Buyouts Prompting "the Next Wave of Journalism"

Michael D. Bolden, a local desk editor at the Washington Post who took a buyout and left the paper in April, is now managing director of the communications firm Bolden Strategic Partners, he told Latoya Peterson in a "member interview" for the Online News Association.

"We're working on a media start-up to provide premium and custom news packages across platforms. I'm also consulting on digital media strategies and transportation policy," Bolden, a member of the Maynard Media Academy Class of 2011, told Peterson.

Peterson asked, ". . . What is happening to the talent taking the buyouts? How is that impacting the journalistic landscape of newspapers like the Washington Post?"

Bolden replied, "My colleagues are pursuing all kinds of different ventures, although some are moving to other legacy media operations and others are leaving journalism.

"I am most excited by those people who are taking what they've learned into new operations to try and help create the next wave of journalism. The loss of such talent does diminish the ability of organizations like The Post to function on some level, but there are plenty of talented people who are also left behind. However, I think the loss is more than offset by what emerges. Look at ventures like MedCity Media in Cleveland. That probably would not have happened if the founders had not taken buyouts several years ago. Journalism is now richer for what they are doing."

Mark S. Luckie Leaves Washington Post for Twitter

Digital journalist Mark S. Luckie, who joined the Washington Post two years ago as national innovations editor and then sold his blog 10000Words.net to WebMediaBrands Inc., owner of the Mediabistro blog network, for an undisclosed amount, is on the move again.

"I'm excited to announce that I'll be joining Twitter as the new Creative Content Manager for Journalism! To say I'm thrilled is an understatement," Luckie told his Facebook followers on Tuesday.

". . . The new position means I'll be leaving The Post, a newsroom with some of the most talented, hard-working journos in the world [whom] I will miss wholeheartedly. I'm looking forward to the journey this new venture will take me on and to expanding what social journalism can be."

Adam Sharp, Twitter's senior manager for government, news and social innovation, said by email of Luckie, "He'll be Manager, Journalism Creative Content, working with news organizations and individual journalists to educate them on best practices and drive new creative uses for Twitter in the journalism space."

Luckie will be based in New York.

• Sarah Frier, Bloomberg: Twitter Says Expanded Postings Will Show More Media Content
  
  
• Mathew Ingram, gigaom.com: Why traditional media should be afraid of Twitter

Correspondents of Color Trending at ABC News

When David Westin announced in 2010 that he was stepping down as president of ABC News, Kathy Times, then president of the National Association of Black Journalists, spoke with disappointment about his tenure. "He had some opportunities to really move some African Americans into key positions as correspondents," Times said.

Under Westin's successor, Ben Sherwood, ABC News has hired at least six correspondents of color since September — two black journalists, two Hispanics and two of Asian background.

"We're always looking for talented journalists and great story tellers [whom] our audience can relate to," ABC News spokeswoman Julie Townsend told Journal-isms by email and telephone on Wednesday, shying away from a discussion of ethnicity.

John Schriffen joined ABC in May as a New York correspondent after two months as a freelance reporter for WCBS, the CBS-owned station in New York. Canadian journalist Muhammad Lila joined in January as the new digital correspondent based in Islamabad and responsible for Pakistan, Afghanistan and that region. Bazi Kanani, an anchor-reporter at KUSA-TV in Denver, was hired in November as correspondent in Nairobi, Kenya.

Cecilia Vega, a reporter at KGO-TV in San Francisco, joined in September as a Los Angeles-based correspondent; Alex Perez, a reporter and fill-in anchor at WMAQ-TV in Chicago, joined in March to work from that city's ABC News bureau. In February, ABC hired Reena Ninan for its Washington bureau after she had covered the Middle East for Fox News Channel.

Brazilian Journalist Held for Six Days in Syria

"A Brazilian journalist who entered Syria legally was arbitrarily arrested by the army on 19 May and spent six days in detention, cut off from the outside world," Reporters Without Borders reported on Tuesday.

". . . At the same time, a British journalist said he and his colleagues were deliberately led into a trap by rebels so that they might be shot and killed by the Syrian army.

"Klester Cavalcanti, 42, a journalist with the Brazilian magazine IstoÉ, was granted a visa and planned to report on the living conditions of the residents of the northern city of Homs, devastated by fighting between rebels and government forces in February. He arrived in Damascus on 19 May and immediately boarded a bus for Homs.

". . . At one point, an officer presented him with a blank sheet of paper and took a cigarette from his pocket, telling him: 'If you don't sign this paper, I shall burn your eye.' Cavalcanti refused to comply. The officer lit the cigarette and stubbed it out on the journalist's face, close to his eye. He signed the sheet. . . . "

• Naomi Hunt, International Press Institute: UK Reporter Claims Syria Rebels Wanted Him Shot by Army
  

Wall St. Journal Writer Out After Affair with Source

"A Wall Street Journal reporter resigned on Tuesday, following revelations she'd had an affair with a former Bush administration security advisor who is the current nominee to be the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq," Meena Hart Duerson reported Tuesday in the Daily News in New York.

"Gina Chon's 2008 relationship with Brett McGurk, 39, was exposed last week when a series of their sexually-charged emails were posted anonymously online to sites including Flickr.

"Chon 'agreed to resign this afternoon after acknowledging that while based in Iraq she violated the Dow Jones Code of Conduct by sharing certain unpublished news articles with Brett McGurk, then a member of the U.S. National Security Council in Iraq,' the Wall Street Journal said in a statement on Tuesday."

Paul Farhi added Wednesday in the Washington Post: "Chon may be the highest-profile journalist to lose her job over an intimate relationship with a source, but she's not the first. Although it rarely captures headlines, reporters 'get involved with sources fairly often,' said Kelly McBride, an ethics specialist for the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism education organization.

"McBride said she receives 'five to 10' calls from news organizations every year seeking advice on how to deal with journalists who are having relationships with people they're covering."

Newsweek Spiked Cover of Obama as Trayvon Martin

". . . Posted on the Newsweek Tumblr — social media, in action! — is a video of the editor, herself, discussing a spiked cover that involved posing Barack Obama as Trayvon Martin," Foster Kamer wrote about Tina Brown Tuesday for the New York Observer.

"She explains:

" 'It was a Trayvon [Martin] cover that we were going to do. And the president had just said, "If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon." So we did a cover of Barack in a hoodie…

"And what'd she think of it?

" 'And I really thought it was brilliant, actually, because it sort of dramatized what he was saying.'

"If she doesn't say so herself. But then?

" 'But then, I became very anxious about what could be done with it in its afterlife. And one thing you have to think about which you didn't have to think about much in the days when I was editing Vanity Fair…' "

. . .  Journalists Say the Darndest Things

More from the file "Journalists say the darndest things":

• "Mediabistro was at Wendy Williams's studio yesterday where we taped our mediabistroTV series 'My First Big Break,' " Chris Ariens wrote Wednesday for TVNewser. "When we got there, Katie Couric happened to be taping a segment with Williams for Couric's upcoming daytime talk show. The exchange included a sort of 'would you rather?' back and forth. At one point, Williams asks Couric who would she rather sleep with: Bryant Gumbel or Matt Lauer. Couric chose Gumbel, because, she says, she feels so close to Lauer it would just be weird. . . ."
  
  
• "Why does the White House seek out interviews with local television affiliates?" Charlie Spiering wrote in the Washington Examiner. "Maybe it's because they ask questions like these:

  " 'Mr. President, we've heard you sing, we've seen you do stand up at the correspondents dinner.' Tom Wills of WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla. stated.

  " 'I was just wondering if you would give any thought to being on "American Idol" or "America's Got Talent"?' he asked. 'You'd be a big hit Mr. President.'

  " 'My wife and my daughters find me embarrassing enough when I start performing,' Obama grinned. 'They certainly don't want a large national audience seeing me in those kinds of situations. So I'm going to try to keep my singing to the shower most of the time.' "

• "On the popular Fox News show [The] Five (6/6/12), co-host Eric Bolling blasted Muslim advocates who are suing the New York Police Department over its spying program targeting Muslims, saying that in the last 15 years, 'Every terrorist on American soil has been a Muslim,' " Jim Naureckas wrote for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. "In fact, Muslims are responsible for a tiny fraction of terrorism in the U.S.; as a Rand study pointed out in 2010 . . . "

Anzio Williams Resigns; Tod Smith Moves Back Home

"Anzio Williams, who has been the news director at Sacramento's KCRA since 2007, is set to leave the Hearst-owned station next Monday," Andrew Gauthier wrote Tuesday for TV Spy.

"KCRA general manager Elliott Troshinsky announced Williams's departure in an email to staff this week, saying that the veteran news director 'has expressed a desire to pursue some other career interests and opportunities.'

"Williams, who has been with Hearst for 14 years, joined KCRA after two years as news director at WDSU in New Orleans. Before that, he was the assistant ND at WESH in Orlando and at WCNC in Charlotte."

" 'I believe what I've done here at KCRA has put me in the position to go on to bigger and better things,' Williams told his staff on Monday. 'I’m excited about what the future holds.' "

Williams was news director in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

Meanwhile, "New Orleans native Tod Smith has been named president and general manager of WWL-TV, as well as its properties WUPL-TV, NewsWatch 15 and WWLTV.com, station management has announced," WWL in New Orleans reported on Wednesday.

"Smith replaces Bud Brown, who recently announced his decision to retire after 7 years at Channel 4.

"It is a homecoming for Smith, who began his broadcasting career at WWL before going on to hold the position of general manager at WWL's sister stations in Norfolk and Tucson, also owned and operated by Belo."

Smith is one of nine general managers of color at general-market local television stations [PDF], according to a study by the National Association of Black Journalists. Five are African American, two are Hispanic and two are Asian American.

Ranked by size, Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va., is market No. 43. New Orleans is 52 [PDF].

A Year After Disclosure, Vargas Makes Time Cover

"In Spring 2010, four undocumented students trekked 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington to press passage of the Dream Act, a bill that would offer a path to permanent residency for immigrants who came to the country as minors and achieved certain educational accomplishments," Feifei Sun wrote for the June 25 issue of Time magazine.

"Moved by their courage, Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who was part of the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize winning team for their coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting, revealed that he, too, was an undocumented immigrant in an essay published by the New York Times Magazine last June.

"A year later, Vargas finds that immigration in America has seen little progress, as he writes in this week's TIME cover story [written before Friday's developments]. On the cover, photographed by Gian Paul Lozza, Vargas stands before 35 other undocumented immigrants living across the country. 'They're living in America — but only in the shadows,' Lozza says. 'They're very much in the dark.'

"It was important for TIME's photo editors to show just how many cultures are represented by America’s undocumented immigrants. 'They come from so many different countries, religions and backgrounds,' Lozza says. 'We wanted to bring that diversity to the light. This is not just a problem for Latinos, as we hear about often, but for every culture from around the world.'

"It was a poignant topic for Swiss-born Lozza. 'For me it was fun to see how motivated the kids were, and how much they wanted to learn,' he says. 'They have dreams of being teachers, doctors, lawyer — it was fascinating that they all want to do something for other people.' "

• Cristina Costantini, Huffington Post: Jose Antonio Vargas, Undocumented Journalist, Says 'We Are Americans' In TIME Magazine Cover Story
  
  
• Gabriel Escobar, Dallas Morning News: Michele Bachmann and the allegiance question (May 17)
  
  
• Valeria Fernández, New America Media: In AZ, Immigrants Await Supreme Court Ruling With Trepidation
  
  
• Elise Foley, Huffington Post: Obama Administration To Stop Deporting Younger Undocumented Immigrants And Grant Work Permits
  
  
• John Hudson blog, the Atlantic: Why Hasn't Jose Antonio Vargas Been Deported?
  
  
• Patricia Mazzei, Miami Herald: In election-year shift, Obama halts deportations of young immigrants, offers work permits
  
  
• Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN: Obama's immigration policy a shell game (June 13)
  
  
• Samuel A. Rosado, politic365.com: Obama Picks Election over Real DREAMers

NAHJ Hopefuls Pledge to Forgo Personal Attacks

The two candidates for president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists have agreed that "personal attacks have no place in the campaign nor do anonymously produced and posted videos," NAHJ President Michele Salcedo said in a statement posted Thursday on the association's website.

If implemented, the pledge by Hugo Balta and Russell Contreras and their campaign managers would "reset the tone of the NAHJ's election campaign," in Salcedo's words. Balta, a coordinating producer at ESPN, has raised Contreras' history of insulting those whom he believes disagree with him. Through his  campaign manager, Contreras, an Associated Press reporter who is NAHJ vice president for print and chief financial officer, accused Balta of "seeking the seat for ego" and "promoting anonymous attack videos using images of Russell's family." Balta said he supported the videos but denied any participation in making them.

Salcedo wrote that the agreement came during a conference call Wednesday morning.

The candidates agreed to "be civil, ethical and respectful for each other, all candidates, their supporters, NAHJ members in general, NAHJ staff and the organization itself. Contreras and Balta, and their respective managers, Suzanne Gamboa and Vickie Adame, agree that the campaign should focus on the critical issues that NAHJ faces now and in the coming years as it continues the important task of rebuilding."

Among the other points of agreement:

• "The campaigns will remove any and all anonymously produced videos currently circulating and any new anonymous videos will be denounced by both sides.
  
  
• "Candidates will encourage their supporters who have questions or criticism about the NAHJ board to address the board directly in a civil, ethical and respectful manner and the board will answer them as promptly as possible in kind.
  
  
• "Candidates or their supporters may question in a civil, ethical and respectful manner their opponent's record in serving NAHJ. Criticism is to be constructive and not personal.
  
  
• ". . . No images of an opponent's family or friends will be used in the production of campaign videos. No images of a candidate from Facebook, LinkedIn or any other source from any medium, including NAHJ Web or social media sites, will be used by anyone other than the candidates themselves. Opponent may use a candidate's image provided for the campaign. Any image that is altered with Photoshop or other software or means must be noted as having been altered.
  
  
• "Candidates acknowledge that they respect each other as professionals and fellow members of NAHJ, and as such will not engage in 'tit-for-tat' exchanges."

Meanwhile, Joanna Hernandez, president of Unity Journalists, posted this message on a Unity Facebook page: "Just a reminder about the policy for posting on the UNITY Convention 2012: Las Vegas Facebook page. As you know, discussions need to be civil and respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Also, political campaigning of any kind is not permitted, including content that expresses political ambitions and the use of images endorsing candidates."

Hernandez told Journal-isms Friday by email: "We've received inquiries about general guidelines for posting on UNITY's social media pages, and instead of responding individually, posting on the UNITY Facebook page presented an opportunity to share the policy with everyone.

"This was a reminder of issues we have dealt with in the past but also, because it is election season and there are several contested races, this was a good time to make clear that UNITY, the organization, does not participate in association campaign politics."

• Hugo Balta: Si, Se Puede (Video)
  
  
• Hugo Balta: Hugo on Membership fees (Video)
  
  
• Russell Contreras: "Our story will not be erased" — NAHJ 2012 (Video)
  
  
• Russell Contreras: It's Halftime in NAHJ
  
  

Shallow Coverage of Asian Americans Is "Stunning"

"From New York Knicks basketball star Jeremy Lin to Priscilla Chan, wife of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the mainstream media usually portray Asian-Americans as wealthy, well-educated and foreign," Joshunda Sanders wrote Thursday for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

"The dominant cultural narrative routinely ignores working and middle class Asian-Americans, people of various nationalities who struggle with the same socioeconomic conditions as do other Americans.

"Despite shortcomings, mainstream media are rarely criticized for the way they depict Asian-Americans, even though the lack of depth in the coverage is stunning. In fact, Mee Moua, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) in Washington, says simplistic media coverage pictures Asian-Americans as either the model minority or the perpetual foreigner.

"Because of this, she says, 'the true needs and complexity of Asian-Americans are totally missed by mainstream reporters. "American Beats Michelle Kwan" or "The Ultimate Assimilation" are mainstream headlines that underscore my point — the media need to do better.' "

N.Y. Times Videos Bring Diversity to Online Op-Eds

The New York Times website is featuring "The Scars of Stop-and-Frisk," a short documentary by freelance contributors Julie Dressner and Edwin Martinez, that speaks in a broader way to the exhortation in this space for creative ways to diversify op-ed content.

The documentary focuses on Tyquan Brehon, a young man in Brooklyn who says he was stopped by police more than 60 times before age 18.

"According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the NYPD stopped and frisked people 685,724 times in 2011 alone. Our math tells us that just over 1,800 a day," Loop21.com said this week.

"Eighty-seven percent of those searches involved blacks or Latinos, many of them young men."

The Times calls the pieces "Op-Docs." In another short piece posted May 31, "The filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa presents an Op-Doc on black women's decision to embrace their naturally kinky hair, rather than use chemical straighteners," the Times says.

In a third, posted May 21, "The filmmaker Peter Nicks goes behind the doors of an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients."

• Gene Demby, Huffington Post: Stop And Frisk Too Harsh On Gay Blacks And Latinos, Advocates Say
  
  
• TheRoot.com: Stop and Frisk: Which Side Are You On?
  
  
• Al Sharpton, HuffPost Black Voices: 'Stop-and-Frisk' Is the New Racial Profiling 
  
  
• Lauren Williams, theRoot.com: Not Everyone Thinks Stop and Frisk Is Racial 

Primer on "Marrying Politics and the Economy"

"Reporters and editors who are on the front lines of covering the intersection of business and politics share their insights regarding the upcoming election, the economic stories it will offer up, and what business journalists should be watching for during the next training call from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers," the TalkingBizNews site reported on Friday.

"It's called 'Marrying Politics and the Economy: Business Coverage in an Election Year,' and it will be held 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, June 18.

"Sign up for the call here. On the day of the call, dial 218-339-2626 and, when prompted, enter the access code 4058935 and you'll be put in to the call. Callers may only listen in to the panelists' discussion, but may submit questions to sabew@sabew.org that will be sent to the moderator for possible inclusion in the hour-long discussion."

Among those on the call is Michael A. Fletcher, national economics correspondent at the Washington Post.

• Dylan Byers, Poliitico: NBC News and Telemundo join for 2012
  
  
• Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today: Forgotten Once More? Presidential Candidates Yet to Campaign in Indian Country
  
  
• Michael Cottman, blackamericaweb.com: Is Obama Star-Struck?
  
  
• Mary C. Curtis, Washington Post: Is Obama losing support among black N.C. voters?
  
  
• Peter Dreier, Occidental College, and Christopher R. Martin, University of Northern Iowa: "Job Killers" in the News: Allegations without Verification
  
  
• Jordan Fabian, Univision News: Jorge Ramos says no to Obama campaign
  
  
• Peter Hart, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: NYT Wonders: Is Barack Obama a Crybaby?
  
  
• Myriam Marquez, Miami Herald: Jeb's 'grand bargain' a lesson for GOP
  
  
• Brendan Nyhan, Columbia Journalism Review: Do campaign gaffes matter? Not to voters
  
  
• Zoë Schlanger, the Nation: Chris Hayes: Let's Put Obama's 'Fine' Gaffe In Context
  
  
• Judith Stein, Nieman Watchdog: A reporter's checklist for the impending Obamacare ruling 
  
  
• Armstrong Williams blog, the Hill: Excising politics from healthcare

Marco Rubio Makes Peace With Univision

"Senator Marco Rubio appears to have made peace with the giant Spanish television network Univision, a year after a bitter feud over coverage of drug charges against Rubio's brother-in-law," BuzzFeed reported on Thursday.

"A Capitol Hill source noticed Rubio walking the Senate halls today with anchor Jorge Ramos for, a source told BuzzFeed, an interview to promote his memoir. The book, American Son, is due out Tuesday in both English and Spanish, part of high-profile media campaign around the book.

"The Ramos interview will add a touch of intrigue to the roll-out: Univision was badly bruised by the coverage of Rubio, which prompted Republican presidential candidates to drop out of a planned Spanish-language debate, and produced an embarrassing Miami Herald report alleging — based in part on claims from Rubio's office — that Univision had offered to soften the piece in exchange for an interview, something Univision denied."

Media Critic Names 5 TV Dads He Learned From

"Almost everything I know about being a father, I learned from television," media critic Eric Deggans wrote Friday for his Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times blog.

Deggans offered up ". . . a short list of the TV dads who have taught me the most as I struggle to raise four children of my own. My kids have certainly turned out much better than I have any right to expect, so maybe [I] learned a little more than I realized."

His list included James Evans Sr. (John Amos) of "Good Times"; Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby), "The Courtship of Eddie's Father"; Ray Barone (Ray Romano), "Everybody Loves Raymond"; Dan Conner (John Goodman), "Roseanne"; and Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby), "The Cosby Show."

• John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times: Giving thanks for a father's kiss
  
  
• Emil Guillermo blog, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: My pre-Father's Day Giant
  
  
• Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: Teaching men to be fathers
  
  
• Jeff Johnson, blackamericaweb.com: Celebrating Fathers
  
  
• Courtland Milloy, Washington Post: This lucky newborn's luxury item: a dad
  
  
• Josie Pickens, ebony.com: Daddy Issues 
  
  
• Kevin Powell, Huffington Post: Being a Father
  
  
• Ruben Rosario, the Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: Celebrating African-American fathers who stick with their kids