Others Disciplined, “Oversight” of “First Take” Pledged ESPN announced Thursday that it is suspending commentator Rob Parker for 30 days over his on-air remarks about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, tightening editorial oversight of the “First Take” show and taking “appropriate disciplinary measures” against employees who played a role in allowing Parker’s remarks on…

“There’s been a lot of talk about media in the wake of the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., as the world struggles to understand something that may be beyond rational thought,” media critic Eric Deggans wrote Monday in the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times. “Big picture-wise, I think America is experiencing…

ESPN Pundit Questioned Quarterback’s Blackness ESPN commentator Rob Parker was suspended Friday after igniting a firestorm when he questioned whether Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was a “real” black man. Parker said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take,” “Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” Both men are African American. “He’s not…

Responding to an uproar over the firing of Rhonda Lee, a meteorologist who responded to criticism of her short Afro on the station’s Facebook site, the news director at KTBS in Shreveport, La., said the firing was over violations of station policy, not her hair. Randy Bain, KTBS news director, pointed to a memo emailed…

A black female meteorologist has been fired from the ABC affiliate in Shreveport, La., she told Journal-isms, because she responded to a racial remark posted by a viewer on the station’s Facebook page. KTBS-TV’s action against Rhonda Lee followed a previous response by Lee to a viewer who questioned whether she should wear her short…

Fashion Journalist Leaving Newsweek/Daily Beast Robin Givhan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion journalist, is among those laid off from Newsweek and the Daily Beast, according to Joe Coscarelli, writing Friday for the Daily Intel column of New York magazine. ” ‘I plan to work on my book about the 1973 Versailles fashion show and look for…

N.Y. Times Public Editor Says Paper Misses the Boat Perhaps understandably, a court ruling that a Zimbabwean mining executive must pay U.S. $10 million in defamation damages because of comments published by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks did not get much Western news coverage. Andrew Cranswick, CEO of African Consolidated Resources, allegedly told U.S. diplomats that…

News outlets were praised and criticized for their coverage of the murder-suicide involving Jovan Belcher, the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who killed his girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself Saturday. Not only did commentators evaluate coverage of the tragedy by CBS, ESPN and the NFL Network as a news event, but they also…

More Than 6,000 Applications Awaiting Approval “Coincidences in Washington? Try this. Just when the Federal Communications Commission is circulating a draft order to loosen media ownership rules, it voted today to take final steps to create lower-power FM radio, a new class of noncommercial radio stations aimed at increasing diversity on the radio airwaves,” Katy…

“The Real Housewives of Atlanta firebrand NeNe Leakes graces the current cover of Ebony — bathing in what appears to be a tub of diamonds — and people aren’t happy about it, Karu F. Daniels wrote Tuesday for the Daily Beast. “. . . ‘Those who take issue with reality television’s role in pop culture…