Hollywood Director "Returning to Entrepreneurial Roots"

Reginald Hudlin, the Hollywood director who three years ago became president for entertainment of Black Entertainment Television, "is leaving the company and returning to his entrepreneurial roots as an independent producer," CEO Debra Lee told BET employees on Thursday.

While Hudlin’s franchise was entertainment, "under his guidance, we significantly ramped up our BET News division, and as a result, we’ve received 13 awards for our news series and specials in just over two years, including four from the National Association of Black Journalists," Lee wrote in a letter to employees.

His ambitions were large. ‘We’re developing a class of creators that will develop the next generation of stars who will transform the game,’ Hudlin, 46, told the New York Times’ Felicia R. Lee last year. ‘Where’s the black David Kelley or Dick Wolf? That’s how we’re going to grow at BET. The model is Motown.’

He also had the task of countering the widespread negative image of BET as a showcase for little more than music videos featuring scantily clad women. "Videos now constitute only about 20 percent of the network’s programming, down from nearly 70 percent just three years ago," Lee protested in a May 10 letter to the Washington Post.

NABJ had awarded BET its "Thumbs Down" award in 2007 after it failed to provide live continuing coverage of the funerals of civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King the previous year, as did other networks.

Hudlin’s departure will not affect BET’s commitment to news, according to Keith Brown, vice president for news and public affairs. In fact, Brown told Journal-isms, "’09 will be a larger commitment to news. We’re looking at ways to bring a larger, more substantial daily news presence throughout the network."

He is hiring a new director of news for the network, he said, a network that is grappling to reach its youthful audience via multiple platforms and who do not look at news as "appointment viewing" as their elders did.

Brown pointed to BET’s coverage of last month’s Democratic and Republican national conventions as evidence of the network’s intentions. BET offered nightly live coverage of the Democrats, "along with four BET News specials that delve into key issues of the presidential election. BET Networks has taken an unprecedented multiplatform approach to cover the 2008 presidential election through hours of on-air programming on BET and BET J, live coverage, daily news specials, public service announcements, and extended news briefs, in addition to extensive coverage online and on BET On Blast, BET’s broadband channel," as a BET announcement said at the time.

Lee said Stephen Hill, executive vice president of music programming and talent, will serve as interim head of entertainment as she searches for a replacement for Hudlin.

She wrote employees, "From the moment he joined the BET family, Reggie infused our program development with incredible creativity, energy and passion. Under his leadership, the entertainment division produced 17 of the top 20 highest-rated shows in the network’s 28-year history, including ‘Lil’ Kim: Countdown to Lockdown,’ ‘American Gangster,’ ‘Baldwin Hills,’ ‘Sunday Best,’ our first scripted series ‘Somebodies,’ and our highest-rated series ever, ‘Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is.’"

Lee told Multichannel News that Hudlin’s departure was a ‘mutual’ decision made between her and Hudlin. She praised Hudlin for his tenure at BET. "during which he produced 17 of the top 20 highest-rated shows in the network’ s 28-year history," R. Thomas Umstead wrote for that publication.

"But none of Hudlin’s shows amounted to a breakout hit or helped propel the network to the top of the cable ratings," Umstead continued.

"BET’s 0.5 second-quarter primetime household rating was down 17% from the 0.6 average for the corresponding period in 2007."

There were also embarrassments, such as "Hot Ghetto Mess," showing black people at their tackiest, which became the focus of protests. The outcry forced a name change for the show before it aired its first episode. It was soon canceled.

Texas Coast Journalists on Job as Others Evacuate

Journalists on the Texas Gulf Coast were doing their jobs Friday morning — making use of the Internet — as "a sprawling and strengthening Hurricane Ike steamed through the Gulf of Mexico . . . on a track toward the nation’s fourth-largest city, where authorities told residents to brace rather than flee," in the words¬†of the Associated Press.

"Most of the island has been evacuated," Heber Taylor, editor of the Galveston County (Texas) Daily News, told Journal-isms Friday morning. But he said his staff of 20 was scattered about, and "We’ll ride out the storm."

He reiterated at 5:30 p.m. local time, speaking¬†from his office, "We intend to report through the storm. We’re updating the Web as best we can. We’re having technical difficulties."

In Houston, KTRK-TV, the ABC affiliate that is the market leader in news, was live streaming its coverage on its Web site.

The Houston Chronicle’s Web site¬†featured extensive storm coverage. "We’re up to our eyeballs," a staffer said Friday morning.

The printed¬†paper published a note¬†to readers¬†declaring, "As Hurricane Ike takes aim at the Houston area, we are working to bring you the most complete news possible, in print and online . . . We will not deliver newspapers to areas under mandatory evacuation orders. Papers will be delivered as soon as communities are reopened."¬† Houston is the nation’s fourth-largest city.

For the duration of the storm, the Chronicle offered free access to its e-edition.

"Ike’s eye was forecast to strike somewhere near Galveston late Friday, but the massive system was already buffeting Texas and Louisiana," the Associated Press said.

"The National Weather Service warned residents of smaller structures on Galveston they could ‘face certain death’ if they ignored an order to evacuate; most had complied.

"Evacuation orders also were in effect for low-lying sections of the Houston area. Authorities urged homeowners to board up windows, clear the decks of furniture and stock up on drinking water and nonperishable food."

The Chronicle told readers, "This morning it appears as if Houston remains on target to take a direct hit by Hurricane Ike. The official forecast has changed little other than increasing landfall intensity from 110 mph to 115 mph, at landfall.

"At whatever strength Ike comes ashore, it’s going to be a nasty, nasty storm for coastal dwellers in southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana." [Added Sept. 12]

• Coverage by KHOU-TV Houston
  
• Coverage by KPRC-TV Houston
  

After "Tie," Joyner Names Pair to Succeed Smiley

"Jeff Johnson and Stephanie Robinson were named the newest commentators for ‘The Tom Joyner Morning Show’ Thursday morning, after voting by the public ended in a dead heat," Jackie Jones reported Friday for Joyner’s ¬†BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"With the song ‘Give the People What They Want’ playing in the background, radio personality Joyner told listeners that after 50,000 votes and an extended deadline, the voting twice ended in a tie.

Separately, Robert Feder reported in Friday’s Chicago Sun-Times that journalist Roland Martin, "who’s had a starring role on Midway Broadcasting news/talk WVON-AM (1690) for three years — including the last two as morning personality — is leaving to join the cast" of¬†Joyner’s radio show as a commentator.

The story did not say when Martin’s commentaries¬†would air.

Johnson is to provide his on Tuesday and Robinson on Thursday at 8:10 a.m.

”I am honored to be part of the TJMS family. This is truly a bridge-building opportunity as Stephanie and I bring a gender balance to commentary,’ Johnson said in a news release. ‘This is also a great moment in time to bring those younger listeners, who make me what I am, into the family as well,” Jones reported.¬† Johnson is 35.

"Johnson, a Washington, D.C.-based award-winning journalist, social activist and political commentator who merges politics and pop culture, is the managing editor/host of the BET talk show, ‘The Truth with Jeff Johnson.’ He has served as senior advisor for media and youth outreach for People for the American Way, national youth director for the NAACP and vice president for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

"Robinson is the founding president and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank that focuses on democracy. She is a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and former chief counsel for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and a recognized expert on social policy, women, race and family."

"Johnson and Robinson were selected by TJMS listeners after the show began a two month on-air search to replace contributor Tavis Smiley, who left the program in June after 12 years."

Federa added that "At CNN this weekend, Martin will kick off a series of specials on the presidential race.

"The first one, ‘Seven Weeks To Go,’ airing at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, will feature a panel of experts discussing how age, race and gender bias will affect the outcome of the election."

[Added Sept. 12]

Purported E-Mails Describe Reporter-Source Affair

"Just a day after he was selected to lead Miami-Dade public schools, Alberto Carvalho said he was the target of a ‘smear campaign’ suggesting he had an improper relationship with a former Miami Herald education reporter and that he tried to undermine outgoing superintendent Rudy Crew," the Miami Herald began a story¬†Friday, written by Carol Marbin Miller, Michael Sallah and Scott Hiassen.

Reporter Tania deLuzuriaga, now a reporter at the Boston Globe, covered Miami-Dade schools for the Herald last year. Caravalho worked in the school system.

"Contacted in Boston, she declined to discuss the e-mails Thursday," the story continued.

"The purported e-mails between the two veer from light banter to The Herald’s schools coverage to relationship angst. Other messages appear to show her planning trips with Caravalho to Boston and Portugal."

 The Miami New Times weighed in later Friday:

"What was in the e-mails? You wouldn’t know from reading the Herald article which refrained from directly quoting the salacious and highly embarrassing exchanges between the reporter covering the school beat and one of her subjects. You can read the e-mails here.

"The first string of e-mails began on July 19, 2007 whilst deLuzuriaga was on a 40-mile bike ride. Subject line: ‘Fuzzy.’ She wrote: ‘It occurred to me while I was riding that I seem to have forgotten to bathe the past two days. I also haven’t shaven since I left Miami. Thought you might like that image. If you say you’d still go down on me I’ll call you a liar. Hope your day is wonderful. I love you." His reply: ‘Don’t shave.’"

Later in the day, WFOR-TV reported, "Carvalho acknowledged to CBS4 News that he had a ‘playful’ relationship" with¬†deLuzuriaga but still denied that he had an affair.

The Herald wrote: "’There are long-standing and very clear standards when it comes to relationships with the people we cover,’ Herald Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal said. `If these e-mails are real, this violates some of the most basic rules of our profession.’

”’The paper will report most aggressively on this case and determine exactly what happened,’ he said." [Added Sept. 12]

Black Sports Director Out After "N-Word" Incident

A black sports director at a Madison, Wis., television station has been let go after repeatedly using the n-word to describe a pedestrian — and himself — in the wake of a police stop, Bill Novak reported Friday in Madison’s Capital Times.

"I’m really sorry for the way I acted," George Johnson of WISC-TV told Novak. "I accept the responsibility for my unprofessionalism that day."

He said he was "caught up in the emotion" of the moment and reacted, Novak reported.

Johnson, 48, was stopped by Sgt. Dave McClurg of the Madison Police Department on Saturday after apparently failing to yield to a pedestrian, the story said. McClurg was notified of the traffic violation by another officer working on a pedestrian safety operation along Monroe Street.

"According to the report filed with the citation, Johnson told McClurg he didn’t know why he was stopped, and after the officer explained the reason, Johnson started commenting about the situation.

"’Was it that n—- in the street?’ Johnson asked, according to the report. ‘You can tell that n—– he is a sellout n—–. I’ll be coming for that n——.’

"He apparently wasn’t finished.

"’You white people going to shoot all us n—–,’ the report said.

"Johnson is an African-American. McClurg is white."

"Johnson was hired as the WISC-TV sports director in the summer of 2005, after stints in Washington, D.C., as a freelance reporter for BET News and as a play-by-play announcer for Black College Football.

"I hope I’ve learned from it," he told the newspaper. "Once I’ve made that step I can come to grips with myself and my Lord. Life’s about learning lessons." [Added Sept. 12]¬†

 

September 10, 2008

Setback for Justice, Not Journalism

Killer May Go Free, but Filmmaker Says He Did His Job

A 2005 discovery by a Canadian documentary filmmaker that a former Klansman was still alive led to the ex-Klansman’s prosecution and conviction for the 1964 slayings of two African American teenagers in Mississippi — convictions that were vacated Tuesday on a technicality.

"Of course, it’s disappointing," filmmaker David Ridgen told Journal-isms. But he said he was confident that the case isn’t over, and neither is his interest in justice for the atrocities committed during that era.

A Ridgen project has received seed funding to investigate the remaining "cold cases" from the 1960s, and is working on that project with the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, Calif.; Paperny Films, a television company in Vancouver, Canada; partners in Washington and New York, and "of course, journalists in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana," as well as Massachusetts. 

Also participating is Thomas Moore, the brother of Charles Eddie Moore, one of the 19-year-olds beaten, bound, gagged and thrown into the Mississippi River to drown.

"Every day we talk to people, we hear of another case we hadn’t heard about," he said. "The goal is to get the truth out, not necessarily to find justice. Our window of opportunity may be three to five years" before all those involved have died.

On the case of James Ford Seale, which was vacated Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Ridgen said, "We’re in the seventh inning. I don’t think we’re in the bottom of the ninth. It’s clear it had nothing to do with the facts," he said of the decision.

The judges concluded that the federal statute of limitations on kidnapping had expired.

U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton of Jackson, Miss., said he would discuss the matter with Paige Fitzgerald, a lawyer from the Justice Department who helped prosecute the case, to determine whether prosecutors will ask the entire 5th Circuit to review Tuesday’s decision, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported.

The 1964 case had remained in limbo until Ridgen met Thomas Moore. He and Ridgen traveled to Mississippi in July 2005, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported then. Ridgen had discovered the case in the archives of the CBC while preparing for another documentary.

"Ridgen had been assigned by CBC Television to do a new documentary on the ‘Mississippi Burning’ case" involving the killing of three civil rights workers in 1964, according to a 2005 story by the Associated Press. "As part of his research, he had watched a 1964 CBC piece on the murders, and noticed footage of police fishing human bones out of the Mississippi River.

"When officials determined that these were the bones of black men . . . the press turned its attention elsewhere. But Ridgen couldn’t shake the images of the discolored bones and decomposed clothes. He dug deeper.

"These were the bones, he learned, of Henry Dee and Charles Moore, two young black men whose deaths had gone unavenged. And he learned that Moore had a brother.

"Ridgen searched for more than 10 months to locate Moore, who now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo.," according to the CBC story. "Moore, a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran born on the Fourth of July, had been struggling for years to come to terms with the lack of justice in his brother’s case.

"Their first trip proved very eventful. During a random stop at a Roxie gas station, Moore lamented to a local man that one of the prime suspects in his brother’s death had died.

"When Moore mentioned Seale’s name, the man informed him Seale was alive and offered to show Moore where he lived nearby.

"After visiting Dunn Lampton, the U.S. attorney for southern Mississippi, Ridgen and Moore were assured that a new look at the case would be initiated."

"I will never have the words to describe it. I’m just glad that I was alive to be a part of it," Moore said then.

"There is no way on this earth that this would have happened if it weren’t for the CBC allowing David Ridgen to go down to Mississippi."

The Associated Press reported that the development was also aided by the work of Jerry Mitchell, the Clarion-Ledger reporter whose investigative work has led to the reopening of a number of civil rights-era murder cases.

Mitchell wrote Wednesday’s Clarion-Ledger’s story on the case of Seale, who is now 72, in prison and suffering from cancer, kidney problems and other physical ailments.

The June 2007 trial revealed the truth of what happened that fateful day, Moore said in the latest story. Nothing, he said, not even Tuesday’s decision, "can take that away."

• Associated Press: Push to reopen civil rights-era cold cases stalls
  

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nBdH7emDj0]

Was Ron Allen "arrogant" in interviewing Newt Gingrich at the GOP convention?

Congressional Candidate Calls NBC’s Ron Allen "Uppity"

A white Republican congressional candidate in Georgia referred to NBC correspondent Ron Allen, a black journalist, as "very uppity" in a radio interview in Macon, Ga., last week, Jim Galloway reported Monday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Eighth District candidate Rick Goddard, a retired Air Force general, made the comments on the "Kenny B. and Charles E. Show" after returning from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

"I’ll tell you one thing, I think we’re going to have a very, very strong, capable president in John McCain. Last night, Newt Gingrich disarmed a very uppity newscaster who tried to question him on the capabilities and leadership of Governor Palin," referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, and Gingrich, the onetime speaker of the House. "There’s simply no comparison between a governor and a community organizer," Goddard said.

Allen deferred to NBC, where spokeswomen did not respond to requests for comment.

Tim Baker, spokesman for the Goddard campaign, said this, according to Galloway:

"A member of the media dropped all pretense of objectivity during an interview with Newt Gingrich to arrogantly launch an attack on Gov. Sarah Palin’s experience, to which Rick came to her defense and simply evoked a word ‚Äî that by definition ‚Äî described the reporter’s demeanor as being superior, arrogant and presumptuous.

"To try and smear Rick’s character by suggesting that he meant anything other than the definition is ludicrous."

Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told Journal-isms, "What does one say, how does one respond when a GOP congressional hopeful reduces himself to the position of a schoolyard bully and resorts to name-calling? I would urge the voters in his district to hold him accountable for his words and deeds, other than that — we (NABJ) have bigger issues to deal with that eclipse this man’s apparent poor home training."

• Mike Soraghan, the Hill: Westmoreland calls Obama ‚Äòuppity’
• J.W. Wood, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ‚ÄòUppity‚Äô term sparks memories of racism
  

Sen. Barack Obama says Republican charges are "catnip for the media."

Obama Blasts Media for Repeating "Lipstick" Attack

Sen. Barack Obama branded the John McCain campaign’s assault on his "lipstick on a pig" comments as a "phony and foolish" diversion that diminishes political debate and hurts American voters, and he blasted the news media for going along with it.

"Enough," Obama declared, Peter Slevin reported for the Washington Post. "I don’t care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift Boat politics. Enough is enough."

"What their campaign has done this morning," Obama said, "is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad, because they know that it’s catnip for the media."

"Obama made the lipstick comment Tuesday night in Lebanon, Va., while dismissing Republican rival Sen. John McCain’s claim to be an agent of change in Washington. Listing a host of issues on which he said McCain has the same position as President Bush, Obama said, "That’s not change," Slevin reported.

Although Obama was discussing McCain, not vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor, Republicans called it a sexist assault on Palin.

"Barack Obama stuck his foot in his mouth today when he said ‘you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig’ — which the angry McCain campaign immediately charged was an out-of-bounds attack on running mate Sarah Palin," Geoff Earle wrote in the New York Post, which the day before endorsed McCain on its front page.

"For the week of Sept. 1-7, Palin was a significant or dominant factor in 60% of the campaign stories, according to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. McCain was fairly close behind, a significant or dominant factor in 52% of the stories," the Pew center reported.

It was the first time in the three months since the general election campaign began that McCain generated more coverage than Obama, but he was still outshone by Panin, the center said.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s Courtland Milloy responded to a widely publicized column Tuesday by Post colleague Richard Cohen, who said Obama’s appearance Sunday on ABC’s "This Week" "had me wondering if, as a kid, Obama ever got a shot in the mouth on the playground, he’d glare at the bully — and convene a meeting."

Milloy wrote, "If traditional campaigning can’t convince voters that Obama is man enough, then perhaps he should wear his baseball cap backward and saunter cockily, a model of black masculinity that America is more familiar with. He could vow to off his rivals with the political equivalent of what Palin does to a moose."

N.Y. Post’s Latest Rev. Wright Story Fizzles

The tabloid New York Post bannered "O PASTOR IN SEX SCANDAL" on Tuesday, but its story about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama’s former pastor, failed to gain much traction.

"He almost wrecked Barack Obama’s presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker’s marriage — and her job, The Post has learned," began the story by Samuel Goldsmith, in Dallas, and Jeane MacIntosh, in New York, with additional reporting by Austin Fenner, who covered Wright’s appearance at a New Jersey church.

But while picked up on the Fox News Web site and by the sensational black Web site Media Takeout, which highlighted the interracial nature of the alleged affair, the story was eclipsed in other media by discussion of Sarah Palin.

By the next day, the scoop was reduced to a "claim" by the church worker.

"’Her [firing] had nothing to do with Jeremiah Wright,’ the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church, said yesterday of his ousted executive assistant, Elizabeth Payne. ‘Her performance wasn’t up to standards,’" the Post reported.

Goldsmith referred questions to an editor, who did not respond to a request to discuss the story.

Minnesota News Outlet Says 42 Journalists Arrested

"Of the 800-plus people who were arrested or detained in conjunction with RNC protests, a good chunk of them — 42, by our count — were members of the news media," Anna Pratt of the Minnesota Independent Web site reported on Wednesday, referring to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

"Media representatives in town to cover the events, from both big and small presses, were slapped with citations and pending charges ranging in severity, including unlawful assembly, obstructing the legal process, misdemeanor interference with a peace officer and felony to riot plus other riot pretenses. . .

"MnIndy has compiled a list of journalists who were detained or arrested, including some preemptively, culled from news reports and sources, including the Ramsey County sheriff’s department’s booking roster. Let us know if anyone is unaccounted for and we’ll add them to the list."

• Kevin Abourezk, reznetnews.org: The Minutest Minority: Don’t Count Out Native Republicans
• Ronnie Agnew, Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: Palin lacks experience needed for job as VP
  
• Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: Oprah & Sarah: A new war?
  
• David Bauder, Associated Press: Obama on cable: duel of softballs vs. shout-downs
  
• Sylvester Brown Jr., St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This isn’t Venezuela, and you can’t stifle media
  
• Don Dahler, WCBS-TV New York: McCain Campaign Disputes Paterson’s Racism Claim
  
• Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: Palin’s daughter’s hurry-up marriage is a bad idea
  
• Noah Davis, MediaBistro: One Place Where Obama Beats McCain: 1st Lady Biographies
• Wayne Dawkins, PoliticsinColor.com: Can McCain make sound decisions?
  
• Megan Garber, Columbia Journalism Review: Notes From The Pig Sty
• Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times: McPalin rattles Team Obama
• Paul J. Gough, Hollywood Reporter: Media winners, losers at political conventions
  
• Bob Herbert, New York Times: Hold Your Heads Up
• Robert L. Jamieson Jr., Seattle Post-Intelligencer: To the wanting, McCain’s words are empty
  
• Nick Jimenez, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times: In this election, we have a fine choice
  
• Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer: Pit bull of a hockey mom leading war on diversity
  
• Steve Krakauer, MediaBistro: Sawyer Interviews Candidates’ Wives For Upcoming Specials
  
• Sara Kugler, Associated Press: AP Hits Palin for Not Taking Questions
  
• Jerry Large, Seattle Times: Mistaken identity politics
• Krista Leman, Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan and Patrick Delabrue, reznetnews.org: First Look: Native Students React to Palin as GOP’s VP Nominee
• Rhonda Chriss Lokeman, Kansas City Star: Don’t worry, keep drilling
• Courtland Milloy, Washington Post: The Candidate’s Daughter Could Use Our Sympathy and a Lot More Privacy
• Morton Mintz, Nieman Watchdog: Ask Palin: Is the Vice President’s Office Part of the Executive Branch?
  
• Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: Real feminists respect Oprah’s free choice
  
• Ruben Navarrette, San Diego Union-Tribune: Dems should worry about Sarah Palin
  
• Sophia A. Nelson, theRoot.com: If Obama Loses . . . Could it be because of anything other than race?
  
• Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times: We care more about where candidates came from than what they’ve accomplished.
• Terence Samuel, theRoot.com: Slaughter the Pig
• Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone: Obama on the Trail
• Michael Tillery, thestartingfive.net: The Courage, Resolve and Responsibility of Reggie Williams
  
• Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Need a Name for McCain’s Obvious Move to Woo Women? Call it the Elvis Presley Strategy
  
• Jack White, theRoot.com: Palin and McCain Dun Got ‘Em, Boss
• Columns by the Trotter Group

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg]

On a light note, Australian Hugh Atkin spliced together a video that imagined John McCain being "BarackRoll’d" in a joint musical appearance by the two presidential candidates.

Warith Mohammed Was Photog’s "Uncle Wallace"

To most who read the obituaries, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed was "a major Islamic leader in the U.S. who led thousands of African-American Muslims to orthodox Islam," as Niraj Warikoo wrote Tuesday for the Detroit Free Press. But to Ozier Muhammad, veteran photographer for the New York Times who has been covering the presidential campaign, he was "Uncle Wallace."

Mohammed died at 74 on Tuesday in Illinois, the Free Press said.

He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, longtime leader of the Nation of Islam, but he came to opt for orthodox Islam and called his father an impostor, not a prophet.

Ozier Muhammad was one of Elijah’s grandsons. Steven Barboza quoted Ozier in his 1994 book, "American Jihad: Islam After Malcolm X," saying that in the 1950s, the former Wallace Muhammad was a stern teacher. "God, he was so rigid! I didn’t like him. Being in his class, he would single me out and spank me. Sometimes he would make me stand out in the hallway. One occasion he racked me across my knuckles. I said, ‘God, how come Uncle Wallace is treating me like this?’"

But later, a cousin, through Wallace, "introduced me to the orthodoxies of the religion" after Wallace broke with the Nation’s black nationalism. "Man, it was like I was reborn. Finally I felt like well, gee, there is something greater than the Nation. All of a sudden my horizons expanded. I felt like I was connected with the greater Islamic world," Ozier Muhammad said in the book.

"I did well in college, I think because of the discipline. Frivolity was foreign to me. But Hassan" — the cousin, Hassan Sharif — "and Wallace helped me to get through. Thank God for Wallace and Hassan because white people weren’t so intimidating to me when I went to Columbia College. They said that they weren’t devils."

Asked about media coverage of Warith Mohammed, Chicago-based In These Times writer Salim Muwakkil told Journal-isms Wednesday via e-mail, "There was little notice of the part WD [Warith Deen] played in minimizing the potential for conflict following the passing [of] Elijah Muhammad in 1975. When WD altered the Nation of Islam’s black nationalist focus, he was tampering with perhaps the most critical aspect of Elijah’s catechism.

"There was a lot of residual rancor left in Elijah’s followers from the days when Malcolm X split from the group and began urging the same kind of non-racial message WD preached. WD assumed leadership of the voluble organization without the blood bath that many predicted, but he also managed to completely transform the black supremacist doctrine at the Nation’s core."

He continued: Minister Louis Farrakhan, who revived the Nation of Islam using Elijah’s doctrine, "initially pledged fealty to that transformed vision, but even when he broke away two years later, there was virtually no violence and very little public rancor," Muwakkil said. "This was remarkable, given the Nation’s violence-plagued history of divisions and succession struggles. Much of the credit for this peaceful transition belongs to WD and the reputation he had gained for theological rigor and personal integrity."

Mexican Journalist Languishes in El Paso Jail

Emilio Guti?©rrez Soto, 45, a correspondent for the Ciudad Ju?°rez-based El Diario del Noroeste in the city of Ascensi??n, in the northwestern border state of Chihuahua, Mexico, remains in a detention center in El Paso, Texas, nearly three months after seeking political asylum in the United States, Monica Campbell, Mexico consultant for the Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote Tuesday for the committee.

He "began fearing for his life when approximately 50 armed soldiers entered his home in Ascensi??n on May 5 without a permit. . . .

"After reaching the U.S. border, the journalist and his son claimed political asylum to Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in Columbus, New Mexico. Guti?©rrez and his son were then taken to separate detention facilities in El Paso, Texas. In August, his son, who was held in a juvenile detention center, was released and remains with relatives in the United States. Guti?©rrez continues to push his asylum case.

"More than 1,000 people have been killed in Chihuahua state so far this year as drug cartels battle to control smuggling routes to the United States."

Short Takes

• Neal Scarbrough, who has been vice president and editor in chief of ESPN.com, general manager and editor of AOL Sports, and vice president and editor-in-chief of the startup Sportnet, has joined the Versus network, part of Comcast, as vice president of digital media, the Shop Talk newsletter reported on Tuesday. "In this role, Scarbrough will oversee the network’s digital media strategies and the management of VERSUS.com."
• The U.S. media have failed to cover the story of political instability in Haiti with the depth it deserves, according to Dan Beeton of the nonprofit North American Congress on Latin America. "Such lack of editorial interest has led to a near total absence of coverage of some of the most shocking incidents of violence, including the killing of unarmed civilians by United Nations forces, the Haitian National Police (HNP), and death squads."
• "The U.S. military has released an Iraqi cameraman who works for a television station in Baghdad after detaining him in a raid last week," Reuters reported on Tuesday. "Cameraman Omar Hisham told Reuters he was freed on Friday, a day after being detained along with his father and two brothers at their home in the northern Adhamiya district of Baghdad. ‘They suspected I had information about an American soldier who was killed by a sniper in Adhamiya more than two weeks ago,’ Hisham said by telephone on Tuesday."
• Barbara E. Martinez is leaving Politico.com, where she is deputy managing editor, to become a managing editor at Global News Enterprises, "the first Web-based news organization to provide daily international news coverage by its own correspondents all over the world," the organization announced. The site launches in January. Martinez is a former staff writer at the Washington Post.
• Johanna Guerra has been promoted from vice president, network news, to senior vice president, network news at the Telemundo Communications Group, Telemundo announced on Wednesday.
• Kelley L. Carter, Chicago Tribune entertainment reporter, joins USA Today on Sept. 15 as a Los Angeles-based reporter on the entertainment team covering celebrities, USA Today said.
• Rickey Hampton, who wrote sports stories and columns for the Flint (Mich.) Journal for 18 years before accepting a buyout this summer, is returning to the paper to write a regular opinion column, the paper’s editor, Tony Dearing, told readers on Aug. 30. "Using the contacts and friendships he has established over the years, Hampton has recruited a group of professional athletes and others who will visit schools and give inspirational talks about the importance of education," Dearing added. The program is called Program 26A USA.
• Steve Wyche, Atlanta Falcons beat writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, joined NFL.com and NFL Network last week. "I will be writing a variety of articles, analytical stories and perspective pieces several times a week for NFL.com," he told Journal-isms. He said he would be doing "broadcast reports for the network during the week and doing pre-game and post-game reports for the network from game sites. I also will do occasional weekly features and notes items for NFLN and the video component of NFL.com," he said. "It was simply a job change based on opportunity," said Wyche, who had been at the paper 4¬? years.
• New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an investigation into Arbitron’s new radio ratings system, "which black and Hispanic broadcasters warn could put some urban and Spanish stations out of business," David Hinckley reported Tuesday in the New York Daily News.
• A memorial service for Terry Armour, the Chicago radio personality and Chicago Tribune columnist who died last December, will be held Sept. 22 ‚Äî which would have been his 47th birthday ‚Äî at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. "He was always here," spokesman Scott Reifert told Journal-isms from the White Sox office there. The family is holding the memorial service for friends, family and coworkers while the team is on the road, Reifert said. The gates open at 3:30 p.m. for the event, which starts at 4 p.m.
• "Longtime WGN-Ch. 9 anchor Allison Payne was packing Tuesday for a visit to Minnesota’s famed Mayo Clinic for a battery of tests to determine the best way to battle the residual effects of a series of mini-strokes that kept her off the air for three months this year," Phil Rosenthal wrote Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune. "So long as the visit is uneventful, Payne expects to return in time for Monday’s scheduled debut of Channel 9’s 5:30 p.m. newscast, which she is to co-anchor with her 9 p.m. partner, Mark Suppelsa."
• "Pete Cary, Cleveland’s first black TV reporter whose 21-year-career at WJW Channel 8 was spent interviewing local and national newsmakers," is one of six to be inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame on Nov. 13, Sarena McRae wrote on the Cleveland Plain Dealer Web site.
• "Reporters Without Borders is relieved today by the news that US filmmaker and reporter Andrew Berends has been released from Nigerian government custody," the press-freedom organization said on Tuesday. "Berends was interrogated for ten consecutive days after he and his translator, Samuel George, as well as a Nigerian businessman, were arrested in Port Harcourt in the south of Nigeria on August 31.
• "An Iraqi journalist for one of the Middle East’s best-known satellite television stations escaped assassination Tuesday when a bomb was found under the seat of his car as he prepared to leave home for work," Robert H. Reid reported for the Associated Press. "The attempt against Jawad al-Hattab, Baghdad bureau manager for Al-Arabiya television, illustrates the dangers facing Iraq despite the decline in violence."