Inattention Worsening Humanitarian Crises, Officials Say In 1985, there was Live Aid, a live concert with a global audience of 1.9 billion across 150 nations, organized by the Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. Millions of dollars was raised. A decade earlier, as a former Beatle, George Harrison gathered musician friends for…

“A Firebrand With Unassailable Journalistic Credentials” Charles Sumner (Chuck) Stone, newspaper editor, professor, columnist, former Tuskegee Airman and founding president of the National Association of Black Journalists — a legend to many — died Sunday at 89, according to news reports. “Stone died in his sleep early this morning at an assisted-living home in Farmington,…

People of Color Were Subjects, Creators of Excellence From the ABC drama “Scandal” to miniseries on the histories of Latinos and of African Americans to close-up looks at urban high schools and NPR’s “The Race Project,” the George Foster Peabody Awards announced Wednesday were enriched by the lives and work of people of color. “The…

Trustees Approve 11-Year Collaboration With J.C. Watts The board of trustees of Florida A&M University has approved an 11-year partnership with former Rep. J.C. Watts to produce a 24-hour, multiplatform Black Television News Channel that Watts initially announced six years ago. A signing ceremony is scheduled Friday on FAMU’s campus. The new network plans 50…

How Civil Rights Movement Expanded Freedom of the Press A libel case arising from the civil rights movement is responsible for a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that expanded guarantees of freedom of the press, a New York Times editorial reminded readers on Sunday. “How is society to preserve open criticism of the government, while…

The 1995 convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia was the scene of “a struggle for the soul of NABJ, a struggle between the nationalistic-activist and professional establishment wings of the association,” Wayne Dawkins wrote in “Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream,” his history of the group. At issue was what…

Defending N-Word in NFL Puts Writers in Awkward Position Newsrooms Don’t Allow Words for Which Athletes Get a Pass The NFL is considering penalizing players 15 yards if they use the N-word on the field, leaving sportswriters and columnists who question such a penalty in an ironic position: They would be sanctioning language that they…

Report: Medical Examiner Cites Natural Causes Angelo B. Henderson, a Detroit radio personality who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 while at the Wall Street Journal, died in his home in Pontiac, Mich., Saturday, according to Detroit news reports. Henderson died “after being rushed to the hospital in the morning. The 51-year old had been…

Jury Weighs ‘Loud-Music’ Killing: ‘Florida Again, Seriously?!’ Media Await Verdict in Death of Teenager Jordan Davis “In the national coverage of the first-degree murder case of Michael David Dunn, Jacksonville itself hasn’t really been a focus of the story,” Matt Soergel wrote this week for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. “Instead, attention has been squarely…

Joy-Ann Reid to Host Own Show on MSNBC The Grio to Stay, Despite Fate of NBC Latino Joy-Ann Reid, managing editor of the Grio and an MSNBC contributor since 2011, will host her own show on MSNBC, the network announced on Monday. David Wilson, co-founder of the Grio, told Journal-isms that he is returning to…