Posted January 24, 2003
Media Confused Over "Largest Minority" Story
The news media appeared confused over new census data this week that had some reporting that Hispanics had outnumbered blacks as the largest minority in the United States. Others shied away from such a flat statement, saying it would be comparing apples and oranges.
The Columbia Journalism Review online summarized the coverage this way:
"Imagine this headline: Baptists Now Outnumber Blacks in Louisiana, Says New Study.
"Doesn't work right? The reason: Any such study would have to count black Baptists against themselves to compare overlapping categories of race and religious belief. It's like comparing organic apples with red apples.
"Now consider this headline, which The Associated Press ran Tuesday: Hispanics Now Outnumber Blacks As Largest U.S. Minority Group. Similar versions ran in papers and on web sites all over the country. Hispanics Have Edged Past Blacks As The Nation's Largest Minority Group, said The New York Times.
"Can that be true? Unlike blacks, Hispanics do not make up a racial group. They are a self-identified ethnicity, a group of people who generally trace their roots back to Latin America, Portugal, or Spain. Hispanics can be white, black, Native American, Asian, or a blend of all these racial categories. So when does an ethnicity really outnumber a racial group, particularly if both categories share some of the same members? The answer is not so clear."
An Associated Press statement defending its coverage is at the end of today's posting.
Editors Group Endorses NAHJ "Parity Project"
The American Society of Newspaper Editors has endorsed the "Parity Project" of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, in which NAHJ seeks to boost Latino employment at newspapers in small Southern and Plains cities that have experienced large increases in Latino populations, Editor & Publisher reports in its Jan. 20 print edition.
E&P said that William Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., and Mike Phillips, director of editorial development for the E.W. Scripps Co., volunteered newspapers in their chains as laboratories for the project, quoting ASNE President Diane McFarlin, president of the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune. The occasion was a "Diversity Summit" convened at the Freedom Forum in Nashville, Tenn.
Under NAHJ's five-year strategic plan, "The NAHJ will identify cities with significant Latino populations where Latinos are underrepresented in the newsrooms of local media outlets. In those cities, NAHJ will offer to work jointly with existing print and broadcast outlets, area journalism schools, foundations and Latino community leaders to develop comprehensive model programs that will increase Latino newsroom presence and influence."
Sam Logan Returning to Michigan Chronicle
Sam Logan, who founded the Michigan Front Page in Detroit after retiring as publisher of the Michigan Chronicle amid uncertainty over its ownership, is returning to the Chronicle as publisher, the Detroit News reports. His return is part of the deal under which Real Times LLC, a Chicago-based multimedia company, acquired the newspapers of Sengstacke Enterprises Inc., the nation's largest black-owned newspaper chain.
Logan said the deal ensures that the 67-year history of the Michigan Chronicle will remain, the News reported.
"It's not about Sam Logan and the rest of the investors," said Logan, who will be publisher of both the Chronicle and the weekly Front Page. "It's about the community (the newspaper) serves. The black community needs a voice, and that's our goal here. This is a passion," the News reported.
The Chronicle was the flagship newspaper of the Sengstacke newspaper chain and the company's only profitable paper, the News says.
The deal calls for the Front Page, a paper outside the Sengstacke chain, to merge with Real Times. Logan served in varying capacities at the Chronicle for more than 30 years.
Chicago Defender to Target Younger Readers
Meanwhile, Tom Picou, the new president, chairman, CEO, and editor of the Chicago Defender, guesses that the average Defender reader is over 55 years old, reports the Chicago Reader, and he says that "we're going to attract a much younger readership. We're going to put into place a number of outreach programs to involve the community."
Otis McCollum Waits to Get on Kidney List
Otis McCollum, who took a medical retirement a year and a half ago as vice president for human resources of the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, is waiting to be placed on a list for new kidney.
McCollum, 56, received a kidney transplant in Atlanta in 1992, he said, that gave out on him last year. Now he's living in Charlotte, N.C., with family nearby, using a dialysis machine three times a week.
The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group includes 15 newspapers in the South and in California. The largest are the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune, The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif., and The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. McCollum, who spent 15 years at the company, will be known to many journalists who sought work at those papers.
Getting on the kidney list "is a matter of luck and having a lot of faith, and in my case knowing that God will make it possible," he told Journal-isms. Those who know him should "just keep me in their prayers," he said. McCollum can be reached at mccollo@peoplepc.com
Fox Station Too Cozy With R. Kelly?
In a bid to maintain "exclusive access" to singer R. Kelly, who is accused of child pornography, an executive at Fox-owned Chicago television station WFLD ordered news staffers to treat Kelly with "particular care," reports columnist Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times. Feder said he had obtained an internal memo setting forth specific guidelines to avoid portraying Kelly too harshly.
He quotes the Jan. 10 memo as saying:
"FYI, we are trying to get exclusive access to R. Kelly before, during and after his upcoming trial. While we try to treat all defendants fairly, it would behoove us to take particular care in our reporting of Kelly in stories we do about him leading up to the trial. Please follow these guidelines:
- When referring to the alleged victim . . . do not specify an age . . . she is simply "underaged."
- Do not use video of him in orange jumpsuit . . . unless specifically referring to his arrest [last June] in Florida.
- Be judicious in mentioning the trial in stories about Kelly that are unrelated to his legal situation . . . i.e., don't let it be the lead."
Kelly, is awaiting trial on 21 counts of child pornography in Chicago and was arrested in Florida Wednesday on additional charges.
Shaq-Yao Matchup Scores Big in Ratings
"ESPN's NBA telecast of the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets game, featuring a matchup of the mammoth centers -- the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal (7 foot, 1 inch) and the Rockets' Yao Ming (7 foot, 6 inches) -- averaged a 3.8 rating on Friday night, Jan. 17," making it the second most-viewed regular season NBA game in cable TV history, reports Media Week.
The telecast averaged 3.3 million household impressions. The game was surpassed only by TNT's telecast in February 1996 of Magic Johnson's second game out of retirement, which was seen by 4.7 million households, according to Media Week.
The story didn't say how much the ratings were affected by publicity given O'Neal's taunting of Yao that some, including Asian American Journalists Association President Mae Cheng, denounced as racist.
FCC Holding Hearing on Media Ownership
Federal regulators are inviting the public to a hearing next month on a government review of rules that limit ownership of newspapers and radio and television stations, the Associated Press reports.
The hearing is to be held in Richmond, Va., on Feb. 27. The Federal Communications Commission "is asking the public to offer comments on how the agency can develop broadcast ownership rules that provide citizens with viewpoints from a diversity of sources and enhance the marketplace of ideas," the agency said in a statement.
An FCC news release says that members of the public may file comments electronically.
Fellows to Strategically Plan Newspaper Web Site
The Newspaper Association of America has revamped its New Media Fellowship program to go beyond teaching the basics of electronic publishing to women and minority newspaper professionals, the publishers association says.
The 10 fellows in this year's New Media Leadership Program will focus on cultivating leadership, financial and marketing skills as they develop a strategic plan for an actual newspaper Web site. The program launches at NAA's new media conference Jan. 26-29 in Orlando, Fla.
Univision Online Taking Off
"Univision Online, the Internet subsidiary of Univision Communications, which owns broadcast TV networks Univision and Telefutura, added 70 new advertisers to its client roster in 2002, increasing its ad revenues by 92 percent," Media Week reports.
"The number of advertisers appearing on Univision.com now numbers more than 100. In addition, Univision said that traffic on its Web site increased by 76 percent in 2002."
AP Statement on Its Census Coverage
Why does AP say the number of Hispanics has surpassed blacks when, if the number of people identified as ``Hispanic AND black'' is added to the number identified as just ``black,'' the total is slightly higher than those identified only as ``Hispanic.''
The short answer is we've used the non-Hispanic black figure as the population for ``blacks'' since the Census Bureau began releasing data for the 2000 head count in April 2001. We've reported repeatedly that the huge surge in Hispanics in the 1990s made that group nearly as large as blacks. Our current story . . . notes that the numbers we've used all along for Hispanics and blacks have been updated and the Hispanic figure now is larger.
More background:
The AP notified its members in March 2001 that it would follow the Census Bureau's policy in treating the Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations as ethnic categories separate and distinct from race. The decision was made to ensure that our reporting minimized confusion by remaining consistent with the Census Bureau's methodology throughout the release of data from the 2000 census. While the Census Bureau consolidated some racial and ethnic groups -- such as white and non-Hispanic and black and Hispanic -- for many statistical categories, it did not make those groupings available for all categories.
That means AP wouldn't be able to consistently report on all racial and ethnic groups as the Census Bureau released data on topics like income and home ownership.
The AP therefore decided to treat race and ethnicity as separate categories in all circumstances where they had not been grouped, and the latest story reflects that decision.
Send tips and comments to Richard Prince rprince@maynardije.org.
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