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Nation’s Diversity Leaps Forward

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Nearly 49% of Babies Born in ’08-’09 Were of Color

3 U.S. Black Columnists in S. Africa Covering World Cup

Media Stick With Narrative on Helen Thomas

Miami Herald Tracks 125,000 on Mariel Boatlift of 1980

Little News of Immigrant Students’ Hunger Strike

Public Trusts Media More Than Feds on Oil Spill

Obama Outdoes Predecessors in Prosecuting Leaks

6 Months After Quake, Haitian Journalists Still Need Aid

Some Read “Black” Even When It’s Not There

Clarence Page, Role Model for Stutterers

Short Takes

USA Today map shows its “Diversity Index.” The darker the red, the higher the probability that two people chosen at random in each of the nation’s 3,143 counties would be of a different race or ethnicity. (View map)

Nearly 49% of Babies Born in ’08-’09 Were of Color

“Record levels of births among minorities in the past decade are moving the USA a step closer to a demographic milestone in which no group commands a majority, new Census estimates show,” Haya El Nasser reported Friday for USA Today, in the lead story for its weekend edition.

“Minorities accounted for almost 49% of U.S. births in the year ending July 1, 2009, a record high, according to data released Thursday. They make up more than half the population in 317 counties – about 1 in 10 – four states (California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas) and the District of Columbia.

“The USA TODAY Diversity Index shows increases in every state since 2000. The index was created to measure how racially and ethnically diverse the population is. It uses the percentage of each race counted by the Census Bureau – white, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian – and Hispanic ethnicity to calculate the chance that any two people are from different groups. The scale ranges from 0 (no diversity) to 100.

“The 2009 national index is 52, up from 47 in 2000. That means that the chance of two randomly selected people being different is slightly more than half. In 1980, the index was 34, a 1-in-3 chance.

“The level of diversity varies widely from region to region – from as high as 79 in Hawaii and 68 in California to as low as 10 in Maine and Vermont and 13 in West Virginia.

“Much of the rapid growth in diversity is driven by an influx of young Hispanic immigrants whose birthrates are higher than those of non-Hispanic whites, creating a race and ethnic chasm and a widening age gap. ‘There are more than 500 counties which have a majority of minority children,’ says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute. ‘The population is changing to minority from the bottom up.'”

The American Society of News Editors has set a goal of having the percentage of minorities working in newsrooms nationwide equal to the percentage of minorities in the nation’s population by 2025. Currently, minorities make up 33 percent of the U.S. population. The percentage of minorities in the most recent newsroom survey was 13.26 percent,

3 U.S. Black Columnists in S. Africa Covering World Cup

At least three African American journalists – Kevin Blackistone of AOL Fanhouse, Jemele Hill of ESPN and William Rhoden of the New York Times – are in South Africa covering the World Cup, an event expected to be the most watched in television history.

In addition, “Univision… well, they’re maximizing the fact they own the exclusive Spanish-language broadcast rights to ‘el mundial’ in the U.S. There’s cross-promotion galore on all their shows and it seems like all of the network’s on-air talent is in South Africa,” Veronica Villafa?±e reported on her Media Moves site.

Also in South Africa: “Daniela Rodriguez, an aspiring TV reporter from Houston,” who “beat out more than 1,000 other contestant on ESPN Deportes ‘Dream Job: The Reporter’ reality show last month, winning the opportunity to do on-air reporting on the Mexican World Cup team from South Africa,” Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times reported from Johannesburg. Rodriguez is an account executive for an advertising agency who entered the competition on a lark in December.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable reported that “Cable sports giant ESPN’s latest network, ESPN 3D, launched successfully at 9:30 am EST Friday with the stereoscopic 3D broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa.”

And as reported previously, professor Joe Ritchie of Florida A&M University planned to take six FAMU students to South Africa, meeting six journalism students from Shantou University in China. The two groups are collaborating on multimedia coverage of the Cup and of life in South Africa in general. Their work is being posted at www.famustu.net/worldcup.

Blackistone used his column from South Africa Wednesday to call for a sports boycott of Israel, though not of individual Israeli athletes.

“The reason South Africa was readmitted to the world’s sports arena in the early ’90s was because an armed struggle waged by the country’s oppressed, coupled with international pressure – like that from those world sporting bodies, and protesters I joined who marched and sported anti-Krugerrand buttons – made apartheid defunct,” he wrote.

“South Africa is a shining example of the good sports can do for society. In the wake of widespread international condemnation of Israel’s botched commando raid last week that killed nine people on a humanitarian aid flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip – where Palestinians live under what Nobel-prize winning South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, also on my flight, once said is Israel’s apartheid-like thumb – could it not be time for sport to illuminate Israel’s deadly occupation of Palestinians?

“Maybe a sports boycott of Israel, where sports are beloved the same as in South Africa, could help foster a round of truly meaningful peace talks between Israel and Palestinians. Maybe such a collective effort could exercise the same leverage on Israel that it did for nearly 30 years with South Africa.”

Credit: Dave Granlund/Chicago Tribune

Media Stick With Narrative on Helen Thomas

The news media have made little room for the alternative explanation of Helen Thomas’ remarks about Israel – that she was condemning the treatment of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, not calling for Jews to leave Israel – advanced this week by her sisters and the editor of the Arab-American News, the nation’s largest Arab American newspaper.

When asked about Israel during a White House Jewish heritage celebration on May 27, Thomas, 89, told RabbiLive.com: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.

“Remember, these people are occupied and it’s their land.” Asked where they should go, Thomas answered: “They should go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.”

Most in the news media labeled Thomas’ remarks “over the top,” “indefensible,” “offensive” and a “gaffe.” The legendary former White House correspondent said “I deeply regret” the comments and resigned her job as a columnist for Hearst News Service.

The dominant narrative was that Thomas was calling for Israelis to be returned to countries where they had been exterminated, but Thomas’ sisters and Osama Siblani, editor of the Arab-American News, separately told Journal-isms on Wednesday that they thought it was clear that “Palestine” referred to the West Bank and the recent settlements there by Europeans and Americans.

Media organizations, asked whether there would be anything in the further reporting of Thomas’ remarks to indicate the possibility that the media had misinterpreted them, said as little as possible.

“I have nothing to offer on this query,” said Paul D. Colford, spokesman for the Associated Press.

“We’ll pass on commenting at present,” said Nancy Sullivan, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Times.

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, was said to be traveling, and the relevant Washington Post editors did not respond or could not be reached.

[In the Washington Post of June 14, media writer Howard Kurtz wrote, “Since Thomas was a columnist, she had every right to her opinions – even if her view was that Jews should be banished from Israel.”]

Meanwhile, “Wayne State University said Wednesday that it will keep the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award, established a decade ago to honor journalists,” the Detroit Free Press reported.

“The university said it ‘strongly condemns’ her ‘wholly inappropriate comments’ but they shouldn’t diminish her ‘many years of exemplary service’ and pioneering role in journalism. Thomas, a veteran White House correspondent, is a Wayne State graduate.” [Updated June 14]

“If you want to see the power of history brought to life, spend some time on The Miami Herald’s Mariel boatlift web page,” Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal wrote. (Credit: Miami Herald)

Miami Herald Tracks 125,000 on Mariel Boatlift of 1980

“A Miami Herald database has publicized in-depth information on one of the most important events of Cuban emigration. A reporter, data analyst and Web developer worked for months to digitize and organize little-known data about the 1980 Mariel boatlift, published in late May to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the vessels’ arrivals in the United States,” Michelle Minkoff wrote Friday for the Poynter Institute.

“The data sets are more than mere numbers and names; every record hints at the story of someone beginning a new chapter of his or her life. It’s a powerful example that demonstrates that data-driven projects can be much more than stark, emotionless series of numbers.

“The project tracks more than 125,000 passengers of the 1980 Mariel boatlift from Cuba to Florida, which was one of three post-Castro exoduses. The idea behind the database was to create a master list of people who arrived during the boatlift, culled from data obtained from an unknown government source of raw, unstandardized logs. The Herald planned to encourage people who were part of the boatlift to help create a comprehensive list of vessels that made the trip and match people to vessels.

“For the reporter who compiled the data, this was more than a special assignment; it was an opportunity to bring in-depth coverage to an experience relevant to her own life.

“Staff writer Luisa Yanez came to the U.S. on the Freedom Flights, another exodus from Cuba to Florida. ‘Today, there is no master list, no Ellis Island-type record to mark the arrival of Cubans in Miami,” Yanez wrote in an e-mail. ‘The goal of the Mariel Database is to fill that hole for one of our best-known exoduses by creating a passenger list for each vessel.'”

Little News of Immigrant Students’ Hunger Strike

“Since the first of June, 10 immigrant students have been on a hunger strike outside Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Manhattan office. Their courageous action speaks volumes of the depth of the immigration crisis,” Albor Ruiz wrote Thursday in the New York Daily News.

“Yet, almost incredibly, this dramatic event has not captured the attention of mainstream media or moved Schumer to sit down with the students.

“The strikers, most of whom were brought to the U.S. as children, set up camp on Schumer’s doorstep hoping to pressure the chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee, to push for passage of the Dream Act.

“For over a week they have braved hunger, rain, wind and some bigoted catcalls. Convinced of the fairness of their cause, they vow to pursue their dream to the end.”

Workers spray water on an oil-covered pelican found off the Louisiana coast at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, La., on Friday. (Credit: ©Jose-Luis Magana/Greenpeace)

Public Trusts Media More Than Feds on Oil Spill

“The public expresses far more trust in the news media for information about the Gulf oil leak than it does in either the federal government or BP,” the Pew Center for People and the Press reported on Wednesday.

“Fully 67% say they have a lot (20%) or some trust (47%) in information on the oil leak coming from news organizations. That compares with 51% who have at least some trust in information from the federal government and 39% in information from BP.

“The latest News Interest Index survey, conducted June 3-6 among 1,002 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that the oil leak continues to dominate the public‚Äôs news interest. Nearly two-thirds (66%) cite the Gulf disaster as the story they followed most closely – more than seven times the percentage citing the economy (9%), the second-leading story. As the disaster continued to grow, the leak was also the most heavily covered story, accounting for 35% of the newshole last week, according to the Pew Research Center‚Äôs Project for Excellence in Journalism.

“The survey finds that the public is much more interested in the impact of the Gulf oil leak and how far it might spread than in the response by politicians or assessments of blame.”

Obama Outdoes Predecessors in Prosecuting Leaks

“In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press,” Scott Shane reported Friday in the New York Times.

“Hired in 2001 by the National Security Agency to help it catch up with the e-mail and cellphone revolution, Thomas A. Drake became convinced that the government‚Äôs eavesdroppers were squandering hundreds of millions of dollars on failed programs while ignoring a promising alternative.

“He took his concerns everywhere inside the secret world: to his bosses, to the agency‚Äôs inspector general, to the Defense Department‚Äôs inspector general and to the Congressional intelligence committees. But he felt his message was not getting through.

“So he contacted a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.

“Today, because of that decision, Mr. Drake, 53, a veteran intelligence bureaucrat who collected early computers, faces years in prison on 10 felony charges involving the mishandling of classified information and obstruction of justice.”

6 Months After Quake, Haitian Journalists Still Need Aid

“The story of Port-au-Prince’s Ticket Magazine could serve as the symbol of the nation’s press corps in the wake of the earthquake,” Miami Herald Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal wrote May 29 for his newspaper, referencing Haiti and the effects of the devastation wreaked in January.

“Ticket’s editor, Claudel Victor, e-mailed a summary of what’s happened to the arts and culture magazine since the disaster. One writer was killed, and almost every member of the staff lost homes, family members and equipment to do their jobs.

” ‘Ticket has closed since the Jan. 12 earthquake,’ he wrote. ‘Every editor, reporter, photographer and graphic designer who worked for the magazine has been unemployed since.’

“Victor’s dispatch was posted recently on the website for a campaign called the Haiti News Project, aimed at helping support Haiti journalists and restore their strength at a time when local coverage is itself a vital part of the reconstruction.

“This week, Google contributed $25,000, the latest of a growing list of media and other groups joining the Haiti News Project. Dell announced it will sell the group computers at discount rates to help restore equipment to Haitian journalists.

“Other contributors include Diario ABC Color, the American Society of News Editors, The Jamaican Gleaner, Inter American Press Association, McClatchy Foundation, Poder Magazine, Unity: Journalists of Color, International Press Institute North American Committee, the Nieman Foundation, The Miami Herald and numerous individuals.

“The second shipment of donated computers went to Haiti last week. While the project seems to be gaining momentum, the story of Ticket Magazine makes clear how much there is to be done.”

Some Read “Black” Even When It’s Not There

Bob Ray Sanders of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote Tuesday of a phenomenon not unique to Texas.

“Often, no matter what I write about, some readers are looking for only one thing even when it’s not there,” began Sanders, an African American columnist.

“Black.

“Somehow, after reading one of my stories that do not give a description of a person other than gender, certain people will leave messages about the ‘black’ man or woman I’ve written about.

“Maybe it’s my photo on the column, or maybe it’s . . .. No, it couldn’t be that because they usually start out by saying, ‘Now, I’m not a racist… ‘

“But they obviously have some preconceived notions, whether I’m commenting on a homeless person, a troubled youth or a person on Texas’ Death Row. I’ll get calls and e-mails from folks railing about all those African-Americans I keep writing about, except the term they use generally is not that polite.

“When I ask, ‘What makes you think the person I mentioned was black?’ they insist, ‘because you said so.’

“I generally urge them to reread the column, as race was never mentioned.”

Clarence Page, Role Model for Stutterers

“I was honored and, although it is not an easy emotion for me, humbled to receive the American Institute for Stuttering leadership award, despite the initial impulse I felt to say, ‘No, thanks.’ ” syndicated columnist Clarence Page wrote Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune.

“After all, if there is anything that this country’s estimated 3 million stutterers have in common it is our lifelong effort to prevent the rest of the world from knowing that we stutter. Here was a distinguished group of people in New York who wanted to blab it to the world.

“. . . It may be no coincidence that the stutterers of the world have included some of its highest achievers: Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Jimmy Stewart, James Earl Jones, Charles Darwin, Henry James, Lewis Carroll, TD Ameritrade chairman Joe Moglia and former GE CEO Jack Welch, just for starters.

“. . . I, too, learned to conquer the obstacles to my speech by plunging into them head-on like a reckless football running back. I signed up for speech contests – original oratory and extemporaneous. I joined my high school’s debate team. I lost a lot. But I persevered. Now, thanks to years of therapy and a lot of wonderful, encouraging grown-ups who believed in me, hardly anyone can shut me up.”

Short Takes

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