Maynard Institute archives

NBC Stands by “Dateline” Segment on Detroit

by richard0422

Network: “We Spent 10 Months Reporting This Story”

Ex-Abusers to Roy Hobbs: Face Demons, Find Jesus

Peter L. Diaz Named Belo’s Head of Media Operations

Yahoo, Seeking “Voice,” Hiring Traditional Journalists

“Muslim Guy” Sees False Controversy Over “South Park”

Journalists Held in N. Korea to Speak About Ordeal

“Historic Legacy” Claimed at SNCC 50th Anniversary

La Opinión, Urges National Boycott of Arizona

Georgetown U. Paper Takes Diversity Training

The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, executive director of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations, tells NBC's Chris Hansen that meeting at the network Monday "opened up some dialogue." (Credit: NBC)

 

Network: “We Spent 10 Months Reporting This Story”

NBC News Monday stood by the April 18 “Dateline” segment on Detroit that rattled some in the city and that the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists criticized as “unbalanced.”

The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, executive director of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations, and his daughter Mary Sheffield met in New York with producers from “Dateline” and other executives from NBC News. NBC issued this statement afterward:

“NBC News is proud of ‘Dateline’s’ recent hour about Detroit, ‘America Now: City of Heartbreak and Hope,’ reported on by Detroit-area native Chris Hansen.

“We believe our broadcast fairly represented the current situation in Detroit while highlighting positive efforts and the inspirational stories of those in the community, and as the Detroit News said is ” . . . a gritty, honest examination of Detroit and its problems punctuated with uplifting examples of hope and faith.’

“We want to thank Rev. Horace Sheffield III and his daughter Mary Sheffield for coming to New York for what we viewed as a very productive conversation. The Sheffields had several comments and suggestions that we are taking into consideration and we will keep the lines of communication open with them going forward.

“From Cordette Grantling to Police Chief Warren Evans, to Mayor Dave Bing and Detroit Public School Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb – this report included great stories of hope amidst despair. Beginning at a preview screening we hosted in Detroit, attended by community leaders, members of the media, representatives of the Mayor’s office, and the individuals highlighted in the hour; to the tremendous amount of viewer mail after it aired – the response we received was overwhelmingly positive with much of the feedback saying how inspirational the characters are.

“A lot of thought and care goes into producing an hour as personal and important as this one. The Sheffields told us some in the community wished the hour had more historical context, and more success stories. We spent ten months reporting this story, and we will continue our reporting – seeking input from a wide range of sources.”

Sheffield sat down with Hansen afterward for an interview that has been posted on the MSNBC website. He said the meeting had “opened up a dialogue” and that he understood now that “Dateline” felt the program “is going to help and not hurt.” The two men then went on to discuss what should be done to alleviate the city’s problems.

In a statement Saturday, the Detroit Chapter of NABJ, which was originally scheduled to send someone to the New York meeting, said it would instead express its views in correspondence and host a community forum on the issue.

Its Saturday statement said, in part: ” ‘Any journalist working in this city knows about the many challenges facing Detroit, said chapter President Vickie Thomas, who is the city beat and morning drive reporter for WWJ/CBS Radio. ‘We report on these issues everyday with fairness and balance.

“When we falter in that regard, our feet are held to the fire as the producers of ‘Dateline’ should be held accountable for a piece that aired nationwide. We believe it was sensational, stereotypical, hit-and-run TV.'”

Ex-Abusers to Roy Hobbs: Face Demons, Find Jesus

Roy HobbsIn New Orleans, Warren Bell was saddened when he heard the news; he’d known Roy Hobbs for 20 years. In Georgia, Warren Savage said, “I immediately dropped to my knees and started praying for him.” He and Hobbs had worked together in Boston decades ago.

The two Warrens had this, too, in common with Hobbs: They were black male television anchors who had been busted on cocaine charges. Now they are clean and have their lives back, and they say that Hobbs — though innocent until proved guilty — can do it, too.

As reported last week, Hobbs, a weekend anchor and longtime member of the National Association of Black Journalists or its affiliates, is on temporary leave from WBMA-TV in Birmingham, Ala., known as ABC 33/40.

Police said they found him in possession of crack cocaine and a crack pipe.

“When asked what he was doing in the area, Hobbs said ‘he was looking for a girl,’ the police report said, according to the Birmingham News.

“The report said Hobbs admitted to having crack-cocaine under the driver’s seat. The report states he was under the influence of drugs.

“Hobbs was taken to the city jail, and then the Jefferson County Jail on charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.” His bond was set at $800 and a court appearance scheduled for May 10.

While the Birmingham News has reported Hobbs’ arrest, his own station has not. though his name continues to be a popular search term on the station’s website.

“It’s a private time and so we’ve chosen to stay away from it,” general manager Mike Murphy said. A colleague told Journal-isms he had spoken to Hobbs and that the broadcaster is “someplace where it would appear he needs to be right now.”

Jim VanceThat’s encouraging to those who have wrestled with addiction while off the set. “Have you ever been on foot in the wilderness, completely, absolutely lost, have no idea where you are, how to get anywhere else? And it’s winter and cold and getting dark?”

Popular longtime anchor Jim Vance of NBC-owned WRC-TV in Washington said that 25 years ago. “I got lost once. A sense of dread, of fear, of panic comes over you at a time like that . . . It’s an ungodly, unearthly, unreal panic and fear,” he continued. “It is the point that too many of us get to when we are addicted. You get to a point where you want to die because you figure that’s the best solution . . .

“You just want to die,” he whispered, according to a Washington Post account. Vance was visiting a drug rehabilitation group, publicly discussing his addiction for the first time. “I call it a rock slide in the dark wilderness,” he went on.

The anchor had spent three months at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Savage says his venue for rehabilitation was within. In 2005, before his addiction, he had decided not to show up for work at WSB-TV, where he anchored “Channel 2 Action News This Morning.” At night, Savage started playing with a band, ingesting a different lifestyle. A year later, he was charged with possession of cocaine, a felony.

“If not for my arrest, I would be dead or in prison on a much more serious charge,” Savage told Journal-isms on Monday. “Surrender to God, totally,” he said by way of advice to Hobbs. “I know that I’m alive today because of Jesus Christ. Find a support group of Christians who will love you and support you regardless,” he said.

Savage said he had the feeling that he was invincible. “When that drug gets ahold of you, you have no more choices,” he said. “The drug will make you do things that you wouldn’t ordinarily do.” A woman who visited him in jail was a catalyst. She used to be “in the news” in Virginia and her husband had recovered from addiction. She helped reintroduce Savage to Jesus. “I’ve been clean and sober for four years,” he said.

Warren Savage The onetime anchor is now working north of Atlanta in the legal system ‚Äî he won’t say where because “it’s about Roy, not me. . . . The judge told me I had to rely on my Marine Corps training” to get through the 18 months he spent in a rehabilitation program, and he did. The charges were dismissed.

Bell, associate vice president for university and media relations at Xavier University of Louisiana, offered this advice via e-mail: “Besides seeking legal help to minimize the damage to himself personally and legally, Roy needs to seek professional help to eliminate whatever dependency” there might be from “this very addictive and powerful drug . . .

“For many cocaine abusers, myself included, that requires facing up to whatever internal demons you are trying to avoid or escape through the drug’s almost instantaneous ‘rush’ and instead identifying new ways to cope with your feelings of inadequacy, or of being marginalized or treated unfairly in the news room, or the pressures of surviving in a business where senior reporters and anchors are getting not so subtle offers to retire early.

Warren Bell Jr. “Although I had not seen Brother Hobbs at recent NABJ conferences to maintain the friendship we developed years ago while I served on the Board of Directors, I took comfort in knowing that he was he was still doing anchor work in an industry that seemed to enjoy weaning most Black male anchors off the air by the time we reached a certain level of maturity. Along the way, Roy and I had discussed my own unfortunate fall from grace due to substance abuse back in 1980 and how fortunate I was to return to the anchor desk several years later. However, we never discussed nor was I aware of any substance abuse problems on his part. That is why the recent news of his arrest saddened me.

“I applaud station management in Birmingham for not moving drastically on Roy’s employment situation while this unfortunate incident develops further.”

Savage said he hoped Birmingham maintains drug courts, which are designed to provide treatment to drug-addicted criminal offenders and keep them out of prison. The city does have such courts, although there have been reports of budget cuts.

Peter L. Diaz Named Belo’s Head of Media Operations

Peter L. Diaz Peter L. Diaz, executive vice president/television operations at the Belo Corp., on Monday was named president/media operations, Belo announced on Monday.

Diaz, who was born in Cuba, “served as senior vice president of Belo Corp. beginning in February 2006 and as president/General Manager of KHOU-TV from 1999 to 2007.

“He joined Belo in 1984 as national sales manager for KHOU and served in various sales management roles for Belo stations in Houston, Tulsa and Dallas before returning to KHOU as station manager in 1995. Diaz was promoted to vice president and general manager of KHOU in 1997,” the announcement said.

Yahoo, Seeking “Voice,” Hiring Traditional Journalists

“Yahoo is on the verge of hiring more traditional journalists as it plans to aggressively beef up original content for its top verticals, including news, business and entertainment. Yet the fact that the portal is already the Web‚Äôs biggest publisher, driven by a successful mass-market aggregation formula, has left many to wonder, what‚Äôs the aggregation king doing hiring a bunch of reporters and editors?” Mike Shields wrote Sunday for Mediaweek.

” ‘Historically, our content has been from third parties, and a lot of it has been commodity news,’ said Jimmy Pitaro, vp Yahoo Media. Even though Yahoo News reaches more than 40 million monthly unique users (per Nielsen), ‘it‚Äôs very hard to sell,’ said Pitaro. ‘The idea is that voice is important. We are going to build out an identity and personality for Yahoo‚Äôs content.’‚Äù

Miguel Helt of the New York Times reported last month that ” Yahoo has recruited nearly a dozen journalists from traditional and online media outlets and opened a bureau in Washington to push into original content and increase the popularity of its online news site.”

Pitaro has not responded to inquiries about whether any journalists of color have been hired.

Yahoo was one of the online news organizations that the American Society of News Editors said last month did not disclose its diversity figures for ASNE’s annual survey. Five of the online outlets later said they had not received the ASNE questionnaire, but Yahoo was not among them.

“South Park” self-censored a bit involving the Prophet Muhammed for its 201st episode after warnings from a radical Islamic group’s website. (Credit: New York Daily News)

“Muslim Guy”: False Controversy Over “South Park”

“Free speech issues and portrayals of Islam needlessly stirred a hornet’s nest recently when ‘South Park’ depicted the Prophet Mohammed disguised in a bear suit in the 200th episode of the popular Comedy Central TV show,” Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer who writes at theMuslimGuy.com, wrote for cnn.com,

“But what many people don’t realize is that the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, already used an image of Mohammed on ‘South Park’ without any strife whatsoever in a July 2001 episode called ‘Super Best Friends,’ ” wrote Iftikhar, a regular in the Friday “barbershop” segment on National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More.”

“. . . Instead of conjuring up fake controversies involving the equal opportunity offenders of ‘South Park,’ we should focus on professional political polemicists, such as Ann Coulter, who has publicly stated that we should ‘kill their [Muslim] leaders and convert them to Christianity’ ‚Äî or the Rev. Pat Robertson of ‘The 700 Club,’ who once told The Associated Press that neither American Muslims nor Hindus should be allowed to serve as U.S. federal judges.

“These right-wing professional fear-mongers have nurtured, facilitated and expanded the growth of Islamophobia after the tragedy of the September 11, 2001, attacks to the point where Muslim is almost a slur in America.

“In another recent news story, an under-reported one that was more significant than the whole ‘South Park’ debacle, the U.S. Army rescinded its invitation to the Rev. Franklin Graham ‚Äî the former spiritual adviser for George W. Bush ‚Äî to the upcoming National Day of Prayer at the Pentagon over remarks he has repeatedly made about Islam over the years.

” ‘True Islam cannot be practiced in this country,’ Graham told CNN’s Campbell Brown in December. ‘You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries.’ “

Freed American journalist Laura Ling meets reporters in August after she and fellow prisoner Euna Lee were held in North Korea for 140 days. (Credit: NBC News)

Journalists Held in N. Korea to Speak About Ordeal

“Two journalists for Current TV who were captured by the North Koreans while on assignment last year will speak about the ordeal . . . in a piece to air on the cable channel in May,” Matea Gold reported Sunday for the Los Angeles Times.

“The network announced Sunday that Laura Ling and Euna Lee will tell their story in a 30-minute episode that will kick off the fourth season of the documentary series ‘Vanguard’ on May 19. The journalists, both staffers for the series, were held captive by the North Koreans for more than four months after they briefly entered the country by crossing a frozen river at the Chinese border in March 2009. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor before their pardon and release [were] negotiated with the help of former President Bill Clinton.”

“Historic Legacy” Claimed at SNCC 50th Anniversary

SNCC anniversary was celebrated April 15-18“The US attorney general credited the 1960 sit-in movement with paving the way for Barack Obama’s presidency at a fiftieth-year celebration of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee held here in mid-April,” Tom Hayden, the onetime activist and California state legislator, wrote from Raleigh, N.C., in the Nation.
“The meeting drew a thousand emotional participants and represented a passage to a new generation of hundreds of young organizers. Eric Holder spoke at the same Raleigh site where SNCC was founded as a network for the exploding sit-in movement, which began in Greensboro on February 1, 1960. Holder told the crowd, ‘The nation is in your debt.’ 

” ‘There is a straight line from those lunch counter sit-ins to the Oval Office today, and a straight line to the sixth floor of the Justice Department, where I serve,’ Holder said. He pledged to strengthen civil rights enforcement and to try to reverse policies that have incarcerated hundreds of thousands of young men and women of color. ‘We are counting on you to rekindle the spirit of 1960 and build on SNCC’s achievements,’ he said. ‘You look strong to me. This army is not disbanding. There still is marching to be done. Stay as committed as back then.’

“Holder’s speech attracted little or no attention in the mainstream media. But if a primary purpose of the conference was to claim a historic legacy, his remarks were important. . . .”

Holder’s remarks actually were covered by several North Carolina media outlets, National Public Radio and the state wire of the Associated Press.

La Opinión, Urges National Boycott of Arizona

“An editorial in the Los Angeles Spanish-language daily La Opinión, calls for a national boycott of Arizona after the governor signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law on Friday,” New America Media reported.

“The new law makes it a misdemeanor to be undocumented, and requires police to question people about their immigration status if the police officers have ‘reasonable suspicion’ that they are in the country illegally. While lawyers challenge the law’s constitutionality in the courts, editors of La Opini??n call on U.S. residents to take direct action by boycotting all goods and services from Arizona.”

Georgetown U. Paper Takes Diversity Training

At Georgetown University’s newspaper the Hoya, “Editors say that diversity training and rethinking the scope of story coverage in their paper over the past year helped them prepare for independence from the University, but many students involved in promoting campus diversity feel The Hoya could do a better job covering minority issues,” Holly Tao reported for the Georgetown Voice, a Washington, D.C., weekly.

“Several concrete changes have already taken place at The Hoya. Last winter, the newspaper established two new positions dedicated to promoting institutional diversity and reforming diversity recruiting, and is in the process of hiring an ombudsman.

“Over the last two semesters, The Hoya‚Äôs writers and editors have attended ethics seminars, as well as a diversity training session run by the Center of Multicultural Equity and Access and ResLife. Byron White, a former journalist and an associate vice president of community engagement at Xavier University, was also asked to conduct an external review of the paper and its practices, which led to 18 proposed recommendations intended to start dialogue about change.”

However, the Hoya decided to postpone independence for at least a year for financial reasons.

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has not conducted a survey since 2003, but it found then that at the 20 or so highest-ranked universities, just 2.6 percent of student newspaper editors were black, up from 1.3 percent in 1995, but down from 3.8 percent in 1998. There were only nine black editors of 350 total.

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