Bombshell Suit Against "White People" Magazine

Short Takes

• Marcus Mabry, a digital editor of the New York Times and an author, was elected president of the Overseas Press Club of America, "a 75-year-old organization that awards the most prestigious prizes devoted exclusively to international news coverage," the press club announced on Thursday.
  
  
• "Nogales, Ariz., municipal officials are engaged in a dispute about free speech and journalism ethics with commentators at the city's top radio station, claiming the on-air personalities have a financial motive for a perceived smear campaign against them,"Paul Giblin reported Thursday for the Arizona Republic. Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino and the City Council "claim that news coverage and commentary about city matters on KOFH-FM 99.1 turned negative after the city stopped paying the radio station for news interviews when Garino took office in 2011. . . ."
  
  
• "Imagine our dismay Tuesday morning when we opened the paper to read a most offensive subhead atop a Loop item about Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and his staff,"Al Kamen and Colby Itkowitz wrote Tuesday in their "In the Loop" column for the Washington Post. "The copy editor who wrote it — a brilliant and supremely reliable colleague who had a bad day — was attempting to evoke the Texas origins of the secretary and his aides. He has apologized." The National Association of Hispanic Journalists Friday condemned the subheadline, "We'll send more fajitas." NAHJ President Mekahlo Medina said the Post should not have waited a day to apologize and that the incident shows the need for more Latinos on staff. The Post reported a newsroom 2.7 percent Latino in the latest census [PDF] of the American Society of News Editors.
  
  
• Gerrick Kennedy, music writer for the Los Angeles Times and the National Association of Black Journalists'"Emerging Journalist of the Year" for 2012, is profiled in the gay pubication the Advocate as one of the 40 emerging voices under 40.
  
  
• Three journalists of color have been hired at WEYI-TV/WBSF-TV/EEYI-TV in Flint, Mich., owned by conservative commentator Armstrong Williams: Jesse Gonzales, photographer; Jiquanda Johnson, digital producer, and Nicky Zizaza, reporter.
  
  
• A. Peter Bailey, an aide to Malcolm X and recent author of a book about their time together, wrote a column for TriceEdneyWire.com this week, "The Numerous Ways That Black Folks Sustain White Supremacy," that is reminiscent of the philosophy Bailey and Malcolm shared.
  
  
• Essence Communications Friday announced an extended agreement with the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans to host the annual Essence Festival, held on the July 4 weekend, through 2019.
  
  
• Keith Harriston, metropolitan editor at the Washington Post from 1985 to 2008, on Monday joined George Washington University as senior managing editor of GW Today, the official online news source for the university.
  
  
• "Liberian journalists are said to be of no exception to the night time nationwide curfew imposed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf but the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has written the Information Ministry to grant reprieve to journalists during the curfew hours," the News in Monrovia reported. Liberia is struggling with efforts to contain the Ebola virus. A Wednesday announcement said that only health workers, utility workers and airline passengers and crew are exempt from the curfew.
  
  
• "The Venezuelan Association of Foreign Journalists (Apevex) put out a statement on Wednesday denouncing the government of Nicolás Maduro over their attempts to 'silence journalists and independent media,'” PanAm Post reported on Friday. "In the last week, the Venezuelan government shut down the Radio Caracas Radio (RCR) program Aquí entre tú y yo (Between You and Me) and suspended the 22-year-old independent radio station Sensacional 94.7 FM. . . ."
  
  

Follow Richard Prince on Twitter @princeeditor

Facebook users: "Like""Richard Prince's Journal-isms" on Facebook.