Liane Membis, Yale Grad, Is Miss Black America - Connecticut

An intern at the Wall Street Journal who is Miss Black America - Connecticut, graduated from Yale University and said she wanted to "represent African American women in a positive light," is no longer at the Journal after the newspaper said she fabricated sources and quotes just three weeks into the internship, according to news reports Tuesday.

"The paper wrote that it had removed an article by the intern, Liane Membis, that was published on June 17 because 'many of the names contained in the article about the re-opening of the 103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge in Manhattan were fabricated' and 'the quotes couldn't be independently verified.' The note concluded: 'Ms. Membis is no longer working at The Wall Street Journal,' Christine Haughney reported for the New York Times.

Although "Bridging a Local Divide" was pulled from the Journal website, Talking Biz News said it had been provided a copy by a Journal staffer.

The piece includes quotes from East Harlem residents such as:

" 'Sometimes I just come up on this bridge and stop and look around, right up here on the top,' said Katrina Maple, 64 years old. 'It's calming and relaxing. It feels like we finally got our backyard back.'

On the Washington Post website, Erik Wemple reprinted the quote and asked, "Do people talk like that?"

The Wall Street Journal statement said:

"Liane Membis was an intern for the Journal for less than three weeks and wrote or contributed to five published pieces -- one of which has been removed from our online archives and two of which have been edited to remove quotes that were provided by the intern and that cannot be confirmed. Notes detailing the actions taken have been placed at the original URLs. Ms. Membis is no longer working at The Wall Street Journal," according to Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute.

"The two other pieces with editor's notes are 'Space Shuttle Floats Into Its Manhattan Home' by Membis, published June 6, and 'Stop, Frisk in Spotlight' by Pervaiz Shallwani, published June 10."

Haughney added in the Times:

"Ms. Membis's experience at The Journal could create problems for other publications. A graduate of Yale University, she contributed more than three dozen articles to the Yale Daily News. The paper's editor, Max de la Bruyère, said, 'We are in the process of reviewing the stories she wrote for the paper as best we can.'

"Ms. Membis also wrote for CNN and Ebony and had an article picked up by The Huffington Post."

Among the pieces she wrote for the Yale Daily News was "Pour some sugar daddy on me," a short essay in 2009 about enjoying lunches with a married man.

Membis' LinkedIn profile lists her as "Wordsmith/Visionary Entrepreneur" and editor/publisher at Liberette Magazine, "an online magazine for women of color who are open-minded and intrigued by thought-provoking reads in a progressive environment."

At Yale, where Membis studied from 2008 to this year, she listed her activities and societies as "Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Yale African Students Association, Black [Women's] Coalition, Dwight Hall at Yale."

In an interview in November with WTNH in New Haven, Conn., after she won the Miss Black America - Connecticut contest, Membis said she wanted to "represent African American women in a positive light" and that her platform in the national contest would be "improving literacy in the African American community," asserting that "40 percent of our fourth graders are illiterate in the United States."

Max de La Bruyère, Yale Daily News: For Our Readers: Regarding Liane Membis '12

Peter Jacobs, ivyleagueblog.com: Former Yale Daily News Writer Fired From Wall Street Journal Internship For Making Up Sources

Julia La Roche, businessinsider.com: This Wall Street Journal Intern Was Fired For Fabricating Sources

From Observer to Panelist at Press-Freedom Meeting

Yvette Walker, night news director at the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City and Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Media Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma, is filing reports for Journal-isms on the International Press Institute's World Congress that began Sunday in Trinidad.

By Yvette Walker

On Tuesday, I appeared on a panel at the IPI World Congress: "Online Media and Ethics in a Changing Media Landscape." Fascinating stuff. I discussed the Trayvon Martin case as it related to how the information circulated via online media and social media. Kwame Laurence, online editor (now focusing more on sports) at the Trinidad Express, discussed comments and moderating commenters.

My points were that the original print story by the Orlando Sentinel was too small to attract the attention the story later received, and that the incident didn't become national and international news until bloggers chimed in, a change.org petition to charge George Zimmerman garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures (now millions) and the iconic hoodie photo was widely shared on social media.

The session flew by and there were great questions and comments, especially from Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald, who had just come from the National Association of Black Journalists convention in New Orleans. Charles pointed out that the Martin family mentioned the varying photos of Trayvon that circulated and said they did not intend to manipulate his public persona.

["Trayvon had a baby face," his mother, Sabrina Martin, said at the convention of charges that the family was releasing photos that made her son look younger. "The most recent photos we had were the horseback riding and the Hollister shirt. We're not trying to hide anything. He was a teenager. He was our son." The Rev. Al Sharpton, who appeared with the family at the Thursday session, told the NABJ audience, "Families never plan to be victims." Many journalists forget that victims and their families did not expect to be public figures but treat them as though they did and are, Sharpton said.]

There is much we could have talked about. I did not get a chance to say that there were great examples of analysis, including columns by Charles M. Blow of the New York Times, and from Kelly McBride, senior faculty, ethics, reporting and writing at the Poynter Institute, among others.

Final sessions of the day included "Moving from the Newsroom to the State House (and Back Again)" and "Covering the Environment."

The three-day Congress ended Tuesday night with a closing ceremony at the Diplomatic Center in Port of Spain. I left this beautiful island Wednesday, with thanks to the International Press Institute and to the talented journalists from around the world I was fortunate to meet.

Steven M. Ellis, International Press Institute: Free Expression Rapporteurs Issue Joint Declaration

Steven M. Ellis, International Press Institute: Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Promises to Initiate Review of Nation's Defamation Laws (access from home page)

Kejan Haynes, Trinidad Express: 'State-owned media means misinformation'

Naomi Hunt, International Press Institute: Ka-Ching!: Avoiding Manipulation through Government Advertising

Trinidad Express: Tears for slain journalists

Court's Ruling Was on Immigration, Not Health Care

"Today was expected to be a big news day," Marisa Treviño wrote Monday for her Latina Lista site. "All the cable news networks were waiting with bated commentary for the expected healthcare ruling by the Supreme Court. The financial cable news channels had lined up their experts to deliver immediate reaction the second the opinion was to be released.

"But it didn't happen. Maybe the Supreme Court thought it was enough news just to release their opinion on Arizona's SB1070 immigration bill, along with other lower profile rulings." The speed with which some of the cable news networks dropped their  Supreme Court coverage once it was clear that the ruling on the Affordable Care Act wouldn't come until Thursday "sheds light on why laws like SB1070 have been allowed to flourish and pass in the country — most people don't care if it doesn't affect them directly," Treviño wrote.

"And it's true that SB1070 affects only particular people — or that's the theory — but nobody realizes how it impacts everyone.

"The Supreme Court issued an opinion that strikes three out of the four provisions that were debated before them a couple of months ago.

"Struck down were:

"A provision authorizing police to arrest immigrants without warrant where 'probable cause' exists that they committed any public offense making them removable from the country.

"A section making it a state crime for 'unauthorized immigrants' to fail to carry registration papers and other government identification.

"A ban on those not authorized for employment in the United States to apply, solicit or perform work. That would include immigrants standing in a parking lot who 'gesture or nod' their willingness to be employed.

". . . not enough people care about the issue — not even Latino voters.

"A new GALLUP/USA TODAY poll released this morning shows that U.S. Hispanics prioritize immigration, healthcare, and unemployment to equal degrees when asked about the importance of these issues. However, Hispanics who are registered voters are less concerned about immigration. . . . "

Meanwhile, Eva Rodriguez of the Washington Post was among those who profiled Bryan A. Stevenson, Harvard law and government grad, and MacArthur "genius" grant winner who successfully persuaded the justices to declare unconstitutional any mandatory penalty that essentially dooms a juvenile offender to a life sentence.

"The opportunities that were given to me I want to give to other people who are disadvantaged and disfavored and marginalized," said Stevenson, who grew up under segregation, Rodriguez wrote. "And in my generation, I think the place where those needs are most compelling and most dramatic is in the criminal justice system.

"One out of three young black men is in jail or in prison. I go into communities where half of the young men of color are under criminal justice control, where you see states like Alabama that have permanently disenfranchised over a third of the black male population. I see real threats to the kinds of freedom and opportunities that I experienced as a result of the work that was done before me, and I feel a need to respond to that."

Justin Berrier, Media Matters for America: Fox Still Campaigning For Arizona Anti-Immigrant Bill After SCOTUS Defeat

Cristina Costantini and Janell Ross, Huffington Post: Despite Supreme Court SB 1070 Ruling, Climate Of Fear Persists In Arizona

Mark Lacter, LAObserved: Stunning ineptitude of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer*

Bryan Llenas, Fox News Latino: Court Decision on Arizona Immigration Law Becomes Voter Rallying Cry

E.J. Montini, Arizona Republic: Declaring 'victory' is NOT the same as victory

Steve Myers, Poynter Institute: Media coverage of Supreme Court Arizona immigration ruling declares victory, defeat for Obama

Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN.com: Not all Latinos are illegals

MaryEllen Resendez, KNXV-TV, Phoenix: Hispanic media air 'Hoy Somos Arizona' to ease fears of SB 1070

Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic: Taking the teeth out of SB 1070

Robert Robb, Arizona Republic: SB 1070 is a dead letter

Remington Shepard, Media Matters for America: Fox Nation v. Fox News Latino: AZ Immigration Law Ruling Edition

Al Tompkins, Poynter Institute: What journalists need to know about this week's Supreme Court Health Care Ruling

Linda Valdez, Arizona Republic: SB1070 ruling missed the point

Black Media Team Up to Seek Advertising Dollars

"Note to marketers: Television advertising is not postracial," Amy Chozick wrote for Monday's editions of the New York Times.

"That's the message that a newly formed consortium of the country's largest African-American media outlets wants to send to marketers, who have largely shunned black media in favor of placing ads on general outlets.

"On Monday, BET Networks, Black Enterprise, Johnson Publishing (the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines), the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and others will join with media-buying agencies to introduce a campaign intended to educate advertisers about the importance of black media and its increasingly deep-pocketed audience.

"Called #InTheBlack (using the Twitter hash tag), the campaign will begin with print advertisements in major newspapers (including The New York Times) and trade magazines like Broadcasting & Cable and Adweek. It will expand to a long-term joint effort that includes social media and direct outreach to marketers.

"The initiative comes at a time when advertisers have poured money into Spanish-language TV and radio in an effort to reach the growing Hispanic population. Black audiences, meanwhile, have largely been overlooked, despite projected buying power of $1.2 trillion by 2015, a 35 percent increase from 2008, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. . . . "

The coalition's news release lists the participants: "BET Networks has partnered with HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Company, KJLH Radio [Los Angeles], Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson to create a history making black media and marketing consortium."

In the Black website

FCC Urged to Investigate "Demise of Black Radio"

"A group of black media organizations on Monday will deliver a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, demanding that the FCC look into the demise of black radio in America, and the impact it has had on urban communities," Joy-Ann Reid reported Monday for theGrio.com.

"The letter, and the drive behind it, were sparked by the change in formatting of longtime urban radio station KISS-FM in New York, to sports talk. The change happened after Disney took over the station this spring, ending the decades-long rivalry between that station and WBLS for the adult urban market in New York by merging the stations, and handing the 30-year-old KISS frequency over to ESPN Radio.

"Similar changes have taken place in cities like Miami, where one of just three urban radio stations, The Beat FM, switched from urban 'adult contemporary' to Spanish-language pop. And in many major cities, there are just two, or even one, urban-themed radio stations left. And the number of black-focused talk radio stations is even smaller, particularly after black-owned radio network Radio One essentially exited the black news-talk market in 2007 and 2008."

The letter is signed by Paul Porter, on behalf of Industry Ears, along with Color of Change, which has been active in recent social media campaigns against former Fox News host Glenn Beck and conservative radio shock jock Rush Limbaugh; Joseph Torres of the media reform group Free Press; Brandy Doyle of the Prometheus Radio Project; Todd Steven Burroughs, a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department at Morgan State University; and Jared Ball, Morgan State professor and radio commentator.

Shadid's Cousin Implicates N.Y. Times in His Death

"Ed Shadid, the cousin of dead New York Times foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid, caused a stir over the weekend when he claimed in a speech that Anthony pre-emptively blamed the Times for his death in Syria, telling his wife: 'If anything happens to me, I want the world to know that the New York Times killed me,' " John Cook reported Monday for Gawker.com. "In an interview with Gawker, the surviving Shadid confirms the account and says the Times knew a trip to Syria was too dangerous, but sent him anyway.

"In his speech at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's convention on Saturday, which was initially reported on Twitter and later by Politico, Shadid said that his cousin didn't want to go on the reporting trip to war-torn Syria that led to his death, reportedly from an asthma attack, in February. On the night before he left for Syria, Ed said, Anthony was 'screaming and slamming on the phone in discussions with his editors.' In his last telephone call with his wife, Ed says, Anthony gave his 'haunting last directive that if anything happens to me I want the world to know the New York Times killed me.' "

Anthony Shadid's widow Nada Bakri, a Times reporter, issued a statement via Twitter, Gawker reported.

"I do not approve of and will not be a part of any public discussion of Anthony's passing. It does nothing but sadden Anthony's children to have to endure repeated public discussion of the circumstances of their father's death."

The New York Times rebutted Ed Shadid's assertions, Dylan Byers reported for Politico:

" 'Anthony's death was a tragedy, and we appreciate the enduring grief that his family feels,' New York Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told POLITICO. 'With respect, we disagree with Ed Shadid's version of the facts. The Times does not pressure reporters to go into combat zones. Anthony was an experienced, motivated correspondent. He decided whether, how and when to enter Syria, and was told by his editors, including on the day of the trip, that he should not make the trip if he felt it was not advisable for any reason.' "

In addition, Matt Pearce reported for the Los Angeles Times, "Confirmation from the family has been noticeably absent."

Steve Myers, Poynter Institute: Anthony Shadid's widow won't say whether New York Times to blame for his death

Alysia Santo, Columbia Journalism Review: Reporting from the battlefield, uninsured

Reporter Fired for Fabrications in 25 Stories

"Paresh Jha, an award-winning reporter for Hearst Newspapers' New Canaan News in Connecticut, has been fired for fabricating sources and quotes in at least 25 stories over the nearly two years he worked at the weekly," Craig Silverman reported Friday for the Poynter Institute.

"The paper announced his firing in a report published on its website just before 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

" 'We have found 25 stories written by Paresh Jha over the last year and a half that contain quotes from nonexistent sources,' said David McCumber, editorial director of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

"He went on to say, 'When confronted, Jha admitted that he had fabricated the names and the quotes.' "

Craig Silverman, Poynter Institute: Fabricator Paresh Jha likely made up entire articles, not just sources

Creators Pledge Diversity in "Newsroom," "Fit to Print"

"The highly-buzzed new cable series from Aaron Sorkin is a workplace drama that takes a look at the erratic world of a nightly news broadcast," according to blackactors.net. "Despite all of the marketing and advertising efforts pushing the white stars of the show, we've learned there are actually a few black characters you should know about.

"The Newsroom" premiered to an audience of 2.1 million viewers at 10 p.m. on Sunday, making it one of HBO's top debuts in recent years, Andrea Morabito reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News.

Meanwhile, "Fit to Print," a documentary described as a film "that takes the viewer on a behind-the-scenes journey through the current upheaval in the U.S. newspaper industry," includes interviews with Latino and African American newsroom employees "on the topics of diversity in the newsroom," according to Adam Chadwick, the former New York Times copy editor who is spearheading the production.

Chadwick named Gary Caesar of the New York Times, Linn Washington Jr. of the Philadelphia Tribune, syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. of San Diego and Mc Nelly Torres of the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. "The thing is, we are editing the film now, and though I hope to include everyone, I can't guarantee it," Chadwick told Journal-isms by email.

The film is in post-production and still seeking funding.

Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: HBO puts The Newsroom pilot online for free; judge Aaron Sorkin's work for yourself

Patrick Gavin, Politico: Documentary: Newspapers aren't going extinct

American Indians Said to Be Taking Control of Imagery

Writing Sunday in Indian Country Today about "American Indians and the Mass Media," a new book edited by Meta G. Carstarphen and John P. Sanchez, Mark Fogarty asked Sanchez, an Apache and an associate professor at Penn State University, "What is the most positive thing you learned about American Indians and the media — and the most negative?"

"The most positive aspect is that American Indians are taking control of the imagery and the very identity of American Indian cultures and no longer allowing non-American Indians to shape American Indian cultures without challenge," Sanchez replied. "The least positive aspect is that many people in the American media believe that American Indians are still a people who have not evolved beyond the 18th-century image of buckskins, beads and feathers, living in tipis and riding horses every day."

Fogarty wrote that the book's "15 chapters, by such well-known commentators as Mark Trahant, Roy Boney Jr. and Paul DeMain, are well researched and meticulously footnoted. This methodical approach could well have dragged the book down. Instead, it illuminates both the portrayal and the journalistic clout of American Indians in media today. And in that, there is something for the general reader."

NABJ Honors Black Louisiana Sports Figures

"In the 1950s, R.L. Stockard integrated the Baton Rouge State-Times and the New Orleans States-Item, bringing a black voice to Louisiana sportswriting. On Friday, he was honored at a convention hosting hundreds of black journalists for his role as a pioneer," Alex Cassara wrote Saturday in the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

"Stockard was one of eight black, Louisiana athletes, coaches and journalists that received recognition at the National Association of Black Journalists' Sports Task Force Sam Lacy Pioneer Awards at the Riverside Hilton as part of the association's convention taking place in New Orleans this weekend.

"Joining Stockard as honorees were the late [Grambling] football coach Eddie Robinson, Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington, Brooklyn Nets Coach Avery Johnson, former college basketball coach Harold Hunter, former UNO volleyball player Javonne Brooks-Grant, Dillard basketball coach Bernard Griffith and former WDSU sportscaster Ro Brown."

Chris Ariens, TVNewser: Two Ailes Apprentices to Help Cover NABJ for FNC (June 21)

Wayne Bennett, the Field Negro: No Mitt for the NABJ.

Akilah Bolden-Monifa, HuffPost BlackVoices: The National Association of Black Journalists Convention Explained

Michaelle Bond, American Journalism Review: How Changes at a Newspaper Are Unifying a City

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation: GLAAD and NABJ LGBT Taskforce Tackle Advocacy in the Newsroom

Nakia Hill, HuffPost BlackVoices: My First Day at NABJ — 2012

Bomani Jones blog: A 25 Point Recap of The NABJ12

Sherri Williams, Storify: #NABJ12 Maynard Institute lunch on Media Depictions of Black Males

WSB-TV, Atlanta: Monica Pearson honored by fellow journalists

Back to Business at Press-Freedom Conference

Yvette Walker, night news director at the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City and Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Media Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma, is filing reports for Journal-isms on the International Press Institute's World Congress that began Sunday in Trinidad.

By Yvette Walker

Spotted at the International Press Institute World Congress in Port of Spain, Trinidad: Milton Coleman, senior editor of the Washington Post. Other U.S. journalists of color scheduled as panelists include John Yearwood, world editor for the Miami Herald, and Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean correspondent for the Herald. Among the U.S. journalists here are Jim Clancy of CNN International and David S. Rohde of Thomson Reuters, who was given the IPI's World Press Freedom Hero award Monday night at an award dinner.

Here's a bizarre fact from Trinidad: Native people love Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are 42 KFCs on this island alone, and sales reportedly are higher here than in any other place that sells the chicken.

I decided to do a taste test, having been told that the 11 famous herbs and spices taste different from what I'm used to in the States. Yes, I'm breaking my diet just for you, dear readers.

And the verdict is: The original recipe is pretty similar, in my opinion. I did not get the spicy, and that might be what some people are referring to when they say the taste is different. Another difference, KFC delivers here. OK, back on a proper eating regimen!

Attendees have been treated to fun activities as well as to sobering pronouncements about the violence and harassment faced by journalists around the world every day.

At the welcome reception, we went to an open-air club, Woodbrook Carib Playboyz Panyard, where we were treated to local fare, East Indian dancing and drumming, and a steel drum band. Attendees danced, ate and had a great time.

Monday morning it was back to business. A session on "the big three," Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela, brought us to the terrible fate of many reporters, editors and bloggers. Davan Maharaj, editor and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Times, moderated the panel of four women: Catalina Botero, special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Organization of American States; Cenovia Casas, editor in chief of El Nacional in Venezuela; Marjorie Miller, Associated Press Latin America and Caribbean editor, based in Mexico; and Marcela Turati, journalist for Proceso in Mexico.

The panel generally agreed that Mexico was the worst offender of the three, with its cruel torture and killings. However, one panelist cautioned that Honduras has a high number of deaths per capita and for deaths among journalists.

In an interview afterward, I asked Miller why Americans should care about Mexico and Latin America. She said, "Most of the violence is around drug trafficking to the U.S. market . . . A couple of the cartels aren't just trafficking in drugs, but they're trafficking in people coming to the United States, so it's part of the U.S. economy."

Miller continued, "You're going to have an economic impact, a violence impact, and legal . . . You want Mexico to be a healthy state, a strong state. You don't want the institutions of Mexico to be run by the cartel. It's not good for Mexico and it's not good for the U.S."

Maharaj reminded the audience that Latin America's fight for a free press should concern us all. ". . . At the end of the day, we depend on openness to do our work, which is serving the public's right to know," he said.

Follow my reports at #IPIWoCo2012

Editorial, Trinidad Express: A timely World Press conference

International Press Institute: IPI-Organised Workshop Offers Caribbean Journalists Tips on Covering Corruption

International Press Institute: IPI World Congress Opens with Roll-Call of 72 Journalists Killed

International Press Institute: Media in a Challenging World — A 360 Degree Perspective

Short Takes

"Joe Williams, the White House correspondent whom Politico suspended last week after he made racially insensitive remarks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, tweeted about his employer on the evening of March 30 that 'what's most irritating is the overlay of blatant racism. that's the secret sauce in the Politico shitburger," David Martosko, executive editor of the Daily Caller, wrote early Tuesday. Williams told Journal-isms by telephone, "I don't recall that Twitter feed. They've been combing through my Twitter file, which is why I shut it down."

"When journalist-turned-marketing-executive Robert Montemayor was first referred by a friend to the dean of Rutgers' School of Communication and Information to discuss a possible teaching position, he quickly realized that Jorge Reina Schement was once on his LA Times list of go-to academic sources," Richard Horgan wrote Monday for the FishbowlLA. "Now, several years after joining the faculty in 2008, Montemayor and [Schement] are preparing to launch the Inter-University Program for Latino Research. It is a database that in all likelihood will become a trusted source for a new generation of newspaper reporters."

The four journalists in the inaugural class of the Associated Press Sports Editors Diversity Fellowship Program were to join outgoing APSE President Michael Anastasi at APSE's June 20-23 conference in Chicago, Ana Cuello reported last week for APSE. They are Adena Andrews, writer for ESPNW; Carrie Cousins, night sports editor of the Roanoke (Va.) Times; Dennis Freeman, sports editor of the Beverly Hills (Calif.) Times Magazine; and Ed Guzman, sports copy chief of the Washington Post. Anastasi announced the program when he took office at the 2011 convention as a way to train sports journalists of color for management jobs. As another step toward diversity, the conference was co-sponsored with the Association for Women in Sports Media.

"Ronald Ebens says he's sorry for the beating death of Vincent Chin on June 19, 1982, 30 years ago in Detroit. But for many Asian Americans, he can't say sorry enough," Emil Guillermo wrote Friday on his blog for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "For the 30th anniversary, after writing about the case for years, I just wanted to hear him express his regret, so that I could put the case behind me. So I called him up. And he talked to me," Guillermo wrote. In death, Chin became a galvanizing figure among Asian Americans. Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, and Frank H. Wu, chancellor and dean of the Hastings College of the Law, University of California, also commented on the case.

" 'The Cycle' debuted on MSNBC today, and as part of the first episode, co-host Touré explained what the show was all about," Alex Weprin wrote Monday for TVNewser. " 'We are a group of friends having a dinner party in the afternoon, and we are going to invite you into our party, where we are going to talk about politics and culture in the ensemble format that has existed since the beginning of television, because it still works,' he said."

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy the 34,000-circulation daily Waco Tribune-Herald to expand in Texas as Chairman Warren Buffett extends his bet on community newspapers, Noah Buhayar and Steven Norton reported Friday for Bloomberg News. The Tribune-Herald serves a city that is 29.6 percent Hispanic and 21.5 percent black, according to 2010 Census figures.

The Native American Journalists Association "has recently had reductions in financial support, so each of our board members look to find ways to give back to the organization through personal donations," Rhonda LeValdo, NAJA president, writes on the NAJA website. "Last year, I held a food sale, an Indian taco with drink, to raise money. Considering I just helped launch a website geared toward getting Native people to live healthy lifestyles (wellboundstorytellers.com), I figured, I probably should do something else. On July 15th, I will be competing in my first triathlon, the Midwest Mayhem triathlon in Lawrence, Kansas. . . . I am asking any person or media organization to donate any amount they can give, all funds will be used by NAJA for its general operations."

"Ten days after the NBC Sports Radio Network announced a September launch, the CBS Corporation today announced the creation of CBS Sports Radio, a lineup of national programming 'that establishes what will be the nation's most listened-to sports radio network across the Top 50 markets,' " Pete Dougherty wrote Thursday for the Times Union in Albany, N.Y.

"Dispatch Broadcast Group's NBC affiliate WTHR Indianapolis (DMA 26) will launch a local Spanish-language news webcast on today," TVNewsCheck reported on Monday. "The webcast, 13 Eyewitness News en Español, is recorded in the WTHR News studios and provides news updates, weather and sports in Spanish every weekday, available at WTHR.com. The news webcast will be co-anchored by Marco Dominguez and Rossina Lazaneo."

In Burundi, "Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Reporters Without Borders are very angry about the sentence of life imprisonment that a court in the eastern city of Cankuzo passed yesterday on Hassan Ruvakuki, a reporter for Bonesha FM and RFI's Swahili service, on a charge of 'participating in acts of terrorism,' His lawyer plans to appeal," Reporters Without Borders said Thursday. "Representatives of RFI, France's international public radio broadcaster, and Reporters Without Borders learned of the sentence yesterday in the capital, Bujumbura, as they were winding up a four-day visit dedicated to the case."

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