Articles Feature

Times-Picayune in Fear of Mass Layoff

by richard03586

Sale of New Orleans Institution Could Cost 161 Jobs

John Georges, center, his wife Dathel, right, and editor Peter Kovacs tell the staff of the New Orleans Advocate Thursday about its purchase of the Times-Picayune. (Credit: Max Becherer/Advocate)
John Georges, center, his wife Dathel, right, and editor Peter Kovacs tell the staff of the New Orleans Advocate Thursday about its purchase of the Times-Picayune. (Credit: Max Becherer/Advocate)

Sale of New Orleans Institution Could Cost 161 Jobs

Employees of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans were told Thursday that the newspaper’s new owners plan to lay off the entire staff on July 1, though an uncertain number will be retained or rehired.

The competing New Orleans Advocate, headquartered in the state capital Baton Rouge, where the Advocate also publishes a edition, announced Thursday that owners Dathel and John Georges had purchased the Times-Picayune and its NOLA.com website from the Newhouse family’s Advance Local Media.

“The Advocate will publish a seven-day, home-delivered newspaper in New Orleans using the brands and features of both publications. The new paper will debut in June. The two papers’ websites will be combined under the nola.com brand around the same time,” the Advocate reported.

At 2:02 p.m. Thursday, Times-Picayune staffers were sent an emailed message to come to the newspaper office at 3 p.m. for “an important staff meeting,” columnist Jarvis DeBerry, who was in an airplane at the time and was unable to see the message, told Journal-isms by telephone on Saturday.

“An official from Advance told Times-Picayune employees Thursday afternoon that they would all be laid off as part of the deal, according to three staffers,” David Uberti reported Friday for Vice News. “The journalists will keep their jobs for the next 60 days as the deal is finalized and the merging of the brands is completed, they said. Staffers will have the chance to apply for new jobs in the unified newsroom. But the details of that process, including how many positions might be available, remain thin.

“Times-Picayune staffers were shocked, employees told VICE News, with some crying in the newsroom and others tweeting out the sad news. The staff went to a bar across the street to commiserate about the work the newspaper had produced amid intense financial pressure in recent years.

“ ‘We’re drinking now,’ one former staffer said on Thursday night. ‘There’s not much else to do.’ ”

Keith J. Kelly reported Friday in the New York Post, “A total of 161 staff members are being laid off, according to a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) notice filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, which listed 65 reporter and editor jobs in the bloodbath.”

Neither the Times-Picayune nor the Advocate participated in the most recent annual diversity survey of the American Society of News Editors. [PDF]

African Americans at the Times-Picayune include Terry Baquet, director of community engagement and brother of New York Times editor Dean Baquet; David Francis, executive vice president of NOLA Media Group; DeBerry and Michelle Hunter, Jefferson Parish crime reporter, among others. Manuel Torres, who is Latino, is senior news editor.

‘What Do You Call a Black Man With a PhD?’

May 3, 2019

 

College-Educated Men More Likely to Sense Racism

J-Prof, a Cherokee, Says Students Disrespected Her

15 U.S. Journalists of Color Win Top Fellowships

USA Today Makes Public Police Misconduct Records

Keep Eyes on Prize, Clarence Thomas Accuser Says

Dad’s, Son’s Border Nightmare Prompts Editorial

Tips for Becoming a Better Diversity Ally

She Became a Journalist After ‘Boyz n the Hood’

Deadline is May 17 to Nominate a J-Educator

Short Takes

 

Support Journal-isms

 

Vice President Joe Biden (not shown), Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., left, Cambridge, Mass., police Sergeant James Crowley, and President Barack Obama met in 2009 for a conversation over beers at the White House. Gates's arrest by Crowley at his own house sparked national controversy and criticism. Obama initially said the Cambridge police department acted "stupidly" during the arrest. (Credit: White House/PeteSouza)
Vice President Joseph R. Biden (not shown), Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., left, Cambridge, Mass., police Sergeant James Crowley and President Barack Obama met in 2009 for a conversation over beers at the White House. Gates’s arrest by Crowley at his own house sparked national controversy and criticism. Obama initially said the Cambridge police department acted “stupidly” during the arrest. (Credit: White House/Pete Souza)

College-Educated Men More Likely to Sense Racism

If you enter “What do you call a black man with a PhD?” into a search engine, you might find stories about Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., arrested in 2009 for trying to enter his own home.

You might come across a blunt quotation from Malcolm X.

Or, as of this week, you could surface a new survey from the Pew Research Center, or at least the sentiment behind many of the responses.

“Personal experiences with racial discrimination are common for black Americans,” Monica Anderson wrote for the center in a Thursday email. “But certain segments within this group — most notably, those who are college educated or male — are more likely to say they’ve faced certain situations because of their race, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

(Credit: Pew Research Center)
(Click to enlarge)

“Majorities of blacks say they’ve faced discrimination, but those with college experience are more likely to say this. A majority of black adults say they have been discriminated against because of their race, but this varies by education.

“Roughly eight-in-ten blacks with at least some college experience (81%) say they’ve experienced racial discrimination, at least from time to time, including 17% who say this happens regularly. Among blacks with a high school education or less, these shares are lower – 69% and 9%, respectively.

“Blacks who have attended college are more likely than those who haven’t to say they’ve faced certain situations because of their race.

“When asked about specific situations they may have experienced because of their race, blacks who have attended college are more likely than those without college experience to say they have faced a number of these incidents: people acting as if they were suspicious of them (71% vs. 59%), people acting as if they were not smart (67% vs. 52%) or being subjected to slurs or jokes (58% vs. 45%). Half of blacks with at least some college experience also say they have feared for their personal safety because of their race. That share drops to about a third (34%) among those with less education.

“College-educated blacks are also more inclined to believe their race has negatively impacted their ability to succeed: 57% of blacks with at least some college experience believe being black has hurt their ability to get ahead, compared with 47% of those with a high school education or less. . . .”

Anderson concedes this finding is not new.

“This pattern has been consistent across multiple surveys,” she acknowledges. “A 2016 Pew Research Center survey found similar educational gaps among blacks in experiences with discrimination. And a 2017 NPR poll found that being subjected to racial slurs or offensive comments was more common among blacks with a college degree than those with less education.

“So why is this? Other researchers suggest that college-educated blacks are more likely to work in predominately white environments, which may lead to greater exposure to race-related prejudices or stresses. One scholar noted that college itself may offer blacks more opportunities to discuss race and discrimination through classes and organizations, thereby raising their awareness of these issues. . . .”

J-Prof, a Cherokee, Says Students Disrespected Her

Becky Tallent
Becky Tallent

A Journalism and Mass Media professor retiring from the University of Idaho “said she experienced issues with discrimination due to her Cherokee heritage both on and off campus, but said she has worked on educating the community,” Brianna Finnegan reported Wednesday for the Argonaut campus newspaper.

“I’ve had students who have openly disregarded me,” Becky Tallent told Finnegan. “Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a woman or if I’m not quite white enough for them. I suspect it’s both. For anyone of color, racism is alive and well in the United States, unfortunately.”

Finnegan continued, “In her personal life, Tallent said she uses humor to [defuse] these situations, but on campus she tries to educate her students on cultural diversity in the media through a class Tallent described as one of the things she’s most proud of accomplishing at UI.

“ ‘The first year was trial and error,’ Tallent said. ‘And then, thankfully, Kenton Bird — who was our director at the time — sent me to a training session at the Poynter Institute and I learned a lot more about diversity. I’ve been able to take it over 13 years and really transform it into something that’s interactive and fun.’.  . .”

(Credit: Nieman Foundation)
(Credit: Nieman Foundation)

15 U.S. Journalists of Color Win Top Fellowships

Fifteen U.S. journalists of color are among 63 journalists chosen for the Nieman,  John S. Knight and Knight-Wallace fellowships for those at mid-career, the programs announced Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Included in these classes are diverse groups of journalists from outside the country, such as Karyn Pugliese of Canada, executive director of news and current affairs at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and assistant professor of journalism at Ryerson University. At the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, Pugliese plans to study strategies newsroom leaders and educators can use to implement Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

“I always look at the class fully, and this class includes journalists from Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and South Korea,” Lynette Clemetson, director of the Knight-Wallace program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said by email. “The full class is also bursting with really amazing women, 11 of the total 17. And there is wonderful synergy with people’s interests and study plans.”

At the JSK program at Stanford University, “Two of the newly selected fellows will officially represent JSK in its nascent partnership with the Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute, which seeks to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition,” the JSK announcement says. The JSK-HAI Journalism Fellows are Garance Burke, national investigative reporter, Associated Press, and Pamela Chen, creative director at Instagram.

Also included are Janet Cho, who was laid off last month as a business writer at the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, who will be a Knight-Wallace Fellow, and Bryan Pollard, a former president of the Native American Journalists Association who stepped down in September to oversee NAJA training, awards, a fellowship program and the RED Press Initiative. The latter is “intended to research and report on the successes, and shortcomings, of tribal media operations.”

The fellows spend an academic year at the institution and receive a stipend of $70,000 to $85,000 over the eight or nine months.

The U.S. winners include:

Krista Almanzan, news director, KAZU-FM, Seaside, Calif.; JSK

Niala Boodhoo, host, “The 21st,” Illinois Public Radio; Michigan

Jasmine Brown, producer for ABC News’ “Nightline”; Nieman

Ana Campoy, senior reporter, Quartz; Nieman

Pamela Chen, creative director, Instagram, San Francisco; JSK-HAI Journalism Fellow

Janet Cho, former business reporter, Plain Dealer, Cleveland; Michigan

Selymar Colón, editor-in-chief at Univision News Digital; Nieman

Aaron Foley, chief storyteller, city of Detroit; JSK

Nour Malas, Wall Street Journal correspondent based in Los Angeles; Nieman

Bryan Pollard, director of programs and strategic partnerships, Native American Journalists Association, Fayetteville, Ark.; JSK

Michael Rain, independent journalist, New York; JSK

Karen Rouse, reporter, WNYC News, New York Public Radio; Michigan

Eileen Traux, author and reporter, New York Times Edición Español and others; Michigan.

Jose Zamora, senior vice president/strategic communications, Univision News, Miami; JSK

Natasha Zouves, news anchor and reporter, KGO-TV, San Francisco; JSK

USA Today Makes Public Police Misconduct Records

“At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found,” John Kelly and Mark Nichols reported Wednesday for USA Today.

“Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.

“Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.

“The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.

“Reporters from USA TODAY, its 100-plus affiliated newsrooms and the nonprofit Invisible Institute in Chicago have spent more than a year creating the biggest collection of police misconduct records.

“Obtained from thousands of state agencies, prosecutors, police departments and sheriffs, the records detail at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct, much of it previously unreported. The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies.

“Among the findings:

  • “Most misconduct involves routine infractions, but the records reveal tens of thousands of cases of serious misconduct and abuse. They include 22,924 investigations of officers using excessive force, 3,145 allegations of rape, child molestation and other sexual misconduct and 2,307 cases of domestic violence by officers.
  • “Dishonesty is a frequent problem. The records document at least 2,227 instances of perjury, tampering with evidence or witnesses or falsifying reports. There were 418 reports of officers obstructing investigations, most often when they or someone they knew were targets.
  • “Less than 10% of officers in most police forces get investigated for misconduct. Yet some officers are consistently under investigation. Nearly 2,500 have been investigated on 10 or more charges. Twenty faced 100 or more allegations yet kept their badge for years.”
Angela Wright in 1991. (Credit: Bob Leverne/Charlotte Observer)
Angela Wright in 1991. (Credit: Bob Leverne/Charlotte Observer)

Keep Eyes on Prize, Clarence Thomas Accuser Says

“Joe Biden doesn’t owe me an apology,” Angela Wright-Shannon wrote Wednesday in the Washington Post. “Only Anita Hill can speak to what he owes her, but as ‘the uncalled witness’ in the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, I believe we have more pressing issues than whether Biden has sufficiently apologized for what did or did not happen almost three decades ago.”

Wright-Shannon is identified as a freelance writer and editor living in Charlotte, N.C., and a senior facilitator with the OpEd Project.

As theGrio.com recalled last October, “Wright was an assistant metro editor at the Charlotte Observer when [she] was subpoenaed to testify during Thomas’ confirmation hearings 27 years ago. She told Senate investigators that when she worked as the EEOC’s public affairs director,” referring to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Thomas was lewd and crass. She said he was pressuring her to go out with him. Wright said Thomas also asked about breast size and showed up at her apartment uninvited.”

Wright-Shannon’s opinion piece continued, “Let’s get our priorities straight. We can discuss ad nauseam whether Biden acted appropriately during those 1991 hearings, and whether he’s too touchy-feely now. But why allow those issues to derail his presidential bid when the vulgar, always inappropriate current occupant of the White House has bragged about groping women and entering dressing rooms to ogle half-naked girls during the Miss Teen USA pageant? At stake is the 2020 presidential election, and if we don’t keep our eyes on that prize, we might find ourselves trumped again. . . .”

Dad’s, Son’s Border Nightmare Prompts Editorial

“The best journalism often conveys a larger, universal truth through the story of one person,” the Dallas Morning News editorialized April 26.

“This week our Alfredo Corchado did just that with the heartbreaking story of Carlos Joaquin Salinas, a 29-year-old Guatemalan farmer who sold all he had and borrowed the rest to pay a smuggler to help him and his 10-year-old son, Fernando, make the 2,000 mile trek north to El Paso.

“ ‘The smuggler told me this would be like going to Disneyland,’ Joaquin told Corchado, ‘that everyone would greet us with jobs.’ Instead, Joaquin and his son were held under an international bridge on the border like ‘caged animals’ before being transferred to a nonprofit shelter. They were later bused to North Texas where they have family and await their court date to see if they are granted asylum.

“As for his friends and family back in Guatemala, Joaquin urged them not to follow him to America: ‘Don’t sell your land, your cattle, all you own for this,’ he said. ‘Don’t come.’

“That may sound like a victory for the Trump administration’s increasingly restrictionist immigration policies designed to deter would-be migrants fleeing hunger, poverty and organized crime in Central America.

“But seeing Joaquin’s despair and his change of heart as something positive would be exactly the wrong takeaway. As he told our reporter, failing crops and drought threatened his livelihood and his ability to feed his family.

“He’s not alone. The World Bank estimates that more than 1.4 million Central Americans and Mexicans could flee their homes in the next three decades due to insecurities caused by climate change.

The editorial also said, “Sadly, however, after walking back his threats to close the border, President Donald Trump has pledged to end the very aid to Central America that could help slow the exodus and ease the crisis at the border. Yes, Congress needs to fix our broken immigration system with comprehensive reform. And we need to better inform would-be migrants of the realities of seeking asylum in today’s climate. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recognize the folly in slashing aid. . . .”

Tips for Becoming a Better Diversity Ally

“There are a lot of great resources available for people at all levels of employment who want to become better allies,” Emma Carew Grovum wrote April 24 for source.opennews.org. “This guide is meant to collect some of those resources and share examples specific to newsrooms and journalism groups. . . .

Emma Carew Grovum
Emma Carew Grovum

“This is meant to be an actionable conversation starter for the journalism and technology community. There will be tips you can try today. There will be tips you can share with your boss, or your boss’s boss, or your team.

“First, the easiest step

“The easiest thing you can do is share this guide. Tweet it, Facebook it, post it in your favorite Slack community. Email it to your friends and colleagues. Print it out and post it in the break room near the coffee machine. Highlight key passages and share it with your newsroom’s leadership team.

What being an ally means

“Who can be an ally? You can! Anyone who recognizes their own place of privilege and wants to support diversity and inclusion can act as an ally.

“What does it mean to be an ally? Being an ally is more than just agreeing that people from historically underrepresented backgrounds are valuable and have a place in society and our industry. Being an ally means:

  • “Stepping outside your comfort zone
  • “Stepping up to support your friends and colleagues
  • “Acting to boldly amplify new ideas and advocate for inclusion

“So what does this look like in real life? We’ve broken this list of ideas and tips into three buckets for different types of allies. Maybe you’ve never thought about diversity and inclusion a day in your life and — reading this article — you’ve had a lightbulb moment. Maybe someone forwarded this column to you, and you’re begrudgingly giving it a read. Maybe you already think you’re doing the right things and are looking to begin a deeper practice of being an ally.

“No matter what stage of allyship you’re in, you can make a change today by adopting a new practice or sharing this guide with someone in your inner circle who needs to step up. So, you’re here. You’re ready. You’re willing. Let’s begin. . . .”

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube in John Singleton's "Boyz n the Hood." (Credit: Columbia Pictures)
Cuba Gooding Jr., left, and Ice Cube in John Singleton’s “Boyz n the Hood.” (Credit: Columbia Pictures)

She Became a Journalist After ‘Boyz n the Hood’

“One scene in ‘Boyz n the Hood’ literally changed my life,” S. Mitra Kalita, senior vice president for news, opinion and programming for CNN Digital, wrote Monday for CNN.

“It was the summer of 1993 and I was 16 years old. I had seen John Singleton’s movie that garnered him Oscar nominations for best directing and best screenplay when it came out in theaters two years earlier. But that summer, gathered with a group of minority high-school newspaper editors in a dorm lounge, watching it on VHS, I heard these lines anew.

S. Mitra Kalita
S. Mitra Kalita

“In this scene, (at the 1:18 mark of the clip), Doughboy visits Tre and says he found no coverage marking the death of their friend (who was Doughboy’s half-brother): ‘Turned on the TV this morning. … Either they don’t know…don’t show…or don’t care about what’s goin’ on in the ‘hood.’

“The program was the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund’s Minorities Journalism Workshop. When I applied, I did not realize I was a minority.

“Born to Indian immigrant parents, raised in Puerto Rico before arriving in New Jersey for high school, I was conscious of difference but did not necessarily identify as a person of color. Then came this program that forced me to, if only to gain admission.

“And so I sat among 16 black, Latino and Asian youth and listened to the character played by Ice Cube indict the media for not covering people in South Central Los Angeles. . . .”

Kalita also wrote, “They forced me to reckon with that feeling of turning on the television or opening up the newspaper and never seeing myself, either. Singleton gave a booming, unifying voice to this otherness.

“I had thought that journalism program would look good on my resume. I had thought I might be a lawyer or a psychologist. With that scene, that summer, I found a new calling.

“I decided that the power to make decisions about what people read, see or watch is the ultimate power indeed. I vowed to be more reflective, inclusive and accurate in my portrayal of the world. Just as John Singleton was.”

Deadline is May 17 to Nominate a J-Educator

Beginning in 1990, the Association of Opinion Journalists, formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers, annually granted a Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship — actually an award — “in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage minority students in the field of journalism.”

AOJ merged in 2016 into the American Society of News Editors, which is continuing the Bingham award tradition.

Since 2000, the recipient has been awarded an honorarium of $1,000 to be used to “further work in progress or begin a new project.”

Bill Celis
Bill Celis

Past winners include James Hawkins, Florida A&M University (1990); Larry Kaggwa, Howard University (1992); Ben Holman, University of Maryland (1996); Linda Jones, Roosevelt University, Chicago (1998); Ramon Chavez, University of Colorado, Boulder (1999); Erna Smith, San Francisco State (2000); Joseph Selden, Penn State University (2001); Cheryl Smith, Paul Quinn College (2002); Rose Richard, Marquette University (2003).

Also, Leara D. Rhodes, University of Georgia (2004); Denny McAuliffe, University of Montana (2005); Pearl Stewart, Black College Wire (2006); Valerie White, Florida A&M University (2007); Phillip Dixon, Howard University (2008); Bruce dePyssler, North Carolina Central University (2009); Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia University (2010); Yvonne Latty, New York University (2011); Michelle Johnson, Boston University (2012); Vanessa Shelton, University of Iowa (2013); William Drummond, University of California at Berkeley (2014); Julian Rodriguez of the University of Texas at Arlington (2015) (video); David G. Armstrong, Georgia State University (2016) (video); and Gerald Jordan, University of Arkansas (2017); Bill Celis, University of Southern California (2018).

Nominations may be emailed to Richard Prince, ASNE Opinion Journalism Committee, richardprince (at) hotmail.com. The deadline is May 17. Please use that address only for ASNE matters.

Short Takes

Continued at http://bit.ly/2H18eoq

 

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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity.
 
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