Former President Lived With HIV for 20 Years
Thomas Morgan III, a reporter and editor at the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald who led the National Association of Black Journalists from 1989 to 1991, died Monday morning in Southampton, Mass., where he was visiting. His friend Sheila Stainback said he suffered a heart attack.Morgan, 56, had lived with the HIV virus, which developed into full-blown AIDS, for 20 years.
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NABJ
Thomas Morgan III |
He was inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's Hall of Fame in 2005.
"He made us a more tolerant organization,'' Marcus Mabry, then of Newsweek, said after the awards presentation. "There are those ridiculous attempts to divide. What are you black first or gay first? A human being or a child of God? The dichotomies are ridiculous."
Under Morgan's tenure as NABJ president, the association expanded its student projects to include a broadcast component, which today is known as NABJ TV, established NABJ "Short Courses," formalized its fellowships to Africa, and created the NABJ Hall of Fame, Lisa Goodnight noted in an article about the Hall of Fame induction. Morgan additionally served on the programming committee for the first Unity convention in 1994, an event that boosted NABJ membership. In 1989, when Morgan became NABJ president, the organization had about 1,900 members. At last summer's convention, it stood at 3,714.
Morgan also brought this columnist into a more active role with the organization, asking him to co-edit the organization's newspaper, the NABJ Journal, covering the association as a watchdog and journalist would. It was in the NABJ Journal, in 1991, that the "Journal-isms" column originated. The Journal remained edited by a rank-and-file member until recently.
NABJ evicted the CIA from its job fair in 1989 and did the same to the FBI in 1991 after members were outraged by being associated with the two agencies. NABJ voted in 1989 to exclude government programs from its job fair, and it was Morgan who went to the booths and asked the agencies to leave. "The FBI is not a journalism organization. It's inappropriate for them to be here," Morgan said in 1991. The FBI recruited again at the NABJ convention last summer without controversy, and the CIA was at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention.
"Morgan's singular regret was giving the New York Daily News, its workers on strike back then, NABJ's membership list," Katti Gray wrote in an NABJ series on its former presidents, "Committed to the Cause." "Not that such a move was unprincipled to him, Morgan said, but it was untimely and not very smart.
"'I was called all kinds of names. Traitor. Uncle Tom,' he said. 'When the dust cleared, a number of black journalists still wanted to work at the Daily News. We should not be in the business of telling anyone where to work.'"
Morgan served on NABJ's board of directors for 10 years, and before he was president, he was treasurer, at a time when the organization was not used to handling large sums of money. In his book "The NABJ Story," Wayne J. Dawkins describes how in 1986, Morgan "discreetly summoned four board members to his hotel room. Morgan was carrying $20,000 cash from . . . onsite convention revenues.
"He was scared. he did not have the means to secure the money in an account. A robbery or burglary at the hotel could rob NABJ of crucial funds."
"We were journalists. We knew how to write and edit, not run an organization. It was a big experiment for us," Morgan told Dawkins.
With what some called an idealized, member-service-oriented vision of NABJ, Morgan sometimes found himself at odds with leaders who followed. In 1997, for instance, he spoke out against a decision by the NABJ board, taken on the advice of its executive director and its lawyer, to erase the tapes of meetings in order to reduce the board's liability. "We are journalists, not lawyers," Morgan said. Members eventually overruled the board.
"Tom was a great servant of NABJ and a heck of a president. He was always dapper and dignified through it all. We lost a good soul and we're all going to miss his presence and friendship," Greg Moore, editor of the Denver Post and former NABJ board member, told Journal-isms.
Morgan, a St. Louis native and the oldest of four sons, was born to a father who worked for the Postal Service and a mother who was a schoolteacher. After finishing high school in 1969, he won an ROTC scholarship to the University of Missouri and, after his 1973 graduation, served as an Air Force officer until 1975.
He then went to the Miami Herald, and spent six years reporting and editing at the Washington Post. In 1983, Morgan went on to the New York Times, where he was a reporter, editor and took a turn on the business side. He was a Nieman fellow from 1989 to 1990.
When he retired in 1995, the Times created the Thomas Morgan Internships in Graphics, Design and Photography.
"He was always, always a gentleman. Just kind and sympathetic and thoughtful," Times Senior Editor Sheila Rule, who administers the program, told Journal-isms. Rule said she had known Morgan since she was 14, in St. Louis, and credited Morgan with boosting her career at the Times.
When Morgan was on the metro desk in 1984, he assigned Rule a nontraditional Easter story. He suggested that she follow around a black family. After the piece appeared, A.M. Rosenthal, the editor, complimented her on the piece and before too long she was a correspondent in Africa.
Stainback said funeral arrangements have yet to be made. Among his survivors are his partner, Thomas Ciano, of Brooklyn, N.Y., where they lived. Ciano sent word that contributions in Morgan's name would be welcome at Gay Men's Health Crisis.
In the May 1995 issue of the NABJ Journal, Audrey Edwards asked Morgan why he wanted to be interviewed.
"I wanted a chance to share with the NABJ membership my hopes for the future. And I want members to know that AIDS is a disease no different than things like breast cancer or prostate cancer. It is simply a disease. We are all mortal, and we will all die of something," he said.
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NABJ loses friend, mentor and advocate Thomas Morgan III (NABJ)
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Keith Boykin, keithboykin.com: Remembering Tom Morgan
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Associated Press:
First openly gay president of Black Journalists group dies
[Dec. 26]
- Margalit Fox, New York Times: Thomas Morgan, a Journalist and Activist, Dies at 56
[Dec. 27]
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Brandon Bain, Newsday: Thomas Morgan III, journalist, past NABJ president
[Dec. 28]
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Joe Holley, Washington Post: Thomas Morgan, Journalist
[Dec. 29]
Feedback: Morgan Was Wind Beneath the Wings
In 2000 at NABJ (Phoenix), I had the privilege of paying tribute in song to the Founders and Presidents of NABJ. Tom was there—front and center. At a point during my rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings," I left the stage and came into the audience to shake some of their hands and thank them face to face without the distraction of the stagelights. Of course, there was Sidmel [Estes-Sumpter], one of my first bosses in the business. There was Vanessa Williams, whose invitation for me to sing the year prior availed me this opportunity to pay homage one year later for this special occasion. I even got a glimpse of mentor and former NABJ VP-Broadcast Sheila Stainback, whose support of me since being one of the NABJ babies in 1991 has been unyielding.But then I approached Tom —to ensure he received and felt my THANKS for all he was to me. The song's lyric was landing on ". . . Did you ever know that you're my hero? You're everything I wish I could be . . ." I recall getting choked up as his eyes began to well. I know he got it.
I would be able to recall that moment with him last year. I shared with him that during his term, I was a college senior —not yet out of the closet — and internally tortured as to how I would marry my truth to my career. I admired the sterling example that he set for us all and knew that one day I would be courageous enough to live out loud— with integrity and grace. Six or so years later, I did and continue to look at Tom's model for how I navigate throughout this industry. And I am blessed that I got the chance to share all of this and more with Tom (who told me he always knew. SMILE!). For sure, I "Thank God for (Tom), The Wind Beneath my Wings."
Patrick Riley
New York
A Loving Friend and Mentor
Even though I knew that eventually God would call him home, we always joked about how we would sit out on the porch, with no teeth and rocking chairs to talk about the "good ole days of NABJ". He was my brother, Sidney's godfather . . . and a true kindred spirit. Our industry has lost a great voice and I have lost a loving friend and mentor who paved the way for me to become NABJ president. I will miss his smile and his guidance . . . but he will always remain in my heart and the hearts of my children and all NABJ members.Sidmel Estes-Sumpter President, BreakThrough Inc. Talent Representative, Drew Berry and Associates Media Manager, Frederick Douglass Family Foundation Atlanta
A Pioneer and a Hero
Tom Morgan was a pioneer and a hero; a first-rate journalist and a first-class man. His courage as a black gay man at a time when homophobia was rampant among even so-called enlightened black journalists was inspirational.He and I knew each other while I was at the New York Times Book Review, and we worked together when I was active in the New York local chapter of NABJ. Tom made me laugh and he made me think; he was always an encourager, and was one of the first people I told, not only when I was thinking of writing my memoir, but when I was moving out of journalism and into the liberal ministry. We lost touch over the years, but I never forgot Tom and I never will. May the Spirit of All Life bless and keep him, now and always.
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, Senior Minister The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York UUA Trustee, Metropolitan NY District New York
He Invited You Along for the Ride
We will all miss Tom Morgan, the consummate journalist and NABJ leader. But I will miss Tom Morgan the good friend most of all.Tom had a joie de vivre. He played bid whist with gusto. Going to a restaurant with Tom was great because he would urge you to be adventuresome and order with abandon.
He always invited you along for the ride. If he was at Harvard, you were there, too. If he was in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, you were there, too (or at the very least, your $20 for betting). If he, along with the NABJ leadership, was meeting with top industry executives, he would make sure you were in the room.
Tom and his partner Tom graciously opened their home to me for meals, drinks and just plain-old fashioned fun. I have many fond memories of the times we had.
After Tom told me he was HIV positive, I had a moment of clarity. I had always wondered why he was in such a rush — NABJ treasurer, NABJ president, Washington Post, New York Times, and Nieman Fellow. Tom always seemed to be in a hurry to make it to the next level. I realized he wanted to experience it all while he could.
Tom Morgan is never far away from me. On a wall in my office, there is a post card announcing the publication of Wayne Dawkins' "Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream." One of the photos on the card is of Tom, at some NABJ dinner I bet. He is wearing a bow tie. I guess I forgot to mention Tom was a fashionista before it was cool.
We are better people and better journalists because of Tom Morgan. And we will always be there with a hand extended to help the next generation of journalists of color. That's what Tom would have expected. No, that's what Tom would have demanded.
Pamela Moreland
Assistant Managing Editor
San Jose Mercury News
Dec. 27, 2007
Fun-Loving, Inquisitive and Elegant
We were friends and classmates at University of Missouri's J-School and, happily, our paths crossed several times later (Washington Post, Nieman). He was fun-loving, inquisitive and elegant, even in Mizzou's disheveled newsroom. He was one of the journalists who put so much back into our profession. He will be missed, remembered and thanked for the many others he helped along the way.
Margaret Engel
Managing Editor
The Newseum
Washington
Dec. 29, 2007
MESSAGE BOARDS: Feel free to e-mail Richard Prince to comment about Tom Morgan, indicating whether the comment may be published.
Deron Snyder Moves from Sports to Editorial Page
After 22 years "in the so-called 'toy department,'" Deron Synder, sports columnist at Gannett's Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, told readers on Monday he has been reassigned."My new job entails writing editorials, serving on our Editorial Board and helping readers form communities on news-press.com," he wrote.
"On the surface, such a position deals with issues far greater and more serious than sports. Sports seems like fun-and-games compared to the life-and-death of politics, education, poverty and crime," he continued.
"In actuality, though, sports encompasses that grave stuff, too.
"I chose to cover sports for a living because I figured it was the next-best thing to playing, providing a role in the game as a bridge between fans and athletes. After two decades as a conduit, I've learned the gap isn't nearly as wide as most folks think.
"Sports is entertaining, but hardly an escape. There are too many other people involved — whether you're a fan, athlete or media —to lose sight of real life.
". . . The compliments I cherish most have come from women who aren't big sports fans, yet say they enjoy my column. That means I've been successful in conveying that people —not games — make sports go round."
Susan L. Taylor Leaving Essence
Icon for Black Women to Focus on Mentoring Effort
Susan L. Taylor, the driving force behind Essence magazine since she became its editor in chief in 1981, is leaving the magazine to build her Essence Cares mentoring movement, "a call to action for every able Black adult to take under wing a vulnerable young person."
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| Susan L. Taylor, left, helped with the Essence Initiative for Families, for those victimized by Hurricane Katrina. |
"I am taking a break in South Africa and will have little access to email. When I come back to the States in mid-January, I will be leaving Essence to do what at this juncture in my life has become a larger work for me —building the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which I founded as Essence Cares and today is my deepest passion.
"With mentoring I see light shining at the end of a long dark tunnel. There is a chance that if I devote more time and space in my life to learning and working with the growing number of community leaders throughout the nation who are organizing local Cares mentoring efforts, such a movement will succeed in doing what political will and public policy have not done: give our children in peril a chance to develop the extraordinary in themselves."
Taylor, a grandmother who turns 62 on Jan. 23, is editorial director of Essence, the nation's largest magazine for black women. It has a circulation of 1,066,245, and Taylor writes the inspirational "In the Spirit" column each month. She has been editorial director for six years, and before that was editor-in-chief for 19 years.
The mentoring program is a partnership with the National Urban League, 100 Black Men of America, the Links, Inc., and the YWCA. "She lives it and breathes it," and feels she needs to work at it full time, Taylor's friend Terrie M. Williams, told Journal-isms. Williams is a public relations practitioner, mental health advocate and author of "Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting," to be published in January.
"She has put probably 10 young people with very, very distressed lives through college. You wouldn't know this, because she doesn't talk about it," Williams said.
In recent years, Taylor has been in the news for her efforts to bring relief to Hurricane Katrina victims and for the mentoring program.
Three weeks after Katrina barreled ashore in August 2005, current Essence Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray, Taylor and Essence Communications President Michelle Ebanks were on a plane to Houston, toting a $250,000 donation from the Time-Warner Foundation, the charitable arm of Essence's parent company, Newhouse News Service wrote at the time.
"The women met with New Orleans evacuees, some of whom were likely grooving to Kanye West and Destiny's Child just two months before in the Superdome during the 2005 Essence Music Fest," the story said.
After the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans last July, Taylor wrote that the event "was a grand success, contributed more than $120 million to the city and raised the hope and spirits of our people throughout the region. While there, Tommy Dortch and I, our spouses Carole Dortch and Khephra Burns, Marcia and Michael Eric Dyson and PR guru Terrie Williams met privately with Mayor Ray Nagin about the deplorable and shameful conditions that the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are still suffering under, the obstacles the mayor has faced in trying to marshal resources for the recovery and the actions we all can and must take on August 29, the second anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"There must be a national outcry, a day of outrage, a day of protest, [prayer] and possibility that the media cannot ignore; a day during which we demand that our national decision makers redirect our tax dollars away from war and war profiteering to create a regional Marshall Plan that restores New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," she wrote.
The Katrina experience might have been the impetus for Essence Cares, another friend said. As one who came through the Black Power movement of the late 1960s, Taylor came to realize that the key to realizing its potential was reclaiming troubled children. "She just wants to get to the heart of that," this friend said. "It's a gift for us," the friend said of Taylor's move.
At an appearance at Florida A&M University in February, Taylor said she wanted to register 2.5 million students in Essence Cares.
Taylor showed a public service announcement for the mentoring program that featured such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, Diddy, Danny Glover, Spike Lee and Harry Belafonte, Driadonna Roland wrote on Black College Wire.
Taylor was the founder of her own company, Nequai Cosmetics, before becoming Essence's fashion and beauty editor for the magazine in 1970, the year it was founded. In 1981, she became its editor-in-chief. In 1986, she was named vice president of Essence Communications Inc., the magazine's parent company.
She is the author of "In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor," "Lessons in Living" and with her husband, "Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives."
"I'm also excited to share with you that I will be on tour for my new book out in February, All About Love (Urban Books). The volume contains my and Essence readers' favorite In the Spirit columns, which I've polished and expanded," she says in her e-mail message.
MESSAGE BOARDS: Feel free to e-mail Richard Prince about this column.
PR Has Own Diversity Issues
Survey Finds Industry "Has a Problem"
"'We all know the US is becoming much more of a melting pot,' says MaryLee Sachs, chairman of Hill & Knowlton USA. Why, then, she asks, does the PR industry remain a step behind?" Randi Schmelzer writes in the Dec. 17 issue of PR Week. |
PR Week
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Schmelzer's piece continues, "To address that question, the fifth annual PRWeek/Hill & Knowlton Diversity Survey again polled PR and HR executives to examine the state of diversity in their own firms and corporate communications departments. And if responses to this year's survey are an accurate indication, Sachs is but one of many PR pros in search of an answer.
"The survey polled 139 agency practitioners and 111 communications pros from corporations or private companies. According to the results, 49.5% of PR pros working in corporate communications — and 60.4% of those on the agency side — feel the PR industry 'has a problem with lack of diversity' in the workforce. While that may seem disheartening, the majority of respondents say, too, that 'the commitment of senior management to taking action' is high.
"Still, Sachs says, 'We're not seeing a lot of change.'"
The survey showed that "58.3% of agency executives and 44.1% of those in corporate communications are still not satisfied with the level of ethnic diversity represented in their current staffs. That means the industry must make a renewed commitment to take action, from the top down.
". . . Whether it begins in high school or college, survey respondents agree that the industry could do a better job of early, sustained outreach to students of diverse backgrounds. To that end, bolstering relationships with colleges and universities with diverse student populations has become a priority for agencies and corporate communications departments alike.
". . . Incredibly, 40.3% of agency executives surveyed — and 59.5% of those on the corporate side — reported their businesses do not look to schools 'for recruitment of an ethnically diverse range of candidates.'
"Those that do, however, are stepping up outreach to universities with ethnically diverse populations. Corporate outreach to these schools, in fact, has seen a significant jump, from 33.6% in 2006 to 43.2% this year. Among respondents representing PR firms, 46% reported that they reach out to ethnically diverse colleges and associations, as opposed to 38.5% in 2006.
"According to the survey, some PR pros feel ongoing retention activities — competitive salaries, clearly defined career paths, in-house education programs, and strong mentoring programs, among others — can help to address and alleviate these difficulties.
"Ultimately, though, it may be clients, more than organized outreach and retention efforts, that stimulate the most movement.
"As clients and large companies become more diverse and global, the workforce on the agency side will be pushed to reflect those organizations, survey respondents report. And not just in terms of ethnic diversity, but from a cultural perspective, as well.
"'It's up to the leadership of an agency to say this is where we need to start focusing to remain competitive five years from now, even two years from now,' says David Kassnoff, manager of community affairs and former manager of communications for global diversity at Rochester, NY-based Eastman Kodak Company."
In another related field, "People of color are 18 percent of the work force and 11 percent of management at advertising agencies, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is far behind the national average (31.5 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively) and their representation in The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity . . ., where people of color are 35 percent of the work force and 24.4 percent of management," Jennifer Millman wrote Thursday in DiversityInc.
The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in March that the percentage of minority journalists in U.S. daily newsrooms was 13.62 percent in the ASNE annual newsroom census.
Millman noted that Omnicom Group, the largest owner of ad agencies, announced on Monday it would pledge $1.25 million to diversity efforts over five years.
"It's a good start, but for the $11.4-billion company, it's just a drop in the bucket. Can a $190-billion industry that has been one of the worst of all time in terms of diversity 'get it' by investing 0.01 percent of its total revenue on the subject?" Millman wrote. "It's unlikely."
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Feedback at end of today's posting
ESPN Bulking Up as Part of Larger Strategy
Readers of this column are familiar with the parade of black journalists leaving newspapers for ESPN. At the New York Times, now down to one black sports journalist at a paper that just a few years ago had at least six, Times Sports Editor Tom Jolly told Journal-isms in September, "I should credit ESPN and Sports Illustrated for doing a great job with diversity." He said the two organizations, which have hired reporters from his department, "have an ability to pay a lot more than we do." |
| Larry Starks |
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| Rob King |
"To remain the self-proclaimed 'Worldwide Leader in Sports,' the network is bulking up on content that is harder to duplicate. Rather than just introducing game video, the idea is to serve up breaking news and expert analysis, aggressively blanketing TV, the Internet, the magazine and even cellphones. In the new Internet-fed landscape, a two-minute video can be just as important. And the ESPN brand isn't enough — it needs individual go-to names like Mr. Reilly," a reference to columnist Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated, "or ESPN's existing Web star, 'Sports Guy' columnist Bill Simmons.
"'As more money moves towards the Internet, you're going to have to have talent,' says John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president for content. 'The talent is going to have to come from traditional media.'"
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| Claire Smith |
"'It's like they're running all over the sports landscape trying to money-whip everybody into their barn,' says Terry McDonell, editor of Sports Illustrated."
In September, the Walter Kaitz Foundation honored ESPN with its annual Diversity Champion award.
Among the black former print journalists now at ESPN are Rob King, editor in chief of ESPN.com, who had been deputy managing editor/visuals and sports for the Philadelphia Inquirer; Bryant; Starks; Chadiha; Jemele Hill, former Orlando Sentinel columnist; Stephen A. Smith and Claire Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer; J.A. Adande, former Los Angeles Times columnist; and Michael Wilbon of "Pardon the Interruption," who remains a Washington Post columnist.
Zell Promises Sweeping Change at Tribune Co.
"Billionaire Sam Zell on Thursday closed the deal Wall Street thought he never could, stepping in as chairman and chief executive of a newly private Tribune Co. and promising sweeping change in how the beleaguered Chicago-based media conglomerate is managed," Michael Oneal reported Friday in the Chicago Tribune. |
| Sam Zell |
"'I'm here to tell you the transaction from hell is done,' Zell said at a press conference held Thursday afternoon at Chicago's iconic Tribune Tower. 'As far as I'm concerned, today is a brave new world.'
"Zell sought to drive home that point after he got word about noon that the money to fund his $8.2 billion bid to end Tribune's 24-year run as a public company had finally cleared the banks.
"An e-mail arrived promptly in employees' inboxes imploring them to 'shed all the things that tied us down in the past.' Zell himself swept through the Chicago Tribune newsroom in his trademark jeans and open-neck shirt to press the flesh with employees who will be his Tribune co-owners in a complex structure featuring an employee stock ownership plan."
The word "diversity" was not mentioned in any of the coverage of Zell's takeover, and Zell appointed a new board of directors that, unlike the previous one, appeared not to include any people of color.
But one Tribune executive said privately that Zell has noted the importance of editorial relevancy on at least a couple occasions, and that diversity is a core "Tribune value." Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman did not respond to telephone calls from Journal-isms.
As reported in April, Zell's arrival could mark the end of a long period of cutbacks and uncertainty at Tribune Co. papers — which include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Newsday and Hartford (Conn.) Courant— that has taken its toll on diversity at the papers. Tribune also owns 23 television stations, among other properties.
Randy Michaels, a longtime Zell associate who is now Tribune's executive vice president and CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting, indicated the Baltimore Sun, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and Daily Press of Newport News, Va., will serve as a lab of sorts for Internet experiments, Phil Rosenthal reported on Friday in the Chicago Tribune.
"Shaking hands like a seasoned politician, Zell at least momentarily energized a Chicago Tribune newsroom worn down by dour industry projections and word of cutbacks throughout the media world. His visit was like a first date, when everything is possible and no one has been let down," Rosenthal wrote. "By the time Zell and his team are through, nothing may look much like their traditional businesses."
Doctors List Top Underreported Humanitarian Stories
"People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere often went |
© Juan Carlos Tomasi
Graciela and her family are among millions of Colombians who fled their homes to escape fighting between government, rebel and paramilitary forces, Doctors Without Borders said. |
"The 2007 list also highlights the plight of people living through other forgotten crises, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Chechnya, where the displacement by war of millions continues. It also focuses on the ongoing toll of medical catastrophes like tuberculosis (TB) and childhood malnutrition.
"The complete text of the list is available at www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/topten/
" 'Certainly, many members of the press go to great lengths to report on what is taking place in conflict zones around the world,' said Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of MSF-USA. 'But millions of people trapped in war, forced from their homes, and lacking the most basic medical care, do not receive attention commensurate with their plight.'
"MSF began producing the 'Top Ten' list in 1998 when a devastating famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in the U.S. media. . . . Often, media attention is critical for generating and improving responses.
"According to Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the online media-tracking journal, 'The Tyndall Report,' the countries and contexts highlighted by MSF on this year's list accounted for just 18 minutes of coverage on the three major U.S. television networks' nightly newscasts from January through November 2007."
The top 10 are: "Displaced fleeing war in Somalia face humanitarian crisis"; "Political and economic turmoil sparks health-care crisis in Zimbabwe"; "Drug-resistant tuberculosis spreads as new drugs go untested"; "Expanded use of nutrient dense ready-to-use foods crucial for reducing childhood malnutrition"; "Civilians increasingly under fire in Sri Lankan conflict."
Also: "Conditions worsen in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo"; "Living precariously in Colombia's conflict zones"; "Humanitarian aid restricted in Myanmar" (also known as Burma); "Civilians caught between armed groups in Central African Republic"; and "As Chechen Conflict Ebbs, Critical Humanitarian Needs Still Remain."
Congress Strengthens Freedom of Information Act
The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan reforms to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) sent over from the Senate, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said on Wednesday."This is the most significant victory for transparency in the federal government in more than a decade," Executive Director Lucy Dalglish said in a statement. "There is still much work to be done, but this is a major step toward a more open and accountable democracy."
"The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act, or OPEN Government Act (S. 2488), emphasizes FOIA deadlines and creates penalties for federal agencies that fail to respond to records requests. The act also develops a tracking system for individual information requests, creates an ombudsman to mediate information disputes and makes it easier to recover attorney's fees when requesters are forced to file suit to get records," the committee said.
Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, one of 10 media groups that lobbied for passage, said, "this isn't just a victory for journalists; it's a victory for every single member of the American public. This legislation will eliminate some of the lengthy delays and persistent backlogs in the FOIA process that create obstacles and limit the public's ability to make informed choices in their communities."
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Richardson Responds to Sunshine Campaign Survey; Democrat Says He Will
Roll Back 'Obsessive Secrecy' (Sunshine Week)
Candidates Differ on Terms Used for Immigrants
When Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, "complained recently about Republicans overheating the |
hillaryclinton.com
Hillary Clinton has used the phrase "illegal immigrant" during her presidential campaign. |
"For the most part, Democrats prefer to call those here without authorization 'undocumented' — the preferred term of Hispanic and immigrant rights groups. Most Republicans are comfortable with the adjective 'illegal,' coupled either with 'alien' or 'immigrant,' and some Republican candidates will just call them 'illegals.'
"A middle-ground phrase — 'unauthorized immigrant'— is gaining in use among those who study the issue, though it hasn't broken into the political debate yet."
But Democratic candidates occasionally will go off-message: Sen. Barack Obama used "illegal alien" twice in the Democrats' CNN debate last month, and "both he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have used the phrase 'illegal immigrant,'" the story said. "And Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, has used the term 'illegals' in a debate.
"Among Republican hopefuls, Rep. Tom Tancredo and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney both have used 'illegal alien' during debates, and Mr. Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani have used 'illegals.'
"As Mr. Giuliani's stance has stiffened, so has his terminology.
"Last year, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists issued a statement objecting to using 'alien' because 'it casts them as adverse, strange beings, inhuman outsiders who come to the U.S. with questionable motivations.'
"The Washington Times style is to use 'illegal alien' except when quoting directly, but other papers shy away from the term, and still others use terms interchangeably, including illegal immigrant."
Clinton, Obama Debate Who Gets Worse Coverage
Sen. Hillary Clinton's "senior advisers have grown convinced that the media deck is stacked against them, that their candidate is drawing far harsher scrutiny than Barack Obama. And at least some journalists agree," Howard Kurtz wrote Wednesday in the Washington Post."'She's just held to a different standard in every respect,' says Mark Halperin, Time's editor at large. 'The press rooted for Obama to go negative, and when he did he was applauded. When she does it, it's treated as this huge violation of propriety.' While Clinton's mistakes deserve full coverage, Halperin says, 'the press's flaws — wild swings, accentuating the negative — are magnified 50 times when it comes to her. It's not a level playing field.'
"Newsweek's Howard Fineman says Obama's coverage is the buzz of the presidential campaign. 'While they don't say so publicly because it's risky to complain, a lot of operatives from other campaigns say he's getting a free ride, that people aren't tough enough on Obama,' Fineman says. 'There may be something to that. He's the new guy, an interesting guy, a pathbreaker and trendsetter perhaps.'
"Obama spokesman Bill Burton says the accusation of softer treatment is untrue but 'the Clinton campaign whines about it so much, it becomes part of the chatter. No candidate in this race has undergone more investigations and examinations than Barack Obama has,' he says, citing lengthy pieces in the Chicago Tribune and New York Times. 'As Obama says, running against the Clintons is not exactly a cakewalk. Their research operation has ensured that if there's any information about Obama to be had, it's been distributed to the media.'
"The question, of course, is what journalists do with that information."
On CBS' Public Eye Web site, Brian Montopoli wrote on Monday, "On Friday, in an interview with the New York Times, Obama neatly summed up the prevailing press narrative about his campaign.
"'A month ago, I was an idiot,' he said, according to a story published Sunday. 'This month, I'm a genius.'
"The implication is that the chattering classes have reversed their opinion about Obama even though the candidate himself hasn't much changed. And while his statement may be something of an exaggeration, there's clearly some truth in it. Has Obama really become a better candidate after spending much of the campaign as a bumbler? Or does the press corps now see him that way simply because he has moved up in the polls?"
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Monroe Anderson, ebonyjet.com:
Voice Your Choice
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Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader:
Black voters have a choice to make
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Brad A. Greenberg, Jewish Journal:
Muslim Americans Feel Snubbed in Presidential Race
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Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated:
Obama Surge Stalls with Latinos
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Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe:
Clinton's shenanigans
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Jerry Large, Seattle Times:
The body politic's shifty mind
- Dwight Lewis, Nashville Tennessean:
'We're in this thing to win,' Obama tells journalists
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Ana Menendez, Miami Herald:
Rubio's nod to Huckabee is puzzling
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Ruben Navarrette, San Diego Union-Tribune:
No holy war in the heartland
- Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune:
Huckabee vs. income taxes? It's no contest
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David Roybal, Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal:
Richardson Not a Given in VP Role
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Albor Ruiz, New York Daily News:
GOP hopefuls run in a hypocrisy derby
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Marisa Trevino, Latina Lista blog:
Tancredo's Withdrawal from the Republican Presidential Race Didn't
Come Soon Enough
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Ron Walters, National Newspaper Publishers Association:
The OprahBama Phenomenon
ESPN's Stuart Scott to Undergo Chemotherapy
"ESPN anchor Stuart Scott is returning to work less than a month after an emergency appendectomy discovered a malignancy that will result in Scott undergoing chemotherapy this winter," ESPN.com reported on Thursday. |
WMAQ-TV
Stuart Scott interviewed by Chicago's WMAQ-TV at this year's Super Bowl. |
"Scott was in Pittsburgh for a Nov. 26 game between the Steelers and Miami when he became ill.
"'Talk about a shocker,' Scott said. 'But I feel good, am in great hands medically and the doctors are confident they got all the bad stuff. I'm not the type of guy to let this eat up my life. I've got strong faith and family and friends who are tackling this with me. I can't find the words to express how much I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers. I probably won't be able to get back to you all; but know it means a ton.'"
"Scott will host Friday night's ESPN NBA coverage, and lead the coverage of ABC's Christmas Day studio show."
Short Takes
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In her Indian Country Today column Friday, Native American activist
and columnist Suzan Shown Harjo awarded
her "Mantle of Shame" honors. The Associated Press was among the
recipients, partly "for erroneously reporting that
Makah hunters used a machine gun to kill a gray whale" off Washington
state, "which made a
complex, tragic situation a dangerous one for the entire Makah Tribe
and all Native peoples. The
false report
of Sept. 8 machine-gunning
both ignited an anti-Indian firestorm and made reasoned discourse on
Makah traditional whaling nearly impossible," the column said. The AP corrected the
error. "AP strives hard to be accurate at all times.
When we do make a mistake,
we are committed to correcting it just as soon as we become aware of
it," Mike Silverman, the AP's senior managing editor, told Journal-isms.
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"Journalism professor Neil Henry has agreed to be the interim dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, hoping to calm the school's turbulent times," Matt Krupnick reported Thursday in the San Jose Mercury News. "Henry was a finalist for the job earlier this year when Dianne Lynch, dean of Ithaca College's communications school, agreed to succeed former Dean Orville Schell at Berkeley. She pulled out of the job — for the second time — last month without a public explanation. In an e-mail this week to students, faculty and alumni, Henry said he no longer wanted the job permanently, but had agreed to lead the school for up to 18 months."
Neil Henry
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"The National Association of Hispanic Journalists condemns
the Federal Communications Commission's decision this week to allow
media companies to own newspapers and television/radio stations in the
country's top 20 markets, a move that relaxed the 30-year-old ban on
newspaper-broadcast cross ownership," NAHJ
said
in a statement Thursday. "NAHJ calls for the U.S. Congress to reverse
the FCC's decision, as they did in 2003. The FCC's
move, NAHJ believes, opens the door to
increased media consolidation, the loss of more journalism jobs, and
less diversity of voices telling the news and serving the public
interest."
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"Attorneys for former CNN anchor/reporter Marina
Kolbe have filed a motion, in U.S. District Court in Georgia, for a
new trial against CNN. It was last month that a jury ruled against
Kolbe, who says CNN practiced race and age discrimination when
choosing not to renew her contract in 2003," the TV Newser Web site reported
on Thursday.
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Radio host Don Imus, now based at New York's WABC radio, will donate
$250,000 toward a Harlem building that is being billed
as the city's first completely green primary care facility, Newsday
reported
on Tuesday. "Imus and his wife, Deirdre Imus, are helping to raise funds for the
$12 million project in East Harlem, a neighborhood with one of the
highest rates of hospitalization for pediatric asthma in the nation," the story said.
Some Imus fans are not happy.
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Joseph Martin, the
editor of the tribally owned newspaper of the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who was given an "involuntary
transfer" out of his job, says he is
starting an independent newspaper for Eastern Band
Cherokees. Martin, editor of the Cherokee One Feather, was cited for stating his personal opinion in the
Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times while mentioning his
tribal position. The Native American Journalists Association on
Friday expressed "grave
concerns" about the transfer. Referring to Chief Mitchell Hicks,
Martin told Journal-isms, "Just
prior to my termination I had written columns in both
the One Feather and the Asheville Citizen-Times
critical of Hicks' interfering in the editorial
process, a direct violation of the tribe's free press
act." He said he will likely seek a small-business loan to start the
new newspaper.
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The Chicago Tribune Foundation announced
that on Nov. 7, its board of directors approved $92,500 in civic and
journalism grants that support diversity through
internships for hands-on journalism experience for young journalists
or professional development for established
journalists. Among the recipients are the Asian American Journalists
Association,
the National Association of Black Journalists, the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American
Journalists Association.
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Two months after Dallas reporter Rebecca Aguilar was
suspended indefinitely after viewer complaints that she appeared insensitive to the plight of the subject of a story, Fox News is still investigating the situation, a Fox spokeswoman told Journal-isms on Friday. The suspension prompted an outcry from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators and other groups. Aguilar was NAHJ's "Broadcast Journalist of the Year."
Rebecca Aguilar
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"With all of the recent debate on religion in politics, CNN's Roland Martin hosts a holiday edition of
'What Would Jesus Really Do?' as he takes a look at the presidential political landscape to ponder how
Jesus Christ might respond," the network said. The show, which was to air on Friday, repeats on Monday,
Dec. 24, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
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Americans are missing out because no major cable or satellite company
will carry Al Jazeera English, Souheila Al-Jadda argued
Friday in USA Today. "What makes AJE distinct, said Dave Marash, news
anchor at AJE's
Washington bureau and a former correspondent for ABC News 'Nightline,'
is its coverage. He said mainstream Western TV networks concentrate
their resources on news gathering in North America, Western Europe,
Israel and Japan. 'What makes us different is that we focus about
70%-75% of our news
gathering resources everywhere else: South America, Africa, Asia, and
the Middle East,' Marash told me. 'The point of view is very much
south looking north rather than north looking south.'" The station can
be viewed
on the Internet.
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"A new video, purporting to come from al Qaeda, has invited journalists
to send questions to the organisation's number two, Ayman al Zawahri,"
Britain's Sky News reported
on Thursday. "If genuine, it represents the first such offer by the
terror network to interview one of its leaders since the attacks of
September 11, 2001. Al Qaeda's media operation has become increasingly
sophisticated and
professional over recent months."
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Popular TV host Carlos Otero, who defected from Cuba to the United
States on Monday, has landed a gig on the local Spanish-language cable station
WJAN America Te Ve, Laura Wides-Munoz reported
from Miami Wednesday for the Associated Press.
"That means Otero will still be visible to thousands of Cubans, mostly
in Havana, who have managed to obtain contraband satellite dishes."
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Reporters Without Borders called on the Iraqi authorities Wednesday to
investigate the circumstances in which Ali Shafeya
Al-Moussawi, a correspondent of the news Web site Alive in Baghdad, was
killed on Dec. 14. "Aged 23, Moussawi was founded dead in his home in
the northeast
Baghdad district of Habibiya after an Iraqi military raid on his
street. According to an autopsy, he was shot 31 times in the head and
chest," the organization said.
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"Two men were sentenced yesterday to 35
years in prison for the murder of Costa Rican journalist Parmenio
Medina, a popular radio host who was shot dead outside his home in
July 2001. The Committee to Protect Journalists hails the conviction
as a step forward in the fight against impunity," the organization
said on Thursday.
Feedback on Public Relations: It's About Bloodlines
The story by Randi Schmelzer in PR Week is a nice, passive, journalistic bit of pabulum. She never got to the meat of this tender subject. She didn't even imply what the real problem is in the industry. It's got nothing to do with the crap-screen that the industry put up to deflect its shortcomings. This is about protecting BLOODLINES.My years in the business in New York were the most dynamic in terms of work and success. Here were numerous opportunities to greatly influence America with messages by subtly presenting diverse lifestyles. Had it not been for my late boss, Billy Davis, you would have never seen or heard a black person drinking Coca-Cola. He was the musical creator of "I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony." It was the best damned diversity message of the 20th century and it worked. Well, when I came to his shop by 1980 - I wound up writing and producing the beer and malt liquor ads, and yeah (shamefully), images of diversity in this category were no problem.
Didn't complain about the ending, but you could easily tell from several of the big industry people I interacted with, theirs was sacred ground for hand-groomed relatives and friends of family who worked on major product lines. That's why the PR/advertising industry in many ways has the most expansive failure record of campaigns. And clients who pay for this walk around in a daze wondering why the bills are so big. Lot of red ink flows in that industry.
It's about BLOODLINES, nothing more— that's why industry reps who were called in to testify in New York (remember the last two years?) were slow to respond to subpoenas and all got lawyers.
At the end of the day, don't expect this industry to change one percentage point. The fact that Jennifer Millman pointed out that the Omnicon investment of $1.2 million into the diversity issue is a "drop in the bucket" for the single largest owner of ad agencies is more evidence of the obvious. You and I both know Omnicon defrays that expense from taxes. Diversity is bump on their broad backside.
If the New York investigations had asked for— no — subpoenaed the top 100 agencies' personnel records and asked a few key questions, they would have uncovered the century-old manner in which the industry operated. Remember, this stuff started back with family dynasties, or what they called companies: Fords, Rockefellers, etc.
The PR/Ad industry is defiant and ain't changing for nobody until they are called out on this issue: Protecting Bloodlines.
Tom M. Jones
Former producer, McCann Erickson, N.Y.
Raleigh, N.C.
Dec. 22, 2007
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