Obama Bashed in Weekend News Media

President Obama was roundly bashed in the national news media over the weekend -- at least by those originating in New York and Washington.

In the New York Times, the Sunday Review section began a Maureen Dowd column on its section front. "The president who started off with such dazzle now seems incapable of stimulating either the economy or the voters," Dowd wrote. ". . . Once glowing, his press is now burning."

The Washington Post's Outlook section was dominated by "Still waiting for our first black president" by Fredrick Harris, a political science professor and director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. Harris wrote, "Obama may be our first gay president, but if a focus on racial inequality matters at all, we're still waiting for our first black one."

On the Sunday talk shows, Republicans were well-disciplined, sticking to their anti-Obama talking points. Journalists echoed their view that a report Friday from the Labor Department showing that the economy added only 69,000 jobs in May, the lowest number in a year, put Obama's reelection at risk. Democrats on the programs seemed outgunned.

Precious little time was spent on explaining how much of the economy is within the president's control. David Leonhardt, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning economics writer, wrote Friday, "Some combination of problems -- Europe's new troubles, the rise in gas prices from several months ago, the continued cuts in government employment, the continued hangover from the financial crisis -- has clearly slowed the economy. . . . Perhaps most important, the decisions of European policy makers loom even larger now."

Obama found defenders Monday in Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post editorial writer, and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, each of whom responded to Harris' Outlook piece.

". . . the Columbia University professor makes a stunningly false argument," Capehart wrote. ". . . Those are all important issues. They must be addressed. The problem for Harris is that they are being addressed by the president. Not in the theatrical way Harris would like. But in the actions-speak-louder-than-words way of Obama."

On MSNBC, Dyson said on a panel that he believes "Bill Clinton has more freedom to be black in public than Barack Obama."

Peter Hart, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: MSNBC: No Time for Obama's Kill List?

Blair Hickman and Cora Currier, ProPublica: The Best Watchdog Journalism on Obama's National Security Policies

David Swerdlick, theRoot.com: What's Obama Done for Black People? Nothing. And that's the way it should be. Save the criticism for his policies that affect all Americans. (June 5)

Series Finds Racial Disparity on "Stand Your Ground"

"A Tampa Bay Times investigation has found that Florida's 'stand your ground' law is being used in ways never imagined -- to free gang members involved in shootouts, drug dealers beefing with clients and people who shot their victims in the back," the Florida newspaper reported on Sunday, introducing a story by Kris Hundley, Susan Taylor Martin and Connie Humburg.

"Defendants have invoked the law to excuse all manner of mischief, from minor fistfights to drug possession to killing an endangered species.

"And who goes free can sometimes depend as much on where a case is heard as its merits."

In Part Two, which ran Monday, Martin, Hundley and Humburg reported, "A Tampa Bay Times analysis of nearly 200 cases -- the first to examine the role of race in 'stand your ground' -- found that people who killed a black person walked free 73 percent of the time, while those who killed a white person went free 59 percent of the time."

The February shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen, by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain has prompted a renewed look at the state's "stand your ground" law.

Meanwhile, "Richard Land, a prominent Southern Baptist leader, saw his weekly radio show canceled Friday after he used it to criticize President Obama and black pastors' response to the Trayvon Martin shooting," Molly Hennessy-Fiske reported Friday for the Los Angeles Times.

" . . . The move comes as the convention, which split from northern Baptists in 1845 in defense of slavery, prepares to elect a black preacher from New Orleans as its president. The Rev. Fred Luter Jr. will become the first African American to head the convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination."

Bachelor Takes Over "Meet Market" for New York Post

"So I got a new gig," Jozen Cummings wrote Friday on his blog, untiligetmarried.com.

"For those who follow me on Twitter, I've been talking around it for the better part of a week, not divulging the complete details because I wanted to be careful, but since I start on Monday, I decided to let all my loyal readers know the good news and what it entails.

"Every Sunday, The New York Post has a dating section in their paper called 'The Meet Market.' If you've never read it before, now would be a good time to start because I am the new features reporter for the section.

"Kind of cool, right? Yeah. It's like I'm a hybrid of Will Smith and Eva Mendes' characters in Hitch. Or as one of my friends put it, I'm the date whisperer. I laughed at that one, but I'm also running with it."

[Cummings' editor, Sara Lieberman, deputy Sunday features editor, explained Tuesday that Cummings had been hired as a part-time features writer for the "Meet Market."] [Updated June 5]

Black Journalists Urged to Try Middle East, Far East

Bradley C. Bennett, a member of the inaugural class of the Maynard Media Academy and former assistant city editor of the Miami Herald's Broward Edition, left the Herald in 2007 to become executive editor of the Broward Times, a black weekly later renamed the South Florida Times.

Bennett is now in the Middle East as senior editor at the National, an English-language broadsheet based in the former desert fishing village of Abu Dhabi.

He told Journal-isms by email: "I would say that my experiences as a black man in America, and as the editor of a newspaper covering multiculturally black South Florida, prepared me well for my international experiences here, and the ability to respect people of other cultures.

"I now supervise journalists who hail from India, Bulgaria, the Palestinian Territories (in dispute with Israel) and -- of course -- the United Arab Emirates.

"I would encourage more black journalists who are seeing fewer opportunities in America to spread their wings a little, and try for a job in the Middle East or the Far East, where newspapers are generally thriving.

"The best part of moving here is that my twin daughters, who were born in South Florida and now attend a school of predominantly Emirati citizens, now speak Arabic and Spanish, as well as English."

The National was featured in a May 22 story by Tsitsi D. Wakhisi in Editor & Publisher.

Bennett moved to the Middle East after "his wife, Adeyela Bennett, was offered a teaching job in the UAE," the United Arab Emirates. "He heard about The National from a friend and decided to apply," the story said.

"The couple arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 11, 2010, with their then 3-year-old twin daughters. Bennett, a former assistant city editor at The Miami Herald, said he sees the opportunity to work in the UAE as a way to wait out the U.S. economic crisis while gaining international experience and keeping his journalism career alive.

" 'The environment for doing journalism in the United States has been very difficult,' Bennett said. 'I have more friends who were formerly in journalism than are working in journalism now. When I was at the Herald, there were constant layoffs and threats of layoffs. A lot of people thought it would be a matter of time before their number came up.' "

Richard Pretorius, a former copy editor at the Washington Post, is a senior editor on the National's foreign desk. "Many of us came to see another part of the world and explore a different culture," Pretorius, who is not a journalist of color, said by email. "Sure, the pay is relatively good, but money was not the primary motivation.

"If you get out, Abu Dhabi offers a wonderful window on the world. You make friends from all over. You can be sitting in a coffee shop or bar, and the seats next to you will be filled with Russians, Lebanese, Turks, Egyptians, just about anywhere. The place is not only rich in oil, but also in opportunities to meet the rest of the world."

What Happened to Socially Conscious Black Athletes?

"Somewhere along the timeline that began with Paul Robeson, followed by Jackie Robinson, and stretched to Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, a pattern of disconnect developed between the black athlete and his community," Branson Wright wrote Sunday in the Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

"What was once commonplace has often been reduced to turkey giveaways, and sponsorship-induced, made-for-television opportunities. Let's be honest, foundations for many athletes are used to shuttle funds for tax breaks, or a way to put cousins on a legitimate payroll.

"Back in the day, guys like Robeson, Robinson, Ali and Brown made it their business to help the underprivileged. They were also not afraid to make a public stand when it came to defending or supporting social issues.

" . . . The media's role in this indoctrination comes in how it rewards athletes who are focused more on being an entertainer, than on speaking about social issues. Who cares about political views, or social change? Stay silent and just hit the damn ball. In many players' minds, speaking out could cost endorsement money."

Branson Wright, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: Remembering Cleveland's Muhammad Ali Summit, 45 years later

Black Scribes Changed Narrative of Black Athletes

In a new "sports journalism" entry for the Oxford African American Studies Center, an online encyclopedia edited by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., sports journalist Kevin Blackistone says that "African American newspapers and sports writers changed the narrative of the African American athlete in particular and sports in the United States in general."

Blackistone is a longtime national sports columnist who holds the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a panelist on ESPN's "Around the Horn."

Here is an excerpt:

"The lens constructed by white sports media to view sports was built primarily to serve white audiences, not the black athletes so often the subjects of sports coverage. As such, white sports journalists often supported rather than challenged stereotypes steeped in beliefs of racial superiority. Most infamously, studies of sports broadcasts in the second half of the twentieth century have shown how the success of black athletes was credited to their perceived natural athletic ability, while the success of their white counterparts was tied to diligence and, most important, intelligence. The basketball star Michael Jordan was lauded for his athleticism; the white basketball star Larry Bird was lauded for making brilliant plays.

"That same lens also more often treated black athletes in a pejorative manner than it did white athletes. Black athletes have been presented as more self-centered, arrogant, and mercenary. They are more often described with words and phraseology that infantilized them. For example, a 2009 study of differences in the coverage of black and white athletes who engaged in contract holdouts found that the black athlete was 'emasculated' and that sports writers treated him 'like a moody adolescent incapable of making significant decisions on his own.' The white athlete who held out escaped criticism and instead was said to be a victim of his employer's 'history of inept negotiating.' Black athletes have continued to be portrayed more as deviants, drug abusers, women-beaters, and menaces to society, or, in general, as 'black men misbehaving.'

" . . . African American newspapers and sports writers changed the narrative of the African American athlete in particular and sports in the United States in general. They celebrated rather than derided African American athletes, most notably black baseball players who started their own leagues after being barred from playing in the white-operated major leagues. African American sportswriters also engaged heavily in advocacy journalism, in particular by questioning the legitimacy of whites-only sports."

Would-Be NAHJ Candidates Question Motivations

When last we left the race for president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Hugo Balta, a coordinating producer at ESPN, said Friday he had secured the permission and endorsement of his employer to run for NAHJ president.

Russell Contreras, vice president for print and chief financial officer, was quoted as having said the previous week that he welcomed Balta into the race: "I'm running on my record and expect other candidates who get on the ballot to do the same."

On Saturday, Contreras objected to not being contacted for comment in the item on the permission Balta received from ESPN. [Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president and executive producer, added on Monday, "ESPN has been working with NAHJ for a long time and we are fully supportive of Hugo's candidacy to lead the organization. He would provide great creativity and direction."]

Contreras wanted readers to know that "Hugo Balta's campaign is not a sudden 'grassroots movement' but a well-planned, coordinated campaign based on ego and not the best interests of NAHJ."

Contreras attached images to his email of a 2011 Facebook exchange between himself and Balta in which Balta asked for Contreras' support.

Asked to respond, Balta replied that he had been asked to run for president as far back as fall 2010, blasted "unwarranted attacks" and said, " . . . Contreras' self-glorification, self-admiration, self-adulation blinds him to the truth that he has insulted and injured members and friends of NAHJ and with it the reputation of the Board and Association."

The sparring is taking place even though the nominating process for NAHJ offices does not close until June 9 and no candidates have been certified. Elaine Aradillas, the NAHJ elections chair, has not responded to inquiries about how soon the election rules permit campaigning.

The debate over the character and collegiality of NAHJ's candidates comes amid disappointing newsroom statistics. In the 2012 newsroom census of the American Society of News Editors, the number of Hispanic journalists working at U.S. dailies went from 1,889 to 1,650, a 0.47 percent decrease (4.54 to 4.07 percent). The television workforce was 7.3 percent [PDF] Hispanic, according to the Radio Television Digital News Association, while in radio it was 2.6 percent. Those figures contrast with the 16.7 percent Hispanic share of the nation's total population, according to figures for 2011 from the U.S. Census.

Below is the statement Contreras forwarded from Suzanne Gamboa, the Contreras slate's campaign manager, and the response from Balta.

Gamboa:

"Hugo Balta's campaign is not a sudden 'grassroots movement' but a well-planned, coordinated campaign based on ego and not the best interests of NAHJ. Hugo Balta even sought the support of NAHJ Financial Officer Russell Contreras back in August 2011 when Russell was moving from Boston to New Mexico, and told Russell 'I need u,' and 'u r key.'

"When Hugo got word that Russell Contreras was thinking of running for NAHJ president, he began to publicly attack him on social media. After Contreras announced his intentions, Hugo began promoting anonymous attack videos using images of Russell's family. Meanwhile, Russell, as financial officer, was responsible for helping get NAHJ in the black for the first time in years with a more than $111K surplus in 2011. Russell recently organized a NAHJ New Mexico regional conference, the first NAHJ conference in New Mexico in 20 years, and did not put himself on any panel nor did he put his name or his picture in the program book. Russell is about unselfishly serving the best interests of NAHJ. Hugo is seeking the seat for ego and pushing a divide and conquer campaign steered toward improving his personal career, while damaging NAHJ's long-term sponsorship outlook. In the coming days, candidates from the HalftimeInNAHJ slate, made up of talented journalists from The Associated Press, the Boston Globe, CNN, FoxNewsLatino.com, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, KRQE and the San Francisco Business Journal, will discuss their records of accomplishments and talk about how dedicated, working Latino journalists can unite behind a common vision for NAHJ."

Balta:

"I find it interesting that Contreras and Gamboa [profusely] argue that their campaign will be strictly on Contreras' record, but continue to engage in attack tactics. It's a poor attempt at distracting NAHJ members -- who, like myself are tired of it.

"It is no secret that for some time Contreras and I were 'friendly'; after all we did run together under the same slate in 2010.

"I have been very vocal in supporting some of the tough decisions the current Board (including Contreras) made in order to right the ship.

"I have been asked to run for President of NAHJ from several members as far back as the Fall of 2010. When I reached out to Contreras in 2011 (FB texts); it was in my evaluation about running. He wasn't the only person I consulted with.

"I certainly did not make a decision then.

"Many members can attest to me weighing the pros and cons about running...it's a difficult decision that requires much thought.

"I have before and continue to deny any participation in the videos that constructively criticize Contreras. I do however support them ... it is a reflection of the disappointment in Contreras leadership. Many members (including myself) have been the target of Contreras' unwarranted attacks.

"Contreras' self-glorification, self-admiration, self-adulation blinds him to the truth that he has insulted and injured members and friends of NAHJ and with it the reputation of the Board and Association. He and his campaign can't understand, let alone accept that members would want a different choice (to him).

"Anyone who has ever served on any Board of Directors knows that the volunteer role is all about selfless service and not about egos.

"I proudly run for President because the members of NAHJ nominated me to."

New Orleans Leaders Oppose Times-Picayune Cutback

"More than 70 business and civic leaders and organizations have joined together to express frustration at a recently announced plan to reduce print publication of The Times-Picayune," Jaquetta White reported Monday for the newspaper.

"Calling itself the Times-Picayune Citizens' Group, the body said in a press release issued today that its purpose is to 'ensure the continuation of the delivery of a high quality, seven-day-a-week newspaper, with access to the entire community.'

"The group is hoping to begin communicating with Advance Publications Inc., owner of The Times-Picayune, and other interested parties to achieve that goal. The press release does not detail how the group believes that would be accomplished."

Separately, Kevin Allman reported Friday for Gambit, an alternative newspaper, "As Times-Picayune employees were preparing to leave work early this evening, word came down that the individual meetings set for Monday and Tuesday -- at which staff reductions were expected to take place -- would not be happening on those dates. Nor would they be happening at all next week."

Will Bunch, Poynter.org: A Big, Not Easy solution to the journalism crisis in New Orleans

Tania Dall, WWL-TV, New Orleans: Save The Times-Picayune movement takes off

Christine Haughney, New York Times: Newspapers Cut Days From Publishing Week

Steve Myers, Poynter.org: Times-Picayune staff memo to editors: 'Will there be quotas for online entries?' + 60 more questions

Jim Romenesko blog: Warren Buffett: 'I've been following the Times-Pic situation with interest'

Shay Sokol, NOLA Defender: Times-Picayune Cuts Confronted at Rock 'n Bowl Rally

Jaquetta White, Times-Picayune: Rally in support of The Times-Picayune draws hundreds of readers

Short Takes

". . . according to a new study, watching TV might actually boost your child's self-esteem -- that is, if he's a white male," Stephanie Goldberg reported Friday for CNN. "Parents of white girls and African-American children, however, might want to limit the amount of time their kids spend in front of the tube."

Lisa Longoria, a photographer in the Rio Grande Valley, first at the Monitor newspaper in McAllen, Texas, later at the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, died Saturday at McAllen Medical Center. She was 35. Family members declined to disclose the cause of death. Photographer Michael Barrientos wrote on Facebook, "She was a wonderful and spirited photojournalist with natural talent and incredible drive. Liza dreamed of being a newspaper photographer in the Rio Grande Valley, and I was incredibly proud to see her forcefully pursue and achieve her goal." The Memorial Funeral Home in Edinburg, Texas, said the body would be cremated.

"The renowned Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg is turning to new funding options as officials acknowledge their traditional source, the Tampa Bay Times, can no longer finance its parent organization," Richard Mullins reported Saturday for the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. "The nonprofit Poynter Institute is recruiting new philanthropy experts, launching a massive fund-raising drive and exploring land sales as financial support from the St. Petersburg-based newspaper is 'no longer viable.' "

"Yunji de Nies has left ABC News and is returning home to Hawaii, TVNewser has learned," Chris Ariens reported Monday for TVNewser. " . . . de Nies was most recently based in Atlanta covering the Southeast for all ABC News broadcasts while also filling in on 'World News Now.' She was previously based in Washington, DC, where she was a White House correspondent. Before that, she was a correspondent for affiliate news service NewsOne."

The Gannett Co. has launched a new website that will make finding a job within the organization easier and paperless, the company's Pacific Daily News in Guam reported. "Log on to www.gannett.com/section/careers01 for more information."

"Oprah Winfrey is back in the book club business, updated for the digital age," Hillel Italie reported Saturday for the Associated Press. " 'Oprah's Book Club 2.0,' a joint project of Winfrey's OWN network and her O magazine, begins Monday with the popular memoir 'Wild,' Cheryl Strayed's story of her 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in California and Washington."

In Philadelphia, "6ABC sports anchor Keith Russell informed Action News management Friday afternoon that he will be leaving the station July 31," Dan Gross reported Friday for the Philadelphia Daily News. "We're told that Russell, a West Oak Lane native and Central High graduate, is heading to Washington, D.C. for a new opportunity, though we're not yet certain whether it's a job in television or not."

" . . . look at think tanks that get cited and quoted in The Post," Patrick B. Pexton, the Washington Post's ombudsman, wrote on Sunday. "The mainstream ones do great: the left-of-center Brookings Institution 551 times, the right-of-center American Enterprise Institute 284 times and Heritage Foundation 235 times. The U.S. Institute of Peace, one of the most interesting and innovative 'think and do' tanks in the city, supported by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress: three mentions in two years. . . . In a time of gridlock and polarization, it is especially incumbent on media to seek out and cover the unconventional and outsider voices -- whether citizen or expert, whether right, center or left. They’re out there; we just have to listen."

"With Emmy nominations on the horizon (July 19th), The Hollywood Reporter (THR) hosted an Emmy roundtable panel with six talented actresses: Claire Danes (star of Showtime's 'Homeland'), Mireille Enos (AMC's 'The Killing'), January Jones (AMC's 'Mad Men'), Julianna Margulies, (CBS' 'The Good Wife'), Emmy Rossum (Showtime's 'Shameless'), and Kyra Sedgwick (TNT's 'The Closer'). All six are drama actresses, they're all serious Emmy contenders for Best Actress in A Drama Series, and, all six grace the cover of this month's THR," Huff Post's LatinoVoices reported Wednesday. "Few would argue that these actresses don't deserve to be featured on the cover . . . but many will wonder why there isn't more diversity (or any diversity for that matter) on this cover."

"Business and technology reporter David Louie is celebrating his 40th anniversary with ABC7 News," KGO-TV in San Francisco reported May 29. " . . . David was one of first Asian American TV reporters in the Bay Area and he's been on the air the longest."

"The Dow Jones News Fund has trained 84 undergraduate and graduate students for prestigious, paid internships this summer as news, multimedia and sports copy editors and as business reporters at newspapers, newswires, online publications and magazines nationwide," the fund announced on Monday, listing the students. The interns were selected from among 700 applicants.

Longtime WLIB air personality Bob Law, New York Councilman Charles Barron and others filed a petition with the FCC to deny the license transfer of Inner City Broadcasting's WLIB and WBLS radio stations in New York to new owners, Jerry Barmash reported for FishbowlNY. The petition by Law, Barron, Betty Dopson of the Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People and Michael D. North argues in part that the transfer would concentrate control of programming aimed at black audiences, according to allaccess.com.

More than three decades after the murder of her father, José Enrique Piera, also a television journalist in the Dominican Republic, Nuria Piera now faces death threats of her own, Jacqueline Charles and Ezra Fieser reported Sunday for the Miami Herald. "During the run-up to the recent Dominican presidential election, Piera reported that an influential senator had allegedly sent millions in kickbacks to Haitian politicians in exchange for millions in post-earthquake reconstruction contracts. Days after the report aired in April, a Dominican senator announced that he had learned of a plot to kill Piera."

In the Philippines, "The climate of impunity that fostered the November 23, 2009, massacre of 57 people, including 32 journalists, is alive and well not only on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, where the massacre took place, but in all of the country," Bob Dietz reported Friday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The revelation that the brutalized body of a key witness to the killings, Esmail Enog, was found two months after he had gone missing is an indicator of that. Enog testified last year that he had driven gunmen to the site of the November massacre, news reports said. The killings wiped out almost an entire generation of journalists in the region."

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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.