Punch "Saved the Summer Program"

. . . Black Times Alumni Remember Sulzberger

Paul Delaney, former senior editor at the New York Times:

"He was not a good journalist at the beginning, but he grew into a great publisher. He headed the paper at the start of its most turbulent period. For blacks, that included the efforts to integrate the operation, the newsroom, in particular, the company's heart and soul. Punch was known to allow editors and managers to run their departments. That meant the all-whites in charge could continue in their old ways, hiring and promoting those who mirrored themselves. I always thought he let Executive Editor Abe Rosenthal bully him, especially regarding minority hiring and promotion. Abe moved with deliberately slow speed.

"A minority lawsuit filed in 1971 was settled nine years later. Punch allowed his lawyers to fight the suit to eventual agreement. I always thought he was embarrassed by it, that it sullied the Times' reputation, and he was right. Afterwards, I was on a committee he appointed with the purpose of implementing the agreement. (It called for hiring, promotions, training, and assigning blacks to all major beats.) I was pleased that Punch told us to continue enforcing the agreement after the expiration date. But, again, he didn't put muscle behind it and let his managers remain in charge & change was as slow as ever. Well, not really, things began to move faster than they had, and I credit him and his son, Arthur Jr.

"Regarding another matter, I was in the Washington bureau when Punch announced to us at a party that he'd hired William Safire as columnist. Along with most others in the office (I was the sole black reporter for years), I was furious and we all let him know. My fury extended beyond the fact that Safire was conservative, but that there were no black editors on the paper and that Safire represented the real truth that it would be a long time before the paper really changed. At that time, Safire was an example that the paper would open up even for conservatives, but not nonwhites."

C. Gerald Fraser, former Times reporter and cultural columnist:
"I have always had conflicts with uniformed authorities and this includes New York Times's security guards who, among other things, especially in the late 1960s, always demanded to see my Times ID. Of course, I resisted. I had worked at The Times for quite some time when, one morning the publisher, Arthur 'Punch' Sulzberger, and I had entered the building, more or less together. He approached the security guards first, took out his Times ID, and held it in his open palm for the guards to see. I imagined then that he was trying to tell me, coming in behind him, 'It's no big deal, Gerald, even I, the publisher . . .' I laughed to myself.

"Sulzberger was everything they say about his being low-keyed and a gentleman. He greeted all level of employees by name. He had so much power in New York and I never saw or heard of him using it inappropriately.

"Charles Brown, the longtime newsroom receptionist, told me today that soon after Punch took over the publisher's job, he made life better for the Times's black porters. Previously, they ate their lunch in the men's room and they also changed clothes there after finishing their shifts. Punch had a recreation room and showers installed.

"Two anti-discrimination class action suits occurred during Sulzberger's reign. His obituary, which I have read only online, referred in passing to the women's class action anti-discrimination suit, but never mentioned the minorities's suit. . . . During 'our' suit, I never heard Sulzberger's name mentioned in connection with any of the negotiations."

Reginald Stuart, McClatchy Co. corporate recruiter, former Times reporter:
"Punch had class and a real appreciation for the important role serious newspapers play in society.

"He stuck by serious journalism in the face of all kinds of darts and arrows, even when the paper's fortunes were at a low point in the mid-1970's. When the paper was taken to court over its affirmative action practices with respect to women and people of color, he maintained his respect once the battles ended. He was a tough business executive with a real appreciation for news. I think publishing a great paper was foremost in his mind. He knew if he did, the profits would follow. For years they did."

Roger Wilkins, former editorial writer at the Times and Washington Post:
"Arthur Ochs Sulzberger was a real gentleman with a powerful determination to preserve and improve the enormous gem that he inherited. You could call him 'Punch' — a childhood family nickname, I believe, but when you brought him a tough issue, he could become a very steely gentleman who was determined to preserve and enhance that gem.

"I recall that when he first hired a black member for the Editorial Board (me), he invited me to his office and spend almost an hour with me alone and then brought in some of his favorite Times journalists to let them know that he intended for this move to be successful. It was gentlemanly and it was clear.....he expected this to work and the people he had brought in to meet me were to make sure that this would work out.

"As time wore on, I realized I had a very smart boss who was clear in his mind about what good journalism was and the quality expected in his paper every morning. He understood life in America. And as I worked, I realized that he had made sure that everybody needed to know that this step in integrating this part of his family inheritance was going to work. He was a good man — fair and determined that the great institution that had been handed would grow and maintain the high values of that institution.

"Punch was a very good man devoted to his work and to the people who he had brought in to help him achieve that goal.

"In all, he was one SWELL boss and a very good guy."

• Associated Press: Media leaders, others react to death of Sulzberger
  
  
• Andrew Beaujon, Poynter Institute: Clyde Haberman on his Sulzberger obit: 'It is never simple to write about the boss'
  
  
• Max Frankel, New York Times: Punch Sulzberger and His Times
  
  
• Arthur Gelb, New York Times: A Newsroom and a Beloved Publisher
  
  
• Clyde Haberman, New York Times: Arthur O. Sulzberger, Publisher Who Transformed The Times for New Era, Dies at 86
  
  
• Michael Petrelis blog: Punch Sulzberger's Queer Jokes & Banning 'Gay' From NYT (Oct. 2)
  
  
• Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times: Mr. Sulzberger, Publisher and Projectionist

A 2nd Try After Forum for Black Voters Fails

A proposal for a televised, black-oriented presidential candidates forum next week that would be co-sponsored by MSNBC, American Urban Radio Networks, the NAACP, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Lincoln University and the Grio has been scuttled after the Obama campaign said President Obama would not be available. The Mitt Romney campaign also turned down the offer.

However, Jerry Lopes, president of program operations & affiliations for American Urban Radio Networks, told Journal-isms by telephone on Monday that he has another proposal. Lopes said he has offered the Obama and Romney campaigns 15 minutes each to say whatever they want to the black community. The presentations would be included in an hourlong special that would be offered to black radio stations around the country. A panel of journalists would analyze the remarks as part of the hour.

A similar program aired during the 2004 contest between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic challenger. The journalists were DeWayne Wickham of USA Today, April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks and Juan Williams, then of Fox News and NPR.

Some commentators have complained that the Spanish-language network Univision's forums with the presidential candidates last month were a success, but that there has been no counterpart on issues of particular concern to African Americans.

After journalists of color were shut out of the upcoming debate questioning of the presidential and vice presidential candidates, Michael D. McCurry, co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates and press secretary to President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1998, accepted a suggestion from Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, that the commission receive questions from the journalists of color and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association for presentation to the moderators.

The associations of Hispanic, Asian American and Native American journalists submitted their questions, Balta said on Sept. 13, while NLGJA deferred to the journalists of color.

Over the weekend, the National Association of Black Journalists submitted 15 questions on domestic policy directly to Jim Lehrer of PBS, who is moderating the first debate Wednesday in Denver, according to Sonya Ross, who chairs NABJ's political task force.

Ross said the questions concerned unemployment and the economy, particularly black joblessness; the Affordable Health Care Act; education; crime and law enforcement, specifically the stop-and-frisk laws; and the nation's changing demographics.

Ross said NABJ would be following up with moderators for the subsequent debates.

"All questions submitted to the CPD have been forwarded to the moderators," Nancy Henrietta of the Commission on Presidential Debates told Journal-isms by email on Monday.

• Wayne Bennett, the Field Negro: Voter fraud from the right. And is Virginia for racists??
  
  
• Charles M. Blow, New York Times: 40 Days of Night
  
  
• Commission on Presidential Debates: Moderator Announces Topics for the First Presidential Debate (Sept. 19)
  
  
• Ted Diadiun, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: Pre-endorsement close encounters
  
  
• Steve Friess, Politico: Social media have big debate plans
  
  
• Erika Fry, Columbia Journalism Review: The Oklahoman distributes a hit piece on Obama
  
  
• Maurice Garland, loop21.com: A List Of Issues The Black Church Should Really Be Worried About
  
  
• Emil Guillermo blog, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: Romney? Obama? National Asian American Survey reveals the community's evolving political mindset
  
  
• Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: Denver presidential debate needs question on guns
  
  
• Nick Jimenez, Caller-Times, Corpus Christi, Texas: Democracy is hard work but it's rewarding and important
  
  
• Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: Romney would undercut lifeline to college students
  
  
• Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Black Republicans slam Obama. Who are these folks, anyway?
  
  
• Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mom's failing health makes politics seem personal
  
  
• Colbert I. King, Washington Post: Racism could sway the election
  
  
• Jerry Large, Seattle Times: Asian-American voters a force in November election
  
  
• David Leonhardt, New York Times: Obamanomics: A Counterhistory
  
  
• Brentin Mock, ColorLines: Pennsylvania Argues Voters Are 'Frustrated,' Not 'Disenfranchised'
  
  
• Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: America needs a full-time president — the 2012 election cannot be over soon enough
  
  
• Bruce Murphy, Urban Milwaukee: Journal Sentinel Swallows GOP Propaganda
  
  
• Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post News Media Services: Obama's fantasy world on immigration
  
  
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gullible liberals are the most galling kind 
  
  
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Racist bumper stickers don't stop dreams of moving forward
  
  
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Poverty as character defect
  
  
• Raul A. Reyes, NBCLatino: Analysis: At first Presidential debate, Obama and Romney have some explaining to do
  
  
• Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: A voting issue that isn't
  
  
• Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Republicans deluded by 'skewed' polls
  
  
• Bob Ray Sanders, Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas: Chicago black preacher's epistle on gay marriage is a must-read
  
  
• Barry Saunders, News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.: Affordable health care transcends politics
  
  
• Wendi C. Thomas, Commercial Appeal, Memphis: Voter ID laws reflect Republican contempt for the poor 
  
  
• DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: Romney video offends even white businessmen

"Racial Preferences" Still a Pejorative Term

With another affirmative action case before the Supreme Court, journalists are again facing the temptation to use the pejorative term "racial preferences" in lieu of "affirmative action." Some have already succumbed.

"Next week, the Court will get to affirmative action in a case involving the University of Texas, as the justices consider a suit brought by a white woman who had her admission application rejected; race can be one of the factors in that decision," Jamie Dupree, radio news director of the Washington Bureau of the Cox Media Group, wrote in the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, published in the city at the center of the dispute.

" 'Most people think the Texas plan may be gone,' said Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C."

That the terms are not synonymous is evident by examining who chooses to use which term.

The Project on Fair Representation, which represents Abigail Fisher, the plaintiff in the Texas case, repeatedly hammers at "racial preferences."

A Feb. 21 news release from the group begins, "Today, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Abigail Noel Fisher v. University of Texas, a case challenging the constitutionality of UT's reintroduction of racial preferences in the undergraduate admissions process in 2004."

However, Gary J. Susswein, director of media relations for the university, told Journal-isms Monday, "We generally refer to 'the use of race as a factor in admissions.' " Same holds true for the U.S. government brief [PDF].

An Aug. 6 news release from the university says, "The plaintiff in the case claims that she was denied undergraduate admission to the university in 2008 because she is white. But the facts show otherwise. In its brief, the university argues that its admissions system, which considers an applicant's race along with many other factors in an individualized, holistic review, is a constitutional practice that promotes the educational benefits of diversity at the university."

The National Association of Black Journalists weighed in on the terminology in 1995. "Since polls have shown that the public supports affirmative action, but opposes 'preferential treatment,' using the terms interchangeably, under the guise of objective reporting, unfairly characterizes affirmative action," the NABJ report said.

". . . Race-based remedies are intended to counter 'preferences.' "

• Emil Guillermo blog, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: The First Presidential Debate, Asian Americans, and Affirmative Action
  
  
• Legal documents on Fisher v. University of Texas
  
  
• Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Quashing race-based college admissions will not serve justice
  
  
• Video statement from Bill Powers, University of Texas president

Female Top Editors Make $15K Less Than Men

"The only thing equal is the job title. Even though there are stories of editors like Anna Wintour and Janice Min pocketing seven-figure salaries, Folio magazine's annual compensation survey found that on average, male editors-in-chief made about $15,000 more than their female counterparts last year," Alexander Abad-Santos reported Wednesday for the Atlantic.

"Men with the titles of editor-in-chief or editorial director received an average of $100,800 compared to women with the same titles who received $85,100. The survey included 513 editors.

"The pay gap was bigger at the next position on the masthead, with male executive editors getting paid an average of $84,200 while women with the title were paid an average $65,700. That continued down to next highest position with male managing editors making $5,000 more than female ones. . . . "

Times-Picayune Ends Run as Daily Print Newspaper

"Reaching out from across the country and across the decades, former and current Times-Picayune staffers packed into The Howlin' Wolf on Saturday night to celebrate the daily paper that was," Maya Rodriguez reported Sunday for WWL-TV in New Orleans.

" 'It is very gratifying to see the bond between the people who work at this paper because we love working here,' said former Times-Picayune reporter Matt Scallan. 'It was a great place to work.'

"Scallan speaks in the past tense because after 22 years as a reporter there, he lost his job. The paper is moving to increase its online presence and decrease its printed publication to three days a week.

" 'This is very tough on a lot of people,' he said. . . ."

• Andrew Beaujon, Poynter Institute: Nola Media Group announces digital initiative one week before Times-Picayune reduces print days (Sept. 25)


• Dawn Kent, Birmingham (Ala.) News: Many Birmingham News staffers depart as paper ceases daily publication, moves to 3 days a week 
  
  
• Bruce Nolan, Friends of the Times-Picayune Facebook page (via Romenesko): A Times-Picayune veteran's farewell
  
  
• Dave Thier, New York Times: For New Orleans, a Daily Tha's No Longer Daily

(Photo Credit: BET)

T.J. Holmes: "I Finally Made It"

BET launched "Don't Sleep" Monday night, its news/talk show vehicle for longtime CNN newsman T.J. Holmes. "We are promoting this show on-air, in-market — we have a Don't Sleep Tour bus that has been to nearly 20 cities including the RNC, DNC and CBC!" spokeswoman Jeanine D. Liburd told Journal-isms by email Monday, referring to the Republican and Democratic national conventions and the recent Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference in Washington.

The Times Square promotion, shown above, "started last week and continues throughout this week. It's a major billboard on 45th street and Broadway AND from 10-11p we have a billboard video roadblock across several screens. It's a BIG deal!!"

Holmes tweeted on Saturday, "Just drove through Times Square and saw myself on the big screen. Gotta call my mom and tell her I finally made it. #ArkansastoNY" Watch online.