Media

Producers Told Not to Book Pundit as Contract Winds Down “The TV world can be so cold. When you’re out, you’re out. And sometimes sooner than you might expect,” Betsy Rothstein wrote Thursday for FishbowlDC. “There are 17 days left on Roland Martin’s CNN contract. But the powers that be appear to be shutting it…

The day before Roland Martin disclosed that his contract as a CNN commentator wasn’t being renewed, CNN President Jeff Zucker excitedly proclaimed his new hire Jake Tapper “the face of the new CNN.” “I can tell you from the position that I was in, the prospect of Jake Tapper being the face of the new…

Roland Martin told his Twitter followers Tuesday that his last day as a CNN commentator will be April 6, ending speculation about his fate under new CNN President Jeff Zucker. “Roland I am really missing not hearing your view point on @CNN,” a Twitter follower wrote. Martin replied, “Sorry. Can’t book myself. My last day…

Freelance journalist Nate Thayer prompted a debate last week when he publicly declined an opportunity to write for the Atlantic magazine for free. But in the arguments over the benefits of getting paid only with exposure, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote on Wednesday, one element has been missing: race. “Two things helped me break through,” Coates wrote…

Edward Lewis Dismissive of Fired Editor’s Complaints Edward Lewis, one of the principal founders of Essence magazine, told Journal-isms Monday that he “absolutely” would again sell the publication to Time Inc. regardless of the complaints of fired editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White and readers who support her. “It’s very difficult for any size magazine to be…

Exit Followed Clashes Over Time Inc. View of Black Women Constance C.R. White has disclosed that her departure as editor-in-chief of Essence magazine was involuntary and the result of repeated clashes with Martha Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Time Inc. who White says sought to limit the way black women were portrayed. “I went in there…

N. Korea Trip Burnishes “the Worm’s” Reputation as Bizarre “Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea wasn’t an accident or an oddity, but the result of a gonzo media company facilitating a summit between a Basketball Hall of Famer and an oppressive dictator who grew up a Bulls fan. But making sense of it doesn’t equip…

ABC News is finalizing a deal to hire Byron Pitts of CBS, a contributor to “60 Minutes” and chief national correspondent for the “CBS Evening News, ” according to reliable news reports published Friday. “Pitts will serve as both chief national correspondent and anchor at ABC News, and will appear across the network’s programming. ABC…

The French magazine that published a photo of a darkened 16-year-old white girl under the title “African Queen” apologized Wednesday “to anyone who may have been offended.” But the magazine’s management offered a different explanation of what the photo represented than did the photographer, and the controversy again shone a light on the lack of…

CNN President Jeff Zucker met Monday in Atlanta with leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists in the wake of Zucker’s failure to include journalists of color among his first few appointments and the elimination of his “Starting Point” morning show hosted by Soledad O’Brien. NABJ President Gregory H. Lee Jr. said he wanted…