Coleman Appeals to Internet Operations to “Help Us”
Maynard Institute Gets $1.2 Million to Study Structural Racism
Desiree Rogers Working as Ebony/Jet Consultant
. . . Was New Ebony Editor Really a First? It Depends
Israel Accused of Distorting Flotilla Footage
All-White Chicago Tribune Panel to Assess Obama
Plea From Bob Ellison’s Son: Stop Smoking Today
Pew Center Documents Rise in Intermarriage
A “mainstream” American newsroom, 1942: How much progress? (Credit: Wikipedia)
Coleman Appeals to Internet Operations to “Help Us”
The American Society of News Editors, which received only seven responses after asking, it said, 28 online organizations to respond to its annual diversity survey, will “do a new census,” according to ASNE President Milton Coleman.
Coleman told Journal-isms he hoped to have the survey completed by the end of the summer and that it would be overseen by Bobbi Bowman, the former diversity director at ASNE who has conducted the previous censuses, and the co-chairs of ASNE’s Diversity Committee, Karen Magnuson of the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., and Ronnie Agnew of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
ASNE has surveyed print newspapers since it set a goal in 1978 of having the nation’s newspaper newsrooms reflect the racial demographics of the country. It later extended the survey to include the online operations at newspapers.
The organization reported in April that, “For the first time, ASNE also surveyed the staffs at 28 online only newspapers,” but that “Only 25 percent returned their survey forms, compared to a nearly 65 percent response rate for daily newspapers.”
At least five online news operations – Slate; the Daily Beast; TPM Media LLC, which publishes the Talking Points Memo; the Salon Media Group and National Public Radio – said they did not remember receiving the request.
In addition, journalist David Cay Johnston wrote that Brant Houston of the Investigative News Network told him “he wants the opportunity to answer the survey questions.”
On the other hand, a spokeswoman for Yahoo told Journal-isms flatly, “We do not release our diversity statistics.” Anthony Moor of Yahoo is an ASNE board member.
So is Politico’s editor-in- chief, John F. Harris, who has said, ‘Our corporate policies don’t allow me to release numerical data.”
And the Labor Department confirmed last month that Yahoo, Google and three other Silicon Valley companies felt so strongly about not disclosing the information that they persuaded federal officials two years ago to block public disclosure. Moreover, the Labor Department agreed that to be forthcoming would be revealing “trade secrets.”
AOL, which now claims to employ 4,000 journalists, 3,500 of whom are part-time or freelance, was another operation listed as not responding to the ASNE survey. Nor has it answered inquiries from Journal-isms about the diversity among its journalists. The Web site for the “AOL News Team” shows 19 writers and editors who all appear to be white, with people of color among the “contributors.”
Coleman said that ASNE’s initial 2010 survey “came when the organizational staff was in transition. We don’t think it was a good survey, a telling survey. We may not have had the best lists and the best conditions. We seek people’s help,” he said, as ASNE “casts a much broader net.”
Coleman, senior editor at the Washington Post, stressed that ASNE discloses only percentages and not actual numbers and that ASNE considered the survey essential to measuring progress on diversity as news is delivered on a growing number of platforms.
Maynard Gets $1.2 Million to Study Structural Racism
The Maynard Institute has received a $1.2 million, three-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to launch the Maynard Media Center on Structural Racism, which is intended to “encourage the media to provide comprehensive coverage of structural racism and its impact on American society,” the Institute announced on Friday.
“We want to thank the Kellogg Foundation for sponsoring this effort to improve media coverage of the barriers that people of color face today because of structural racism,” Dori J. Maynard, CEO and president of the Maynard Institute, said in the announcement. “Changing the way that the media cover people of color will have a tremendous impact on our society.”
“Ms. Maynard said that one of the root causes of divisiveness across the country is that many people are unaware that structural racism continues to create barriers for people of color, contributing to the disparities in income, housing, education and health outcomes, as well as the different treatment that whites and people of color receive in the criminal justice system,” the announcement continued.
” ‘The lack of comprehensive reporting on structural racism and its impacts is one of the reasons that so many Americans believe discrimination has been eradicated from our society or reduced to such a minimum level it is no longer important,’ Ms. Maynard said. ‘These misconceptions are harmful to our nation. They make it more difficult to rally government, private and nonprofit resources to improve the social, health and economic conditions that many people don‚Äôt even realize still exist.’
“Ms. Maynard said that misconceptions and stereotypes perpetuated by the media and entertainment industry ‘blur not only the actual state of economics, health, housing and criminal justice for people of color, but the very essence of their culture, their values and their humanity.’ . . .
“MMCSR adds a new dimension to the Institute‚Äôs offerings. It will sponsor programs that will include professional development sessions for reporters, editors and producers; training and recruitment of people of color for positions in new media and talk radio; workshops for news media executives; workshops with entertainment industry executives; an interactive website dedicated to coverage and analysis of structural racism; and a new wire service that will produce and distribute enterprise and investigative print and broadcast stories on structural racism in our society and the people affected by it.
“Ms. Maynard said she has recruited a talented group of professionals to shape and implement MMCSR programs, including Michael K. Frisby, President of Frisby & Associates public relations and a former White House Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal; Gregory L. Moore, Editor of the Denver Post; Sally Lehrman, Knight-Ridder/San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair for Journalism at Santa Clara University; Kenneth J. Cooper, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former National Editor of the Boston Globe; Renee Warren, President of Arielle-Wren public relations and a former producer at CNBC; and Evelyn Hsu, Director of Programs at the Maynard Institute and a former reporter at the Washington Post.”
Desiree Rogers is filling in while Johnson Publishing’s COO is away. (Credit: Crain’s Chicago Business)
Desiree Rogers Working as Ebony/Jet Consultant
“Linda Johnson Rice is finally bringing in the big guns to turn around the battle to save Johnson Publishing,” the staff of theRoot.com reported on Friday. “Former White House social secretary and longtime friend Desiree Rogers is working in a consultancy position with the company ‘to assist with corporate strategy,’ says Wendy Parks, a spokeswoman for the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines. JPC’s president and COO Anne Sempowski Ward is on maternity leave, according to Parks.
“This comes on the heel of news Wednesday that Amy DuBois Barnett has been named editor-in-chief of Ebony, taking over from creative director and acting editor-in-chief Harriette Cole, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.
“It’s no surprise that Rogers is settling into a role that’s close to home since leaving her high-profile position in the Obama Administration under the cloud of the November 2009 Salahis gatecrasher fiasco at the White House state dinner for India’s prime minister, and complaints that she kept too-high a profile. As The Root reported back in March, Rogers was still likely to receive a warm reception from her hometown crowd in Chicago, where she has long reigned as a socialite, fundraiser, and corporate power broker.”
. . . Was New Ebony Editor Really a First? It Depends
In announcing the appointment of Amy DuBois Barnett this week as the new editor-in-chief of Ebony magazine, Johnson Publishing Co. said, “Barnett held top masthead positions at Teen People, entering history books as the first African-American woman in the country to head a major mainstream consumer magazine.”
It was a description that had been used before. In 2008, the Associated Press called Barnett’s 2003 hiring as editor of Teen People “another milestone ‚Äî she was the first black woman to head a major mainstream magazine.”
For at least one alert reader, the Johnson news release statement set off an alarm: What about the other black women who had edited mainstream magazines?
- 1988: Audreen Ballard, executive editor of the then-new Lear’s magazine, founded by Frances Lear, former wife of television producer Norman Lear.
- 1988: Marcia Ann Gillespie, executive editor of Ms. magazine, later editor-in-chief.
- 1995: Sheryl Hilliard Tucker named editor of Your Company, a controlled-circulation small-business quarterly published by Money magazine and American Express Publishing Corp. She rose to become one of two executive editors of Time Inc.
- 1999: Corynne Corbett, promoted from executive editor to editor-in-chief at Mode, magazine for full-figured women. She went on to become executive editor at Real Simple and is now beauty director at Essence.
“By ‘head’ we mean ‘Editor-in-Chief,’ not Executive Editor,” Johnson Publishing spokeswoman Wendy E. Parks told Journal-isms. “In Time Inc. nomenclature, the Managing Editor is the EIC. That’s why the release carefully stated ‘major mainstream consumer.’ “
But wasn’t Tucker the top editor and didn’t Corbett and Gillespie hold the title of editor-in-chief? “‘Major mainstream consumer’ is defined as not controlled circulation or niche,” Parks replied. “Teen People had a circ of 1.5 million and a readership of 12 million. But, I really hope in your reporting that you mention that the bottom line for Amy DuBois Barnett is that she deeply respects her colleagues in the industry and their related accomplishments. Each woman you‚Äôve mentioned has helped to strengthen the industry overall in various meaningful ways.”
“I congratulate her,” Gillespie, who now consults and is working on a book, told Journal-isms.
Paul McGeough of Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald accused Israel of ‚Äúabsolute disrespect‚Äù with regard to the way that he and other reporters were treated. (Audio)
Israel Accused of Distorting Flotilla Footage
“The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Israel‚Äôs editing and distribution of footage confiscated from foreign journalists aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla that was raided on Monday,” the committee said on Thursday.
“On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman‚Äôs office released edited portions of confiscated video on its YouTube channel, where the footage was labeled as ‘captured.’ The Foreign Press Association in Israel, which represents hundreds of foreign correspondents in Israel, called the use a ‘clear violation of journalistic ethics and unacceptable’ and warned news outlets to ‘treat the material with appropriate caution.’
“CPJ called on the Israeli government to immediately return all equipment, notes, and footage confiscated from journalists. ‘Israel has confiscated journalistic material and then manipulated it to serve its interests,’ said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. ‘It must cease this practice without delay, and return all property seized from journalists who were covering this legitimate news event.’ “
[On Saturday, the BBC reported, Israeli troops said they had “taken control of an aid ship trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
[“Israel’s military says soldiers boarded the Irish-owned Rachel Corrie from the sea and did not meet any resistance.”
[The BBC added, “There are five Irish and six Malaysian pro-Palestinian activists, plus several crew, on the boat.” The London Telegraph reported, when the Free Gaza Movement said it had lost contact with the vessel, that “they plan to pull it back to port and pack it with celebrities and journalists, in a direct challenge to Israel.”]
- Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald: Prayers, tear gas and terror
All-White Chicago Tribune Panel to Assess Obama
The Chicago Tribune is planning a panel discussion in Chicago Monday dissecting the presidency of Barack Obama, the first black chief executive, with an all-white group of journalists — in the Harold Washington Library Center.
Washington was the first city’s first African American mayor.
The Tribune’s “Windy City White House: A mid-term assessment of the Obama presidency” is being held in the Chicago Public Library center named for Washington.
“Clarence Page was unavailable to join us for this discussion,” Sheila Solomon, cross-media editor, explained to Journal-isms.
Page, the Tribune’s Washington-based editorial writer and syndicated columnist, is the paper’s best-known black journalist. He told Journal-isms he is scheduled to be in New York Monday to receive an award from the American Institute for Stuttering, as a stuttering survivor.
“I hoped they’d be able to move the date, but I guess that didn’t work out,” Page said.
Plea From Bob Ellison’s Son: Stop Smoking Today
Two sons of Bob Ellison, the Sheridan Broadcasting White House correspondent who became the first and only African American president of the White House Correspondents Association, spoke movingly Friday at a memorial service in Washington.
But the younger son, Michael Ellison, known professionally as the rapper Mike-E, passed along this plea to the 172 mourners at Trinity Episcopal Church: “He’d want me to say, ‘If you smoke, I beg you ‚Äî please quit. If you can find the strength, quit today. You have people who love you. All that leads to is pain, suffering, loss and heartache. Don’t take yourself away from the people who love you.’
“He was a heavy smoker for many years,” Ellison said. “He tried hard to quit, but it was too little, too late.”
The senior Ellison died May 24 at age 67, having had emphysema, as Matt Schudel reported Thursday in the Washington Post. In recent years, Ellison had been senior vice president of Walls Communications, a public relations firm.
Lon Walls, the CEO, praised Ellison for his quiet unflappability and read tributes from Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Hugh Price, former president of the National Urban League, and journalist George E. Curry, who covered the Reagan White House for the Chicago Tribune. Current and former White House correspondents were among the mourners.
Pew Center Documents Rise in Intermarriage
“A record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another,” Jeffrey S. Passel, Wendy Wang and Paul Taylor reported Friday for the Pew Research Center.
“This includes marriages between a Hispanic and non-Hispanic (Hispanics are an ethnic group, not a race) as well as marriages between spouses of different races ‚Äî be they white, black, Asian, American Indian or those who identify as being of multiple races or ‘some other’ race.
“Among all newlyweds in 2008, 9% of whites, 16% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 31% of Asians married someone whose race or ethnicity was different from their own.
“Gender patterns in intermarriage vary widely. Some 22% of all black male newlyweds in 2008 married outside their race, compared with just 9% of black female newlyweds. Among Asians, the gender pattern runs the other way. Some 40% of Asian female newlyweds married outside their race in 2008, compared with just 20% of Asian male newlyweds. Among whites and Hispanics, by contrast, there are no gender differences in intermarriage rates.
“Rates of intermarriages among newlyweds in the U.S. more than doubled between 1980 (6.7%) and 2008 (14.6%). However, different groups experienced different trends. Rates more than doubled among whites and nearly tripled among blacks. But for both Hispanics and Asians, rates were nearly identical in 2008 and 1980.
“These seemingly contradictory trends were both driven by the heavy, ongoing Hispanic and Asian immigration wave of the past four decades. For whites and blacks, these immigrants (and, increasingly, their U.S.-born children who are now of marrying age) have enlarged the pool of potential spouses for out-marriage. But for Hispanics and Asians, the ongoing immigration wave has also enlarged the pool of potential partners for in-group marriage. . . . “
- Sara Libby, TrueSlant: The media’s ongoing war on single black women
Short Takes
- “Former Time Inc. digital group president Vivek
Shah has partnered with Boston-based investment firm Great Hill Partners to acquire Ziff Davis Media. The assets associated with the deal include PCMag.com, ExtremeTech, GearLog, GoodCleanTech, DL.tv, AppScout, CrankyGeeks, Smart Device Central and TechSaver.com,” Jason Fell reported Friday for Folio magazine. “In an interview on Friday, Mr. Shah said that the acquisition . . . was the start of a new digital media company,” Joseph Plambeck wrote in the New York Times. - “Nearly half the daily newspaper jobs on O’ahu will disappear Sunday with the closure of The Honolulu Advertiser and launch of the new Honolulu Star-Advertiser,” Rick Daysog wrote Thursday for the Advertiser. “The Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin employed roughly 880 people before a Feb. 25 announcement that Star-Bulletin owner David Black was acquiring the larger Advertiser from Gannett Co. Star-Bulletin Publisher Dennis Francis said yesterday the Star-Advertiser will employ about 450 workers.”
- “Black and Hispanic state legislators have weighed in at the FCC in support of the Comcast/NBCU merger,” John Eggerton reported Thursday for Broadcasting & Cable. “The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) touted Comcast’s record on diversity in a letter Wednesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and called a possible meld with NBC Universal a ‘positive development’ for the African American community. The deal also got a shout-out from the National Conference Of Hispanic Legislators.” The National Association of Hispanic Journalists opposes the merger. “The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the deal Monday in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported.
- “Almost half of the places on a coveted BBC journalism trainee scheme have gone to candidates from ethnic minorities, a Freedom of Information Act request has shown,” Martin Beckford and Neil Midgley wrote disapprovingly Thursday in the London Telegraph.
- “With Shakira at the center, Univision Communications Inc. has kicked off its national promotional campaign in support of its multimedia coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup from South Africa, Mike Reynolds reported Friday for Multichannel News. “Under the umbrella heading ‘La Pasi??n del Mundial’ (‘The Passion of the World Cup’), Univision hopes to engage soccer fans all across the U.S. through various promotional efforts in print, outdoor media and in-theater advertising, as well as its own television, radio, online and mobile platforms.”
- “Despite having highly functional and generally information-filled websites,” the District of Columbia‚Äôs “administrative agencies, boards and commissions earn a failing grade when it comes to posting public records required by the city‚Äôs Freedom of Information Act,” according to an audit of the D.C. Open Government Coalition and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Primary research was done by LeeSandra Alexandre and Melissa Noel, Howard University journalism students who interned at the workshop under an arrangement with the National Association of Black Journalists.
- “Tennis Channel will premiere a special following world No. 1 Serena Williams trip to Kenya on Monday night,” Mike Reynolds reported Friday for Multichannel News. “The independent network dedicated to the sport and its lifestyle will present ‘Serena: My Journey To Africa’ on June 7 at 8 p.m. (ET). The 30-minute original program details Williams’ recent visit to a small, poverty-stricken village in Kenya, where she attended the opening ceremony of the secondary school she funded through the Serena Williams Foundation.”
- In Nigeria, Musa Saidykhan, a former editor-in-chief of the Gambia’s banned newspaper the Independent who is living in exile in Grand Rapids, Mich., testified before a court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He had said he spent 22 days of detention that “included three nights of systematic physical and mental torture that left scars all over my body as well as my hand broken in three places.” Saidykhan testified Thursday that his assailants were members of President Yahya Jammeh‚Äôs security guards, and not the policemen who arrested him, according to the Media Foundation of West Africa.
- “Veteran Zambian Editor Fred M‚Äômembe was sent to prison today following his sentencing for contempt of court sparked by an op-ed on the state‚Äôs prosecution of a journalist, according to local journalists and news reports,” the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on Friday.
- Laura Ling, who with Current TV colleague Euna Lee spent five months in captivity in North Korea, gave birth Wednesday and named the child after former president William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton, who arrived in that country last August to secure their freedom, Cynthia Wang wrote Thursday for People magazine. Daughter Li Jefferson Clayton was born at 7:36 p.m. PT in Burbank, Calif., weighing 8 lbs., 2 oz.
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