Author Says Papers Have Not Kept Up With Today’s Readers The black press was not part of the “State of the News Media 2014” report issued this week by the Pew Research Center — the center says it is saving that for later — but a new book by an expert on that slice of…

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…

The new Internet startup on criminal justice issues to be edited by Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times, will have a diverse staff because the subject matter demands it, Keller told Journal-isms in a message Monday. He spoke as journalism Internet startups are under fire for lack of diversity. Keller was…

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…

Tamron Hall Shares Pain of Sister’s Slaying Critic Gets Comeuppance at Television Writers Conference NBC News correspondent Tamron Hall revealed for television critics details of the unsolved 2004 murder of her sister and credited the agony of the experience for “the drive she has to host ‘Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall’ on the network, which…