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Sports Journalism Institute
In a diversity initiative of the Associated Press Sports Editors, members of the Sports Journalism Institute Class of 2008 huddle around Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon at Tropicana Field. The students spent the day at the ballpark to give them the experience of covering a professional baseball beat. A new survey of APSE members shows 87 percent of sports reporters are white. |
Group's Second Survey Awards "F" on Gender
A report on the diversity at newspaper sports departments and sports Web sites shows that "in 2008, 94 percent of the sports editors, 89 percent of the assistant sports editors, 88 percent of our columnists, 87 percent of our reporters and 89 percent of our copy editors/designers are white, and those same positions are 94, 90, 94, 91 and 84 percent male."The survey. released Thursday, is the second performed for the Associated Press Sports Editors by Richard Lapchick and his Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
The results confirm that sports departments are slightly whiter than are newspaper newsrooms overall. The latest survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors put journalists of color at 13.52 percent, meaning whites were 86.5 percent. In 2006, ASNE noted, the U.S. was 66 percent white who are not Hispanic and minorities were 34 percent, according to the census bureau.
"The APSE websites and newspapers received a grade of C for racial hiring practices and an F for gender hiring practices in the key positions covered in the 2008 study. Grades were not issued for the 2006 Report Card," a news release said.
"In framing the results, Lapchick asked, 'Is the coverage of athletes and sports in the media fair and accurate when women and people of color are the subjects of the reporting? Are women and people of color fairly represented on today's newspaper and dot com sports department staffs? How would a more diverse staff of sports editors, columnists, and reporters affect what is commonly written about in our newspapers? This is the second time the media has turned the mirror on itself. And once again, APSE newspapers saw how little progress they had made regarding representation of women and people of color in their key positions where decisions on what is covered, who covers it and who offers opinions on it are made. I have to credit APSE for having the courage to replicate the study so there will continue to be real transparency.'
". . . Of all the 'A' circulation size papers, the Sacramento Bee (CA) totaled the highest percentage of diversity within its sports staff, with 63.2 percent being women or people of color. The Sacramento Bee (CA) also finished first in this category in 2006 at 54 percent. The Honolulu Advertiser (HI) topped the circulation size 'B' papers with 91.3 percent of its sports staff being women or people of color. The El Paso Times (TX) led the circulation size 'C' papers with 55.6 percent of its sports staff being women or people of color."
Late Thursday, the Association of Women in Sports Media issued this statement:
"The 'F' grade is jarring. It's difficult to stomach, and yet, considering the percentage of women that the study determined are in sports departments, the poor grade is absolutely justified.
"While AWSM is happy to see slight progress being made in some areas, the numbers are not where we ultimately want them to be. We understand that progress can be slow and change can be hard, but it's difficult to see regression or stagnation in most areas.
"Sports departments need to be held accountable for the diversity of their staffs, and right now, the lack of gender diversity by in large is appalling. The results of the APSE study underscore the continued importance of AWSM. Since the beginning, we have existed to further the pursuits of women in sports media. Work remains, and we intend to continue to see it through."
Among the report's highlights:
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The percentages of African Americans increased as sports editors, columnists, copy editors and support staff/clerks
while decreasing as assistant sports editors and reporters.
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Whites decreased by percentage in all categories covered except assistant sports editors.
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Latinos decreased by percentage in all categories covered except reporters and support staff/clerks.
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Asians increased in all categories except assistant sports editors.
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Women increased as sports editors and copy editors/designers while decreasing as assistant sports editors, reporters
and support staff/clerks. The percent of women columnists remained the same though the number increased by eight.
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In 2008, white men and women comprised 87.8 percent of the total staffs of all APSE member newspapers and websites,
African Americans held 6.3 percent, Latinos equaled 3.3 percent, Asians totaled 1.9 percent, and "other" people of color held
less than 1 percent. In 2006, white men and women comprised 88.4 percent of the total staffs of all APSE member newspapers
and Web sites while African Americans held 6.2 percent, Latinos equaled 3.6 percent, Asians totaled 1.3 percent, and "other"
people of color held less than one percent.
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In 2008, women made up 11.5 percent of total staffs of APSE member newspapers and websites, less than in 2006 when
women made up 12.6 percent of total staffs of APSE member newspapers and websites.
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The percentages of women and people of color serving as sports editors increased slightly since 2006 by 1.5 and 0.6
percentage points, respectively.
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In 2008, 94.1 percent of APSE sports editors were white while 88.3 percent were white males, African Americans held
only 2.1 percent, Latinos held 2.4 percent, and Asians and "others" were each less than one percent. There were two Asian
sports editors (up from zero in the previous report), while the number of "other" sports editors remained the same at three.
In 2006, 94.7 percent of APSE sports editors were white while 90.0 percent were white males; African Americans held only 1.6
percent of APSE sports editors while Latinos held 2.8 percent and "others" totaled for less than 1 percent.
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Sports editors who are women increased to 6.5 percent in 2008 after totaling 5.0 percent in 2006.
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The percentage of columnists who were people of color increased while that of women remained the same.
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Columnists who are African American increased nearly three percentage points from 7.7 in 2006 to 10.6 percent in 2008.
The percentage of Latino columnists declined from 1.0 percent to 0.5 percent while the percentage of Asian columnists
increased slightly from .67 to .72 percent. The percentage of white columnists dropped slightly from 89.9 to 88.3 percent.
Moreover, as reported in this space in January, the diversity at sports Web sites is considered worse than at newspapers.
The report noted that Mike Fannin, a Latino, was the first person of color to be APSE president in 2007. Lynn Hoppes, who is Asian American, is the incoming APSE president, and Garry Howard, an African American, will follow in 2009 as the third person of color to fill the position.
Fannin was the head of the sports and features departments of the Kansas City Star and in May was named the newspaper's new editor.
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AP Accepts "African American," "Native American"
Two decades after the term "African American" went mainstream, the Associated Press is accepting the hyphenated version of the term as a legitimate phrase for its writers, along with "Native American" to refer to American Indians.The world's largest news organization, whose stylebook is considered a bible in most newsrooms and in many professional offices, announced on Thursday that its 2008 print edition "features one of the most comprehensive updates in its history, with more than 200 new entries, ranging from anti-virus to iPhone to WMD.
"Other new entries include anti-spyware, high-definition, outsourcing, podcast, text messaging, social networking, snail mail and Wikipedia and such sports terms as minicamp and wild card.
"Among the outdated words gone from the new spiral-bound Stylebook are barmaid, blue blood, malarkey, milquetoast, Photostat, riffraff and WAC, which is no longer used by the U.S. military but may describe a woman who served in what had been the Women's Army Corps."
The new entry for "African-American" says:
"African-American — Acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Black is also acceptable. The terms are not necessarily interchangeable. People from Caribbean nations, for example, generally refer to themselves as Caribbean-American. Follow a person's preference."
The previous rule was, "The preferred term is black. Use African-American only in quotations or the names of organizations or if individuals describe themselves so."
AP Deputy Managing Editor Sally Jacobsen, one of the coeditors of the Stylebook, said through a spokesman:
"As part of our process for updating the Stylebook, we solicited suggestions from staffers in all our bureaus, domestic and international. A number of staffers suggested the change.
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| Cristina Azocar |
As recounted here four years ago, "African American" had been in use for at least 20 years among intellectuals, black nationalists and others before the National Alliance of Black School Educators, an organization of school superintendents, called in 1984 for use of the term, in part to emphasize ties with an ancestral land mass. On Dec. 19, 1988, the term entered the mainstream, as about 75 black leaders met in Chicago to discuss an "African American agenda." Using the term was part of a broad "cultural offensive" led by the National Urban Coalition.
Though the term was intended to be unhyphenated to emphasize the historic rupture with Africa, an AP copy editor inserted it into its story on the meeting so it would conform to AP style on other ethnic groups, and so that rendering remains at many news outlets today.
Ironically, the new AP decision comes as some blacks are wearying of the phrase. "My biggest problem with the term is that [it] distances us from the rest of the diaspora in [a] way that's not particularly in our interest," Eric Easter wrote this month on ebonyjet.com. Others say the "African" part of the phrase has been silent and it has not strengthened ties between American blacks and Africans, as intended.
Native journalists have called themselves "Native Americans" at least since 1984, when participants met at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and established the foundation for a national organization that they called the Native American Press Association. Its successor organization is the Native American Journalists Association.
Cristina Azocar, president of NAJA, told Journal-isms she considered that inclusion of the word "American" rendered "Native American" and "American Indian" inaccurate and preferred "Native." But she said, she is pleased that the AP is recognizing that more than one term can apply. Many Natives strongly prefer one term or the other, she said, and the difference is often generational. Older Natives are more used to "American Indian," she said, adding that the most accurate term is the name of the person's tribe.
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Raymond Arroyo, DiversityInc.:
What's in a Name: Who Is an African American?
Baltimore Sun to Eliminate 100 Jobs
"The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which publishes The Sun and community newspapers, will eliminate 100 jobs by early August to cut costs and stay competitive, Publisher Timothy E. Ryan told employees yesterday in an e-mail," Lorraine Mirabella reported Thursday in the Sun."The company said it plans to reduce the 1,400-person work force through voluntary buyouts, layoffs, attrition and by closing open positions. A majority of the cuts are expected to come from the newsroom.
"Officers of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which represents nearly 400 Sun workers in the news, advertising, circulation, building and finance departments, said yesterday that they were told by Sun management that 55 to 60 jobs would be cut in the newsroom, which would be a reduction of roughly 20 percent."
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San Jose Mercury News:
Mercury News to lay off more workers
Feedback: Words "Native," "Indian" Can Be Tricky
Most older American Indians do not use the term "American Indian" but instead use the single word "Indian." They refer to themselves as "Indian" and seldom use the PC words "Native American."The word "Indian" is a derivation of the Spanish "Indios," which was shortened from the Spanish "Ninos en Dios," which means "Children of God." In much of South America and Central America the Natives are called "Indios." Since I write a national column on Indian issues, I often receive mail from whites who say, "I was born in America and therefore I am a Native American." They are correct in saying this. The word "Native" by itself can also be misleading. A recent article in a western newspaper was headed with "Native elected to school board." Most readers took it to mean a "Native of the State" although the article meant that an Indian had been elected to the school board.
As a national columnist of Indian
descent, I often use the name of the person's tribe as identification, but I still use "Indian" and "American Indian"
interchangeably. When I and the first board of directors of the Native American Journalists Association were looking for a
name for that organization, we kicked around names from "Indigenous" to "Indian" but we finally settled on the more common
"Native American" in the end.
Tim Giago
Oglala Lakota
June 26, 2008
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Feedback: I Hope Obama Helps Black-Owned Media
As an activist for the upward mobility of the Black race with a strong emphasis on the media, I applaud Barack Obama for having the common sense to know that diverse voices and diverse media ownership will further ensure that America remains a democracy for all.There are basically five companies that control 85 percent of what Americans see, hear and read — that is a dictatorship of viewpoints and can program Americans to think and behave the way a few people want them to.
As owner of a media company, Elbow Grease Productions, I can say we have worked diligently to build a company by obtaining press credentials to many high-level events and are hard at work trying to create opportunities for another point of view to be heard on race and race relations. We have been the ONLY Black-owned medium credentialed to cover the Michael Jackson trial and have been credentialed to cover many of Obama's appearances, but we have been declined media access to the Democratic convention.
A deliberate force wants to suffocate Black voices or muffle them on major networks. There is always the air of a threat to conform to mainstream thinking, disabling the First Amendment for too many Black concerns.
I hope Obama is successful in opening up more possibilities for small Black-owned media sources to grow and gain advertising dollars. The number of Black-owned big businesses is declining, forcing Black-owned media to count on White businesses for advertising. They can dictate what is said and what isn't.
The owner of a newspaper here in Los Angeles told me that when she covers hard-core Black issues, she threatens her own business survival because she will get a call from an advertiser (White-owned) about her content. Black-owned media are caught in a trick bag to either go along with the flow of major media messages or lose those big corporate advertising dollars.
We Blacks have allowed ourselves to become "checked" as in a game of chess, but we are not "checkmated" because we are still here, enabling us to make the necessary changes to empower and grow. All we need is more courage and unity!
Pearl Jr.
Van Nuys, Calif.
June 26, 2008
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Outing Rappers' Given Names
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| "Someone like Jay-Z can be Mr. Carter, certainly, or he can just be Jay-Z, but he's never going to be Mr. Z," said Sam Sifton, New York Times culture editor. |
Should We Call Ghostface Killah "Mr. Killah?"
"The New York Times rarely refers to rock stars such as Alice Cooper, Moby, and Elton John by their birth names," Chris Faraone writes in the May/June issue of Columbia Journalism Review.But "At the Times, the penalty for being a rapper is twofold: you are routinely called out on your birth name (no matter how nerdy and ironic it might be), and you rarely are addressed as 'Mr.' This nominal double standard surfaces from time to time in hip-hop articles throughout the mainstream press, but due to the Times's extensive urban-music coverage and its eternal struggle with honorific conformity, rap handles seem to inspire more copy dilemmas there.
"Despite having sold several million discs and served as president of Def Jam Recordings under his alias, Jay-Z still gets pegged as Shawn Carter. . . . No hip-hop artist is immune — Wu-Tang Clan ringleader RZA (Robert Diggs), Queens heavyweight 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson), and urban mogul Diddy (Sean Combs) are all routinely birth-named in the mainstream press.
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| Sam Sifton |
After examining the quandaries posed by Ghostface Killah, Alicia Keys, André 3000, Big Boi and Erykah Badu, Faraone writes:
". . . Even more confusing are articles that seem to follow no logic whatsoever: a December 3, 2006, Times profile on celebrity Sirius Radio hosts refers to rap personality Ludacris as Christopher Bridges (and as 'Mr. Bridges' in subsequent references), but allows Eminem (Marshall Mathers), Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus), and Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) to use their stage names. On second reference, though, Bob Dylan is 'Mr. Dylan,' while Eminem remains Eminem; Snoop is only mentioned once, but judging by former Times treatments he would have been called 'Snoop' or 'Snoop Dogg' had his name come up again.
"'If you look in our archives, which we famously refer to as our compendium of past errors, you'll see plenty of examples of us looking ridiculous,' Sifton says. 'One of the difficulties that the Times has in addressing contemporary culture, and certainly hip-hop culture, is that we risk looking stupid all the time.'"
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.Next Up for Cuts: Palm Beach, Hartford, Detroit
Newspapers in Detroit, Palm Beach, Fla., and Hartford, Conn., are the next ones facing staff cutbacks.In addition, "an Indian company will take over copy editing duties for some stories published in The Orange County Register and will handle page layout for a community newspaper at the company that owns the Pulitzer Prize-winning daily, the newspaper confirmed Tuesday," the Associated Press reported, discussing the California daily.
"Orange County Register Communications Inc. will begin a one-month trial with Mindworks Global Media at the end of June, said John Fabris, a deputy editor at the Register."
Bill Shea reported Monday in Crain's Detroit Business: "In an effort to cut costs, the partnership that oversees the joint business and advertising operations of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News is seeking 150 volunteers to accept buyouts by July 18. The 150 positions represent about 7 percent of the total staff of the two publications and the partnership."The Detroit Media Partnership also will halt publication of the 11 Free Press weekly community sections and Twist, the Free Press Sunday supplement aimed at women, by early August, said Susie Ellwood, the partnership's executive vice president and general manager.
"'The environment in which newspapers operate continues to worsen rapidly, and the Detroit Media Partnership faces unique challenges because of the state's business and economic climate. We must take action to reduce our expenses,' The Detroit News Editor and Publisher Jonathan Wolman wrote in an e-mail to staff on Monday.
"Layoffs are a possibility."
In Hartford, the Courant said Wednesday "it will cut its newsroom staff and the number of pages of news by 25 percent as the newspaper struggles with an industrywide decline in advertising, the paper reported on its Web site.
"Nearly 60 jobs will be eliminated, most by July 31, as The Courant reduces its newsroom staff from 232 to about 175.
"The cuts are part of a decision by The Courant's parent company, Chicago-based Tribune Co., to 'right-size' the nine newspapers in its publishing division. Tribune said its newspapers must deliver to readers and advertisers more of what they want, including, in the news pages, more maps, charts and lists.
"The number of pages devoted to news in The Courant will fall to 206 a week, from 273. . . . Newsroom employees will be offered voluntary buyouts to achieve the staff reduction, but layoffs are also possible. Four of the jobs are now vacant."
Palm Beach Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, said Wednesday it will cut 300 workers from its payroll of 1,350.
Palm Beach Newspapers Inc., which owns the Post, the Palm Beach Daily News, the Florida Pennysaver and La Palma, hopes to make the cuts through voluntary buyouts offered to all employees who have worked for the company for more than five years, Palm Beach Post Publisher Doug Franklin said in the Post.
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.No Agreement on Accepting Imus' Explanation
Radio host Don Imus' explanation of his comments about defensive back Adam Jones, formerly known as "Pacman," met with a mixed reaction, with some pairing the remarks with the Nazi analogy made by ESPN's Jemele Hill, for which she was suspended last week. Others speculated it was a publicity stunt by Imus. Some just didn't buy Imus' plea that he was simply being sarcastic and sympathetic to Jones.On Monday on his syndicated radio show, which originates at WABC in New York, Imus was listening to a report from sports anchor Warner Wolf that Jones had dropped his "Pacman" nickname.
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| Don Imus |
Imus replied: "What color is he?"
Wolf said: "He's African American."
Imus replied: "Well, there you go. Now we know."
On Tuesday, Imus explained on the air, "My point was there's no reason to arrest this kid six times." He said he was trying to make the point that blacks were arrested unfairly.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who was in the forefront of efforts to have Imus fired last year after he called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," said, "If now Imus is saying he's joined the ranks of those that are raising the question of racial disparity in the criminal justice system, then he's taking a correct position. I don't have any record of him saying that in the past," according to CNN.
"Clearly, he did not [immediately] clarify what he meant. He left it out there," Sharpton said.
Fran Wood, writing for the Newark Star-Ledger, said, "The way he phrased the punch line probably seemed more ambiguous to those unfamiliar with his style, which is to bring race into conversations rather than avoid it or tuck it away."
Clarence Page, the Chicago Tribune columnist who once had Imus take an on-air pledge that he would stop insulting ethnic groups, wrote, "If he was looking for attention — and what entertainer isn't? — he could hardly have dreamed up a more slippery way to do it. Even the remarks that he said he intended to say exposed some of our society's deepest racial wounds.
"For example, just as it is offensive to imply that blacks are more criminal than whites, it is also offensive to imply that blacks are arrested 'for no reason,' if you don't back up the assertion."
A reader named Tracey insisted on thedailyvoice.com, "It is African American male athletes that feel the need to flaunt their' so-called' status and wealth in the worst way possible. AND THEN GET CAUGHT DOING SOMETHING STUPID!"
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| Jemele Hill |
"If we place a freedom of speech into any container, we marginalize our constitutional rights more forthrightly than Hill or Imus can manage to marginalize themselves and their own credibility within the scope of two sentences," he wrote.
Bryan Burwell, sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, could not believe his good fortune.
"We have shock jock Don Imus sputtering out some cockamamie double talk about Adam Jones and rapper Shaquille O'Neal free-styling some vengeful lyrics about Kobe Bryant," he wrote. "We have golfer Rocco Mediate tossing a friendly lifeline to NBC announcer Johnny Miller for some really dumb things Miller said. And lest we forget, we also had American soccer goalie Hope Solo getting a little deferred vindication for her year-old tirade about a goalkeeping switch in last year's World Cup. And all of this was on the table before my morning coffee."
Of Imus, he said, "It was beyond laughable to hear his alibi for his latest mistake. . . . what Imus did and said was sadly typical of the once significant, but now irrelevant shock jock: hurtful, insensitive and woefully out of touch."
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Herb Boyd, theBlackWorldToday:
Sharpton's Cool Despite the Heat
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Neil Cavuto, Fox News Channel:
Cut Imus Some Slack
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Eric Deggans blog, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times:
Don Imus steps in it again; racist falling off the wagon or a publicity stunt?
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Heather Muse, Village Voice blog:
Don Imus Misses Again: The Pacman Jones Controversy
- John Ryan blog, San Jose Mercury News:
Imus: The Don of weak excuses
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Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times:
Imus' remarks out of place, out of time, but firing's no solution
Joyner Names 7 of 8 Finalists to Replace Smiley
Tavis Smiley named for radio listeners seven of the eight finalists to replace him as commentator on the syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show." The eighth is to be chosen by fans of the program.The seven, as enumerated by Smiley Tuesday on Joyner's show, are: blogger Faye Anderson; Eddie Glaude, a Princeton University professor; Van Jones, founder of Green For All, "a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty"; Stephanie Robinson, president and CEO of the Jamestown Project, a national think tank that focuses on democracy; Dr. Reiland Rabaka of the University of Colorado at Boulder; Jeff Johnson of Black Entertainment Television; and Anthony Samad, columnist and community activist.
They may be "people you might not know, but you didn't know Travis Smiley 12 years ago," he said, emphasizing the misrendering of his name.
The finalists are to audition on-air on Tuesdays and Thursdays in July. They will be narrowed to four on Aug. 8, then to two. One will be selected around Labor Day, Smiley said.
Smiley announced in April he would leave the show in June, saying he was working on too many projects. Joyner said he believed the real reason was that "he can't take the hate" coming Smiley's way from listeners who objected to the hard time he was giving Sen. Barack Obama.
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.Dori J. Maynard to Receive AAJA Leadership Award
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| Dori J. Maynard |
The late Dith Pran, photographer for the New York Times, is to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award, and Simon Li, former assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, its Special Recognition Award.
"Dori Maynard has helped open doors for hundreds of minorities as newsroom leaders across the nation," AAJA said. "As president and chief executive officer of The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, she heads an organization her father and other journalists started, that teaches journalists to recognize the 'fault lines' of race, class, gender, generation and geography in newsgathering and coverage. The institute also sponsors management programs such as the Media Academy, which has helped create a multicultural corps of managers and executives."
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.Obama Opposes Reimposing Fairness Doctrine
"There may be some Democrats talking about reimposing the fairness doctrine, but one very important one does not: presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama," John Eggerton wrote Wednesday for Broadcasting & Cable."'Senator Obama does not support re-imposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters,' said press secretary Michael Ortiz in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday.
"He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible," said Ortiz. "That is why Sen. Obama supports media-ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets."
". . . The fairness doctrine required broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues. The FCC found the doctrine unconstitutional back in 1987, and President Reagan vetoed an attempt by congressional Democrats to reinstate it."
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.Regret for Calling Obama "More White Than Black"
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| Jonathan Weisman |
"I have received less reaction than I would have thought, but to each and every critic — civil or not — I have simply apologized for a stupid comment," Weisman told Journal-isms on Wednesday.
Weisman, who covers Congress, was participating in an online chat when an Alexandria, Va., reader wrote, "Obama's new ad (which plays a lot in Alexandria) shows pictures of his mother and grandparents, playing up his white family. Until now he's been 'African American'; now suddenly he's a white Midwesterner? During the primary Hillary was criticized for changing her image too many times. Won't Obama be criticized for doing the same thing?"
Weisman replied, "I haven't heard that criticism, but it is striking. Not a single picture of his father. Now, that really is consistent with his upbringing. He really did not become immersed in black American culture until he left college and went to Chicago. The great irony is that he is much more white than black, beyond skin color."
Weisman explained to Journal-isms on Wednesday, "I was trying to say that Obama spent his entire childhood either at an elite Hawaii prep school or in Indonesia, well outside the mainstream of African American culture. From a purely chronological and cultural perspective, he was more white than black in his upbringing.
"When I went back to read what I had written, I did not have enough caveats, and I neglected to put it in past tense, confining my judgment to his childhood. But upon reflection, I realize I should never have weighed in on the balance of his ethnicity, even if I had written it more sensitively. It wasn't my place as a journalist."
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Associated Press:
Obama rejects Nader claim on white talk
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Jeff Chang, vibe.com:
Muslims, Obama, And The Perils of Victory Ahead
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Andrea Elliott, New York Times:
Muslim Voters Detect a Snub From Obama
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Gary L. Flowers, National Newspaper Publishers Association:
Michelle Obama: Ain't She a Woman?
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Derrik J. Lang, Associated Press:
Barack Obama buzz sweeps through BET Awards
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Michel Martin, "Tell Me More," National Pubic Radio:
Powerful Women and Their Personalities: Accept It
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Paul Ohia, This Day, Lagos, Nigeria:
Zimbabwe: Barack Obama Wades in, Backs Tsvangirai
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Ishmael Reed, Counterpunch:
Obama Scolds Black Fathers, Gets Bounce in Polls
- Rolling Stone:
Inside Barack Obama's iPod
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M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News:
Nader: Obama 'talking white'
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Ira Teinowitz, TV Week:
MTV Rocks the Vote, Takes Political Ads
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Marisa Treviño, Latina Lista blog:
Miami's El Nuevo Herald states McCain is the favored candidate by
Hispanic voters. Huh?
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Del Walters, ebonyjet.com:
Backstaging: a real picture of America
- Jack White, theRoot.com:
Barack, Here's How to Get the White People
"G-Men and Journalists" Has a Few Omissions
The Newseum's first major changing exhibition at its new downtown Washington location, "G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI's First Century," opened on Friday, and while a presentation about COINTELPRO, in which the FBI spied on prominent figures, and a "Mississippi Burning" section spoke directly about people of color, there were some omissions.The Hispanic Link Weekly Report noted in its June 23 issue, "It chose to feature among models of this nation's ten most notorious bad guys the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, Bruno Hauptmann and Timothy [McVeigh]. Even Patty Hearst. Again, we were bypassed. No recognition of the machete murderer of 25 campesinos Juan Corona, of Hollywood night stalker Richard Ramírez, or of our own Robin Hood, Joaquín Murrieta.
"On second thought, thank you, Newseum people."
More seriously, the exhibit does not mention the case of Earl Caldwell, who among other distinctions, is one of the founders of the Maynard Institute.
The Newseum exhibit does not claim to be comprehensive. But as PBS "Frontline" recalled, "Caldwell was a reporter with The New York Times in the late 1960s when he was posted in San Francisco to report on the Black Panthers. When the FBI asked him to keep them informed about the Panthers' plans, he refused and was prosecuted. His case eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that reporters did not have the right to withhold information about their sources."
The Caldwell case led to the creation of the Reporters Committee to Protect Journalists.
Additionally, there were efforts to intimidate the black press during World War II that might have been included. "An intense battle raged within the highest levels of [Franklin] Roosevelt's government over censorship of the black press," according to Patrick S. Washburn's book, "A Question of Sedition." "On the side of suppressing, or at least silencing, the black press was the powerful team of FDR and J. Edgar Hoover," the FBI director.
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.Short Takes
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"A politically vulnerable President Robert Mugabe and his
administration have unleashed the harshest news media crackdown in
their notoriously repressive tenure," the Committee to Protect
Journalists says in a special
report
released Monday. "Startled by March 29 election
results that favored the opposition, Mugabe's government has
arbitrarily detained at least 15 journalists and media workers,
intimidated sources, obstructed the delivery of independent news, and
tightened its grasp on state media." Separately, Inter-Press Service
reported
Tuesday, "For activists campaigning to put more women
into Africa's parliaments, the media has become a key battleground.
All too often, female candidates are sidelined in election coverage,
or reported on in a way that entrenches stereotypes of women rather
than analysing the strength of their political and economic policies."
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"Telemundo said today (Tuesday) it will launch 'Levántate,'
literally 'Wake/Get Up,' a new morning show that will be produced live
via network affiliate WKAQ in Puerto Rico," Della de Lafuente
reported
for Marketing y Medios. "The show will feature a mix of talk, viewer
interactivity, news and
entertainment and will incorporate stories and packages from Mexico,
Los Angeles, New York and Miami, per Telemundo."
-
Hank Klibanoff, managing editor/news at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
told colleagues on Tuesday he was leaving the paper. "I feel I have another
big chapter to write, and I don't want to wait til
it's too late. I cannot tell you right now what that next thing is
because I don't know," he said. Klibanoff shared a
Pulitzer Prize last year as co-author with Gene Roberts of "The Race
Beat," about coverage of the civil rights movement.
-
"Former Atlanta television personality Warren Savage has avoided trial for cocaine possession by completing a rigorous 18-month drug treatment program in Forsyth County," Ga., Nancy Badertscher wrote Tuesday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "At a ceremony for graduates of the program Monday night, Savage, who is in his mid-40s, said he's a changed man."
Warren Savage in his WSB-TV days
-
"Actor, writer, producer, director Ben Affleck traveled to Africa's Congo region three times over the last eight months to understand first-hand one of the world's worst humanitarian crises of this century," ABC News announces. "'Nightline' producer Max Culhane and photographer Doug Vogt joined Affleck on his most recent trip to document his journey as he made his way through refugee camps, hospitals, clinics, meetings with warlords, relief workers, child soldiers and members of parliament in an effort to better understand the place where more than 4 million people have died in the deadliest conflict since World War II." Affleck's essay from the Congo airs on "Nightline" Thursday at 11:35 p.m. (ET/PT).
-
Jim Scott, managing editor at WEWS-TV in Cleveland, who has been
blogging on the station's Web site about his father's battle
against cancer,
wrote
that his father had lost the fight.
-
"Joseph Garcia, community conversation editor for The
Arizona Republic in Phoenix, has been elected to the leadership of
Associated Press Managing Editors, putting him in line to become
president of the group in 2012," Marketing y Medios
reported on Wednesday.
-
Daryl Hawks will join NBC O&O WMAQ Chicago's sports team as a reporter
and anchor effective July 28, TV Newsday
reported on Wednesday. "Hawks comes to WMAQ from NBC O&O KNTV San Francisco."
-
"As WFLD-Channel 32 gears up for the expansion of 'Good Day Chicago,'
the Fox-owned station has added a new face to its morning show,"
Robert Feder
reported Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.
"Kori Chambers, just in from WDIV-TV in Detroit, will 'handle a variety
of reporting and anchoring responsibilities,' according to an
announcement by the station."
-
Gary Estwick of the Fresno (Calif.) Bee is joining the Nashville
Tennessean to cover the NFL's Tennessee Titans, Tennessean
Sports Editor Larry Taft told Journal-isms. He starts July 7.
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View previous columns.
-
Diversity's Greatest Hits, 2007
-
For the Journalist's Bookshelf
-
11 More for the Journalist's Library
-
Five Minutes With Richard Prince (Newspaper Association
of America, 2005)
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