Racial "Blind Spots" Acknowledged at N.Y. Times

Fox aired a one-minute ad for the 18th season of “South Park” during Sunday's Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Redskins game. (video)

Takedown of NFL Team Name in the Fourth Quarter

"NFL fans watching Sunday's Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Redskins were treated to a rare sight during a fourth-quarter commercial break," the New England Sports Network reported.

"FOX aired a one-minute ad for the 18th season of 'South Park' that was less a promo for the Comedy Central show and more a thorough takedown of the Redskins’ nickname and the controversy surrounding it."

• Matt Kramer, HuffPost LatinoVoices: It's Time to Rethink Native Mascots
  
  
• Robert McCartney, Washington Post: If Dan Snyder is so sure Indians support team name, then he should visit local ones (Sept. 13)
  
  
• Robert O'Donnell, Washington Post: Stop congratulating yourself for opposing the Redskins' name. You're not helping the real problem.
  
  
• Travis Waldron, Columbia Journalism Review: Why news organizations are abandoning the Redskins

Susan L. Taylor, longtime editor of Essence magazine, explains the HistoryMakers program in a 2010 video.(video)

67 Black Media Figures Reaching Back to Classrooms Friday

"What does service mean in the African American community?" The HistoryMakers organization asked Monday in a news release. "To newspaper veteran George Curry, service means making news accessible to minority communities. To renowned radio personality Frank Ski, service means expanding the reach of urban media, and increasing opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

"To newspaper publisher and editor Amelia Ashley Ward, or television executive Douglas V. Holloway, service means changing the face of media leadership. Service means building a legacy of elite journalism to broadcast journalist Leon Bibb, and redefining television news media to news anchor Barbara Ciara.

"On September 26, 2014, these leaders will join over sixty African American MediaMakers across the nation for a day of service during the 5th Annual Back to School With The HistoryMakers program, as they return to classrooms to encourage students to COMMIT to excellence and finishing their education."

The full list of participating media figures is in the "Comments" section.

The release also said, "Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is chairing the nationwide effort with the goal of having more than 400 black leaders go 'back to school' in 61 cities and 30 states. The program puts HistoryMakers in direct contact with over 25,000 students across the nation, to inspire them with their life's stories and to encourage youth to strive for The theme of the day is 'COMMIT.' The HistoryMakers will personally recount their own school experiences, reflect upon the struggles they encountered on their paths to success and, most importantly, encourage students.  'It makes a difference to hear a message of positive choices from successful, caring adults whom the students can relate to,' says a teacher from the program. . . ."

This columnist will be among the participants.

• The HistoryMakers' digital archive
  
  
• The HistoryMakers Education page
  
  
• Tanzina Vega, New York Times: Library of Congress to Display Interviews With Blacks, Noted and Unsung(June 23)

Short Takes

• "Diversity may be the face of America, but behind the cameras there's still little room for women or racial minorities, at least when it comes to directing primetime television episodes,"Jonathan Handel reported Sept. 17 for the Hollywood Reporter. "That's the takeaway from a Directors Guild of America study announced Wednesday, which found that 69 percent of 2013-14 episodes were directed by white males, a figure that’s been virtually unchanged over the last four seasons. . . ."
  
  
• Hugo Balta, a coordinating producer at ESPN and immediate past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, is one of 32 recipients of an NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award [PDF], the NFL, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Verizon announced on Sunday. The awards recognize the contributions of Hispanic leaders in each NFL market. Balta is to represent the New York Jets. Recipients are to select an organization of their choice that serves the local Hispanic community to receive a $2,000 donation. "I'm going to invest the prize towards NAHJ scholarships,"Balta told fellow members of NAHJ. 


• "Prolific writer and playwright J. California Cooper has died at the age of 82, a family friend has confirmed to EBONY.com," the website reported Monday. Cooper passed away peacefully in Seattle, Washington on September 20, with daughter Paris Williams by her side. The [Berkeley]-native was best known for her short stories and plays including Strangers, which earned a 1978 Black Playwright Award. Cooper authored six short story collections including A Piece of Mine, Homemade Love (winner of the 1989 American Book Award) Some Soul to Keep, The Matter is Life, Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime, and Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns. Her short story Funny Valentine was turned into a 1999 TV movie. . . . ."
  
  
• The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, America's foremost think tank for black political and economic research, is "restructuring," Spencer Overton, the center's interim president/CEO, told Journal-isms. As reported in June by Hazel Trice Edney for her Trice Edney NewsWire, the Washington-based center "is struggling with financial problems so serious that its political arm has been gutted and its interim president is working for free." Overton told Journal-isms by email on Monday, "We are doing business, and we're in the process of moving to another address." 


• "The anonymous media watchdogs who have spent the past month accusing Fareed Zakaria of serial plagiarism have been given a higher platform from which to air their concerns: Esquire,"Dylan Byers reported Monday for Politico. "In a new post, Esquire.com News editor Ben Collins writes that 'CNN would rather employ, give airtime to, and defend a plagiarist whose resumé they find easy to personally explain and understand than someone who is doing actual journalism, but who might take more work to reach out to or understand.' He then hands the pen over to the watchdogs — known as 'Crushing Bort' and 'Blippo Blappo'— who target CNN for failing to adequately address Zakaria's plagiarism . . . ."


• "KDFW/Channel 4 reports that weekend sports anchor and reporter Max Morgan has died of congestive heart failure at age 59,"Robert Philpot reported Monday for the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas. "'The man who greeted viewers with "Hello Dallas-Fort Worth … let's talk sports" has died,' Fox-4’s report begins. 'Max Morgan started every one of his KDFW sportscasts with that saying, along with a smile and a magnificent baritone voice.' Morgan, who had been with the station since 1993, had been in a Dallas hospital since last Wednesday, according to station reports. . . ."


• "The Los Angeles Register, which launched in April as part of Aaron Kushner's bold bet on print newspapers, will cease publication, effective immediately,"Andrew Khouri reported Monday for the Los Angeles Times. "Orange County Register co-owner Aaron Kushner announced the decision Monday night in a memo sent to employees. . . . The memo hints at layoffs, but provided no specific details. . . ."


• "Fusion today announced that it is partnering with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to offer recent graduates several working fellowships specializing in digital storytelling, investigative reporting and documentary production," the school announced Monday. "As part of the ongoing career-track fellowship program, three recent graduates will be hired annually to work for Fusion, a news, pop culture and satire network aimed at a young, diverse American audience. Fusion iis a joint venture of Univision Communications Inc., and the Disney/ABC television network. . . ."
  
  
• "We happen to have one of the best African-American journalists writing today, Ta-Nehisi Coates, but also we have three people of color in the entire organization,"Scott Stossel, editor of the Atlantic magazine, told Nieman Reports on Sept. 11. "There's a whole host of reasons why that is, and we have for some years done aggressive outreach to try to rectify that. But it matters not just in terms of equal opportunity and justice, but in terms of the perspective that you bring to different stories. . . ."
  
  
• "In a little over a decade, historical and contemporary black newspapers have been digitized at a rapid rate. Yet a critical body of scholarship of these newspapers' impact continues to lag behind the technological developments, which have made these newspapers available to scholars and students," according to the National Endowment for the Humanities. To address this issue, the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the Black Press Research Collective are planning a two-day workshop Oct. 10-11, funded by a NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up stage I grant. 
  
  
• "Arise Entertainment 360, the popular daily entertainment and culture series, will now be syndicated on BET CENTRIC beginning September 29," the participating parties announced on Monday. "Hosted by veteran journalist and television personality Lola Ogunnaike (formerly of the New York Times and CNN) and Shannon [LaNier](Black Enterprise), Arise 360 covers the top news stories in entertainment, arts, culture and sports." In April, Essence magazine reported such a deal was in the works.
  
  
• "Amie Hudspeth has been named news director at the Victoria Television Group in Victoria, Tex., Kevin Eck reported Monday for TVSpy. Eck also wrote, "Hudspeth was assistant news director at WNCT in Greenville, N.C. She has also worked at WOAI in San Antonio, Tex. and KEYE in Austin, Tex."
  
  
• In the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, "WVEC sports reporter and weekend anchor Brian Smith is recovering from a heart attack and will be off the air for the next few weeks,"Tom Robinson reported Saturday for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.
  
  
• In Santo Domingo, "At least three journalists were injured while covering clashes between police and protesters of Haitian origin in the Dominican capital on 20 September," Reporters Without Borders reported Monday. "The street fighting erupted in the neighbourhood known as 27 de Febrero when a policeman fatally shot a man of Haitian origin identified as Yanisel Yan. . . ."
  
  

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