CNN’s Don Lemon Anchors in Nevada Caucus Coverage
Verdict on Journalist Violates Human Rights, U.N. Panel Rules
Libby Clark Dies at 94, “Grande Dame” in L.A. Black Press
Don Lemon will anchor a live edition of “CNN Newsroom” at 11 p.m.
CNN’s Don Lemon Anchors in Nevada Caucus Coverage
“Cable news networks have lined up coverage as the GOP race heads west to the Nevada caucuses on Saturday,” Andrea Morabito wrote Friday for Broadcasting & Cable.
“Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and John King will anchor coverage from CNN’s Election Center beginning at 7 p.m. ET following The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer. Don Lemon will anchor a live edition of CNN Newsroom at 11 p.m.
“On MSNBC, Hardball host Chris Matthews will lead live coverage of the results from 8-10:30 p.m. ET with Chuck Todd, NBC News chief White House correspondent and political director. MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish will lead coverage before that from 6-8 p.m.
“Bret Baier will be at the desk for Fox News with a one-hour live special at 10 p.m. ET and cut-ins during the net’s regular Saturday primetime programming before that.”
- Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times: Time for the world’s political media to go cold turkey on its Donald
- Allen Johnson blog, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.: Romney on the poor
- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Poor Romney’s so clueless about the needy
- Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Gingrich’s secret love affair with Saul Alinsky’s tactics
- Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Looking for morning in America
- Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Romney fails the empathy test
- Marisa Trevino, Latina Lista blog: GOP presidential nominees just keep hatin’ on the DREAM Act
Verdict on Journalist Violates Human Rights, U.N. Panel Rules
“In a landmark ruling that could have global implications, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has found that the conviction of a Philippines journalist on charges of criminal defamation violated the journalist’s right to free expression,” Scott Griffen wrote Thursday for the Vienna-based International Press Institute.
“The Committee said that the nearly five-year prison sentence imposed on Alexander Adonis of Bombo Radyo in Davao City was ‘incompatible’ with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to the official text of the UNHRC decision.
“The case stemmed from a 2001 broadcast in which Adonis reported on an alleged affair between a Philippine congressman, then-Speaker of the House Prospero Nograles, and a married woman.
“. . . IPI will announce in the coming months a major campaign to abolish criminal defamation laws in the Caribbean. The campaign will seek to highlight the ways in which such laws can be abused by prominent figures to squelch critical coverage in order to protect their economic interest and maintain power.”
Libby Clark Dies at 94, “Grande Dame” in L.A. Black Press
“Whenever pioneering, barrier-breaking newspaper women come to mind, white people recall the almost mythical Nellie Bly, but Black people think of Libby Clark,” Betty Pleasant wrote Wednesday for the Wave newspapers in Los Angeles. “While Bly was noted for flamboyantly blazing a trail for women in a man’s profession, Clark is noted for having pushed, punched and plowed a path for Black women in a field that wasn’t all that accessible to Black men.
“Funeral services for Libby Clark, the Grande Dame of the Black press, were held Monday in the Chapel of Roses at the Simpson Funeral Home in Inglewood. Clark, believed to have been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, died in her sleep on Jan. 23. She was 94 years old.
“. . . In 1949, Clark set her sights on returning to “mainstream journalism” and applied for a reporting job with the Los Angeles Times. “I went there five times trying to get a job, and they laughed at me; they treated me like a joke,” Clark said. “Finally, The Times’ food editor told me to stop trying to work for the Times because they were never going to hire me regardless of my qualifications or experience. I was devastated.”
“. . . Almost 60 years ago, Clark founded ‘Femme,’ a magazine devoted to Black women and their families, and 30 years later she began publishing the valuable ‘Plum Book,’ which was a listing of key individuals, organizations and institutions in the Black community — a guide so Black people could find each other, as it were. She was the author/editor of the ‘Black Family Reunion Cookbook,’ which remained on the nation’s bestseller list for several months in 1991. It was commissioned by the National Council of Negro Women, through which more than 250,000 copies were sold. And, in 1969 Clark became the first African-American public information officer hired by the county of Los Angeles to serve as such for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in 1969.”
“Clark did all of these things while still churning out newspaper copy as a food editor, feature writer and syndicated columnist with works appearing in 150 newspapers around country, including the Los Angeles Sentinel, from which she retired less than 10 years ago.”
Short Takes
- The Los Angeles Times defended running a photo of mourners passing by the open casket of blues and soul singer Etta James, who died Jan. 23 at 73 after battling leukemia. “We do not run open-casket photos just because we can,” Calvin Hom, deputy director of photography, said. “In this case, the deceased was a famous woman, and the family was open to the idea of us covering the event,” Deirdre Edgar, reader representative, wrote Wednesday for the Times
- “Last fall, student Malcolm Burnley made a startling discovery in the Brown University library archives: a long lost speech from 1961 that Malcolm X made at the school in response to an essay written by Katharine Pierce, a student at the time,” NPR announced on Friday. “The essay was subsequently published in the Brown Daily Herald, whose editor at the time was none other than the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke. All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with Malcolm Burnley, Katharine Pierce, and Kati Marton, the widow of Richard Holbrooke. The story includes audio of the speech.” The story is to air Saturday on “All Things Considered.”
- “Jim Romenesko is having a good time.” Dan Reimold wrote Thursday for PBS MediaShift. “Lately, the ‘journalism evangelist,’ “KING of the blogosphere,” and ‘go-to source for news about the news’ has been waking up earlier, posting more often, and featuring content he had not felt free to publish for more than a decade. In the wake of his abrupt departure from The Poynter Institute late last year, he established an eponymous independent site that has quickly been embraced by media professionals, educators, students, and even a few Facebook spammers worldwide.”
- ” A website has been created called that is critical of the British-based business magazine because 94 of its 96 staffers listed in its online directory are white, contrary to its stated mission of promoting diversity,” TalkingBizNews reported on Friday. “The site was created by Adriel Luis, a Colorlines.com contributor and artist based in Brooklyn.”
- “We are delighted to announce the SAJA Editors Challenge, an unprecedented show of support by some of our most senior members,” the South Asian Journalists Association announces on its website. “Eleven top editors and producers in the country (list below) have come together to create a challenge grant for SAJA members and friends. Their special pool of money will match, dollar-for-dollar, all donations made, up to a total of $10,000. We have till Feb. 8th, 2012, to complete this challenge!” Sree Sreenivasan, a SAJA founder, told Journal-isms by email, “we are planning a series of this, based on different cohorts — TV anchors, j-school profs, bloggers, etc. we might even run two challenges at the same time to have ’em compete with each other. more than the money, there’s a bigger reason to do this: showcase our members. so many people are shocked at that collection of names and titles and had no idea this was going on.”
- “When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa’s oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook,” Davison Mudzingwa reported from Cape Town, South Africa, Friday for Inter-Press Service. “In the end, it was this outspoken support that showed financial backers that the station was worth saving.”
- Referring to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, Reporters Without Borders said Friday it “roundly condemns radio journalist Farah Abadid Hildid’s abduction by the police yesterday and the threats and torture to which he was subjected during the 24 hours he was held. Hildid works for La Voix de Djibouti, a radio station that broadcasts on the shortwave from Europe and is now also available on the Internet. He described his ordeal to Reporters Without Borders by telephone two hours after his release.”
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