Culture

Revamp to Feature Breaking News Video, Tie to Social Media NBC is selling the Grio, its African American-oriented website, to its original owners and will create its own “vertical” on NBCNews.com targeting African Americans, according to David A. Wilson, the Grio’s co-creator and founder, and MSNBC spokeswoman Diana Rocco. Neither would disclose the purchase price.…

Police Slaying, Aftermath Are Topic A — Outside Convention As the nation followed the aftermath of the police shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson, Mo. — including the detention of two journalists and the tear-gassing of at least one camera crew, many journalism organizations rushed to condemn what they considered the unfair…

Washington Post’s Lowery Tweets He “Can’t Shake Anger” “The Huffington Post’s Ryan J. Reilly and the Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery were arrested Wednesday while covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri surrounding the death of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer last week,” the Huffington Post reported Wednesday. “The…

St. Louis Teen’s Killing Raises Newsroom Diversity Issue Editor Says Inclusion Could Increase Community Contacts The fatal police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old black man in a St. Louis suburb, followed by looting and burning by angry protesters, led to a national social media campaign protesting the media images of black men, a quickly published…

Charles Ericksen Says Media Firms Don’t Deserve Honors The celebratory tone of the closing gala of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention was punctured briefly Saturday night when 84-year-old co-founder Charles Ericksen called it “kind of a farce” for the association to honor Fox News and other media companies when the number of employed…

Griffin Pledges That Show Hosts Will Meet With Hispanics A contrite Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, apologized again Friday for a May Cinco de Mayo skit on his network that Hispanics found offensive, and he agreed with a wide-ranging list of complaints from Latino journalists. Those concerns included the need for more Latinos behind the…

8 From Fourth Estate Join 400 Honoring African Leaders Members of the media are accustomed to being on the outside looking in when the White House hosts social events, but at least eight were invited guests when the president entertained African heads of state Tuesday night. “I’m way more used to being with the [White…

Grio Columnist Makes Plagiarism Accusation; Howard U. Radio Station Apologizes WHUR-FM Removes Disputed Posting A controversy between the Grio, NBCUniversal’s black-oriented website, and WHUR-FM, Howard University’s commercial radio station, was brewing Monday, closely watched on social media. On Tuesday, WHUR General Manager Jim Watkins issued an apology, telling the Grio writer that the station has…

Al Jazeera America Praised for “Best Practices” The National Association of Black Journalists has given NPR its “Thumbs Down” award for 2014 over its cancellation of the multicultural show “Tell Me More” and NPR’s elimination of 28 positions across its newsroom in an effort to cut costs. The “Best Practices” award went to Al Jazeera…

Meeting Could Assemble Most Journalists of Color Since ’08 The associations representing journalists from the nation’s two largest groups of color — blacks and Hispanics — have signed a memorandum of understanding to hold a joint convention in 2016, Bob Butler, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, and Hugo Balta, president of the…