Court's ruling was on immigration, not health care; black media team up to seek advertising dollars; FCC urged to investigate "demise of black radio"; Shadid's cousin implicates N.Y. Times in his death; reporter fired for fabrications in 25 stories; creators pledge diversity in "Newsroom," "Fit to Print"; American Indians said to be taking control of imagery; NABJ honors black Louisiana sports figures; back to business at press-freedom conference (6/25/12)
Court's Ruling Was on Immigration, Not Health Care
Black Media Team Up to Seek Advertising Dollars
FCC Urged to Investigate "Demise of Black Radio"
Shadid's Cousin Implicates N.Y. Times in His Death
Reporter Fired for Fabrications in 25 Stories
Creators Pledge Diversity in "Newsroom," "Fit to Print"
American Indians Said to Be Taking Control of Imagery
Black Media Team Up to Seek Advertising Dollars
"Note to marketers: Television advertising is not postracial," Amy Chozick wrote for Monday's editions of the New York Times.
"That's the message that a newly formed consortium of the country's largest African-American media outlets wants to send to marketers, who have largely shunned black media in favor of placing ads on general outlets.
"On Monday, BET Networks, Black Enterprise, Johnson Publishing (the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines), the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and others will join with media-buying agencies to introduce a campaign intended to educate advertisers about the importance of black media and its increasingly deep-pocketed audience.
"Called #InTheBlack (using the Twitter hash tag), the campaign will begin with print advertisements in major newspapers (including The New York Times) and trade magazines like Broadcasting & Cable and Adweek. It will expand to a long-term joint effort that includes social media and direct outreach to marketers.
"The initiative comes at a time when advertisers have poured money into Spanish-language TV and radio in an effort to reach the growing Hispanic population. Black audiences, meanwhile, have largely been overlooked, despite projected buying power of $1.2 trillion by 2015, a 35 percent increase from 2008, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. . . . "
The coalition's news release lists the participants: "BET Networks has partnered with HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Company, KJLH Radio [Los Angeles], Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson to create a history making black media and marketing consortium."
FCC Urged to Investigate "Demise of Black Radio"
"A group of black media organizations on Monday will deliver a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, demanding that the FCC look into the demise of black radio in America, and the impact it has had on urban communities," Joy-Ann Reid reported Monday for theGrio.com.
"The letter, and the drive behind it, were sparked by the change in formatting of longtime urban radio station KISS-FM in New York, to sports talk. The change happened after Disney took over the station this spring, ending the decades-long rivalry between that station and WBLS for the adult urban market in New York by merging the stations, and handing the 30-year-old KISS frequency over to ESPN Radio.
"Similar changes have taken place in cities like Miami, where one of just three urban radio stations, The Beat FM, switched from urban 'adult contemporary' to Spanish-language pop. And in many major cities, there are just two, or even one, urban-themed radio stations left. And the number of black-focused talk radio stations is even smaller, particularly after black-owned radio network Radio One essentially exited the black news-talk market in 2007 and 2008."
The letter is signed by Paul Porter, on behalf of Industry Ears, along with Color of Change, which has been active in recent social media campaigns against former Fox News host Glenn Beck and conservative radio shock jock Rush Limbaugh; Joseph Torres of the media reform group Free Press; Brandy Doyle of the Prometheus Radio Project; Todd Steven Burroughs, a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department at Morgan State University; and Jared Ball, Morgan State professor and radio commentator.
When Anthony Shadid died in February, the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City produced a video on the life of its native son. (Video)
Shadid's Cousin Implicates N.Y. Times in His Death
"Ed Shadid, the cousin of dead New York Times foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid, caused a stir over the weekend when he claimed in a speech that Anthony pre-emptively blamed the Times for his death in Syria, telling his wife: 'If anything happens to me, I want the world to know that the New York Times killed me,' " John Cook reported Monday for Gawker.com. "In an interview with Gawker, the surviving Shadid confirms the account and says the Times knew a trip to Syria was too dangerous, but sent him anyway.
"In his speech at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's convention on Saturday, which was initially reported on Twitter and later by Politico, Shadid said that his cousin didn't want to go on the reporting trip to war-torn Syria that led to his death, reportedly from an asthma attack, in February. On the night before he left for Syria, Ed said, Anthony was 'screaming and slamming on the phone in discussions with his editors.' In his last telephone call with his wife, Ed says, Anthony gave his 'haunting last directive that if anything happens to me I want the world to know the New York Times killed me.' "
Anthony Shadid's widow Nada Bakri, a Times reporter, issued a statement via Twitter, Gawker reported.
"I do not approve of and will not be a part of any public discussion of Anthony's passing. It does nothing but sadden Anthony's children to have to endure repeated public discussion of the circumstances of their father's death."
The New York Times rebutted Ed Shadid's assertions, Dylan Byers reported for Politico:
" 'Anthony's death was a tragedy, and we appreciate the enduring grief that his family feels,' New York Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told POLITICO. 'With respect, we disagree with Ed Shadid's version of the facts. The Times does not pressure reporters to go into combat zones. Anthony was an experienced, motivated correspondent. He decided whether, how and when to enter Syria, and was told by his editors, including on the day of the trip, that he should not make the trip if he felt it was not advisable for any reason.' "
In addition, Matt Pearce reported for the Los Angeles Times, "Confirmation from the family has been noticeably absent."
- Steve Myers, Poynter Institute: Anthony Shadid's widow won't say whether New York Times to blame for his death
- Alysia Santo, Columbia Journalism Review: Reporting from the battlefield, uninsured
Reporter Fired for Fabrications in 25 Stories
"Paresh Jha, an award-winning reporter for Hearst Newspapers' New Canaan News in Connecticut, has been fired for fabricating sources and quotes in at least 25 stories over the nearly two years he worke
d at the weekly," Craig Silverman reported Friday for the Poynter Institute.
"The paper announced his firing in a report published on its website just before 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
" 'We have found 25 stories written by Paresh Jha over the last year and a half that contain quotes from nonexistent sources,' said David McCumber, editorial director of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group.
"He went on to say, 'When confronted, Jha admitted that he had fabricated the names and the quotes.' "
- Craig Silverman, Poynter Institute: Fabricator Paresh Jha likely made up entire articles, not just sources
Creators Pledge Diversity in "Newsroom," "Fit to Print"
"The highly-buzzed new cable series from Aaron Sorkin is a workplace drama that takes a look at the erratic world of a nightly news broadcast," according to blackactors.net. "Despite all of the marketing and advertising efforts pushing the white stars of the show, we've learned there are actually a few black characters you should know about.
""The Newsroom" premiered to an audience of 2.1 million viewers at 10 p.m. on Sunday, making it one of HBO's top debuts in recent years, Andrea Morabito reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News.
Meanwhile, "Fit to Print," a documentary described as a film "that takes the viewer on a behind-the-scenes journey through the current upheaval in the U.S. newspaper industry," includes interviews with Latino and African American newsroom employees "on the topics of diversity in the newsroom," according to Adam Chadwick, the former New York Times copy editor who is spearheading the production.
Chadwick named Gary Caesar of the New York Times, Linn Washington Jr. of the Philadelphia Tribune, syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. of San Diego and Mc Nelly Torres of the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. "The thing is, we are editing the film now, and though I hope to include everyone, I can't guarantee it," Chadwick told Journal-isms by email.
The film is in post-production and still seeking funding.
- Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: HBO puts The Newsroom pilot online for free; judge Aaron Sorkin's work for yourself
- Patrick Gavin, Politico: Documentary: Newspapers aren't going extinct
American Indians Said to Be Taking Control of Imagery
Writing Sunday in Indian Country Today about "American Indians and the Mass Media," a new book edited by Meta G. Carstarphen and John P. Sanchez, Mark Fogarty asked Sanchez, a Yaqui/Apache and an associate professor at Penn State University, "What is the most positive thing you learned about American Indians and the media — and the most negative?"
"The most positive aspect is that American Indians are taking control of the imagery and the very identity of American Indian cultures and no longer allowing non-American Indians to shape American Indian cultures without challenge," Sanchez replied. "The least positive aspect is that many people in the American media believe that American Indians are still a people who have not evolved beyond the 18th-century image of buckskins, beads and feathers, living in tipis and riding horses every day."
Fogarty wrote that the book's "15 chapters, by such well-known commentators as Mark Trahant, Roy Boney Jr. and Paul DeMain, are well researched and meticulously footnoted. This methodical approach could well have dragged the book down. Instead, it illuminates both the portrayal and the journalistic clout of American Indians in media today. And in that, there is something for the general reader."
NABJ Honors Black Louisiana Sports Figures
"In the 1950s, R.L. Stockard integrated the Baton Rouge State-Times and the New Orleans States-Item, bringing a black voice to Louisiana sportswriting. On Friday, he was honored at a convention hosting hundreds of black journalists for his role as a pioneer," Alex Cassara wrote Saturday in the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
"Stockard was one of eight black, Louisiana athletes, coaches and journalists that received recognition at the National Association of Black Journalists' Sports Task Force Sam Lacy Pioneer Awards at the Riverside Hilton as part of the association's convention taking place in New Orleans this weekend.
"Joining Stockard as honorees were the late [Grambling] football coach Eddie Robinson, Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington, Brooklyn Nets Coach Avery Johnson, former college basketball coach Harold Hunter, former UNO volleyball player Javonne Brooks-Grant, Dillard basketball coach Bernard Griffith and former WDSU sportscaster Ro Brown."
- Chris Ariens, TVNewser: Two Ailes Apprentices to Help Cover NABJ for FNC (June 21)
- Wayne Bennett, the Field Negro: No Mitt for the NABJ.
- Akilah Bolden-Monifa, HuffPost BlackVoices: The National Association of Black Journalists Convention Explained
- Michaelle Bond, American Journalism Review: How Changes at a Newspaper Are Unifying a City
- Kiratiana Freelon, Storify: Sports Taskforce Mentor Breakfast
- Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation: GLAAD and NABJ LGBT Taskforce Tackle Advocacy in the Newsroom
- Nakia Hill, HuffPost BlackVoices: My First Day at NABJ — 2012
- Bomani Jones blog: A 25 Point Recap of The NABJ12
- Sherri Williams, Storify: #NABJ12 Maynard Institute lunch on Media Depictions of Black Males
- WSB-TV, Atlanta: Monica Pearson honored by fellow journalists
Back to Business at Press-Freedom Conference
Yvette Walker, night news director at the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City and Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Media Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma, is filing reports for Journal-isms on the International Press Institute's World Congress that began Sunday in Trinidad.
By Yvette Walker
Spotted at the International Press Institute World Congress in Port of Spain, Trinidad: Milton Coleman, senior editor of the Washington Post. Other U.S. journalists of color scheduled as panelists include John Yearwood, world editor for the Miami Herald, and Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean correspondent for the Herald. Among the U.S. journalists here are Jim Clancy of CNN International and David S. Rohde of Thomson Reuters, who was given the IPI's World Press Freedom Hero award Monday night at an award dinner.
* * *
Here's a bizarre fact from Trinidad: Native people love Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are 42 KFCs on this island alone, and sales reportedly are higher here than in any other place that sells the chicken.
I decided to do a taste test, having been told that the 11 famous herbs and spices taste different from what I'm used to in the States. Yes, I'm breaking my diet just for you, dear readers.
And the verdict is: The original recipe is pretty similar, in my opinion. I did not get the spicy, and that might be what some people are referring to when they say the taste is different. Another difference, KFC delivers here. OK, back on a proper eating regimen!
* * *
Attendees have been treated to fun activities as well as to sobering pronouncements about the violence and harassment faced by journalists around the world every day.
At the welcome reception, we went to an open-air club, Woodbrook Carib Playboyz Panyard, where we were treated to local fare, East Indian dancing and drumming, and a steel drum band. Attendees danced, ate and had a great time.
Monday morning it was back to business. A session on "the big three," Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela, brought us to the terrible fate of many reporters, editors and bloggers. Davan Maharaj, editor and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Times, moderated the panel of four women: Catalina Botero, special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Organization of American States; Cenovia Casas, editor in chief of El Nacional in Venezuela; Marjorie Miller, Associated Press Latin America and Caribbean editor, based in Mexico; and Marcela Turati, journalist for Proceso in Mexico.
The panel generally agreed that Mexico was the worst offender of the three, with its cruel torture and killings. However, one panelist cautioned that Honduras has a high number of deaths per capita and for deaths among journalists.
In an interview afterward, I asked Miller why Americans should care about Mexico and Latin America. She said, "Most of the violence is around drug trafficking to the U.S. market . . . A couple of the cartels aren't just trafficking in drugs, but they're trafficking in people coming to the United States, so it's part of the U.S. economy."
Miller continued, "You're going to have an economic impact, a violence impact, and legal . . . You want Mexico to be a healthy state, a strong state. You don't want the institutions of Mexico to be run by the cartel. It's not good for Mexico and it's not good for the U.S."
Maharaj reminded the audience that Latin America's fight for a free press should concern us all. ". . . At the end of the day, we depend on openness to do our work, which is serving the public's right to know," he said.
Follow my reports at #IPIWoCo2012
- Editorial, Trinidad Express: A timely World Press conference
- International Press Institute: IPI-Organised Workshop Offers Caribbean Journalists Tips on Covering Corruption
- International Press Institute: IPI World Congress Opens with Roll-Call of 72 Journalists Killed
- International Press Institute: Media in a Challenging World — A 360 Degree Perspective
Short Takes
- "Joe Williams, the White House correspondent whom Politico suspended last week after he made racially insensitive remarks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, tweeted about his employer on the evening of March 30 that 'what’s most irritating is the overlay of blatant racism. that's the secret sauce in the Politico shitburger," David Martosko, executive editor of the Daily Caller, wrote early Tuesday. Williams told Journal-isms by telephone, "I don't recall that Twitter feed. They've been combing through my Twitter file, which is why I shut it down."
- "When journalist-turned-marketing-executive Robert Montemayor was first referred by a friend to the dean of Rutgers' School of Communication and Information to discuss a possible teaching position, he quickly realized that Jorge Reina Schement was once on his LA Times list of go-to academic sources," Richard Horgan wrote Monday for the FishbowlLA. "Now, several years after joining the faculty in 2008, Montemayor and [Schement] are preparing to launch the Inter-University Program for Latino Research. It is a database that in all likelihood will become a trusted source for a new generation of newspaper reporters."
- The four journalists in the inaugural class of the Associated Press Sports Editors Diversity Fellowship Program were to join outgoing APSE President Michael Anastasi at APSE's June 20-23 conference in Chicago, Ana Cuello reported last week for APSE. They are Adena Andrews, writer for ESPNW; Carrie Cousins, night sports editor of the Roanoke (Va.) Times; Dennis Freeman, sports editor of the Beverly Hills (Calif.) Times Magazine; and Ed Guzman, sports copy chief of the Washington Post. Anastasi announced the program when he took office at the 2011 convention as a way to train sports journalists of color for management jobs. As another step toward diversity, the conference was co-sponsored with the Association for Women in Sports Media.
- "Ronald Ebens says he's sorry for the beating death of Vincent Chin on June 19, 1982, 30 years ago in Detroit. But for many Asian Americans, he can't say sorry enough," Emil Guillermo wrote Friday on his blog for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "For the 30th anniversary, after writing about the case for years, I just wanted to hear him express his regret, so that I could put the case behind me. So I called him up. And he talked to me," Guillermo wrote. In death, Chin became a galvanizing figure among Asian Americans. Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, and Frank H. Wu, chancellor and dean of the Hastings College of the Law, University of California, also commented on the case.
- " 'The Cycle' debuted on MSNBC today, and as part of the first episode, co-host Touré explained what the show was all about," Alex Weprin wrote Monday for TVNewser. " 'We are a group of friends having a dinner party in the afternoon, and we are going to invite you into our party, where we are going to talk about politics and culture in the ensemble format that has existed since the beginning of television, because it still works,' he said."
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy the 34,000-circulation daily Waco Tribune-Herald to expand in Texas as Chairman Warren Buffett extends his bet on community newspapers, Noah Buhayar and Steven Norton reported Friday for Bloomberg News. The Tribune-Herald serves a city that is 29.6 percent Hispanic and 21.5 percent black, according to 2010 Census figures.
- The Native American Journalists Association "has recently had reductions in financial support, so each of our board members look to find ways to give back to the organization through personal donations," Rhonda LeValdo, NAJA president, writes on the NAJA website. "Last year, I held a food sale, an Indian taco with drink, to raise money. Considering I just helped launch a website geared toward getting Native people to live healthy lifestyles (wellboundstorytellers.com), I figured, I probably should do something else. On July 15th, I will be competing in my first triathlon, the Midwest Mayhem triathlon in Lawrence, Kansas. . . . I am asking any person or media organization to donate any amount they can give, all funds will be used by NAJA for its general operations."
- "Ten days after the NBC Sports Radio Network announced a September launch, the CBS Corporation today announced the creation of CBS Sports Radio, a lineup of national programming 'that establishes what will be the nation's most listened-to sports radio network across the Top 50 markets,' " Pete Dougherty wrote Thursday for the Times Union in Albany, N.Y.
- "Dispatch Broadcast Group's NBC affiliate WTHR Indianapolis (DMA 26) will launch a local Spanish-language news webcast on today," TVNewsCheck reported on Monday. "The webcast, 13 Eyewitness News en Español, is recorded in the WTHR News studios and provides news updates, weather and sports in Spanish every weekday, available at WTHR.com. The news webcast will be co-anchored by Marco Dominguez and Rossina Lazaneo."
- In Burundi, "Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Reporters Without Borders are very angry about the sentence of life imprisonment that a court in the eastern city of Cankuzo passed yesterday on Hassan Ruvakuki, a reporter for Bonesha FM and RFI's Swahili service, on a charge of 'participating in acts of terrorism,' His lawyer plans to appeal," Reporters Without Borders said Thursday. "Representatives of RFI, France's international public radio broadcaster, and Reporters Without Borders learned of the sentence yesterday in the capital, Bujumbura, as they were winding up a four-day visit dedicated to the case."
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