Articles Feature

White House Blocks Disfavored Outlets From News Briefing

No Journalists of Color Make the Cut

‘I Was a Muslim in Trump’s White House’

Editor Said, ‘Leave That Black Stuff Outside’

The Real Importance of On-Screen Images

FAMU Ready for Black Television News Channel

Tracey Ferguson Named Editor of ‘Entirely NEW’ Jet

Michelle Galván Joins Univision’s ‘Primer Impacto’

Lisa Wilson, Buffalo Sports Editor, Joins Undefeated

Black Press Judged Presidents Differently

Short Takes

No Journalists of Color Make the Cut

CNN and other news outlets were blocked on Friday from attending an off-camera White House press briefing that other reporters were hand-picked to attend, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs,” Dylan Byers, Sara Murray and Kevin Liptak reported for CNNMoney.

The hand-picking included right-wing news outlets but no journalists of color, Lauren Victoria Burke, who reports for several African American outlets and was denied entry, told Journal-isms.

Those excluded included Adrian Carrasquillo, White House correspondent for BuzzFeed News. Reporters from the Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today decided in the moment to boycott the briefing because of how it was handled. April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks, the most prominent African American in the White House press corps, was not present.

“I saw the gaggle in the day ahead schedule and knew something was wrong and focused on doing stories on the governors meeting with the President,” Ryan told Journal-isms by email. “I was working on a story with Governor [Kenneth E.] Mapp of the US Virgin Islands and did not engage with the White House on the gaggle issue.”

Lauren Victoria Burke
Lauren Victoria Burke

The CNNMoney report continued, “The decision struck veteran White House journalists as unprecedented in the modern era, and escalated tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the press.

“The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were also among those excluded from the meeting, which was held in White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s office. The meeting, which is known as a gaggle, was held in lieu of the daily televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room.

“When reporters from these news organizations tried to enter Spicer’s office for the gaggle, they were told they could not attend because they were not on the list of attendees. . . .”

Burke gave Journal-isms this emailed account:

” ‘You’re not in the extended pool,’ some woman in a hallway near the lower press office said to me. No one knew what ‘extended pool’ meant. Many reporters went in and added themselves to ‘the list’ an hour before the scheduled gaggle in the lower press office and later learned that ‘if we didn’t e-mail you’ about the gaggle you’re not included. How was anyone to know that? I caught [Bill] Clinton’s last year in office so this is the fourth WH staff I’ve seen. I’ve never seen CNN and NYT cut out of anything.

“There were no reporters of color included in the gaggle. AURN [American Urban Radio Networks] wasn’t selected nor was The Root. The WH lower press office would appear to have enough staff now to operate basic press operations but clearly they’re set to play political games and select orgs that will report favorably on them. One could assume that ‘extended pool’ would include CNN and NYT right?

“They handpicked news orgs who could not possibly be in the ‘extended pool’ (or so one would think) such as OANN [One America News Network], Washington Times and Breitbart. It was a joke. The bottom line would appear to be retribution on CNN for the FBI/Priebus story of last night. Marry this with Trump’s latest attack on the fourth estate today at CPAC and what else are we to conclude?”

On the story about the FBI and Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, Brian Naylor reported Friday for NPR, “The White House is admitting that it discussed with the FBI media reports that Trump campaign officials were in contact with Russian intelligence agents and that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI to publicly knock down the story.

“FBI Director James Comey refused. . . .”

CNN’s Jake Tapper reports on the Trump administration’s latest attack on the news media.

The CNNMoney story continued, “In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House ‘had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today.’

“The White House press pool usually includes representatives from one television outlet, one radio outlet and one print outlet, as well as reporters from a few wire services. In this case, four of the five major television networks — NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News — were invited and attended the meeting, while only CNN was blocked.

“And while The New York Times was kept out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were also allowed in. . . .”

The excluded reporters also included Peter Baker and Glenn Thrush of the New York Times, Noah Bierman of the Los Angeles Times, Sara Murray of CNN, Tara Palmeri of Politico and Cameron Joseph of the Daily News in New York, among others.

The Society of Professional Journalists was among those protesting. It tweeted, “A free press means ALL press, not just those you like. #PressthePrez”

Society of Professional Journalists weighs in.
The Society of Professional Journalists weighs in.

‘I Was a Muslim in Trump’s White House’

Rumana Ahmed (Credit: Leah Varjacques/the Atlantic)
Rumana Ahmed (Credit: Leah Varjacques/the Atlantic)

In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council,” Rumana Ahmed wrote Thursday for the Atlantic.

“My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman — I was the only hijabi in the West Wing — and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included.

“Like most of my fellow American Muslims, I spent much of 2016 watching with consternation as Donald Trump vilified our community. Despite this — or because of it — I thought I should try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration, in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America’s Muslim citizens.

“I lasted eight days.

“When Trump issued a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees, I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat. . . .”

Lewis Diuguid said, "My parents, in tandem with other African Americans, instilled in every kid they encountered that we had to be twice as good, cleaner than clean and work five times harder to make it in white America. Anything less was just unacceptable." (Credit: stevenyoungblood.blogspot.com).
Lewis Diuguid said, “My parents, in tandem with other African Americans, instilled in every kid they encountered that we had to be twice as good, cleaner than clean and work five times harder to make it in white America. Anything less was just unacceptable.” (Credit: stevenyoungblood.blogspot.com.)

Editor Said, ‘Leave That Black Stuff Outside’

Lewis W. Diuguid was selected by the Nieman class of 2017 for the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism in recognition of his commitment to excellence in journalism as well as his work as a newsroom leader and role model for young journalists,” the editors of Nieman Reports wrote Wednesday in introducing a piece headlined, “On Being a Black Journalist.”

“Diuguid, who was also recently named a 2017 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow, spent nearly 40 years at The Kansas City Star as an editor, columnist, and editorial board member, distinguishing himself as a relentless advocate for newsroom diversity and used his voice to draw attention to social inequities, write about civil rights, and highlight systematic injustices.

“The following essay is adapted from his Lyons Award acceptance speech: . . .

“. . . My dear friend and a co-presenter Dr. Peggy McIntosh of the Wellesley College Centers for Women, who did the groundbreaking work on white privilege, explained to me that the bigoted mindset that women and people of color constantly encounter is because knowledge in this country is always thought to be male and white. Everyone else is forever tested and doubted.

“I’ve had editors in my career tell me: ‘We hired you to be a journalist. Leave that black stuff outside’ when I insisted on better reporting about communities of color. Because I was relentless — just as I was taught by the black community — I prevailed, and the newspaper changed. However, tough economic times keep erasing the advances.

“We have to fight the undoing of us, of others and of our needed progress by supporting those journalists and otherwise voiceless people in the community around us. It is how our journalism constantly gets better.

“These are increasingly challenging times. Without evidence — which is his hallmark — Donald Trump throughout his run for the White House attacked the ethics, integrity, honesty and competence of the news media, and the gullible public has swallowed it as if it all were true.

“The next four years will be all about ethics, integrity, conscience, and honesty among government officials and those in the news media. Our industry — just as things were when I started my career — will be pulled to cut costs and cut corners, bend and break rules, make unholy alliances and compromises, and sell out our integrity and ethics in the interest of expediency, corporate shareholders, and cash.

“The reporting, editing and photo-shooting troops on the ground have to be bigger than that — they will have to be like the people of the black community that raised me. We have to push back. . . .”

Denzel Washington was nominated for best actor for his role in "Fences," which was nominated for best picture. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday. (Credit: Paramount Pictures)
Denzel Washington was nominated as best actor for his role in “Fences,” a contender for best picture. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday. (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

The Real Importance of On-Screen Images

The conversation about diversity in Hollywood often centers on fairness,” Sara Boboltz and Kimberly Yam wrote Friday for Huffington Post Latino Voices.

“It’s unfair that just over a quarter of speaking roles went to people of color in 2015’s top movies — that Asians and Latinx nabbed tiny slivers. It’s unfair that women made up less than one-third of protagonists in top movies in 2016. It’s unfair that black, Asian and Latinx actors were completely left out of acting categories in the Academy Awards last year, and the year before that. . . .”

Baboltz and Yam also wrote, “But it’s not just unfair. Even if we don’t stop to think much about the summer blockbuster we watch to sit in a cool theater on a hot day, or the show we turn on while we’re making dinner, entertainment media saturates our lives. And for decades, researchers have worried over the effect those stories have on viewers.

“ ‘We’re pretty confident that, the more TV you watch, the more media you consume, the more likely it is that media ― almost like radiation ― builds up,’ Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, told The Huffington Post. ‘And the accumulated effect is to make you feel that what you’re seeing is somewhat normal.’

” . . . It can even serve as a proxy for experiences audience members haven’t actually lived, shaping their views on people of color and women ― and shaping the way those people view themselves. . . .”

(Credit: WTXL-TV)
(Credit: WTXL-TV)

FAMU Ready for Black Television News Channel

A ribbon cutting has begun the partnership between Florida A&M University and the Black Television News Channel that will bring close to 100 jobs and $30 million in economic stimulus to Tallahassee,” WTXL-TV in Tallahassee, Fla., reported on Friday.

“BTNC is a 24 hour multi-platform news network, and its newest location is inside the ‘School of Journalism and Graphic Communication’. . . .”

The new network plans 50 full- and part-time journalism jobs, Frank Watson, the vice president and general manager, said when the project was announced in 2014.

Tracey Ferguson Named Editor of ‘Entirely NEW’ Jet

Tracey M. Ferguson
Tracey M. Ferguson

Tracey M. Ferguson, founder and editor-in-chief of Jones magazine, which targets the lifestyles of black women, has been named editor-in-chief of a revived Jet magazine, Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, CEO of Ebony Media, confirmed on Friday.

McKissack would not elaborate but told Journal-isms last week, “We are considering repositioning Jet for millennials with a focus on entertainment and having limited newsstand publication ..much more digital content.” After 63 years, the pocket-sized Jet was converted to digital-only in 2014.

The Los Angeles-based Ferguson described herself on Instagram Friday as “Editor in Chief of an entirely NEW Jet ✈️ Magazine (comin’ soon). #gotMILLENNIALS ?”

According to her LinkedIn profile, Ferguson has been founder and editor-in-chief of Jones since May 2005.

Over the past five years, Jones has exploded onto the scene as a defined lifestyle brand,” the magazine says on its website. “The mission of Jones is to serve as the premiere fashion and beauty shopping guide for women of color across multiple mediums and formats. . . .”

Michelle Galván Joins Univision’s ‘Primer Impacto’

Michelle Galvan
Michelle Galvan

After almost two months since Bárbara Bermudo was axed from ‘Primer Impacto,’ Univision has finally named Michelle Galván as her replacement,” Latin Times reported Friday. “Galván will be joining Pamela Silva Conde on Monday, March 13 at 5pm ET/PT.

“Galván comes to ‘Primer Impacto’ from Univision Houston’s television station where she anchored the 5pm and 10pm newscasts and served as Special Segments Reporter since 2012. Prior to joining Univision Houston, Galván presented the international news segment for ‘Primero Noticias,’ a daily morning news program from Mexico’s Televisa Network, and previously served as Anchor on Foro TV, a cable news network also owned by Televisa. . . .”

The story also said, ” ‘Primer Impacto’ made its debut in 1994 and has since maintained its place among Univision’s highest rated programs. It is also recipient of some of the media industry’s most prestigious honors, including dozens of Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award.”

Lisa Wilson, Buffalo Sports Editor, Joins Undefeated

Lisa Wilson
Lisa Wilson

ESPN’s The Undefeated just made another impressive hire, and one that also shows some of the diversity challenges the traditional sports media faces,” Andrew Bucholtz reported Thursday for awfulannouncing.com.

“They’ve named Lisa Wilson senior editor for sports, and her hire would be noteworthy in its own right; she’s done plenty of impressive things, especially as the executive sports editor at The Buffalo News since 2011. However, what really stands out in the release is the line that she ‘is the nation’s only black female sports editor at a major metropolitan daily.’

“Whether that’s strictly true appears to depend on how you define ‘major metropolitan.’ Someone else who should probably be discussed here is Jewell Walston, sports editor of The Winston-Salem Journal: Winston-Salem’s population was estimated at 241,218 in 2015, while Buffalo’s was estimated [at] 258,959 in 2013, so there’s not a great deal of difference there.

“As Lori Chase notes, though, the News has a higher circulation, so it may be a circulation-based category. In any case, black female sports editors are unquestionably rare. . . .”

Woodrow Wilson, ranked highly by many white historians, ranked 17th of 19 modern presidents in a study of the black press.
Woodrow Wilson, ranked highly by many white historians, ranked 17th of 19 modern presidents in a study of the black press.

Black Press Judged Presidents Differently

Shortly before he passed away in 2013, my colleague Hanes Walton of the University of Michigan and I began a project with an eye toward” restoring the connection between Black History Month and presidential leadership, Alvin B. Tillery Jr. wrote Tuesday for the Washington Post, “the first systematic rankings of the modern presidents (Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama) based on the evaluations of African American experts. . . .”

Tillery also wrote, “Our study examines the evaluations of presidential leadership that African American editorialists published in 43 black-controlled newspapers between 1900 and 2016. . . .”

The results, compared with opinions of scholars that “until very recently . . . have lacked meaningful ethnic and racial diversity”:

“1. Woodrow Wilson falls precipitously out of the top five

“On average, Wilson is ranked fourth in the survey-based polls conducted between 1996 and 2015. By contrast, he ranks 17th out of the 19 modern presidents in our ranking. His 13-spot downward shift is the single largest move in our ranking.

“But it shouldn’t be a surprise. These real-time evaluations were made by members of the African American press corps — and several studies have documented Wilson’s embrace of white-supremacist positions and implementation of Jim Crow policies.

“2. Warren Harding and Barack Obama move up . . .

“3. On civil rights and race relations, LBJ takes the top spot — and others move down. . . ”

Short Takes

 

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“An OUTSTANDING outspoken advocate for journalism diversity in coverage, management, ownership, hiring and more! I support Richard Prince and what he does! I hope you will, too!!!”

Mike Woolfolk, news anchor and reporter for WEYI-TV (NBC 25) and WSMH-TV (FOX 66) in Flint, Mich., and a past vice president-broadcast of the National Association of Black Journalists.

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1 comment

Greg Thrasher February 26, 2017 at 7:13 pm

The extent of cowards in the media is shocking .. Why did all media outlets simply boycott the gaggle??????

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