YouTube video on “International Burn a Koran Day,” featuring Pastor Terry Jones’ Dove church colleague Pastor Wayne Sapp, had already been posted on July 17. (Video)
After Tracking Koran Threat,”Sillier” to Blame Media
“Is the media responsible for having turned an obscure Florida pastor with a flock of no more than 50 people into an international figure by publicising his threat to burn the Qur’an?” Roy Greenslade wrote Friday on his blog for Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
“Up to a point, Lord Copper. To blame the media for the message is easy enough. It was certainly the view of many callers from across the globe to a BBC World Service phone-in yesterday evening.
“But once we see how the story emerged, bit by bit, it becomes less tenable – and much sillier – to accuse ‘the media’ of giving Terry Jones a public stage for his absurd stunt.
“Jones, who runs a church called the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville (population 115,000; home of the University of Florida), originally announced his plan for ‘International Burn a Koran Day’ back in July.
“In trying to trace the story’s exact origins, I came across several references on the web in late July. One example – posted on an atheist site – also referred to the setting up of a Facebook page announcing the event.
“But the above YouTube video, featuring Jones’s Dove church colleague Pastor Wayne Sapp, had already been posted on 17 July. And there had been immediate reactions to that, from inside and outside the US. . . .”
- Associated Press: Trump Offer for NYC Islamic Center Rejected
- Betty Winston Bay?©, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Obscure no longer, Quran-burn pastor opens door to the asylum
- John L. Esposito and Sheila B. Lalwani, Los Angeles Times: The reality of Islamophobia in America
- Gainesville (Fla.) Sun: Texas evangelist says ‘100 percent’ that Quran-burning is off
- Cord Jefferson, theRoot.com: Is There Less Anti-Islamic Sentiment Among Blacks?
- Jason Linkins, Huffington Post: Quran Burning Story: This Is How The Media Embarrass Themselves
- Errol Louis, New York Daily News: Islam, the new Evil Empire: Gingrich, Lazio and Palin demand a new enemy
- New York Times op-ed page: When a Fringe Figure Becomes News
- Rod Nordland, New York Times: Afghan Protests Against Koran Burning Turn Violent
- Darryl E. Owens, Orlando Sentinel: Why aren’t more peaceful Islamic voices decrying violence?
- Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Spewing the gospel of unadulterated hate
- Brian Stelter, New York Times: Coverage of Koran Case Stirs Questions on Media Role
- Mike Thomas, Orlando Sentinel: What if media had ignored Terry Jones?
- Marisa Trevino, Latina Lista blog: FL’s Pastor Jones shows being within your rights to do something doesn’t make it right
Elvis Mitchell to Co-Host Revival of “At the Movies”
Roger Ebert is bringing back “At the Movies,” the landmark film review 
program that he created with Gene Siskel in 1975, William Yelles reported Friday for TheWrap.com.
The new version, “Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies,” will be co-produced by Ebert and his wife Chaz at the original series’ birthplace, WTTW Chicago, and broadcast on PBS stations nationwide beginning in January, he announced on his website Friday.
“The trademarked ‘thumbs up, thumbs down’ format will be revived as well. Principal critics will be Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Elvis Mitchell of KCRW. Bloggers Kim Morgan and Omar Moore will be featured contributors.
“Ebert, who lost his ability to speak after a bout with thyroid cancer, will appear in every episode, with segments titled ‘Roger’s Office.’ He will use his computer voice to discuss classic, overlooked and new films. But he will not debate with the two co-hosts, he said. ‘They’ll be awarding the Thumbs, and you can’t have three Thumbs.’ “
Mitchell, host of ‘Under the Influence’ on Turner Classic Movies, reviewed films for The New York Times, hosted a half-hour-long interview show called “The Treatment” at KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., and was entertainment critic for NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” until 2005.
in 2008, he co-produced “The Black List” for HBO Documentary Films, dramatic portraits of such contemporary African American icons as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Sean Combs.
Columbia Pictures announced in 2005 that Mitchell would jointly head a production office in New York, and “Weekend Edition” told Journal-isms then that Mitchell would not review films for NPR while he held a post at Columbia Pictures. He has not returned to “Weekend Edition,” but it could not be learned whether he still has ties to movie studios.
A WTTW news release added on “At the Movies”: “Occasional contributors will be Kim Morgan of Los Angeles and Omar Moore of San Francisco both respected and popular film bloggers. Morgan specializes in her love of film noir and classic cinema at www.sunsetgun.com and writes for MSN and the Huffington Post. Moore, an attorney, publishes reviews, essays and video essays on his site, www.popcornreel.com. He is also a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Lemire, Mitchell and Morgan were guest co-hosts after the death of Siskel.”
Terence Samuel Joins National Journal as a Managing Editor
“Terence Samuel, former chief congressional correspondent of U.S. News and World Report and national correspondent and New York bureau chief of the Philadelphia Inquirer, joins the National Journal as managing editor of congressional coverage,” showall Keach Hagey of Politico reported on Friday.
“He is also a former director of editorial programming at AOL Black Voices and helped launch The Root, the Washington Post‚Äôs online magazine of at opinion and analysis aimed at African American readers. He wrote for the American Prospect for six years.
“He is also the author of The Upper House: A Journey Behind The Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate.”
In 2006, National Journal Group expanded its influence with an editorial partnership with “Washington Week and Gwen Ifill,” the longest running PBS public affairs program. It was renamed, “”Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal.”
The level of diversity at National Journal was criticized this week by Holly Yeager in the Columbia Journalism Review.
“Since June, when the Atlantic Media Group hired Ron Fournier, the AP‚Äôs Washington bureau chief, to be editor in chief of the National Journal Group, I count just four women among 20 high-profile hires. Let‚Äôs see‚Äîquick back of the envelope calculation here. That looks like 20 percent to me. Not good,” she wrote.
Journalists of color at the publication seemed to be even more scarce.
- Jason Fell, Folio: National Journal Undergoing Business and Editorial ‘Transformation’
Pacifica Radio in Talks With Al Jazeera
“Pacifica Radio, the nonprofit organization that runs the nation’s oldest public-radio network, is in talks with the Al Jazeera Network to put the Persian Gulf-based news service on its five stations, including WPFW-FM in Washington,” Paul Farhi reported Thursday in the Washington Post.
“If an agreement is reached, Pacifica would become the biggest American broadcaster to air Al Jazeera, whose news reports have at times drawn criticism from Western governments, including the Bush administration during the early days of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Al Jazeera is perhaps best known for being the first network to broadcast video communiques from Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Pacifica’s parent organization, the Pacifica Foundation in Berkeley, Calif., has been negotiating with Doha-based Al Jazeera to carry the audio portion of its English-language TV channel, according to people familiar with the discussions.
“Closing a deal with Pacifica, which is known for its liberal-leaning programming, would be a boost for Al Jazeera. The network, owned by the emir of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, has struggled to gain a foothold in the American market.”
Politico Starts Opinion Columns, Hiring Two More White Guys
Despite its editors’ proclamations that they appreciated the need for diversity, Politico sent the opposite signal when it launched in 2007 with 19 journalists, only one of whom was African American. It unveiled a list of big names, but all of them were white.
The online-and-print operation seems to be repeating itself.
“Politico has built a successful enterprise on the idea that there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to political news. Now it is going to apply that concept to political opinion,” Jeremy W. Peters reported Thursday for the New York Times.
“Starting on Oct. 1, Politico will run weekly opinion columns by Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC host and former United States representative, and Michael Kinsley, a columnist for The Atlantic.”
Scarborough and Kinsley add two more white guys to the list.
Short Takes
- “The Pakistani Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) is appealing to the international community, media workers, and human rights organizations to support journalists affected by the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history. PFUJ has compiles a list of some 230 affected journalists, citing at least 213 who have had their homes washed away in the floodwaters, and journalist Asma Anwar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who lost her life,” Alia Ahmed wrote Tuesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
- Corey A. Ealons, who left the White House last month as director of African American media, is joining VOX Global, a bipartisan public affairs firm, as senior vice president in the agency‚Äôs Washington, D.C. headquarters, the firm announced on Thursday. “He will lead client efforts in broad political, public policy and reputational campaigns,” (PDF) an announcement said.
- Senegalese pop star Youssou Ndour owns the country’s newest TV station “but Senegal’s ruling party has forbidden Ndour from doing newscasts on his channel, and his license allowing him to do ‘cultural programming’ was only granted after a two-year stalemate,” Rukmini Callimachi reported from the capital, Dakar, Friday for the Associated Press. “A petition protesting the delay was signed by 2 million of his countrymen, nearly one-fifth of the population. ‘The people in power are afraid of him,’ says Dame Seck, a 39-year-old vendor of African cloth.”
- “Stefanie Cruz, news anchor and producer for the past six years at
KMAX-TV Channel 31‚Äôs ‘Good Day Sacramento,’ begins anchoring the evening news at KTXL-TV Fox40 with Donna Cordova on Monday,” the Sacramento Business Journal reported on Friday. “Cruz and Cordova will anchor the 5:30 and 10 p.m. Fox40 weekday newscasts. Jaime Garza, who has been anchoring the evening news with Cordova, will get out of the studio to do ‘what he does best,’ in-depth reporting on major stories, said Greg Saunders, Fox40 creative services director.” - “Hunger for more local news and less entertainment is part of what‚Äôs driving a possible change in the broadcasting board of directors at KILI-FM” on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Randall Howell of the Native Sun News reported on Thursday. ‚ÄúWe also need the news back,” said Cecilia Martin of Evergreen, a 90-year-old tribal elder. “It‚Äôs been gone for three, maybe four, months. That‚Äôs how I find out what‚Äôs going on. We need to take our radio station back.‚Äù
- “All next month Radio One will ‘Celebrate 30 Years With 30 Days Of Giving’ as part of its 30th anniversary of service to the community,” RadioInk reported on Thursday. “All 1,300 employees at all 52 radio stations in all 16 markets will be giving back to their local communities with charitable events and activities reflective of those communities’ needs.” “An inspiring community effort” made possible “overcoming the improbable odds of persuading the State Department to change its mind” and issue a visa to Hollman Morris, a Colombian journalist chosen for the Nieman Fellowship program, Bob Giles, curator of the program, wrote in the fall issue of Nieman Reports. “Documents were disclosed revealing that the Colombian intelligence agency had conducted a systematic campaign to discredit and harass Hollman,” whose visa was denied under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act covering ‚Äúterrorist activities,‚Äù Giles wrote.
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