, the Field Negro: The B Bowl.
Rebecca Carroll, good.is: Why It's Perfectly Acceptable that Colin Kaepernick Doesn't Want to Meet His Birthmother
Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: To me, Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis is a sinner who 'got up'
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Stevie Wonder show too crowded, but Super Bowl Saturday in New Orleans was still perfect
Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: From blackout to Beyonce: Storify collection of the media madness during Super Bowl XVII
Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com: Power outage jolts Kaepernick, 49ers, but not quite enough
Eleanor Goldberg, Huffington Post: Super Bowl Is Single Largest Human Trafficking Incident In U.S.: Attorney General
Emil Guillermo blog, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: A Super Bowl with the lights on and the Asian American stereotypes in those commercials
Jay Caspian Kang, Grantland: DIVAWATCH: A Second Opinion on Beyonce, and Thoughts on the Other Super Bowl Divas
Tim Kawakami, Bay Area News Group: What's next for 49ers? Decompress, then stop complaining about non-calls
Alexis C. Madrigal, the Atlantic: The Whitewashing of the American Farmer: Dodge Ram Super Bowl Ad Edition
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: Keep Dancing for Jesus, Ray Lewis!
Julie Moos, Poynter Institute: The 5 most inspiring Super Bowl moments and the best front pages
Wesley Morris, Grantland: Bow Down to the Queen: Notes on Beyonce's Halftime Show
Darryl E. Owens, Orlando Sentinel: Amid the Ray Lewis hoopla, remember athletes like Vince Carter who never needed an image makeover (Feb. 1)
Monte Poole, Bay Area News Group: Emotional day for the Harbaugh brothers
Bob Raissman, Daily News, New York: Super Bowl XLVII: CBS drops the ball in Superdome blackout coverage by failing to press the NFL for answers
Arlene M. Roberts, Huffington Post: Native Tongue: Speaking With a Caribbean Accent
As Candidate, Geraldo Would Have to Quit Fox
"Geraldo Rivera's stated interest in running for a Senate seat in New Jersey has been derided as a joke and a publicity stunt. But his employers are taking it seriously," Brian Stelter wrote Monday for the New York Times.
"He'd have to leave his weekend Fox News Channel show, 'Geraldo at Large,' as soon as he formally decided to run, a spokeswoman for the channel said.
". . . Mr. Rivera initially brought up his interest in running for the Senate seat on his talk radio show last Thursday. The one-year-old show is distributed by Cumulus. Asked whether Mr. Rivera would have to quit or suspend the show if he decided to run, a spokesman for the distributor said, 'Talk radio hosts talk about lots of things, and if at some point this is more than talk we'll address the issue appropriately then.' . . ."
Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor: Geraldo Rivera 'truly contemplating' run for Senate. Could he win?
Howard Kurtz, Daily Beast: Senator Geraldo Rivera? Seems Unlikely the Fox News Pundit Will Run
Joe Strupp, Media Matters: News Ethicists: Geraldo's Senate Run "A Clear Conflict" With His Media Posts
Misreading Guns and the Civil Rights Movement
"Rush Limbaugh thinks John Lewis should have been armed," Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote Saturday in his Miami Herald column.
" 'If a lot of African-Americans back in the '60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma?' he said recently on his radio show, referencing the 1965 voting rights campaign in which Lewis, now a congressman from Georgia, had his skull fractured by Alabama state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. 'If John Lewis had had a gun, would he have been beat upside the head on the bridge?'
"Right. Because a shootout between protesters and state troopers would have done so much more to secure the right to vote.
"Incredibly, that's not the stupidest thing anyone has said recently about the Civil Rights Movement.
"No, that distinction goes to one Larry Ward, who claimed in an appearance on CNN that Martin Luther King would have supported Ward's call for a Gun Appreciation Day 'if he were alive today.' In other words, the premiere American pacifist of the 20th century would be singing the praises of guns, except that he was shot in the face with one 45 years ago.
"Thus do social conservatives continue to rewrite the inconvenient truths of African-American history, repurposing that tale of incandescent triumph and inconsolable woe to make it useful within the crabbed corners of their failed and discredited dogma. . . ."
Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: Meet the man behind the lens of Philly's biggest black social events
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: Rosa Parks, Revisited
Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: Putting GOP clichés in their holsters
Lewis W. Diuguid, Kansas City Star: Lessons of black history are doubly important today
Derek Donovan, Kansas City Star: Be specific with gun terminology
Karen Dunlap, Poynter Institute: 4 lessons for media leaders from Martin Luther King Jr. and Gene Patterson (Jan. 21)
Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Teach kids the real story about race
Courtland Milloy, Washington Post: Washington Redskins and Negro Mountain: Two offensive names that need to be changed
Anthony Otero, HuffPost LatinoVoices: Afro-Latinos and Black History Month
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: No easy answers for gun woes
Mychal Denzel Smith, the Guardian, Britain: Why America needs White History Month
R. Thomas Umstead, Multichannel News: Cable Celebrates Black History Month
Michael Paul Williams, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch: Why is it legal to carry a rifle while shopping?
Clinton Yates, Washington Post: Whither Black History Month? The problem isn't the month, it's the history
Ballentine's Lawyers Say He May Win Hollow Victory
"Syndicated radio talk show host Warren Ballentine did not knowingly participate in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders of $9.7 million and is innocent of all charges filed against him in connection with the scam, his attorneys said," George E. Curry reported in his column for the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service.
"In separate telephone interviews with the NNPA News Service, Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. and Lewis Myers, Jr., a well-known attorney in Chicago, said they expect Ballentine to be fully vindicated.
" 'I have no doubt at all,' Ogletree said. 'This is not a close case -- we will win. But it doesn't matter now because all that is in the press is, "Celebrity Lawyer involved in $10 Million Scam." '
"The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, based in Chicago, announced a week ago that Ballentine had been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly engaging in two mortgage fraud schemes, one from Dec. 2004 to Feb. 2005 and another one from Feb. 2005 to May 2006. . . ."
Spanish-Language Paper Sees Pols' "Canny Politicking"
"For those who were waiting for news on the comprehensive immigration reform front, Monday's proposal by the Senate's so-called 'Gang of 8' (which includes both Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Robert Menendez) seemed a bipartisan first step," Al Día, a Spanish-language newspaper in Philadelphia, editorialized last week.
"Tuesday's proposal by President Obama shored up that first step without adding much more to it.
"It is a measure of how disastrous the discourse on immigration reform has become since the days of the Ted Kennedy-John McCain immigration reform bill of 2005 that both of the proposals seem such a step forward to so many of us.
"Both proposals have their problematic aspects.
"Obama extolled his deportation rate without so much as acknowledging that the [astronomical] number includes nearly as many ordinary heads of household as criminals.
"The senators proposed that a path to citizenship cannot be enacted until the border is deemed secure by an advisory committee comprised of selected governors, legislators, etc. Depending on who is selected (Arizona Governor Jan Brewer? House Immigration subcommittee members Lamar Smith and Steven King?) this advisory committee might block the institution of a path to citizenship for years.
"But the proposals we heard are canny politicking. . . .
Jerry Large, Seattle Times: Import talent, but nurture local potential, too
Douglas C. Lyons, South Florida SunSentinel: Memo to the far right: cut Marco Rubio some slack
Nick Jimenez, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times: What's in a name is what's in our hearts
Daniel M. Kowalski, Washington Post: Five myths about the immigration 'line'
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Splitting the difference on immigration
Ana Veciana-Suarez, Miami Herald: We're better than the hateful racial slurs
Sue Simmons, whose contract at WNBC-TV in New York was not renewed after a 32-year anchor run as anchor, told Jerry Barbash of FishbowlNY that she was not asked to help select her successor, Shiba Russell. ". . . '[It] comes from high above. I have no resentment, no whatsoever, toward Shiba,' Simmons says. 'She didn't hire herself. Someone hired her. It's her show now. She has to work this all out.' Simmons has mixed feelings about being replaced by another black woman. 'The positive of it is that another black person is employed in television in a high-visible spot,' Simmons counters. 'The negative of it for me is it looks like they're trying to duplicate. 'And then when Chuck goes, we'll all smile as they replace him with a blonde,' Simmons contends. 'And I think I know who it is... Gus Rosendale. . . . ' "
Layoffs at the Washington Times last month left its sports department devoid of black journalists. Affected were Carla Peay, who joined the Times in March 2011 as the beat writer for the Washington Wizards and the Washington Mystics pro basketball teams, and freelance columnist Deron Snyder, who joined the revived section in March 2011, writing up to three times a week. Sports editor Mike Harris wrote then, ". . . Deron is another strong voice who can get his point across without beating you over the head with a stick. While he was in Fort Myers, Fla., I wanted to hire him in Richmond and the position never came available. . . ."
"In honor of Black History Month, NBC's theGrio.com has announced its annual 'theGrio 100' list of 'African-American history makers and industry leaders who are making a difference in the lives of all Americans,' " Merrill Knox reported for TVNewser. "Media personalities on this year's list include NBC News Washington bureau chief Ken Strickland, ABC's 'Good Morning America' co-host Robin Roberts, 'Live! With Kelly and Michael' co-host Michael Strahan and daytime talk show host Wendy Williams. . . ."
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc., which owns the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times and runs a journalism education and research facility in St. Petersburg, "lost $3.8 million in 2011, a dramatic change from the year before when the organization lost a little more than $100,000," Richard Mullins reported Friday for the Tampa Tribune. The Form 990 return filed by tax-exempt organizations lists the salaries of Poynter officers and its then-media blogger, Jim Romenesko, who later left Poynter [PDF].
The South Asian Journalists Association's Broadcast Challenge reached its scheduled end date of Feb. 1 with $3,198 collected toward its $10,000 goal, according to the SAJA website. Current and former broadcasters created a challenge grant for SAJA members and friends that would match, dollar-for-dollar, all donations up to a total of $7,500, the organization had said. At a SAJA gala in Washington in July, Ali Velshi, CNN chief business anchor, said he contributed $2,000 toward a broadcast counterpart to the print-based SAJA Editors Challenge, which raised more than $20,000 the previous year for SAJA scholarships.
"Reuters columnist Felix Salmon writes Friday that the wire service is looking for journalists to work on its revamped website operation, which will launch in March. . . . " Chris Roush reported for Talking Biz News.
In August 1968, Katiti Kironde became the first woman of color to ever grace the cover of Glamour magazine, the Huffington Post's Julee Wilson wrote Friday in a Black History Month feature. "Kironde, who was 18-years-old at the time and an undergraduate at Harvard University, applied for Glamour's 'Top 10 Best Dressed College Girls' competition and won the highest honor. The issue was not only a milestone for the then 30-year-old publication, but it was also the first time that any black women had been featured on the cover of a mainstream women's fashion magazine in the United States. . . ."
"New Jersey's Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez surely wishes the allegations he faces, which include using his position to benefit a campaign contributor's business interests and patronizing prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, would just go away," Noah Rothman wrote Monday for Mediaite. "New Jersey's junior senator is getting no help from two of his home state papers in making the scandal disappear, however, as two of them recently published editorials voicing serious concerns about the allegations and Menendez's ability to perform ethically in office." The papers are the Star-Ledger in Newark and the Asbury Park Press in Neptune.
Jamesetta M. Walker, who had been writing a "Between the Seams" fashion and style column biweekly on Tuesdays for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and been an assignment editor on its Norfolk and Portsmouth news team, will write a column for the Sunday Business section "helping readers manage the business of life, particularly pocketbook issues," Walker told readers on Sunday.
"Where in the Caribbean can journalists be sent to prison for doing their job? The answer: Everywhere," Scott Griffen wrote Monday for the International Press Institute. "A comprehensive legal review conducted by the International Press Institute (IPI) confirmed that every independent state considered geographically or culturally part of the Caribbean maintains some form of criminal defamation that could result in imprisonment. . . ."
"Reporters Without Borders is deeply saddened to have just learned that Ayham Mostafa Ghazzoul, a contributor to the Damascus-based Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), died under torture four days after being arrested on 5 November 2012," the press freedom organization said Friday.
In Brazil, "Reporters Without Borders notes that Mauricio Sampaio, the former deputy chairman of the Atlético-Goiás football club, was arrested during the weekend on suspicion of hiring a hit man to murder sports journalist Valério Luiz de Oliveira in Goiânia, the capital of the central state Goiás, last July," the organization reported Monday. "A reporter for Radio Jornal 820 AM, Luiz was one of a total of five journalists who were killed in connection with their work last year in Brazil. . . . "
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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.
Diversity-Friendly NBC News President Leaving
Television head Capus has announced his departure.
Antoine Sanfuentes Gains Increased Responsibilities
Steve Capus, the president of NBC News who in 2007 received the Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for his diversity efforts, is stepping down, he told colleagues Friday. His move means an expanded role for Antoine Sanfuentes, senior vice president of NBC News and Capus' chief deputy.
"Working in network news is not a solitary pursuit; it is the ultimate 'team sport,' " Capus said in a memo to colleagues, "in which success is derived from the collective performances of remarkable people united in purpose and dedication. I have seldom described my role as 'presiding' over NBC News. Instead, I have viewed it as leading a collaborative effort to pursue journalistic excellence.
"It has been a privilege to have spent two decades here, but it is now time to head in a new direction. I have informed Pat Fili-Krushel that I will be leaving NBC News in the coming weeks.
"Of course, it is an extremely difficult decision to walk away from a place that has been the backdrop for everything in my life since 1993. . . ."
Fili-Krushel, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, said in her own memo that ". . . Antoine, in addition to overseeing the Washington Bureau and 'Meet the Press,' will serve as interim managing editor responsible for editorial decision making, Specials and Standards and Practices.
"Reporting to Antoine will be Cheryl Gould, Mark Lukasiewicz and David McCormick. Antoine also will run the Daily Share meetings," according to a memo published by Dylan Byers in Politico. Gould is senior vice president of NBC News, Lukasiewicz oversees digital media and specials and McCormick is executive producer, broadcast standards and ombudsman.
The Daily Share is the daily NBC News Group editorial call/meeting, during which all NBC divisions "share" their editorial plans — including "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "Dateline"/"Rock Center," the NBC affiliates, MSNBC, CNBC, special projects, the Weather Channel, Telemundo and digital properties. Sanfuentes, whose father is Chilean, also leads NBC's Diversity Council.
Capus received the Wells award, then presented by NABJ and the Association of Opinion Journalists, formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers, in part for his actions during the Don Imus affair, in which the radio host described the Rutgers women's basketball team in racist and sexist terms. Capus ended MSNBC's simulcasting of the Imus show from CBS-owned WFAN radio in New York.
The NBC News executive was also praised then for appointing two African American vice presidents, Mark Whitaker and Lyne Pitts, both of whom have since left the network. Capus said he was proud of the diversity-friendly culture at NBC. He noted that the GE African American Forum, part of the NBCUniversal operation, had raised $100,000 for the NABJ scholarship fund, and said his network's commitment shows in its coverage.
The Grio, an NBC-owned daily newsmagazine focused on African Americans, was created on Capus' watch, as was a partnership between the Grio and NewsOne.
“With the African-American audience representing one of the fastest growing consumer segments online, this partnership is a huge growth opportunity for both TheGrio and NewsOne," Capus said in a 2011 release. "This is a smart play for both sides as we combine the best of these two platforms to enhance African-American journalism."
David A. Wilson, Grio founder and executive editor, told Journal-isms by email, "Steve Capus will definitely be missed at NBC News. His unwavering commitment to excellence and diversity in news has become a part of the fabric of the news division. In 2008, when I first pitched Steve the idea of launching what would become theGrio.com — a web platform focused on the African-American audience that would leverage NBC News' resources and reach — Steve immediately saw the importance and need for it. He pushed the idea ahead and became our biggest advocate. He expanded on that vision by launching NBCLatino.com. Though Steve is moving on, we can all be proud of what we've done to promote diversity at NBC News to date and will continue to carry it forward."
David Bauder of the Associated Press reported that "While NBC News stood at the top of the ratings during most of his tenure, the decline of the 'Today' show over the past year was a major blight on the division. Six months ago, NBC's corporate parents installed Pat Fili-Krushel to oversee the division, diminishing Capus' influence."
It added that Capus was a long-time producer for Brian Williams' newscasts before being installed as head of the news division in 2005.
Brian Stelter, media writer for the New York Times, tweeted, "Capus's exit has been rumored ever since Pat Fili-Krushel was put in charge of all of NBC's news assets 6 months ago."
He added later, ". . . a restructuring six months ago foreshadowed Friday’s announcement.
"Steve Burke, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, consolidated all of NBC’s news units — NBC News, MSNBC and the business news channel CNBC — under a new umbrella, the NBCUniversal News Group, and he named one of his most trusted lieutenants, Ms. Fili-Krushel, to run it. Mr. Capus, who previously reported directly to Mr. Burke, now reported to Ms. Fili-Krushel.
"Mr. Capus made no secret of his unhappiness with the restructuring. His contract had a clause that allowed him to leave in the event that he no longer reported to Mr. Burke, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement at NBC. He decided to exercise that right after months of contemplation, according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized by the network to speak publicly. . . ."
Michael Malone, Broadcasting & Cable: NBC Affiliates Salute Departing Capus for Strong Network News Product
CNN Denies Exec Called Morning Viewers "Too Ethnic"
A CNN spokeswoman denied Friday that CNN Senior Vice President Bart Feder complained that the viewership of the "Early Start" and "Starting Point" morning programs was "too ethnic," based on the high concentration of minority viewers.
"The quotes attributed to Bart Feder in the FishbowlDC's blog are false," Christal Jones told Journal-isms in an email. She did not respond when asked what Feder actually said.
In discussing the future of CNN correspondent and anchor Soledad O'Brien, Betsy Rothstein wrote Wednesday in FishbowlDC, ". . . Many staffers were stunned when Feder constantly complained that the viewership of 'Early Start' and 'Starting Point' was 'too ethnic,' based on the high concentration of minority viewers. This common complaint worked itself up through the company, to CNN's Diversity Committee, and to other staffers, who were mortified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers."
Rothstein later added this note: "UPDATE: To clarify, Feder’s issue with 'Starting Point' was that the audience was too small and happened to be predominately comprised of minorities. A source close to the show insists that the ethnicity of the audience was never the issue, it was the size. Feder in no way meant to imply that the audience was too ethnic."
Ed Koch Was Lightning Rod for 2 Black Journalists
Edward I. Koch, the feisty New York mayor who died Friday at age 88, was a lightning rod for at least two New York black journalists during his three terms at Gracie Mansion: the late Wilbert Tatum, editor and publisher of the weekly New York Amsterdam News, and Les Payne, columnist for Newsday.
Reporting Tatum's death in 2009, Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins wrote in the Village Voice, ". . . In the 1980s, he memorably pounded away at former Mayor Ed Koch in a weekly column that ran on the paper's front page for more than two years. Week after week, it carried the same headline: 'Koch Must Resign.' Years later, he urged Rudy Giuliani to do the same. . . ."
Payne emailed Journal-isms, ". . . as a weekly columnist, I carried on a long-running shootout with Koch WHILE HE WAS MAYOR THOSE 12 YEARS, WITH THE REST OF THE CITY MEDIA, SAVE THE VILLAGE VOICE, KISSING HIZZONER'S BIGOTED ASS.
"Several times, on official New York Mayor stationery, Koch wrote and asked Newsday to fire me, and once the Editor came very, very close, the closest I'd come to getting fired at the paper.
"Also, for what it's worth, he included me and my attacks on him in several of his jive books.
"Beyond catering to his people, Koch, unlike even Geo. Wallace, went out of his way to offend black New Yorkers, far beyond any requirement of 'taking care of your own.' Wallace, at least had the cover, and thus the excuse of doing the bidding of his constituent white-racist voting majority. . . ."
Koch was aware of the antipathy toward him on racial grounds in some circles. Responding to a critical review by scholar Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in the New York Review of Books, Koch wrote, ". . . no racial disturbances or violence have marred my terms. They did mar the terms of my three 'fair-minded' predecessors.
"Nor could one expect Dr. Schlesinger to regard as significant the fact that in the 1981 general election I received 60% of the black vote, 70% of the Hispanic vote and carried every Assembly District in the City of New York. . . . "
Paul Schwartzman explained in the Washington Post: Koch's mayoralty ". . . was defined by several racially charged crimes, including one in 1984 in which Bernhard Goetz, a white man who became known in the headlines as the 'Subway Vigilante,' shot four black men he believed were about to mug him aboard a subway train. Five years later, five black and Hispanic teenagers were accused of raping and beating a woman jogging in Central Park, an attack that Mr. Koch branded at the time as 'the crime of the century.'
"The convictions of the men were later overturned, a saga that became the subject of a recent Ken Burns documentary, 'Central Park Five.'
"Four months after the jogger case dominated the headlines, Yusef Hawkins, a 16-year-old African American, was shot to death after he and three friends were attacked in the white neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. Hawkins' death prompted the activist Al Sharpton to lead protest marches through the neighborhood, at which white onlookers mocked the marchers by holding up watermelons."
On Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" co-host Juan Gonzalez, who is also a columnist at the Daily News in New York, cited Koch's "very hostile relationship with African American and Latino community," but said Koch had "launched a huge low-income housing program" and concluded, "people who look back now at his period of time will say, 'Well, Mayor, you did pretty well,' for a figure who was so long on the political scene."
Wayne Dawkins, Politics In Color: Koch rebuilt N.Y., often at the expense of blacks, poor
Editorial, Daily News, New York: Ed Koch, a great mayor and a New Yorker through and through, dies at 88
Jack Mirkinson, Huffington Post: New York Times Revises Ed Koch Obit To Include AIDS
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Central Park jogger case still lacks justice
Les Payne, the Nation: The Post's Stimulus Chimp (2009)
Syndicate Backs Off Column on Vietnamese Food Choices
Tribune Media Services retreated Friday from an opinion column by former New York Times reporter Joel Brinkley that alleged that Vietnamese people eat birds, squirrels, rats and dogs. The piece, which drew outrage from some readers, "did not meet our journalistic standards," the news service said in an editor's note.
". . . TMS has a rigorous editing process for its content, and in the case of Brinkley’s column that moved Jan. 29, all the required steps did not occur. We regret that this happened, and we will be vigilant in ensuring that our editing process works in the future," the note said.
Brinkley, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his reporting from Cambodia, began his column, "You don't have to spend much time in Vietnam before you notice something unusual. You hear no birds singing, see no squirrels scrambling up trees or rats scurrying among the garbage. No dogs out for a walk.
"In fact, you see almost no wild or domesticated animals at all. Where'd they all go? You might be surprised to know: Most have been eaten."
Brinkley is the Hearst visiting professional in residence at Stanford University.
The Vietnamese publication Thanh Nien reported Friday, " 'Vietnam isn't the monster portrayed in the article,' Jake Brunner, program coordinator for Vietnam with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told Vietweek.
"Brinkley’s attention-grabbing opener was a misrepresentation of reality, other conservationists say.
" . . . The journalism professor, however, could see no merit in all the criticism he has faced. He dismissed it as 'borne of hysteria.'
" 'I stand by my reporting,' he told Vietweek. 'I've spent a great deal of time in the region,' he said."
Jim Romenesko blog: Joel Brinkley Defends His Vietnamese Diet Article
John-Hall, Philly Columnist Six Years, Takes Buyout
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer metro columnist since 2007, wrote a farewell column to readers Friday after taking a buyout.
" . . . I'm guessing that fully a third of my commentaries focused on the city's homicides — and the young African American men who were the victims as well as the perpetrators," she wrote. "In November 2007, with a homicide rate at 336 and counting, I wept while writing a column about my love for black men:
" 'I am a black woman who was raised by a black man, married a black man, and gave birth to a black son. Which is why it breaks my heart to even think this, let alone write it: I'm starting to profile black men.'
"That admission generated hundreds of e-mails and phone calls, and landed me on a couple of national news programs. I made sure to note that my fear of black men wasn't so much of them as for them. . . ."
John-Hall told Journal-isms that she did not know what she would do next. "I'm open to anything — communications, writing a book, teaching, doing another form of journalism, even going back to school," she said by email. "The nice thing about taking a buyout is that it gives you a little bit of a cushion to decompress, focus and decide."
The number of African American newspaper columnists is shrinking as newspapers continue to downsize. An astonishing 10 African American metro or op-ed columnists stopped writing their columns in 2011, and most were not replaced by another journalist of color. In 2012, Eugene Kane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel left the paper but continues to write a Sunday column.
Associated Press: Harry Belafonte: Blacks should participate in gun debate
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: The National Regulation-Resisters Association
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: School shootings, street shootings; is there any legislation that can stop the carnage?
John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times: Obama should lead fight for safe Chicago streets
Jeremy Gorner and Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune: January homicide count worst since 2002
Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: The gun lesson that too many parents refuse to learn until it's too late
Violence Policy Center: Missouri Leads Nation in Black Homicide Victimization for Third Year in a Row
Maybe AP Could Use a "Rooney Rule" for Itself
Barry Wilner of the Associated Press wrote on Friday: "Three black former NFL head coaches say the league needs to rethink its Rooney Rule for promoting minority hiring after 15 top vacancies — eight head coaching jobs and seven general manager positions — were all filled by white candidates since the regular season ended a month ago. . . ."
Straightforward enough, but it doesn't capture the irony, according to a Journal-isms correspondent. Wilner writes for the Associated Press, where, according to sports journalists, only three full-time African American sports reporters or editors work among a number estimated at 90 to 100 worldwide. That's not counting stringers or those who split their time between sports and other departments.
The three are Oscar Dixon, Atlanta-based South regional sports editor, reporter Fred Goodall in Tampa and reporter Gary Graves in Louisville, Ky.
In 2011, reporting that the percentage of sports editors at websites and newspapers who were women or people of color fell 2.3 percentage points — from 11.7 percent in 2008 to 9.42 percent in 2010 — Richard Lapchick, the report's primary author, called for a news media version of the Rooney Rule.
The recommendation apparently received no traction. AP spokeswoman Erin Madigan White, asked how many African Americans were in AP sports departments, emailed Friday, "Those numbers are not available."
Meanwhile, Duane Rankin of the Erie (Pa.) Times-News starts Monday as a sports reporter/columnist at the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. Rankin is a 1993 graduate of the first class of the Sports Journalism Institute.
Executive Editor Wanda Lloyd told Journal-isms that Gregory H. Lee Jr., president of the National Association of Black Journalists, posted a notice of the opening for her on NABJ's Sports Task Force listserve. "We are excited to have him," she said, speaking of Rankin. "The true power of NABJ networking," Lloyd said.
Journalists Help Hmong Weather Minnesota Storms
"Fingertips blackened by frostbite. Cars buried in snow up to their windows. Tornadoes swirling at a frenzied 120 miles per hour. Temperatures rising to 100-plus degrees," Gail Rosenblum wrote Thursday for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
"A multimedia presentation Tuesday offered the cold, hard fact that Minnesota has some of the world's greatest weather extremes. And it was potentially lifesaving news to those in attendance, who sat in rapt attention.
"KSTP news anchor Joy Lim Nakrin and KSTP meteorologist Jonathan Yuhas delivered the afternoon presentation to about 40 members of the Hmong community at the Lao Family Community Center in St. Paul. Many are new arrivals understandably ill-prepared for our capricious climate.
"With the assistance of a Hmong interpreter, Yuhas used slides and video footage to explain windchill and the heat index, how to be safe in a tornado and why it's really dumb to drive a car over a freshly frozen lake or river.
"The outreach is largely the vision of Nakrin, newly named vice president of the Asian American Journalists Association-Minnesota. Nakrin, whose mother is Chinese, is sensitive to potential cultural and language barriers.
" 'Coming from an immigrant family myself, I'm always heartbroken to hear how the challenges of finding one's way in a new country can be harmful or potentially deadly.' . . . "
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: Obama’s big immigration opportunity
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: No Risk for President Obama in Immigration Reform Fight
Pew Hispanic Center: A Nation of Immigrants: A Portrait of the 40 Million, Including 11 Million Unauthorized
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Immigration reform is a solvable problem
April D. Ryan blog: Immigration: A Black Story
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Immigration: Republicans make nice, but are their hearts true?
Michael D. Shear, New York Times: On Immigration, a Campaign-Style Push in Hispanic Media
Network Confirms Canceling Warren Ballentine
A spokesman for Reach Media, which with Radio One syndicated the Warren Ballentine radio show, confirmed it on Friday:
". . . effective Thursday January 31st, 2013, The Warren Ballentine Show was replaced with Trending Today. Warren Ballentine is no longer with Reach Media," spokesman Marty Raab told Journal-isms by email. Ballentine claimed 3 million listeners.
"Trending Today will showcase compelling hosts in the interim period that can continue to lead engaging discussions that are important to the community," Raab continued. "The current host of Trending Today is Gerod Stevens."
Annie Sweeney reported in the Chicago Tribune Monday, "A south suburban attorney and national radio host who bills himself as the 'people's attorney' has been charged in a $10 million mortgage fraud scheme, federal officials announced today.
"Warren Ballentine was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for defrauding lenders by scheming with others to obtain nearly 30 bogus mortgage loans, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago. . . . "
Ballentine wrote on his Facebook page Thursday, "to all the truthfighters thank you I TRIED. Reach Media/ radio one just canceled my show. I was accused not found guilty of anything and they do this dont care about my kid me or the listeners. Well I guess Im finding out who really is with me now I guess I will be homeless soon."
"Within 24 hours of posting openings for the majority of their new positions, Al Jazeera America received 5000 applications for open positions, a number that has grown to 8,063 over the past three days, a network source told BuzzFeed," Andrew Kaczynski wrote Wednesday for BuzzFeed.
"Television personality and radio host Geraldo Rivera announced Thursday he's 'truly contemplating' a run for Senate in New Jersey" as a Republican, Jonathan Easley reported Thursday for the Hill. "David Frum, CNN contributor and columnist for The Daily Beast, greeted the news with laughter," Noah Rothman wrote Thursday for Mediaite. "Frum found the notion that Rivera is thinking about a political career to be funny, and said that the Republican Party's general weakness invites weak candidates. . . ."
"It came down to the wire, but 'CBS Evening News' anchor Scott Pelley will sit down with President Obama before the Super Bowl on Sunday," Alex Weprin reported Thursday for TVNewser. "Pelley’s interview will air live at 4:30 PM, in advance of the big game. . . ."
The National Association of Caribbean-American Journalists said Volkswagen's Super Bowl commercial featuring white and Asian male office workers speaking with a noticeably Jamaican accent ". . . is not racist and lay the problem . . . at the feet of mainstream journalists, who erroneously branded the ad as racist." Jamaican-born Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher John Farley objected strongly to the commercial, and New York Times columnist Charles Blow called it “Blackface with voices," Luke Visconti wrote Friday for Diversity Inc. But Caribbean groups approved of the ad, Ann-Christine Diaz reported Thursday for Ad Age. This columnist was quoted on the subject Wednesday by Paul Farhi in the Washington Post. SandalsResorts posted "Jamaica's Spoof of VW Superbowl Ad: 'The Germaican' " [video].
"Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh says he will not run for mayor and plans to return to broadcast television," columnist Rochelle Riley reported Friday in the Detroit Free Press. "His decision will end the tenure of the city's first openly gay council member and have a major impact on November's mayoral election, where a poll last fall placed him among the top three contenders. . . ."
In a column Thursday for the Huffington Post, NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reviewed the HBO series "Girls." ". . . Last season the show was criticized for being too white. Watching a full season could leave a viewer snow blind," Abdul-Jabbar wrote. "This season that white ghetto was breached by a black character who is introduced as some jungle fever lover, with just enough screen time to have sex and mutter a couple of lines about wanting more of a relationship. A black dildo would have sufficed and cost less. . . . "
Actor Jeremy Renner has been signed to star in the thriller "Kill the Messenger," based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb, who committed suicide after being denounced for his articles alleging CIA involvement in helping Nicaragua's Contra rebels import cocaine into California in the 1980s, particularly into black neighborhoods, Pamela McClintock reported Thursday for the Hollywood Reporter.
"The oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the country turns 100 this year," the Huffington Post reported on Friday. 'New York’s El Diario/La Prensa will celebrate its centenary with a series of events over the course of this year aimed at highlighting the paper’s role in the city. . . ."
"The Board of Directors of the International Women's Media Foundation has appointed Elisa Lees Muñoz as executive director," Editor & Publisher reported Friday. "Muñoz brings more than 20 years of experience in human rights and media development leading organizations that promote the rule of law, press freedom and the engagement, training and leadership of women in the news media around the world. . . . "
"RTDNA honors outstanding achievements in the coverage of diversity with the RTDNA / UNITY Award," the Radio Television Digital News Association announced. "The award is part of the covenant the association has adopted to achieve diversity in the newsroom through developing news content and editorial staffs that reflect the changing face of communities. The purpose of the award is to encourage and showcase journalistic excellence in covering issues of race and ethnicity. It is presented annually to news organizations that show and ongoing commitment to covering the diversity of the communities they serve." Deadline for nominations is Feb. 8.
"Appellate courts in Brazil should overturn a decision ordering journalist Lúcio Flavio Pinto to pay more than $200,000 in damages in connection with a libel suit," the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. ". . . Pinto also blogs for Yahoo and has reported on drug trafficking, environmental devastation, and political and corporate corruption in the region for more than 45 years. He has been physically assaulted, threatened, and targeted with dozens of criminal and civil defamation lawsuits as a result of his investigative work, CPJ research shows. In 2005, CPJ honored Pinto with its International Press Freedom Award, an annual recognition of courageous reporting. . . ."
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"The announcement that CNN is totally revamping its morning show and scrapping Soledad O'Brien's 'Starting Point' has sent shivers through her staff," Betsy Rothstein wrote Wednesday for FishbowlDC.
"Insiders tell us Executive VP Ken Jautz and VP Bart Feder addressed the staff after the show went off the air today. Suffice it to say, the era of Jeff Zucker is under way.
"In a nutshell, the execs said they have no answers for the staff and were unable to address most of their questions. Members of the staff were assured their jobs were safe, but one veteran of the changing show carousel at CNN says they would be naive to believe that.
" 'Every single one of these people should be preparing their resumes and trying to get out of that building as fast as possible,' a network insider told FishbowlDC, explaining that staffers are worried for their jobs. The prevailing feeling is that O'Brien, who previously worked with Zucker at NBC, will end up in another role.
"For the month of January, 'Starting Point' drew an average of 264,000 viewers. MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' drew 468,000 and FNC's 'Fox & Friends' drew 1.07 million. 'Morning Express' on HLN drew 218,000. The broadcast shows (CBS, ABC, NBC) drew millions more than any of the aforementioned programs. In other words, 'Starting Point' is behind everyone except its sister network HLN, and HLN is getting close.
". . . Many staffers were stunned when Feder constantly complained that the viewership of 'Early Start' and 'Starting Point' was 'too ethnic,' based on the high concentration of minority viewers. This common complaint worked itself up through the company, to CNN's Diversity Committee, and to other staffers, who were mortified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers.
"For all of the talk that 'Starting Point' has been a failure, CNN execs have few to blame. Phil Kent, CEO of Turner, CNN's parent company, is said to have hated the show and O'Brien in particular. Sources say he routinely ripped the show in the past six months."
Still, "A CNN spokeswoman said in an e-mail Tuesday, 'Soledad is very important to the network, and we're discussing various options with her,' " Brian Stelter reported for the New York Times.
Dylan Byers and Mackenzie Weinger added Tuesday night, "Jeff Zucker promised to change CNN. He's doing so, and fast.
"In the past 24 hours, CNN has poached yet another big name from ABC News, dropped one top executive and seen the departure of three well-known contributors, and announced the launch of a new morning program that, according to network sources, will have ripple effects on the prime-time programming."
". . . On Tuesday, CNN hired Chris Cuomo, the co-anchor of ABC’s '20/20,' to co-host a new morning show. Meanwhile, POLITICO confirmed that political power couple James Carville and Mary Matalin, who have been with the network since the early '90s, will be leaving the network. Conservative commentator and Red State blogger Erick Erickson is also out the door, reportedly en route to Fox News. Most significantly, executive vice president and managing editor Mark Whitaker announced he was stepping down to give Zucker 'his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff.' "
Zucker is not giving interviews, a CNN spokeswoman told Journal-isms, and what is being written is largely speculation, she said. But that speculation does not seem to include people of color.
In Zucker's introductory conference call in November with the nation's media reporters, none of the questions concerned diversity.
Journal-isms posed this question to Zucker afterward through CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson:
"How long does he think it will be before there is a weekday, prime-time anchor of color: African American, Hispanic, Asian American or Native American?"
The answer: "I hope you understand that it would be premature to engage on any programming or talent decisions at this time. I'm sure you gathered that from the call today."
Alexander Abad-Santos, the Atlantic: This Is Jeff Zucker's CNN Overhaul
Sidmel Estes, Sisters Who Have Something to Say blog: The Writing is on the Wall
Brian Stelter, New York Times: CNN President Tries to Repeat Success in Morning News
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: Soledad O'Brien’s CNN future undetermined
Famuan Reappears With J-Director's Blast at Critics
The Famuan, the student newspaper at Florida A&M University, reappeared as scheduled Wednesday after the school administration ordered a "delay" in publication in mid-January while students received additional training.
The edition included a "Letter to the FAMU Community" by Valerie D. White, director of the Division of Journalism, that took to task media coverage of the publication's suspension and criticized the student editor who lost his post during the hiatus and discussed it with reporters. Faculty adviser Andrew Skerritt was "reassigned," not "fired," White said.
White denounced a "flawed saga of untruths" that "has played out on the national stage." Her essay, written in space she said she purchased, was not included in the Famuan's online edition.
"I am amused that so many outsiders think they are equipped to question our decision based solely on one source," White wrote, apparently referring to ousted editor Karl Etters, who told his story to the news media in stories in which the administration declined to comment. "These same outsiders should know that we cannot speak due to the lawsuit, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and privacy concerning personnel matters."
The publication delay was indirectly related to accreditation issues and to drum major Robert Champion's well-publicized hazing death in November 2011. "Investigations revealed many band members were not enrolled in the music course as required. Since then all student organizations on campus have come under more strict requirements," Jennifer Portman reported earlier in the Tallahassee Democrat. The Famuan was one of those organizations.
Moreover, a Dec. 2, 2011, article in the Famuan incorrectly stated that senior Keon Hollis was one of four drum majors suspended in connection with Champion's death. Hollis filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, university and its board of trustees. Etters was not editor at the time the article was published, but new Dean Ann Wead Kimbrough decided that the staff needed more training.
White's article did not answer the chief question raised by such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists and the Student Press Law Center, which have been critical of the decision to "delay" its next issue: why the Famuan could not have continued publication while the students received the training the school said they needed.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the privacy of student education records. While White's essay did not clarify its relationship to the Famuan delay, Portman's story said, "The publication postponement comes amid an ongoing review of the journalism school's student media outlets and associated student organizations, which revealed more than 20 of the roughly 100 various group members failed to meet grade-point and enrollment requirements last fall."
Student Press Law Center: After 25 years, impact of Hazelwood on student journalism is mixed, experts say
Univision Viewers' Immigration Concern: Deportation
The most commonly asked question from Univision viewers who were told that the network planned to interview President Obama was, "Under your plan what would happen to those who already have deportation letters. Also, would parents of U.S.-born children who have been deported be able to come back under your plan?," co-anchor Maria Elena Salinas told Obama Wednesday.
Obama replied, "Well, what I'm going to do is allow the Senate to work on these details. I don't want to, you know, fill in all the blanks. Because otherwise I would have gone ahead and put a bill forward. And then sometimes that creates a dynamic in Congress where if I'm for it, then maybe some people have to be against it.
"I think these are all legitimate questions. I think that over the next several weeks, these next several months, what we'll see is many of these issues will be debated. But the basic principle would be, from my perspective, that somebody who has lived here has been overall a good neighbor … has been somebody who's been law abiding other than the fact that they came here illegally. That have put roots down here. That they should have the capacity to earn citizenship. And we'll have to make a whole range of decisions about individual cases. And we'll have to create a structure to make sure that that works.
"And as I said, we've got to make sure that we streamline the process for legal immigration because so much of the illegal immigration process has resulted because it's so difficult for many people to reunify with their families, and so forth."
Obama also said "he hopes immigration reform can be passed into law by June, but in the meantime he has no plans to halt or slow deportations, despite pleas from advocates," Elise Foley reported for the Huffington Post.
"Obama gave interviews to two Spanish-language outlets, Univision and Telemundo, on Wednesday, the day after he delivered a major speech on immigration reform. He argued that much of the legislative work on the issue is already done, given years of work by a number of members of Congress and his own administration. Now, the struggle is about convincing lawmakers to sign on, he told Telemundo's José Díaz-Balart. . . . "
Black America Web: Sharpton Says to Blacks on Immigration: 'Let's Not Fight Each Other'
Richard Lui, MSNBC: Other minority groups over looked in undocumented immigrants debate (video)
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Skeptical on immigration reform
Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today Media Network: Who You Calling an Immigrant?
Black-Press Chief Says Obama Campaign Retaliated
"The Obama campaign got mad and dropped advertising in black newspapers due to [a] letter about its lack of spending in black newspapers, the National Newspaper Publishers Association Chairman Cloves Campbell [Jr.] said," Robert "Rob" Redding reported Wednesday in his Redding News Review.
"The Obama campaign had been asked to spend as much as $20 million with black newspapers, Campbell told this reporter's Redding News Review radio program. The administration only ended up spending about $1 million of its $999 million in advertising budget with black newspapers -- compared to President Clinton's estimated $3 million when he was running.
"Campbell said when he wrote a letter called 'Show me the money' the Obama campaign pulling all the money from black newspapers that were not in swing states. . . . "
" 'They told me that I should apologize for writing the article,' he told Redding News Review."
Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign official Campbell said he contacted, did not respond to a request from Journal-isms for comment. Campbell argued that the black press was owed the advertising money because of the black community's support of Obama.
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: Obama's powerful embrace of Hillary Clinton
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Altering Electoral College count is ridiculous
Network Story Count Favored Romney Over Obama
"Despite all the critics who complained the news coverage of Campaign 2012 favored President Obama, the new Tyndall Report tells a different story," Mike Cavender wrote last week for the Radio Television Digital News Association.
"Each year, Andrew Tyndall releases his analysis of how the Big Three networks covered the news of the year. Tyndall and his team catalogue every network newscast and [dissect] the coverage into such categories as story content, datelines and correspondents featured.
"On the list of the 20 most-covered stories of the year, Campaign 2012 took the #1 spot -- at least as far as Mitt Romney's campaign was concerned. A total of 479 stories were reported about the Romney campaign -- divided among ABC, CBS and NBC. Each broadcast about 160 Romney stories.
"But when it came to the Obama re-election effort, that story ranked 12th on the top 20 list, with a total of only 157 stories. . . .
Cartoonist Denies "Mallard Fillmore" Racism
Bruce Tinsley, the cartoonist behind the right-wing strip "Mallard Fillmore," denies that his reference to "the rodent community" on the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday had anything to do with King.
Barry Saunders, columnist for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., wrote Monday of Tinsley's strip, ". . . The vitriol has increased since Obama's re-election, and it boiled over last week in the strip the day after the nation re-inaugurated him and celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In that strip, Tinsley compared people who celebrate King's life and legacy to rodents. . . ."
Tinsley replied Wednesday through a spokeswoman for King Features Syndicate. "If this 'journalist' were really interested in the facts, he'd do a little reporting, and find that Mallard often references Squirrel Appreciation Day, January 21," Tinsley's emailed message began. "It just happened to fall on MLK day this year. My daughter's birthday is January 21, and she pointed out to me, years ago, that it's also Squirrel Appreciation Day.
"It's become something of a leitmotif in Mallard for him to get angry emails from 'Squirrel Advocacy Groups' every year, attributing evil motives to his ongoing indifference to their holiday. I do this to parody the actual emails I get from every group imaginable, angry that I've overlooked their particular pet holiday.
" 'Racism' has become the ubiquitous charge of everybody who can't win an argument. (I understand that Mayor Bloomberg's proposed big-soft-drink ban is now being attacked as racist). I challenge anyone to find any instance of actual racism in Mallard, ever."
Interviewing Prisoners of War Can Add to Their Abuse
"A small number of journalists reporting from Syria have recently interviewed prisoners of war under highly coercive circumstances. In doing so, they have ignored the protections that are due to prisoners under international humanitarian law, or IHL," Dan Saxon, a former senior prosecutor at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, wrote Tuesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
"These interviews raise important questions regarding the responsibilities of journalists in armed conflict. To what extent should journalists be expected to understand the principles and obligations of IHL? To what extent should reporters, editors, and publishers apply these principles to their work? Finally (and most complex), how should journalists balance the tensions between the public interest in the free dissemination of information and the protections accorded prisoners of war and other detainees in an armed conflict?' . . ."
Saxon argues that the international media in Syria have not always properly balanced the tensions between the right to impart and receive information and the protections to be accorded prisoners of war, "resulting in exploitation and abuse of prisoners of war.
" . . . such broadcasts by major media outlets may encourage media-savvy belligerents holding prisoners to mount more propaganda exercises using exploited detainees. . . . "
War Pushes Mali Far Down on Press-Freedom List
"Mali has plummeted in Reporters Without Borders' annual press freedom index," the press-freedom organization reported Wednesday. "An African front-runner for years, Mali is now languishing in the bottom half of the table. The usual suspects bookended the index.
"Conflict-ridden Mali used to be an African high-flyer in Reporters Without Borders' annual World Press Freedom Index.
"As the country's civil war intensified in 2012, however, press freedom nosedived -- with the global watchdog relegating the west-African country from 25th position in 2011 down to 99th position. . . ."
For its annual listing, "Reporters Without Borders factors in issues including access to information, reprisals, violence against journalists, variety of media, legislations pertaining to journalism, internet access and censorship when compiling its annual barometer."
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Timbuktu attack shows Islamists can't deal with the future or the past
Reporters Without Borders: 2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed hopes after spring
James Ron and Emilie Hafner Burton, Columbia Journalism Review: What region gets the most coverage of its human rights abuses?
Warren Ballentine, the nationally syndicated radio host who has been indicted on accusations that he was behind a $10 million mortgage fraud, wrote on Facebook Wednesday that his show has been canceled. "to all the truthfighters thank you I TRIED. Reach Media/ radio one just canceled my show. I was accused not found guilty of anything and they do this dont care about my kid me or the listeners. Well I guess Im finding out who really is with me now I guess I will be homeless soon," his message said. Ballentine claimed 3 million listeners. Spokesmen for Reach Media and Radio One could not be reached for comment.
"Rupert Murdoch, the media tycoon whose British newspaper outpost has been mired in a phone hacking scandal, took the unusual step of apologizing personally for a cartoon printed in one of his titles here, The Sunday Times of London, that depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel building a bloody wall trapping the bodies of Palestinians," Alan Cowell reported from London Tuesday for the New York Times.
"Neal Justin of AAJA-Minnesota and Ken Moritsugu of AAJA-Asia have been nominated for the position of AAJA Vice President for Print," the Asian American Journalists Association announced on Tuesday. "AAJA is holding a special election to fill the remainder of the term for the position, held by Tom Lee until he resigned for personal reasons in mid-January. Nominations were due Jan. 28."
David Barboza, Shanghai bureau chief of the New York Times, has been a target of Chinese hackers who have persistently attacked the Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees, Nicole Perlroth reported Wednesday for the Times. An article by Barboza in October disclosed the wealth of the family of China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao. Barboza's seven brothers include writer Steven Barboza and photographer Anthony Barboza.
"Buried in the Society of Professional Journalists president's winter meeting notes is news that SPJ will no longer produce a print version of its Working Press newspaper at SPJ's annual conference," Jim Romenesko reported Wednesday on his media news blog.
"It's shaping up as a momentous week on the Hollywood trades staffing front," Richard Horgan wrote Tuesday for FishbowlLA. " . . . The marquee addition is Marc Bernardin (pictured) as senior editor. He comes over to [The Hollywood Reporter] from Entertainment Weekly and was previously a contributing editor for io9.com, managing editor of Starlog magazine and a consulting editor for Fangoria. Bernardin has also written a range of comic books. . . ."
"A word to the wise: do not mess with WKMG reporter Jessica Sanchez when she's on the air," Merrill Knox wrote Wednesday for TVSpy, referring to the Orlando television station. "Sanchez was reporting live from Bourbon Street in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl when a woman interrupted her, walking into her shot and yelling at the camera. Sanchez quickly turned the tables on the crasher: 'We were just talking about the STD rate that's going on here. So how long have you had an STD?' Sanchez asked her. . . . "
"They will argue. They will bicker. They will poke fun at each other," David Scott wrote Friday for ESPN. "And that will just be the first 30 seconds of ESPN Audio's newest podcast, His & Hers with Michael Smith & Jemele Hill, which debuts next Monday, Feb. 4 on the front page ESPNRadio.com, ESPN PodCenter and on iTunes. . . ."
Among an eclectic mix of about 110 publishers, editors and digital-centric staffers at this year’s annual digital conference of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia in San Francisco, the alt-weeklies -- as they used to be known before the digital age, talk veered little to journalism, Michael Depp reported Tuesday for NetNewsCheck. "Instead, the buzz grew loudest around experimental revenue streams such as digital local business directories, an online store and social media management and other . . . digital services."
In Ecuador, "One result of President Rafael Correa's high-profile campaign to demonize the country's private media can be seen on the desk of José Velásquez, news manager at Teleamazonas, a private Quito television station often critical of the government," John Otis reported Tuesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Among the documents piled high on his desk are lawsuits, which used to be a rare thing. Encouraged by Correa, who has personally sued newspapers and journalists, Velásquez says, the subjects of Teleamazonas news reports are now filing between two and five lawsuits per month against the station. . . . "
"Hundreds of Pakistani journalists took to the streets in the capital Islamabad to condemn the growing violence against media workers in the country," the Iranian PressTV reported on Tuesday.
"Sri Lankan journalists have staged a 'Black January' protest, remembering a series of attacks against journalists and media workers during the month in recent years and condemning authorities' failure to punish the culprits," the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. "Journalists, rights activists and opposition lawmakers protested Tuesday in the capital, Colombo, saying the month of January has been 'the darkest month' for journalists. . . . "
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Obama Faults 'He Said, She Said' Journalism
He says that nonpartisan media place equal blame on Democrats and Republicans, and it's just not accurate.
"The New Republic has just lifted the embargo on its [wide-ranging] interview with President Obama, in which he talked at length about the role the media can play in breaking Washington's partisan gridlock," Dylan Byers wrote Sunday for Politico.
" 'One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates,' he tells editor Frank Foer and owner and publisher Chris Hughes. 'If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it.'
"We've often noted here on the blog that right-wing media, especially Fox and Limbaugh, have an outsized influence on Republicans -- and are arguably more powerful than most members of [Congress.] But Obama notes that left-wing media plays a role in shaping political debate, as well.
" 'The same dynamic happens on the Democratic side,' he said. 'I think the difference is just that the more left-leaning media outlets recognize that compromise is not a dirty word. And I think at least leaders like myself -- and I include Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in this -- are willing to buck the more absolutist-wing elements in our party to try to get stuff done.'
"The president also faulted nonpartisan media outlets for their adherence to 'he said, she said' journalism, which places equal blame on Democrats and Republicans when, according to the president, Republicans should bear more blame.
" '[T]hat's one of the biggest problems we've got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value the appearance of impartiality and objectivity,' Obama told Foer and Hughes. 'And so the default position for reporting is to say, "A plague on both their houses." On almost every issue, it's, "Well, Democrats and Republicans [can't] agree" -- as opposed to looking at why is it that they can't agree. Who exactly is preventing us from agreeing?'
"Obama also suggested that the media's obsession with confrontation presented a roadblock. . . ."
On Monday's "Fox & Friends," co-host Brian Kilmeade responded to the president's statement, the Huffington Post reported. "He kicks off the next four years by saying that?" Kilmeade asked in an interview with Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr. "They ran a package consisting of multiple comments Obama has made about the network."
Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz, Daily Download: How the White House Orchestrated Hillary's '60' Triumph (video)
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: Rig the Vote
Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: Two women, one larger story
George E. Curry, National Newspaper Publishers Association: Obama Races Away from the Issue of Race
Mary C. Curtis, Washington Post: The GOP on its minority problem: Don't call it 'outreach,' but 'engagement'
Mary C. Curtis, Women's Media Center: Myrlie Evers-Williams -- Making Her Own History
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Tavis Smiley says MLK column was inaccurate, that he didn't rebuff Michelle Obama
Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: Analyzing President Obama, the centrist-turned-reluctant liberal
David Edwards, Raw Story: Bay Buchanan quits TV punditry, takes online real estate class after Romney's 'brutal' loss
Stephen Henderson, Detroit Free Press: GOP's electoral vote plan -- a desperate move for minority rule
Jeremy Holden, Media Matters for America: Fox & Friends Complains That CBS's Kroft Didn't Pursue Fox's Campaign To Mock Clinton Concussion
Dan Kennedy, "Media Nation" blog: TNR's new owner crosses a line with Obama interview
Colbert I. King, Washington Post: The Republican pity party
Latina Lista: Attempts to sow distrust between Latinos and Obama won't work this time around
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: GOP: Stop Being Afraid to Talk to Minorities
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Clinton grilled, punches back
Joy-Ann Reid, the Grio: Red, Black & Blue: Is America really a 'center-right' nation?
Managing Editor Says New Boss Deserves Own Team
Mark Whitaker, the former Newsweek editor who as executive vice president and managing editor of CNN Worldwide became the highest-ranking African American at CNN, has resigned, he told colleagues Tuesday, to give new CNN chief Jeff Zucker "his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff."
Whitaker, 55, came to CNN from NBC News, where as vice president he was also the highest-ranking person of color, in January 2011.
CNN came under fire from the National Association of Black Journalists for the lack of diversity among its prime-time anchors, and then-President Jim Walton assigned that challenge to Whitaker. He hired Amy Entelis to "to help build a diverse slate of anchors," as Eric Deggans wrote in his new book, "Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation," but no prime-time anchor of color materialized.
In his farewell note, however, Whitaker said he took the job on the condition "that we make CNN a leader in diversity in its broadest sense -- in the backgrounds of our on- and off-air talent, but also in the range of their experience and points of view.
"As Executive Vice President in charge of program and talent development, I was thrilled to attract Amy Entelis, Vinnie Malhotra and Ramon Escobar to CNN and to work with them to recruit journalists like Jake Tapper, John Berman and Miguel Marquez, contributors like Margaret Hoover, Van Jones, Ross Douthat, Charles Blow, Ron Brownstein and Ryan Lizza, and specialists like ESPN sports reporter Rachel Nichols."
However, Tommy Christopher reported this month for Mediaite, MSNBC ". . . enjoyed significant (around 20%) ratings increases across the board" in 2012, "but made astonishing gains with their already-large African American audience, growing that audience by 60.5% for the Mon-Sun 8pm-11pm period.
"In that same time period, CNN grew its black audience by 23.7% (from 131,000 in 2011 to 162,000 in 2012, 23.9% of their total audience), while Fox News' declined by 23.7% (38,000 in 2011 to 29,000 in 2012, 1.4% of their total audience), but MSNBC had more black viewers than both of those nets combined (from 177,000 in 2011 to 284,000 in 2012, 31.4% of their total audience)."
In a statement, Zucker said:
"I want to thank Mark for his service at CNN. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him the best in the future," Alex Weprin reported for TVNewser.
Whitaker's note read:
"Dear CNN Colleagues:
"Two and a half years ago, when Jeff Bewkes, Phil Kent and Jim Walton first approached me about joining CNN in the newly created role of Managing Editor across all our TV and digital platforms, I told them that I would welcome the challenge under three conditions.
"The first was that the CNN recommit itself to Ted Turner's global vision of being the premier destination for news both domestic and international. I am proud that since I took the job, we have made good on that goal. From Election Day 2012 to our recent coverage of Superstorm Sandy and the Newtown school massacre, we have remained the network that Americans turn to when news matters most. On the international front, we have done groundbreaking reporting on everything from the Arab Spring and the uprising in Syria to the Japanese tsunami and the financial crisis in Europe. In 2011 that coverage brought us the best ratings we had had in years, and in 2012 it won us a record number of awards, including two Emmys, three Peabodys and four Eppys for our digital coverage.
"The second condition was that we do more to drive editorial integration between CNN.com and our TV networks. I am gratified by the progress we have made in this area, from our weekly In Depth offerings to the inspiring CNN Heroes collaboration to the growth of CNN Money, iReport, Belief Blog, In America and other digital franchises. As our formidable traffic numbers attest, CNN's future as a go-to destination for news online and across today's new mobile and social media platforms looks very bright.
"The third condition was that we make CNN a leader in diversity in its broadest sense -- in the backgrounds of our on- and off-air talent, but also in the range of their experience and points of view. As Executive Vice President in charge of program and talent development, I was thrilled to attract Amy Entelis, Vinnie Malhotra and Ramon Escobar to CNN and to work with them to recruit journalists like Jake Tapper, John Berman and Miguel Marquez, contributors like Margaret Hoover, Van Jones, Ross Douthat, Charles Blow, Ron Brownstein and Ryan Lizza, and specialists like ESPN sports reporter Rachel Nichols.
"On the programming front, my team has created the exciting new CNN Films franchise for distinguished documentaries and brought Anthony Bourdain and Morgan Spurlock to CNN to launch signature shows that will expand our scope of storytelling.
"Now, with Jeff Zucker's arrival, we have a new leader with his own forceful ideas about where to take CNN's reporting, programming and brand. For him to succeed, I believe he deserves his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff. I have shared that conclusion with him and he has agreed to let me step down as Managing Editor and move on from CNN.
"As someone who worked with Jeff at NBC, I know what a bold innovator he is, and I wish him and you all the best as you embark on CNN's next great adventure.
"Good luck and thanks for everything,
"Mark"
Chicago Mother Loses All Four Kids to Gun Violence
If the national media need someone to personify the effects of urban gun violence, they might consider Shirley Chambers of Chicago, who lost her fourth son and remaining child to gun violence over the weekend.
"After Shirley Chambers lost her third child to gun violence in 2000, she said she felt sadder for her surviving son, Ronnie, than she did for herself," Peter Nickeas and Rosemary Regina Sobol reported Sunday for the Chicago Tribune.
" 'I only have one child left,' Chambers told the Tribune at the time, 'and I'm afraid that (the killing) won't stop until he's gone too.'
"Chambers' worst fears apparently were realized early Saturday, when police said a man named Ronnie Chambers, 33, was fatally struck when a gunman or gunmen opened fire on a van Chambers was riding in just after it arrived in the 1100 block of South Mozart Street."
On CBS News Monday, Dean Reynolds told Chambers' story as he reported on President Obama's efforts to curb gun violence.
" 'It's not Chicago. It's these people. It's these people with these guns. They shouldn't have guns, you know?' Chambers said.
"Her son was a former gang member who stole cars, sold drugs and spent time in prison.
" 'He had changed a lot. He was trying to help other people. So whatever he did in the past, that's in the past. He changed,' Chambers said of her son.
"Just last month he appeared on the Ricki Lake show as an example of transformation. . . ."
Caroline Brewer, Brady Campaign/Center to Prevent Gun Violence: Time to Adopt Laws That Prevent Gun Violence, Like When We Adopted Laws to Prevent Racial Injustice
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: NRA dream of more 'good guys' with guns could lead to nightmare for some
Lewis W. Diuguid, Kansas City Star: To reduce gun ownership, tax weapons like property
Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: A sensational gun story about a little girl from Montana killing home invaders still makes the rounds
Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Searching for ways to protect schools
Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Heat wave in January more likely than easy gun answers
Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: Arlington students speak out about guns on campus
Ethnic Media Jointly Urge Immigration Reform
More than 50 ethnic media across the country have published a joint editorial produced in association with New America Media, a national association of ethnic media, that began, "The White House and Congress must move quickly to enact just and humane comprehensive immigration reform."
They saw movement. "A bipartisan group of senators outlined a far-reaching proposal Monday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, saying that the time has come to fix 'our broken immigration system,' " Rosalind S. Helderman and William Branigin reported for the Washington Post.
Also, "The Obama administration has developed its own proposals for immigration reform that are more liberal than a separate bipartisan effort in the Senate, including a quicker path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, people with knowledge of the proposals said," Helderman and David Nakamura reported separately for the Post.
". . . President Obama is expected to provide some details of the White House plans during a Tuesday appearance in Las Vegas, where he will call for broad changes to the nation's immigration laws."
In their joint editorial, the ethnic media said they had "a high stake in the future of immigration policy in this country. That's why we are joining together to take an editorial stand to urge Congress and the White House: Make 2013 the year of immigration reform," New America Media reported on Monday.
Margaret Hartmann, New York: Fight Over Same-Sex Couples Could Complicate Immigration Reform
Does "Rodent Community" Mean M.L. King Admirers?
"Just that it comes across as homophobic, racist and reactionary, I told one caller last week, is not reason enough to fish-wrap the alleged comic strip 'Mallard Fillmore,' " Barry Saunders wrote Monday for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
"Bruce Tinsley, creator of the 19-year-old strip featuring a right-wing duck that's carried in The News & Observer, sets out to attack anyone to the left of Genghis Khan. His unmistakable mission is to shock and offend.
"You know whom he mainly offends, though? Anyone with a funny bone.
"As reader Eileen Burns told me last week, 'it's gotten worse and worse' in recent years. 'It seems like it's gotten meaner.'
"Yeah, that happened about the time President Barack Obama was elected. The vitriol has increased since Obama's re-election, and it boiled over last week in the strip the day after the nation re-inaugurated him and celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In that strip, Tinsley compared people who celebrate King's life and legacy to rodents.
"That prompted Burns, a native New Yorker who now lives in New Hill, to call me and ask how we could carry such a 'hateful' strip. 'Very simply,' she said, 'it's hate couched in humor.'
"Hateful it is, too. Bile runs through every word of Tinsley's strip like -- yep -- bile through a goose. . . . "
According to King Features Syndicate, "Mallard Fillmore" runs in nearly 400 newspapers.
No Date for Return of T.J. Holmes' "Don't Sleep"
T.J. Holmes' "Don't Sleep," initially touted as a late-night "Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert-type show" for an African American audience, hasn't filmed an episode since Dec. 19 and a date for its return is "not yet determined," BET spokeswoman Jeanine Liburd told Journal-isms on Sunday.
BET announced in November that it was scaling back the vehicle created for the former CNN anchor from half an hour Monday through Thursday to an hour once a week.
"The viewers have spoken and due to the overwhelming demand, DON'T SLEEP! will now be expanded to a one hour weekly format allowing for a more comprehensive discussion of the issues and events affecting the African-American community," a BET announcement began.
During the hiatus, meanwhile, Holmes worked as a fill-in anchor on MSNBC on the last weekend of the year and again last weekend, and became a father. BET turned its promotional energies to "Real Husbands of Hollywood," a new mock-reality series with Kevin Hart, J.B. Smoove, Boris Kodjoe, Nick Cannon and Robin Thicke.
Holmes tweeted on Jan. 23: "Im so proud of #BETDontSleep. I want nothing more than 4 the show 2 continue. I am still n partnership w/BET & hopeful 4 the show's return."
Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse University finance professor who blogs at thyblackman.com, wished Holmes well last week and added, ". . . TJ Holmes hosting a show on BET is like Barack Obama marrying Kim Kardashian. This might have been an ill-conceived relationship from the beginning."
Film on Oscar Grant Shooting Wins at Sundance
" 'Fruitvale,' a drama based on the real-life story of a young man shot to death at an Oakland BART station, took home the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night. The movie also won the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film," Julie Makinen, Steven Zeitchik and Mark Olsen wrote Monday for the Los Angeles Times from Park City, Utah.
"The Grand Jury Prize for U.S. documentary went to "Blood Brother," Steve Hoover's look at his best friend, who moves to India to help children with HIV. The film also won the Audience Award for U.S. documentary.
" 'Fruitvale' is the first feature-length film from USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate Ryan Coogler, 26. Actor Forest Whitaker served as a producer on the movie, which stars Michael B. Jordan," the star of "Friday Night Lights" and "The Wire." The film is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was 22 when he was shot and killed in a public transit station.
". . . Two special jury awards were given for U.S. documentaries. One went to Jacob Kornbluth for 'Inequality for All,' a look at the wealth gap in America featuring former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. The other went to 'American Promise,' directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, which follows two African American boys over 12 years as they attend very different schools."
The Associated Press quoted Coogler as he accepted the final prize of the night: "This project was about humanity, about human beings and how we treat each other; how we treat the people that we love the most, and how we treat the people that we don't know."
"Fox Searchlight founder and Sundance juror Tom Rothman said 'Fruitvale' was recognized for 'its skillful realization, its devastating emotional impact and its moral and social urgency -- and for anyone out there who thinks for one second that movies don't matter and can't make a difference in the world.
" 'This will not be the last time you guys walk to a podium,' he added. . . . "
Amy Goodman with Ryan Coogler, "Democracy Now!" Pacifica Radio: Fruitvale, Depiction of Oscar Grant's Last Day of Life, Takes Top Prizes at Sundance Film Festival
Pam Grady and Demian Bulwa, San Francisco Chronicle: Movie recounts Oscar Grant's final day
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Howard University has become incubator for cinematographers
Katey Rich, cinemablend.com: Find Out Why Fruitvale Was Sundance's Biggest Film And A Future Awards Contender
Mainstream Columnist Bemoans Black Abortions
"Roe v. Wade -- the U.S. Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion and sparked America's unending second Civil War -- hit the big 4-0 this week," Darryl E. Owens of the Orlando Sentinel wrote Friday, adding that ". . . there's a silent epidemic nestled within this shameful milestone.
"Every year, some 7,000 blacks are murdered on the streets (often done in by other blacks). Occasionally, one hears a whispered SOS," Owens continued.
"Every day, meanwhile, nearly 1,000 unborn black babies are terminated in an abortionist's shop. About that, hardly a peep."
Owens thus became one of the few columnists of color at mainstream media outlets to bemoan black abortions.
"Black women are about 12 percent of the population, yet account for more than 30 percent of abortions in the U.S. Put another way, an African-American woman is four times more likely than a white woman to choose abortion," Owens wrote.
". . . Abortion foes must do a better job of getting the word out that allies such as Orlando's BETA Center exist to buoy women who choose to parent or allow would-be parents an adopted blessing.
"Also, more must be done to blunt the all-too-true reality that black children who land in foster care often languish waiting for adoption. One-third of foster kids awaiting adoption are black, yet black kids make up only about 14 percent of the nation's youth. . . ."
He called for evangelical groups to "stand up for transracial adoption" and for black groups to push "sexual responsibility on the front end, and, failing that, parenthood and adoption the back end."
Iran Arrests More Than a Dozen Journalists
"Iranian authorities have arrested more than a dozen journalists in the past two days over their links to 'anti-revolutionary' media, Iranian media reported, in what appeared to be a coordinated crackdown on the press," Yeganeh Torbati reported Monday for Reuters.
"With a presidential election five months away, Iran's clerical leadership appears to be tightening its grip on the media to avoid a repeat of the widespread protests that erupted after the disputed election in 2009.
". . . Last week, Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei warned of the threat the Islamic Republic faced from some of its own journalists.
" 'Based on information I have from reliable sources, unfortunately a number of journalists, as well as writing for the nation's newspapers, work hand-in-hand with Westerners and anti-revolutionaries,' he said at the time. . . ."
John Yearwood, world editor of the Miami Herald, succeeds Ryan Blethen, director of new product strategies at the Seattle Times, as North American Committee chairman of the International Press Institute, the Vienna-based press freedom organization announced Friday. ". . . I believe strongly that NAC must engage fully in the fight to preserve press freedoms here at home, expand it in totalitarian regimes abroad and nurture the next generation of press freedom fighters," Yearwood said in the release.
"He styles himself 'The People's Attorney' and claims 3 million listeners tune in to hear his brand of black empowerment on his nationally-syndicated radio show," Kim Janssen reported Monday for the Chicago Sun-Times. "But the feds say Soul 106.3 personality Warren Ballentine is also a fraudster behind a $10 million mortgage scam. . . . " RollingOut.com report.
"Kevin Tsujihara has been named CEO of Warner Bros, beginning in March," Jon Lafayette reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable. "Tsujihara, who had been president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, will succeed Barry Meyer, who will remain chairman through the end of the year."
"Dallas-based WFAA8 has added Carla Wade from Oklahoma City's KOCO-TV to its anchor/reporter staff," Ed Bark reported Friday for his Uncle Barky's Bytes blog. "Wade, who spent three years at KOCO, will be joining newcomer Jason Wheeler as co-anchor of WFAA8's Sunday night newscasts, news director Carolyn Mungo confirmed via email Friday."
"Gregory Walker, co-founder and managing director of the Brothers' Network, wants to assure you that he and his friends are not cornball brothers," Jenice Armstrong wrote Monday in the Philadelphia Daily News. "Cornball brother" was used by former ESPN commentator Rob Parker in describing Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. ESPN failed to renew Parker's contract. "Still, that's how some folks might try to label them," Armstrong continued. "After all he, along with a crew of 276 local African-American men who are part of the network, routinely read books, visit the theater and have lofty conversations about world events."
"Gina Chon, who stepped down from The Wall Street Journal after details of her relationship with Brett McGurk -- who at the time was working with the National Security Council in Iraq -- were leaked, is joining Quartz," Chris O'Shea reported Monday for FishbowlNY, citing Talking Biz News. "Chon had been with the Journal since 2005, and was its main reporter in Iraq from 2007 to 2009."
Should Elliott Abrams, a foreign policy official in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, have been allowed to call former Sen. Chuck Hagel "anti-Semitic" on NPR's "All Things Considered"? Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos answered Sunday, ". . . I personally would have cut or re-recorded the offending parts of the Abrams interview, for reasons of simple fairness and civility. For reported pieces, meanwhile, it seems to me that a sensible rule would be to avoid inflammatory names such as 'homophobic' and 'anti-Semitic' and say instead what a person has actually said or done. . . . "
On the night of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., Aline Marie attended a prayer vigil packed with local residents and the media, Coburn Dukehart wrote Monday for NPR. Without asking permission, a photographer took her photo when she knelt to pray. Kenny Irby, senior faculty at the Poynter Institute, said "there are two benefits when photographers introduce themselves and interact with their subjects. One is that they can obtain accurate caption information -- which ultimately adds more meaning, value and credibility to the photo for the reader. The other is that it can make the experience of being photographed more rewarding for the subject -- even in a moment of extreme grief. . . ."
"Dial Global and the NBC Sports Group say retired NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb will join the NBC Sports Radio lineup as a contributor starting Super Bowl week," RadioInk reported on Monday. "McNabb will serve as an NFL lead analyst for NBC Sports Radio shows throughout the week and will also call in weekly to affiliated stations."
Ebony Reed, assistant New England bureau chief for the Associated Press, writing for "To The Next Deadline," described as "A blog for print-media expats trying to figure out where their words will go next," says she was "was really touched two years ago after reading 'NewsLady,' Carole Simpson's story. I have it in print and on my iPad and I go back to it frequently. I have used it as required text in an online class on the history of the black press. I've not met Ms. Simpson in person yet, although we are both in the Boston area. I absolutely adore Ms. Simpson and remember watching her anchor the news on ABC when I was in high school. Her personal journey inspires me on days when I need to get pushed back on my path. And on the days I feel like I'm solidly on my path, her story just makes me proud. It really resonates on so many levels with me."
"Univision's Mexico City correspondent, Edgar Muñoz has left Univision," Veronica Villafañe reported Monday for her Media Moves site. "He quit the network to move to Los Angeles for a new job. According to inside sources, he will be joining Telemundo's KVEA-52 as weekday news co-anchor. . . ."
"Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns the seizure of the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sudani by Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), the latest act of media censorship in Sudan," the press-freedom group said on Thursday. "Fourteen thousand copies of the pro-government daily were seized two days ago, without any reason being given. The newspaper, once independent and critical of the government, was bought by a member of the ruling National Congress Party and ever since has reflected the political views of its owner."
In Somalia, journalist Abdulasis Abdinuur Ibrahim has been sent to jail without charges after remaining in police custody since Jan. 10, the National Union of Somali Journalists announced Saturday, according to Sabahi, a Washington-based news service about the Horn of Africa that is sponsored by the United States Africa Command. "Ibrahim is accused of interviewing Lul Ali Hassan, who police say made false claims of rape by Somali security forces. The details of the interview have not been published."
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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.
