Maynard Institute archives

Racial Split Over “I Am Charlie”

by richard0623

U.S. Nonwhites Opposed Publishing Muhammad Cartoons

Fox Shows Graphic Images of Pilot’s Immolation

FCC Chair Would Have No Fast or Slow Lanes on Web

N.Y. Times Picks Gilbert Cruz for Revived T.V. Editor Job

Brian Williams Apologizes for False, Oft-Told Tale

New Gaffe Undermines Defense of Lemon as “Geraldo 2.0”

Vanity Fair Has “Perfected” Formula for Its Hollywood Issue

Nigeria Urged to Ensure Access for Foreign Journalists

Al Jazeera Examines Commercialization of Blackness

Short Takes

U.S. Nonwhites Opposed Publishing Muhammad Cartoons

A month after the attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in a three-day jihadist assault that, in all, left 17 people dead, a racial split has emerged over whether the magazine should have published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, according to the Pew Research Center.

“While seven-in-ten whites who have heard about the attack support Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish the cartoons, this is true of just 37% of non-whites,” Jeffrey Gottfried and Michael Barthel reported for Pew on Jan. 28. “Instead, about half (48%) of non-whites decry the cartoons — saying it was not okay to publish them.

“Men are more likely than women to support the publishing of the cartoons, with two-thirds (67%) of men who heard about the attack saying it was okay to publish, compared with about half (52%) of women. Women, on the other hand, express more opposition to the cartoons (33%, versus 24% among men). . . .”

The Pew team also wrote, “the most common reason offered by those who say it was not okay to publish the cartoons is religious tolerance and respect.

“About two-thirds of those who disapprove of publishing the cartoons named some aspect or variation of tolerance and respect; 35% say that religious beliefs should be respected, and 31% say the cartoons were offensive, politically incorrect or inappropriate. . . .”

While American media groups — including the journalist of color associations — and others around the world sported “I Am Charlie” slogans and saw the issue as one of freedom of expression, others saw an issue of power.

Writing in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, Robert Azzi, a writer and photographer living in Exeter, N.H., told readers on Jan. 11, “Today, let’s be clear: The attack on Charlie Hebdo was both a barbaric criminal act and a betrayal of Islam.” Yet, Azzi added, “It’s equally important to acknowledge that Charlie Hebdo’s right to be offensive, sexist and racist comes from a privilege based within its white European tradition. If we offend ourselves out of privilege, we understand it — it’s our privilege — but that’s different than privileging ourselves to attack and offend the Other, who often have no way to respond. . . .”

Laurence Dodds added Tuesday in the Telegraph of London, “France’s commitment to ‘free speech’ has never been absolute. The country bans holocaust denial, hate speech, and, since last November, incitement to terrorism.”

Dodds was writing about Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, a firebrand French comedian born in the western suburbs of Paris to a Cameroonian accountant and a white French sociologist. He went on trial Wednesday in France for glorifying terrorism in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

John Lichfield wrote Wednesday for the Independent, “The comedian, who has three previous convictions for making anti-Semitic remarks, is the most high-profile defendant so far in a series of prosecutions on the basis of ‘apology for terrorism’ since the jihadist killings in Paris almost a month ago,” Lichfield reported. “According to figures released today, 41 people have been tried and 18 of them have received short prison sentences.”

Dodds also wrote, “If Dieudonné is found guilty . . . his supporters will only see that as evidence that he really is being persecuted. It will also give ammunition to those who claim that France’s defence of free speech only extends to voices it is happy to hear — especially when Hebdo’s own cartoons have been criticised as racist and inflammatory towards Muslims. . . .”

Clarence Page, the syndicated Chicago Tribune columnist who is African American, wrote on Jan. 20, “Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was arrested for a Facebook post. ‘Tonight, as far as I’m concerned,’ he wrote, ‘I feel like Charlie Coulibaly.”

“He was reacting to the popular ‘Je suis Charlie’ (‘I am Charlie’) slogan by inserting the name of Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four hostages at the kosher grocery store and a police officer the day before.

“Dieudonne, as he prefers to be called, says his tasteless remark was no worse than the often tasteless cartoons of Charlie Hebdo. On that narrow issue, he may have a point. Charlie Hebdo proudly calls itself a ‘journal irresponsible’ and is widely defended for carrying on the French tradition for unshackled iconoclasm.

“But as the French see it, the right to free speech is protected, not the right to hate speech. After the pain of World War II, France, Germany and some other European countries have passed laws against denying the Holocaust and against any other speech that appears to attack people, not just ideas.

“Yet, even by that narrow standard, angry Muslims are not the only folks who detect a double standard. Is it what Dieudonne said that counts, they ask, or who is saying it? . . .”

Page previously wrote, “Je ne suis pas Charlie.

“I am not Charlie, although they have my sympathies and support. . . . As Twitter activist Dyab Abou Jahjah said in a tweet that has gone around the world in retweets, ‘I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so.’ ” Ahmed Merabet was a French policeman in Paris who was also Muslim. He died when gunmen struck the Charlie Hebdo magazine’s offices.

Meanwhile, Charlie Hebdo “has delayed publication of its next two issues because staff are grieving and exhausted, a spokeswoman said,” F. Brinley Bruton, Nancy Ing and Ed Kiernan reported Saturday for NBC News. ” ‘Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and writers are not ready — they need some time, need to consult, need to settle in,’ ” Appoline Thomasset of Majorelle PR & Events, which represents the magazine, said on Saturday.

“The Jan. 7 attacks left 12 dead at the magazine and terrorized France. Charlie Hebdo’s one post-attack publication depicting a weeping Muhammad on the cover sold millions of copies. A normal run for the magazine was previously about 50,000 copies. The editorial team are grieving, tired, have been overexposed to the media and need time, French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Anne Hommel, the publication’s publicist.”

Fox Shows Graphic Images of Pilot’s Immolation

“Fox News aired graphic images from the new video released Tuesday that appears to show the Islamic State burning alive Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh,” Catherine Taibi reported Wednesday for the Huffington Post.

“Anchor Bret Baier warned viewers on ‘Special Report’ Tuesday evening that the pictures were coming, adding, ‘We feel you need to see it.’

” ‘Tonight, we are going to show you some of the images ISIS has put out,’ he said. ‘The images are brutal. They are graphic. They are upsetting. You may want to turn away. You may want to have the children leave the room right now.’

“The Fox News anchor added that the network decided to air the horrific images in order ‘to bring you the reality of Islamic terrorism.”

Taibi added, “Earlier on Tuesday, however, Fox News’ Shepard Smith chose not to show the video or any images from the video, but rather to give viewers an extremely detailed verbal account of what happened.

“Other networks took a different stance. CNN announced that they would not be showing any of the pictures. . . .”

In print and online, “The Daily News in New York published an image of the flames appearing to engulf Lieutenant [Kaseasbeh]. And BuzzFeed posted a series of images, following the flames as they approached him,” Ravi Somaiya reported Tuesday for the New York Times.

“But most other outlets chose to use images from earlier in the 22-minute video. The New York Times initially showed Lieutenant [Kaseasbeh] standing outside the cage in an orange jumpsuit, with militants behind him. Online, The Washington Post published a photo of him in his uniform. The paper’s editor, Martin Baron, said by email that he would probably settle on an image similar to the one used by The Times: ‘Outside the cage and before any flame. That’s in line with what we’ve done previously with the beheadings.’ . . .”

FCC Chair Would Have No Fast or Slow Lanes on Web

“Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed Wednesday he’ seeking strong net neutrality rules that regulate broadband service like a utility,” Brooks Boliek and Alex Byers reported Wednesday for Politico, “matching a vision laid out by President Barack Obama and setting up a high-stakes standoff with the telecom industry and congressional Republicans.

“The move, which Wheeler announced in an online op-ed in Wired magazine, is expected to meet heavy resistance from the GOP Congress and Internet-service providers, which warn it will lead to burdensome regulation and hinder investment. AT&T has already said it will challenge such rules in court.

“Wheeler’s plan would prevent broadband providers from engaging in pay-for-play deals with companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers. It would also extend net neutrality rules to mobile devices and give the agency new authority over ‘interconnection’ agreements between ISPs and companies like Netflix aimed at unclogging network congestion. The full five-member commission is slated to vote on Wheeler’s plan on Feb. 26. . . .”

Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, announced he would oppose Obama’s plan, “which will raise consumers’ broadband skills, slow broadband speeds and reduce competition.”

N.Y. Times Picks Gilbert Cruz for Revived T.V. Editor Job

Gilbert Cruz, editorial director of New York magazine’s Vulture.com, is joining the New York Times in the newly restored position of television editor, the Times announced on Tuesday.

The move means Cruz would supervise Alessandra Stanley, the Times television critic whose piece calling television series creator Shonda Rhimes an “angry black woman” created a firestorm in September.

Danielle Mattoon, the culture editor who announced Cruz’s hiring, said of the Stanley controversy then, “This is a signal to me that we have to constantly remind ourselves as editors of our blind spots, what we don’t know, and of how readers may react.”

Cruz did not respond to an inquiry seeking to verify his ethnicity, but the Bronx-raised editor joins a staff where Latino editors are underrepresented. Public editor Margaret Sullivan wrote last year, “The Times has significant diversity among its high-ranking editors and prominent writers, but it’s troubling that with 20 critics, not one is black and only two are persons of color.” The Times reported a staff 4.5 percent Latino in last year’s American Society of News Editors census.

“I’m delighted to announce that Gilbert Cruz will be our new Television Editor,” Mattoon said in a Times Co. news release. “Gilbert comes from New York Magazine, where he has been running Vulture, the culture machine that has kept me and every other arts editor in America in a constant state of ‘Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that?’ dismay. He is fluent in all aspects of pop culture, but especially film and — most relevant here — the sprawling universe of television, which he oversaw and brought to order at Vulture.

“Before New York he was at Time, where he launched and edited Time.com’s entertainment vertical and developed Populist, an ASME-winning iPad app. He also did a stint as education reporter and ran the magazine’s Briefing section.

“Talk to former colleagues of Gilbert’s, as I have, and a note of envy enters their voice. His writers miss him and old bosses want him back. He’s full of ideas, vision and energy, all of which he is eager to bring to our television coverage. . . .”

Cruz tweeted Tuesday, “Starting new job tomorrow as TV Editor at the NYT. I have about 20 hours to catch up on approximately 17 shows.” In a second tweet, he said, “But before catching up on TV, I’m gonna finish reading @thedissolve’s 50 Best Films of the Half-Decade.“

On Wednesday, he tweeted that he was watching the Fox hip-hip drama “Empire.” “Hakeem is such a clown. I love him. #Empire.”

Brian Williams Apologizes for False, Oft-Told Tale

“NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was forced to make an on-air retraction Wednesday night — on one of his own stories,” Ginger Adams Otis reported Wednesday for the Daily News in New York.

“The 55-year-old newsman was red-faced after being forced to admit that his oft-told tale of riding in a military helicopter that was shot down by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003 was a high-flying lie.

” ‘I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,’ Williams said, near the end of NBC’s 30-minute national news broadcast.

” ‘I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by (rocket propelled grenade) fire. Instead, I was in the following aircraft,’ the anchor said, looking earnestly at the camera while also reading off a teleprompter. . . .”

New Gaffe Undermines Defense of Lemon as “Geraldo 2.0”

In March, CNN’s Don Lemon asked guests whether Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could have been swallowed by a black hole: “I know it’s preposterous, but is it preposterous?” (video)

“Don Lemon relentlessly courts controversy whether it’s his reporting from Ferguson, or driving around in his ‘Blizzardmobile.’ Is his natural home Fox News, rather than CNN?,” a headline in the Daily Beast asked Tuesday.

“Say what you will about Don Lemon — and clearly there’s no stopping you — but he has swiftly become, if not the face of CNN, then one of the more recognizable figures on the ‘Go there’ cable news outlet,” Lloyd Grove’s report began.

“Considering the pugnacious yet camera-friendly nature of Lemon’s budding celebrity, it wouldn’t be a shock if his next contract negotiation lands him at a cash cow of a cable network where he might find a warm and lucrative welcome. . . .”

Grove compared Lemon with Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera. “Like Rivera, who is proudly a member of two traditionally liberal minorities — Puerto Rican and Jewish — Lemon likes to spout counter-intuitively conservative beliefs with which even a white Mike Huckabee supporter might agree,” Grove wrote.

“So I like to think of Lemon as Geraldo 2.0. . . .”

Inside Cable News wasn’t buying Grove’s contention, writing Wednesday, “This is a strawman issue. It isn’t about whether Don Lemon courts controversy or not. Most anchors will get embroiled in controversy at one point in their careers…some more than once. No, this is about whether Lemon is a loose cannon who shoots from the hip yet still manages to wing himself and whether the dubious spectacles he’s known for overshadow anything positive he does and all this reflects badly upon his network. . . .”

Grove’s defense was further undermined. “The Internet pounced on CNN anchor and frequently mistaken newsman Don Lemon after he tweeted a shirtless photo of himself on Monday night to tease an upcoming segment on vaccinations,” Brendan Jones reported forTalking Points Memo.

“Lemon showed the world his ‘#measles shot scar from childhood,’ in a tweet promoting an interview on vaccinations to air that night. ‘Do we still need it?’ he added.

“Lemon then received hundreds of replies to his tweet pointing out that the scar was likely from a smallpox shot, not a measles vaccination. . . . Lemon later admitted it was a smallpox scar.”

Nigeria Urged to Ensure Access for Foreign Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday that it had called on Nigerian authorities to ensure that international journalists are allowed access to cover the country’s elections this month.

“Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 14, while state elections are set for February 28. President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking re-election amid an insurgency by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram, which has taken over territory in the country’s northeast. International observers have called on Nigeria to ensure a free and fair election, while some analysts have warned of low turnout amid fears of violence, according to news reports,” the press freedom group said.

It also reported, “Geoffrey York, Johannesburg-based correspondent for the Canadian daily newspaper Globe and Mail, wrote on Twitter last week that Nigeria had blocked at least 40 journalists from entering the country to cover the elections. The Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa issued a statement on Friday saying many of its members had been denied visas or accreditation.

“Journalists at one international news outlet — who asked that the outlet not be named as it continues to seek access to cover the elections — told CPJ that it had made eight different visa requests from locations including Paris, London, Nairobi, Dakar, and Johannesburg. All of the applications, submitted between December 2014 and January 2015, had been delayed by embassy officials requesting additional paperwork, the outlet said.

“However, some international journalists have been granted access. Journalists from The New York Times, BBC, and the Netherlands-based television channel RTL Nieuws told CPJ they had visas approved.

“Difficulty in getting visas may be compounded by discrepancies in the application process from embassy to embassy and between embassies and the Nigeria Immigration Service. . .”

A delegation of journalists from the U.S.-based National Association of African Journalists arrived in Nigeria last month.

Al Jazeera Examines Commercialization of Blackness

Commemorating Black History Month, Al Jazeera America “will launch #Branding Black, a new month-long, social media campaign that raises important questions about the line between multicultural marketing and the commercialization of ‘blackness,’ ” the network announced.

”Does #BrandingBlack celebrate diversity or perpetuate stereotypes? Throughout February, Al Jazeera America will deepen the conversation around these issues by creating a transmedia experience, delivering meaningful and culturally relevant videos, analysis and opinions across broadcast and social media. #BrandingBlack will take the conversation ‘to the people’ by engaging social media influencers to cultivate a provocative and in-depth discussion using the #BrandingBlack hashtag.”

One scheduled vehicle is “Real Money with Ali Velshi,” which airs Fridays at 10:30 p.m. ET, repeating at 1 a.m. ET.

For this coming Friday, a synopsis reads, “Nike just released its 2015 ‘Black History Month’ edition of Nikes. The Vice President of Nike, Michael Jackson, said the collection ‘honors and celebrates athletes and leaders who have influenced global culture and paved the way for the next generation.’ The shoes honor various famous black athletes.

“It’s a marketing ploy that enrages civil rights activist Van Jones. He believes the single greatest disservice we can do for African Americans — especially low income kids — is keep the dream alive for millions of kids hoping to get an NBA job when there are only 15 slots — vs millions of jobs available if kids were taught STEM (STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.)

“What message are corporations sending to black youth in America with ‘Black History Month’ branding, and is it the right message? . . .”

Short Takes

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