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Diversity-Friendly NBC News President Leaving
Television head Capus has announced his departure.
Antoine Sanfuentes Gains Increased Responsibilities
Steve Capus, the president of NBC News who in 2007 received the Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for his diversity efforts, is stepping down, he told colleagues Friday. His move means an expanded role for Antoine Sanfuentes, senior vice president of NBC News and Capus' chief deputy.
"Working in network news is not a solitary pursuit; it is the ultimate 'team sport,' " Capus said in a memo to colleagues, "in which success is derived from the collective performances of remarkable people united in purpose and dedication. I have seldom described my role as 'presiding' over NBC News. Instead, I have viewed it as leading a collaborative effort to pursue journalistic excellence.
"It has been a privilege to have spent two decades here, but it is now time to head in a new direction. I have informed Pat Fili-Krushel that I will be leaving NBC News in the coming weeks.
"Of course, it is an extremely difficult decision to walk away from a place that has been the backdrop for everything in my life since 1993. . . ."
Fili-Krushel, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, said in her own memo that ". . . Antoine, in addition to overseeing the Washington Bureau and 'Meet the Press,' will serve as interim managing editor responsible for editorial decision making, Specials and Standards and Practices.
"Reporting to Antoine will be Cheryl Gould, Mark Lukasiewicz and David McCormick. Antoine also will run the Daily Share meetings," according to a memo published by Dylan Byers in Politico. Gould is senior vice president of NBC News, Lukasiewicz oversees digital media and specials and McCormick is executive producer, broadcast standards and ombudsman.
The Daily Share is the daily NBC News Group editorial call/meeting, during which all NBC divisions "share" their editorial plans — including "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "Dateline"/"Rock Center," the NBC affiliates, MSNBC, CNBC, special projects, the Weather Channel, Telemundo and digital properties. Sanfuentes, whose father is Chilean, also leads NBC's Diversity Council.
Capus received the Wells award, then presented by NABJ and the Association of Opinion Journalists, formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers, in part for his actions during the Don Imus affair, in which the radio host described the Rutgers women's basketball team in racist and sexist terms. Capus ended MSNBC's simulcasting of the Imus show from CBS-owned WFAN radio in New York.
The NBC News executive was also praised then for appointing two African American vice presidents, Mark Whitaker and Lyne Pitts, both of whom have since left the network. Capus said he was proud of the diversity-friendly culture at NBC. He noted that the GE African American Forum, part of the NBCUniversal operation, had raised $100,000 for the NABJ scholarship fund, and said his network's commitment shows in its coverage.
The Grio, an NBC-owned daily newsmagazine focused on African Americans, was created on Capus' watch, as was a partnership between the Grio and NewsOne.
"With the African-American audience representing one of the fastest growing consumer segments online, this partnership is a huge growth opportunity for both TheGrio and NewsOne," Capus said in a 2011 release. "This is a smart play for both sides as we combine the best of these two platforms to enhance African-American journalism."
David A. Wilson, Grio founder and executive editor, told Journal-isms by email, "Steve Capus will definitely be missed at NBC News. His unwavering commitment to excellence and diversity in news has become a part of the fabric of the news division. In 2008, when I first pitched Steve the idea of launching what would become theGrio.com — a web platform focused on the African-American audience that would leverage NBC News' resources and reach — Steve immediately saw the importance and need for it. He pushed the idea ahead and became our biggest advocate. He expanded on that vision by launching NBCLatino.com. Though Steve is moving on, we can all be proud of what we've done to promote diversity at NBC News to date and will continue to carry it forward."
David Bauder of the Associated Press reported that "While NBC News stood at the top of the ratings during most of his tenure, the decline of the 'Today' show over the past year was a major blight on the division. Six months ago, NBC's corporate parents installed Pat Fili-Krushel to oversee the division, diminishing Capus' influence."
It added that Capus was a long-time producer for Brian Williams' newscasts before being installed as head of the news division in 2005.
Brian Stelter, media writer for the New York Times, tweeted, "Capus's exit has been rumored ever since Pat Fili-Krushel was put in charge of all of NBC's news assets 6 months ago."
He added later, ". . . a restructuring six months ago foreshadowed Friday's announcement.
"Steve Burke, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, consolidated all of NBC's news units — NBC News, MSNBC and the business news channel CNBC — under a new umbrella, the NBCUniversal News Group, and he named one of his most trusted lieutenants, Ms. Fili-Krushel, to run it. Mr. Capus, who previously reported directly to Mr. Burke, now reported to Ms. Fili-Krushel.
"Mr. Capus made no secret of his unhappiness with the restructuring. His contract had a clause that allowed him to leave in the event that he no longer reported to Mr. Burke, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement at NBC. He decided to exercise that right after months of contemplation, according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized by the network to speak publicly. . . ."
Michael Malone, Broadcasting & Cable: NBC Affiliates Salute Departing Capus for Strong Network News Product
CNN Denies Exec Called Morning Viewers "Too Ethnic"
A CNN spokeswoman denied Friday that CNN Senior Vice President Bart Feder complained that the viewership of the "Early Start" and "Starting Point" morning programs was "too ethnic," based on the high concentration of minority viewers.
"The quotes attributed to Bart Feder in the FishbowlDC's blog are false," Christal Jones told Journal-isms in an email. She did not respond when asked what Feder actually said.
In discussing the future of CNN correspondent and anchor Soledad O'Brien, Betsy Rothstein wrote Wednesday in FishbowlDC, ". . . Many staffers were stunned when Feder constantly complained that the viewership of 'Early Start' and 'Starting Point' was 'too ethnic,' based on the high concentration of minority viewers. This common complaint worked itself up through the company, to CNN's Diversity Committee, and to other staffers, who were mortified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers."
Rothstein later added this note: "UPDATE: To clarify, Feder's issue with 'Starting Point' was that the audience was too small and happened to be predominately comprised of minorities. A source close to the show insists that the ethnicity of the audience was never the issue, it was the size. Feder in no way meant to imply that the audience was too ethnic."
Ed Koch Was Lightning Rod for 2 Black Journalists
Edward I. Koch, the feisty New York mayor who died Friday at age 88, was a lightning rod for at least two New York black journalists during his three terms at Gracie Mansion: the late Wilbert Tatum, editor and publisher of the weekly New York Amsterdam News, and Les Payne, columnist for Newsday.
Reporting Tatum's death in 2009, Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins wrote in the Village Voice, ". . . In the 1980s, he memorably pounded away at former Mayor Ed Koch in a weekly column that ran on the paper's front page for more than two years. Week after week, it carried the same headline: 'Koch Must Resign.' Years later, he urged Rudy Giuliani to do the same. . . ."
Payne emailed Journal-isms, ". . . as a weekly columnist, I carried on a long-running shootout with Koch WHILE HE WAS MAYOR THOSE 12 YEARS, WITH THE REST OF THE CITY MEDIA, SAVE THE VILLAGE VOICE, KISSING HIZZONER'S BIGOTED ASS.
"Several times, on official New York Mayor stationery, Koch wrote and asked Newsday to fire me, and once the Editor came very, very close, the closest I'd come to getting fired at the paper.
"Also, for what it's worth, he included me and my attacks on him in several of his jive books.
"Beyond catering to his people, Koch, unlike even Geo. Wallace, went out of his way to offend black New Yorkers, far beyond any requirement of 'taking care of your own.' Wallace, at least had the cover, and thus the excuse of doing the bidding of his constituent white-racist voting majority. . . ."
Koch was aware of the antipathy toward him on racial grounds in some circles. Responding to a critical review by scholar Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in the New York Review of Books, Koch wrote, ". . . no racial disturbances or violence have marred my terms. They did mar the terms of my three 'fair-minded' predecessors.
"Nor could one expect Dr. Schlesinger to regard as significant the fact that in the 1981 general election I received 60% of the black vote, 70% of the Hispanic vote and carried every Assembly District in the City of New York. . . . "
Paul Schwartzman explained in the Washington Post: Koch's mayoralty ". . . was defined by several racially charged crimes, including one in 1984 in which Bernhard Goetz, a white man who became known in the headlines as the 'Subway Vigilante,' shot four black men he believed were about to mug him aboard a subway train. Five years later, five black and Hispanic teenagers were accused of raping and beating a woman jogging in Central Park, an attack that Mr. Koch branded at the time as 'the crime of the century.'
"The convictions of the men were later overturned, a saga that became the subject of a recent Ken Burns documentary, 'Central Park Five.'
"Four months after the jogger case dominated the headlines, Yusef Hawkins, a 16-year-old African American, was shot to death after he and three friends were attacked in the white neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. Hawkins' death prompted the activist Al Sharpton to lead protest marches through the neighborhood, at which white onlookers mocked the marchers by holding up watermelons."
On Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" co-host Juan Gonzalez, who is also a columnist at the Daily News in New York, cited Koch's "very hostile relationship with African American and Latino community," but said Koch had "launched a huge low-income housing program" and concluded, "people who look back now at his period of time will say, 'Well, Mayor, you did pretty well,' for a figure who was so long on the political scene."
Wayne Dawkins, Politics In Color: Koch rebuilt N.Y., often at the expense of blacks, poor
Editorial, Daily News, New York: Ed Koch, a great mayor and a New Yorker through and through, dies at 88
Jack Mirkinson, Huffington Post: New York Times Revises Ed Koch Obit To Include AIDS
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Central Park jogger case still lacks justice
Les Payne, the Nation: The Post's Stimulus Chimp (2009)
Syndicate Backs Off Column on Vietnamese Food Choices
Tribune Media Services retreated Friday from an opinion column by former New York Times reporter Joel Brinkley that alleged that Vietnamese people eat birds, squirrels, rats and dogs. The piece, which drew outrage from some readers, "did not meet our journalistic standards," the news service said in an editor's note.
". . . TMS has a rigorous editing process for its content, and in the case of Brinkley's column that moved Jan. 29, all the required steps did not occur. We regret that this happened, and we will be vigilant in ensuring that our editing process works in the future," the note said.
Brinkley, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his reporting from Cambodia, began his column, "You don't have to spend much time in Vietnam before you notice something unusual. You hear no birds singing, see no squirrels scrambling up trees or rats scurrying among the garbage. No dogs out for a walk.
"In fact, you see almost no wild or domesticated animals at all. Where'd they all go? You might be surprised to know: Most have been eaten."
Brinkley is the Hearst visiting professional in residence at Stanford University.
The Vietnamese publication Thanh Nien reported Friday, " 'Vietnam isn't the monster portrayed in the article,' Jake Brunner, program coordinator for Vietnam with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told Vietweek.
"Brinkley's attention-grabbing opener was a misrepresentation of reality, other conservationists say.
" . . . The journalism professor, however, could see no merit in all the criticism he has faced. He dismissed it as 'borne of hysteria.'
" 'I stand by my reporting,' he told Vietweek. 'I've spent a great deal of time in the region,' he said."
Jim Romenesko blog: Joel Brinkley Defends His Vietnamese Diet Article
John-Hall, Philly Columnist Six Years, Takes Buyout
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer metro columnist since 2007, wrote a farewell column to readers Friday after taking a buyout.
" . . . I'm guessing that fully a third of my commentaries focused on the city's homicides — and the young African American men who were the victims as well as the perpetrators," she wrote. "In November 2007, with a homicide rate at 336 and counting, I wept while writing a column about my love for black men:
" 'I am a black woman who was raised by a black man, married a black man, and gave birth to a black son. Which is why it breaks my heart to even think this, let alone write it: I'm starting to profile black men.'
"That admission generated hundreds of e-mails and phone calls, and landed me on a couple of national news programs. I made sure to note that my fear of black men wasn't so much of them as for them. . . ."
John-Hall told Journal-isms that she did not know what she would do next. "I'm open to anything — communications, writing a book, teaching, doing another form of journalism, even going back to school," she said by email. "The nice thing about taking a buyout is that it gives you a little bit of a cushion to decompress, focus and decide."
The number of African American newspaper columnists is shrinking as newspapers continue to downsize. An astonishing 10 African American metro or op-ed columnists stopped writing their columns in 2011, and most were not replaced by another journalist of color. In 2012, Eugene Kane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel left the paper but continues to write a Sunday column.
Associated Press: Harry Belafonte: Blacks should participate in gun debate
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: The National Regulation-Resisters Association
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: School shootings, street shootings; is there any legislation that can stop the carnage?
John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times: Obama should lead fight for safe Chicago streets
Jeremy Gorner and Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune: January homicide count worst since 2002
Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: The gun lesson that too many parents refuse to learn until it's too late
Violence Policy Center: Missouri Leads Nation in Black Homicide Victimization for Third Year in a Row
Maybe AP Could Use a "Rooney Rule" for Itself
Barry Wilner of the Associated Press wrote on Friday: "Three black former NFL head coaches say the league needs to rethink its Rooney Rule for promoting minority hiring after 15 top vacancies — eight head coaching jobs and seven general manager positions — were all filled by white candidates since the regular season ended a month ago. . . ."
Straightforward enough, but it doesn't capture the irony, according to a Journal-isms correspondent. Wilner writes for the Associated Press, where, according to sports journalists, only three full-time African American sports reporters or editors work among a number estimated at 90 to 100 worldwide. That's not counting stringers or those who split their time between sports and other departments.
The three are Oscar Dixon, Atlanta-based South regional sports editor, reporter Fred Goodall in Tampa and reporter Gary Graves in Louisville, Ky.
In 2011, reporting that the percentage of sports editors at websites and newspapers who were women or people of color fell 2.3 percentage points — from 11.7 percent in 2008 to 9.42 percent in 2010 — Richard Lapchick, the report's primary author, called for a news media version of the Rooney Rule.
The recommendation apparently received no traction. AP spokeswoman Erin Madigan White, asked how many African Americans were in AP sports departments, emailed Friday, "Those numbers are not available."
Meanwhile, Duane Rankin of the Erie (Pa.) Times-News starts Monday as a sports reporter/columnist at the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. Rankin is a 1993 graduate of the first class of the Sports Journalism Institute.
Executive Editor Wanda Lloyd told Journal-isms that Gregory H. Lee Jr., president of the National Association of Black Journalists, posted a notice of the opening for her on NABJ's Sports Task Force listserve. "We are excited to have him," she said, speaking of Rankin. "The true power of NABJ networking," Lloyd said.
Journalists Help Hmong Weather Minnesota Storms
"Fingertips blackened by frostbite. Cars buried in snow up to their windows. Tornadoes swirling at a frenzied 120 miles per hour. Temperatures rising to 100-plus degrees," Gail Rosenblum wrote Thursday for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
"A multimedia presentation Tuesday offered the cold, hard fact that Minnesota has some of the world's greatest weather extremes. And it was potentially lifesaving news to those in attendance, who sat in rapt attention.
"KSTP news anchor Joy Lim Nakrin and KSTP meteorologist Jonathan Yuhas delivered the afternoon presentation to about 40 members of the Hmong community at the Lao Family Community Center in St. Paul. Many are new arrivals understandably ill-prepared for our capricious climate.
"With the assistance of a Hmong interpreter, Yuhas used slides and video footage to explain windchill and the heat index, how to be safe in a tornado and why it's really dumb to drive a car over a freshly frozen lake or river.
"The outreach is largely the vision of Nakrin, newly named vice president of the Asian American Journalists Association-Minnesota. Nakrin, whose mother is Chinese, is sensitive to potential cultural and language barriers.
" 'Coming from an immigrant family myself, I'm always heartbroken to hear how the challenges of finding one's way in a new country can be harmful or potentially deadly.' . . . "
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: Obama's big immigration opportunity
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: No Risk for President Obama in Immigration Reform Fight
Pew Hispanic Center: A Nation of Immigrants: A Portrait of the 40 Million, Including 11 Million Unauthorized
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Immigration reform is a solvable problem
April D. Ryan blog: Immigration: A Black Story
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Immigration: Republicans make nice, but are their hearts true?
Michael D. Shear, New York Times: On Immigration, a Campaign-Style Push in Hispanic Media
Network Confirms Canceling Warren Ballentine
A spokesman for Reach Media, which with Radio One syndicated the Warren Ballentine radio show, confirmed it on Friday:
". . . effective Thursday January 31st, 2013, The Warren Ballentine Show was replaced with Trending Today. Warren Ballentine is no longer with Reach Media," spokesman Marty Raab told Journal-isms by email. Ballentine claimed 3 million listeners.
"Trending Today will showcase compelling hosts in the interim period that can continue to lead engaging discussions that are important to the community," Raab continued. "The current host of Trending Today is Gerod Stevens."
Annie Sweeney reported in the Chicago Tribune Monday, "A south suburban attorney and national radio host who bills himself as the 'people's attorney' has been charged in a $10 million mortgage fraud scheme, federal officials announced today.
"Warren Ballentine was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for defrauding lenders by scheming with others to obtain nearly 30 bogus mortgage loans, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago. . . . "
Ballentine wrote on his Facebook page Thursday, "to all the truthfighters thank you I TRIED. Reach Media/ radio one just canceled my show. I was accused not found guilty of anything and they do this dont care about my kid me or the listeners. Well I guess Im finding out who really is with me now I guess I will be homeless soon."
"Within 24 hours of posting openings for the majority of their new positions, Al Jazeera America received 5000 applications for open positions, a number that has grown to 8,063 over the past three days, a network source told BuzzFeed," Andrew Kaczynski wrote Wednesday for BuzzFeed.
"Television personality and radio host Geraldo Rivera announced Thursday he's 'truly contemplating' a run for Senate in New Jersey" as a Republican, Jonathan Easley reported Thursday for the Hill. "David Frum, CNN contributor and columnist for The Daily Beast, greeted the news with laughter," Noah Rothman wrote Thursday for Mediaite. "Frum found the notion that Rivera is thinking about a political career to be funny, and said that the Republican Party's general weakness invites weak candidates. . . ."
"It came down to the wire, but 'CBS Evening News' anchor Scott Pelley will sit down with President Obama before the Super Bowl on Sunday," Alex Weprin reported Thursday for TVNewser. "Pelley's interview will air live at 4:30 PM, in advance of the big game. . . ."
The National Association of Caribbean-American Journalists said Volkswagen's Super Bowl commercial featuring white and Asian male office workers speaking with a noticeably Jamaican accent ". . . is not racist and lay the problem . . . at the feet of mainstream journalists, who erroneously branded the ad as racist." Jamaican-born Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher John Farley objected strongly to the commercial, and New York Times columnist Charles Blow called it "Blackface with voices," Luke Visconti wrote Friday for Diversity Inc. But Caribbean groups approved of the ad, Ann-Christine Diaz reported Thursday for Ad Age. This columnist was quoted on the subject Wednesday by Paul Farhi in the Washington Post. SandalsResorts posted "Jamaica's Spoof of VW Superbowl Ad: 'The Germaican' " [video].
"Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh says he will not run for mayor and plans to return to broadcast television," columnist Rochelle Riley reported Friday in the Detroit Free Press. "His decision will end the tenure of the city's first openly gay council member and have a major impact on November's mayoral election, where a poll last fall placed him among the top three contenders. . . ."
In a column Thursday for the Huffington Post, NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reviewed the HBO series "Girls." ". . . Last season the show was criticized for being too white. Watching a full season could leave a viewer snow blind," Abdul-Jabbar wrote. "This season that white ghetto was breached by a black character who is introduced as some jungle fever lover, with just enough screen time to have sex and mutter a couple of lines about wanting more of a relationship. A black dildo would have sufficed and cost less. . . . "
Actor Jeremy Renner has been signed to star in the thriller "Kill the Messenger," based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb, who committed suicide after being denounced for his articles alleging CIA involvement in helping Nicaragua's Contra rebels import cocaine into California in the 1980s, particularly into black neighborhoods, Pamela McClintock reported Thursday for the Hollywood Reporter.
"The oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the country turns 100 this year," the Huffington Post reported on Friday. 'New York's El Diario/La Prensa will celebrate its centenary with a series of events over the course of this year aimed at highlighting the paper's role in the city. . . ."
"The Board of Directors of the International Women's Media Foundation has appointed Elisa Lees Muñoz as executive director," Editor & Publisher reported Friday. "Muñoz brings more than 20 years of experience in human rights and media development leading organizations that promote the rule of law, press freedom and the engagement, training and leadership of women in the news media around the world. . . . "
"RTDNA honors outstanding achievements in the coverage of diversity with the RTDNA / UNITY Award," the Radio Television Digital News Association announced. "The award is part of the covenant the association has adopted to achieve diversity in the newsroom through developing news content and editorial staffs that reflect the changing face of communities. The purpose of the award is to encourage and showcase journalistic excellence in covering issues of race and ethnicity. It is presented annually to news organizations that show and ongoing commitment to covering the diversity of the communities they serve." Deadline for nominations is Feb. 8.
"Appellate courts in Brazil should overturn a decision ordering journalist Lúcio Flavio Pinto to pay more than $200,000 in damages in connection with a libel suit," the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. ". . . Pinto also blogs for Yahoo and has reported on drug trafficking, environmental devastation, and political and corporate corruption in the region for more than 45 years. He has been physically assaulted, threatened, and targeted with dozens of criminal and civil defamation lawsuits as a result of his investigative work, CPJ research shows. In 2005, CPJ honored Pinto with its International Press Freedom Award, an annual recognition of courageous reporting. . . ."
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
"The announcement that CNN is totally revamping its morning show and scrapping Soledad O'Brien's 'Starting Point' has sent shivers through her staff," Betsy Rothstein wrote Wednesday for FishbowlDC.
"Insiders tell us Executive VP Ken Jautz and VP Bart Feder addressed the staff after the show went off the air today. Suffice it to say, the era of Jeff Zucker is under way.
"In a nutshell, the execs said they have no answers for the staff and were unable to address most of their questions. Members of the staff were assured their jobs were safe, but one veteran of the changing show carousel at CNN says they would be naive to believe that.
" 'Every single one of these people should be preparing their resumes and trying to get out of that building as fast as possible,' a network insider told FishbowlDC, explaining that staffers are worried for their jobs. The prevailing feeling is that O'Brien, who previously worked with Zucker at NBC, will end up in another role.
"For the month of January, 'Starting Point' drew an average of 264,000 viewers. MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' drew 468,000 and FNC's 'Fox & Friends' drew 1.07 million. 'Morning Express' on HLN drew 218,000. The broadcast shows (CBS, ABC, NBC) drew millions more than any of the aforementioned programs. In other words, 'Starting Point' is behind everyone except its sister network HLN, and HLN is getting close.
". . . Many staffers were stunned when Feder constantly complained that the viewership of 'Early Start' and 'Starting Point' was 'too ethnic,' based on the high concentration of minority viewers. This common complaint worked itself up through the company, to CNN's Diversity Committee, and to other staffers, who were mortified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers.
"For all of the talk that 'Starting Point' has been a failure, CNN execs have few to blame. Phil Kent, CEO of Turner, CNN's parent company, is said to have hated the show and O'Brien in particular. Sources say he routinely ripped the show in the past six months."
Still, "A CNN spokeswoman said in an e-mail Tuesday, 'Soledad is very important to the network, and we're discussing various options with her,' " Brian Stelter reported for the New York Times.
Dylan Byers and Mackenzie Weinger added Tuesday night, "Jeff Zucker promised to change CNN. He's doing so, and fast.
"In the past 24 hours, CNN has poached yet another big name from ABC News, dropped one top executive and seen the departure of three well-known contributors, and announced the launch of a new morning program that, according to network sources, will have ripple effects on the prime-time programming."
". . . On Tuesday, CNN hired Chris Cuomo, the co-anchor of ABC's '20/20,' to co-host a new morning show. Meanwhile, POLITICO confirmed that political power couple James Carville and Mary Matalin, who have been with the network since the early '90s, will be leaving the network. Conservative commentator and Red State blogger Erick Erickson is also out the door, reportedly en route to Fox News. Most significantly, executive vice president and managing editor Mark Whitaker announced he was stepping down to give Zucker 'his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff.' "
Zucker is not giving interviews, a CNN spokeswoman told Journal-isms, and what is being written is largely speculation, she said. But that speculation does not seem to include people of color.
In Zucker's introductory conference call in November with the nation's media reporters, none of the questions concerned diversity.
Journal-isms posed this question to Zucker afterward through CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson:
"How long does he think it will be before there is a weekday, prime-time anchor of color: African American, Hispanic, Asian American or Native American?"
The answer: "I hope you understand that it would be premature to engage on any programming or talent decisions at this time. I'm sure you gathered that from the call today."
Alexander Abad-Santos, the Atlantic: This Is Jeff Zucker's CNN Overhaul
Sidmel Estes, Sisters Who Have Something to Say blog: The Writing is on the Wall
Brian Stelter, New York Times: CNN President Tries to Repeat Success in Morning News
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: Soledad O'Brien's CNN future undetermined
Famuan Reappears With J-Director's Blast at Critics
The Famuan, the student newspaper at Florida A&M University, reappeared as scheduled Wednesday after the school administration ordered a "delay" in publication in mid-January while students received additional training.
The edition included a "Letter to the FAMU Community" by Valerie D. White, director of the Division of Journalism, that took to task media coverage of the publication's suspension and criticized the student editor who lost his post during the hiatus and discussed it with reporters. Faculty adviser Andrew Skerritt was "reassigned," not "fired," White said.
White denounced a "flawed saga of untruths" that "has played out on the national stage." Her essay, written in space she said she purchased, was not included in the Famuan's online edition.
"I am amused that so many outsiders think they are equipped to question our decision based solely on one source," White wrote, apparently referring to ousted editor Karl Etters, who told his story to the news media in stories in which the administration declined to comment. "These same outsiders should know that we cannot speak due to the lawsuit, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and privacy concerning personnel matters."
The publication delay was indirectly related to accreditation issues and to drum major Robert Champion's well-publicized hazing death in November 2011. "Investigations revealed many band members were not enrolled in the music course as required. Since then all student organizations on campus have come under more strict requirements," Jennifer Portman reported earlier in the Tallahassee Democrat. The Famuan was one of those organizations.
Moreover, a Dec. 2, 2011, article in the Famuan incorrectly stated that senior Keon Hollis was one of four drum majors suspended in connection with Champion's death. Hollis filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, university and its board of trustees. Etters was not editor at the time the article was published, but new Dean Ann Wead Kimbrough decided that the staff needed more training.
White's article did not answer the chief question raised by such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists and the Student Press Law Center, which have been critical of the decision to "delay" its next issue: why the Famuan could not have continued publication while the students received the training the school said they needed.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the privacy of student education records. While White's essay did not clarify its relationship to the Famuan delay, Portman's story said, "The publication postponement comes amid an ongoing review of the journalism school's student media outlets and associated student organizations, which revealed more than 20 of the roughly 100 various group members failed to meet grade-point and enrollment requirements last fall."
Student Press Law Center: After 25 years, impact of Hazelwood on student journalism is mixed, experts say
Univision Viewers' Immigration Concern: Deportation
The most commonly asked question from Univision viewers who were told that the network planned to interview President Obama was, "Under your plan what would happen to those who already have deportation letters. Also, would parents of U.S.-born children who have been deported be able to come back under your plan?," co-anchor Maria Elena Salinas told Obama Wednesday.
Obama replied, "Well, what I'm going to do is allow the Senate to work on these details. I don't want to, you know, fill in all the blanks. Because otherwise I would have gone ahead and put a bill forward. And then sometimes that creates a dynamic in Congress where if I'm for it, then maybe some people have to be against it.
"I think these are all legitimate questions. I think that over the next several weeks, these next several months, what we'll see is many of these issues will be debated. But the basic principle would be, from my perspective, that somebody who has lived here has been overall a good neighbor … has been somebody who's been law abiding other than the fact that they came here illegally. That have put roots down here. That they should have the capacity to earn citizenship. And we'll have to make a whole range of decisions about individual cases. And we'll have to create a structure to make sure that that works.
"And as I said, we've got to make sure that we streamline the process for legal immigration because so much of the illegal immigration process has resulted because it's so difficult for many people to reunify with their families, and so forth."
Obama also said "he hopes immigration reform can be passed into law by June, but in the meantime he has no plans to halt or slow deportations, despite pleas from advocates," Elise Foley reported for the Huffington Post.
"Obama gave interviews to two Spanish-language outlets, Univision and Telemundo, on Wednesday, the day after he delivered a major speech on immigration reform. He argued that much of the legislative work on the issue is already done, given years of work by a number of members of Congress and his own administration. Now, the struggle is about convincing lawmakers to sign on, he told Telemundo's José Díaz-Balart. . . . "
Black America Web: Sharpton Says to Blacks on Immigration: 'Let's Not Fight Each Other'
Richard Lui, MSNBC: Other minority groups over looked in undocumented immigrants debate (video)
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Skeptical on immigration reform
Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today Media Network: Who You Calling an Immigrant?
Black-Press Chief Says Obama Campaign Retaliated
"The Obama campaign got mad and dropped advertising in black newspapers due to [a] letter about its lack of spending in black newspapers, the National Newspaper Publishers Association Chairman Cloves Campbell [Jr.] said," Robert "Rob" Redding reported Wednesday in his Redding News Review.
"The Obama campaign had been asked to spend as much as $20 million with black newspapers, Campbell told this reporter's Redding News Review radio program. The administration only ended up spending about $1 million of its $999 million in advertising budget with black newspapers -- compared to President Clinton's estimated $3 million when he was running.
"Campbell said when he wrote a letter called 'Show me the money' the Obama campaign pulling all the money from black newspapers that were not in swing states. . . . "
" 'They told me that I should apologize for writing the article,' he told Redding News Review."
Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign official Campbell said he contacted, did not respond to a request from Journal-isms for comment. Campbell argued that the black press was owed the advertising money because of the black community's support of Obama.
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: Obama's powerful embrace of Hillary Clinton
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Altering Electoral College count is ridiculous
Network Story Count Favored Romney Over Obama
"Despite all the critics who complained the news coverage of Campaign 2012 favored President Obama, the new Tyndall Report tells a different story," Mike Cavender wrote last week for the Radio Television Digital News Association.
"Each year, Andrew Tyndall releases his analysis of how the Big Three networks covered the news of the year. Tyndall and his team catalogue every network newscast and [dissect] the coverage into such categories as story content, datelines and correspondents featured.
"On the list of the 20 most-covered stories of the year, Campaign 2012 took the #1 spot -- at least as far as Mitt Romney's campaign was concerned. A total of 479 stories were reported about the Romney campaign -- divided among ABC, CBS and NBC. Each broadcast about 160 Romney stories.
"But when it came to the Obama re-election effort, that story ranked 12th on the top 20 list, with a total of only 157 stories. . . .
Cartoonist Denies "Mallard Fillmore" Racism
Bruce Tinsley, the cartoonist behind the right-wing strip "Mallard Fillmore," denies that his reference to "the rodent community" on the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday had anything to do with King.
Barry Saunders, columnist for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., wrote Monday of Tinsley's strip, ". . . The vitriol has increased since Obama's re-election, and it boiled over last week in the strip the day after the nation re-inaugurated him and celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In that strip, Tinsley compared people who celebrate King's life and legacy to rodents. . . ."
Tinsley replied Wednesday through a spokeswoman for King Features Syndicate. "If this 'journalist' were really interested in the facts, he'd do a little reporting, and find that Mallard often references Squirrel Appreciation Day, January 21," Tinsley's emailed message began. "It just happened to fall on MLK day this year. My daughter's birthday is January 21, and she pointed out to me, years ago, that it's also Squirrel Appreciation Day.
"It's become something of a leitmotif in Mallard for him to get angry emails from 'Squirrel Advocacy Groups' every year, attributing evil motives to his ongoing indifference to their holiday. I do this to parody the actual emails I get from every group imaginable, angry that I've overlooked their particular pet holiday.
" 'Racism' has become the ubiquitous charge of everybody who can't win an argument. (I understand that Mayor Bloomberg's proposed big-soft-drink ban is now being attacked as racist). I challenge anyone to find any instance of actual racism in Mallard, ever."
Interviewing Prisoners of War Can Add to Their Abuse
"A small number of journalists reporting from Syria have recently interviewed prisoners of war under highly coercive circumstances. In doing so, they have ignored the protections that are due to prisoners under international humanitarian law, or IHL," Dan Saxon, a former senior prosecutor at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, wrote Tuesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
"These interviews raise important questions regarding the responsibilities of journalists in armed conflict. To what extent should journalists be expected to understand the principles and obligations of IHL? To what extent should reporters, editors, and publishers apply these principles to their work? Finally (and most complex), how should journalists balance the tensions between the public interest in the free dissemination of information and the protections accorded prisoners of war and other detainees in an armed conflict?' . . ."
Saxon argues that the international media in Syria have not always properly balanced the tensions between the right to impart and receive information and the protections to be accorded prisoners of war, "resulting in exploitation and abuse of prisoners of war.
" . . . such broadcasts by major media outlets may encourage media-savvy belligerents holding prisoners to mount more propaganda exercises using exploited detainees. . . . "
War Pushes Mali Far Down on Press-Freedom List
"Mali has plummeted in Reporters Without Borders' annual press freedom index," the press-freedom organization reported Wednesday. "An African front-runner for years, Mali is now languishing in the bottom half of the table. The usual suspects bookended the index.
"Conflict-ridden Mali used to be an African high-flyer in Reporters Without Borders' annual World Press Freedom Index.
"As the country's civil war intensified in 2012, however, press freedom nosedived -- with the global watchdog relegating the west-African country from 25th position in 2011 down to 99th position. . . ."
For its annual listing, "Reporters Without Borders factors in issues including access to information, reprisals, violence against journalists, variety of media, legislations pertaining to journalism, internet access and censorship when compiling its annual barometer."
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Timbuktu attack shows Islamists can't deal with the future or the past
Reporters Without Borders: 2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed hopes after spring
James Ron and Emilie Hafner Burton, Columbia Journalism Review: What region gets the most coverage of its human rights abuses?
Warren Ballentine, the nationally syndicated radio host who has been indicted on accusations that he was behind a $10 million mortgage fraud, wrote on Facebook Wednesday that his show has been canceled. "to all the truthfighters thank you I TRIED. Reach Media/ radio one just canceled my show. I was accused not found guilty of anything and they do this dont care about my kid me or the listeners. Well I guess Im finding out who really is with me now I guess I will be homeless soon," his message said. Ballentine claimed 3 million listeners. Spokesmen for Reach Media and Radio One could not be reached for comment.
"Rupert Murdoch, the media tycoon whose British newspaper outpost has been mired in a phone hacking scandal, took the unusual step of apologizing personally for a cartoon printed in one of his titles here, The Sunday Times of London, that depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel building a bloody wall trapping the bodies of Palestinians," Alan Cowell reported from London Tuesday for the New York Times.
"Neal Justin of AAJA-Minnesota and Ken Moritsugu of AAJA-Asia have been nominated for the position of AAJA Vice President for Print," the Asian American Journalists Association announced on Tuesday. "AAJA is holding a special election to fill the remainder of the term for the position, held by Tom Lee until he resigned for personal reasons in mid-January. Nominations were due Jan. 28."
David Barboza, Shanghai bureau chief of the New York Times, has been a target of Chinese hackers who have persistently attacked the Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees, Nicole Perlroth reported Wednesday for the Times. An article by Barboza in October disclosed the wealth of the family of China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao. Barboza's seven brothers include writer Steven Barboza and photographer Anthony Barboza.
"Buried in the Society of Professional Journalists president's winter meeting notes is news that SPJ will no longer produce a print version of its Working Press newspaper at SPJ's annual conference," Jim Romenesko reported Wednesday on his media news blog.
"It's shaping up as a momentous week on the Hollywood trades staffing front," Richard Horgan wrote Tuesday for FishbowlLA. " . . . The marquee addition is Marc Bernardin (pictured) as senior editor. He comes over to [The Hollywood Reporter] from Entertainment Weekly and was previously a contributing editor for io9.com, managing editor of Starlog magazine and a consulting editor for Fangoria. Bernardin has also written a range of comic books. . . ."
"A word to the wise: do not mess with WKMG reporter Jessica Sanchez when she's on the air," Merrill Knox wrote Wednesday for TVSpy, referring to the Orlando television station. "Sanchez was reporting live from Bourbon Street in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl when a woman interrupted her, walking into her shot and yelling at the camera. Sanchez quickly turned the tables on the crasher: 'We were just talking about the STD rate that's going on here. So how long have you had an STD?' Sanchez asked her. . . . "
"They will argue. They will bicker. They will poke fun at each other," David Scott wrote Friday for ESPN. "And that will just be the first 30 seconds of ESPN Audio's newest podcast, His & Hers with Michael Smith & Jemele Hill, which debuts next Monday, Feb. 4 on the front page ESPNRadio.com, ESPN PodCenter and on iTunes. . . ."
Among an eclectic mix of about 110 publishers, editors and digital-centric staffers at this year's annual digital conference of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia in San Francisco, the alt-weeklies -- as they used to be known before the digital age, talk veered little to journalism, Michael Depp reported Tuesday for NetNewsCheck. "Instead, the buzz grew loudest around experimental revenue streams such as digital local business directories, an online store and social media management and other . . . digital services."
In Ecuador, "One result of President Rafael Correa's high-profile campaign to demonize the country's private media can be seen on the desk of José Velásquez, news manager at Teleamazonas, a private Quito television station often critical of the government," John Otis reported Tuesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Among the documents piled high on his desk are lawsuits, which used to be a rare thing. Encouraged by Correa, who has personally sued newspapers and journalists, Velásquez says, the subjects of Teleamazonas news reports are now filing between two and five lawsuits per month against the station. . . . "
"Hundreds of Pakistani journalists took to the streets in the capital Islamabad to condemn the growing violence against media workers in the country," the Iranian PressTV reported on Tuesday.
"Sri Lankan journalists have staged a 'Black January' protest, remembering a series of attacks against journalists and media workers during the month in recent years and condemning authorities' failure to punish the culprits," the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. "Journalists, rights activists and opposition lawmakers protested Tuesday in the capital, Colombo, saying the month of January has been 'the darkest month' for journalists. . . . "
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Obama Faults 'He Said, She Said' Journalism
He says that nonpartisan media place equal blame on Democrats and Republicans, and it's just not accurate.
"The New Republic has just lifted the embargo on its [wide-ranging] interview with President Obama, in which he talked at length about the role the media can play in breaking Washington's partisan gridlock," Dylan Byers wrote Sunday for Politico.
" 'One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates,' he tells editor Frank Foer and owner and publisher Chris Hughes. 'If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it.'
"We've often noted here on the blog that right-wing media, especially Fox and Limbaugh, have an outsized influence on Republicans -- and are arguably more powerful than most members of [Congress.] But Obama notes that left-wing media plays a role in shaping political debate, as well.
" 'The same dynamic happens on the Democratic side,' he said. 'I think the difference is just that the more left-leaning media outlets recognize that compromise is not a dirty word. And I think at least leaders like myself -- and I include Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in this -- are willing to buck the more absolutist-wing elements in our party to try to get stuff done.'
"The president also faulted nonpartisan media outlets for their adherence to 'he said, she said' journalism, which places equal blame on Democrats and Republicans when, according to the president, Republicans should bear more blame.
" '[T]hat's one of the biggest problems we've got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value the appearance of impartiality and objectivity,' Obama told Foer and Hughes. 'And so the default position for reporting is to say, "A plague on both their houses." On almost every issue, it's, "Well, Democrats and Republicans [can't] agree" -- as opposed to looking at why is it that they can't agree. Who exactly is preventing us from agreeing?'
"Obama also suggested that the media's obsession with confrontation presented a roadblock. . . ."
On Monday's "Fox & Friends," co-host Brian Kilmeade responded to the president's statement, the Huffington Post reported. "He kicks off the next four years by saying that?" Kilmeade asked in an interview with Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr. "They ran a package consisting of multiple comments Obama has made about the network."
Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz, Daily Download: How the White House Orchestrated Hillary's '60' Triumph (video)
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: Rig the Vote
Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: Two women, one larger story
George E. Curry, National Newspaper Publishers Association: Obama Races Away from the Issue of Race
Mary C. Curtis, Washington Post: The GOP on its minority problem: Don't call it 'outreach,' but 'engagement'
Mary C. Curtis, Women's Media Center: Myrlie Evers-Williams -- Making Her Own History
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Tavis Smiley says MLK column was inaccurate, that he didn't rebuff Michelle Obama
Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: Analyzing President Obama, the centrist-turned-reluctant liberal
David Edwards, Raw Story: Bay Buchanan quits TV punditry, takes online real estate class after Romney's 'brutal' loss
Stephen Henderson, Detroit Free Press: GOP's electoral vote plan -- a desperate move for minority rule
Jeremy Holden, Media Matters for America: Fox & Friends Complains That CBS's Kroft Didn't Pursue Fox's Campaign To Mock Clinton Concussion
Dan Kennedy, "Media Nation" blog: TNR's new owner crosses a line with Obama interview
Colbert I. King, Washington Post: The Republican pity party
Latina Lista: Attempts to sow distrust between Latinos and Obama won't work this time around
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: GOP: Stop Being Afraid to Talk to Minorities
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Clinton grilled, punches back
Joy-Ann Reid, the Grio: Red, Black & Blue: Is America really a 'center-right' nation?
Managing Editor Says New Boss Deserves Own Team
Mark Whitaker, the former Newsweek editor who as executive vice president and managing editor of CNN Worldwide became the highest-ranking African American at CNN, has resigned, he told colleagues Tuesday, to give new CNN chief Jeff Zucker "his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff."
Whitaker, 55, came to CNN from NBC News, where as vice president he was also the highest-ranking person of color, in January 2011.
CNN came under fire from the National Association of Black Journalists for the lack of diversity among its prime-time anchors, and then-President Jim Walton assigned that challenge to Whitaker. He hired Amy Entelis to "to help build a diverse slate of anchors," as Eric Deggans wrote in his new book, "Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation," but no prime-time anchor of color materialized.
In his farewell note, however, Whitaker said he took the job on the condition "that we make CNN a leader in diversity in its broadest sense -- in the backgrounds of our on- and off-air talent, but also in the range of their experience and points of view.
"As Executive Vice President in charge of program and talent development, I was thrilled to attract Amy Entelis, Vinnie Malhotra and Ramon Escobar to CNN and to work with them to recruit journalists like Jake Tapper, John Berman and Miguel Marquez, contributors like Margaret Hoover, Van Jones, Ross Douthat, Charles Blow, Ron Brownstein and Ryan Lizza, and specialists like ESPN sports reporter Rachel Nichols."
However, Tommy Christopher reported this month for Mediaite, MSNBC ". . . enjoyed significant (around 20%) ratings increases across the board" in 2012, "but made astonishing gains with their already-large African American audience, growing that audience by 60.5% for the Mon-Sun 8pm-11pm period.
"In that same time period, CNN grew its black audience by 23.7% (from 131,000 in 2011 to 162,000 in 2012, 23.9% of their total audience), while Fox News' declined by 23.7% (38,000 in 2011 to 29,000 in 2012, 1.4% of their total audience), but MSNBC had more black viewers than both of those nets combined (from 177,000 in 2011 to 284,000 in 2012, 31.4% of their total audience)."
In a statement, Zucker said:
"I want to thank Mark for his service at CNN. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him the best in the future," Alex Weprin reported for TVNewser.
Whitaker's note read:
"Dear CNN Colleagues:
"Two and a half years ago, when Jeff Bewkes, Phil Kent and Jim Walton first approached me about joining CNN in the newly created role of Managing Editor across all our TV and digital platforms, I told them that I would welcome the challenge under three conditions.
"The first was that the CNN recommit itself to Ted Turner's global vision of being the premier destination for news both domestic and international. I am proud that since I took the job, we have made good on that goal. From Election Day 2012 to our recent coverage of Superstorm Sandy and the Newtown school massacre, we have remained the network that Americans turn to when news matters most. On the international front, we have done groundbreaking reporting on everything from the Arab Spring and the uprising in Syria to the Japanese tsunami and the financial crisis in Europe. In 2011 that coverage brought us the best ratings we had had in years, and in 2012 it won us a record number of awards, including two Emmys, three Peabodys and four Eppys for our digital coverage.
"The second condition was that we do more to drive editorial integration between CNN.com and our TV networks. I am gratified by the progress we have made in this area, from our weekly In Depth offerings to the inspiring CNN Heroes collaboration to the growth of CNN Money, iReport, Belief Blog, In America and other digital franchises. As our formidable traffic numbers attest, CNN's future as a go-to destination for news online and across today's new mobile and social media platforms looks very bright.
"The third condition was that we make CNN a leader in diversity in its broadest sense -- in the backgrounds of our on- and off-air talent, but also in the range of their experience and points of view. As Executive Vice President in charge of program and talent development, I was thrilled to attract Amy Entelis, Vinnie Malhotra and Ramon Escobar to CNN and to work with them to recruit journalists like Jake Tapper, John Berman and Miguel Marquez, contributors like Margaret Hoover, Van Jones, Ross Douthat, Charles Blow, Ron Brownstein and Ryan Lizza, and specialists like ESPN sports reporter Rachel Nichols.
"On the programming front, my team has created the exciting new CNN Films franchise for distinguished documentaries and brought Anthony Bourdain and Morgan Spurlock to CNN to launch signature shows that will expand our scope of storytelling.
"Now, with Jeff Zucker's arrival, we have a new leader with his own forceful ideas about where to take CNN's reporting, programming and brand. For him to succeed, I believe he deserves his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff. I have shared that conclusion with him and he has agreed to let me step down as Managing Editor and move on from CNN.
"As someone who worked with Jeff at NBC, I know what a bold innovator he is, and I wish him and you all the best as you embark on CNN's next great adventure.
"Good luck and thanks for everything,
Chicago Mother Loses All Four Kids to Gun Violence
If the national media need someone to personify the effects of urban gun violence, they might consider Shirley Chambers of Chicago, who lost her fourth son and remaining child to gun violence over the weekend.
"After Shirley Chambers lost her third child to gun violence in 2000, she said she felt sadder for her surviving son, Ronnie, than she did for herself," Peter Nickeas and Rosemary Regina Sobol reported Sunday for the Chicago Tribune.
" 'I only have one child left,' Chambers told the Tribune at the time, 'and I'm afraid that (the killing) won't stop until he's gone too.'
"Chambers' worst fears apparently were realized early Saturday, when police said a man named Ronnie Chambers, 33, was fatally struck when a gunman or gunmen opened fire on a van Chambers was riding in just after it arrived in the 1100 block of South Mozart Street."
On CBS News Monday, Dean Reynolds told Chambers' story as he reported on President Obama's efforts to curb gun violence.
" 'It's not Chicago. It's these people. It's these people with these guns. They shouldn't have guns, you know?' Chambers said.
"Her son was a former gang member who stole cars, sold drugs and spent time in prison.
" 'He had changed a lot. He was trying to help other people. So whatever he did in the past, that's in the past. He changed,' Chambers said of her son.
"Just last month he appeared on the Ricki Lake show as an example of transformation. . . ."
Caroline Brewer, Brady Campaign/Center to Prevent Gun Violence: Time to Adopt Laws That Prevent Gun Violence, Like When We Adopted Laws to Prevent Racial Injustice
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: NRA dream of more 'good guys' with guns could lead to nightmare for some
Lewis W. Diuguid, Kansas City Star: To reduce gun ownership, tax weapons like property
Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: A sensational gun story about a little girl from Montana killing home invaders still makes the rounds
Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Searching for ways to protect schools
Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Heat wave in January more likely than easy gun answers
Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: Arlington students speak out about guns on campus
Ethnic Media Jointly Urge Immigration Reform
More than 50 ethnic media across the country have published a joint editorial produced in association with New America Media, a national association of ethnic media, that began, "The White House and Congress must move quickly to enact just and humane comprehensive immigration reform."
They saw movement. "A bipartisan group of senators outlined a far-reaching proposal Monday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, saying that the time has come to fix 'our broken immigration system,' " Rosalind S. Helderman and William Branigin reported for the Washington Post.
Also, "The Obama administration has developed its own proposals for immigration reform that are more liberal than a separate bipartisan effort in the Senate, including a quicker path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, people with knowledge of the proposals said," Helderman and David Nakamura reported separately for the Post.
". . . President Obama is expected to provide some details of the White House plans during a Tuesday appearance in Las Vegas, where he will call for broad changes to the nation's immigration laws."
In their joint editorial, the ethnic media said they had "a high stake in the future of immigration policy in this country. That's why we are joining together to take an editorial stand to urge Congress and the White House: Make 2013 the year of immigration reform," New America Media reported on Monday.
Margaret Hartmann, New York: Fight Over Same-Sex Couples Could Complicate Immigration Reform
Does "Rodent Community" Mean M.L. King Admirers?
"Just that it comes across as homophobic, racist and reactionary, I told one caller last week, is not reason enough to fish-wrap the alleged comic strip 'Mallard Fillmore,' " Barry Saunders wrote Monday for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
"Bruce Tinsley, creator of the 19-year-old strip featuring a right-wing duck that's carried in The News & Observer, sets out to attack anyone to the left of Genghis Khan. His unmistakable mission is to shock and offend.
"You know whom he mainly offends, though? Anyone with a funny bone.
"As reader Eileen Burns told me last week, 'it's gotten worse and worse' in recent years. 'It seems like it's gotten meaner.'
"Yeah, that happened about the time President Barack Obama was elected. The vitriol has increased since Obama's re-election, and it boiled over last week in the strip the day after the nation re-inaugurated him and celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In that strip, Tinsley compared people who celebrate King's life and legacy to rodents.
"That prompted Burns, a native New Yorker who now lives in New Hill, to call me and ask how we could carry such a 'hateful' strip. 'Very simply,' she said, 'it's hate couched in humor.'
"Hateful it is, too. Bile runs through every word of Tinsley's strip like -- yep -- bile through a goose. . . . "
According to King Features Syndicate, "Mallard Fillmore" runs in nearly 400 newspapers.
No Date for Return of T.J. Holmes' "Don't Sleep"
T.J. Holmes' "Don't Sleep," initially touted as a late-night "Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert-type show" for an African American audience, hasn't filmed an episode since Dec. 19 and a date for its return is "not yet determined," BET spokeswoman Jeanine Liburd told Journal-isms on Sunday.
BET announced in November that it was scaling back the vehicle created for the former CNN anchor from half an hour Monday through Thursday to an hour once a week.
"The viewers have spoken and due to the overwhelming demand, DON'T SLEEP! will now be expanded to a one hour weekly format allowing for a more comprehensive discussion of the issues and events affecting the African-American community," a BET announcement began.
During the hiatus, meanwhile, Holmes worked as a fill-in anchor on MSNBC on the last weekend of the year and again last weekend, and became a father. BET turned its promotional energies to "Real Husbands of Hollywood," a new mock-reality series with Kevin Hart, J.B. Smoove, Boris Kodjoe, Nick Cannon and Robin Thicke.
Holmes tweeted on Jan. 23: "Im so proud of #BETDontSleep. I want nothing more than 4 the show 2 continue. I am still n partnership w/BET & hopeful 4 the show's return."
Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse University finance professor who blogs at thyblackman.com, wished Holmes well last week and added, ". . . TJ Holmes hosting a show on BET is like Barack Obama marrying Kim Kardashian. This might have been an ill-conceived relationship from the beginning."
Film on Oscar Grant Shooting Wins at Sundance
" 'Fruitvale,' a drama based on the real-life story of a young man shot to death at an Oakland BART station, took home the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night. The movie also won the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film," Julie Makinen, Steven Zeitchik and Mark Olsen wrote Monday for the Los Angeles Times from Park City, Utah.
"The Grand Jury Prize for U.S. documentary went to "Blood Brother," Steve Hoover's look at his best friend, who moves to India to help children with HIV. The film also won the Audience Award for U.S. documentary.
" 'Fruitvale' is the first feature-length film from USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate Ryan Coogler, 26. Actor Forest Whitaker served as a producer on the movie, which stars Michael B. Jordan," the star of "Friday Night Lights" and "The Wire." The film is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was 22 when he was shot and killed in a public transit station.
". . . Two special jury awards were given for U.S. documentaries. One went to Jacob Kornbluth for 'Inequality for All,' a look at the wealth gap in America featuring former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. The other went to 'American Promise,' directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, which follows two African American boys over 12 years as they attend very different schools."
The Associated Press quoted Coogler as he accepted the final prize of the night: "This project was about humanity, about human beings and how we treat each other; how we treat the people that we love the most, and how we treat the people that we don't know."
"Fox Searchlight founder and Sundance juror Tom Rothman said 'Fruitvale' was recognized for 'its skillful realization, its devastating emotional impact and its moral and social urgency -- and for anyone out there who thinks for one second that movies don't matter and can't make a difference in the world.
" 'This will not be the last time you guys walk to a podium,' he added. . . . "
Amy Goodman with Ryan Coogler, "Democracy Now!" Pacifica Radio: Fruitvale, Depiction of Oscar Grant's Last Day of Life, Takes Top Prizes at Sundance Film Festival
Pam Grady and Demian Bulwa, San Francisco Chronicle: Movie recounts Oscar Grant's final day
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Howard University has become incubator for cinematographers
Katey Rich, cinemablend.com: Find Out Why Fruitvale Was Sundance's Biggest Film And A Future Awards Contender
Mainstream Columnist Bemoans Black Abortions
"Roe v. Wade -- the U.S. Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion and sparked America's unending second Civil War -- hit the big 4-0 this week," Darryl E. Owens of the Orlando Sentinel wrote Friday, adding that ". . . there's a silent epidemic nestled within this shameful milestone.
"Every year, some 7,000 blacks are murdered on the streets (often done in by other blacks). Occasionally, one hears a whispered SOS," Owens continued.
"Every day, meanwhile, nearly 1,000 unborn black babies are terminated in an abortionist's shop. About that, hardly a peep."
Owens thus became one of the few columnists of color at mainstream media outlets to bemoan black abortions.
"Black women are about 12 percent of the population, yet account for more than 30 percent of abortions in the U.S. Put another way, an African-American woman is four times more likely than a white woman to choose abortion," Owens wrote.
". . . Abortion foes must do a better job of getting the word out that allies such as Orlando's BETA Center exist to buoy women who choose to parent or allow would-be parents an adopted blessing.
"Also, more must be done to blunt the all-too-true reality that black children who land in foster care often languish waiting for adoption. One-third of foster kids awaiting adoption are black, yet black kids make up only about 14 percent of the nation's youth. . . ."
He called for evangelical groups to "stand up for transracial adoption" and for black groups to push "sexual responsibility on the front end, and, failing that, parenthood and adoption the back end."
Iran Arrests More Than a Dozen Journalists
"Iranian authorities have arrested more than a dozen journalists in the past two days over their links to 'anti-revolutionary' media, Iranian media reported, in what appeared to be a coordinated crackdown on the press," Yeganeh Torbati reported Monday for Reuters.
"With a presidential election five months away, Iran's clerical leadership appears to be tightening its grip on the media to avoid a repeat of the widespread protests that erupted after the disputed election in 2009.
". . . Last week, Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei warned of the threat the Islamic Republic faced from some of its own journalists.
" 'Based on information I have from reliable sources, unfortunately a number of journalists, as well as writing for the nation's newspapers, work hand-in-hand with Westerners and anti-revolutionaries,' he said at the time. . . ."
John Yearwood, world editor of the Miami Herald, succeeds Ryan Blethen, director of new product strategies at the Seattle Times, as North American Committee chairman of the International Press Institute, the Vienna-based press freedom organization announced Friday. ". . . I believe strongly that NAC must engage fully in the fight to preserve press freedoms here at home, expand it in totalitarian regimes abroad and nurture the next generation of press freedom fighters," Yearwood said in the release.
"He styles himself 'The People's Attorney' and claims 3 million listeners tune in to hear his brand of black empowerment on his nationally-syndicated radio show," Kim Janssen reported Monday for the Chicago Sun-Times. "But the feds say Soul 106.3 personality Warren Ballentine is also a fraudster behind a $10 million mortgage scam. . . . " RollingOut.com report.
"Kevin Tsujihara has been named CEO of Warner Bros, beginning in March," Jon Lafayette reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable. "Tsujihara, who had been president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, will succeed Barry Meyer, who will remain chairman through the end of the year."
"Dallas-based WFAA8 has added Carla Wade from Oklahoma City's KOCO-TV to its anchor/reporter staff," Ed Bark reported Friday for his Uncle Barky's Bytes blog. "Wade, who spent three years at KOCO, will be joining newcomer Jason Wheeler as co-anchor of WFAA8's Sunday night newscasts, news director Carolyn Mungo confirmed via email Friday."
"Gregory Walker, co-founder and managing director of the Brothers' Network, wants to assure you that he and his friends are not cornball brothers," Jenice Armstrong wrote Monday in the Philadelphia Daily News. "Cornball brother" was used by former ESPN commentator Rob Parker in describing Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. ESPN failed to renew Parker's contract. "Still, that's how some folks might try to label them," Armstrong continued. "After all he, along with a crew of 276 local African-American men who are part of the network, routinely read books, visit the theater and have lofty conversations about world events."
"Gina Chon, who stepped down from The Wall Street Journal after details of her relationship with Brett McGurk -- who at the time was working with the National Security Council in Iraq -- were leaked, is joining Quartz," Chris O'Shea reported Monday for FishbowlNY, citing Talking Biz News. "Chon had been with the Journal since 2005, and was its main reporter in Iraq from 2007 to 2009."
Should Elliott Abrams, a foreign policy official in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, have been allowed to call former Sen. Chuck Hagel "anti-Semitic" on NPR's "All Things Considered"? Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos answered Sunday, ". . . I personally would have cut or re-recorded the offending parts of the Abrams interview, for reasons of simple fairness and civility. For reported pieces, meanwhile, it seems to me that a sensible rule would be to avoid inflammatory names such as 'homophobic' and 'anti-Semitic' and say instead what a person has actually said or done. . . . "
On the night of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., Aline Marie attended a prayer vigil packed with local residents and the media, Coburn Dukehart wrote Monday for NPR. Without asking permission, a photographer took her photo when she knelt to pray. Kenny Irby, senior faculty at the Poynter Institute, said "there are two benefits when photographers introduce themselves and interact with their subjects. One is that they can obtain accurate caption information -- which ultimately adds more meaning, value and credibility to the photo for the reader. The other is that it can make the experience of being photographed more rewarding for the subject -- even in a moment of extreme grief. . . ."
"Dial Global and the NBC Sports Group say retired NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb will join the NBC Sports Radio lineup as a contributor starting Super Bowl week," RadioInk reported on Monday. "McNabb will serve as an NFL lead analyst for NBC Sports Radio shows throughout the week and will also call in weekly to affiliated stations."
Ebony Reed, assistant New England bureau chief for the Associated Press, writing for "To The Next Deadline," described as "A blog for print-media expats trying to figure out where their words will go next," says she was "was really touched two years ago after reading 'NewsLady,' Carole Simpson's story. I have it in print and on my iPad and I go back to it frequently. I have used it as required text in an online class on the history of the black press. I've not met Ms. Simpson in person yet, although we are both in the Boston area. I absolutely adore Ms. Simpson and remember watching her anchor the news on ABC when I was in high school. Her personal journey inspires me on days when I need to get pushed back on my path. And on the days I feel like I'm solidly on my path, her story just makes me proud. It really resonates on so many levels with me."
"Univision's Mexico City correspondent, Edgar Muñoz has left Univision," Veronica Villafañe reported Monday for her Media Moves site. "He quit the network to move to Los Angeles for a new job. According to inside sources, he will be joining Telemundo's KVEA-52 as weekday news co-anchor. . . ."
"Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns the seizure of the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sudani by Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), the latest act of media censorship in Sudan," the press-freedom group said on Thursday. "Fourteen thousand copies of the pro-government daily were seized two days ago, without any reason being given. The newspaper, once independent and critical of the government, was bought by a member of the ruling National Congress Party and ever since has reflected the political views of its owner."
In Somalia, journalist Abdulasis Abdinuur Ibrahim has been sent to jail without charges after remaining in police custody since Jan. 10, the National Union of Somali Journalists announced Saturday, according to Sabahi, a Washington-based news service about the Horn of Africa that is sponsored by the United States Africa Command. "Ibrahim is accused of interviewing Lul Ali Hassan, who police say made false claims of rape by Somali security forces. The details of the interview have not been published."
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Death Threat, Sext Scandal for Detroit Reporter
A Detroit reporter allegedly slept with a state treasurer's ex-wife, threatened her life and sent porno photo -- not news?
Reporter's Travails Don't Make Detroit News
The disclosure Wednesday that Leonard Fleming, Detroit News city hall reporter, was removed from his beat after allegations that he was having an affair with the ex-wife of state Treasurer Andy Dillon and threatened to kill her sent rival news organizations to court records for the order of personal protection granted the woman on Jan. 10.
The News, however, decided not to cover the story, and Fleming told Elisha Anderson of the competing Detroit Free Press by telephone, "I cannot comment on any of it." Fleming has been on vacation.
Asked about the absence of coverage, Managing Editor Donald W. Nauss told Journal-isms by email, "Nothing new."
Jeff Wattrick of Deadline Detroit wrote this on Wednesday:
"Carol Dillon, the ex-wife of Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon, received a personal protection order Jan. 10 against Detroit News reporter Leonard Fleming after Carol Dillon filed papers saying Fleming had threatened to kill her with a baseball bat.
"According to documents in Wayne County Circuit Court, Carol Dillon also said Fleming harassed her numerous times and once texted her a photo of his penis. She said the message was: 'I would be missing this if I discontinued being his friend.'
"Despite that allegation, the nature of their relationship is not spelled out in the papers. When asked whether Fleming is a boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, spouse, ex-spouse, friend or neighbor, Dillon checked 'friend.'
"Fleming has been a Detroit city hall reporter for the News for several years. Andy Dillon was constantly involved in city hall coverage in 2012 as he served as Gov. Rick Snyder's point person in crafting the consent decree with Detroit concerning the city's precarious finances. Fleming wrote numerous stories last year in which Dillon was a main player.
"According to Carol Dillon's PPO filing, she also claims Fleming repeatedly harassed her with phone calls and text messages.
"Wayne County Circuit Judge Lynne Pierce entered a personal protection order on January 10 without a hearing. The order forbids Fleming from contacting Carol Dillon in person, by phone or mail, or entering onto her property. . . . "
A court clerk told Journal-isms that such orders typically are in effect for a year but can also be imposed for a lifetime.
Referring to Fleming, Nauss said that in light of new information, "the News is exploring whether other actions would be appropriate," Anderson reported in the Free Press. Nauss has confirmed Fleming's reassignment but said he could not discuss personnel issues.
Leonard Fleming with Steve Hood, WADL-TV: "Detroit Wants 2 Know" (video, 2011)
FAMU Chooses Former Opinions Editor for Top Job
"FAMU's student newspaper, the Famuan, has a new editor," Michael Koretzky wrote Friday for his Society of Professional Journalists blog.
"Her name is Angie Meus. She replaces Karl Etters, the editor who had recently won the job but was forced to reapply for it because of a libel charge against the paper from 2011. Back then, Etters was a reporter but not an editor.
"He and other observers have wondered if FAMU's apply-for-your-own-job scheme, plus the weirdness he's faced this month (see previous posts), was simply because he worked at the paper back then.
"Perhaps administrators sought a clean sweep — a new editor for a new era.
"But apparently, that's not the case. Meus, now a senior, was actually in management at the time: She was the opinions editor.
" 'I have been writing for The Famuan since my freshman year,' she emailed me last night. 'I was the opinions editor my junior year.'
"I wanted to pose the same question to the Famuan's new adviser, Kanya Stewart. Her predecessor was fired without comment, and she was hired without FAMU posting the job or consulting students (as the j-school dean had previously promised).
"And since there's still been no official announcement, no one besides Stewart and her boss — and we don't actually know who she reports to — has seen her job description, her salary, or even her schedule. . . ."
Sara Gregory of the Student Press Law Center reported Thursday, "The newly hired editor of The Famuan at Florida A&M University said Thursday afternoon that she hopes to improve the relationship between students and the newspaper during her term, which will kick off officially next week when the paper begins printing after a two-week suspension by the school's journalism dean. . . ."
Stewart told Journal-isms Friday afternoon that she was leaving for the day and might return the telephone call from home.
Obama, Clinton in Mutual Admiration on "60 Minutes"
"President Barack Obama says Hillary Rodham Clinton will go down as one of the finest secretaries of state the nation has ever seen," CBS News announced on Friday. "He tells this to Steve Kroft with Clinton sitting beside him in the Blue Room of the White House, in their first joint interview conducted today (25) for broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT.
"The interview is the only U.S. interview the president has ever given with anyone other than his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama."
Clinton said of her partnership with the president, "A few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard primary campaign. But, you know, I've gone around the world on behalf of the president and our country, and one of the things that I say to people, because I think it helps them understand, I say look, in politics and in democracy, sometimes you win elections and sometimes you lose elections. And I worked very hard but I lost. And then President Obama asked me to be secretary of state and I said yes. And why did he ask me and why did I say yes? Because we both love our country."
Associated Press: Fox News cutting ties with Sarah Palin
Charles M. Blow, New York Times: Obama Reboot
George E. Curry, National Newspaper Publishers Association: Hands off Malia and Sasha Obama
Mary C. Curtis, Washington Post: Does Obama's presidency improve the lives of everyday African Americans?
Lee A. Daniels, National Newspaper Publishers Association: King's Greatest Legacy: Seeing Polarization as Progress
Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Barack Unchained: President Obama Starts a Second Term
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Deficit Reduction Rises on Public's Agenda for Obama's Second Term
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Women ready for combat … are men ready for change?
Slideshow: 1,100 attend the Root Inaugural Ball
Goldie Taylor, the Grio: For female troops it's no longer 'a man's world'
Mark Trahant blog: Austerity: Murray says she's eager to contrast the Senate budget with those from the House
Jennifer Vanasco, Columbia Journalism Review: Inaugural diversity
Lynne K. Varner, Seattle Times: Scenes from the Obama inauguration: paying homage, looking forward
U. of Montana Seeks to Produce More Native Journalists
". . . If the vision holds true and today's American Indian journalism students join tomorrow's workforce and hit the streets of Montana's cities and towns, credit will go in part to Jason Begay," Martin Kidston wrote Sunday for the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.
Begay, a Navajo, is one of four new tenure-track professors hired recently by the university, Kidston wrote separately. ". . . The new hires weren't brought on to teach Native American Studies, but rather chemistry, journalism, environmental studies and pharmacy."
Montana isn't the only school paying more attention to Native Americans and journalism. Kevin Kemper, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, wrote on Facebook Friday that faculty members were considering a program for a Ph.D. in journalism, with some favoring a specialization in "indigenous journalism."
Mark Trahant, board chairman of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, replied, ". . . what would even be better would be a center for the study of Native journalism, including undergraduate and graduate programs. There is really no academic program in the US (a couple in Canada, however) that focus in any way on indigenous journalism. It seems to me with the changing media landscape this would be more useful now than ever."
In his piece about the journalism program at Montana, Kidston continued, " 'What I try to bring to UM is the perspective of tribal journalism,' said Begay, an assistant professor of journalism at UM. 'Indian country does exist. We're not a bunch of tragic figures.'
"Begay was recruited to UM to study journalism by Dennis McAuliffe, the first Native American journalist-in-residence at UM. Begay graduated in 2002 before earning opportunities to intern with The New York Times and the Oregonian — two giants in the newspaper industry.
"Armed with his new skills, he took his pen and notepad back to Gallup, N.M., to write for the Navajo Times. He returned to UM six years later to teach.
" 'It changed my life,' Begay said. 'I thought it would be cool to come back and do what he (McAuliffe) did for me. They agreed that I might be able to do a good job here.' "
". . . But finding qualified Native American reporters in Montana remains a difficult task. Just one Native American student was in the School of Journalism's professional program when Begay began two years ago.
"Now, he says with a hint of pride, there are four American Indians in the School of Journalism's professional program and three more in the pre-professional program. It's the beginning of what Begay hopes is a continuing trend. . . ."
Books to Ring in the New Year: Meta G. Carstarphen and John P. Sanchez, "American Indians and the Mass Media"
Verizon Sells Wireless Spectrum to Black-Owned Firm
Verizon Wireless Friday announced the sale of wireless spectrum licenses in the Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., cellular market areas to a black-owned firm as part of a larger transaction in which AT&T bought Verizon spectrum for $1.9 billion, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council said on Friday.
". . . Carriers like Verizon and AT&T are snapping up spectrum left and right in order to deal with the increased bandwidth demands of smartphone- and tablet-hungry consumers," Chloe Albanesius reported for PC Magazine. "Both carriers are also building out their 4G LTE networks, which boosts speeds but includes even more bandwidth strains, resulting in the need for more spectrum."
MMTC said, "Over the past nine months, MMTC, the National Urban League (NUL) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) worked with Verizon Wireless to help it conduct a wide and intensive outreach to minority- and women-owned telecommunications companies and entrepreneurs. Working closely with the nationally recognized minority investment banking firm Loop Capital LLC, NUL, NCLR and MMTC raised awareness of the sale process, and advised some 45 firms on procedures and strategies for bidding on the spectrum.
"Pew [Research Center] data discloses that sixty-four percent of African Americans, 63% of Hispanic Americans, and 57% of white Americans access the Internet through wireless devices. Wireless is the first technology for which people of color are the lead adopters."
The sale of 700 M Hz B block licenses, defined by MMTC president David Honig as "A bloc of very high quality spectrum that uses frequencies well suited for commercial wireless," went to Grain Management, LLC of Sarasota, Fla., in a transaction valued at $189 million.
In 2011, Black Enterprise named Grain Management one of the "20 Most Successful Black Companies to Watch in 2011." David J. Grain is founder and managing partner.
Joseph Torres, New America Media: FCC Chairman's Legacy: Ignoring Diversity
Audrey Edwards Writing "Tell-All" With Essence Founder Ed Lewis
Audrey Edwards, a former editor and executive editor of Essence magazine who has been associated with the magazine for 20 years, is collaborating with Edward T. Lewis, former chairman and CEO of Essence Communications and publisher of Essence magazine, on Lewis' memoir, Edwards told Journal-isms this week.
"I can now report that Simon & Schuster is the publisher," Edwards said by email, "Camille Cosby will be doing the foreword, and it's shaping up to be a tell-all that will talk about Ed's life and the creation of Essence, as well as what it's like to run a black-owned business. . . . As a line in the introduction says, 'The story of Essence is the story of American business, black style.'
"The book's title is 'The Last Man Standing at Essence Magazine.' I'm having big fun with it . . . . Ed is a dream to work with." Lewis is 72.
Essence was founded in 1970 and is the largest American magazine targeting black women. In 2005, Time Inc., which owned 49 percent of Essence Communications, signed a non-binding agreement to acquire the rest of the company. With a circulation of 1,080,633 for the six months ending in June 2012, Essence is second only to Ebony among magazines about African Americans. Ebony's circulation was 1,255,542.
Covering Mali Called a Losing Cat-and-Mouse Game
"The French army is often called la Grande Muette, or 'the Great Silent,' " Jean-Paul Marthoz reported Friday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The war in Mali confirms the French military's well-deserved reputation of being secretive about front-line actions. 'Locking the information is more in the culture of the French army than of the U.S. army,' says Maurice Botbol, director of La Lettre du Continent. In the first two weeks of military operations against Islamist militant groups in Mali, the French army has released only a blurry video of an air attack at an undisclosed location.
"International journalists who have flown to Mali are kept far from the front lines. No journalist has been embedded with the Special Forces that have carried out the first assaults. Most reporters who receive the authorization to accompany the troops are limited to coverage of marginal stories, such as military preparations on the Bamako airport or the 'progress of the troops to the North,' very far from the battlefields.
"The roads to the North are blocked by a succession of checkpoints manned by the Malian army. 'They are very nervous,' says Gérard Grizbec, a reporter with the public service TV channel France 2. 'They have received stern orders from the French forces: "Don't let yourself being overtaken by journalists." They usually ask us where we're going, check our passport, and request an accreditation of the Malian Communications Ministry.'
"And then they often turn the media away.
" 'All the reporters that travel to the North come back frustrated and furious to Bamako,' complains Jean-Paul Mari, special envoy for the newsweekly Le Nouvel Observateur. 'This is a war without images and without facts.' On January 22, the French channel i>Télé devoted a whole report to the difficulty of reporting. 'We try to outwit the Malian army,' says its editor-in- chief, Lucas Menget. 'It is like a cat-and-mouse game.' And up to now, it is a losing game for the press. . . .' "
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Republicans are asking the wrong questions
Scott Sayare, New York Times: 2 Outlets Find Prized Sources in Algeria Siege: The Fighters
Thomas Lee, vice president for print of the Asian American Journalists Association and business reporter at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, "regrets he will not be able to complete his term and is resigning for personal reasons," AAJA announced on Friday. "AAJA is holding a special election to fill the remainder of his term, which ends Dec. 31, 2013." Meanwhile, Sue Green, broadcast director of the Cronkite News Service at Arizona State University, resigned from the board of Unity: Journalists for Diversity, where she represented the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, citing health reasons.
" 'Good Morning America' co-anchor Robin Roberts took a major step towards her return to daytime television Thursday morning, taking what the network called 'a behind-the-scenes test run' — that turned out to be a smashing success," Don Kaplan and Ethan Sacks reported Thursday for the Daily News in New York. "The 52-year-old daytime fixture hasn't been on live television since August, when she went on medical leave to undergo a bone marrow transplant last fall stemming from a rare blood disorder."
After five years of writing the "Diversity Diva" column in the Kansas City Star, Michelle T. Johnson Tuesday listed "the five biggest changes I've noticed overall about diversity, particularly as it affects the workplace." The first is that "People have become increasingly more polarized in their opinions. . . . people don't seem to have lighter, more moderate ways to express an opinion or characterize someone else's opinion position. They express them in colorful, challenging language. . . . "
Friends of Kathy Pellegrino, the reporter, editor, lawyer, mentor and diversity advocate at the South Florida SunSentinel who died at 57 on Oct. 30, are creating a scholarship in her honor at the University of Florida. Checks may be sent to P.O. Box 6474, Delray Beach, FL 33482 and made payable to the University of Florida Foundation. In the memo line write "College of Journalism and Communication," said Sheila Solomon, a former fellow recruiter who is among those friends. "Donations were at more than $3,300 as of Wednesday and, I believe, the goal is a minimum of $30,000," Solomon told Journal-isms by email.
When it comes to diversity, ". . . Newspapers sports departments are worse than NFL coaching staffs," Joe Grimm wrote Monday for jobspage.com. "Only three of the 32 NFL cities have black [head] coaches and only three of those cities have newspapers with black sports editors."
"eBay has officially banned the 'Django Unchained' slave toys from being sold on the Internet shopping," Brittney M. Walker reported Friday for EURWeb.com. "After the Weinstein Company announced the release of the figurines, immediately outspoken activists and black consumers expressed outrage, charging the creators of trivializing enslavement. Thus the company halted production, but still put the toys out on the market. . . . " Meanwhile, a pro-gun group has launched a campaign aimed at African Americans, "What Would Django Do?" according to Paul Bond in the Hollywood Reporter. More on action figures from BET.
"If you ever plan on wearing a Klan robe around Orange County, (either attempting to intimidate minorities or as part of an ill-conceived Halloween costume), the first thing you need to know is that the public response to the sight of your ludicrous cone-head will be immediate," Brandon Ferguson wrote last week for the OC Weekly. "As model/guinea pig for Gustavo Arellano's latest cover story on the Ku Klux Klan's shameful history in the land of citrus . . . during our two-day shoot, the stares cast at my robed persona spanned disbelief and revulsion."
"Sandra Appiah is on a mission. The 23-year-old wants to rebrand Africa and alter skewed perceptions of the continent," Kunbi Tinuoye reported Thursday for the Grio. "The New York-based Ghana native says when she moved to the States as a teenager she was shocked by the racist name-calling, not only from whites, but teasing and bullying from black and Latino kids in the Bronx. . . . After two years of strategic planning, Appiah and her business partner, Isaac Boateng, 28, launched Face2Face Africa (F2FA) in March 2011, an online magazine with the mission of 'restoring Africa's image within the global community.' "
Cox Media Group has funded the development of a "conservative Huffington Post" to be named Rare, Thomas Wheatley reported Thursday for Creative Loafing.
"NBC-owned KNBC Los Angeles (DMA 2) announced today that Hetty Chang will join the station as a multimedia reporter covering the Los Angeles South Bay," TVNewsCheck reported on Thursday. ". . . Chang was the first digital media fellow recipient through a pilot program between KNBC and the Asian American Journalists Association in 2011. Under the fellowship, she worked with the station's digital media team. . . ."
"On the second anniversary of Egypt's January 25 revolution, Hosni Mubarak's footprints are still present in many areas of the public sphere — and media are no exception," Sherif Mansour wrote Thursday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "President Mohamed Morsi needs to cease using Mubarak-era tactics of silencing his critics with criminal charges such as defamation. . . ."
"Where does accurate reporting on a presidential candidate end and 'indirect' promotion of the candidate begin? That's the question facing Ecuadorean media outlets as they try to navigate an ambiguous legal landscape ahead of the country's Feb. 17th presidential vote," Scott Griffen wrote Thursday for the International Press Institute. "The confusion began last February, when current leader as well as election front-runner Rafael Correa exercised his line-item veto power to modify a bill reforming the country's electoral law (known as the 'Democracy Code') by introducing new restrictions on media campaign coverage. . . . "
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.
FAMU Student Newspaper's Editor Ousted
The student says he was booted for pledging not to go easy on the administration.
Adviser Reportedly Cites Prospect of "Negative" Stories
"The editor of the student newspaper at Florida A&M University learned via email today that he's being replaced," Michael Koretzky reported Wednesday for the Southern Drawl, a blog of the Society of Professional Journalists. "This is the totality of that email ...
"Thank you for submitting your application for the editor-in-chief of The FAMUan for the Spring 2013 semester. It was a pleasure to interview with you on Jan. 22, 2013. I regret to inform you that after careful consideration I have selected another applicant. Best wishes in your future endeavors.
"It was written by Kanya Stewart, the new Famuan adviser who still hasn't been formally announced as the replacement for the fired Andrew Skerritt. [Skerritt remains on the faculty.]
Karl Etters, "being a quality journalist, searched out Stewart for illumination. 'She explained that I was not the best fit for the job because I didn't fit into the vision of The Famuan,' he told me. And what's that vision?
"She said my answer about holding the administration accountable and publishing 'negative' stories as she called it -- which I did not say in the interview -- was not in the vision of the paper.
"I tried to reach Stewart to see if Etters is describing her vision correctly, but she hasn't returned calls to two separate phone numbers in her name. . . ."
The Student Press Law Center reported, "Etters said he does not know who the new editor is, but believes at least one other person applied for the position. Stewart could not be reached for comment. Journalism school Dean Ann Kimbrough declined to comment on the selection of the new editor or adviser.
"Stewart confirmed in a tweet she posted Tuesday that the paper will resume publishing on Jan. 30, almost two weeks after Kimbrough suspended the paper's publishing and removed the paper's adviser. Editors were told then that they would have to take part in training sessions and reapply for their positions.
"Etters said he was disappointed but not surprised to learn he was not rehired. He served as the paper's top editor last semester and in December, reapplied and was hired to serve for this semester as well.
" 'To me it seems like this was all a ruse to put somebody else as editor,' Etters said. 'That's how it feels. A horse is a horse no matter which way you look at it.' "
"He said he asked Stewart for feedback as to why he was not rehired Wednesday afternoon.
" 'The short answer is I didn't fit into the vision of the paper,' Etters said, noting that Stewart objected to one of the answers he gave in his interview.
" 'I said something along the lines of 'we publish the truth whether it's positive or negative, good or bad,' he said. 'She said that she didn't like my answer about negative stories. … I would never say that's a goal, writing negative stories. But holding people accountable doesn't constitute negative stories.' "
Kimbrough and Stewart could not be reached for comment.
Valerie White, the director of the Division of Journalism who fought student censorship as leader of the Black College Communication Association, told Journal-isms by email Thursday:
"Concerning the issues at hand, there isn't much I can say right now due to the lawsuit, FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] and privacy concerning personnel matters." A libel lawsuit was filed in December by a former Marching 100 drum major.
"I wrote a note to faculty on Jan. 16 urging them to refer all requests for comments to the Office of Communications or the University General Counsel. The new adviser was announced in that communication to faculty and to students at the training on Friday. I understand that Kanya Simon Stewart spoke and entertained questions. I was away on family medical leave.
"The decision to delay the first issue of The Famuan was made in an effort to preserve The Famuan, but a few students made it about them instead of seeing the big picture.
"Some of the information that has been reported is not true. And the truth will come out, but not right now due to pending litigation."
After the administration "delayed" publication until Jan. 30, the Famuan students published online, calling their product Ink and Fangs. They also attended the training the administration mandated. Etters confirmed by telephone the quotes he gave to SPJ and the Student Press Law Center and said he planned to continue Ink and Fangs.
"Maybe once a week, post a few things there," he said, "provide another outlet for journalism students." Etters said he had made a conscious effort not to write about the Famuan situation on the site. "It didn't seem like the right thing," he said. He thought he would be "taking the high road."
Detroit City Hall Reporter Taken Off Beat After Affair
"The Detroit News has removed its veteran city hall reporter from his beat following allegations that he was having an affair with the ex-wife of state Treasurer Andy Dillon and then threatened to kill her with a baseball bat, sources at the newspaper and Lansing confirmed today," Steve Neavling reported Wednesday for the blog Motor City Muckrake.
Detroit News Executive Editor Donald Nauss confirmed for Journal-isms by telephone that Leonard Fleming, who once competed with Neavling as a city hall reporter, "was reassigned last week. We haven't figured out a spot for him," Nauss said. "We're temporarily putting him in the general assignment pool." Nauss said that he could not discuss personnel issues and that Fleming was on vacation.
Neavling, who was fired in April from the Detroit Free Press, continued, "The allegations are serious, for one, because reporter Leonard Fleming was closely covering Dillon's office as it negotiated a controversial state takeover of Detroit City Hall. Fleming continued to report on Dillon's takeover plan until at least last month, when editors learned of the affair.
"In the meantime, Fleming's relationship with Carol Dillon apparently went sour, and he began harassing her and even sent her a picture of his penis, according to a personal protection order granted to her two weeks ago. . . ."
NBC News, CNN Most-Watched During Inauguration
"The Nielsen ratings are in, and NBC News and CNN were the big winners on Inauguration Day," Dylan Byers reported Tuesday for Politico.
"NBC News was the most-watched broadcast or cable television network, drawing an average of 5.081 million viewers during its 10am - 4:30pm broadcast, according to Nielsen ratings provided by NBC. CBS News averaged 3.671 million; ABC News averaged 3.922 million*.
"On cable, CNN scored an average 1.923 million total viewers throughout the day, 3.573 million total viewers in primetime, and 3.136 million viewers during President Obama's address, according to Nielsen numbers provided by CNN. Fox News averaged 1.104 million during the day, 1.666 million in primetime, and 1.316 million during the address. MSNBC averaged 1.095 million viewers during the day, 1.365 million during primetime, and 2.273 million during the speech."
The asterisk refers readers to this paragraph: "*ABC News is now claiming 4.57 million viewers, based on Nielsen's decision to adjust the average to include the Oath of Office and President Obama's speech. We'll have new totals as soon as the official numbers for Nielsen are released across all networks."
Emily Alpert, Los Angeles Times: Inauguration 2013: What foreign media say about Obama's second term
Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: Michelle, rhymes with belle
Perry Bacon Jr., the Grio: In Obama's 2nd inauguration speech, a strong defense of modern liberalism
Wayne Bennett, the Field Negro: The most depressing day of the year?
Curtis Brainard, Columbia Journalism Review: Climate policy, act two
Anthea Butler, MSNBC: 'Post-racial'? No: with a black president, all issues are racialized
Bill Carter, New York Times: More Than 20 Million Viewers Watched Coverage of Inauguration
Stanley Crouch, Daily News, New York: The long road from King to Obama
Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Cornel West and Tavis Smiley upset Barack Obama isn't Martin Luther King
Lewis W. Diuguid, Kansas City Star: The next rung upward on the civil rights ladder
Rubina Madan Fillion and Liz Heron, Wall Street Journal: How The Inauguration Played Out on Social Media
Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress: Another Inaugural Call for Bipartisanship and Involvement
Peter Hart, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: Journalists Say Obama Still Too Mean to Republicans
Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: Obama's call for citizen action
Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: A progressive start to Obama's second term
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: President Obama needs everyone's help to make history
Colbert I. King, Washington Post: We still aren't good enough
Steve Kornacki, Salon: The first black vice president
Julianne Malveaux, syndicated: Connecting the Past with the President
Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate: GOP: Stop Being Afraid to Talk to Minorities
Courtland Milloy, Washington Post: For Obama, the time has come to talk about race
Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: The second time around is still pretty good -- and just as emotional
Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Martin Unchained: MLK Jr. if the South Had Won the War
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Wrong signal from the White House
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Some still in disbelief over Obama's wins
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Obama: The sequel
Jason Parham, Complex: iPresident: How Social Media Shaped the Narrative of Barack Obama
Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: End War of Drugs to honor King
Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: A brighter dawn
Sara Rafsky, Committee to Protect Journalists: New term to settle Obama legacy on leaks, whistleblowers
Janell Ross, HuffPost LatinoVoices: Latino, White Population Trading Places, But Politics Still Behind New Demographic Reality
Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: There's more to know about Sarah T. Hughes than swearing in LBJ
Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune: King would still be fighting poverty
Julio Ricardo Varela, NBCLatino: Spanish featured at inauguration, and English-only crowd stays quiet
DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: Obama needs more blacks in Cabinet
Jen Christensen to Lead Lesbian, Gay Journalists
Jen Christensen, a writer and producer with cnn.com, has been chosen by the board of directors of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association as its new president, succeeding the late Michael Triplett, the association announced on Tuesday. Christensen is to serve the remainder of the term, through the 2014 convention.
". . . Since 2009, Christensen has served as NLGJA's vice president for broadcast. She previously served on NLGJA's board of directors for three terms, as president of the Georgia and Carolinas chapters and as the founding president of the Kentucky chapter," the announcement said. Christensen is also a board member of the Unity: Journalists for Diversity coalition.
Meanwhile, Triplett's family announced a memorial service to be held Saturday, Feb. 2, at noon at St. Paul's Lutheran Church at 4900 Connecticut Ave. NW in Washington. Visitation is scheduled for 11 a.m. prior to the service in the church's baptistry. A reception follows.
The family has requested that memorials be made to St. Paul's Lutheran Church; NLGJA, 2120 L Street NW, Suite 850, Washington, D.C. 20037; or Hospice Family Care; 3304 Westmill Dr. SW, Huntsville, AL 35805.
18-Month Project Finds, Photographs the Exonerated
Billy Smith II of the Houston Chronicle produced a photo essay this week for the Chronicle about people who were wrongfully convicted.
". . . The stories of each of the 20 men and women in these pages, are, like DNA, uniquely their own," reads an accompanying text by Tony Freemantle. "But the one thing they have in common is that their lives and the lives of their families, the jurors who convicted them, the judges who presided over their conviction, and the witnesses or victims who got it wrong, were irrevocably altered."
Smith, a member of the 2008 class of the Maynard Institute's Media Academy, told Journal-isms by email that the project took a year and a half.
"The Exoneree Project was my story idea from the start," Smith wrote. "Tony, one of the best wordsmiths at our paper, came to me wanting to be a part of it. This was always first and foremost a photo-driven project. I tracked down all of these guys myself. We are talking late-night drives to addresses that may or may not be them and cold-calling numbers hoping it's the guy you're looking for. I did the audio interviews and each portrait is in a setting or posed is a way that tells each exoneree's story. The web presentation was produced by fellow co-worker and Photo Coach Smiley N. Pool. Smiley did a stunning job with the presentation.
"Tony Freemantle knew from the beginning the importance of this being a photo-driven project. He treated his written essay as the foreword to the images. The photos needed a entry point for the viewer and he supplied that. He also did a lot of fact checking and data work.
"As you know no good project is done alone. we had an excellent team here at the Chronicle working to make this an excellent project."
In the middle of the project, Smith's son was born three months premature and spent 50 days in neonatal intensive care.
"I am proud to say we celebrated is first birthday the same weekend the project was published."
Scholar Challenges 2nd Amendment Tie to Slavery
Legal scholar Paul Finkelman is challenging "The Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery," an assertion by author and talk-show host Thom Hartmann on the Truthout website that was highlighted last week in this space.
Hartmann's piece began, "The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says 'State' instead of 'Country' (the Framers knew the difference -- see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia's vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too."
Writing on the Root on Monday, Finkelman disagreed.
"The idea of Madison, Henry and Mason teaming up in 1787 or in 1789 (when Madison wrote the Second Amendment) would make an entertaining Saturday Night Live skit," Finkelman wrote. "Madison and Henry could not stand each other. They were political opponents throughout this period. After 1787 Mason joined Henry in opposing the Constitution (which Madison worked so hard to create), and both Henry and Mason opposed the Bill of Rights. Indeed Virginia was the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights (in 1791) because of Henry's opposition to the Bill of Rights. Henry wanted to scuttle the whole Constitution and not make it better. So he opposed all the amendments.
"Thus, Hartmann's 'conspiracy' falls flat because a conspiracy would require that the people allegedly involved talked to each other.
"This is not to say that slave patrols were not important to the South and slavery. They surely were. But the Second Amendment was directed solely at the federal government, which was prohibited from disarming state militias, and thus allowed the states to arm their militias if the federal government did not do so. Even if the amendment did not exist and the national government had abolished the state militias, the states would have been free to create their own slave patrols, just as they can create police departments and other law-enforcement agencies. . . ."
George E. Curry, National Newspaper Publishers Association: NRA Maintains Stranglehold on Congress
George E. Curry: Slavery and the Second Amendment (2005)
Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: Ramsey: Gun-control debate is not going away
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Mixed Reactions to Obama's Gun Proposals
Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Video games and violence: There's research, and there's your gut (Jan. 4)
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: King's message of nonviolence resonates
Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: NRA's choice: Be part of solution or continue to make problem worse
Ana Veciana-Suarez, Miami Herald: NRA's new game app: Callous, tone-deaf
Edward Wyckoff Williams, the Root: Fear of a Black Gun Owner
Los Angeles Times Had Cameo Role in "Dreamgirls"
The Los Angeles Times had a role in the movie version of the "Dreamgirls" blockbuster released in 2006. Who knew?
"There's a scene where Jennifer Hudson's character is yelling at Jamie Foxx's character that was shot in the atrium," Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning told Journal-isms Wednesday by email. "There's a scene in Jamie Foxx's character's record company office that was shot in the Chandler Pavilion. There's a scene where police (I think?) come to seize records that was shot in what we call the round table room."
Christine Haughney reported Sunday in the New York Times that over the last several years, the Los Angeles paper "has rented its offices for use in the films 'Argo,' 'Moneyball,' 'Frost/Nixon,' 'Dreamgirls' and 'The Soloist.' " Haughney quoted Manning saying the rentals were part of a strategy "to maximize the value of our real estate assets and diversify our revenue streams to best support The Times's core journalistic mission."
The L.A. Times is not the only newspaper with the idea. "While most newspapers lack cash, employees and a clear strategy for finding greater profits in the digital age, they do not lack for office space," Haughney wrote.
Online Only, Readers See What the Fuss Was About
Online readers of the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., were warned Sunday, "The artwork, which can be seen lower in this column, may be offensive to some readers." A portion of the drawing depicted a white man holding the head of a naked black woman to his groin, her back to the viewer.
"The painting that caused such a ruckus at the Newark Public Library is uncovered again, viewable by all, and the controversy around it gone," Barry Carter's story said. ". . .The huge drawing was done by Kara Walker, a renowned African-American artist whose themes deal with race, gender, sexuality and violence. This piece shows the horrors of reconstruction, 20th-century Jim Crowism and hooded figures of the Ku Klux Klan."
The artwork actually ran twice online, editor Kevin Whitmer told Journal-isms by email. The first time was in a December column by Carter headlined, "Censorship or common decency? Newark Library covers up controversial artwork."
The second time came Sunday in "Controversial painting in Newark Library is bared once again."
"The photo in [question] has run only online and we used it both times," Whitmer said, citing the editor's note about its potential to offend. "Our feeling is that it's hard to write about controversial art without showing the artwork somewhere. I suppose that's another great frontier the internet has opened for us. If people want it, they can have it.
"Gone are the old days when a 4-column photo on a cover page was one of the only options."
Dolores Prida, Advice Columnist, Trailblazer Was 69
" . . . Dolores Prida, legendary playwright, columnist and Latina trailblazer, died this morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City," Lee Hernandez wrote Sunday for Latina magazine. She was 69.
"The author of Latina's 'Dolores Dice' column, and one of the founding members of the magazine, Dolores was a part of our Latina family and our hearts are heavy this morning as we report the news of her passing.
" 'In many ways, Dolores was the heart and soul of the magazine,' said Damarys Ocaña Perez, Latina's executive editor. 'She loved helping Latinas understand their self-worth and potential whether it was through her column's combination of witty and wise advice or by helping those of us putting together each magazine issue stay true to our mission of celebrating Latina life and accomplishments. She was an irreplaceable mentor and friend,' she said, adding that Prida received hundreds of letters a month and readers mentioned time and again 'how Dolores Dice was the first feature they turned to each month.'
"Last night, hours before she passed away, Prida attended a party for a group called LIPS -- a journalism and advocacy group for Latinas that had been meeting for 20 years. . . . "
Damarys Ocaña, Latina: Latina's Executive Editor on Remembering Dolores Prida, Columnist & Latina Family Member
Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN: Dolores Prida, Latina 'Dear Abby,' dies
Clinkscales' "Shadow League" Sports Site Launches
Keith Clinkscales, the entrepreneur and former magazine publisher and ESPN executive, announced Wednesday he had launched the Shadow League, a digital sports platform he promised in June.
". . . ESPN announced a relationship with The Shadow League that consists of funding as well as the potential to develop various content opportunities. The Shadow League remains an independent company with its own editorial voice," an announcement said.
The site is "led by editor in chief Vincent Thomas ('The Black Quarterback Is Dead'), and supported by the site's deputy editor Khalid Salaam and social media editor James Carr ('Marijuana Propaganda and Mathieu'). Its roster of writers is a potent mix of veteran sports journalists and up-and-comers including: J.R. Gamble ('The NCAA Is Failing Its Black Student Athletes,'), Keith Murphy ('The Chronic: When Dr. Dre Put Conscious Rap In The Coffin'), Maurice Bobb, Michael Tillery, Sandy Dover, Kelley Carter, Michael Arceneaux, DJ Dunson and Glenn Minnis ('Is Derrick Rose The Most Valuable Person In Sports?'), and Zach Dillard. The site has featured articles from pop culture experts Nelson George ('Op-Ed: Native Son Nelson George's Take On Brooklyn and Barclays'), Kevin Powell ('An Open Letter To Rick Ross And The Gangster Disciples') and Harry Allen."
Asked whether he is hiring, Clinkscales said by email, "i have done some hiring. and Vince Thomas [vince (at) theshadowleague.co]m is always taking pitches and working with people."
"The Boston Globe's longstanding Newspaper In Education (NIE) program is launching a digital pilot program that is putting iPads -- as well as digital subscriptions to BostonGlobe.com -- into public school classrooms in Boston and Stoneham," the newspaper announced Tuesday. "This pilot program is using $65,000 of vacation donation funds from Globe subscribers to pay for 75 iPads and projectors -- 50 in the Boston Public Schools and 25 in Stoneham High School." All participating schools for which student demographics are listed are majority students of color: English High (Jamaica Plain), Boston Community Leadership Academy (Hyde Park), Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers (Fenway), Charlestown High (Charlestown), Boston Adult Technical Academy (Dorchester), Mildred Avenue K-8 School (Mattapan), Excel High School (South Boston), Community Academy (Jamaica Plain). Demographic data are not listed for Mary Lyon School (Brighton) and Mario Umana Academy (East Boston).
"Al Jazeera, which is set to replace Current TV with the launch of Al Jazeera America, has posted 105 new jobs in the United States -- 98 in New York City, where AJ America will be based, and seven in Washington," Dylan Byers reported Tuesday for Politico. List of jobs.
Longtime journalist and historian Ted Talbert, 70, died Tuesday, his family confirmed, Darren A. Nichols and Oralandar Brand-Williams reported Tuesday for the Detroit News. Talbert had congestive heart failure, said his sister, Edna Bell. "Talbert was inducted into Michigan's Journalism Hall of Fame in 2000. He is credited with producing some of the best documentaries in the country," Nichols and Brand-Williams wrote.
"James Earl Jones is back to intoning 'This is CNN' for the cable news channel after a long absence," Brent Lang reported Tuesday for the Wrap. "The Oscar-nominee and voice of Darth Vader was a mainstay of the network for years, but his voice hasn't been used between commercial interruptions for awhile. It will once again be a staple of CNN thanks to Jeff Zucker."
"The nonprofit Vision Maker Media is partnering American Indian and Alaska Native college students with Public Television stations for summer internships, a great opportunity for Native Americans to get a toehold in a media landscape traditionally bereft of Native perspective," Alec Luhn reported Monday for the Nation. "The nonprofit, which receives funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, will select undergraduate and graduate students to complete a 10-week paid internship at a Public Television station in the US."
In Mexico City, "Televisa president Emilio Azcarraga said his network is aiming to provide English-language content for a new channel that brings together its U.S. partner Univision and ABC News," John Hecht reported Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter.
The Buffalo News Wednesday put out a call for candidates for its 2013 diversity advisory board "to provide feedback on the paper's coverage of minorities. The board will meet quarterly or more with News editors and reporters to discuss news coverage and offer ideas. Membership will be for one year." Columnist Rod Watson told Journal-isms by email, "They critique our coverage, provide story ideas, and sometimes serve as a sounding board on stories we're considering. For instance, last summer a reporter did an in-depth piece on the N-word and really wanted to spell it out to have maximum impact. Editors were divided, but after bouncing it off the advisory board -- whose members were universally opposed to spelling out the word -- we went with 'N' and dashes, as they suggested."
Rochelle Riley, columnist for the Detroit Free Press, wrote this tribute Thursday to photographer Hugh Grannum, who died Jan. 11 at 72: ". . . To me -- a single woman, living in a state without family, without a husband, without her brother -- he became father, brother, mentor, uncle and friend. He was the one who talked to my daughter about boys and to me about men. He was the one who shot a portfolio for my daughter when she wanted to be a model. He also was the one who taught me perseverance in a changing industry, about being your own best protector and your own worst critic. He taught me -- and so many others -- about excellence. . . ."
In Rapid City, S.D., "Bill Clayton, the Rapid City council member charged with making racist comments, publicly apologized Tuesday night to a black television reporter for questioning her citizenship and suggesting she be deported to Kenya during a telephone interview," Aaron Orlowski reported Wednesday for the Rapid City Journal. "He also said in his apology at the city council meeting that he was unaware of Taisha Walker's race when he made the statements during the interview about an August 2012 vote on property taxes."
"Kenyan authorities must hold to account soldiers with the General Service Unit, Kenya's paramilitary force, in connection with their reported assault of two journalists on Sunday," the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. "Dennis Okeyo, a photographer for the Daily Nation, and John Otanga, a cameraman for Nation TV, said they were attacked by GSU soldiers while they were attempting to cover politically motivated clashes in Kibera, a neighborhood in Nairobi, according to news reports and local journalists. . . ."
"A former Thai magazine editor was jailed for 10 years on Wednesday for insulting the royal family under the country's draconian lese-majeste law, a sentence that drew condemnation from international rights groups and the European Union," Amy Sawitta Lefevre reported for Reuters. "Somyot Prueksakasemsuk was found guilty of publishing articles defaming King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2010 when he was editor of a magazine devoted to self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. . . ."
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Journal-isms is published on the site of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (mije.org). Reprinted on The Root by permission.