Are Magazine Staffs Whiter Than the GOP?
New Republic's article "The Party of White People" prompts critics to turn the tables.
"The New Republic is catching heat for its latest cover story about the Republican party, titled 'The Party of White People: An Historical Investigation,' " Dylan Byers wrote Monday for Politico.
It might be the most attention that the issue of the diversity of media staffs has received from a non-journalism publication in years.
The focus of the attention is an experiment being closely watched in some media circles. Chris Hughes, the 29-year-old co-founder of Facebook, former online campaign adviser to President Obama and the New Republic's newest owner, is hoping to turn around the magazine he bought in March, as Christine Haughney wrote last month in the New York Times.
The magazine he purchased is part of an industry that might be the whitest, most segregated part of the news media.
Byers' report continued, "The complaint, voiced by Reason.com on Friday and by the influential conservative blogger Ace of Spades today, is that the ultra-white TNR is one to talk.
" '[A] quick Wikipedia investigation of the magazine's 15 editors throughout its century of publishing reveals that each and every one... was not just white, but white and male,' Reason's Matt Welch writes. 'Though word on the street is that TNR is now 'add[ing] women's voices to a magazine that has long been short on them,' so hooray for progress, etc.
"Ace's tirade against TNR comes in a series of tweets, including: '[B]ased on the TNR writers I know, the palette ranges all the way from pasty to eggshell'; 'Some of us dream of an All-White Nation... but in the meantime we content ourselves with TNR's offices'; 'GOP: The Party of White People' 'TNR: The Magazine of White People' 'MSM: The Industry of White People'; and on, and on, and on."
Byers' opinion? "The TNR staff is and always has been predominantly white — even moreso than your average American magazine — but the notion that this should preclude them from publishing an article on the Republican party's problems with non-white voters is absurd. Everyone with even an introductory understanding of politics — including prominent conservative pundits — knows that the GOP needs to reach non-white male voters. It's why Fox News president Roger Ailes appears in the pages of this week's issue talking about Hispanic outreach. (It's also worth noting that Ace of Spades and Reason didn't seem to have a problem with the majority white Fox News discussing the party's whiteness on election night.)"
Byers concluded, ". . . Should TNR diversify its offices? That's up to them. But for the GOP, it isn't a case of should or shouldn't. It's a case of must."
Byers came back with a second post that quoted a New Republic intern who wrote. "I would venture to say that the Republican Party cares more about diversity than the New Republic does.
"The Republican Party has at least recognized that it has a problem with outreach to nonwhite voters. I haven't seen any such soul searching from a magazine that professes to be the New Yorker of Washington D.C. . . . "
Byers also quoted Washington Post publisher Donald E. Graham, who quipped in 1995 that the New Republic's motto was "Looking for a qualified black since 1914."
At the end of the workday, Byers came back with a third posting, quoting Douglas Blackmon, a former Wall Street Journal Atlanta bureau chief who "added that when he left the Journal in 2011 there were no African American reporters or editors 'of any particular stature' at the paper, and that none had been hired in the last four years of his time there. . . . "
Blackmon, who joined the Washington Post as a contributing editor a year ago, is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II." He splits his time between the Post and the University of Virginia.
Spokeswomen for the New Republic and the Wall Street Journal could not be reached for comment.
Jamelle Bouie, the Magazine: And Read All Over: An implicit network, not overt racism, keeps tech writing dominated by white men. (Jan. 3)
Lizzy Ratner, New York Oberver: Vanilla Ceiling: Magazines Still Shades Of White (2006)
HuffPost's Derek Murphy Named G.M. at USA Today
Derek J. Murphy, who supervised multicultural initiatives for the Huffington Post before he became one of four general managers let go in a reorganization last October, on Monday was named executive vice president and general manager of USA Today.
". . . Murphy, who will report to USA TODAY President and Publisher Larry Kramer, will oversee the newspaper's daily operations and help develop new business opportunities," an announcement said.
Jim Hopkins wrote for his independent Gannett Blog, ". . . Murphy is African-American, and his appointment immediately makes him one of Gannett's highest-level minority executives when the company's management ranks have been growing less diverse at the most senior levels. Historically, GCI [Gannett Co. Inc.] has led the newspaper industry in workforce diversity efforts."
Hopkins also wrote that several of USA Today's traditional key functions had already been spun off to other Gannett executives or divisions. ". . . That leaves a relatively diminished portfolio anchored by editorial for Murphy and Kramer to manage in the struggling paper's current turnaround. . . ."
Murphy said in the news release, "As we're transitioning to the digital-first model, I'll be working closely with Larry, the leadership team and other Gannett divisions to realize the potential of the USA TODAY brand."
"Leveraging the recent relaunch of the USA TODAY site, Murphy will also focus on expanding 'new digital offerings and creating demand for all USA TODAY brands,' he says," according to the announcement.
" 'There's so much upside to working with an iconic brand — to get in at a time when it's clear that the brand is in transition and with so many opportunities to shape its future direction,' he says."
When USA Today unveiled a redesign of its pages in September, Kramer said, "We are making a real investment in USA Today, and putting a major focus on reinvigorating the value of print media while introducing new digital products. . . ."
Some critics were skeptical. "As it approaches its 30th birthday, USA Today is in danger of 'marking 30,' a journalistic term for coming to an end, or dying," John K. Hartman wrote in Editor & Publisher.
When Huffington Post named Murphy general manager for multicultural in 2011, a news release said, ". . . Derek Murphy will drive the overall strategy and operational performance for AOL Latino, BlackVoices and AOL's other multicultural offerings.
"Murphy had been COO of Global Media Ventures, which he formed with [Sheila C.] Johnson," co-founder of Black Entertainment Television. "He was previously Senior Vice President, Business Development of The Huffington Post. Prior to that, he was at CNN, where he oversaw integrated media partnerships with a broad range of companies, including Google and Amazon." Murphy has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Fourth Editor Departing Essence Magazine
A fourth editor — Photo Editor Deborah Boardley — is leaving Essence magazine, spokeswoman Dana Baxter confirmed on Monday.
Boardley joins Editor-in-Chief Constance C.R. White; Corynne L. Corbett, the beauty editor; and Greg Monfries, the creative director, in departing.
The departures come as the parent Time Inc. is cutting some 500 jobs. Neither Baxter nor a spokeswoman for Time Inc. would say whether any of those leaving were part of the corporate layoffs.
Boardley was previously photo editor at Vibe Vixen magazine. Before that, she was an intern at Vibe and senior photo editor at In Touch Weekly.
Vanessa K. Bush, who had been executive editor at Essence, is to be interim managing editor, Baxter said on Friday.
Crazy Horse Workshop Not Being Offered This Year
The Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, which has trained nearly 1,700 high school and college students in South Dakota's Black Hills, will not be offered this year because of funding problems at its main sponsor, the Freedom Forum, according to Randell Beck, publisher of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.
"We simply did not have the funding," Beck told Journal-isms by telephone on Monday. "We're hoping to bring it back next year."
Beck chairs the minority affairs committee of the South Dakota News Association, which helps to fund the workshop, along with the Argus Leader. However, the Freedom Forum is the largest funder, Beck said.
The committee plans to meet this summer "and look at creative ways to do this," Beck said. "We'll try to evaluate what our options are."
As reported on Friday, the financially troubled Freedom Forum Diversity Institute has removed from its website references to three journalism programs that train Native Americans and students at historically black colleges and universities.
Freedomforumdiversity.org no longer mentions the Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, the Multimedia Scholars Program or the American Indian Journalism Institute. However, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program remains.
The independent Gannett Blog reported Jan. 9, "The financially troubled non-profit foundation paid CEO James Duff $1.6 million during his first four months on the job in 2011, a year when the Newseum's operator ran a $47 million deficit, newly released public documents show."
Al Neuharth, USA Today: Crazy Horse spurs young Indian media (April 19, 2012)
Mary Kay Blake Retiring From Freedom Forum
Mary Kay Blake, senior vice president of the Newseum and a longtime diversity fixture at the Newseum, Freedom Forum or Gannett Co., confirmed Monday that she is retiring. Blake said she would continue to work in the Newseum's development area, as she has for the past six years, but as a volunteer.
"I remain an advocate for diversity — in newsrooms and in life," Blake told Journal-isms by email.
According to her bio, "Previously she served as senior vice president of development for the Newseum and led its fundraising efforts as a public charity. She joined the Freedom Forum in 1999 to oversee its diversity efforts.
"Before that, she worked 25 years with Gannett Co., starting as news editor for the Pacific Daily News on the island of Guam and moving through corporate recruiting and staff-development roles to become vice president/recruiting and placement for Gannett's Newspaper Division. The first non-minority board member of the National Association of Multicultural Media Executives, she also was the first woman to receive its Distinguished Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement."
Tim Giago Ending Column of More Than 30 Years
Veteran journalist Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, announced Monday that he is ending his column of more than 30 years.
Giago is a founder of the Native American Journalists Association and editor and publisher of the Lakota times and Indian Country Today newspapers. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, class of 1991. In addition to writing from a Native American point of view, long ago raising the issue of Indians as mascots and challenging Oprah Winfrey's producers and the History Channel when necessary, Giago explained to non-Indians why he believed "Indians" to be preferable to "Native American."
". . . Most older American Indians do not use the term 'American Indian' but instead use the single word 'Indian,' " Giago wrote in 2008. "They refer to themselves as 'Indian' and seldom use the PC words Native American. The word 'Indian' is a derivation of the Spanish 'Indios' which was shortened from the Spanish 'Ninos en Dios' which means 'Children of God.' In much of South America and Central America the Natives are called 'Indios.' "
In his farewell column, published on indianz.com and the Huffington Post, Giago wrote, ". . . I know there is one person who will miss my weekly columns. His name is Bill Dulaney and he is a retired professor of journalism from Penn State. In my last conversation with Bill he told me that his battle with cancer is about over. The cancer has now gone to his brain and that brilliant instrument that guided him through a career in journalism is about to grow dim. In 1983 Bill and I put our heads together and came up with the idea of a Native American Journalists Association to emulate the other great minority journalist associations. We succeeded in this endeavor with the support and guidance of Allen Neuharth, then the head of the Gannett Foundation. Twenty nine years later the association is still strong and viable.
"It was never a challenge to find material every week because there was always something either good or bad happening in Indian country. In fact there were times when I had to sort through the material offered in order to choose the subject I thought to be the most tantalizing.
"But I believe that one of the most important things my weekly column accomplished was to take on the closed media in South Dakota in the 1980s and cause them to open their news pages to more positive news concerning Native Americans in their state. I wrote at the time that South Dakota was like the proverbial mule: you had to hit it between the eyes with a two-by-four in order to get its attention. . . . "
Obama Could Be Least Newspaper-Friendly President in a Generation
" 'Entertainment Tonight' scored one last year. The New York Times did not," Paul Farhi reported Monday in the Washington Post.
" 'The View' has gotten several. The Washington Post hasn't had one in years.
"Albuquerque radio station KOB-FM’s 'Morning Mayhem' crew interviewed him in August. The last time the Wall Street Journal did so was in 2009.
"America's newspapers have trouble enough these days, what with shrinking ad revenue and straying readers. But the daily print-and-pixel press also hasn't gotten much love lately from the biggest newsmaker in the business: President Obama.
"When Obama does media interviews these days, it's not with a newspaper. TV gets the bulk of the president's personal attention, from his frequent appearances on '60 Minutes' to MTV to chitchats with local stations around the country. Magazines — including the New Republic, which recently landed an interview conducted by its owner, Facebook co-founder and former Obama campaign operative Chris Hughes — are a distant second, followed by radio.
"Newspapers? Well, Obama may be the least newspaper-friendly president in a generation.
". . . What's more, despite a string of interviews with ethnic broadcasters, including Telemundo and Univision recently, Obama has never consented to an interview with any member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization consisting of 210 African-American-owned newspapers, said Robert W. Bogle, the organization’s former president. Obama and George W. Bush were the first presidents who haven't done so since Franklin Roosevelt, notes Bogle, the chief executive of the Philadelphia Tribune. . . . "
However, Obama has given interviews to magazines, both mainstream and black-oriented.
Susan Goldberg, executive editor of Bloomberg News in Washington and president of the American Society of News (formerly Newspaper) Editors, declined to comment.
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: 4 years into Obama era, a complicated state of our union
David Carr, New York Times: Debating Drones, in the Open
Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, the Atlantic: The Excellent Age of No-Fuss Drones and Remarkable War
Mark R. Jacobson, Washington Post: Five myths about Obama's drone war
Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Obama missed with skeet photo
Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica: Has Obama Kept His Open-Government Pledge?
Julianne Malveaux, syndicated: Obama Slights his Loyal Following (Jan. 30)
Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Let Slip the Dogs of War (Jan. 30)
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Pretender to a legacy
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Obama's drone use attracts wrong allies
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Obama's license to kill by drone
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Continued Support for U.S. Drone Strikes
Gary Younge, the Guardian, Britain: Barack Obama is Pushing Gun Control at Home, but He's a Killer Abroad
ABC, Univision Name New Joint Cable Network "Fusion"
"Television networks ABC and Univision announced on Monday the name of their new cable network targeting U.S. Hispanics and that it will launch in the second half of 2013," Susanna Kim reported Monday for ABC News.
"Five cable operators, including Cablevision, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber, have already agreed to carry the new channel, Fusion.
"The companies say the new network will serve 50 million Hispanics, focusing on the issues 'most relevant' for the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. The network's coverage will include 'the economy, entertainment, music, food, immigration, pop culture, education, politics, health and wellness and more,' according to a statement released jointly by ABC and Univision.
"With spending power of over $1 trillion, Hispanics represent 16 percent of the total population in the U.S., a number that is projected to double to 30 percent by 2050. . . . "
Venezuela Gives Cubans Alternative to State-Run TV
"There have been some strange sights on Cuban TV sets recently," Andrea Rodriguez reported Sunday for the Associated Press.
"News-starved viewers watched an Ecuadorean opposition candidate liken the government of President Rafael Correa, one of Havana's staunchest allies, to a moonwalking Michael Jackson: He walks like he's moving ahead, but he's actually going backward.
"On another day Cubans learned a quarter-billion of their fellow Latin Americans have access to the Internet — something less than 10 percent of islanders can say themselves.
"Cubans even watched a live broadcast of U.S. President Barack Obama's inaugural address.
"Such images would be unremarkable in most countries, but they're a break from the stodgy, tightly scripted state-run television that has long been the only fare in Cuba, with its mind-numbing tributes to efficiency, constant diatribes against the U.S. economic embargo and remembrances of minor anniversaries from the early years of the 1959 revolution.
"The change has come not from U.S.-funded TV Marti, which few Cubans can see, but via the left-leaning Latin American news channel Telesur, which is bankrolled primarily by Venezuela. Since Jan. 20, it has broadcast live about 12 hours a day in Cuba. . . ."
"Sonny Albarado, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, last week wrote Ann [Kimbrough] of Florida A&M University's journalism school out of concern for its student journalists' First Amendment rights. SPJ President-elect David Cuillier co-authored the letter," SPJ reported on Monday. "The production of the student newspaper The Famuan was suspended in January because of a libel suit filed against the paper and the university. . . . "
The Ron Brown Scholar Program plans to honor Earl G. Graves, Sr., founder of Black Enterprise magazine, and William Raspberry, the late Washington Post columnist, at its fourth annual American Journey awards in Washington on March 22.
The Michigan Chronicle launched a business section, publisher Hiram E. Jackson told readers on Friday. ". . . It's important that we recognize the role played by entrepreneurs in advancing positive social changes. I don't mean businesspeople solving social ills, but people spreading new approaches — through nonprofits and businesses, or within government — to address problems more successfully than in the past . . . ," Jackson wrote.
"Johnson Publishing Company introduces 'EBONY Moments,' featuring downloadable classic interviews, and music via EBONY.com, during Black History Month," the publishing company announced on Monday. "The first release of EBONY Moments interviews feature Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Spike Lee and others starting at $1.29 each. . . ."
"WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in South Florida, is shuffling weekend and weekday anchors," Merrill Knox reported Monday for TVSpy. "Beginning today, Jawan Strader . . . replaces Keith Jones . . . as co-anchor of the weekday morning newscast. Strader joined WTVJ in August after a decade at rival WFOR, where he was also the morning anchor. At WTVJ, Strader will join Pam Giganti at the anchor desk. . . ."
The Asian American Journalists Association asked Current TV Monday for an apology after remark by host Jackie Schechner. "In trying to counter an argument by Michele Malkin on the health care debate on the show 'Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller,' your host Jacki Schechner played a comment from Ms. Malkin. Ms. Miller followed up with a dismissive quip, saying 'we tried to unpack that little rice ball of nonsense,' " Paul Cheung, AAJA national president, wrote.
"The Southern Digest at Southern University and A&M College
took top honors at the National HBCU Student News Media Conference, winning Best Student Newspaper, plus four first-place awards and three second-place honors," the Black College Communication Association announced Saturday from Nashville, Tenn., site of the conference.
"Reporters Without Borders condemns the detention of several foreign journalists for several hours on 8 February in Bamako," Mali, the press freedom organization said on Monday. " . . . Usually kept at a distance and sometimes roughed up, journalists have been the victims of obstruction by the authorities since the start of the intervention. Cities remain inaccessible for several days after they have been retaken and the fighting is over, and reporters are kept far from the front lines. . . ."
"The United States said on Wednesday it had sanctioned Iran's main agency in charge of broadcasting for helping the government censor Western reports, part of a broader effort by Washington to pressure Tehran's nuclear program," Timothy Gardner reported for Reuters.
Evaluating the post-Arab Spring Egyptian government of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, Hani Shukrallah wrote Friday for Foreign Policy, " . . . Freedom of expression and freedom to peacefully protest have also been under concerted attack by the new regime. The Brotherhood, rather than acting to guarantee the independence of the state-owned media, has sought to bring these outlets under its sway — maintaining and even increasing their obsequiousness to the ruler of the moment and their nearly unmitigated lack of professionalism. The Brotherhood did so even as it acted to intimidate and strangle privately owned media: Its Salafi allies laid siege to Greater Cairo's Media City, home to most private TV stations, and called for the 'purging' of the media, while the government launched a record number of cases against the president's critics in the media, most prominently liberal satirist Bassem Youssef — Egypt's Jon Stewart. . . . "
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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.
Staff Departures at Essence
Editorial staff head out at the black women's magazine, followed by others.
Ex-N.Y. Times Writer Showcased Black Women's Diversity
Constance C.R. White, who returned Essence magazine to a showcase for black women of diverse skin tones and hairstyles, is leaving the magazine, as are Corynne L. Corbett, the beauty editor, and Greg Monfries, the creative director, spokeswoman Dana Baxter confirmed for Journal-isms Friday night and Saturday.
Vanessa Bush, the executive editor, "will step into Constance's role in the interim as managing editor," Baxter said by email. She declined to elaborate.
The Jamaica-born White, a veteran journalist, was style director, brand consultant and spokeswoman for eBay, the online company, when she was named to lead Essence, the nation's leading magazine for black women, in 2011. The Time Inc. property ranks second in circulation to Ebony among magazines targeting African Americans.
"White was previously the founding Fashion Editor for Talk magazine, a celebrated Style Reporter for The New York Times and the Executive Fashion Editor for Elle magazine. She also served as Associate Editor at Women's Wear Daily and W magazine and began her career at Ms. magazine, as assistant to co-Founder Gloria Steinem," an announcement said when she was named.
This column noted at the time that the March 2011 issue of Essence magazine, delivered during Black History Month,"might as well have been renamed 'Wigs and Weaves.' "
"It seemed like that kind of advertorial. Subsequent issues weren't much different," the summary of the year in media diversity continued.
"However, issues for the rest of the year represented a return to acknowledging the diversity among black women. Under Constance C.R. White, named editor-in-chief in March, Essence is showing women of varying skin tones and hair styles and tackling more subjects that bolster the self-esteem of its impressionable audience. The December issue included a piece by Denene Miller on colorism, defined as 'the practice of extending or withholding favor based on a person's skin tone.' 'ColorStruck' was accompanied by a quiz by Ylonda Gault Caviness to determine whether you are."
At the National Association of Black Journalists convention last year in New Orleans, White remarked that the magazine was looking for models among everyday women because editors were not satisfied with the look of the professional models available. "Street Style" became a regular feature, spotlighting "What We're Wearing In . . . "
Bush describes herself in a LinkedIn profile as a 19-year veteran of the magazine industry.
"Prior to this position, she was the Digital Editorial Manager of Food/Lifestyle Content at General Mills," it says. "She has also held various editorial posts at Life and Glamour magazines. Vanessa co-authored a best-selling beauty and empowerment book with model, entrepreneur and media icon Tyra Banks, Tyra’s Beauty Inside & Out, and is a past winner of a Merrill Journalism Fellowship in Child and Family Policy. She has also served as a contributor at Kaboose.com, a parenting and lifestyle web site. A foodie, Vanessa holds a culinary degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City, and is a graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism."
Monfries, the creative director, had worked at Essence since August 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile, and was deputy design director at People magazine for 14 years and nine months.
"Corynne L. Corbett has spent more than twenty years encouraging and empowering women to look good and live well," her LinkedIn profile reads. "She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chic Jones Media LLC, a company that promotes communication and community among women. The company launched That Black Girl Site (www.thatblackgirlsite.com), a blog collective covering topics of interest to African American women in 2008. Corbett is also a contributing Life & Soul blogger on realsimple.com.
She was executive editor of Real Simple, editor-in-chief of Heart & Soul and editor-in-chief of Mode, "a publication that radically changed the landscape of fashion magazines with its focus on real-sized women."
Time Inc. is cutting some 500 jobs. Fourth-quarter numbers explain why, according to Peter Kafka of All Things D. "Revenue was down 7 percent, to $967 million, and ad revenue was down 4 percent. But the publisher is still the world’s biggest, and it still makes piles of money: Operating income was down 3 percent, to $200 million. . . ."
Freedom Forum Diversity Unit Pulls 3 Programs From Website
The financially troubled Freedom Forum Diversity Institute has removed from its website references to three journalism programs that train Native Americans and students at historically black colleges and universities, leading some to conclude that those programs will not be offered this year.
Freedomforumdiversity.org no longer mentions the Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, the Multimedia Scholars Program or the American Indian Journalism Institute. However, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program remains.
Scott Williams, the Freedom Forum's vice president of marketing, told Journal-isms by telephone this week that the foundation, headquartered in Washington, was "still working out operational details" and thus did not want to put the missing programs on the website. "Everything is a work in progress," he said.
The independent Gannett Blog reported Jan. 9, "The financially troubled non-profit foundation paid CEO James Duff $1.6 million during his first four months on the job in 2011, a year when the Newseum's operator ran a $47 million deficit, newly released public documents show.
"The disclosure comes with fresh warnings of financial trouble. Today, Freedom Forum laid off 20% of approximately 150 employees at the Washington museum and other programs financed by the foundation. These are just the latest cuts since the museum opened in new quarters in 2008 that cost nearly double the original $250 million construction estimate. . . ."
Jack Marsh told Journal-isms by email this week that he was "wrapping up my duties as president and COO of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, retiring in early 2014 and am transitioning to a different role with the Freedom Forum for my last year with the organization."
Nearly 1,700 high school and college students have completed the Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, which is designed to inspire Native American students to dream about the future and consider journalism as a career. During the weeklong program at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota's Black Hills, journalists and educators from around the country teach a condensed course about the fundamentals of journalism.
The Freedom Forum Diversity Institute Multimedia Scholars Program, which takes place in May and June at the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., is a free 10-day boot camp [video] in which scholars learn to shoot and edit audio, video and photos, and enhance their writing and editing skills. It targets students at historically black colleges and universities, is run in partnership with Schurz Communications and places successful graduates in eight-week paid multimedia internships at newspapers owned by Schurz.
The American Indian Journalism Institute, which began in 2001, is described as a concentrated academic program teaching the basics of journalism in a university-approved, four-credit course. It is held in June on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion.
The Chips Quinn Scholars program, with more than 1,000 alumni, says it "offers journalism students of color hands-on training in journalism and mentoring by caring news veterans. The aim: Provide special support and encouragement that will open doors to news careers and bring greater diversity to the nation's daily newspaper newsrooms. . . . Internships are offered in Spring and Summer. . . ."
3 Who Slimmed Down Say Christie Should Listen Up
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie yelled this week at a former White House doctor who publicly suggested that the overweight Christie shed some pounds, but three media figures who underwent gastric bypass surgery say the doctor is right.
Asked about Dr. Connie Mariano’s comments at a news conference on Wednesday, Christie lashed out, calling her "just another hack who wants five minutes on TV . . ." Holly Bailey reported for Yahoo News.
". . . Governor, you might not want to dismiss her so quickly," Bryan Monroe, editor of CNNPolitics.com and a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, wrote Friday on cnn.com. "Yes, she has never examined you and maybe it's not her job to be pointing out the obvious: that morbidly obese men have a significantly higher chance of dying early than the population at large. But, still, she was probably doing you a favor. How do I know? Seven years ago, governor, I was you.
" . . . at 6 feet 4 inches tall and 441 pounds, I was morbidly obese. . . ."
Sidmel Estes, another former NABJ president, told Journal-isms by email, "I absolutely agree with Bryan. I, too, was morbidly obese most of my life and felt fine. I didn't have the 'wake up' call that Bryan had, but my doctor warned me that since I weighed more than any Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman, I was 'cruisin' for a bruisin'.
"Most people don't understand that a gastric bypass is a medical treatment for a medical problem. That's what Governor Christie should embrace. I can understand the Governor lashing out, just like when I was mocked as a young child as a 'fat girl.' If you have a broken arm, you get medical treatment, not just think it is going to heal by itself. There are so many misconceptions about how to deal with the obesity epidemic in this country. That's why I'm writing my book on going from 'Fat to Phat.' "
Estes is a longtime television executive producer and the founder and CEO of Breakthrough Inc., an Atlanta-based media consulting company. "I reached my peak at 360 pounds.... I had the surgery in 1999," she said by email. "I have kept the weight off and now weigh 190ish."
Joe Madison, talk-show host on SiriusXM radio, discussed his experience Thursday on Al Sharpton's "PoliticsNation" on MSNBC. He told Journal-isms by telephone Friday that he weighed 276 pounds when a doctor looked at him in a waiting room and said, "You're not leaving the office until I examine you." The doctor concluded that Madison's weight put him at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. "If you don't lose weight, you are going to drop dead, and nobody's going to know why," Madison quoted the doctor as saying.
Soon afterward, Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor who was also overweight, died after suffering a heart attack while on a 2003 business trip in Washington. Jackson, 65, "had all the morbidity that I had because of weight," Madison said. He also discussed the weight problem with then-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., and his sister, Santita Jackson, both of whom had gastric bypass surgery.
"It's not a political issue, it's a matter of health," Madison said. "Stress and being president of the United State do not mix. Stress and being overweight do not mix."
Madison says he now weighs 176 pounds. "I keep a tuxedo I had when I was 276," he said. "I put it on, and both my wife and I can fit in it."
Whitlock Knocks Associated Press Sports Editors as Biased
Jason Whitlock, columnist for FoxSports.com, lashed out at the Associated Press Sports Editors Thursday, saying ". . . It's very difficult — perhaps impossible — for a person of color who writes from a minority perspective to be recognized as the best at anything in sportswriting."
"That's not a charge of racism. It's a charge of bias, an affliction we all have," Whitlock continued.
"As best I can tell, no non-white has won the APSE's column-writing contest. . . ."
Whitlock also expressed his disappointment that he was ruled ineligible for the Pulitzer Prize competition because broadcast media and broadcast media websites are not eligible, he said he learned Tuesday.
". . . Pursuing the Pulitzer in an honest, transparent fashion has been one of the things that has kept me from selling out and simply pursuing money and fame," Whitlock wrote for the Daily, a publication of his alma mater, Ball State University. "I pride myself on being a journalist. I feuded with and never made peace with ESPN because I see the Worldwide Leader as the enemy of sports journalism.
"ESPN is the very justification for the Pulitzer's stipulation forbidding broadcast media outlets from entering its competition. . . ."
Gerry Ahern of USA Today, president of the APSE, told Journal-isms by email, "The Associated Press Sports Editors contest has long been recognized as one of the premier honors for sports journalists. Our contest goes to great lengths to ensure the integrity of the judging. Bylines and newspaper affiliations are redacted from the entries. Any judge that sees an entry from their news organization or from their market recuses themselves from judging that entry or discussion of it."
Asked whether he didn't think that writers with a certain voice, particularly columnists, can be spotted even without a byline, and their ethnicity identified if they're writing about racial issues, Ahern replied:
"The entries are judged on their merit, with a column submission consisting of five entries in an attempt to best show the writer's range. That allows for diverse topics and approaches to column writing to be evidenced."
Ed Sherman, Sherman Report: Why Jason Whitlock wouldn't do Q/A with me; said I didn’t ask ‘sophisticated questions'
Where Were Media on Drones in Obama's First Term?
"It's been all drones all the time this week," Michael Calderone wrote Friday for the Huffington Post. "NBC News kicked things off Monday with a major scoop on the administration's legal rationale for targeting U.S. citizens linked to al Qaeda, and extensive coverage followed in print, online and on cable news.
"In the three days leading up to White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan's confirmation hearing Thursday to become the next CIA director, the words 'drone' and 'drones' were used hundreds of times on MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, according to a TVEyes search. The drone media debate over drone warfare, which gained steam in the weeks leading up to President Barack Obama's second inaugural, has only gotten more intense since.
"But where was the media during Obama's first term, given that the president authorized his first drone strike just days after taking office and has greatly expanded the secret program from the Bush years? . . . "
Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, the Atlantic: The Legality of the White Paper and Summary Execution
Eric Deggans blog, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: Why is fake newsman Jon Stewart more willing to correct mistakes than Bill O'Reilly?
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report: Fleets of Drones Descend on Africa
Conor Friedersdorf, the Atlantic: Why Does the Media Go Easy on Barack Obama?
Roy Greenslade blog, the Guardian, Britain: Washington Post was forced into finally revealing drone base secret
Jeremy Scahill with Amy Goodman, "Democracy Now!" Pacifica Radio: Assassinations of U.S. Citizens Largely Ignored at Brennan CIA Hearing
David A. Wilson, the Grio: Black pride in Obama shouldn’t silence dissent on drone policy
More Oppose Redskins Name After D.C. Symposium
"Hurtful names and racial stereotypes of all types were discussed and dissected Thursday in a daylong symposium at the Smithsonian, and the Washington Redskins were at the top of the list for nearly all those who spoke," the Associated Press reported.
" 'I can only imagine what it would be like to be at a football game at FedEx Field in a crowd of close to 90,000, all screaming at the top of their lungs, when what they are screaming is a racial slur,' said Judith Bartnoff, a deputy presiding judge in District of Columbia Superior Court. . . ."
Among those at the forum was Suzan Shown Harjo, president of the Washington-based Morning Star Institute, an advocacy group, who said there are about 900 troublesome nicknames and mascots across the country, down from a peak of more than 3,000 in the early 1970s. Harjo, who has been active in the Native American Journalists Association, filed suit in 1992, challenging the Redskins' trademark.
Washington Post columnists Robert McCartney and Courtland Milloy wrote columns opposing the team name, and Bruce Johnson, veteran reporter at WUSA-TV, the Gannett-owned Washington CBS affiliate, wrote on Facebook:
"I'm . . . no longer using the 'Redskins' name when referring to my hometown NFL team. I am a big fan and from time to time I report on the team.
"I have no speech, no need to explain. The name is insulting to Native Americans. They've been telling us this for years. No one who isn't Native American can give the word new meaning. It's wrong and no amount of money or team of lawyers can change that; I came to shorten the name to just 'Skins,' I suppose to try and make myself feel like I wasn't part of the 'head in the sand' crowd. That was a cop out! I'm done. Thanks to Courtland Milloy, Mike Wise and others for keeping the issue real! . . ."
Washington Post: Redskins name change debated (video)
Plenty of Reasons to Mention L.A. Suspect's Race
The stylebooks say race should be mentioned in describing suspects only when relevant, but Christopher Jordan Dorner, described as "a linebacker-sized ex-cop with a multitude of firearms, military training and a seemingly bottomless grudge born when the LAPD fired him in 2009," has given news outlets plenty of reasons to make it part of the story.
"Before dawn Thursday, authorities said, Dorner had already struck twice — grazing an LAPD officer's head with a bullet in Corona, and firing on two Riverside officers, killing one and wounding another," the Los Angeles Times reported.
Before the shootings, Dorner wrote a manifesto detailing who he planned to kill and why. The Times reported, "Dorner felt isolated growing up as one of the few African American children in the neighborhoods where he lived and was the victim of racism, according to the manifesto. ‘My first recollection of racism was in the first grade,’ Dorner allegedly wrote, recalling a fellow student at Norwalk Christian School who called him a racial slur. Dorner said he responded ‘fast and hard,’ punching and kicking the student."
Fox News Latino noted, "Latinos are 'high value targets' for a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who is alleged to have started a killing spree and is now a fugitive on the run in the Southwest or even Mexico. . . ."
Associated Press: Murder Suspect Sent CNN's Cooper a Package
Associated Press: Dorner Manifesto: Suspected Gunman Talks Politics, Pop Culture In His 'Last Resort'
Wayne Bennett, Field Negro: Los Angeles, we have a problem.
Matthew Fleischer, FishbowlLA: Newspaper Delivery Women Shot During Manhunt for Killer Cop
Los Angeles Times: Manhunt manifesto
Los Angeles Times: Dorner manhunt: Sheriff says ex-cop not a threat to ski resorts
End of Saturday Mail Could Push Magazines to Online Only
". . . The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday that it will end first-class mail delivery on Saturdays as of August, pending congressional approval, in a move that will impact thousands of newspapers, magazines and direct-mail advertisers," Bill Cromwell reported Thursday for Media Life Magazine. "It will result in a savings of $2 billion per year for the mail service.
"One immediate consequence of the change could be pushing magazine publishers even further along toward digital delivery, an avenue that has seen significant growth over the past few years.
“ 'The bigger issue here, I think, is the continuing trend moving media consumption away from content in hard-copy form (whether it is mail, magazines, etc.) and into digital form,' says Carol Pais Hammond, director of print buying at Fallon. . . ."
Christine Haughney, New York Times: Magazines React to Post Office Cutbacks: 'The Friday Evening Post'?
Christine Haughney, New York Times: Led by Celebrity Titles, Magazine Newsstand Sales Slide
Mary Wisniewski, Reuters: U.S. Post Office cuts threaten source of black jobs (Jan. 21)
"Robin Roberts will return to the 'Good Morning America' anchor desk on Wednesday, Feb. 20, five months to the day since she underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS, a rare blood disorder," ABC News reported Wednesday.
". . . The dirty secret about the web media business is that there's a massive oversupply problem," Ryan McCarthy wrote Wednesday for Reuters. "[Every day], content creators are producing more journalism, more think-pieces, more interactive graphics, more photo galleries, more tweets, more slideshows, more videos, more GIFs, and more deviously socially-optimized Corgi listicles. All of that is being distributed via more channels on more devices. This creates more supply for display ads, web media’s favorite and still growing revenue generator. All that supply, however, drags down ad prices. . . ."
"Ezequiel 'Zeke' Montes Jr., president of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), and Tele Guia publisher and CEO, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 29, from complications due to pneumonia," Rebecca Villaneda reported Tuesday for HispanicBusiness.com.
"ABC News President Ben Sherwood today announced that Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila is expanding his duties," Veronica Villafañe reported Wednesday for her Media Moves site. "Starting later this year, he will be the first White House correspondent for the ABC/Univision joint venture. He'll continue to contribute to 20/20. Jim has been assigned to lead the charge for ABC News on covering Hispanic America, immigration reform, education, politics and other issues vitally important to the Latino community. . . ."
Johnny Green Jr. is joining WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, where Vice President of News Anzio Williams has been making numerous personnel changes. Green will be executive producer for late news, Merrill Knox reported Thursday for TVSpy. "He comes from WPXI in Pittsburgh, where he was the nightside and special projects executive producer."
On Thursday, Paul Cheung, new national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, joined in the condemnation of an opinion column by former New York Times reporter Joel Brinkley that alleged that Vietnamese people eat birds, squirrels, rats and dogs. Tribune Media Services retreated from the column on Feb. 1.
". . . Lifetime TV’s upcoming film 'Betty and Coretta' about the friendship between Betty Shabazz and Coretta Scott King, "has achieved a historic double-header," Barbara Reynolds wrote in the Washington Post. ". . . For most viewers, the film will be well-received. It is provocative, dramatic entertainment. But for others, who believe portraits of famous people should adhere to a truthful story line, there are problems, especially for relatives closest to the two widowed legends. . . ."
The entry deadlines for the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Awards contest and the RTDNA/Unity Awards contest have been extended to Wednesday, Feb. 20. The RTDNA/Unity Awards "encourage and showcase journalistic excellence in covering issues of race and ethnicity."
Sonia Sotomayor's latest event to promote her new memoir, "My Beloved World," surely raised a few eyebrows when she expressed hesitation about allowing cameras into the Supreme Court, Jordan Teicher reported Wednesday for New York magazine. The justice's remarks "are particularly surprising because she previously seemed inclined to allow the televising of oral arguments. . . . "
"In the run-up to the November presidential elections, skirmishes over voter ID requirements, among other voting rules, bubbled up in several swing states — including Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — as well as in the federal courts," Corey Hutchins reported Thursday for Columbia Journalism Review. "This week, news out of Virginia confirmed those fights aren't likely to fade. And neither will the need for clarifying coverage, for reporting that steers clear of the he-said, she-said pitfall, for reporters who avoid attributing something that can be stated as fact. . . ."
"Second-generation Americans — the 20 million adult U.S.-born children of immigrants — are substantially better off than immigrants themselves on key measures of socioeconomic attainment, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data," the center said Thursday. "They have higher incomes; more are college graduates and homeowners; and fewer live in poverty. . . ."
"African-American viewers got real with their primetime viewing in January, with episodes from Bravo's reality series Real Housewives Of Atlanta and BET's scripted show Real Husbands Of Hollywood representing six of the top 10 most watched shows during the month," R. Thomas Umstead reported Friday for Multichannel News.
In Washington, "Longtime Channel 9/WUSA news anchor Bruce Johnson . . . has produced a documentary entitled 'Before You Eat The Church Food,' " dcrtv.com reported Thursday. "Addressing . . . 'the incredibly high mortality rates among African Americans . . .from cardiovascular disease and what can and is being done to reverse this epidemic.' " Johnson produced the video for the Association of Black Cardiologists and is a heart attack survivor. The 40-minute documentary is to he shown on Feb. 18 at 9 p.m. via Maryland Public Television. (Video).
"Beginning this spring, Morgan State University's campus newspaper, The Spokesman, will become a strictly online publication," Odessa Mohabeer reported Thursday for the Afro-American Newspapers. ". . . Morgan State has made three previous attempts to transition to an all-online newspaper, dating back to the early 2000s. . . . "
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday it "condemns the revival of criminal charges against Ethiopian journalist Temesghen Desalegn today in what appears to be a politicized court hearing designed to censor one of the few critical voices left in the country . . . "
In India, "Individuals alleged to be part of a right-wing Hindu group attacked an employee of the Mangalore-based Karavali Ale daily on Wednesday, confiscated and torched copies of the paper's editions on Thursday, and threatened news vendors, according to news reports and the head of the media group that owns the paper. The paper had published a front page story linking the Hindu group to drug trafficking, news reports said," the Committee to Protect Journalists reported.
"The station manager of a Liberian radio station was reportedly severely beaten yesterday and later required medical treatment," Jan Beyer reported Friday for the International Press Institute. "Hector Mulbah, station manager at Radio Gbezohn, said that he was beaten after a dispute in which a politician refused to 'underwrite the cost of Radio Talks Shows whenever he is hosted,' the New Dawn reported. Country Representative Buchanan Smith allegedly ordered his guards to beat Mulbah. . . ."
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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.
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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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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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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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
