Media

“PBS and Al Jazeera America are shaking up the status quo by hiring a diverse group of journalists for key on-air positions. The moves reflect the networks’ conscious effort to become more multicultural in their approach, executives tell TheWrap,” Sara Morrison wrote Sunday for The Wrap. “When Gwen Ifill. . . and Judy Woodruff were named the co-anchors of PBS…

Mark Russell, whose nearly three years as editor of the Orlando Sentinel were marked by coverage of the Trayvon Martin case and the hazing death of a marching band member at Florida A&M University, was ousted Wednesday in a reorganization that eliminated his job. Russell was replaced by Avido Khahaifa [pdf], a corporate manager who is…

Bob Butler, a multimedia reporter at KCBS radio in San Francisco and two-term vice president/broadcast of the National Association of Black Journalists, was elected president of the organization Friday as members learned that NABJ ran a deficit in 2012 and that its finance committee projected one for 2013 as well. Butler, 60, defeated Sarah J.…

Commentator and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams, who said Monday that he plans to buy WMMP-TV in Charleston, S.C., from Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., said Tuesday that other television companies should be asked why they are similarly not helping other entrepreneurs of color to purchase stations. Providing the entrepreneurs with cable networks is one thing, as Comcast…

Commentator and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams said Monday that there is “no doubt” that he plans to buy WMMP-TV in Charleston, S.C., his home state, from Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Allbritton Communications announced Monday it has agreed to sell its seven television stations to Sinclair for $985 million. Williams’ good relations with Sinclair are paying off.…

The National Association of Black Journalists Tuesday provided more details of its plans to discuss the George Zimmerman trial at its convention next week in Kissimmee, Fla., near Orlando, as talk of a boycott of the state over the not-guilty verdict seemed overshadowed by conflicting reports. “The conference will open with a dynamic plenary session,…

The fallout from the George Zimmerman trial was in the air Friday, as President Obama made a surprise speech about the verdict in the White House press briefing room. But at the National Native Media Conference in Tempe, Ariz., where the Native American Journalists Association was meeting, other topics ruled the day. The words “George…

President Obama’s surprise remarks Friday on the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case, in which Obama declared, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” came after public prodding by some of his supporters, sometimes on op-ed pages. Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear reported Friday for the New York Times that the speech followed “anguished…

Association Wants Martin, Zimmerman Families in Orlando Even though some members of the National Association of Black Journalists are so upset by the not-guilty verdict delivered George Zimmerman that they urged NABJ to pull out of Florida for the convention scheduled in two weeks, such a pullout would cost the association more than $1 million,…

Journalists reacted with cautious approval Friday to an announcement by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that he was revising Justice Department procedures that enraged reporters this year as the department pursued leak investigations. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the only leader of a journalist-of-color organization…