Maynard Institute archives

How Will New York Compare With Ferguson?

by richard0650

Updated December 4

Media Attempt Perspective After Another Failure to Indict

How Federal Government Racial Policies Created Ferguson

Newseum Collecting Artifacts from Ferguson Coverage

Coverage Misstep in Cleveland on Shooting of Boy, 12

Bryan Burwell, Post-Dispatch Sports Columnist, Dies at 59

Wendell Goler Retiring After 28 Years at White House

Ken Jobe Out as News Director at Memphis Station

NPR’s Matt Thompson Joining the Atlantic

Carleton Bryant Leaves Washington Times After 20 Years

Short Takes

Video shot by an onlooker and obtained by the Daily News in New York shows Eric Garner being grabbed around his neck by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, just before he fell to the sidewalk, gasping for air. (Credit: Twitter) (video)

Media Attempt Perspective After Another Failure to Indict

Social media went into high gear, news websites from the New York Times to the New York Amsterdam News updated with near-lightning speed and cable news networks were at the ready Wednesday when a Staten Island, N.Y., grand jury decided against indicting a white police officer in the death of Eric Garner, who died in July as officers attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

The Christian Science Monitor was among the first to examine the similarities and differences with the recent failure to indict in the Ferguson, Mo., shooting death of Michael Brown.

“Less than two weeks apart, grand juries in two different states have declined to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men,” Harry Bruinius reported for the Monitor.

“Yet while the similarities between the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown are in many ways profound — including the unusual way prosecutors used long-sitting grand juries to hash through a wide array of evidence, instead of just enough to secure charges — there are crucial differences that could change the dynamics that led to the deep racial divisions in the case of Mr. Brown.

“On Wednesday, a grand jury in New York City cleared Officer Daniel Pantaleo, after more than two months of hearing evidence about the sidewalk homicide of Mr. Garner of Staten Island, who died during an arrest in July.

“A Missouri grand jury also took months to ultimately decline to indict former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Brown three weeks after Mr. Garner’s death this summer.

“The deaths of both men have wrenched the national consciousness, inflaming racial tensions and sparking a host of protests and acts of civil disobedience around the country, some of which have turned violent, as seen in the unrest in Ferguson last week.

” ‘The emotions are going to be explosive,’ says Mark Naison, a historian and professor of African American studies at Fordham University in New York. ‘Black and Latino young people have had it, they’ve been pushed to the edge. This is deeper than anything I have seen in a long, long time.’

“As a whole, the nation remained fairly evenly divided on the grand jury’s decision not to charge former Officer Wilson with a crime last week, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday. About half, or 48 percent, of Americans approve of the decision, while 45 percent disapprove.

“But 85 percent of blacks are among those who disapprove of the Missouri grand jury’s decision last week, including 73 percent who ‘strongly’ disapprove — a remarkably high sentiment rarely seen in polls on any issue, the researchers note. By contrast, 58 percent of whites approve of the decision, including 42 percent who ‘strongly’ approve.

“Yet as news of the grand jury decision in New York begins to sink in, many are beginning to wonder: Will there be fewer racial divisions in this case, or will there once again be a wide divide between blacks and whites on whether or not to charge the officer with a crime?

” ‘This is a pretty powerful moment in American history, and it’s kinda scary,’ says Professor Naison. ‘It’s frightening how little most white people understand the emotions circulating right now in black and Latino communities, especially among young people, who think that this could be them or their brother or friend.’ . . .”

How Federal Government Racial Policies Created Ferguson

While “the media” were criticized for failing to delve into some of the underlying causes of the powerlessness of African Americans in Ferguson, Mo., the Pacifica radio network Tuesday was broadcasting an interview with the author of a study that detailed federal government complicity.

Mitch Jeserich, on his “Letters and Politics” (audio) show, which originates at Pacifica station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, Calif., hosted Richard Rothstein, a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and senior fellow of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Rothstein authored “The Making of Ferguson: Public Policies at the Root of its Troubles,” released by the Economic Policy Institute and available free online.

“The federal government’s response to the Ferguson ‘Troubles’ has been to treat the town as an isolated embarrassment, not a reflection of the nation in which it is embedded,” the report says. “The Department of Justice is investigating the killing of teenager Michael Brown and the practices of the Ferguson police department, but aside from the president’s concern that perhaps we have militarized all police forces too much, no broader inferences from the events of August 2014 are being drawn by policymakers.

“The conditions that created Ferguson cannot be addressed without remedying a century of public policies that segregated our metropolitan landscape. Remedies are unlikely if we fail to recognize these policies and how their effects have endured. . . .”

The story of racist federal government housing policies was told in June in a widely praised argument for reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates in the Atlantic, focused on Chicago.

But similar policies were implemented in St. Louis and other cities. Even the famous Gateway Arch is part of the story.

“While suburbs with clusters of black residents were designing redevelopment projects that forced African Americans to seek public housing back in the city, St. Louis itself was pursuing urban renewal and redevelopment that forced black residents into nearby suburbs and attracted white middle-class suburbanites back to the city,” Rothstein wrote at another point.

“Beginning in the 1950s, the city’s urban renewal projects condemned and razed slum housing occupied mostly by African Americans and constructed monuments and other institutions in place of those homes. Neighborhoods were razed for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (which includes the Gateway Arch), a museum, a sports stadium, interstate highways (including ramps and interchanges) to bring suburban commuters into white-collar city jobs, new industry and hotels for the city, university expansion, and middle-class housing that was unaffordable to former African American residents of the redeveloped areas. . . .”

Newseum Collecting Artifacts from Ferguson Coverage

“The Newseum is becoming a breaking news-eum this month as it prepares to exhibit artifacts from the protests and news coverage in Ferguson, Mo., while that story continues to unfold,” David Montgomery reported Wednesday for the Washington Post.

“Sharon Shahid, the Newseum’s online managing editor — call her a deadline curator — was on the ground in the simmering St. Louis suburb shortly before the announcement last week that the grand jury would not indict officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9.

“Shahid collected a press pass and two rubber pellet balls from a police stun grenade donated by Stephanie Lecci, a newscast producer for St. Louis Public Radio. The pellets date to the night of Aug. 17, when police used tear gas to break up huge crowds. Lecci’s colleague at the station, Nancy Fowler, gave Shahid her notebook, where she scribbled ’31 arrests’ and ‘reports of gunfire.’ . . .”

Coverage Misstep in Cleveland on Shooting of Boy, 12

“Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy holding a novelty pellet gun, is shot dead by police in a Cleveland park,” Anna Clark wrote Tuesday for Columbia Journalism Review. “It’s captured on video: an unarmed African-American child killed by a white cop within two seconds after police approached. Public outrage soars. And local reporters are needed more than ever to give a rigorous account of what happened.

“The Northeast Ohio Media Group — digital sibling of The Plain Dealer — has primary responsibility for the police beat, and it jumped on the story at Cleveland.com. But a serious misstep in its early coverage incited a backlash, both inside and outside the Advance-owned organization. And attempts by NEOMG’s leaders to address the criticism have been unsatisfying and unpersuasive — a signal that they don’t really understand why readers are justifiably upset, and that, barring meaningful changes, episodes like this one are likely to recur in the future. . . .”

From left, William C. Rhoden (@wcrhoden); Jemele Hill (@JemeleHill); John Saunders (@JohnReporters); and Bryan Burwell (@realbburwell) last year on on ESPN's Sunday morning 'Sports Reporters' show.

Bryan Burwell, Post-Dispatch Sports Columnist, Dies at 59

“Bryan Burwell, a longtime sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, died early Thursday (Dec. 4, 2014) after a short battle with cancer,” the Post-Dispatch reported on Thursday. “He was 59.

“Burwell joined the Post-Dispatch in 2002 after working as a sports correspondent for HBO’s ‘Inside the NFL.’

“During his long sports career, Burwell also wrote columns for USA Today, The Detroit News and worked at the New York Daily News and New York Newsday.

“His columns and feature stories were honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, and won awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Professional Football Writers Association. . . .

“When Burwell joined the Post-Dispatch in 2002, Sports Editor Larry Starks wrote, ‘Burwell has an excellent track record of writing strong, opinionated, insightful columns. We know sports in St. Louis are so important to so many of you that we’re thrilled that we can provide two strong voices in Burwell and Bernie Miklasz.’ . . .”

Burwell was the paper’s No. 2 columnist in 2012 when he moved to a newly created multimedia role that was to include many video appearances on the website. 

Burwell appeared in this column last year discussing the N-word. He chastised academician Michael Eric Dyson, who said, “We hijacked, or word-jacked that word that was used in a nefarious and horrible way … and drained it of its poison and turned it into a word of endearment.”

Burwell wrote, “Yes, there are a lot of folks like Dyson who ought to know better and who want you to believe that the N-word has become a warm and fuzzy term of endearment that cuts across generations, cultures and in some cases, races,” then cited the case of a Massachusetts eighth-grader who woke up to discover that racist graffiti had been spray painted on his family’s house.

Burwell ended his column with a reference to pioneer rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy. “To quote a tweet from rapper Chuck D, who obviously has had a change of mind about such things: ‘I say hating the N-word and users of it will be a great thing to start 2014.’ “ [Added Dec. 4]

Later Thursday, such fellow sportswriters as Michael Wilbon and David Aldridge took to Facebook and other  social media to add their tributes.

Ken Jobe Out as News Director at Memphis Station

“Ken Jobe is out as news director at Cox owned Memphis FOX affiliate WHBQ,” Kevin Eck reported Tuesday for TVSpy.

“Yesterday, we reported the station had a new GM. Today we confirmed that news director Ken Jobe no longer works at the station.

“A Cox spokesperson told TVSpy, Cox is looking for a news director to replace Jobe. . . .”

Jobe messaged Journal-isms, “As you know, WHBQ was a FOX O&O that was part of a station trade with Cox Broadcasting. The Boston O&O and WHBQ in Memphis were traded for Cox’s San Francisco duopoly. Cox decided to make a change in leadership and I’m now on the market. Not much else to say.”

“Jobe started his career in Nashville,” Eck continued. “He has also worked at WCBS in New York and WCPO in Cincinnati. He started at WHBQ in 2003.”

NPR’s Matt Thompson Joining the Atlantic

“Matt Thompson (@mthomps) will join the leadership of TheAtlantic.com as the deputy editor,” the Atlantic announced on Wednesday. “Thompson will work with the site’s editor J.J. Gould (@jjgould) to help oversee editorial operations and shape strategic development at a time of record audience growth. Coming from NPR —where he has most recently directed news teams covering race, ethnicity, and culture; education; and global health and development — he will start at The Atlantic in the new year.

” ‘Matt is a force,’ said Gould. ‘He’s creative about new media and their emerging potential, he’s serious about journalism as a public good, and he’s super-smart about the requirements of leadership in a digital organization. He’s also just a natural fit for The Atlantic personally. Working with him is going to be a lot of fun.’

“At NPR, Thompson started the Code Switch blog, which he oversaw along with several other topic-focused verticals. He previously helped coordinate 12 local websites in conjunction with NPR member stations and coauthored NPR’s ethics handbook. . . .”

Carleton Bryant Leaves Washington Times After 20 Years

Carleton Bryant, assistant managing editor for foreign news at the Washington Times and a 20-year veteran of the paper, left in a round of layoffs, Bryant told Journal-isms on Tuesday. “It was just a round of layoffs. . . . They needed to make some payroll cuts to maintain financial viability. Nothing personal, just business,” he messaged.

Bryant told Facebook friends, “My departure was by mutual consent: They asked me to go, and I said OK.”

John Solomon, editor of the conservative newspaper, did not respond to a question about how many layoffs took place.

On his LinkedIn profile, Bryant says, “In my 20 years at The Washington Times, I have excelled in a variety of leadership roles that have provided me with expertise in human resources management, strategic planning and resource allocation, and public relations and communication. In addition, I have been involved in the daily creative production of news stories and features, and assumed a back-up role in managing the Web site that has allowed me to develop skills in blogging, online publishing and HTML. . . .”

Short Takes

  • C-SPAN plans live coverage of the public memorial service Saturday for four-term D.C. mayor Marion S. Barry Jr., who died Nov. 23 at 78. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. Eastern time, spokesman Howard Mortman said. Three days of tributes culminate at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

  • “Are you an Asian American writer who is passionate about sports?” Phil Yu asked Tuesday on his Angry Asian Man blog. “Dat Winning, an online sports blog written from an Asian American perspective, is looking for writers to apply for the Dat Winning Fellowship, a space for emerging Asian American writers to ‘cut their teeth’ in the field of sports journalism. You’ll receive guidance, workshops and editorial feedback from a team of established Asian American professionals in the field. . . .”
  • “The 5.8 million unauthorized immigrants not eligible for deportation relief under President Obama’s executive actions are more likely than those eligible to be unmarried and not have U.S.-born children living with them, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis,” Jens Manuel Krogstad and Jeffrey S. Passel wrote Monday for the center.
  • “All Digitocracy is trying to raise $7,500 to produce a series of video interviews with women and journalists of color called ‘How’d You Get That (Media) Job,’ ” Andrew Beaujon reported Wednesday for the Poynter Institute. “Its first interview is with TV One host Roland S. Martin. ‘One of things I hear constantly from journalists of color is they don’t understand how you get from Point A to Point B,’ All Digitocracy founder Tracie Powell told Poynter in a phone call. . . .”
  • Reporter Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post, who has been covering Ferguson developments, is the subject of a Daily Caller story Monday by Betsy Rothstein headlined, “TheDC Investigates: Is WaPo’s Wesley Lowery Black?,” which was prompted by a Lowery statement that black people don’t work at Politico. Tommy Christopher of the Daily Banter responded Tuesday with “The Daily Banter Investigates: Is Wesley Lowery a Lying ‘Snowflake?’”

  • “Salvador Rodríguez has landed a new job as Silicon Valley Correspondent for the International Business Times, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His first day was yesterday,” Veronica Villafañe reported Tuesday for her Media Moves site. She also wrote, “Prior to his move to Northern California, Sal spent two years as a technology staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. . . .”
  • At a Washington awards ceremony scheduled Thursday, “National Press Club President Myron Belkind and Capital Press Club President Hazel Trice Edney will reflect on the impact of the National Press Club’s refusal to accept Black members from its founding in 1908 to 1955 when it accepted its first African-American male member,” according to a media advisory. “Historically, it is well-known and publicized that the NPC did not accept Blacks as members until 1955. However, the historicity of this acknowledgement is — in part — that it will be made in the presence of the Capital Press Club, which was formed because of the racial discrimination. . . .”
  • . . . Honorees at the Capital Press Club event include: “Simeon Booker, pioneering editor, JET Magazine; Barbara Reynolds, [a] founding editor, USA Today; JC Hayward, iconic anchorwoman, WUSA; Roy Lewis, photographer, the Black Press; Paul Brock, pioneering journalist; Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher, Washington Informer; April Ryan, White House Correspondent, American Urban Radio Networks; Joe Madison, Radio Talk Show Host, SiriusXM; Richard Prince, columnist, Journal-isms, Maynard Institute.”
  • Asked to name the next executive order President Obama should make regarding the criminal justice system, Bill Keller, editor-in-chief of the Marshall Project, told David Wallis that while “we want to be a little wary of executives using or stretching the limits of their power,” Obama could have done “a bunch more,” Jim Romenesko reported Wednesday on his media blog. “Starting with attempting to get more money put into the system to lighten the loads of prosecutors so they can make good decisions of who’s good to prosecute and who’s not, instead of making decisions on the fly by plea bargain.” Keller also said, “I think he probably could have done more with clemency powers that he has available to him. . . .”
  • Dr. Justine J. Rector, a tenured journalism professor at Howard University who also taught at Temple University, died Oct. 26 at 87, the Philadelphia Tribune reported on Nov. 7. “She was a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and the Washington Star” and published “The History of the Black Press in Philadelphia” and “Issues and Trends in Afro-American Journalism,” the Tribune reported. “She was the author of ‘In Fear of African American Men.’. . .”
  • Among cases spotlighted by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund is that of Buya Jammeh, a former journalist in the Gambia who fled to the United States. “With help from the immigration department of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, Mr. Jammeh was granted asylum in June,” the Times reported Tuesday. “Catholic Charities, one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, is also helping Mr. Jammeh petition to bring his wife and 2-year-old daughter to the United States. He wants them to arrive before his child gets much older.’ ” ‘In Africa, they still practice female genital mutilation,’ Mr. Jammeh said. . . .”

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