Posted July 28, 2003
Janice Min Officially Leads Us Weekly
"Janice Min, the acting editor of Us Weekly since Bonnie Fuller left abruptly last month, has been officially charged with continuing the success of the magazine, which mixes exclamation-ridden coverage of celebrities with an intense focus on the fashions of the famous," David Carr reports in the New York Times.
The news was welcomed by the Asian American Journalists Association.
“Throughout her career, Janice has been a role model and inspiration for many Asian American journalists." said Mae Cheng, AAJA president. "She will no doubt continue to be so in her new role. There are still too few Asian Americans in upper management journalism positions. So Janice's appointment is indeed good news."
Fuller, who is credited with turning around the People magazine competitor during her 16 months at Us, left for American Media, which publishes such supermarket tabloids as the National Enquirer and the Star. In her second week on the job, she splashed a copy of NBA star Kobe Bryant's accuser on the cover of the Globe, a supermarket tabloid that falls under her domain, the New York Post reported.
However, "Ms. Min's first cover -— 'It's Love!' it said of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher -— sold 541,000 copies on the newsstand, and her second, which suggested that Billy Bob Thornton was courting his ex, Angelina Jolie, sold 601,000 copies," the Times noted.
Added Seth Mnookin in Newsweek: "Min, who didn’t want to talk specifics about her working relationship with Fuller, is widely credited with being the ego to Fuller’s id. Fuller, after all, was well-known for her outrageous (and occasionally bizarre) ideas -- about halfway into her tenure at Us, she tried to gin up a big package on male movie stars’ private parts. Min wouldn’t comment on what she was working on for the future, but she did signal that Us would try to position itself as relatively upmarket in the increasingly crowded celebrity gossip field."
The appointment of Min, 33, is the second high-profile news from Asian Americans in the magazine world.
In May, the American Society of Magazine Editors presented the 2003 National Magazine Award for general excellence in the over 2 million circulation category to Parenting, edited by Janet Chan, its vice president and editor-in-chief.
Kim Godwin Out as News Director at KNBC
Kimberly Godwin, vice president and news director at KNBC-TV Los Angeles and one of the few African American women to hold such a position, has left the station "to focus on her family and pursue other opportunities," NBC executives said. Bob Long of WRC-TV in Washington, another NBC-owned station, is her replacement as vice president and news director."They are not doing as well as they have in the past," Long said in the Washington Post. "I'm going to try and fix that." KNBC, once the dominant station in Los Angeles, has settled into second place, the paper said.
Paula Madison, one of the highest ranking African Americans in television, is general manager of KNBC (and board member of the Maynard Institute). "WRC's news programming sets the standard for the Washington market, and much of the credit for that belongs to Bob Long," she told Variety. "We are thrilled to have him come back to KNBC and look forward to benefiting from his extraordinary experience and news savvy."
Godwin had been news director since fall 2001. "Among her many accomplishments, she formulated an award-winning investigative team and was instrumental in creating a fully integrated three-station newsroom," Madison said, referring to KNBC and its new Spanish-lingo siblings, KVEA and KWHY, Variety reported.
"She received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Florida A&M University and began her broadcast career in radio in Tallahassee. She became a newswriter for WTNT-AM before moving into television as an executive producer at WTXL-TV (ABC) in 1984. Since then she has held a number of positions in broadcast news, including anchor, reporter and producer. From 1998 to 2001 Godwin was the vice president/news director for KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth," the Los Angeles Business Journal reported when she was named in 2001.
In other comings, goings and honors:
Esquire: Blair's Race "Irrelevant" to Assignment
With disgraced reporter Jayson Blair receiving magazine assignments from Esquire and Jane magazines, as reported last week by the New York Post, Roy S. Johnson and other members of the National Association of Black Journalists wondered aloud whether journalists of color must discredit themselves in order to be hired by those publications."My gravest concern is this: How many other African-American writers have Esquire and Jane hired in the last year?" asked Johnson, assistant managing editor for special projects at Sports Illustrated, in a message to the NABJ e-mail list.
"My guess (and, yes, it's only a guess) would be few. Dare I say, any? If I am correct, then Esquire editor David Granger and Jane editor Jane Pratt should be ashamed (at best) and heaped with scorn (at least). I have long been an advocate for diversifying the voices of the magazine industry, but if we have to debase ourselves (as well as our fellow journalists) by becoming plagiarizers who are ridiculed by the public and chastened by our industry in order get writing assignments, then those of us who simply work toward excellence in our craft, sadly, have no shot."
Blair is to review for Esquire a new movie about Stephen Glass, who resigned from The New Republic in 1998 after faking dozens of stories for it and other magazines, as the New York Post put it.
Granger replied to the NABJ members' concerns by telling Journal-isms through a spokesman:
"Esquire has a long history of running ground-breaking articles written by and about African-Americans. Jayson Blair's race, however, was irrelevant to why he was assigned this piece. I merely thought it was an interesting idea to have one infamous fabricator comment on a movie about another infamous fabricator."
Meanwhile, James T. Madore reported Sunday in Newsday that some experts were worrying "that Blair's new assignment, along with Glass' recent gig at Rolling Stone magazine, will feed growing public skepticism about the truthfulness of news reports.
"'These people have committed the most egregious sins against journalism,' said Robert Leger, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, which represents about 10,000 nationwide. 'It doesn't make any sense that anyone would want them back, and I think it hurts us with the public," his story continued, later discussing the revived career of Mike Barnicle.
Johnson, by the way, concluded his e-mail message by saying, "if that's the lowly standard by which we are deemed acceptable to them, then perhaps we should pass -- as readers, as subscribers, as contributors. Because they, quite simply, don't meet OUR standards."
Gerald Boyd to Attend NABJ Convention
Gerald R. Boyd, who has not spoken publicly since he and his boss at the New York Times, Howell Raines, were forced to resign in June, is registered for the Aug. 6-10 convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in Dallas.
Denver Post editor Greg Moore has planned a dinner for about 30 "friends of Gerald and Robin" Stone, Boyd's wife, at a comfortable Dallas restaurant. The organization has no plans to include Boyd in the NABJ program, according to convention chair Mike Woolfolk, who said he had been told earlier that Boyd probably would not be at the convention.
Boyd, who was managing editor of the Times until he and executive editor Raines resigned on June 5, was named to the post in 2001, after having served as deputy managing editor for news since 1997. Before that, he had been assistant managing editor from 1993 until 1997.
The Times' first African American managing editor, Boyd was honored as Journalist of the Year by NABJ in 2001, nominated for that distinction by the now-infamous Jayson Blair, whose fabrications prompted the chain of events that led to the resignations of Blair, Boyd and Raines. However, it was the NABJ's board of directors that made the selection, with the nominee having no role.
While Boyd has been silent, Raines has spoken publicly about the events, appearing on the "Charlie Rose Show" on PBS on July 11.
Powell Says Critics Looking to Affect Content
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell defended his push for loosening media ownership rules today in an op-ed piece in the New York Times."Some say the problem is media concentration, and point out that only five companies control 80 percent of what we see and hear. In reality, those five companies own only 25 percent of more than 300 broadcast, satellite and cable channels, but because of their popularity, 80 percent of the viewing audience chooses to watch them," he wrote. "Popularity is not synonymous with monopoly. A competitive media marketplace must be our fundamental goal, but do we really want government to regulate what is popular?
"Much of the pressure to restrict ownership, I fear, is motivated not by worries about concentration, but by a desire to affect content. And some proposals to reduce concentration risk having government promote or suppress particular viewpoints," he wrote.
Bride Magazine Advises on Same-Sex Weddings
"After 70 years of helping brides walk down the aisle, Condé Nast's Bride's magazine has crossed a threshold of its own. Its September-October issue, on newsstands now, contains a full-page article on same-sex weddings. This is the first time that any of the five top-selling bridal magazines has published such a feature," reports the New York Times."The article, titled 'Outward Bound' and written by David Toussaint, a freelance journalist, discusses recent developments in same-sex ceremonies.
"'We looked at what was happening in the wedding industry,' says Millie Martini Bratten, the magazine's editor in chief and the editorial director of Condé Nast's Bridal Group.
"'We were hearing from various retailers that same-sex couples had become an important part of their gift registries,' Ms. Bratten said. 'And we were answering more readers' questions: `If two women were getting married, what's the appropriate attire?' "
Latin Journalists in Georgia Organize
The Georgia Association of Latin American Journalists was recently incorporated, reports Daisy Pareja of Pareja Media Match."The idea was born about a year ago. GALAJ's aim is to be a support system for students and all Latin American journalists working for Georgia's newspapers, radio, television and Internet sites.
"GALAJ's coordinator Martha Lucia Rodriguez says, 'we also want GALAJ to be there for newly arrived journalists who don't know where to start while looking for opportunities. I want to clarify that Brazilian journalists are included, which is why we are calling our association Latin American. Americans are also welcome to participate and contribute towards our goals. Members will benefit from our job bank, scholarships and seminars GALAJ wants to offer.'
"GALAJ will also cooperate and unite with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists," Pareja continues, saying that Rafael Olmeda of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the NAHJ director in the region, "has offered full support and looks forward to both associations working together. Martha Lucia Rodriguez is at periodistasdegeorgia@galaj.org."
Boston Globe Tracks Who Gets Ticketed
In a three-part series last week by Bill Dedman and Francie Latour called "Speed Trap: Who Gets a Ticket? Who Gets a Break?" the Boston Globe analyzed traffic tickets and warnings from every police department in the state. The conclusion:"On city boulevards and rural lanes, whites and women are far more likely to receive written warnings instead of tickets when stopped for identical traffic offenses."
And: "Minority officers here are at least as tough as whites on minority drivers, and sometimes tougher. . . . black officers were toughest on Latino drivers, ticketing 67 percent of Latinos, but just 47 percent of blacks. Whether the reverse is true -- for Latino officers ticketing blacks -- could not be determined because the number of those citations is too small to be statistically significant."
Dedman's series on redlining by Atlanta lending institutions won a Pulitzer Prize for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he then worked, in 1989.
Chicago Tribune Pulls Two "Boondocks" Strips
The Chicago Tribune pulled two "Boondocks" strips -- and reader representative Don Wycliff said he agrees: "We are not obligated to run strips that aren't worthy of our newsprint," he wrote."One of the offending strips poked fun at President Bush's "bring 'em on" taunt to Iraqi bitter-enders who have been killing American troops at the rate of about one a day. Lampooning Bush is legitimate, but the strip also seemed to make light of the deaths of American service members, which is not.
"The other strip used the death of singer Barry White to take a shot at one of McGruder's favorite targets, Black Entertainment Television. Except that the premise--that BET learned late of White's long illness and death--was incorrect," Wycliff wrote.
Cartoon on Bush's taunt (July 17)
NY1 Noticias Expecting to Make Small Profit
"The latest manifestation of the burgeoning Hispanic news market signed on at 8:01 p.m. June 30, when Time Warner Cable's NY1 Noticias began broadcasting on the digital tier in New York and New Jersey," reports Television Week, summing up the first 2 1/2 weeks."The content is not repurposed fare from NY1, though there are some reporters from NY1 who speak Spanish and appear on NY1 Noticias. The new channel has its own staff of nine, which shares resources with NY1 and broadcasts from the same studio.
"One of the stories covered in the first 2 1/2 weeks was a Harlem book festival whose organizer is part African American and part Puerto Rican. The report examined how the event has brought together minority writers to showcase their work, said Maritza Puello, executive producer for the channel.
"The channel also covers broader local stories. . . . The channel will break even and turn a small profit this year," Steve Paulus, senior VP and general manager for NY1, told Television Week.
Richard Prince's Book Notes -- 10 to Start Summer
Send tips and comments to Richard Prince rprince@maynardije.org.
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