Articles Feature

Trump Called Out on Lack of Diversity

Returning Friday, Feb. 10

For Cabinet: 16 White Men, 4 Women, 1 Black Man

L.A. Times Calculates 8 Million Could Be Deported

CNN Might Refuse Airtime to Kellyanne Conway

Indians Remember Real Bowling Green Massacre

Globe Caught in Dewey-Beats-Truman Moment

Turnaround Expert Min Stepping Down as Editor

Juan Castillo Named Opinion Editor in Austin

More Black Women Asked to Trim Natural Hair

Acel Moore’s High School Program Is Back

Short Takes

President Trump signs executive actions in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, including one resurrecting a policy that prohibits foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive federal funding from performing or promoting abortion services through their work in other countries. (Credit: Ron Sachs/Pool photo via Bloomberg News)
President Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, including one resurrecting a policy that prohibits foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive federal funding from performing or promoting abortion services through their work in other countries. (Credit: Ron Sachs/pool photo via Bloomberg News)

For Cabinet: 16 White Men, 4 Women, 1 Black Man

In his first two weeks, President Trump has sought to project the image of a new leader moving quickly to enact his agenda,” David Nakamura and Abby Phillip reported Sunday for the Washington Post.

“He has surrounded himself in photo ops with his most trusted senior aides as he signs a flurry of executive orders, visits government agencies and calls world leaders from the Oval Office.

“But if the images from the White House aim to show a man of action, they also have delivered another, unspoken message in the early days of the new administration: Most of the aides Trump relies on for counsel as he moves to dramatically reshape the country are men — and nearly all of them are white.

“It is a sharp change from the past eight years of the barrier-breaking Obama administration, and one that has reinforced the feeling among Trump’s critics that a narrow, anachronistic worldview is driving an agenda that they consider to be hostile to women and minorities. . . .”

Nakamura and Phillip also wrote that “after millions of women had demonstrated against his administration in marches in Washington and across the country, Trump presided over a swearing-in ceremony for two dozen senior White House staffers. Among them were five women and one racial minority, former ‘Apprentice’ star Omarosa Manigault, who is serving as a senior communications aide.

“Beyond the White House, Trump’s choices to fill 21 Cabinet-level positions include 16 white men, four women (including two Asian Americans) and one African American man, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

“For the first time since the Reagan administration, there are no Latinos, even as Trump moves to ramp up the deportations of undocumented immigrants. . . .”

Meanwhile, Andrew Kaczynski reported Monday for CNN, “Donald Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, said during a 2010 webinar for Tea Party activists that liberal Democrats have a ‘plantation mentality’ towards African Americans to keep them under government control.

“Bannon, the former Breitbart executive who has now emerged as one the most influential advisers inside Trump’s White House, described a ‘victimology’ among African Americans created by the welfare state, which caused them to attack black conservatives.

“After listing off several prominent black conservatives, Bannon said, ‘These people are heroes. They take an incredible, incredible amount of grief because the welfare state has built in this victimology. And the elitist, liberal, progressives have a plantation mentality that they don’t think African Americans should be out of government control.’ . . .

“Bannon, one of the co-founders of the National Tea Party Federation, is not the first to invoke the history of slavery in the United States to attack the relationship between the Democratic Party and black voters. Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and former congressman Allen West — both prominent black conservatives — have also referred to the Democratic Party as a ‘plantation.’ . . .”

Migrants from Guatemala turn to face a local law enforcement official, not shown, giving them instructions after they crossed the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas, in 2014. (Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times)
Migrants from Guatemala turn to face a local law enforcement official, not shown, giving them instructions after they crossed the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas, in 2014. (Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Times Calculates 8 Million Could Be Deported

When President Trump ordered a vast overhaul of immigration law enforcement during his first week in office, he stripped away most restrictions on who should be deported, opening the door for roundups and detentions on a scale not seen in nearly a decade,” Brian Bennett reported Saturday for the Los Angeles Times.

“Up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be considered priorities for deportation, according to calculations by the Los Angeles Times. They were based on interviews with experts who studied the order and two internal documents that signal immigration officials are taking an expansive view of Trump’s directive.

“Far from targeting only ‘bad hombres,’ as Trump has said repeatedly, his new order allows immigration agents to detain nearly anyone they come in contact with who has crossed the border illegally. People could be booked into custody for using food stamps or if their child receives free school lunches. . . .”

CNN Might Refuse Airtime to Kellyanne Conway

Kellyanne Conway (Credit: Raw Story screengrab)
Kellyanne Conway (Credit: Raw Story screengrab)

The feud between CNN and Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has gone public,” Brad Reed reported Monday for Raw Story.

“After CNN declined an administration offer to have Conway appear on its State of the Union show on Sunday, the New York Times reported that executives at CNN have ‘serious questions’ about Conway’s credibility, which may lead them to refuse future offers to have her on their shows.

“Reacting to this report, Conway said on Twitter that family issues prevented her from appearing on Sunday shows this week, while also slamming the ‘false’ reporting about CNN executives doubting her credibility.

“CNN’s official public relations Twitter handle quickly called out Conway’s claim, and said that she ‘was offered to SOTU [“State of the Union”] by the White House’ this week.

“ ‘We passed,’ CNN emphasized. ‘Those are the facts.’

“Shortly after CNN’s message, MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski sent out a cryptic message telling CNN that it was ‘not the first’ show to decline an offer to have Conway on air.”

The real Bowling Green Massacre took place in 1643 in New Amsterdam (later New York) and was committed by immigrants of the day: European settlers and soldiers. (Map of New Amsterdam, 1660).
The real Bowling Green Massacre took place in 1643 in New Amsterdam, later New York, and was committed by European settlers and soldiers, then immigrants. Above, a map of New Amsterdam in 1660.

Indians Remember Real Bowling Green Massacre

Much is being made of the Bowling Green Massacre in Kentucky that never happened but was nonetheless highlighted by Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway,Theresa Braine wrote Saturday for the Indian Country Media Network.

“Twitter memes are bursting forth. A fund to benefit the victims of the ‘Bowling Green Massacre’ has been set up—that links to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website. There’s even a Facebook Bowling Green Massacre Survivor Check-in page, with a map showing the little patch of land at the southern tip of Manhattan known as Bowling Green.

“Yet a massacre actually did take place at the tip of Manhattan, though not by the nefarious ‘Muslim terrorists’ whom Conway would have us fear. The real Bowling Green Massacre occurred in 1643 during what was known as Kieft’s War, and was perpetrated by white Christians. The Governor of New Netherlands[,] Willem Kieft, sent European soldiers to move against two camps of refugee Natives, overriding the direction of his ruling council and the general sentiments of the colonists. The soldiers fell upon members of the Lenape Tribe with deeds that would long presage the notion of ISIS.

“ ‘Infants were torn from their mother’s breast and hacked to death in the presence of their parents, and the pieces thrown into the fire and in the water,’ wrote a Dutch witness, David Pietersz de Vries, to the massacre on February 25, 1643. ‘Other sucklings, being bound to small boards, were cut, stuck and pierced, and miserably massacred in a manner to move a heart of stone. Some were thrown into the river, and when the fathers and mothers endeavored to save them the soldiers would not let them come on land but made both parents and children drown.’ . . . .”

An early edition of the Boston Globe that reached streets in Florida. (Credit: Boston Herald)
An early edition of the Boston Globe that reached streets in Florida. (Credit: Boston Herald)

Globe Caught in Dewey-Beats-Truman Moment

Most people thought the Falcons had beaten the Patriots,” Mike Florio wrote Monday for profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. “Including the leading newspaper in Boston.

“Via Field Yates of ESPN.com, an early edition of the Boston Globe declared victory for the Falcons with a headline that proclaimed: A Bitter End. Appearing under that was a photo of Falcons defensive back Robert Alford returning an interception from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to the end zone for a touchdown that put Atlanta ahead 21-0 in the first half. New England eventually would trail 28-3 in the third quarter.

“Inevitably a collector’s item, the erroneous conclusion proves the danger of declaring any sporting event to be over before it is. Even when it seems to be.

“The 25-point comeback for the Patriots more than doubled the 10-point fourth-quarter turnaround the Patriots managed two years ago. In both games, quarterback Tom Brady earned the MVP award after performing the kind of heroics rarely seen in NFL title games. . . .”

The Globe’s mistake was like manna from heaven for Howie Carr, columnist for the rival Boston Herald. “There’s fake news and then there’s FAKE NEWS!” Carr wrote on Monday.

“Today’s early edition Boston Globe made a historic blunder with its Super Bowl coverage, running the headline: A BITTER END.

“Above it is ‘Super Bowl LI.’ LI meaning ’51’ in Roman numerals, but now it has another meaning, wouldn’t you say? You can’t have a LIE without LI. . . .”Boston Globe Editor Brian McGrory did not respond to requests for an explanation of the mistake.

The Patriots’ come-from-behind victory was a boon for the printed newspaper, Herald Editor Joe Sciacca told Journal-isms by email.

“I find that there is an appeal to the enduring quality of print whenever there is a major event, be it sports, politics or news,” Sciacca wrote. “I think readers prefer to have the actual newspaper from that day to save for history’s sake, rather than a computer printout of a story. I haven’t seen a full analysis of our web traffic, but I know the Patriots championship run has been a popular read online.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran this ad before Sunday's game and on Monday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran this ad before Sunday’s game and on Monday.

“We sent pretty close to the same team of sports reporters, photographers and video and radio staff to this year’s Super Bowl as the last few.

“We had a special preview section in print before the event, and we produced a standalone Champions publication as we have in past years around major sporting events.”

In Atlanta, “We saw huge numbers in our digital traffic, especially the day after the game,” Kevin Riley, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said by email.

“Of course, if the Falcons had won, we believe it would have been even greater.

“We had a team dedicated to social media, which was a big part of our strategy going into Super Bowl week. It really paid off.

“We had a front page planned for both a win and a loss. If the Falcons had won, we had several special editions and projects planned to meet the expected demand of fans, including a book.

“These kinds of events give a newspaper the opportunity to make an emotional connection with readers and digital users. It reminds them that we play an important role in creating a sense of community.”

Turnaround Expert Min Stepping Down as Editor

Janice Min, who has orchestrated a stunning turnaround at The Hollywood Reporter over the last seven years, will step down as that publication’s top editor at the end of February, a move that may foreshadow its sale,” Brooks Barnes reported Monday for the New York Times.

“Ms. Min, who also oversees the music-focused Billboard magazine, decided in recent weeks not to renew her editing contract for another three-year term. Instead, she will join Eldridge Industries, which controls The Reporter and Billboard, in a new role devising a ‘media-investment strategy,’ she said in an interview on Sunday. . . .”

Juan Castillo Named Opinion Editor in Austin

Juan Castillo
Juan Castillo

In 2017, ‘commentary’ often consists of talking heads shouting over one another on 24-hour news channels, or individuals flaming each other on social media or snarky blogs,” Debbie Hiott, editor of the Austin American-Statesman, wrote Friday for the newspaper.

“But newspapers have a centuries-old tradition of providing both a venue for civil debate from the community and well-researched editorials on a position that have their basis in factual reporting.

“Putting the emotion of an argument secondary to thoughtful analysis can be difficult under any circumstance, but especially in these times when the enormity of what is at stake seems to lend a sense of urgency that sometimes overtakes the facts. It takes a steady hand and considerable perspective — and willingness to consider all the arguments — to provide the best sort of newspaper commentary.

“That’s why I’m happy to announce that Juan Castillo, a veteran newsman who has reported and edited at the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and McAllen Monitor, will be returning to the Statesman to lead our editorial and commentary efforts.

“Castillo most recently covered business news for the digital startup NerdWallet after leaving the Statesman in late 2013. During his almost 25 years at the Statesman, he led award-winning coverage of city hall, the environment and transportation as a metro editor, then spearheaded the newspaper’s nation and world desk through 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraq war.

“Castillo took a year off from the daily news grind for a prestigious Knight Fellowship at Stanford, where he studied U.S.-Mexico border history and culture, race and politics. Upon his return he became a senior writer for the paper for the projects team and then covered the census, growth, demographics and culture in Austin. . . .”

More Black Women Asked to Trim Natural Hair

Hannah Allam
Hannah Allam

Stories about black women whose employers asked them to cut their dreadlocks or to trim their big afros have surfaced with more frequency in the last few years,” Karen Grigsby Bates wrote Monday for NPR’s “Code Switch.”

“Now a new study confirms that many people — including black ones — have a bias against the types and styles of natural hair worn by black people.

“The ‘Good Hair Study’ was conducted by Perception Institute, which describes itself as ‘a consortium of researchers, advocates and strategists’ that uses emotional and psychological research to identify and reduce bias in areas such as law enforcement, education, civil justice and the workplace.

“The study resulted from a partnership with Shea Moisture, a black-owned hair and body products company, and aimed to better understand the connection between implicit bias and textured hair.

“The Good Hair Study asked over 4,000 participants to take an online IAT, or implicit association test, which involves rapidly-changing photos of black women with smooth and natural hair, and rotating word associations with both. According to the study, ‘a majority of people, regardless of race and gender, hold some bias towards women of color based on their hair.’ But the results also indicate that this bias is learned behavior, and can be unlearned.

“In the study, millennials of all races came across as more accepting of textured hair. And ‘naturalistas,’ women who choose to wear their hair natural, ‘showed either no bias or a slight preference for textured hair.’

“Some key findings confirm that black women suffer more anxiety around hair issues, and spend more on hair care than their white peers. They are almost twice as likely to experience social pressure at work to straighten their hair compared to white women.

“The study also concludes that, ‘White women demonstrate the strongest bias — both explicit and implicit — against textured hair.’ They rated it as ‘less beautiful,’ ‘less sexy/attractive’ and ‘less professional than smooth hair.’ However, white women who are in contact with black women naturalistas demonstrated lower levels of bias. Given that white women make up a large majority of the 38 percent of female managers who decide what looks are appropriate for work, legal conflicts sometimes ensue. And courts tend to rule in favor of employers in such cases. . . .”

After PBS’ Gwen Ifill died last year, Hannah Allam, a  national correspondent for McClatchy who is Egyptian American, was among female journalists of color who reflected on Ifill’s impact for PBS.

“Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for always putting substance over style and for elevating what matters,” Allam wrote. “For the time that I showed up to your studio with straight hair, because everybody knows [naturally curly hair] isn’t polished, [it] isn’t ready for the newscast. I showed up with my hair straightened to your show, and you gave me a look, and then you said, ‘You know you don’t have to do that here.’ That meant the world to me. . . .”

The Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop returned Saturday and is to operate in Philadelphia for three successive Saturdays. (Credit: Facebook)
The Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop returned Saturday and is to operate in Philadelphia for three successive Saturdays. (Credit: Facebook)

Acel Moore’s High School Program Is Back

After a two-year hiatus, the Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop, which Moore began at the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1980s, is back in business. Harold Jackson, the Inquirer’s editorial page editor, and Linda Wright Moore, widow of the journalistic icon and a onetime columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, announced the news on Facebook and Twitter over the weekend.

“This hands-on workshop was founded in 1984 by the late Acel Moore, a reporter and columnist at The Inquirer, as part of his lifelong commitment to open up journalism careers to multicultural students in the Philadelphia area, Jackson and program director Oscar Miller wrote to fellow staff members in January.

“The workshop is taught by staffers and combines classroom instruction in reporting, writing, photography, and digital journalism with practical application. The program culminates with the production of First Take, a student newspaper. This year, a greater emphasis will be placed on acquiring the tools of multimedia storytelling. Using their smart phones, participants will shoot, edit and embed videos in their stories, blog, chat online, and share the workshop experience in real time through social media postings. . . .”

The workshop began on Saturday and is to run through three successive Saturdays at the newspapers’ offices. “We have 20 students in the class, a number we expect to grow for future classes,” Miller told Journal-isms.

“This is awesome news! Acel loved that program,” Johann Calhoun, news and special project editor at the Philadelphia Tribune and board member of the National Association of Black Journalists, responded on Facebook.

Moore, the legendary Philadelphia Inquirer journalist and a co-founder of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and of NABJ, died last February at age 75.

Short Takes

  • Barbara Reynolds, center, and fans. (Credit: Don Baker)
    Barbara Reynolds, center, and fans. (Credit: Don Baker)

    Thanks in great measure to Coretta Scott King, the nation celebrates the birthday of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., each January as a national holiday. Coretta King was “the architect of his legacy,” according to her biographer, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, who spoke at the Newseum in Washington Saturday in a program co-sponsored by the Journalists Roundtable. She added, “But who is nurturing her legacy?” Reynolds, journalist and author of Mrs. King’s “as told to” memoir, “My Life, My Love, My Legacy” said Mrs. King’s birthday, April 27, should be celebrated, too. “Why should we always celebrate her birthday on his birthday?” Periscope video Julianne Malveaux column

  • Aaron Sankin, a new addition to the reporting team at Reveal, publication of the Center for Investigative Reporting, where he will cover cybersecurity and online privacy, was asked for the center’s newsletter, “If you were to recommend one piece you’ve done, what would it be?” Sankin began, “In the years I’ve been a reporter, the one fundamental truth I’ve come up with is that the heart of every good story is empathy. There’s a lot of value in simply asking someone who feels unheard to tell their story. Sometimes, in the process, corruption or mistreatment is exposed. Other times, there’s value simply in the act of sharing. . . .”
  • In “The Blood of Emmett Till,” a new book by historian Timothy Tyson, Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman who in 1955 accused the 14-year-old Till of assaulting her, says she lied. Till, who was black, was tortured and killed. The New York Times editorialized on Monday, “Ms. Donham’s admission that her testimony was false underscores yet again that killers and collaborators from other racial terror attacks may still be alive — and that the horror of their crimes still weighs heavily on the nation.”
  • A study to be published in Public Administration Review produces “evidence that [having] more black police officers probably doesn’t offer a direct solution” to the problem of police violence against African Americans, Gene Demby wrote Saturday for NPR’s “Code Switch.” Sean Nicholson-Crotty, a political scientist at Indiana University and one of the study’s authors, told Demby, “Any small group will sometimes be the strongest proponents of [the larger organization’s] norms and values, and people will sometimes see that as the mechanism to be seen as legitimate.” Demby added, “The tipping point appears to be 25 percent. . . .”
  • After 28 years in the Detroit Free Press sports department, Perry Farrell has been reassigned to the breaking news section. “I’m guilty of having a mind and speaking it when I had an opinion,” he told Facebook friends. “I will work hard in news and hopefully the 2 nice people above me will help the transition.” Farrell was dismissed from the Free Press in 2006 after an incident in which, he said, “I should have paraphrased instead of quoting,” but an arbitrator ruled in his favor and he was reinstated the next year.
  • The board of directors of the South Asian Journalists Association appointed a new executive committee on Jan. 22, SAJA announced. “Anusha Shrivastava (@AnushaCU), Associate Director for Career Development and Alumni Relations at Columbia University’s Department of Statistics and faculty adviser for the SAJA student group at the university, returns for a third term as president. Ankita Rao (@anrao), an editor at VICE’s science and tech vertical Motherboard, was elected vice president. Zainab Imam (@zainabimam), Program Officer at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), will be the secretary and Geetika Rudra (@GGGeetika), a project manager at Dataminr, Inc., will be the treasurer. Sovy Azhath (@SovyProducer), former SAJA president and producer/writer at CNN Headline News, was elected as officer-at-large for a second time. . . .”
  • Chika A. Onyeani Sr., “the international diplomat, pacesetting journalist and distinguished author,” died in New York on Dec. 6 after a brief illness, Mike Ozu reported on Jan. 16 for the African Sun Times in East Orange,  N.J.  He was 73. Among Onyeani’s accomplishments was founding what Ozu called “the number one black newspaper in the U.S.; the African Sun Times, formally the The African Enquirer.”
  • FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called last Friday ‘take out the trash day,’ ” Radio Ink reported on Monday. “She was referring to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai’s move to reverse decisions made by the previous FCC administration. She said the changes were made without a shred of explanation. Clyburn said the items reversed ‘focus on competition, consumer protection, cybersecurity and other issues core to the FCC’s mission. . . .”
  • In San Diego, KGTV morning show reporter Marie Coronel told viewers she is pregnant again. a year after suffering a serious injury on the job. “Last February, Coronel and photographer Mike Gold were in Mira Mesa, CA getting ready for a live shot about storm damage when a large tree fell on them,” Kevin Eck reported Monday for TVSpy. “. . . Marie suffered multiple and severe breaks to her arm, spine and neck, as well as a concussion,’ the station reports. . . . ‘No one knew that I was pregnant when the accident happened. . . . you have the surgery, and then you go to an appointment and you see the baby’s heartbeat, it gave you hope. But in your next appointment, the baby’s gone. It was like another kick to the stomach,’ she said. . . .”

Letrell Crittendone at 28th annual Robert L. Vann Media Awards Dinner

(Credit: Pittsburgh Black Media Federation)

“No one has done more to cover issues impacting journalists of color over the past generation than Richard Prince. His work with Journal-isms, be it through NABJ, Maynard or, today, independently, remains a vital cog in efforts to improve diversity and inclusion within newsrooms and in news coverage. . . .”

Dr. Letrell Crittenden, assistant professor of communication at Robert Morris University and a board member of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation.

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3 comments

Greg Thrasher February 7, 2017 at 1:59 pm

Blackout in US Senate….. Black Americans need not apply especially in Democratic Senate offices .The only Black Senior Head of Staff works for Black Republican Senator Ted Scott.

Trump must take his diversity and inclusion standards from the US Senate

BLM

Reply
richard February 8, 2017 at 5:11 am

Comments From The Root

Talkinggoat
Richard Prince
2/07/17 2:13pm

CNN Might Refuse Airtime to Kellyanne Conway

Please don’t backpedal on this shit CNN. Hopefully other follow suite and she’s left giving interviews to Breibart and INFOWARS.

Hachi
sTalkinggoat
2/07/17 2:55pm

I know. CNN gave Conway a platform, along with Jeff (not our) Lord (and savior), Kayleeeeeeeeee Mackadiddy and Scootie Death Knell Hughes.

Sparky Polastry
Hachi
2/07/17 3:37pm

And KrayKray Katrina

torchbearer2
sTalkinggoat
2/07/17 4:01pm

Too late, she is going to be on tonight.

StartingOverAgain
Hachi
2/07/17 5:31pm

I mean, they gave them a platform, but it was more of a cage match than a true stage. They let pom pom waivers for “both sides” have cage matches while only occasionally letting the actual professional analysts off leash to provide some meaningful context for all the insanity we are seeing.

sTalkinggoat
torchbearer2
2/07/17 5:43pm

disappointed but not surprised.
Reply
torchbearer2
sTalkinggoat
2/07/17 5:46pm

She got destroyed again, and he invited her back anytime. Which almost seems cruel, if it didn’t galvanize Trump’s base further.

I do wonder what goes through her mind when she preps for these things? She always seems blindsided when she just gets stomped into the earth.

RoyFlichtenstein
torchbearer2
2/07/17 8:35pm

Figures.

Collapse replies
World’s Moistest Jheri Curl
Richard Prince
2/07/17 2:04pm

Diversity to Trump means:

German, Irish, Scandinavian, Jewish, British, French and Russian

thatsnotyankeestadium
World’s Moistest Jheri Curl
2/07/17 2:57pm

not so many jews, though. they make bannon froth at the mouth.

Sparky Polastry
thatsnotyankeestadium
2/07/17 3:37pm

Yep. Bannon is keepin’ it goy

BoSephus
Richard Prince
2/07/17 2:52pm

Um, yeah, still totally not a diverse cabinet, but Elaine Chao is not white.

Raineyb1013
BoSephus
2/07/17 5:34pm

Non-white faces of white supremacy don’t count for much.

EmpathyisReal
Richard Prince
2/07/17 4:58pm

The same day that CNN tweeted the truth about KAC (please, say it out loud, it’s fitting) and her booking, she was actually still booked to appear today and later on in the week.

I’m a huge advocate for truth in politics (HA!) and the news. I do not like her and I do not like Trump. Enabling the downfall of our democracy is unacceptable.

But……CNN needs to put their money where their mouth is and make sure they don’t book this propogandist spewing hate monger at all before they have my praise.

StartingOverAgain
EmpathyisReal
2/07/17 5:43pm

I hope she is given some sort of medium to speak though.

The fucked up truth is that what she says is newsworthy, if only because of the combination of how frequently just flat out wrong she is (e.g. the Bowling Green “Massacre”) and because she sits so close to the President.

Normally, people who are that close to the President in the communication apparatus are in lock-step with the President. So we can either take what she says as hand-to-God truth about what Donald Trump himself is saying, which is newsworthy, even if it is a bunch of hot air and lies, or we can also view it as evidence that the Trump administration is having a serious case of “who’s on first?”, which is also newsworthy.

Thrumbolio
Richard Prince
2/07/17 2:07pm

Alexander Bolton, the Hill: Poll: 36 percent say media is too tough on Trump

Ah. Fuck them. Next?

foldable
Thrumbolio
2/07/17 3:52pm

While David Zurawik says the media needs to make sure to praise Trump exactly as much as they criticize him, and to never criticize in strong language, and make sure that they advocate political positions that split the difference between both parties…because he’s a mostly-embalmed white guy who doesn’t see that that’s how we got here you dumbfuck.

Reply
richard February 9, 2017 at 10:58 am

From Dan Lewerenz, former president of the Native American Journalists Association who currently works in Indian law.:

This morning (~8:30 eastern), he said being called “fake news” is the equivalent of an ethnic slur.

My reaction:
Wrong, Chris. Being called “fake news” is a critique of your _behavior_. Depending on context, it may mean that you are reporting falsehoods, or that you are misrepresenting the facts in some way, or that what you are reporting is not newsworthy. The first is an allegation you can refute with facts. The second is an allegation you can rebut by setting forth the appropriate context. The third is an opinion that you can persuasively rebut. An ethnic slur is a critique of _who you are_” – it alleges that you will never, that you _can_ never, be as good as the person using the slur. And it is not subject to either factual refutation or persuasive rebuttal. I’m sure it hurts to have your life’s work attacked by having it called “fake news.” But it is not the same as having your very being attacked by an ethnic slur. It is not.

(On my phone _underscores_ stand in for italics.)

Feb. 9, 2017

Reply

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