Culture

Five of Color on Track to Green-Light Stories, Ideas ABC News, responding to the need to diversify its executive ranks, has completed the first year of a fellowship program in which three journalists of color learned producer skills. Three more are in the program for its second year, and it is preparing for a third,…

To Please Critics, Sinclair Retreats on Pledge to Sell Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator and entrepreneur, said Friday that he is “in jeopardy of losing all my [television] stations” in the wake of a decision by Sinclair Broadcasting Corp., his business partner and benefactor, to put on the open market stations it had planned to…

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…

Alarm Sounded at Expansion of Young White Male Network The issue of diversity at Internet journalism startups blew up this week after critical pieces called out the startups on — of course — the Internet, and leaders of two of the leading targets pleaded their commitment to inclusion. “What people may not understand is that…

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…

Bill Whitaker to Join 60 Minutes 30-Year Correspondent Follows Ed Bradley, Byron Pitts Bill Whitaker will join CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes as a correspondent, the network announced on Thursday, placing a black journalist in a regular spot on the program for the first time since Byron Pitts left for ABC-TV a year ago. “Bill Whitaker is a…

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…

Blacks, Latinos Find Much to Like in Oscar Biggest Audience for an Entertainment Show Since ’04 Black and Latino commentators each pronounced Sunday night’s Academy Awards a banner occasion — and the night also recorded the first Oscar for a Filipino-American. Composer Robert Lopez, with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, won an Oscar for “Let It…

Reaction to Plans for Young Men: “At Last,” “Not So Fast” President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, unveiled Thursday as a heartfelt and personal effort to assist young men of color, was largely praised by African American commentators but criticized by some as elevating the importance of “personal responsibility” over the effects of structural racism.…