Can Black Journalists Be Trusted to Cover Obama?
Please. Groupies with press passes come in all colors.
Aug. 7, 2008--When a weary and jet-lagged Barack Obama took the stage on the last day of the UNITY Journalists of Color convention in Chicago last month, most of the attendees had already left. But there was still a healthy crowd of over 2,500 there to hear the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
That is when, according to the mainstream media, black folks apparently acted like natural-born fools.
"When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so," reported The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama."
Later, National Public Radio Ombudsman Alicia C. Shepard told the radio network's Talk of the Nation that she actually witnessed a journalist rush the stage to score an autograph and later bragged about touching the senator. "I think it's unfortunate, but it's inappropriate," she scolded. NPR political editor Ken Rudin chimed in, calling the reaction, "disheartening" and "disappointing in our profession."
"This was a convention of journalists, not a rally of groupies for Obama," snorted John Leo on New York Daily News' Web site.
As a longtime journalist, I have a question of my own for those critics: Was the visible enthusiasm really so different than journalists (mostly white) fighting for the chance to go to the White House and have their pictures taken with the president at the annual Christmas party or gathering every spring to hold a dinner in honor of the President of the United States? What about the fabled media crush on Maverick McCain, from the mostly white male Washington press corps? For years journalists have been fawning over politicians while keeping their credibility and objectivity securely intact. Which black reporters did John McCain have in mind when he referred to the news media as "my base?"
If it's not, it should be second nature for black journalists to act as if their every word and deed is under constant observation, scrutinized and examined for traces of racial pride that supersede their objectivity and fidelity to the facts because some of their white counterparts are always suspicious and need to be re-assured. Under an Obama presidency, black journalists will be more suspect than ever.
It should also be noted that many of the people at the convention were public relations types, activists, college students, journalism educators, sportswriters, county government reporters, music and movie critics and weather forecasters from places like Biloxi, Miss. or Greenville, S.C. or Maple Grove, Minn., who will not get near a political story this year. There were bloggers and freelancers who write about fashion or music, or of social issues like homelessness. The room was not full of political reporters who lost their minds.
Black journalists are being taken to task by white journalists who suggest that to remain journalistically chaste they must not show one shred of pride or enthusiasm in light of Barack Obama's history-making presidential bid, lest our precious "objectivity" be called into question.
"I would think that you give up certain rights when you are a journalist and if you are married to a journalist," Shepard said.
I, for one, am not giving up anything to meet Shepard's arbitrary standards of what makes a good journalist. Too many people gave up too much blood to get me the rights I enjoy today.
If my white colleagues are confused as to where my allegiances are, let me make it clear for them: I am a human being first, a black man second and journalist last. Dead last. It's not even remotely a close call.
Journalism is what I do. Black is what I am.
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Can Black Journalists Be Trusted to Cover Obama?
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View All Comments »femmebleu at 08/11/2008 10:48:02 AM
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Hi Folic Pollen:
I am glad that someone is paying attention to what is truly happening in this presidential race. It appears that Obama is being set up to be yet another tool or should I say fool, for the white establishment and nothing more. The fact that this individual as so many blacks from his generation, benefited from affirmative action policies that assisted them in attaining acceptance into some of the most elite educational institutions in this country, has now chosen to eschew such attempts to level the playing fields of opportunity, is shameless at best and unconscionable at worst. How can anyone who benefited from such an opportunity deny future generations the same chance to succeed in a world where the playing field has never been and at this point will never be completely leveled? I think that this is hypocrisy at its very worst and I want another presidential candidate for neither the present Republican nor the Democratic representative running for the White House, seem capable of fulfilling the enormous responsibilities that wait. Could Nader be that person or just another ploy to take votes away from the best person for the job, which seems to be neither candidate. I actually like McCain's commitment to war veterans and the soldiers presently risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan but I cannot imagine what other things this candidate will do to eliminate the level of disparity that exists between the races even now in 21st century America. Maybe you are right, there will be "scraps" from the Master's table but where has that gotten the disenfranchised percentage of the population in this country? I think that is part of the problem, being satisfied with "scraps" but then again perhaps, this is better than the other case scenario of Obama choosing to completely turn his back on individuals who are more reflective of his racial makeup than the other half, I would say seems apparent. After all, there are those individuals who when of biracial descent are able to pass for one race or the other and sometimes that is not the case besides, how convenient to choose when to be something and when not to be, isn't it?
Just a Thought
Femme B.
femmebleu at 08/11/2008 10:07:01 AM
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Hi Folic Pollen:
I sincerely support your views here that the needs of the AA voter have not been fully addressed and the state of the inner city and the public schools that exist within these areas are disgraceful. I think that Oprah's recent report on the state of public education in America and the disparities that exist within the suburbs and the inner city public schools of America very much mirror the two worlds depicted in Charles Dickens??? critically acclaimed novel A Tale of Two Cities. I cannot express the horror and utter sense of sadness I felt when looking at the blatant disparity reflected in the footage from a suburban high school where an Olympic sized swimming pool dominated the gym and a dilapidated bathroom with a falling ceiling decorated an inner city school within the nation???s capitol. When one looks at this uneven distribution of taxpayers??? funds, it is quite easy to become upset and even paralyzed but this indicates an even greater need for mobilization among the members of the community residing inside the inner cities where children are daily being exposed to such unsafe environments. If anything does not support the need for a president who will be dedicated to addressing such issues of contention and committing to rectifying such unacceptable conditions, more than this dichotomy then I do not know what else would. If Obama???s take is literally, ???You are on your own???, then you know what, I could not care less if the man was from Mars and the hottest thing to hit the charts, he will not ever get my vote, because the presidential race needs to be about more than popularity and ethnicity, it needs to be about the constituency and when one of the candidates is brazenly choosing to ignore a percentage of the voting populace than guess what? This person clearly is only deserving of wearing a crown of monarchial rule before Parliament, for it is blatantly obvious that his agenda is reflective not of the people but of his own self absorbed objectives to make history as the first black president, which makes me wonder if Jesse Jackson may not have been a better candidate after all for it is beginning to appear that the two may just be horses of similar if not exactly the same color.
Come On America, Let's Get Real!
Femme B.
femmebleu at 08/11/2008 9:30:46 AM
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Hey allspeachy:
Neat moniker by the way! :) I think that there is little question that both race and sex have dominated this presidential campaign since the word go at least that is clearly being indicated by all of the major player commentators at CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. I guess these highly paid, fairly well educated individuals truly have no clue at all what they are talking about if this is truly the case, that race has not factored in the presidential campaign at all. It appears to me that most Americans of every race cannot stop pointing to the black or not black enough factors relating to Osama. Perhaps even the New Yorker overlooked religion as well when they chose to show Obama wearing Muslim garb something that this candidate has not done since he entered the political and corporate arena. I think that America does not know how NOT TO leave race out of the equation and this time has clearly not been the exception. As far as journalists being racially unbiased appears to be an impossibility, particularly in this country where race pretty much is a strong determining factor of so many pertinent things, including what kind of education you will receive, what kind of position you will obtain and where you will live. I think the recent report Oprah covered on public schools in America was more than telling of the disparities that exist within those districts in the predominantly white suburbs of America and those within blacker populated cities like Washington DC and yet race, is not a factor? I do not know why some individuals residing in this country still fail to realize that race has always been a factor if not the determining one in most situations, which is why Martin Luther's beautiful dream of racial equality is still just that, a dream deferred like the one referred to in Langston Hugh's brilliant poem, "A Dream Deferred." I wish to the good Lord above that I could have the chance to live such a dream but that is clearly not even a remote possibility white individuals from 15-35 do not support affirmative action programs to quell racial disparities in the same manner as many from the ???Baby Boom??? generation did, so I sincerely think that race is going to be a factor of contention for other races not within the ???chosen??? percentage of the population for quite sometime to come and frankly, I cannot see the day when it will not exist.
Wishing for a Better World,
Femme