Maynard Institute archives

Sotomayor Hearings “Tepid” or “Arrogant”?

by richard0451


On Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart poked fun at the senators who labeled Sonia Sotomayor a racist in a segment called, "White Men Can’t Judge."

Racial Perspectives Differ in Assessing Questions

To many white observers, the Senate confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, which concluded their third day on Wednesday, have been "tepid," "low-key" and even boring. To many blacks and Latinos, the "arrogance" on display was anything but.

What was grating to the latter group was the grilling of Sotomayor, who would become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, by white male Republicans over her well-publicized 2001 statement that, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."

The appeals court judge backed away from the statement during the hearings, calling it "a rhetorical flourish," but some senators wouldn’t let it go.

"The problem is that while hard questions were expected, the line of questioning forcing her to practically denounce the statement isn’t seen as having anything to do with her qualifications as a Supreme Court justice. Rather, it hearkens back to a time in history, dare I say, when submission was beaten into a person of color," Marisa Trevi?±o wrote¬†on her Latina Lista blog, under the headline, "Republican questions of Sotomayor border on racial harassment."

"That Judge Sotomayor has to sit there with a smile on her face and take the condescending insults is not just disrespectful to Latinos but women and people of color who have been historically subjected to this kind of authoritarian treatment," Trevi?±o continued.

Eugene Robinson, who is black and is this year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, began his Washington Post column, "The only real suspense in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is whether the Republican Party will persist in tying its fortunes to an anachronistic claim of white male exceptionalism and privilege."

"The next time one of these guys asks Sotomayor ‘What if I had said what you did?’" Eugene Kane, an African American columnist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote on his Facebook page, "I wish she would answer: ‘You’re a white male; I’m not. Stop comparing yourself to me, it doesn’t work.’"

Ruben Navarrette, in his column for the San Diego Union-Tribune, wrote, "even though five of the seven conservatives have never served as judges, this didn’t stop them from presumptuously lecturing someone who has been on the federal bench for 17 years about the proper role of the judiciary. . . . I actually feel sorry that Sotomayor has to suffer these fools with a half-smile on her poker face," wrote Navarrette, who is Hispanic.

The differing racial lens was focused not just on conservatives.

Mary C. Curtis, an African American writing for AOL’s Politics Daily, observed:

"Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from Sotomayor’s home state of New York, used a tactic that was interesting and off-putting. The Sotomayor supporter listed case after case of minorities whose cases the judge ruled against to show she doesn’t let her background or her assumed sympathies influence her decisions. Is this the test for a minority’s neutrality?

"You’re judged fair only if you rule against every minority that comes before you? I don’t recall any white male judges having to prove their neutrality by listing all the white guys they ruled against."

White journalists, by and large, saw no such assertion of white male privilege in the hearing room. In fact, "Her questioners, in general, were courteous, however persistent and challenging," Frazier Moore wrote for the Associated Press under the headline, "Sotomayor Hearings No Must-See TV."

"If the tepid run-up to the hearing and first day of questioning are any indication, the confirmation process is likely to be more seminar than sideshow," Ruy Teixeira wrote in the New Republic, in a piece cited in a Washington Post roundup by media writer Howard Kurtz. Kurtz agreed that "these particular hearings are tepid because everyone knows what the outcome will be."

Jim Naureckas of the progressive watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting conducted a database search:

"Number of stories in the Nexis news database dated today that mentioned Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R.-Ala.) questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, in which Sessions accused Sotomayor of harboring ethnic prejudices: 69

"Number of such stories that recalled that Sessions was rejected as a judicial nominee in 1986 in part because of his approving remarks about the Ku Klux Klan: 2."

Members of the press are out of camera range as they cover Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on Sonia Sotomayor (Credit: Picasa)

Few of Color Among Press Crowd at Hearing

Senators who pledged to raise media issues with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor got their chance on Wednesday at Senate confirmation hearings covered in person by a press corps that apparently included few journalists of color.

The closest the appeals court judge came to indicating how she might behave on the court, Marcia Kramer reported for New York’s WCBS-TV, "dealt with putting cameras in the Supreme Court. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter wants to see cameras in the Supreme Court.

"’The court is the least accountable. In fact, you might say the court is unaccountable,’ Specter said. ‘My question Judge Sotomayor is shouldn’t the American people have access to what is happening in the Supreme Court?’

"’As you know when there have been options for me to participate in cameras in the courtroom, I have,’ Sotomayor said. ‘And I will certainly relay those positive experiences if I become fortunate enough to be there with my colleagues to discuss it with them.’"

The newest senator, Al Franken, D-Minn., had pledged to ask Sotomayor about establishing a policy of a free and open Internet, known as "net neutrality."

"His first serious questions all centered on net neutrality, the Supreme Court’s ‘Brand X’ ruling that the FCC was right not to classify the internet as a telecom service, and the role of the First Amendment," Staci D. Kramer wrote¬†for paidcontent.org.

"Sotomayor agreed with him about the internet’s importance but avoided his query about a ‘compelling First Amendment right’ to access: ‘Rights are not looked at as overriding. Rights are rights and what the courts look at is how Congress balances those rights in a particular situation.’"

Among the journalists of color in the hearing room were Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News columnist and co-host of Pacifica Radio’s "Democracy Now!," Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press and Erica Gonzalez, opinion editor of New York’s El Diario, part of a team from Spanish-language news chain ImpreMedia that paired with PBS.

Gonzalez wrote and spoke about how cool, calm and collected the judge was under pressure.

Holland, who covers the Supreme Court, participated in an AP blog experiment. "You may have noticed: AP reporter Jesse J. Holland is in the hearing room with Larry Margasak. Jesse’s tweets end in JH. #sotoshow," AP notified Twitter users.

PBS agreed to live stream PBS’ "NewsHour" feed of the hearings, translated to Spanish, on ImpreMedia’s Web site¬†ImpreMedia provided analysis by Pedro Rojas, La Opini??n‚Äôs editor in chief, and its political analyst, Pilar Marrero, before, during or after the PBS coverage, an ImpreMedia spokeswoman said.

Ogletree Lines Up Investors to Save Bay State Banner

"Bay State Banner publisher Mel Miller publicly hoped last week that an investor would save Boston’s only black newspaper from closing. Now, it appears he may get his wish," Meghan E. Irons wrote Thursday in the Boston Globe. 

"In an interview with the Globe yesterday, Harvard University law professor Charles J. Ogletree said he has lined up a group of 12 investors — individuals and organizations — who can provide enough money to keep the financially-strapped weekly from shutting down permanently. He said the Banner, which distributed its last edition on Thursday and had been expected to close by the end of the month, could return to the stands as early as next week.

‚Äú’The Bay State Banner has been around for 44 years, and it will be around for a 45th year and beyond that,‚Äô Ogletree said, adding that he has been working ‘around the clock‚Äô to generate political and economic support for the paper since news of its demise last week. ‘The reality is, in these economic times, the Bay State Banner is more significant than it ever was.‚Äô

"Ogletree would not give details on how much money the investors have promised. He also would not disclose information about the investors themselves, except to say that they come from across the nation and include former Harvard students and individuals and groups representing clergy, government, and business and community advocacy.

"Meanwhile, Miller said he is encouraged by the news, but thinks it is likely to take longer than a week before the paper can print again. Miller, who would not give details on how much it would take to the save the paper, said that he’s surprised — and touched — by the outpouring of support he has seen since the announcement that the paper would shutter."

July 13, 2009

Despite Finances, Vibe, Ebony Didn’t Want to Go There

Fred Mwangaguhunga"Did Vibe magazine, the print ambassador of hip-hop culture, voice and style, pass up a chance to survive last year?" Chavon Sutton, a summer intern with Reuters New York equities team, wrote on July 2.

"A partnership with an online gossip website serving African-American readers, might have given it room to keep producing, according to the site’s founder and editor.

"Fred Mwangaguhunga, who runs Mediatakeout.com, told us that in the year before Vibe’s collapse, it offered the magazine a revenue-share deal, but Vibe refused."

Vibe, the best-known and most mainstream of the magazines aimed at the hip-hop generation, folded suddenly on June 30 after 16 years, citing "the collapse of the capital markets" and of print advertising.

". . . Incidentally, Ebony apparently isn’t interested in working with Mediatakeout either," Sutton continued, quoting Mwangaguhunga.

“We made the same proposal to Ebony [magazine] which is facing pressure now,” he said. “I’m not sure why they’re saying no.”

Mwangaguhunga, whose Web site trafficks in lurid headlines about celebrities, supermarket-tabloid-style, told Journal-isms on Monday that Sutton’s account was essentially accurate, but said, "I should be clear though ‚Äî I am not suggesting that any deal with MediaTakeOut.com would have saved Vibe ‚Äî or that it could save Ebony."

He added:

"We met with a senior member of Vibe’s team last fall and this spring we reached out to senior members over at Ebony.

"I was hoping to make a broader point about the future of urban/multicultural media companies. With offline ad revenues declining, traditional old media companies can not afford to ignore online media companies — in particular MediaTakeOut.com. Given our daily traffic numbers — we have as large or larger (depending on what measure you use) a daily audience than either BET.com or AOL Blackvoices.

"Vibe is a tragic loss to the urban/multicultural media world. It would be a shame to see any other high-profile companies suffer the same fate."

JazzTimes Finds an Owner, Will Resume Publication

JazzTimes, which calls itself the world’s leading jazz publication, is resuming publication under a new owner, according to a notice posted Monday on its Web site. It announced in June it furloughed the bulk of its staff and was selling its assets,

"Effective 7/10/09, the JazzTimes brand has been acquired by Madavor Media LLC, a market-leading enthusiast publishing and trade-show group based in Boston. We are very optimistic about the magazine’s long-term future given the resources and vision of Madavor and its staff," the notice said.

"Madavor will resume publishing of JazzTimes immediately with an August issue featuring a cover story on Joe Lovano, an article by investigative reporter Marc Hopkins on the effect of the economy on jazz festivals, and a photo essay celebrating Blue Note, with photos from Francis Wolff and Jimmy Katz and an introduction by Ashley Kahn."

Unity Blasts Fox Anchor on Marriage Among "Species"

"On the July 8, 2009 episode of the morning show ‘Fox and Friends,’ co-anchor Brian Kilmeade made a crude and bafflingly ignorant attempt to dismiss a study on marriage and Alzheimer’s that was conducted in Sweden and Finland," Unity: Journalists of Color, representing black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American journalists, said on Monday.

It began circulating a petition to Fox News urging "an immediate apology for Mr. Kilmeade’s offensive comments" and "a serious discussion on the program regarding intermarriage and the value of diversity in our society."

Unity’s statement said, "Mr. Kilmeade stated: ‘we [Americans] keep marrying other species and other ethnics . . . Swedes have pure genes . . . in America we marry everybody . . .’

"We don’t know where to begin. Did the study not apply to Americans because of racial intermarriage? Are racially integrated couples more likely to exacerbate the symptoms of dementia?

"Mr. Kilmeade’s outlandish comments were more than silly and worthy of ridicule. They validate, under the guise of light-hearted humor, the basest of white supremacist ideologies, the notion that white people and non-white people are of different species, with the white race as ‘pure.’ Without question, the comments should have been denounced immediately as racist, ignorant and bigoted.

"Instead, a baffled co-host Gretchen Carlson rightly questioned Kilmeade’s mental state, and someone off-camera whistled ‘If I Only Had a Brain.’ The song was well-chosen, seeing as the comments lacked intelligence, heart and courage, and should not have a home on anything resembling a news program."

Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.

Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said separately last week, "Perhaps the idea that we are all a part of the human race is a foreign concept to him ‚Äî but by virtue of his position he should have known better. Kilmeade suggests that so-called ‘pure genes’ belong to the Swedes ‚Äî the whitest among the white. If that isn’t a racist and bigoted point of view with a national platform we need a new definition.

"When will it end? When will the leadership of Fox News end the race-baiting language that has become a part of its current culture."

Broadcasters of Color Ask U.S. for Financial Aid

"Fourteen minority broadcasters have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for help for their industry, which they argue is in danger of extinction," John Eggerton reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable.

"That direct appeal for help followed a letter to the secretary from some key legislators including Majority Whip (and father of FCC commission nominee Mignon Clyburn Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), and Democratic Reps. Barney Frank (MA) and Charlie Rangel (NY) asking Geithner to ‘pay attention’ to the plight of minority broadcasters. That includes considering help to free up credit and financing government-backed bridge loans, similar to steps taken to help the ailing auto industry.

"In the letter adding their voices to that of the legislators, representatives of Entravision, Inner City Broadcasting, and a dozen others, including National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters James Winston, outlined a stark scenario.

"’Unlike the auto business, broadcasting has been healthy for many years and, upon a recovery, could shortly be restored to a path of growth with some temporary assistance,’ they wrote. ‘Given the global credit crisis, plummeting ad revenues, no-minority dictates by advertisers, and changes in Arbitron audience measurement, which have further deflated ad pricing, the short-term financial outlook for our broadcasting companies is not good. Many of us are now, or will soon be, weathering significant defaults of our credit facilities. Ironically, the loss of automobile advertising revenues, a substantial source of revenue for broadcast stations, is also weighing heavily on our businesses.’

"Without that help, they warned, minority ownership, already only in the low single digits as a percentage of all owners could sink even lower. ‘What will happen to the communities we serve,’ they asked, ‘if this once in a lifetime financial crisis completely severs our access to capital and we lose our stations?’"

"Candorville" cartoonist Darrin Bell has raised enough money to create 11×17 posters of his "Last Goodbye" series on Michael Jackson. Money goes to a Jackson-favored charity.

Michael Jackson Death Prompts Look at "Colorism"

"Colorism is the crazy aunt in the attic of racism," DeNeen L. Brown wrote Sunday in a 2,100-word Washington Post piece, broaching a subject not often discussed in newspapers.

"It’s best not to mention her in polite company. Or if you find it necessary to talk about her at all, do it in whispers among relatives and people who already know about her.

"On June 25, when Michael Jackson died, there she was again: colorism, that sub-category of racism and prejudice based on skin color, staring us right in the face.

"By the time Jackson died, he was perhaps whiter than any white man that you know. Those who looked at the constant stream of replayed televised interviews, at the pale skin, the thin lips painted red, the straight hair, saw in his face the psychological wound that has scarred so many in the black community.

". . . Jackson has insisted that his skin faded as the result of vitiligo, a condition that damages the skin’s pigment. But experts say that condition leaves the skin spotted and blotchy. To the outer world, Jackson’s skin appeared consistently white. And before-and-after photos of Jackson tell a deeper story about color discrimination, also known as colorism ‚Äî an intra-racial discrimination among African Americans."

. . . Cartoonist Raises Enough for Poster of His MJ Work

"Candorville" comic strip artist Darrin Bell has raised enough to cover the cost of printing 50 posters of his "Pretty Young Things" sequence last week about Michael Jackson, he told Journal-isms on Monday. Bell said he raised about $150, and that profits from any orders will be donated to one of Jackson’s favorite charities, AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Bell, whose strip runs in about 75 newspapers, explained on his blog:

"I decided, instead of a simple tribute, to take a week to work out the conflicted feelings so many have about Michael Jackson, and that so many don’t want to acknowledge.

"It was important, I felt, that it be Lemont who’s conflicted about this, because contrary to what Al Sharpton’s been saying, being conflicted about Michael is not a racial matter. And it was important to me to finally get to the heart of the matter, that I don’t believe Michael ever meant anyone any harm. In the end, as happens to us all in our final moment, we’re reduced to the essence of what we are. In his case, that would be a little boy who never really grew up."

"Reuters Stories Should Be Free of . . . Racism"

"For the first time ever, Reuters is making its ‘Handbook of Journalism’ available to the public. So, if you’re looking for some interesting weekend reading or a peek into the international newswire’s journalistic ethics and rules, it’s worth a read," Amanda Ernst wrote Friday for MediaBistro’s FishbowlNY.

For example, here’s what the handbook of the British-based news organization says about race:

"Reuters stories should be free of conscious or unconscious racism. Avoid racial stereotyping and describe membership of a group, ethnicity or race precisely. For further guidance, go to the sections on value judgments and religious, cultural and national differences under Specialised Guidance.

"Mention race or ethnicity only when relevant to the understanding of a story. For example, if someone is facing deportation, it is appropriate to give his or her nationality. Similarly, the ethnic origin of a person who receives racial threats or is the target of a racist attack is essential context.

"Take care when reporting crimes and court cases. The race of an accused person is not usually relevant.

"Clearly, race is an important factor in stories about racial controversy or immigration, or where an issue cuts across racial lines. For example, if European-born people join Tibetan exiles in demonstrations against China’s Tibet policy, this is a point worth mentioning.

"Race is pertinent in reporting a feat or appointment unusual for a person of a particular ethnic group, for example someone born in China who becomes an international cricket umpire.

"In the United States, the terms black and African-American are both acceptable. Black is fine as an adjective, eg ‘Obama will be the first black U.S. president’. As a noun, the plural is acceptable where it might contrast with another group, eg doctors found differences between the treatment offered to whites and blacks. Do not use black as a singular noun ‚Äî it is both awkward and offensive. ‘Barack Obama would be the first black to become U.S. president’ is unacceptable. Better to say ‘Barack Obama will become the first black U.S. president’.

"Native Spanish speakers in the United States may be referred to as Latino or Hispanic, but it is better to be specific (Colombian, Mexican). Also, some people from Latin America are not Hispanic, eg Brazilians. As a general rule, use the term by which the people of a particular ethnic group describe themselves: Inuit (not Eskimo), Roma (not Gypsy), Sami (not Lapp), Native American (not Indian).

"Capitalise the names of races and peoples: Asian, Jew, Hispanic. Note that black and white are lower case.

"If a racially derogatory expression is used in a direct quote, this should be flagged at the top of the story: (Note racial slur in paragraph 12)"

Short Takes

  • Nearly 500 people attended the 15th anniversary convention of the South Asian Journalists Association in New York on Saturday, "which keeps [us] at the same level as previous years," SAJA President Sandeep Junnarkar told Journal-isms. The number was "amazing given journalism conventions are seeing plummeting attendance this year ‚Äî leading some to even cancel their events," he said. "We focused all our panels and workshops on giving convention attendees skills in new media and an understanding on the changing journalism landscape. Our opening keynote speaker, Jeff Jarvis, the author of ‘What Would Google Do?’ set the tone by discussing new trends in journalism business models."
  • Deron SnyderDeron Snyder, who moved from sports columnist to editorial writer at the Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, told readers Saturday he had volunteered to be cut from the staff of the Gannett-owned newspaper. The company cut 1,400 jobs, about 3 percent of the work force, to cope with a prolonged slump in advertising revenue. "Better if the newspaper cut me instead of an employee who really wanted to stay," he wrote. Snyder’s wife, Vanessa, had secured a job in Washington. Saying he is "taking a leap of faith," Snyder added, "if there‚Äôs a chance to keep at least a toe in the media, I‚Äôll take it. . . . those who are interested can find me. I‚Äôll still be around in cyberspace."
  • The first three months of 2009 were a disaster in the business magazine sector, "as no publication reported an increase in advertising revenue or an increase in ad pages," Chris Roush reported Sunday for his Talking Biz News site. However, Black Enterprise was the second best performer in ad revenue, behind Forbes Small Business. "Its ads brought in $7.6 million for the quarter, down 16.6 percent. Its ad pages fell 23 percent to 163.22," Roush wrote.
  • "Nonprofit business models are the talk of the newspaper industry on the U.S. mainland. But in Puerto Rico, 85 press workers, salespeople and journalists who lost their jobs when the San Juan Star folded last summer aren’t just talking about the nonprofit model ‚Äî they’ve formed a cooperative that publishes the island’s only English-language daily," Mark Fitzgerald wrote Monday for Editor & Publisher. "The Puerto Rico Daily Sun launched in October, with each member of the new Cooperativa Prensa Unida kicking in $800. The Puerto Rican Department of Labor and Human Resources pledged $1 million for payroll expenses, but had paid just $250,000 when spending was frozen by a new administration."
  • "The Washington Post’s ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record ‘salons’ was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions," ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote in Sunday’s Washington Post. Among those interviewed about their roles in the affair were Publisher Katharine Weymouth, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, co-managing editors Raju Narisetti and Liz Spayd and deputy managing editor Milton Coleman.
  • David Novarro "Chicago‚Äôs WFLD-Ch. 32 in September plans to giving up its 10 p.m. weeknight news program, ‘The Ten,’ less than 30 months after the Fox-owned station launched the 35-minute broadcast to run headlong at fellow network-owned rivals with its own late local headlines," Phil Rosenthal reported Friday for the Chicago Tribune. "’The Ten’ co-anchor David Novarro‚Äôs contract expires in September, and the newscaster brought in from New York‚Äôs WABC in 2000 is expected to leave WFLD."
  • "Radio One, the largest U.S. minority-owned media company, came under fire from the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday for refusing to testify at a hearing billed as a forum to examine plummeting advertising revenues, increased media consolidation and pending legislation that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for over-the-air radio, which broadcasters oppose," the National Journal reported. "Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and others scolded Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son, CEO Alfred Liggins, for being no-shows. Other critics of the bill who Conyers said snubbed him include National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton; Rainbow Push Coalition President Rev. Jesse Jackson; syndicated radio host Tom Joyner; and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council’s David Honig."
  • Will Bunch, blogger for the Philadelphia Daily News, is again questioning why the Philadelphia Inquirer employs former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo as a columnist. "Now John Yoo is in the news yet again, and it also speaks yet again to why a major American newspaper should not award a contract to a man who stands accused of unethical legal practices at the Justice Department, who’s now being sued for torture and who in the minds of many readers gave the green light to war crimes that sullied the reputation of the United States," Bunch wrote on Monday.
  • Grace Aaron, the interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, told a listener to Washington’s WPFW-FM that she could not discuss why general manager Ron Pinchback has become the second Pacifica general manager to be ousted in recent months. "We are constrained from discussing this or any kind of personal information to protect our employees," Aaron said on the air on Thursday. "That’s all I can say legally."
  • In Kenya, "Journalists who witnessed the horror and mayhem sparked by the disputed 2007 election results are still faced with trauma, many months after a political pact ended the worst violence since independence," Kenya’s Daily Nation reported on Friday. "Their heart-rending stories are contained in a newly-published booklet, Healing the Messenger, which came out of trauma counselling sessions in five different localities across the country. . . . In one case, a journalist came back from duty and found his wife badly beaten. Other journalists’ houses were burnt down or property looted or destroyed. One [journalist] and his family had to raise money and pay his would-be killers to escape death."
  • In Pakistan, the home of Voice of America correspondent Rahman Bunairee was leveled by a bomb on Thursday in what was believed to be a retaliatory attack by the Taliban, according to news reports quoted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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