Will Black Boys Have Skills to Be Journalists?
It's a "national catastrophe": A new report shows black men are performing lower than their peers on almost every level. Richard Prince wonders what that means for the future of black journalists.
Report Calls Underachievement a "National Catastrophe"
"Black males continue to perform lower than their peers throughout the country on almost every indicator," according to a new report from the Council of the Great City Schools, which calls itself "the only national organization exclusively representing the needs of urban public schools."
Its report, released Tuesday, is bad news for efforts to diversify the pipeline that fills journalism jobs — and others that require a solid education.
"The study points out that there has been no concerted national effort to improve the education, social and employment outcomes of African American males, who are not receiving appropriate attention from federal, state and local governments or community organizations," the council said.
" 'This is a national catastrophe, and it deserves coordinated national attention,' stresses the report."
Walk onto any campus, and it is obvious that young women now outnumber young men. This is also true in journalism programs, and it's truest of all for African Americans.
"African Americans still have the largest gender gap in enrollment; 63 percent of all African American undergraduates are women," the American Council on Education reported this year.
"We have such a large drop out rate in that critical early time period that of course fewer young black men are going to college," said Dorothy Gilliam, the veteran journalist who founded Prime Movers, a Washington-based program that provides mentors for high-school journalists. "Most of these young black boys are from low income families and those who make it to college often are first generation college students," she told Journal-isms by e-mail. "Many don’t have the support system that really helps them to navigate through college, so many drop out and there is a lower graduation rate. It stands to reason that you have fewer showing up in the journalism field (or any other profession)," said Gilliam, a co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
"It really starts early, as this report indicates," she continued. "If young children are not being read to and communicated with at a level that encourages them to be inquisitive and to learn, they are behind from the beginning. So many urban kids are going to under resourced school systems with teachers who have not received all the training they need. It’s all so interrelated. There is a quiet crisis going on in our communities across the nation. If we don’t get this one right, it doesn’t bode well for us as a people."
The report is being released as the Fall National High School Journalism Convention, sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association, meets this week in Kansas City.
"We are concerned about a lack of vibrant school journalism programs in our nation's urban areas. Certainly there are exceptions," Logan Aimone, executive director of the scholastic press association, told Journal-isms, "but in general, city schools tend to not have the same support level for journalism programs as their suburban or small-town counterparts. That's true in many areas, of course, not just journalism."
The Council of Great City Schools called for a White House conference "to help lay out a comprehensive plan of action that leaders at all levels can pursue." Its findings showed:
"In readiness to learn, black children were twice as likely to live in a household where no parent had fulltime or year-round employment in 2008. And in 2007, one out of every three black children lived in poverty compared with one out of every 10 white children.
"In black male achievement at the national level, first-time analysis of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals that on the 2009 fourth grade reading assessment only 12 percent of black male students nationally and 11 percent of those living in large central cities performed at or above proficient levels, compared with 38 percent of white males nationwide.
"In eighth grade, only 9 percent of black males across the country and 8 percent living in large cities performed at or above the proficient level in reading, compared with 33 percent of white males nationwide. Math results were similar in both grades.
"Moreover, the average African American fourth and eighth grade male who is not poor does no better in reading and math on NAEP than white males who are poor, and black males without disabilities do no better than white males with disabilities.
"In black male achievement in selected big city school districts, 50 percent of fourth- and eighth-grade black males in most urban districts and nationwide scored below Basic levels.
"In college and career preparedness, black males were nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school as white males. In 2008, 9 percent of black males dropped out of high school compared with 5 percent of white males.
"In addition, black male students nationally scored an average 104 points lower than white males on the SAT college entrance examination in reading. And black students generally were about one-third as likely to meet ACT college readiness benchmarks as white students.
"In school experience, black students were less likely to participate in academic clubs, more likely to be suspended from school, and more likely to be retained in grade than their white peers.
"In postsecondary experience, the unemployment rate among black males ages 20 and over (17.3 percent) was twice as high as the unemployment rate among white males of the same age (8.6 percent) earlier this year. In 2008, black males ages 18 and over accounted for 5 percent of the college population, while black males accounted for 36 percent of the nation’s prison population."
Efforts to address the issue have been sporadic.
Two decades ago, the late syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan, a black journalist, was dismayed by peer pressure that can work against black students excelling in school, so he created a scholarship program, Project Excellence. Backed by the Freedom Forum, it was specifically geared toward two skills that make good journalists — writing and speaking.
He wrote in May 1987, "Suppose that in this town black journalists chipped into a fund to give annual scholarships of, say, $4,000 each, to three black high school seniors cited by a committee named by the school superintendent as the best achievers in writing and speaking? This might help a lot of youngsters to say, 'I'm not playing dumb to please dumb friends; I want that money.' "
The concept moved far beyond black journalists. At his death in 2000, more than 3,000 African American high school students from the Washington area had received offers of scholarships worth $92.6 million. But Rowan's sons lacked the contacts needed to continue the program, and it ended two years later.
Some colleges address the problem among students who make it that far.
At Hampton University, Tony Brown, then dean of its Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, told parents in 2006 that "many freshmen, including those with high GPAs, have serious challenges in GPS (grammar, punctuation and spelling) and English composition." So he started the 6 O'Clock Club, where the dean met with "serious freshmen" at 6 a.m. every Thursday during the first semester. "Get ready by spending your summer reviewing 8-12 grade GPS," Brown wrote. The 6 O'Clock Club is no more, a Hampton professor said, but for the third year, beginning media-writing students must complete a grammar software program. "The program works! Student grammar and sentence structure is clean and coherent," the professor said.
Roy S. Johnson, editor of Men's Fitness magazine, saw a New York Times story on the council's report Tuesday and alerted readers of his Facebook page. "It pains me to post this — but reaffirms my resolve to continue programs like Higher Aims, created and supported by the Foundation of Westchester Clubmen (www.westchesterclubmen.org)," Johnson wrote.
In his Westchester County, N.Y., suburb, the "clubmen" meet for mutual support and camaraderie, and to motivate black boys for whom "college is not something that has crossed their radar."
Johnson said it is up to journalists not only to report the dismal statistics about failing youth but also "to report on the people who are giving their own time to change the statistics" and to "report on the young men who are doing well."
He added that as human beings, "we all have the opportunity to get involved."
Johnson's comment brought to mind a piece in the 2006 Washington Post series "Being a Black Man," reporting on Jachin Leatherman and Wayne Nesbit, two well-liked football players at what some considered the worst high school in the city. They "made it okay, cool even, to be smart," V. Dion Haynes wrote.
Haynes did what Johnson suggested. He revisited the two, now college graduates, for an Oct. 24 piece for the Washington Post Magazine.
There was no single reason for their success.
Nesbit gave credit to his father: "It starts with parents and the people raising you. He said his dad "just stayed on me. He just enforced education." Despite the troubles in Southeast Washington, his father told him, "You've just got to have a one-set mind, make a go and don't let nothing turn you away from it."
In the 2006 piece, Haynes reported what some of the football players had said to the coaches when, three years before, Nesbit and Leatherman were first introduced as examples:
"They smart. We dumb. We can't get better."
Leatherman replied: "That's crazy. Anybody can get good grades. Just go to class and do your work."
In an appearance on NPR's "Tell Me More," host Jacki Lyden asked Haynes, "What would you say the secret to their success was, perseverance?"
"I think it was just confidence in who they are and the fact that they really love their community. They love their family. They love their friends," he replied.
Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Others Will Profit from Black Males' Failures
4 Million Latinos Would Leave if They Could, Gallup Says
"A newly released Gallup study of U.S. Hispanics reveals that more than one in seven — or an estimated 4 million adults — would leave the U.S. permanently if they had the opportunity," the Gallup Organization reported on Tuesday.
". . . U.S. Hispanics who would like to migrate are caught between two worlds. Gallup's data show they are less integrated than those who don't want to migrate — they're more likely to feel good only among other Hispanics, feel more discriminated against, and are less likely to speak English well. They not only experience more cultural tension, but also seem to be doing worse off economically, particularly with regard to their ability to afford healthcare for themselves and their families. Further, U.S. Hispanics who would like to migrate are more likely to say they have sent remittances back home in the past 12 months and are less optimistic about the future possibility of increasing or maintaining the amount of these remittances.
"And, although they live in the land of the free, U.S. Hispanics who would like to migrate are less likely to feel that they are enjoying this benefit. While 91% of those who do not wish to migrate are satisfied with the freedom they have to choose what they do with their lives, 77% of would-be migrants say the same."
Marisa Treviño wrote in her Latina Lista blog, "The desire of these individuals to leave the United States is less a reflection on current immigration enforcement policies, the political climate or economic times but a reality that was always known to exist — most migrants only wanted to come to the U.S. to work, not to reside permanently. . . . Congress should look at a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that finally accepts this reality and creates a solution that benefits migrants, their home countries and the United States' need for cheap labor."
Ruben Navarrette, Washington Post Writers Group: An Enforcer's Thankless Task
Crowd Attacks News Crew Covering Memorial Service
"Deputies plan to charge at least two people after an angry mob attacked an Orlando TV news crew Monday night during a memorial service for a teenage hit-and-run victim," WKMG-TV in Orlando reported Tuesday.
"Local 6 cameras caught another local news crew being attacked outside St. Andrews Catholic Church in Orange County, where a service was being held to remember 15-year-old Anthony Rodriguez, who was hit along with his brother while walking to a bus stop last week.
"The fight apparently started because a Spanish-language television crew interviewed Rodriguez's brother without his parents' permission. Local 6 stood back as family members raced across the parking lot intending to confront the television crew that performed the interview. Instead, they swarmed around the first crew in sight. The attacked photographer works for WFTV-TV.
"The family members knocked down the TV station's photographer, then shoved and kicked him, the video shows.
"The victim's father, George Torres, could be clearly heard yelling profanity-laced rants. He said to the news crew, 'Get out of here! Get the (expletive) out of here! I will (expletive) kill you!'
"On the video, the photographer can be seen getting up and walking across the street, but then two of the attackers followed him around his news van, shouting 'turn it off,' referring to his camera. The video then shows one of the men shoving the photographer to the ground once again and the photographer being punched in the face while he is on the ground.
"The men involved are believed to be relatives of Rodriguez.
" . . . The photographer was not seriously injured."
Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel: WFTV calls mourners’ attack on photographer ‘regrettable’
Black Press' Hazel Trice Edney Starts Own News Service
Trice Edney announced a kickoff party for the Trice Edney News Wire to be held Friday at the National Press Club. It is to be hosted by Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer, with remarks by Joe Madison, the radio talk show host.
Contributing columnists are listed as the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Julianne Malveaux; Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; A. Peter Bailey; the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds and Dr. Wilmer Leon.
"We are marketing to NNPA membership and beyond," Trice Edney told Journal-isms via e-mail. "Dr. Barbara Reynolds, Dr. Malveaux, and Marc Morial will write for NNPA as well as Trice Edney Wire. Dr. Wilmer Leon is not an NNPA columnist. Rev. Jackson is not a regular NNPA columnist. A. Peter Bailey will be exclusively Trice Edney Wire. We will have other exclusive columnists as well, including National Medical Association President Dr. Leonard Weather and others."
Trice Edney tendered her letter of resignation from NNPA on Sept. 8 after working for the black press for 25 years. In her resignation letter, she challenged a rebuke she received from board members, who charged that the news service was not acting in concert with NNPA, which had undertaken a "strong direction to assert the power of the NNPA."
Dorothy R. Leavell, chair of the NNPA Foundation, said then that she planned to reorganize the operation to upgrade it with newer technology. So far, the website posting NNPA stories still features advance pieces on the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference, held Sept. 15-18.
Leavell did not respond to a request for comment.
Dobbs Joins Fox Business Network; NAHJ Urges Vigilance
Lou Dobbs, whose departure from CNN a year ago was hailed by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and other groups, has signed a multi-year deal with Fox Business Network, his new employers announced on Wednesday.
"Dobbs will develop and host a new daily program premiering in the first quarter of 2011. He will also make appearances across a variety of FBN programs to provide analysis and commentary on business news of the day," an announcement said.
"Dobbs served as an anchor, managing editor and executive vice president for CNN, hosting various programs including 'Moneyline,' which premiered in 1980 and was later renamed 'Lou Dobbs Tonight.' Dobbs is also a radio talk show host and will continue to host his nationally syndicated radio programs and financial reports," the statement continued.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes, had called on CNN to remove Dobbs. Its president, J. Richard Cohen, said Dobbs was "trading in falsehoods and racist conspiracy theories."
Dobbs indulged the "birther" movement, people who questioned whether President Obama was born on American soil and, therefore, whether Obama was constitutionally entitled to be president.
Dobbs' statements on illegal immigrants were called irresponsible and false.
"The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has long been on record as advocating fair, accurate and balanced coverage of Latinos and immigration in particular," NAHJ President Michele Salcedo told Journal-isms via e-mail Wednesday. "Fairness, accuracy and balance, on the whole, had been largely absent from Lou Dobbs’ coverage of immigration when he was at CNN.
"Our issue with Dobbs has never been about 'advocacy journalism.' Opinion journalism plays a treasured role as watchdog and valuable source of information in a democratic society. But this opinion should ideally be supported by facts. Dobbs has failed in this regard.
"We challenge journalists, listeners and viewers everywhere to continue weighing Dobbs’ 'advocacy journalism' — on immigration in particular — against reality. In such a contest, we have no doubt that a more reasoned understanding of immigration and Latinos will prevail."
Michael Calderone, Yahoo News: CNN calls out Fox News, MSNBC for political slants
Kanye West Tweets That NBC's "Today" Set Him Up
"Yesterday rapper Kanye West taped an interview with 'Today' show anchor Matt Lauer, and was apparently so incensed with what happened he decided to preemptively comment about it on Twitter," Alex Weprin reported Wednesday for TVNewser.
Weprin quoted from West's tweets, putting them in paragraph form: ". . . let me tell you how they did me at the Today show. I went there to express how I was empathetic to Bush because I labeled him a racist and years later I got labeled as a racist. While I was trying to give the interview they started playing the 'MTV' under me with audio!!!!!! I don’t mess with Matt Lauer or the Today show, and that’s a very nice way for me to put it!
"HE TRIED TO FORCE MY ANSWERS. IT WAS VERY BRUTAL AND I ONLY CAME THERE WITH POSITIVE INTENT… Yo I really wonder if Matt Lauer thought that shit was cool to play the 'MTV' clip while I was speaking about Bush? He played clips of Bush and asked me to look at his face while I was trying to talk to him. I wish Michael Jackson had Twitter!!!!!!! Maybe Mike could have explained how the media tried to set him up!!! It’s all a fucking set up!!"
" 'Today' released a statement responding to West’s Twitter tirade:
" 'We look forward to airing Matt Lauer’s interview with Kanye West tomorrow on "Today." ' "
"Don't Believe the Hype. Black Folks Voted"
"When the votes were counted last Tuesday night in St. Louis, County Executive Charlie A. Dooley had won another four years in office, a victory he credits in part to a heavy voter turnout in the North County districts, home to a large number of black voters," Denise Stewart reported Wednesday for BlackAmericaWeb.com.
"Dooley, a Democrat, beat his Republican challenger by more than 15,000.
"While the voting patterns still are being analyzed from the mid-term elections, it’s clear that blacks across the country went to the polls and voted, said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
“ 'Don't believe the hype. Black folks voted,' Campbell said.
"Two other groups have analyzed exit poll data and released a report that shows heavy voting among young people between the ages of 18 and 30.
"Young voters in the 2010 midterm elections were racially and ethnically diverse, voted for Democrats and approve of President Obama, according to new analysis of exit poll data released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and Generational Alliance (GA).
"An estimated 20.9 percent of all eligible young people ages 18-29 voted in the 2010 mid-terms. Younger voters chose Democratic House candidates over Republican House candidates by a margin of 57 percent to 40 percent."
Philip Baker-Shenk and Virginia Boylan, Indian Country Today: The impact of the 2010 election on Indian tribes in the US House
Pew Research Center for People & the Press: Election Results Draw Big Interest, Heavy Coverage
Mark Trahant blog: Bring It On! Relitigating the health care reform debate
Hatin' on 'Colored Girls'
One journalist looks to the For Colored Girls movie's solid box office numbers to negate all of the film's less-than-positive reviews.
After Perry Film Debut, Writers Compete for One-Liners
The hatin' on Tyler Perry's film "For Colored Girls" was so intense that Ronda Racha Penrice, writing on theGrio.com, had to find solace in the opening weekend's box office take:
"Negative reviews from respected film critics like The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt, who proclaimed Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls . . . 'this train wreck of a movie' didn't keep black female filmgoers away. Although Friday night's box office numbers suggested that 'For Colored Girls' was on pace to gross $28 million, its actual weekend box office receipts of $20.1 million are more than respectable," Penrice wrote on Monday.
"In an age when most black films must fight to get just a thousand screens, 'For Colored Girls,' according to BoxOfficeMojo, played on nearly 2,900 screens in 2,127 theaters, averaging a healthy $9,450" per screen. "Those numbers may mean little to you but, in Hollywood, they are huge. With a reported total production budget of $21 million, a $20.1 million opening means that 'For Colored Girls' will be profitable. Hopefully, that also means that more black directors besides Tyler Perry will get to make films starring black people."
Then she got to the hatin'.
"Mainstream reviews of the film have been laced with a viciousness rarely seen when evaluating the work of other filmmakers. ' "For Colored Girls" is so shamelessly terrible it would make a great midnight hoot-fest, if you had the stomach to laugh at Shange or some of the best (and most underused) actresses of their generation: Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, and, as a cartoon sexpot, Thandie Newton, who gets by on her killer timing,' writes New York Magazine's David Edelstein. The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris, who is African-American, began his review with 'Tyler Perry is no stranger to kitchen-sink melodrama. But "For Colored Girls" is the kitchen sink, the washing machine, the curling iron, the sofa, and the ironing board.' "
"For Colored Girls," based on Ntozake Shange's 1975 "choreopoem" that became a classic, was the cultural event of the weekend for much of black America.
And there were in fact a few kind words.
Jenice Armstrong wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News, " 'For Colored Girls,' inspired by Ntozake Shange's 1975 poetic play, isn't the movie to see if you're feeling fragile. But if you're in a healthy place, definitely go. Just take Kleenex and a girlfriend because you're going to want to talk it out afterward. Phylicia Rashad, Loretta Devine, Elise and Thandie Newton tear the screen up. Elise, in particular, puts on an Oscar-worthy performance in her role as a battered mother who goes to hell and back after witnessing the unthinkable. My favorite line comes near the end, when Elise's character declares, 'I found God in myself and I loved her fiercely.' What a lesson there is in that."
But the headline on Courtland Milloy's column Monday in the Washington Post was, "For black men who have considered homicide after watching another Tyler Perry movie."
And Teresa Wiltz wrote on theRoot.com, "It's an exceedingly hard slog, 2 hours and 14 minutes of overwrought melodrama, bleaker than bleak, and unleavened by humor or wit."
Keli Goff, writing on theLoop21.com, said that considering all that she has read about the film, she's reached her own conclusion. "I simply remain as on the fence about seeing 'For Colored Girls' as I’ve been on the fence about other recent films with similarly negative reviews," she said.
"And I’ve ultimately decided to wait to see those on Netflix. (For the record, I read the somewhat positive review in the New York Times, one of the film’s few, but the critic, Manohla Dargis, lost credibility points with me the moment she declared that part of Mr. Perry’s baggage is that 'Black people love him and white people don’t get him.' Um, this black person would like you to try again Ms. Dargis.)"
Abdul Ali, theRoot.com: 'For Colored Girls,' Not for Black Men
Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: 'Colored Girls' isn't easy viewing
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR: 'For Colored Girls' Counts On Fans, Not Critics
David Germain, Associated Press: 'For Colored Girls' Takes Third at Box Office
Keli Goff, theLoop.21: Do I have to go see 'For Colored Girls'?
Esther Iverem, SeeingBlack.com: The Colored House of Pain
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: 'For Colored Girls' truths are undeniable, including Tyler Perry's role
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: For Colored Girls: ‘Precious’ on steroids: Stars can’t save director from overreaching
Christopher Nelson, theGrio.com: For Colored Girls' author finds 'few flaws' in film version
Kevin Powell, daily Kos: Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’
TheRoot.com: All About 'For Colored Girls' - Reviews, Photos, Videos and Commentary
Mychal Denzel Smith, theGrio.com: Does Tyler Perry have a problem with black men?
Goldie Taylor, theGrio.com: 'For Colored Girls': Tyler Perry's closest film to perfection
Teresa Wiltz, theRoot.com: 'For Colored Girls,' the Movie: How Tyler Perry turned an artistic classic into a crude cartoon
NAHJ, in Funding Crisis, to Claim All Incoming Dues
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, wrestling with an ongoing financial crisis, has decided "to nullify chapters that have been inactive for more than a year and reclaim their share of membership dues," and, as an emergency measure for 2011, to claim all incoming dues, funds that had been split 50-50 with local chapters, President Michele Salcedo announced Friday on the NAHJ website.
"The convention numbers are in. Without allocating the cost of staff time to the convention, we made money," she began.
"I wish I could tell you that’s good news, but here’s why it’s not: When staff time and other overhead are factored in, our profit is more than wiped out. The convention is NAHJ’s main moneymaker, and we were counting on making a substantial chunk of our revenue for 2010 from the convention. Falling short means we have to find other sources of income. With an economic climate as tough as the one we’re in, that’s no easy task."
Brandon A. Benavides, president of the Washington, D.C., chapter, one of NAHJ's most active, told Journal-isms, "This was a complete surprise to us. We were not told this was in effect. Nor were we told this was being considered.
"We were planing to use the funding as seed money for a chapter conference in the spring. We lost up to $3,000 for local programming. Right now we get $35 from each member. We have more than 100 local members.
"The chapter board is discussing its options. We have a membership meeting on Wednesday at NPR headquarters at 7 PM." He sent a similar message to members.
Presidents of other active chapters did not respond to inquiries.
AP Explores Why Unwed Mothers Bear 72% of Black Babies
"One recent day at Dr. Natalie Carroll's OB-GYN practice, located inside a low-income apartment complex tucked between a gas station and a freeway, 12 pregnant black women come for consultations. Some bring their children or their mothers. Only one brings a husband," Jesse Washington, the Associated Press' race relations reporter, wrote from Houston on Saturday.
"Things move slowly here. Women sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the narrow waiting room, sometimes for more than an hour. Carroll does not rush her mothers in and out. She wants her babies born as healthy as possible, so Carroll spends time talking to the mothers about how they should care for themselves, what she expects them to do — and why they need to get married.
"Seventy-two percent of black babies are born to unmarried mothers today, according to government statistics. This number is inseparable from the work of Carroll, an obstetrician who has dedicated her 40-year career to helping black women.
" 'The girls don't think they have to get married. I tell them children deserve a mama and a daddy. They really do,' Carroll says from behind the desk of her office, which has cushioned pink-and-green armchairs, bars on the windows, and a wooden 'LOVE' carving between two African figurines. Diamonds circle Carroll's ring finger.
"As the issue of black unwed parenthood inches into public discourse, Carroll is among the few speaking boldly about it. And as a black woman who has brought thousands of babies into the world, who has sacrificed income to serve Houston's poor, Carroll is among the few whom black women will actually listen to.
" 'A mama can't give it all. And neither can a daddy, not by themselves ,' Carroll says. 'Part of the reason is because you can only give that which you have. A mother cannot give all that a man can give. A truly involved father figure offers more fullness to a child's life.'
"Statistics show just what that fullness means. Children of unmarried mothers of any race are more likely to perform poorly in school, go to prison, use drugs, be poor as adults, and have their own children out of wedlock.
"The black community's 72 percent rate eclipses that of most other groups: 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008, the most recent year for which government figures are available. The rate for the overall U.S. population was 41 percent."
Sunday Talk-Show Hosts Resist GOP's "Obamacare" Term
In politicians' latest effort to spin the language, Republicans lined up on the Sunday talk shows to define as "Obamacare" the health-care legislation they say they would repeal. To their credit, the journalists resisted the spin, except in quoting Republicans.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., used the term six times on NBC's "Meet the Press"; Sen.-elect Rand Paul, R-Ky., once on ABC's "This Week"; and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota once again on CNN's "State of the Union." On that program, however, moderator Candy Crowley found herself using it in quoting Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., in a letter to House Republicans. "If all of Obamacare cannot be immediately repealed, then it is my intention to begin repealing it piece by piece, blocking funding for its implementation and blocking the issuance of the regulations necessary to implement it. In short, it is my intention to use every tool at our disposal to achieve full repeal of Obamacare," Cantor wrote, according to Crowley.
On "Fox News Sunday," regular panelist Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, worked in the phrase no fewer than nine times, three in the same passage.
"What the issue does point out is the power of headlines, the dangers we all face over being politically manipulated by word usage and the inexact science of deciding when a term has entered the popular lexicon and is acceptable," Schumacher-Matos wrote.
Meanwhile, in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS-TV'S "60 Minutes," President Obama defended his many recent media appearances. CBS correspondent Steve Kroft pointed out that the president has been on everything from "The View" to "The Daily Show," Molly Stark reported for TV Newser.
Obama replied, "I guess my attitude is if I’m reaching people, if I’m talking to them. If I’m engaged with them, whatever the venue, then hopefully that makes people a little clear about what it is that I’m trying to do, and understand the challenges that we face. And so I’m willing to take the risks of overexposure on that front."
In another development, Robert L. Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, sent a letter urging the Congressional Black Caucus to support Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., in his bid for House Minority Whip. Current House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said he might seek the same post. Clyburn is currently House majority whip.
"The Democrats’ loss of the U.S. House majority in Tuesday’s election will cost them the powerful speaker’s position, which current House Minority Leader John Boehner will assume in January when the new congressional session starts with Republicans in control of the chamber," James Rosen and David Lightman explained Monday for McClatchy Newspapers.
"That means there will be one fewer House leadership [spot] for Democrats. Clyburn and Hoyer indicated neither of them is willing yet to be odd man out."
Soledad O'Brien: Jesse Jackson Didn't Think She Was Black
In a new memoir excerpted on the CNN website, the multicultural Soledad O'Brien recalls the day "Jesse Jackson managed to make me ashamed of my skin color which even white people had never been able to do.
"Even though I am not sure what he is saying, I can tell he is angry," she writes in "The Next Big Story." "Today he is angry because CNN doesn't have enough black anchors. It is political season. There are billboards up sporting Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper. He asks after the black reporters. Why are they not up there? I share his concern and make a mental note to take it back to my bosses. But then he begins to rage that there are no black anchors on the network at all. Does he mean covering the campaign, I wonder to myself? The man has been a guest on my show. He knows me, even if he doesn't recall how we met. I brought him on at MSNBC, then again at 'Weekend Today'. I interrupt to remind him I'm the anchor of 'American Morning'. He knows that. He looks me in the eye and reaches his fingers over to tap a spot of skin on my right hand. He shakes his head. 'You don't count,' he says. I wasn't sure what that meant. I don't count — what? I'm not black? I'm not black enough? Or my show doesn't count?
"I was both angry and embarrassed, which rarely happens at the same time for me. Jesse Jackson managed to make me ashamed of my skin color which even white people had never been able to do.
". . . It wasn't until recently that I called him and reminded him of what he'd said to me that day. I had done 4 documentaries on race in between the two conversations. He was totally surprised and barely remembered the details. He had not known I was black! He said he honestly did not know, that when he said I didn't count he was alluding to the fact that he thought I was a dark-skinned someone else. That is how precise the game of race is played in our country, that we are so easily reduced to our skin tone. That even someone as prominent in African American society as Rev. Jackson has a box to check for black and one for white. No one gets to be in between. I thanked him for his candor."
O'Brien, who was named 2010 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists, concludes, "Black is not a credential; it's not even a skin color. African American culture is so much more than that. I feel like it's important to say 'I'm black.' I'm proud of my roots. I am a bit Irish too, by way of Australia. Should I not say that? I am certainly Latina. Latino is an ethnicity, not a race. Latinos can be of any color from any place. I can be Latino and also black. So why can't I have a father from Australia but be black when my mother is black. People looked at me all my life and saw black. And, I am thoroughly proud of the black I am.' "
Dr. Rawle Farley, a native of Guyana, had been a professor of economics at the State University of New York, College at Brockport since 1966. He was the founder and first chairman of the Department of Economics at SUNY Brockport, and was named professor emeritus in 1995. He was the author of seminal works that helped shape the study of the economics of the developing world, including "The Economics of Latin America: Development Problems in Perspective."
He died in Rochester, N.Y., at age 88 on Saturday, and his journalist son, Christopher John Farley of the Wall Street Journal, wrote that day that "On shows like 'House,' ailments are exotic and are diagnosed and solved in 60 minutes, with a couple commercial interruptions. On TV talk shows, talking heads scrap over health care policy and try to score political points. What’s typically missing is the human element — how health care decisions actually affect flesh-and-blood people. . . .
"My dad and mom raised four sons. All of us went to public school, and all of us went to Harvard or Harvard Law School or both. All of my brothers, thanks in large part to their guidance, have gone on to interesting jobs of one kind or another.
"But this last night was a final lesson. Part of reaching maturity is accepting, without fear, that life ends. Staring into that mysterious abyss makes other challenges seem small. I felt privileged that I had gotten to go to the edge with him. Dad helped teach me how to live, and how to die too."
An Honor for Reporting "Disappearing Minority Viewpoints"
The author of this column has been named the 2010 recipient of the Oakland PEN's censorship award, because of his "tireless chronicling of disappearing minority viewpoints from the nation's newsrooms, an act of de facto censorship as we see it," writer and novelist Ishmael Reed, the board chairman, said.
Lifetime achievement awards are to go to Paul Krassner, the satirist best known for his 1960s magazine the Realist, and Vance Bourjaily, the novelist who died in September. The ceremony is to take place Dec. 11 at the Oakland Public Library.
PEN Oakland is "a Bay Area Chapter of the International Organization of Poets, Essayists, and Novelists" and "was founded in 1989 to address multicultural issues, and educate the public as to the nature of multicultural work."
Among past winners of the censorship award are Kitty Kelly, author of 2004's "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty," which met with the Bush family's displeasure, and Jefferson Morley, a 15-year journalist at the Washington Post whose 2008 book, "Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA," discusses the man who was CIA chief in Mexico from 1956 to 1969.
Richard Prince has written the Journal-isms column online for the Maynard Institute since 2002, and in print from 1991 to 1998 for the NABJ Journal, publication of the National Association of Black Journalists.
In 2009, the American Society of News Editors reported that in the previous year alone American daily newspapers shed 5,900 newsroom jobs last year, reducing their employment of journalists by 11.3 percent to the levels of the early 1980s. The loss has blunted diversity efforts.
Angela Burt-Murray to Step Down as Essence Editor-in-Chief
Former Time Inc. executive editor Sheryl Tucker is returning to run the magazine on an acting basis.
Sheryl Tucker Returns to Run Magazine on Acting Basis
Angela Burt-Murray, editor at Essence magazine for the last five years, "has announced her plan to leave her post and relocate with her family to Atlanta," John Huey, editor-in-chief of Time Inc. told staff members on Friday.
"We are beginning our search for a new editor, but in the interim, Sheryl Tucker, former executive editor of Time Inc., has agreed to serve as acting editor-in-chief. Sheryl, along with Marcia Gillespie, former editor-in-chief of Essence, will assist in the search and selection of a new top editor," he said in a memo.
"When Angela became editor of Essence, she was charged with the task of taking the brand into a new era. She set about building an editorial team that was committed to the traditional mission of Essence and capable of evolving the brand in a quickly changing media world.
"Under her leadership, Essence’s Barack Obama cover became the best-seller in the magazine’s history and Essence hired its first Washington Correspondent and Africa Bureau Chief. Angela created Essence’s first-ever news and relationships sections, the Essence Book Club, published three books and launched the first Essence Hot Hair special issue. Her reinvention of the Essence Music Festival Seminar Series now draws over 200,000 attendees each year.
"Angela and her team can take pride in the work they have done together on the magazine — the recent redesign, new features, and important stories such as the recent pieces profiling Black women serving in the military in Afghanistan, a three-part education series and an investigation into child sex trafficking."
More recently Burt-Murray drew criticism for hiring a white fashion director, Ellianna Placas, but Burt-Murray stuck by her decision. The flap provided a hint that not all was going smoothly internally.
Essence has weathered the recession better than other African American-oriented magazines.
For 2010, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, "Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence and Jet were down a collective 18 percent in ad pages through the first quarter — about double the industry average," as Jason Fell reported June 17 for Folio. "Time Inc.'s Essence, meanwhile, reported the smallest decline: -0.3 percent."
For the first six months of this year, Essence showed only a 2.4 percent decline in circulation, to 1,066,482, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
Before she took a recent buyout, Sheryl Hilliard Tucker was executive editor of Time Inc., working closely with Time Inc.'s editor-in-chief, helping to oversee the editorial content of some 125 magazines, according to her bio.
A veteran of the magazine business, Tucker was deputy editor of Health magazine, executive editor of Money, and editor-in-chief and vice president at Black Enterprise, among other positions. She has also edited several books.
Burt-Murray had been at Essence from 1998 to 2001 and was executive editor of Teen People when she was named Essence executive editor in 2005.
She arrived shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, and the magazine extended outreach to the victims and strove to return the Essence Music Festival back to New Orleans. It did so in 2007 after staging the event in 2006 in Houston. Then-Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, now mayor of New Orleans, said the festival draws about 200,000 visitors over four days and has a $130 million to $150 million impact.
Burt-Murray wrote to readers in the November 2005 issue, referring to longtime editor Susan Taylor:
"The first time I walked into Susan Taylor's office seven years ago, it was for a staff meeting. It was my first week on the job as a fashion-and-beauty writer, and I had no idea what to expect. When Susan arrived she immediately got down to business, guiding us through a list of housekeeping details related to the current issue. Then she began to talk about what she called 'the sacred mission of the magazine' — to serve Black women and Black people, and to give voice to our community. Her words made me feel that I was part of something bigger than myself, and I felt proud to be working for an organization that put our people first. . . .
"As I settle into my new position during this eventful time, I appreciate more than ever what Susan Taylor expressed so passionately in that staff meeting years ago: We are, each of us, here to serve, to give Black women and our community a way to move forward. We're here to tell the stories of ordinary sisters who have overcome extraordinary odds and, of course, to speak the truth to those who most need to hear it. As we embark on the next stage of this journey together, please let me know what's on your mind and how we can better serve you in the days ahead."
Newspapers' Last Black Sports Editor Leaving
Black sports editors at newpapers have become obsolete now that the last one, Garry D. Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has left his post for an online gig.
Milwaukee's Garry D. Howard to Lead Sporting News
Garry D. Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the last remaining African American editing the sports section of a mainstream daily newspaper, is leaving in December to become editor-in-chief of the weekly Sporting News.
"We thank him for his dedication, enthusiasm and passion for exceptional journalism," Martin Kaiser, senior vice president/editor of the Journal Sentinel, wrote in a letter to the staff on Wednesday. "He has inspired his staff, earning national awards, while bringing incredible energy to our newsroom and to our community. He has hosted our Emmy-award winning Preps Plus TV show and devoted hours to speaking and mentoring throughout our community."
Howard became one of the first African Americans to head the sports section of a mainstream daily — the first at a major paper — he joined the old Milwaukee Journal as executive sports editor in 1994. He became sports editor of the merged Journal Sentinel in 1995 and assistant managing editor/sports in 2000.
An announcement Thursday said Howard "will oversee all editorial operations for Sporting News, setting editorial direction, managing writers and editors and supervising production of Sporting News magazine, Sporting News Today, SportingNews.com and Sporting News Yearbooks."
It noted that "Howard’s hire marks the first time that an African-American will lead a national general sports magazine’s editorial staff," and quoted Jeff Price, Sporting News president and publisher, declaring "our strong commitment to diversity."
Howard ended a year's term as president of the Associated Press Sports Editors in June.
In a farewell speech, he said, "When I was hired as the Executive Sports Editor at the Milwaukee Journal back in 1994, Marty Kaiser said I was the right person to help him make his newspaper shine.
"He believed in me, supported me, stood by my side and helped guide me. He gave me an opportunity when no editor at a major newspaper in this country had given an African-American a chance to lead his or her sports section.
"He is a man that I admire not just for that, but for all that he has done to make me understand that what we do is not for us, but for those who support us by buying our products.
"And over the past 16 years, we have helped turn the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel into a newspaper that enjoys one of highest penetrations of readership in the country, a newspaper that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in two of the past three years, a newspaper that has certainly earned its respect."
In 2006, American City Business Journals bought the Sporting News, then 120 years old and once known as the "Baseball Bible." Then based in St. Louis, it had nearly 700,000 subscribers. With 40 print business journals, American City Business Journals calls itself the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. It produces business and sports-related publications in several cities, including Charlotte, N.C., where the Sporting News is based. It is a unit of Advance Publications Inc., which publishes Newhouse newspapers and Conde Nast Magazines, among other properties.
As recently as 2007, six African Americans were sports editors at daily newspapers. But the number shrank as the newspaper business contracted. Many went to Internet sites. Leon Carter, the most recent top sports editor to leave newspapers, was sports editor at the New York Daily News for 10 years and departed in February to head ESPNNewYork.Com.
Howard told Journal-isms on Thursday that "editors in the country need to develop more candidates to run their sports departments," noting the preponderance of African Americans players in the NBA and other sports. Being able to better understand their "back story" produces better journalism, he said.
As APSE president, he said, sports editors would ask him to recommend candidates. "Gettting in there to interview for a job is half the battle," he said.
Howard began his career at the Trenton (N.J.) Times and has worked at the New Brunswick (N.J.) Home News; the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y.; the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Independent; the St. Petersburg Times; and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Gannett Lays Off Managing Editors Hudson, Richardson
Don Hudson, managing editor of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., and Rod Richardson, who held the same title at the Times in Shreveport, La., have been laid off in another round of cost-cutting under way at Gannett Co. newspapers, Hudson confirmed on Thursday. Both are black journalists.
Hudson said he left on Wednesday after informing reporters and editors who reported to him. Gannett "worked extremely hard to try to find a spot for me," he said, but without success. In the office "there were lots of hugs, a few tears," and a few cross words, which he discouraged, Hudson said.
After that, Hudson said, he and his wife kept their plans to attend Jackson's Anderson United Methodist Church, where they lead a marriage ministry.
Hudson, 49, said he'd like to remain in journalism. "I still have that passion." Layoffs were reportedly still underway on Thursday throughout the Jackson newspaper.
Hudson joined the Clarion-Ledger in 2003 from Gannett's Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, where he was managing editor. In 2004, he received the President's Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for keeping NABJ's comprehensive list of African American newspaper executives.
Richardson could not be reached immediately, but Hudson, who helped recruit him to Gannett from the Associated Press, said the two men had talked.
Richardson was assistant bureau chief for the AP in Dallas when he was named managing editor of the newspaper in his native Shreveport in 2004. The Texas Associated Press Managing Editors named Richardson its AP Staffer of the Year in 2001.
Meanwhile, the Gannett Co. flagship, USA Today, is implementing a dramatic overhaul announced in August. USA Today will "focus less on print ... and more on producing content for all platforms (Web, mobile, iPad and other digital formats)," according to a slide show shown then to employees.
"In the first wave of change, USA Today, which is based in McLean, Va., will no longer have separate managing editors overseeing its News, Sports, Money and Life sections," an AP story said at the time.
"The newsroom instead will be broken up into a cluster of 'content rings' each headed up by editors who will be appointed later this year. The newly created content group will be overseen by Susan Weiss, who had been managing editor of the Life section. As executive editor of content, Weiss will report to USA Today Editor John Hillkirk."
The new arrangement will mean new roles for black journalists who were deputy managing editors at the paper, but not all of the assignments have been fleshed out. Rodney Brooks and Geri Coleman Tucker, who were in the Money section, now lead "content rings" that serve all USA Today platforms. Brooks oversees personal finance, markets and small business, while Tucker has technology and autos. Robert Robinson in Sports and Dash Parham in Graphics are the other two former deputy managing editors.
Robin Pence, Gannett's vice president of corporate communications, did not respond to inquiries.
Buried in Analysis: Democrats Lost Only the White Vote
The midterm elections Tuesday were such a blowout for Republicans that the news media barely found time to home in on noteworthy developments involving people of color.
According to national exit polls for House races, broken down by race and gender, the Republican blowout was a phenomenon among white voters. Blacks, Latinos and "all other races" went Democratic.
Specifically, 63 percent of white men voted Republican as did 58 percent of white women. Eighty-five percent of black men voted Democratic, as did 93 percent of black women, 60 percent of Latino men, 68 percent of Latino women and 55 percent of "all other races."
And despite those who argue that class differences among people of color have destroyed the notion of any racial "community," there was not much difference along income lines. Republicans were favored by only 28 percent of nonwhites making more than $50,000; the figure was 17 percent for those making under $50,000.
Just before the election, Les Payne, retired Newsday editor and columnist, reminded the Kansas City Branch of the NAACP that when President Obama was a candidate in 2008, he "could not convince the majority of white America to vote for him," Lewis Diuguid of the Kansas City Star reported. Obama's so-called drop in popularity "is about the same percentage of people in this country who could never accept a black man in the Oval Office running the country," Payne said, according to Diuguid.
Some pundits noted Wednesday that in many ways a different electorate went to the polls this year. "Exit polls showed voters ages 18 to 29 made up 11 percent of the electorate, a sharp drop from the 18 percent in 2008 and the lowest percentage in two decades," Perry Bacon Jr. reported in the Washington Post. Others said voters were older.
Efforts by White House and the Democrats to turn out people of color seemed to pay off. David Axelrod, political adviser to the White House, held a conference call with Hispanic media on Monday and said 660,000 Latino citizens had already voted in advance, 13 percent more than in the legislative elections of 2006, Agence France-Presse reported.
Separate stories chronicled the progress made at the polls by people of color.
"The historic Republican wave also produced historic results for minority candidates, from Latina and Indian-American governors to a pair of black congressmen from the deep South," Jesse Washington wrote for the Associated Press.
"In New Mexico, Susana Martinez was elected as the nation's first female Hispanic governor. Nikki Haley, whose parents were born in India, will be the first woman governor in South Carolina, and Brian Sandoval became Nevada's first Hispanic governor.
"Insurance company owner Tim Scott will be the first black Republican congressman from South Carolina since Reconstruction, after easily winning in his conservative district. Scott, a 45-year-old state representative, earned a primary victory over the son of the one-time segregationist U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.
"In Florida, military veteran Allen West outfought a two-term Democrat to win his House race. He is the first black Republican elected to Congress from Florida since a former slave served two terms in the 1870s. The last black Republican in Congress was J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. He left office in 2003. There were 42 black Democrats in Congress this term.
"Several Latino Republicans defeated incumbent House Democrats. In Texas, Bill Flores snatched a seat from Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards, who had served 20 years in Congress, and Francisco Canseco beat 11-year veteran Ciro Rodriguez. Jamie Herrera became the first Latino congressman from Washington state. . . .
"On the Democratic side, Terri Sewell became the first black woman elected to Congress in Alabama. . . . Marco Rubio, a Republican and Cuban-American, won a Senate seat in Florida. He will replace the retiring Mel Martinez, another conservative Cuban."
However, the website Bolsavik.com, discussing Vietnamese Americans, reported that, "Across the country, except for a few bright spots, most Viet candidates fall flat, losing their races, sometimes spectacularly." That was true "starting with the highest ranking Vietnamese American elected official, U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao -R, [2nd congressional district in New Orleans] most famous for being the only Republican to vote for health care reform."
On the other hand, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, "daughter of a Filipina farm worker and a Filipino-Portuguese plantation worker, . . . made history as the first Asian-American, and also the youngest jurist, to hold the highest position in any state judiciary in the United States," GMA News reported via New America Media.
CNN seemed to hold the record for the most people of color commenting on election night. And in contrast to Obama's last news conference, when four black journalists were called on, none asked a question at Wednesday's more somber post-election press session.
The atmospherics on election night were fodder for commentary. Eric Deggans blogged for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times:
"Let’s say you’re an over-caffeinated, 24/7 media culture faced with covering a deluge of midterm elections Tuesday whose outcomes have been predicted in polls for days and weeks. What do you do?
"Throw a mess of technology and big-name pundits at the whole mess and hope it all works out.
"That seemed the story of media coverage Tuesday, where many news outlets treated the midterm election results like the Super Bowl and World Series combined — except for the fact that polls had predicted big losses for the Democrats and President Barack Obama over some time."
Reid Credits Hispanics, Knocks Media Reliance on Polls
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who came from behind to retain his seat Tuesday, used a post-election question about his victory strategy as an opening to unleash an attack on the media, Jessica Yellin and Kevin Bohn reported on Wednesday for CNN's "Political Ticker" blog.
"We've got to do something about these misleading polls that are all over the country. They are so unfair, and you just gobble them up no matter where they come from. You just run with them like they are the finest pastry in the world. They're false and misleading, and people pay for those polls so you will use them," he said.
"A series of polls commissioned by media outlets in the last weeks showed his race against Tea Party-backed Republican Sharron Angle a dead heat or gave Angle a small advantage," the CNN story said.
" 'I told people for weeks I was comfortable with where I was with the polls. But every poll showed me losing, and I was comfortable,' he said.
"So how did Reid, with high negatives in the state with the largest unemployment, manage to pull out a five point decisive victory? In his press conference he touted the Hispanic turnout, which was about 17 percent — higher than anticipated. It appears the Angle campaign alienated some Latino voters by running ads that cast Hispanic looking people as lawbreakers and angered others with a gaffe in which the candidate said some students at a Hispanic high school 'look Asian.' "
Judge Who Lost Endorsement Is in a Race Too Close to Call
In Washington state, "the race between outspoken state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders and Bainbridge Island attorney Charlie Wiggins for a seat on the state's highest court remained too close to call after Wednesday's latest election tallies," Steve Miletich reported in the Seattle Times.
Sanders had the Times' endorsement until he and a second judge stunned some participants at a court meeting by saying that African Americans are overrepresented in the prison population because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes.
The Times, for the first time in memory, withdrew an endorsement. Editorial Page Editor Ryan Blethen wrote on Friday that Sanders' statements "were so off base, so uninformed, that we could no longer stand by him. . . . The evidence is overwhelming that inequalities in the justice system and socioeconomic forces play a far greater role in deciding who is incarcerated than skin color."
Miletich wrote Wednesday, "Even with Sanders leading with 51 percent of the vote, Wiggins continued to hold a significant lead in populous King County, with more than 56 percent of the vote and an estimated 300,000 King County votes still to be counted. The county posted its latest vote totals about 4:30 p.m Wednesday."
Jerry Barmash, Fishbowl NY: WCBS-AM Pulls President Obama Press Conference
Black Radio Network: Minority Candidates Prevail (listing)
Lawrence Bobo, theRoot.com: Don't Worry, Be Happy!
Frederick Cosby, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Black Lawmakers Break New Ground, Suffer Losses
Mary C. Curtis, Politics Daily: The Obama Presidency: A Rorschach Test for National Unity?
Joel Dreyfuss, theRoot.com: Obama's New Reality
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable: CNN: Midterms Draw Biggest Online Crowd Since Michael Jackson
Toni Fitzgerald, Medialifemagazine.com: ABC wins slow midterm election night
David Folkenflik, NPR: The Annals Of Election Night Analysis
Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News: Frustrated voters react to Obama's lack of progress
Clint Hendler, Columbia Journalism Review: Six Nuggets from the 2010 Exit Polls
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Now Begins the Real GOP War on Obama
Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: Election puts solar energy in danger
George Koo, New America Media: Politics as Usual — When All Else Fails, Blame the Chinese
Joseph Lariosa, GMA News.TV: Filipina Cantil-Sakauye Wins California SC Chief Post; Others Shine in US Polls
Andrea Morabito, Broadcasting & Cable: Cable Ratings: Fox News Tops Election Night Viewership
Jim Naureckas, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: The Sentence That Sums Up What Was Wrong With Election Coverage
Christopher Nelson, theGrio.com: Midterm elections make black history
New America Media: Health Care Repeal Would Hurt African Americans
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Don't make media the national scapegoat
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: After the vote: More sanity, please
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism: News Coverage Surpasses Interest at Campaign's End
Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Let's at least try to get along
James Ragland, Dallas Morning News: Dallas County DA Watkins became his own enemy in election
Joni L. Reynolds, thedailyvoice.com: How did President Obama lose minorities?
Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press: Obama's agenda was focus, but Detroiters let themselves down
Betsy Rothstein, Fishbowl DC: Obama Called on Who?
Gregory Stanford blog: Once again economy trumps everything
Mark Trahant blog: We, the American people, are united by our division
Marisa Treviño, Latina Lista blog: An expected election night outcome brings Latinos an uncertain uneasiness for the future
Cynthia Tucker blog, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Inspired by Obama, Republicans of color win more seats
DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: As fewer vote, the fringe dominate
Robert Yoon and Jeff Simon, CNN: Black Republicans to serve in same Congress
Hollywood Reporter Cover Showcases White Starlets
"The Hollywood Reporter is set to relaunch its print publication as a weekly glossy on Wednesday, and the first issue of the multimillion-dollar overhaul has some of the Janice Min trademarks developed at the helm of Us Weekly," Dylan Stableford reported Tuesday for the Wrap.
". . . On the cover is a gaggle of Hollywood actresses who, according to THR, are leading the race into awards season: Amy Adams ('The Fighter'), Annette Bening ('The Kids Are All Right'), Helena Bonham Carter ('The King's Speech'), Nicole Kidman ('The Rabbit Hole'), Natalie Portman ('Black Swan') and Hilary Swank ('Conviction').
"The six also participated in an 'hour-long freewheeling and often fun' roundtable discussion for the issue. (The resulting cover photo is not unlike Vanity Fair’s 'Young Hollywood' issue — and just as white.)"
Eric Deggans wrote in his St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times blog, "perhaps the Reporter is just highlighting something we already know well if we're paying attention: Not many Oscar-level movies these days even feature a person of color in the cast."
Coincidentally, Essence announced this week that its December issue would be a special split-cover edition featuring the cast of the buzzworthy "For Colored Girls."
U.N. Eyes Journalists' Free Office Space
"The United Nations is in danger of becoming irrelevant or even non-existent — specifically in the eyes of the developing world — because of a revived proposal to provide office space only to journalists who can afford to pay rent," Thalif Deen reported Wednesday for Inter-Press Service.
"Charging rent will drive most members of the press out of the United Nations," warns Giampaolo Pioli, president of the U.N. Correspondents' Association (UNCA), which represents over 200 full-time reporters covering the world body.
"The journalists most affected will be those from developing nations, writing either for their domestic news agencies or for daily newspapers back home, including from countries such as India, Egypt, Brazil, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Vietnam and Cyprus."
Andrew Breitbart Becomes Headache for ABC
ABC has been flooded with complaints since inviting the conservative blogger behind the Shirley Sherrod scandal to participate in election night coverage.
Network, Blogger Feud After Invitation to Be Part of Coverage
Andrew Breitbart, the blogger who released the edited tape that made Agriculture Department manager Shirley Sherrod seem like a bigot, is causing grief for ABC News, which invited him to be part of its election night coverage.
Even as Color of Change and other media monitoring groups object to legitimizing Breitbart by including him in the coverage, Breitbart has challenged ABC's explanation that he was to be included only as an online participant in its election-night "digital town hall."
"I can state with absolute certainty that the verbal pitch to me to participate was punctuated by the opportunity to appear as part of ABC News’ broadcast television for the night. I was also aware that the majority of my participation — seven long hours — would be online," Breitbart wrote Sunday night on his Big Journalism blog.
Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News, told Journal-isms on Monday, "That was an exaggeration and not true. Any confusion about his role is of his own making. He exaggerated when he blogged that he would be on ABC News."
Asked why Breitbart was invited to appear on any ABC platform, Schneider said, "We went through a broad range of people to participate in this digital town hall with opinions and thoughts across the spectrum, and he was one of those people."
As the Associated Press reported in August, Sherrod was forced to resign "after conservative activist Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod's speech at an NAACP dinner on his website BigGovernment.com in which she appeared to say that she had once discriminated against a white farmer. The edited clip did not include the portion of the speech in which Sherrod said the episode had taught her the importance of overcoming personal prejudices."
An embarrassed President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized when it was discovered that Breitbart had selectively edited the speech. Sherrod announced that she planned to sue Breitbart. She is one of those protesting his appearance on ABC. Her lawyer, Rose Sanders, compared the invitation to rewarding a Klan member for burning a cross, according to the progressive monitoring group Media Matters.
The Sherrod incident was not the first time Breitbart was found to have shaded the truth. Media Matters listed "Other highlights of Andrew Breitbart's recent career of authoring and promoting falsehood-laden journalism" at the end of another story on Breitbart on Friday.
Breitbart first came to the attention of many for his role in discrediting the community-organizing group ACORN.
The progressive media group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting said, "In September 2009, Breitbart's website BigGovernment.com posted videos, made by conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe, supposedly showing ACORN employees counseling the pair — ostensibly pretending to be a prostitute and a pimp — on how to avoid paying taxes and other illegal activities. The videos were later found to be completely misleading. Among other things, it was revealed that O'Keefe never dressed as a pimp in ACORN's offices, and in many cases he pretended to be Giles concerned boyfriend protecting her from abuse."
Clark Hoyt, then the public editor at the New York Times, wrote, "The videos were heavily edited. The sequence of some conversations was changed. Some workers seemed concerned for Giles, one advising her to get legal help. In two cities, Acorn workers called the police." However, Hoyt added, "But the most damning words match the transcripts and the audio, and do not seem out of context."
On Saturday, Andrew Morse, executive producer of ABC News Digital, reacted to the furor over Breitbart's election-night participation with an explanation that noted Breitbart was not being paid and that "he is not, in any way, affiliated with ABC News.
"He has been invited as one of several guests, from a variety of different political persuasions, to engage with a live, studio audience that will be closely following the election results and participating in an online-only discussion and debate to be moderated by David Muir and Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg on ABCNews.com and Facebook. We will have other guests, as well as a live studio audience and a large audience on ABCNews.com and Facebook, who can question the guests and the audience’s opinions."
Eric Boehlert, Media Matters: Because Andrew Breitbart can’t handle the truth
At a Sept. 1 forum, an animated community member, Aaron Jackson, asks Buffalo News Editor Margaret Sullivan whether the newspaper explored the criminal backgrounds of suburban victims. (Video)
Buffalo News Announces Steps to Address Black Animosity
The Buffalo News, which so angered members of the city's black community over the summer that some burned copies of the newspaper, announced steps Sunday to attempt to repair the damage.
About 700 people "shared their grievances" with Buffalo News Editor Margaret Sullivan at a Sept. 1 community meeting after the News followed up on the shootings of eight people at a downtown restaurant with a front-page story about the criminal records of the victims. Four died in what the News called "one of the bloodiest shooting attacks in the region in recent decades."
"I feel that we were victimized twice," said Cheryl Stevens, mother-in-law of Danyelle Mackin, one of the four killed in the shooting, the News reported.
In a column Sunday, Sullivan wrote, "I can say, without exaggeration, that I left that meeting both shaken and changed. I still believe The News was right to publish the story because it exposed an important piece of the puzzle about that tragic shooting. But its timing and placement should have been handled more sensitively and more respectfully. (Those decisions were essentially mine.)"
Sullivan announced "just a few of the things that we plan to do:
"Form a diversity advisory council to give us feedback on our coverage of minorities. The group will be made up of community members — some prominent people and some 'ordinary citizens.' Editors and reporters will meet with the group quarterly. (If you’d like to be considered for a role on the council, please write to me or to Rod Watson at The News.)" Watson, the urban affairs editor, is a black journalist who writes a weekly column.
"Start a speakers’ bureau to get our reporters and editors out to meet people in the community. (If a group would like a speaker, it can request one through Watson.)
"Conduct diversity training in the newsroom. Our newsroom is reasonably diverse, with about 12 percent minorities, which reflects the racial makeup of Western New York as a whole. Black journalists work as editorial writers, assigning editors, photographers and beat reporters. Despite that, I’m sure we can learn from some professional training.
"Conduct a public opinion poll to gauge perceptions of The News among members of the black community. (This was a particular request of the East Side ministers and activists.)
"Begin a regular, every other week feature in the City&Region section that highlights positive or constructive news from the East Side, or simply describes neighborhoods and community activities."
Some greeted Sullivan's statement with skepticism.
"She still did not apologize to the community, nor to the families," George K. Arthur, retired chairman of the Buffalo Common Council, told Journal-isms on Monday. "She just softened her position somewhat." Sullivan had invited Arthur to speak at the Sept. 1 forum specifically to offer a historical perspective on grievances about the News' coverage of the black community.
Arthur also questioned the selection of Watson, who also heads the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists, as the point person.
"He's never been a member of the NAACP, never been active in the community," and the black journalists group had "never uttered one word" about the now-infamous Sunday story, Arthur said. "In fact, he was kind of defending the News."
Chris Stevenson, a Buffalo-based syndicated columnist, told Journal-isms via e-mail, "I wrote a couple pieces on how the News is years ago when I was doing a column for the Buffalo Criterion," a black community newspaper. "I said back then that the Buffalo News biggest problem is that they are always 'out to get someone.' It runs across the board here, the News and most of our white politicians are technically democrats, but when it comes to the East side, they act like republicans. As for the article, time will tell (and it won't take long)."
. . . Buffalo News' Watson: I Want to Break Down the Wall
Rod Watson, asked to expand on Buffalo News Editor Margaret Sullivan's comments in her column on the News' black-community outreach and to respond to comments by George K. Arthur, told Journal-isms, in part:
"Though she didn't mention it Sunday, we also plan to have News editors hold periodic meetings out in the community so that we can explain how and why we do what we do and get feedback from those we cover.
"The overall aim is to break down the wall that has long existed between The News and the African-American community. My goal is to have the black community develop the same sense of 'ownership' in The News that other communities have, so that blacks feel like they can impact The News and, by extension, public policy. The reality is that, for the most part, we don't write letters to the editor, we don't write 'my view' columns, and our organizations don't meet with the editorial board. All of those actions help shape the public agenda, mold public perception and help focus the newspaper's coverage and its editorial policies — yet the black community has been MIA. I've been preaching that message for the past 20 years every time I address a community group, but to no avail.
"I certainly understand the historical reasons for this sense of alienation, and the reasons blacks regard the paper as just another alien institution. But the reality is that this estrangement has been bad for the community and bad for the paper. Now, thanks to the recent controversy, we finally have a window of opportunity to get the African-American community engaged with the paper and vice versa, for the betterment of both.
"As for George Arthur's comments: As a journalist, I obviously don't join the NAACP or any other organizations that deal with the issues I write about. When it comes to my involvement in the community, I'll let my columns and recognition from African-American organizations speak for themselves.
"As for the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists, we've held forums and workshops to address some of these very issues and turnout has been disappointing, to put it mildly. I can recall one 'accessing the media' workshop in which we literally had more people on the panel than in the audience. A few years ago, we held a forum with news managers from the newspaper, the three TV stations and local conservative talk radio station. There were so many empty seats that I'd be hesitant to do it again because it sent entirely the wrong message: Looking out at the empty seats, the news managers probably thought they were doing a great job.
"Again, I understand the reasons for the sense of alienation, but we have to reach out to change that lack of engagement. This is the opportunity to do that. I understand George's skepticism, and no words from me will change that. So I will say only: Judge us by what we do as this effort unfolds."
GOP Favors Defunding NPR
"Most Democrats and a plurality of independents want the U.S. government to continue its financial contributions to embattled National Public Radio, while most Republicans oppose continued U.S. funding for NPR," according to a national poll of 1,074 registered voters taken Monday.
A plurality of blacks and Hispanics, and a strong majority of people 18 to 29, opposed a cutoff of funding.
The survey was conducted by Poll Position, whose founding partners include Eason Jordan, longtime CNN news executive, and Jeff Shusterman, co-founder and president of Majority Opinion Research.
Asked, "Should the U.S. government stop helping fund National Public Radio?" 38.9 percent said yes, 44.7 said no and 16.5 percent had no opinion. Among blacks, the figures were 31.4 percent yes, 48.8 percent no and 19.8 percent no opinion. Among Hispanics, they were 38.7 percent yes, 48.2 percent no and 13.1 percent no opinion.
"It’s important to keep in mind, when writing about this issue, that NPR actually receives a lot less money than people might think it does (a fact drummed into listeners’ heads every time a membership drive comes along)," Lauren Kirchner wrote Friday for Columbia Journalism Review. "NPR actually does not receive any government funding for its operations costs.
"For NPR’s individual member stations: see that direct funding from Federal, State & Local governments made up only 5.8 percent of the stations’ revenue in FY 2008. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) contributed another 10.1 percent, but even if you add those up, that’s still only about 16 percent of the stations’ funding coming directly or indirectly from government sources."
Nevertheless, "NPR’s controversial firing last week of news analyst Juan Williams re-ignited a long-time debate over whether U.S. government funds should be channeled to the non-profit radio service," Ted Iliff of Poll Position wrote.
"In partisan terms, Republicans favored ending U.S. funding 54-28 percent, while Democrats wanted the funding to continue 58-25 percent. NPR funding was favored by independents 49-38 percent.
"Broken down by ages, the 18-29 group supported continued taxpayer subsidies 62-30 percent. The 30-44 group narrowly sided with halting the funding 42-39 percent, and older groups were almost evenly split on the idea."
While such Republicans as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and former House speaker Newt Gingrich have raised the issue of "defunding" NPR, Williams has concerned himself more with expressing anger at the organization.
"I think that NPR should have money. I think that people at NPR have to be held accountable for their words and actions," he said Tuesday on "The Diane Rehm Show" on Washington's WAMU-FM, an NPR affiliate. "I'm — to repeat, Diane, I'm a big fan of radio and I think especially the whole notion of public radio and good reporting, so this is not an attempt to wipe out anybody."
NPR affiliates "were flooded with complaints when the news broke, but not all suffered financially," she continued.
"Stations in St. Louis, Cleveland, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Amherst, MA and other areas broke records. And in some areas, stations actually benefited from a backlash against the backlash; listeners said they wanted to support NPR against what they perceived as a Fox-News generated attack.
"NPR should salvage a bad situation by turning the underlying points Williams raised, about the widespread concerns, suspicions, and prejudices about Muslims in America into a national conversation," she wrote.
Williams had said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" that he gets nervous when he sees passengers in "Muslim garb" on an airplane.
"What if NPR in the next few months started a thoughtful, probing conversation airing and addressing our fears, rational or not, about Muslims?" Shepard asked. "What if NPR skillfully explored areas many of us are uncomfortable talking about?
"What if it were done throughout the network with local public radio stations exploring the issue locally with interviews and stories?"
NPR spokeswomen were not responding to questions.
Adam Powell, USC Annenberg: NPR, Juan Williams and the Clash of News and Talk
Frances Cerra Whittelsey, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: Juan Williams' Ethical Duties — and NPR's
Sharon Prill, Former AAJA Officer, Named Publisher
Sharon Prill, general manager of JSOnline.com, website of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has been named publisher of the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic, the Seattle Times, the Yakima paper's parent company, announced on Wednesday.
Prill, a former secretary and treasurer of the Asian American Journalists Association, becomes the third Asian American woman to lead a daily newspaper in the United States, AAJA President Sharon Pian Chanwrote on her blog. The others are Mei-Mei Chan, publisher of the News Press at Fort Myers, Fla., and Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher of the Idaho Statesman.
"A native of Hawaii and graduate of the University of Washington, Prill cut her management teeth at The Seattle Times in the 1990s before leaving the company in 2002," Chris Bristol wrote in the Yakima paper.
" 'Digital has to be a big piece of every news media strategy,' she said in a phone interview from her office at the Journal Sentinel, adding, 'I'm hoping to bring the best practices I’ve learned here and infuse some of that in Yakima.'
"Part Filipino, she said her first language was [Tagalog] and that she can sympathize with immigrant children who come from families where English may not be the native tongue."
Seattle Times Pulls Endorsement After Racial Remarks
The Seattle Times has withdrawn an endorsement for the first time in memory because a judge's comments about African Americans and crime "were so off base, so uninformed, that we could no longer stand by him," Editorial Page Editor Ryan Blethen wrote on Friday.
Steve Miletich reported on the Times front page on Oct. 22, "State Supreme Court justices Richard Sanders and James Johnson stunned some participants at a recent court meeting when they said African Americans are overrepresented in the prison population because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes.
"Both justices disputed the view held by some that racial discrimination plays a significant role in the disparity.
"Johnson also used the term 'poverty pimp,' an apparent reference to people who purportedly exploit the poor in the legal system, say those who attended the meeting.
"Sanders later confirmed his remarks about imprisoned African Americans, saying 'certain minority groups' are 'disproportionally represented in prison because they have a crime problem.'
" 'That's right,' he told The Seattle Times this week. 'I think that's obvious.'
"Blacks make up about 4 percent of Washington's population but 17 percent of people under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. Similar disparities nationwide have been attributed by some researchers in part to sentencing practices, inadequate legal representation and drug-enforcement policies that unfairly affect blacks."
Blethen responded to criticism of Monday's editorial withdrawing its endorsement by saying, "To believe we changed our minds about Sanders because of some notion of political correctness is also wrong. This goes beyond being politically correct.
"What Sanders and Johnson said seriously brings into question their ability to hear cases that involve people of color. That assertion has nothing to do with being politically correct and everything to do with having a Supreme Court that can act in the best interest of all Washington residents, including African Americans."
He said he could not remember when the Times had ever rescinded an endorsement. The paper did not discuss Johnson, the second judge, in its general-election endorsements because he "received more than 50 percent of the primary vote, which in judicial races is enough to win the race."
Nicole A. Gaines, Seattle Times: Discrimination is the well-documented cause of race disparity in prison
Lem Howell, Seattle Times: Justice Sanders got a bum rap over comments about incarcerated African Americans
Jerry Large, Seattle Times: No justice in justices' comments on black criminality
Steve Miletich, Seattle Times: Supreme Court candidates spar over editorial withdrawing support for Sanders
Lynne Varner and Bruce Ramsey, Seattle Times: Civil Disagreement: Race and Crime
Nearly 3 Million Watch Obama on "The Daily Show"
"About 2.8 million people tuned in for President Obama’s interview on 'The Daily Show' Wednesday night," Brian Stelter reported for the New York Times.
"It was the first visit by a sitting president to the news satire show, and it was worth almost an extra million viewers for the program, which normally averages about 1.9 million viewers for its 11 p.m. airing.
"Comedy Central said the interview ranked as the third-highest-rated edition of 'The Daily Show' ever, behind then-candidate Obama’s appearance in October 2008 and Michelle Obama’s appearance that same month."
On his St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times blog, Eric Deggans wrote, "the President's stop by the Daily Show tonight . . . was a substantive, spirited debate on some of the central questions which have most troubled liberals and progressives about his administration."
On theLoop21.com, Devona Walker agreed.
"After watching the cable outlets go ballistic over President Obama’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I have one slightly sardonic question to ask. If it’s disrespectful to call the President 'Dude' then how would you categorize labeling him a welfare thug, Kenyan Witch Doctor, Nazi or racist?
"The whole thing seems like another stupid, made-up media narrative when in actuality they should be embarrassed because Stewart’s (who is a satirist not a real journalist) interview was far more interesting and engaging than any I’ve seen in the least two years.
Betty Winston Bayé, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Efforts to discourage voting should not be heeded
Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Are We Better Off Than in 2008?
Eric Deggans blog, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: Why Jon Stewart's rally won't kill his image: It's the fans who are making it political
Cord Jefferson, theRoot.com: How Obama's Civil Rights Policies Are Benefiting Blacks
Errol Louis, New York Daily News: In midterm elections, Democrats may surprise everyone — by activating the black and Latino base
David A. Love, theGrio.com: Is nothing sacred? Tea Party campaigns against Muslim faith
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: Democrats Make a Mess of Florida Senate Race
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Yes, you can restore sanity (on Tuesday)
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, Los Angeles Times: A Latino surprise
Heather Wright, Medill News Project, Politics Daily: Latino Voters Discouraged Going Into Midterm Elections (video)
Latinos Say Illegal Immigration Heightens Bias Concerns"The national political backlash against illegal immigration has created new divisions among Latinos and heightened their concerns about discrimination against members of their ethnic group —including those who were born in the United States or who immigrated legally," Mark Hugo Lopez, Rich Morin andPaul Taylor reported Thursday for the Pew Hispanic Center.
"About four-in-five of the nation's estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants are of Hispanic origin. A new national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, finds that Latinos are divided over what to do with these immigrants. A small majority (53%) says they should pay a fine but not be deported. A small minority (13%) says they should be deported, and a larger minority (28%) says they should not be punished.
"Hispanics are also divided about the impact of illegal immigration on Hispanics already living in the U.S. Roughly equal shares say the impact has been positive (29%), negative (31%) or made no difference (30%). This mixed judgment stands in sharp contrast to views that Latinos expressed on this subject in 2007. Back then, fully half (50%) of Latinos said the impact was positive, while just 20% said it was negative.
"Today, more than six-in-ten (61%) Latinos say that discrimination against Hispanics is a 'major problem,' up from 54% who said that in 2007.
Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times: 'I am not king': Obama tells Latino voters he can't conjure immigration reform alone
Laura Sullivan, NPR: Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law
