Maynard Institute archives

New Black Panthers, Old-School Battleground

by richard0532

Right Deems Mainstream Media Worth Fighting Over

Expelled Tea Party Activist Turns Down Interviews

Kidnapped Nigerian Journalists Freed; Slept in Chains

Columnist Friedman: CNN Was Wrong to Fire Mideast Editor

Miami Herald Promises “Perspective and Depth” on LeBron

Entrepreneurs of Color Urged to Focus on New Media

Demands of Online World Can Exhaust Young Reporters

Maker of “Crude” Ordered to Turn Over Portions of Footage

Short Takes

Video of New Black Panthers at Philadelphia polling place has received 1,510,540 views on YouTube (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU">Video</a>)

 

Right Deems Mainstream Media Worth Fighting Over

It’s not every day that commentators Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, Juan Williams of Fox News and NPR, Errol Louis of the New York Daily News, Roland Martin of CNN and TV One, and the editorial pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are in agreement.

And that such agreement stands in contrast to the views expressed by Fox News Channel and its commentators Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, and by Armstrong Williams, the Washington Times, the National Review and others in the conservative blogosphere.

Such is the case in the controversy over whether a fringe group called the New Black Panther Party is the beneficiary of racial solidarity from President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as the group allegedly sought to escape responsibility for supposedly intimidating black voters in Philadelphia nearly two years ago.

The first group of commentators says the allegation is absurd at best, and at the very least, blown out of proportion. The latter group says the charges are valid and demand more media attention.

The second group is winning.

Attention in the mainstream media, which in conventional wisdom was all but consigned to irrelevancy with the age of the Internet, is again a coveted prize, seemingly to be won by any means necessary.

Who gets to decide what is news? Who gets to drive the agenda?

On Sunday, Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander noted that the Post had written only one story late in the game on the controversy. “Why the silence from The Post on Black Panther Party story?” the headline on his column asked.

“The Post should never base coverage decisions on ideology, nor should it feel obligated to order stories simply because of blogosphere chatter from the right or the left,” he wrote.

“But in this case, coverage is justified because it’s a controversy that screams for clarity that The Post should provide. If Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his department are not colorblind in enforcing civil rights laws, they should be nailed. If the Commission on Civil Rights’ investigation is purely partisan, that should be revealed. If Adams is pursuing a right-wing agenda, he should be exposed,” he said in a reference to Justice Department “whistleblower” J. Christian Adams.

“National Editor Kevin Merida, who termed the controversy ‘significant,’ said he wished The Post had written about it sooner. The delay was a result of limited staffing and a heavy volume of other news on the Justice Department beat, he said.” Merida is a graduate of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

Monday on “Tapped,” the group blog of the progressive American Prospect, Paul Waldman asked a different set of questions:

“Just how significant is the Black Panther case? How does it compare to other voting-rights cases? Is this really the Greatest Crime Against Democracy in History, as Fox News would have us believe, or is it about conservatives’ ‘fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the administration,’ as Abigail Thernstrom, the American Enterprise Institute scholar and conservative member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, has said?

“If it’s so important, why are there no actual voters who say their rights were compromised? Why did even George W. Bush’s Justice Department basically think this case was a nothingburger? Should that fact that this is the first time in memory that conservative activists and media have expressed concern about the possibility of someone being prevented from voting (they’re nearly always concerned about people, particularly minorities, voting when they allegedly don’t have the right to) make reporters skeptical about the case?

“What role does race play in the aggressiveness with which Fox and other conservative outlets are pushing this story? Do journalists have an obligation to cover something for no reason other than that activists and ideological media are making noise about it? Shouldn’t there be some criterion of newsworthiness that is met, beyond the fact that it’s being discussed on ‘Fox and Friends’? Don’t reporters have a responsibility to assess the fundamental substantive questions before they give publicity to a plainly drummed-up issue?”

Stay tuned. The gatekeeping function of the mainstream media still has more value than detractors have led us to believe. And that means the decisions about who get to be the gatekeepers are as important as ever.

Expelled Tea Party Activist Turns Down Interviews

Mark Williams“Tea Party activist Mark Williams says he’s done discussing the controversy stirred up by his attack on the NAACP, accusing a fellow movement leader of turning the debate into ‘a World Wrestling style personality conflict,’ CNN reported on Monday.

“The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that seeks to represent the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled Williams and his Tea Party Express organization because of the inflammatory blog post Williams wrote last week, federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday. In response, Williams announced in another statement on his blog that, ‘I am refusing all media requests on this’ and canceled a scheduled interview on CNN to discuss the controversy Sunday evening, citing a last-minute change in travel plans.

” ‘That careless individual tea partier who assumed the [mantle] of “leadership” did so long enough to turn a critical and serious movement and delicate peace with skeptical groups into a World Wrestling style personality conflict with me at the center,’ Williams said. ‘There are internal political dramas amongst the various self-anointed tea party “leaders,” and some of the minor players on the fringes see the Tea Party Express and Mark Williams as tickets to a booking on “Fact [sic] the Nation.” ‘

“Webb appeared on the CBS program Sunday morning to announce that Williams and the Tea Party Express ‚Äî which has held a series of events across the country to generate support for the movement ‚Äî no longer were part of the National Tea Party Federation.”

Members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists after their release: from left, Sylva Okereke, Adolphus Okonkwo, an unnamed police officer, Wahab Alabi Oba and Sola Oyeyipo. (Credit: Vanguard)

Kidnapped Nigerian Journalists Freed; Slept in Chains

Four Nigerian journalists kidnapped for ransom last week reached safety on Sunday, the Nigerian newspaper This Day reported on Monday.

One was the Lagos State chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Alhaji Wahab Oba.

“Oba, apparently overjoyed coming out of the valley of death, praised the efforts of the Nigeria Police,” according to the story by Godwin Haruna and Gboyega Akinsanmi.

“He said that but for the constant chase of the kidnappers by men of the Nigeria Police, the entire frightful experience would not have ended by now.

” ‘Until 2.00am today (yesterday), it appeared as if the next minute would be the last. We were being moved from one part of the bush to the other because the police was closing in on them. The Nigeria police deserve to be commended for their dexterity while the whole saga lasted.

“‘They were also very disturbed about how the media was on top of the situation and that made them to complain to us openly that it is money they wanted. At a point they tied something round my neck and I had written my will because it was me, Chairman, chairman, they were mentioning. I told Sola that he should tell my wife that God will take care of her. We slept in chains and they never allowed us to rest especially when they heard the police were coming.” The reference was to fellow kidnapped journalist Sola Oyeyipo.

“We must appreciate the Nigeria police again. They tried to rescue us, but the kidnappers confronted the police with sophisticated weapons. When the police officers heard the sound of their guns, they retreated. When the bush became hot for them, the kidnappers had to let us go. At a time, the kidnappers started saying these people are powerful people with the manner the police are pursuing us and the way the media are airing the incident. The police mounted pressure, but they had some informants in the community. This made it difficult for the police to capture them.

‚Äú ‘We declared fasting and prayers last Friday. At a point, Adolphus who appeared bold, started weeping profusely while Sola confessed that he would start going to Church if ever he regained his freedom. We were tied in chains and rarely slept all the nights. When we want to sleep, the kidnappers would ask us to move because police were coming. The police constantly kept them on their toes,” he said, referring to journalist Adolphus Okonkwo.

“. . . Before he left, Oba said the kidnappers handed over a sheet of paper to them containing a litany of complaints regarding unemployment, non-payment of workers salaries for months by the Abia State government, lukewarm attitude of the Federal Government to the amnesty programme and bad governance, which has subjugated the Ngwa people. He added that they had no control over all these complaints, adding that the kidnappers vowed to continue until the government addressed all their concerns.”

Columnist Friedman: CNN Was Wrong to Fire Mideast Editor

Octavia Nasr“On July 7, CNN fired its senior editor of Middle East affairs, Octavia Nasr, after she published a Twitter message saying, ‘Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah,’ one of the most prominent Lebanese Shiite spiritual leaders who was involved in the founding of the Hezbollah militia,” columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote Sunday in the New York Times. “Nasr described him as ‘one of Hezbollah‚Äôs giants I respect a lot.’

“I find Nasr‚Äôs firing troubling. Yes, she made a mistake. Reporters covering a beat should not be issuing condolences for any of the actors they cover. It undermines their credibility. But we also gain a great deal by having an Arabic-speaking, Lebanese-Christian female journalist covering the Middle East for CNN, and if her only sin in 20 years is a 140-character message about a complex figure like Fadlallah, she deserved some slack. She should have been suspended for a month, but not fired. It‚Äôs wrong on several counts.”

  • Richard Prince with Verna-Avery Brown and Esther Iverem on Octavia Nasr firing, WPFW-FM, Washington: “What’s at Stake” (No. 38, July 14)

Michael Wallace now has "one of the most pressurized" jobs in sports, his editor says. (<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/18/1735255/on-court-or-in-print-covering.html">Video</a>)

Miami Herald Promises “Perspective and Depth” on LeBron

Earlier this month, we noted that LeBron James‘ decision to play for the Miami Heat meant that James would be covered by a more diverse press crew. On Sunday, Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the Miami Herald, expanded on that. “At one point, Herald sports writer Michael Wallace jumped on a plane to Cleveland with almost no notice in order to be at the door of a key meeting between Pat Riley and LeBron James,” Gyllenhaal wrote in his Sunday column. “Another time, he waited all afternoon beside Dwyane Wade‘s white Maybach to catch the star the day of his decision.

“Working every day for a month, Mike has been flying between Miami, Chicago, Cleveland and Las Vegas, filing stories, notes and Tweets, and managing to maintain a calm in both his reporting and demeanor as his beat turned upside down.

” ‘It’s been a little hectic,’ he said this past week.

“While the Heat story cooled down for the rest of the world, Mike Wallace’s job has become one of the most pressurized in sports. With more that $330 million in contracts now signed, he’s playing point position on a team of reporters and columnists that’s moved from chasing the story to the deeper challenge of explaining it.

“On today’s front page, he provides a rich portrait of LeBron James, perhaps the best-known and least-understood player in the country. The story explores how James, an industry unto himself, will merge it all with his new team and teammates.

“The piece is one in a number of articles coming the next several weekends that will bring perspective and depth to a story that has been short of both. Next Sunday’s focus will be Chris Bosh, and the following Sunday will be Dwyane Wade.

“The Heat coverage has been very much a group effort for The Herald. Almost the entire sports staff, led by Sports Editor Jorge Rojas, has contributed. Our photographers and videographers have filled the paper and website with images that are being viewed around the world.”

Entrepreneurs of Color Urged to Focus on New Media

“Minority communications entrepreneurs should be focusing on opportunities in new media, said FCC Commissioners at a D.C. conference Monday, and those commissioners said they are willing to help,” John Eggerton reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable.

“The other side of that equation is that the opportunities in traditional media are on the wane, they suggested.

“That came at a standing-room only Q&A with a majority of commissioners ‚Äî Robert McDowell, Meredith Attwell Baker and, via a sometimes hinky video link, Mignon Clyburn, at the Minority Media & Telecom Council’s annual Access to Capital in Telecommunications Policy Conference in Washington Monday.

“McDowell said the description of broadcasting as a car with four flat tires was a ‘good analogy’ ‚Äî it had been volunteered by a questioner from the audience. He said there might be opportunities to buy stations, given lower valuations, but added that that was because revenues were in decline. ‘I think the best opportunities are in new media,’ he said. ‘That is where the next generation is going to go.’ “

Demands of Online World Can Exhaust Young Reporters

Duy Linh Tu“In most newsrooms, the joke would have been obvious,” Jeremy W. Peters wrote Monday for the New York Times.

“On Gawker‚Äôs ‘big board,’ reporters can check the most-viewed articles, a list updated hourly. It was April Fools‚Äô Day last year, and Politico‚Äôs top two editors sent an e-mail message to their staff advising of a new 5 a.m. start time for all reporters.

” ‘These pre-sunrise hours are often the best time to reach top officials or their aides,’ the editors wrote, adding that reporters should try to carve out personal time ‘if you need it,’ in the midafternoon when Internet traffic slows down.

“But rather than laugh, more than a few reporters stared at the e-mail message in a panicked state of disbelief.

” ‘There were several people who didn‚Äôt think it was a joke. One girl actually cried,’ said Anne Schroeder Mullins, who wrote for Politico until May, when she left to start her own public relations firm. ‘I definitely had people coming up to me asking me if it was true.’

“Such is the state of the media business these days: frantic and fatigued. Young journalists who once dreamed of trotting the globe in pursuit of a story are instead shackled to their computers, where they try to eke out a fresh thought or be first to report even the smallest nugget of news ‚Äî anything that will impress Google algorithms and draw readers their way. . . .

” ‘When my students come back to visit, they carry the exhaustion of a person who‚Äôs been working for a decade, not a couple of years,’ said Duy Linh Tu, coordinator of the digital media program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. ‘I worry about burnout.’ “

 

Maker of “Crude” Ordered to Turn Over Portions of Footage

“Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger will have to turn over three categories of unused footage from the film ‘Crude: The Real Price of Oil’ to the Chevron Corporation, according to an order issued yesterday by the three-judge panel of an appeals court,” Ellen Biltz wrote Friday for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

“Under the conditions of the order, Berlinger shall ‘promptly turn over’ unreleased footage that relates to plaintiffs’ counsel in a pending lawsuit, private or court-appointment experts in that proceeding and any depicting the current or former officials of the Ecuadorian government.

“In a statement released today, Berlinger said that while he had not seen the full opinion, which has not yet been released, he is pleased with the initial results.

” ‘The appeals court has substantially limited Judge Kaplan’s overbroad order, which was the main thrust of our appeal,’ Berlinger said. ‘The court has expressly prohibited Chevron from using any footage we do turn over in their public relations campaigns, a goal that was extremely important to me. The courts have affirmed that documentary filmmakers are journalists deserving of First Amendment protection.’ “

The reference was to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court in Manhattan. “Crude” is Berlinger’s 2009 film about an environmental controversy in Ecuador.

Short Takes

  • Ellianna Placas has been named Essence magazine’s fashion director and Tasha Turner its senior beauty editor, the magazine announced on Monday. Placas worked for Life & Style for three years as the fashion and home director, the magazine said. Her work will debut in Essence’s 40th anniversary September issue, featuring a new front-of-book “Style” section. Turner, recently senior beauty editor at InStyle special issues, will develop a new monthly front-of-book hair section, the magazine said.
  • At a time when other programs feel pressured to drop “minority” from their training programs, the Roanoke (Va.) Times announced that eight high school students completed its annual Minority Journalism Workshop, held June 20 to 25. “The program began in 1983 under then-president and publisher Walter Rugaber. He founded the program based on a similar one at the Greensboro News & Record, one of the company’s sister papers, in Greensboro, N.C.,” the newspaper said.
  • “The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called on NBC News to strengthen its policy regarding the use of obscenities and racial slurs and refrain from using the term ‘wetback’ from its news programs,” the association said. “The term had been aired on The Today Show on Wednesday July 14 during a story about actor Mel Gibson‚Äôs raging rants and was repeated throughout the day on MSNBC.”
  • “Comcast-owned TV One, long a home for comedians, gospel-music shows and sitcoms aimed at African-Americans, is relying on celebrity profile and where-are-they-now reality shows to build its original programming business,” Thomas Umstead wrote Monday for Multichannel News.
  • The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has chosen the National Federation of Community Broadcasters as service provider for African American public radio stations, providing services in the areas of training, community engagement, local programming, licensee relations, development, and Community Service Grant assistance,” the federation announced last week. “This new service effectively positions NFCB as a central convener to organizations and stations primarily serving audiences of color. NFCB currently serves as fiscal sponsor for the Latino Public Radio Consortium and is incubating the Native Public Media project ‚Äì collectively impacting over 90 nonprofit community and university licensed stations serving African American, Native, and Latino audiences.”
  • Asked on Friday which swear word he used most often, broadcaster Tavis Smiley told FishBowl DC’s Betsy Rothstein, “I don’t swear. I used to, 8-9 years ago. And one day I got into it with one of my producers because something had gone wrong on the show that day. She was a friend. But I was cussing at her and she was cussing back at me. And somebody in the studio recorded me. And when I heard myself on tape, I said to myself, this is not how I ever want to be portrayed. There has got to be a better way to communicate what I’m trying to say. And I stopped on a dime and decided I would not use that language anymore.”
  • Ebony magazine and the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute are co-hosting an Education Roundtable at the University of Chicago‚Äôs International House on Aug. 11, the Johnson Publishing Co. announced. It will feature a panel of “the nation‚Äôs most distinguished voices on education” discussing “the public education crisis.”
  • In India, local newspapers suspended publication from July 8 to 11  ‚Äì “the first time this has happened in the 20-year conflict in India-administered Kashmir ‚Äì to protest the government‚Äôs restrictions on the movement of reporters and technical staff,” the Inter-Press Service reported on Monday.

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