Teens Skeptical President Can Change Gang Mindset

"President Barack Obama returned to Chicago for a few hours Friday to address the high-profile gun violence that continues to plague his hometown and suggested the solution is not only more gun laws, but community intervention and economic opportunity in impoverished neighborhoods," John Byrne and Dahleen Glanton reported Friday for the Chicago Tribune.

"The president didn't delve into his specific call for an assault weapons ban and other gun control measures, instead choosing to illustrate Chicago's plight by comparing it to the December elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were shot. . . ."

Obama was responding not only to local residents but also to commentators who urged a personal visit by the president. Last weekend, first lady Michelle Obama attended the Chicago funeral of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, a baton twirler who participated last month in Obama's inauguration. She was shot and killed on Jan. 29 not far from the Obamas' Chicago residence after being caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs. Her parents attended Tuesday's State of the Union address.

". . . Obama's Chicago, our Chicago, is unhinged now, and rightly embarrassed," Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page wrote on Wednesday. "The street slaughter won't subside. . . ."

On Friday, Darlene Superville wrote for the Associated Press, "Obama sought support for proposals, unveiled this week in his State of the Union address, to increase the federal minimum wage and ensure every child can attend preschool. He also pitched plans to pair businesses with recession-battered communities to help them rebuild and provide job training. . . ."

Glanton prepared for the Obama visit by interviewing a dozen teenage African American boys at the Salvation Army's Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, youths "most likely to be hit by the gunfire that occurs almost daily in neighborhoods like Roseland, Englewood and Lawndale." They told Glanton that Obama can have little effect on gangs.

". . . While all of the young men at the community center said they had respect for the first African-American president, they noted that it would be difficult for anyone to penetrate the culture of violence," Glanton wrote.

" 'People look up to Mr. Obama more than he knows, but the one thing they need is their guns,' said Latwon Rufus, 18. 'It's about revenge, reputation and territory. That's the city of Chicago.' "

Black Journalists Pleased With White House Meeting

In Washington, White House aides met with six black journalists Thursday to preview the "Ladder of Opportunity" proposals President Obama planned to discuss in Chicago Friday, and the journalists left impressed.

"I've attended every White House round table for black journalists since President Obama took office and this was the most engaging, and candid session yet," Michael H. Cottman of Black America Web told Journal-isms by email. "It signals, perhaps, a sea change in the way the White House plans to approach initiatives for black Americans during the next four years. The word 'black' is mentioned proudly and that didn't go unnoticed in our session. Valerie Jarrett said the White House will do a better job communicating its policies to African Americans and I believe that effort started with our interview this week."

Joining Cottman were George E. Curry, editor of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service; Jenée Desmond-Harris of the Root; freelancer Steven Gray; Leroy Jones Jr. of radio's syndicated "The PoliticalJones Show"; and Joyce Jones of Black Entertainment Television and Black Enterprise magazine.

They were briefed by Jarrett, senior adviser to the president; Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Danielle Grey, assistant to the president and Cabinet secretary; and Racquel Russell, deputy assistant to the president for urban affairs and economic mobility.

"I found all of the administration officials to be candid and very receptive to our questions," Desmond-Harris said. "Very helpful. Lots of insights,"  Gray said.

Curry said by email, "I agree with Michael that Valerie addressed the 'Why doesn't the president do more for Black folk?' question head-on. While the president has not moved from his rising tide lifts all boats approach, the White House seems intent on doing a better job of explaining how its policies and programs directly benefit African Americans."

Paul Farhi wrote in the Washington Post this week, "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."

"That criticism remains," Curry told Journal-isms by email. "I reminded Valerie after the meeting that we still want an opportunity to interview the president and said she is aware of our request but made no promises.

Asked whether meeting with the White House aides counts, Curry replied, "African Americans did not vote for his aides — we voted for him. We deserve to hear answers directly from the president rather than from his intermediaries. If President Obama can speak exclusively to the Latino media, as he has done on more than one occasion, and boldly advocate on behalf of gays and lesbians — and no one is suggesting that he should not have taken those actions — he should be willing to speak directly to the nation's Black newspapers.

"Valerie said the administration hasn't communicated its message as well as it should and I agree. This would be an excellent opportunity to correct that mistake."

Maine Paper Drops Request for Gun Permit Records

"The Bangor Daily News has rescinded its request for records about concealed weapon permit holders in the state of Maine," Anthony Ronzio, the paper's director of news and new media, wrote Friday. "We have informed the agencies who received our request to disregard it. We've informed the agencies who have responded that their records will be destroyed.

"We are disappointed with the reaction to our request, which we felt was with the best intentions to help study issues affecting Maine through an analysis of publicly available data. We will continue our reporting, but will use other sources of information to do so."

Ronzio added, ". . . The BDN never would have published personally identifying information of any permit holder in Maine, as a newspaper in New York had done," but said there were ". . . concerns about the concealed weapons permits process. Some callers to the BDN spoke of long delays in the review of applications. . . ."

Meanwhile, the Virginia state Senate voted 32-8 Thursday to bar circuit court clerks from disclosing to the public the names of people who have concealed handgun permits, Andrew Cain and Jim Nolan reported for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The bill goes to Gov. Bob McDonnell (R).

Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: Shocking blacks into action against violence

Tenisha Taylor Bell, CNN.com: Chicago's violence took my dad, friends

Esther J. Cepeda, Washington Post Writers Group: When violence hits a nerve

Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune: The full truth about the Second Amendment

Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, the Atlantic: The Social Trends Driving American Gangs and Gun Violence

Michael H. Cottman, Black America Web: Obama Promotes New Plan For Black Neighborhoods, Mentors Young Black Men

Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton with Michel Martin, "Tell Me More," NPR: Pain Is 'Indescribable' For Gun Victim Pendleton's Mother

Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: Ignorance kills, education heals: Poor schools are a scourge as grave as gun violence

George Curry, National Newspaper Publishers Association: African-American teens, gun violence and the specter of empty rhetoric (Feb. 13)

Fannie Flono, Charlotte (N.C.) Observer: Preschool benefits students and N.C.

Keith Harriston, Washington Post: President Obama and Jay-Z: strange bedfellows during gun ban debate

Michael P. Jeffries, the Atlantic: Obama's Chicago Speech Can't Address Gun Violence Unless It Takes on Race

Merrill Knox, TVSpy: Bonten Stations to Air Series on Gun Violence

Geraldo Rivera, Fox News Latino: Trayvon and Hadiya (Feb. 8)

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Obama, winning the argument

Michael Shepherd, Portland (Maine) Press Herald: Bangor newspaper's request for gun data causes uproar (Feb. 14)

Nolan Strong, allhiphop.com: Chicago Police Says Gang Involved In Hadiya Pendleton Murder Named After Lil Wayne Lyric

Commentators Struggle to Explain Admiration for Dorner

California authorities now say Christopher Jordan Dorner, the fugitive ex-cop, killed himself as the cabin in which he was barricaded caught fire after a shootout with officers. His saga left some commentators struggling Friday to explain why some considered the killer of four, including two police officers, a martyr.

For those concerned about open government, the case "underscores yet again why transparency in officer misconduct cases is needed," the Los Angeles Times said in a headline above an editorial on Tuesday.

"A group of panelists on CNN tried to make sense of the phenomenon this afternoon," Tim Hains wrote Wednesday for Real Clear Politics.

" 'This has been an important conversation that we’ve had about police brutality, about police corruption, about state violence,' said Huffington Post Live host and Columbia University professor Marc Lamont Hill.

" 'They were even talking about making him the first domestic drone target. This is serious business here. I don't think it's been a waste of time at all. And as far as Dorner himself goes, he’s been like a real life superhero to many people. Now don't get me wrong. What he did was awful, killing innocent people was bad, but when you read his manifesto, when you read the message that he left, he wasn’t entirely crazy. He had a plan and a mission here. And many people aren't rooting for him to kill innocent people. They are rooting for somebody who was wronged to get a kind of revenge against the system. It's almost like watching Django Unchained in real life. It's kind of exciting.' "

Not to Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote Thursday on his blog for the Atlantic, "I don't really know how anyone, with any sort of coherence, adopts Christopher Dorner as a symbol in the fight against police brutality, given how he brutalized those two human beings. "I cannot understand, except to say that sometimes our own anger, our pain, becomes so blinding that we fail to see the pain of others. This is the seed of inhumanity, and inhumanity is the seed of the very police brutality which we all deplore."

Donner's online manifesto charged the LAPD with mistreating him and sanctioning racism, the L.A. Times recalled.

". . . Police disciplinary boards, where the most serious charges of misconduct are considered, were open to the public for years, and that helped the Los Angeles Police Department on its long trip back from ignominy to esteem," the Times editorial said. "Their closure in recent years, as well as the department's refusal to release the names of officers involved in shootings, threatens to undermine that slowly recovering public confidence.

" . . . L.A. has been reminded in the starkest terms that the price of closure is not just inconvenience for journalists; it's the threat that the public won't trust the institutions protected by such secrecy."

Karen Grigsby Bates with Michel Martin, "Tell Me More," NPR: Why Do People Sympathize With Christopher Dorner?

Jasmyne A. Cannick, EURWeb: Retired LAPD Sgt. Cheryl Dorsey: The Stress on Officers isn’t the Public, it’s the Department

EURWeb: Civil Rights Leader Releases African-American LAPD Sergeant's Letter on Racial Retaliation in LAPD

Josh Feldman, Mediaite: O’Reilly Tears Into Marc Lamont Hill Over Chris Dorner Remarks: You Gave 'Credibility To A Killer'

David Cay Johnston, Salon: LAPD’s indefensible Dorner pursuit

Demetria L. Lucas, Clutch magazine: Do You Trust Reporters During Breaking News?

Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: No way to twist Dorner's story positively

Geraldo Rivera, Fox News Latino: Sympathy for the Devil? Don't Buy into Dorner's Campaign of Spite and Deceit

Joel Rubin and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times: In wake of Dorner shootout, questions over use of 'the burner'

Swimsuit Issue Criticized for Use of Exotic Human "Props"

"The icy, hot Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has prompted some controversy," Ann Oldenburg reported Thursday for USA Today.

"No, no one's complaining about Kate Upton's curves (that we know of, anyway).

"Jezebel.com stirred up chatter this week by pointing out that the issue features models posing with 'natives.' Writer Dodai Stewart goes on to say that 'using people of color as background or extras is a popular fashion trope, whether it's Nylon magazine, the Free People catalogue, British Vogue or J.Crew. But although it's prevalent, it's very distasteful.' She adds: 'People are not props.' "

SI swimsuit issue editor MJ Day replied, ". . . We pick these locations very specifically. That is because we can show people the world. How much of the population can access areas of the world we can access? We feel beauty exists on all levels as well. The beauty is in the people and the places. We want to immerse you as a viewer in these situations." Of the controversy, she dismissed it, saying, "There's nothing to it."

Angry Asian Man: You know what this Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition needs? Some exotic human props.

Gay Journalists Challenge AP Style on "Couples"

The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association is challenging a style memo from the Associated Press on same-sex marriage partners.

". . . What is troubling is the final sentence in the memo: 'Generally AP uses couples or partners to describe people in civil unions or same-sex marriages,' " Jen Christensen, NLGJA president, said in a letter Thursday to David Minthorn, editor of The Associated Press Stylebook.

"Such guidance may be appropriate for referring to people in civil unions, for which there are no established terms and the language is still evolving, but it suggests a double standard for same-sex individuals in legally recognized marriages. One has to assume that AP would never suggest that the default term should be 'couples' or 'partners' when describing people in opposite-sex marriages. We strongly encourage you to revise the style advisory to make it clear that writers should use the same terms for married individuals, whether they are in a same-sex or opposite-sex marriage. . . . "

Meanwhile, Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publishing Co., which produces Ebony and Jet magazines, endorsed same-sex marriage in an op-ed piece Thursday in the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago's WMAQ-TV reported, "The Illinois Senate advanced a bill legalizing same-sex marriage Thursday, voting 34-21-2 in favor of the measure. . . . Gov. Pat Quinn has already said he will sign the bill once it passes. The House still needs to pass the bill. . . ."

Johnson Rice wrote, ". . . My family has always made Chicago our home, and I care deeply about the values our company has espoused for decades. Fairness and equality means that what you are never limits who you can be. . . ."

Michael Paul Williams, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch: Anti-gay bigotry is bad for business.

Pew Study Confirms Blacks Lead in Twitter Use

"The popularity of Twitter and Instagram among blacks in American is surging, while white women under 50 continue to pin away on Pinterest, according to a demographic survey released Thursday," Roger Yu reported Thursday for USA Today.

"The survey, by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, also confirmed what parents of college students already know — 83% [of] Internet users ages 18 to 29 use social media.

". . . Asian Americans weren't included in the Pew study because there were not enough respondents to draw statistically reliable conclusions.

"Among the Pew findings:

"Twitter, Instagram are popular among blacks. Among black Internet users, 26% use Twitter, far outpacing whites (14%) and Hispanics (19%). In August 2011, 18% of black Internet users were using Twitter. . . ."

A Plan to Boost Minority Ownership of TV Stations

It's a growing trend in the television business: holders of separate TV licenses agree to share news or other departments. When the decision to share is made, it can lead to the elimination of the entire staff of one of the stations, as happened in Tucson, Ariz., in 2011.

These arrangements are called "shared services agreements" and "joint sales agreements."

They coexist with a more stubborn trend: Reporting on broadcast ownership, the Federal Communications Commission reported in November that while station ownership by whites increased, the minority numbers were declining. Blacks went from owning 1 percent of all commercial TV stations in 2009 to just 0.7 percent in 2011. Asian ownership slipped from 0.8 percent in 2009 to 0.5 percent in 2011. Latino ownership increased slightly from 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent.

As the CommLawBlog points out in defining "shared services agreements" and "joint sales agreements," "To some, they’re a godsend, sustaining stations that would otherwise be dead-and-gone. To others, they’re an anti-diversity scourge, a disingenuous device reflecting all that is wrong with Big Media Consolidation. . . ."

On Friday, Harry A. Jessell, a longtime observer of the television business and publisher of TVNewsCheck, endorsed "an idea floating around Washington" intended to make both diversity advocates and television station owners happy.

"Broadcasters eager to double up in markets often bring in third parties and help them buy stations in the markets with the intention of operating them under JSAs and SSAs. The help usually comes in the form of loans or loan guarantees.

"The idea is that the FCC would say that JSAs and SSAs are allowable only if the third parties are minorities and women. This would act as a powerful incentive for broadcasters to seek out such partners rather than the assortment of mostly white men we have today. . . . "

FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who has been pushing for greater minority ownership and is the first African American woman on the FCC), ". . . has a real opportunity here to increase ownership by segments of our society that were not just disadvantaged, but essentially shut out from getting a broadcast license in the days when they were available for the asking," Jessell wrote.

Peter B Collins, Truthout: An Insider's View of the Progressive Talk Radio Devolution

Short Takes

"Facebook Inc., operator of the world's largest social-networking service, is seeking a global head of diversity, as the quickly expanding company’s recruits people from different backgrounds to foster creativity," Brian Womack reported Wednesday for Bloomberg Businessweek.

". . . The extraordinary pace and scale of globalization have led visionary multinationals to evolve dramatically, to broadly redefine diversity and raise it to a higher global level than ever before," Edward Iwata wrote Wednesday for the Seattle Times. ". . . The cross-border diversity practices of multinationals such as AT&T, American Express, IBM, Intel, Cisco Systems, Procter & Gamble — plus Washington-based Microsoft, Starbucks, Weyerhaeuser, Amazon.com and others — are changing the corporate world in modern and emerging countries alike. Intel executive Rosalind Hudnell calls it 'the new calculus of diversity.' . . . "

Writing about rapper Lil Wayne's widely condemned description of sex as "beating it up like Emmett Till," columnist Jarvis DeBerry of NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune in New Orleans ". . . wondered if I'd think differently of it if had been spoken by an artist I like." He cited "So Fresh, So Clean," a 2000 release by Outkast, which included the lines, "You're so Anne Frank. / Let's hit the attic to hide out for 'bout two weeks. . . "

"For over a decade, the Arab television broadcaster Al-Jazeera was widely respected for providing an independent voice from the Middle East. Recently, however, several top journalists have left, saying the station has developed a clear political agenda," Alexander Kühn, Christoph Reuter and Gregor Peter Schmitz wrote for Germany's Spiegel. ". . . Since the Arab Spring, though, many former dissidents have risen to power across the region — and these fledgling leaders often show little respect for democratic principles. Al-Jazeera, however, has shamelessly fawned upon the new rulers. . . ."

"The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that redacted state police records of racial profiling complaints can be made public under the state’s Public Information Act (PIA)," Kathleen Kirby wrote Feb. 3 for the Radio Television Digital News Association. "The case is significant because it dismisses the notion that certain categories of records exempt from disclosure cannot be redacted and released. . . ." RTDNA joined other news organizations in filing a friend-of-the-court brief.

Herman Cain, the former Republican presidential candidate, is Fox News' newest contributor, the network announced on Friday, the Huffington Post reported. "Cain will contribute analysis and commentary on Fox News, as well as Fox Business Network. . . ."

"As K-State celebrates its 150th year, many in the community are taking a closer look at its past," Melvin Fatimehin and Jakki Thompson wrote Friday for the Collegian at Kansas State University. "One piece of K-State’s long history is the Uhuru, a newspaper originally created by the Black Student Union for African-American students at K-State, which has made its return to the K-State campus with a modern twist. . . . "

". . . A new study from the University of Missouri School of Journalism shows that American newspapers, and specifically newspapers geared toward an African-American audience, frame stories on obesity in a negative way," Nathan Hurst wrote for the university. Researcher Hyunmin Lee reported, "Our study shows that the majority of obesity news stories are written in a negative tone, mainly attributing individual responsibilities to overcome obesity, which means many African Americans in need of weight loss could be discouraged by what they are reading in newspapers, instead of being inspired by positive success stories about overcoming obesity or other health problems. . . .”

Eva Coleman, media technology teacher at the Career and Technical Education Center in the Frisco, Texas, Independent School District, has been selected as Teacher of the Year by the Student Television Network, the network said this week. Long active in the National Association of Black Journalists, Coleman is vice president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists and volunteers with the NABJ High School Journalism Workshop.

In Newport News, Va., "Alveta Ewell, who has anchored newscasts at WAVY-TV for almost a quarter-century, announced her retirement on Wednesday night, the Daily Press reported Thursday. " Ewell, whose 30-year career in Hampton Roads also includes time on the radio and at WVEC-TV, will do her last newscast on Feb. 26. . . . "

". . . On Monday, February 11, 2013, Ebony Magazine published a freelance environmental science piece by Dr. Marshall Shepard: Are African-Americans More Vulnerable to Climate Change? AND the digital editors seem very interested in more science-related pitches," DNLee blogged Thursday for Scientific American. "Until we get more professional science writers to pitch to media outlets like Ebony, scientists who communicate will have to fill the gap. So, please, please, please submit your pitches, everyone and anyone. . . . "

Reporting on the annual "State of Indian Nations" report by Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, writer Mark Trahant noted Thursday, ". . . Indian Country has something that the rest of the country is missing: Young people . . . . Except. This advantage is coming at the same time as this massive wave called austerity is hitting. . . . I still think this is a moment of real possibility. A serious moment of possibility. But that success will come from tribes finding every dollar [they] can and investing it in young people. This is the future, not the Congress, especially a Congress with factions bent on intergenerational destruction."

At Marquette University, "While preparing for graduation, Marissa Evans, senior in the College of Communication and president of the Marquette chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, is hoping to fill an underrepresented part of media discussion," Emily Wright reported Thursday for the Marquette Tribune. "Last month, Evans launched InHue, an online magazine that focuses on health issues for women of color.

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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.

"The 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. . . ."

Short Takes

"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.