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Charlotte Lays Off Its Black Local Columnist

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Mary Curtis, Glenn Burkins Leaving McClatchy Paper

Mary C. Curtis, the only African American local columnist at the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and a former executive features editor there, was laid off Monday from the McClatchy Co.-owned paper. The company announced in June that it planned to eliminate 1,400 positions, about 10 percent of its work force.

Glenn Burkins, deputy managing editor for local news and a black journalist as well, is taking a buyout.

Curtis, who came to the paper from the New York Times in 1994, said the paper had asked staffers to request buyouts, but apparently not enough did. She said she received an e-mail on Monday, her day off, asking her to meet with the vice president for human resources when she returned to work. Curtis said she asked to hear the news as soon as she saw the e-mail.

"My work speaks for itself," Curtis told Journal-isms, saying she was proud of her work at the paper and citing a string of awards. During her tenure, she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and now blogs for the Nieman Watchdog Web site. She said she spent Wednesday alerting community people of the development before they read it first in the newspaper.

Curtis is a 1981 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program for Minority Journalists, and said she was writing a tribute to Nancy Maynard, who interviewed her for admission. Maynard died at age 61 on Sunday. "She’s a reason in many ways why I’m a journalist," Curtis said.

Curtis’ husband, Martin Olsen, who worked in the Observer’s operations department, took a buyout over the summer and now works at Queens University of Charlotte, supervising the library at night, she said. Curtis leaves the paper Oct. 3.

Burkins, 47,¬†joined the Observer in June 2000 after working at the Wall Street Journal as White House reporter and prior to that, as labor reporter. He was the Observer’s business editor.

Before joining the Journal, Burkins was Africa correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He covered the genocide in Rwanda, the Ebola outbreak in the former Zaire and the 1994 South Africa elections that saw Nelson Mandela elected president, according to a bio. He also was a personal-finance columnist for the Inquirer.

"I actually still love newspapers," he told Journal-isms. "This was a personal decision. It would be unfortunate if people read more into it than is there. Life is short. Maybe it’s time to spread my wings a bit."

A June story in the Observer said the paper planned to eliminate 123 positions, or about 11 percent of its staff, "through voluntary and involuntary buyouts. . . . The Observer newsroom is losing 22 jobs."

Editor Rick Thames did not respond to requests to discuss the effect of the cuts on diversity. The most prominent African Americans remaining include Fannie Flono, editorial writer, Dee-Dee Strickland, senior editor for the online staff, and Ron Stodghill, editorial director of the paper’s Magazine Division, who arrived from the New York Times in January.

Reporter Resigns After Flap Over Romantic E-Mails

"A former Miami Herald education reporter implicated in a romantic relationship with a top Miami-Dade schools official has resigned from her post at The Boston Globe, according to a Globe spokesman," Steve Myers reportedThursday on the Poynter Institute Web site.

"Tania deLuzuriaga has resigned to pursue other opportunities," said Bob Powers. DeLuzuriaga is a former member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

"Personal e-mails purportedly between deLuzuriaga and Alberto Carvalho surfaced a couple weeks ago while Carvalho was being considered for a promotion from associate superintendent to the top job over the Miami-Dade school system.

"The messages, most of them apparently from deLuzuriaga and dated between July and September 2007, indicate a romantic relationship between the two and suggest that they work together to help each other."

The Miami New Times reported¬†on Sept. 12 that some of the e-mails were graphic: "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.” [Added Sept. 25]

Tran Ha to Edit Chicago Tribune’s RedEye Tabloid

Tran Ha was named editor of RedEye, the Chicago Tribune’s free six-day-a-week tabloid, on Thursday, Phil Rosenthal reported¬†on the Tribune’s Web site.

Ha, 30, succeeds Jane Hirt, who became the Tribune’s managing editor last month.

Ha, born in Vietnam to ethnic Chinese parents, is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and a 2007 graduate of the Maynard Institute Media Academy management class at Harvard University.

"Tran has been at the center of our recent innovation efforts, and we’re thrilled to have her lead our talented newsroom," RedEye General Manager Brad Moore said in a statement.

"Ha initially was hired as a RedEye copy editor five years ago and later edited Chicago Tribune features, returning to RedEye last year to help launch a Saturday edition as its editor. Earlier this year, she became editor of TheMash, a new Chicago Tribune paper produced for and in collaboration with Chicago public high school students," Rosenthal’s story said.

The RedEye has a staff of two dozen and a circulation of 200,000 daily, Ha told Journal-isms. Before she joined the Tribune, she worked on the Detroit Free Press Web team and was a fellow at the Poynter Institute when it launched its Web site. [Added Sept. 25]

Afghan Fixer Describes His "Hell" in U.S. Custody

"In the U.S. military cells where he saw daylight only once a week, where he says they broke his ribs with beatings, his captors gave him a nickname: ‘the Canadian reporter,’ Graeme Smith reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

"His formal designation was a detainee number: 3370. Last night, after almost a year in custody, the 22-year-old settled into a king-sized bed at the best hotel in Kabul with a big smile and started to regain his true names: Javed Yazamy, the name on his business card, or Jawed Ahmad, as he’s known to friends. Most importantly, he wants to rebuild his career and the working name that made him famous among Canadian journalists: Jojo, a name synonymous with some of the best coverage of breaking stories during his time as cameraman for CTV News in Kandahar."

Smith wrote it was not clear why U.S. authorities freed him.

"Yazamy credited the efforts of various media organizations with contributing to his release," Bob Weber of the Canadian Press reported¬†on Wednesday. "Both CTV," Canada’s largest private broadcaster, "and the New York Times vouched for Yazamy in an effort to secure his release. The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded that U.S. authorities disclose evidence and specify charges against him."

Smith’s story continued, "The campaign¬†for his release started almost immediately after U.S. forces took him into custody in late October of last year, and his fate had recently been publicized by human-rights lawyers using the example of his detention to challenge what they called a ‘legal black hole’ at the sprawling U.S. prison in Bagram.

"Mr. Ahmad says his U.S. guards told him many people were lobbying on his behalf, and he credits the pressure with finally winning his freedom.

"’I came from hell,’ he said. ‘Now I’m back.’

". . . His journalistic endeavours may have contributed to his eventual imprisonment, Mr. Ahmad said, because much later his U.S. interrogators seemed interested in his forays into Taliban territory.

"’Those people were not my friends,’ he said, referring to the insurgents. ‘But they knew I was a good, honest reporter, and every media outlet was starving for Taliban video.’"

After being tricked into U.S. custody, he said, "His hands were bound with plastic ties, and he was hooded with a heavy bag. In the following days, he says, he was questioned, taunted, screamed at, beaten with chairs and slammed into walls.

"’I was crying,’ he said. ‘They were laughing, saying "You’re a spy,"’ His captors accused him of spying for Iran, Pakistan or the Taliban.

"The worst treatment he received at KAF was sleep deprivation, he said," referring to Kandahar Air Field.

"Placed in a small metal cage, and monitored by soldiers on a boardwalk overhead, he said they refused to let him sleep for nine days, frequently shouting abuse at him during the ordeal.

"After the initial questioning he was flown to Bagram airbase north of Kabul, he said.

"Still badly sleep-deprived, he was unloaded at the U.S. base and forced to stand for six hours in the snow wearing only a thin jumpsuit — no shoes, no hat — and he fell unconscious twice. Each time the guards forced him to stand up again.

"’It felt like I had no skin left on my feet,’ he said."

Media Tone Down Language on Financial Crisis

"For most of the country, the financial crises of the last few weeks have offered an education in economics. For journalists, they have been a lesson in semantics," Richard P?©rez-Pe?±a wrote¬†Sunday in the New York Times.

"Some newspapers reported on the pitching markets using highly charged language. Other organizations feared such word choices could contribute to the financial system’s instability.

"Each day presents new evidence that finance companies are uniquely vulnerable to a loss of confidence among creditors, trading partners, investors or customers. As a result, rumor, speculation and fear can cripple a bank with shocking speed. That has reporters and editors, so often accused of hyperbole and sowing alarm, parsing their words with unusual care.

"So in most of the news, stocks have ‘slid’ and markets ‘gyrated’ but not ‘crashed.’ Companies have ‘tottered’ and ‘struggled’ rather than moved toward failure and bankruptcy."

Of course, there were exceptions.¬† The Nation of Islam’s newspaper, the Final Call,¬† bannered, "AMERICA IS BROKE."

According to Elinore Longobardi, writing Wednesday for the Columbia Journalism Review, "The alternative press has led the way on the story of Phil Gramm and the policy roots of the financial crisis, beating the mainstream business and other media rather badly about the face and neck."

At the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Mark Jurkowitz reported, "Last week, the frightening financial meltdown on Wall Street re-oriented the campaign and re-wrote the storyline. The crisis was not only the week’s top story‚Äîmarking only the second time this year that an event other than the campaign emerged as the No. 1 topic of the week. It also raised the possibility that a major policy issue, the economy, might emerge as the decisive factor of the campaign."

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjkCrfylq-E]

"’Late Show’ host David Letterman treated John McCain’s decision to cancel an appearance on his talk show more like a stupid human trick than the act of a statesman," the Associated Press said.¬† McCain cited the Wall Street financial crisis.

McCain Says He May Not Show Up for Friday Debate

The major networks¬†announced plans to cover Friday night’s first presidential debate between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, but the economic crisis and a threat by McCain put the debate in jeopardy.

"Democratic Sen. Barack Obama rejected Republican Sen. John McCain’s dramatic call Wednesday to delay Friday’s presidential debate because of the economic crisis," MSNBC and NBC reported. "The McCain campaign said McCain would not show up for the debate unless a deal to address the crisis was reached.

"The Commission on Presidential Debates and the University of Mississippi, the scheduled host of Friday night’s first debate, said the debate would go forward. They did not say what they would do if McCain failed to show up in Oxford, Miss.

"Speaking to reporters in Clearwater, Fla., Obama said he and McCain agreed on the need to issue a joint statement of support for legislation to rescue the banking industry. But he declined McCain’s call to postpone the debate."

On Politico.com, Jonathan Martin reported, "Should there not be a deal reached on the bailout by Friday John McCain’s campaign is proposing to hold the first presidential debate a week later when the sole vice presidential debate was originally slated to take place, a senior aide said tonight.

"McCain and Barack Obama’s planned debate in Oxford, Mississippi, Friday would be moved to St. Louis on October 2nd, when Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were slated to debate.

"In turn, the vice presidential forum would be held ‘a little later’ in Oxford, according to this aide."

ABC, CBS, CNN and Telemundo¬†were among the networks that announced plans to televise Friday’s debate.

Separately, conservative George F. Will, the most widely circulated op-ed columnist in the nation, wrote¬†disparagingly Tuesday of McCain’s temperament.

"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency," Will said. "It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

Unity Urges Rethinking Process That Chose Debate Hosts

"UNITY, the largest organization of journalists in the world, calls on the Commission on Presidential Debates to reevaluate a process that has failed to recognize the nation’s changing demographics and has selected only one woman of color and one man of color to moderate presidential debates in the commission’s 20-year history," the coalition of journalist-of-color organizations said in a statement on Tuesday.

"’This issue occurs because so few of the nation’s news outlets employ journalists of color to cover national politics, a fact underscored in a study by UNITY and Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University,’ said O. Ricardo Pimentel, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. ‘In a recent interview on PBS, Bob Schieffer even noted the lack of women and people of color in key reporting positions and said that led the commission ‘to go to three old white guys’ when choosing moderators for the debates.’ "

"Jim Lehrer of PBS will moderate the debate on Sept. 26; Tom Brokaw of NBC News on Oct. 7, and Bob Schieffer of CBS News on Oct 15."

Editor Reads Piece, New Job at Microsoft Awaits

Emeri B. O’Brien, who wrote¬†in this space last month about how "my whole journalistic life passed before my eyes" when she was laid off from the Chicago Tribune, starts next week at the Microsoft Network in Redmond, Wash., thanks to an editor there who saw her piece.

O’Brien, 30, was one of more than 40 newsroom employees, including a disproportionate number of journalists of color, laid off on Aug. 15. She was an editor at the newspaper.

Stephen Cvengros, a onetime editor at the Tribune, told Journal-isms he saw O’Brien’s piece as he surfed the Net for news of the Tribune layoffs. He asked how he could contact her, and also found her Facebook page.

"Yes. It’s official," O’Brien told Journal-isms on Monday. "I will be the evening editor for the MSN.com homepage. I am moving to Redmond Friday, and I start work on Monday. I am really excited about working for Microsoft. This is a great opportunity. The folks at the Columbia were very understanding and have been very supportive," she said, referring to Columbia College in Chicago, where she was an adjunct professor.

Cvengros said Microsoft was hiring at its offices in Redmond and in New York, where MSN Latino is produced.

O’Brien’s piece was headlined, "’When God Closes a Door, He Opens a Window’."

Nancy Maynard Recalled as a Risk-Taker

"As I got to know her, I realized that she was not only a pioneer for women journalists," Arlene Morgan¬†wrote on the Columbia Journalism Review site about Nancy Hicks Maynard. "She was a risk taker‚Äîan ingredient that’s all too rare in today’s journalism."

Morgan, associate dean of prizes and programs at the Columbia University School of Journalism, wrote, "On a personal level, Nancy was an important ally in my efforts to realize what was then considered a revolutionary idea —- a text book, complete with a supplementary CD and Web site, on how to cover race and ethnicity. This was 1996, and most people had no idea what multimedia was all about, let alone how to use it as a teaching tool on race.

"Somehow I knew that Nancy would take a risk on me, even though I had neither academic credentials nor teaching experience. By helping me attain a Freedom Forum fellowship, Nancy gave me the confidence and intellectual support I needed to create a unique text book on how to cover race and ethnicity.

"It took more than ten years and a lot of help to get my project — The Authentic Voice —- done and on the shelves at journalism schools around the country. It is just one of her lasting legacies. Nancy Maynard, a woman of many achievements, left her mark on this world. Above all, she believed in the necessity of fearless reporting on the complexities of how race and demographic change were transforming America.

"We’ve still got a long way to go, but we are closer to the goal because of Nancy Hicks Maynard."

On the Jezebel.com site, women marveled upon reading about Maynard, co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and onetime co-owner of the Oakland Tribune. One said, "I am ashamed that I did not know about her (the name sounds familiar, but not to the degree it probably should to someone like me interested in media and feminism)."

Maynard died Sunday at 61. Services are expected to take place next week in New York.

First She Lost Her Top, Now It’s the Court Case

"A hedge-fund hottie who sued Vibe and Diddy after the mag published a topless picture¬†of her at the music mogul’s Hamptons blowout has had her case tossed out," Jose Martinez reported¬†Wednesday in the New York Daily News.

"Maria Dominguez, a money manager for a hedge fund, filed the $3 million invasion-of-privacy suit when a shot of her with two other bare-breasted sirens ran in the November 2006 issue of Vibe next to the caption, ‘Mermaids gone wild.’

"Justice Doris Ling-Cohan threw out the suit, saying Dominguez couldn’t expect privacy once she doffed her top at Sean (Diddy) Combs’ star-studded 2003 East Hampton White Party.

". . . ‘If you need to call Mr. Gorbachev to ask permission, you’ll never get anything published,’ said David Korzenik, a lawyer for the magazine."

Short Takes

Sept. 26, 2008

McCain Reverses, Will Debate

11 TV Networks Broadcasting Live From Ole Miss

"Senator John McCain’s campaign said Friday morning that he will attend tonight’s debate with Senator Barack Obama at the University of Mississippi, reversing his earlier call to postpone the debate so he could participate in the Congressional negotiations over the $700 billion bailout plan for financial firms," Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny reported on the New York Times Web site.

"Mr. McCain had thrown debate preparation into turmoil on Wednesday afternoon after he announced that he intended to skip the debate in order to be in Washington for the negotiations. His campaign issued a statement Friday morning saying he was now ‘optimistic’ that a bipartisan bailout agreement would be reached soon, citing ‘significant progress’ in the talks."

Nine English-language television networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BBC America — plan to televise the debate, which starts at 9 p.m Eastern time, according to Roger Catlin, writing in the Hartford Courant.

That list does not include Univision and Telemundo, which both announced Spanish-language live coverage. 

"MySpace will stream Friday’s debate between US presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain live online in an Internet first and provide software tools letting people see which candidate is in tune with their views," Agence France-Press reported this week. The exchange between the candidates will be broadcast at a MyDebates.org Web site the social networking powerhouse created.

Black Entertainment Television¬† is "not showing the speech, however Jeff Johnson’s show goes live at 11p with highlights from the speech and dialogue," spokeswoman Jeanine Liburd said, speaking of "The Truth With Jeff Johnson."¬† BET is using celebrities to promote a voter registration drive on Saturday in Norfolk, Va., Cleveland, Detroit (Highland Park) and Philadelphia from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 "TV One is not covering the debates but they are opening their political blog
¬†– Primary Colors — to allow people to talk about the debates as they’re
 watching," spokeswoman Karen Baratz said.

CBS said National Correspondent Byron Pitts will watch the debate with a group of undecided voters in Las Vegas and cover their reactions,

National Public Radio announced it would broadcast its first of four live debate specials at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.¬†After the coverage and analysis starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time, Tom Gjelten, NPR’s intelligence and national security correspondent, and Michel Martin, host of NPR’s "Tell Me More," are to lead a post-debate discussion with¬†audience members and callers around the country.¬† The one-hour post-debate special, from 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern time,¬†will be broadcast on NPR Member stations nationwide, NPR said.¬†

CNN announced that on Saturday, "CNN contributor Roland Martin, along with a team of panelists, looks at what Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama did not address during the first presidential debate." "What They Didn’t Say. . . In The Debate,‚Äù airs Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern time, re-airing Sunday at 8 p.m. and "will take an in-depth look at what wasn’t¬† said about the economy, foreign policy and national security, as well as the latest on the bailout package and how it affects Americans. "

 Earlier story below.

Genetta Adams Named AP’s Entertainment Editor

Genetta Adams, former assistant managing editor for features and entertainment at Newsday, has been appointed entertainment editor for The Associated Press, the AP announced on Friday.

"The appointment was announced Friday by Dan Becker, AP’s director of entertainment content. Adams, who will be based in New York, will be responsible for 20 reporters and editors based primarily in New York, London and Los Angeles and will work to expand AP’s entertainment coverage. The AP has been expanding entertainment coverage in text, photos and video throughout the year.

"Adams, 41, is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. She began her career as a circulation clerk at The Record in Stockton, Calif., then worked as a features supervisor for The News-Press in Fort Meyers, Fla., before moving to New York and joining Newsday in 1998.

"She was the deputy features editor, pop music and culture editor, deputy entertainment editor and the arts and entertainment editor before becoming the assistant managing editor for features and entertainment in 2005. Adams recently accepted a buyout from the newspaper, which was sold by Tribune Co. to Cablevision earlier this year.

Jesse Washington, the previous entertainment editor, was named race and ethnicity writer in July.

Feedback: McCain Has an Ego Problem

John "The Maverick" McCain’s recent action of pretending to "suspend" his campaign can best be understood when you factor in his ego’s reaction to Paris Palin.

The Maverick wanted the energy and crowd boost that Paris Palin delivered. However, his ego cannot handle her celebrity. This man is a war hero and a longtime Washington playmaker. He is dependent on an airhead to draw attention to his campaign. He thought he could deal with that. He can’t.

McCain is now running two campaigns — one against Barack and one against Paris Palin.

Jason Whitlock
Kansas City Star
Kansas City
Sept. 26, 2008

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