Maynard Institute archives

Target of Limbaugh’s Rant Says “Bring It”

by richard0590

Rush Limbaugh, left, called Chicago columnist Mary Mitchell a 'racist nutball.'

Columnist Mary Mitchell Not Taking Insult Lying Down

Rush Limbaugh unleashed a rant against the news media on Thursday, saying, "You have long ago sacrificed any respect that you once had as an industry. You have tarnished and you have destroyed the legacy, the reputation, the image of what a decent journalist is."

But the immediate target of the conservative talk-show host’s bluster, columnist Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote on Friday that she’s willing to give as good as she gets.

"If Limbaugh wants to spend his time trying to bully me, as they say in my neighborhood, bring it," she said.

Limbaugh said, "Mary Mitchell, a wuss, wimp columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times says that Sarah Palin should be censured. She says that ‘Sarah Palin should apologize to the Obama campaign and the American people for her role in bringing out the worst in her supporters.’ This is laughable.

"Come on, Mary. Grow up. This is the big leagues. How about the people in your party? I know you’re a Democrat, Mary Mitchell. You can’t deny it, all you liberal media people are Democrats. What about the incitement of this whole country that you and your fellow journalists have engaged in along with the Democrat Party? You have gendered up hate for this president. You have ginned up a despise for the US military. You have sought to convince the American people their country is worthless and sinking into an abyss. You have been doing it for six years."

Limbaugh also called Mitchell a "racist nutball."

"When you step on a pig’s tail, it squeals. Rush Limbaugh is a squealer," Mitchell began in her Friday column, which was promoted on the front page.

"And why is he squealing?

"Because John McCain and Sarah Palin are losing ground in a contest that they thought was theirs.

"And they are losing it to a black man.

" . . . The reason Limbaugh is squealing like the pig he is, is because he’s the epitome of white privilege."

Mitchell also promised to respond in kind. "One good turn deserves another, Mr. Limbaugh," she wrote, "so please have your people in Chicago tune in to V-103 on Sunday between 6 and 8 a.m., and I’ll return the favor."

Meanwhile, the black man who stood up at a McCain rally Thursday¬†in Waukesha, Wis.,¬†and told the candidate in a widely televised newsclip, "It’s absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him . . . I am begging you sir, I am begging you," has been identified as Milwaukee radio host¬†James T. Harris.

"The hate mail started pouring in almost immediately," Shelley Walcott¬†of Milwaukee’s WTMJ-TV reported.

Public Didn’t Think Press Was Fair to Sarah Palin . . .

A day before Friday’s news that a legislative investigation concluded that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of a state trooper who was once married to her sister, as Don Hunter reported in the Anchorage Daily News, the Pew Center for People and the Press reported that "fewer than four-in-ten (38%) say the press has been fair to Sarah Palin. Many more believe the press has been too tough on Palin (38%) than say it has been too easy (21%).

"While opinions about Palin coverage are highly partisan, many independents share the view that the press has been too tough on the Alaska governor," the report said.

In the Columbia Journalism Review, however, Clint Hendler asked whether the press in Palin’s home state has been tough enough on their governor.

"Through most of, though not all of, Palin’s career, the Alaska press corps enjoyed a good working relationship with Palin," he wrote on Friday. "But now, as the national press has dug up or highlighted aspects of Palin’s career never fully aired by the state’s journalists, some Alaskan observers and journalists are asking if that access came at the cost of coverage that was adequately skeptical."

Oliver Clark, shown behind Sen. Barack Obama at Tuesday's debate in Nashville, Tenn., answered Sen. John McCain's remark on his Facebook page. (Credit: David Katz/Obama for America)

. . . McCain Questioner Actually Had Heard of Fannie Mae

Not many news outlets picked up on Sen. John McCain‘s perceived slight to a young African American questioner at Tuesday’s debate, focusing instead on the "that one" remark McCain aimed at Sen. Barack Obama.

But Oliver Clark has gone public with how he felt when McCain told him, "You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this," according to NBC’s Michael Levine.

"Well Senator, I actually did," Clark wrote on his Facebook page.

"I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person. I have a bachelor degree in Political Science from Tennessee State, so I try to keep myself up to date with current affairs. I have a Master degree in Legal Studies from Southern Illinois University, a few years in law school, and I am currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration from the University of Memphis. In defense of the Senator from Arizona I would say he is an older guy, and may have made an underestimation of my age. Honest mistake. However, it could be because I am a young African-American male. Whatever the case may be it was somewhat condescending regardless of my age to make an assumption regarding whether I was knowledgeable about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

"Improvisational" Obama Campaign Leaves Him Cold

What’s the difference between covering Sen. John McCain and reporting on Sen. Barack Obama?

Dean Reynolds"Obama’s campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational," Dean Reynolds of CBS News wrote on Tuesday. "The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it’s all for security reasons.

"If so, I would love to have someone from Obama’s campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

"The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the ‘CBS Evening News with Katie Couric‘ is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn’t be [accommodated] as in the days of yore. Even if it’s true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night."

TV Newsrooms Lost 360 Jobs in ’08, Fewer Than Feared

"TV newsrooms across the country have experienced a net loss of 360 positions this year, according to Bob Papper, professor of journalism at Hofstra University in Long Island, NY, and author of the TV news staffing survey published in September in the RTNDA Communicator," the publication Broadcasting Engineering reported on Wednesday.

"Speaking with ‘ENG Update,’ Papper pointed out that there is a general misperception in the TV industry that the newsroom losses are larger than they actually are. ‘I have been intrigued by how many news directors have said, "We’ve really been lucky. We are the exception to what’s happening in the industry,"’ Papper said.

"TV news reductions, which include both layoffs and vacated positions that have gone unfilled, are often reported by newspapers, which tend to see the losses through the prism of their own newsroom staff downsizing, Papper said."

Ex-Leader of Asian Journalists Group Leaves Journalism

Esther WuEsther Wu, immediate past national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, has left journalism. The former Dallas Morning News columnist told Journal-isms on Friday she has been working since July as director of community relations for Dallas’ Margaret and Trammel Collection of Asian Art Museum.

Wu took a buyout from the Morning News in 2006, while she was still AAJA president, but continued her column as a contract writer for the newspaper until July.

However, its focus changed. Rather than discussing national and local issues of interest to Asian Americans, it became more about local Asian American cultural events as the paper emphasized local coverage. Once Wu accepted the museum job, she said, "they saw it as a conflict of interest" for her to continue the column.

"It’s a wonderful, wonderful opportunity," she said of her new job. The museum is "letting me continue working with the community, giving the community a voice, and building bridges between East and West."

The Morning News now has a freelance writer compiling news about Asian American events, Wu said. "My biggest fear was they were going to ignore the fastest growing minority in Dallas," she said. "At last count, we had half a million" people and 18 different Asian ethnic groups.

"She obviously provided a lot to our coverage over the years," Leona Allen, Morning News deputy managing editor, told Journal-isms. "We’ve continued to provide a feature column format for news and events in the Asian community each week."

"It’s Not Just the Economy, Stupid — It’s Jobs"

"With less than a month left until Election Day, there is still time for the presidential candidates to focus with great intensity on what should be the most important issue of this campaign," Bob Herbert wrote Monday in the New York Times. "It’s not just the economy, stupid ‚Äî it’s jobs."

Herbert wrote at the beginning of what the Washington Post would describe in Saturday’s newspaper as the worst week in history for U.S. stocks.

Not Hearing From Investigative Reporters of Color

After seeing an item on another journalism site about five recent hires at Washington’s Center for Public Integrity, which does investigative journalism, a reader wrote:

"Why don’t these outfits seem capable of hiring journos of color, specifically, BLACKS?

"It is infuriating."

The Journal-isms author, who once worked at the Center, took the question to current director Bill Buzenberg, formerly of National Public Radio.

"Yes, I agree, we need more African American investigative reporters and editors specifically who can do this work, added to the relatively diverse staff we have now," he said, responding to a suggestion that recent buyouts and layoffs would provide a pool of good candidates. "Maybe you know some names, but I am unaware of very many top investigative reporters of color who have been laid off but who want to work in Washington and do this digging work. . . . I don’t hear much from investigative reporters of color."

He also said, "Diversity is an important, indeed critical, issue in journalism that I take very seriously. It is especially important in an investigative journalism specialty like the Center. . . .The Center’s work is hard for so-so pay . . .We’re always looking for interns and beginning reporters, researchers, and data experts of color who want to do tough investigative reporting."

Buzenberg can be reached at this e-mail address.

Groups Applaud BET Cancellation of "Rap City" . . .

Three media-watch groups are praising the cancellation of Black Entertainment Television’s music video show "Rap City," linking it to last month’s announcement that BET President of Entertainment¬†Reginald Hudlin was resigning.

The groups are the Parents Television Council, the Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility, the National Congress of Black Women and Industry Ears.

"While ‘Rap City’ has drifted over the last three years, frequently changing hosts and time slots, it remains one of the media pillars on which rap’s current popularity was built," David Hinckley wrote Thursday in the New York Daily News.

He quoted Ebro Darden, program director of New York’s WQHT-FM: "’Rap City’ is a legendary program that has been crucial in creating awareness for hip-hop music videos that were tailored for the core rap fan."

But in a 21-page "The Rap on Rap" report in April, the Parents Television Council said it found in March that children watching "Rap City," BET’s "106 & Park" and MTV’s "Sucker Free on MTV" were bombarded with adult content — sex, violence, profanities or obscenities — once every 38 seconds.

BET spokeswoman Jeanine Liburd told Journal-isms the show’s cancellation "has absolutely no connection to the departure of Mr. Hudlin. So bizarre that they would even suggest that connection, given that the show preceded him for about 15 years."

 

. . . Leonard Pitts Challenges Chris Rock on "N" Word

Chris RockLeonard Pitts Jr., in his syndicated column originating at the Miami Herald, took comedian/actor Chris Rock to task Wednesday for his use of the "n" word in his new HBO special, "Kill the Messenger."

Pitts quoted an ex-slave who insisted, "white folks say so and we’s bound to believe them, ’cause we’s nothing but animals and niggers. Yes, we’s niggers! Niggers! Niggers!’

"She was just days removed from a system that had spent a lifetime teaching her, in every interaction of every day of every year, that she was a soulless thing little different from hogs and dogs," Pitts wrote. "But Chris, that was 150 years ago.

"What’s your excuse?"

Short Takes

  • Barbara A. ReynoldsThe Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds, a columnist, author and minister who spent hours interviewing Coretta Scott King for her biography, "said Friday that she may abandon the project because of the drawn-out, public legal feud among the King siblings," Errin Haynes reported Friday for the Associated Press.
  • For the 6th World Day Against the Death Penalty on Friday, Reporters Without Borders noted that "this archaic form of punishment, whose continuing use is a political and human rights outrage, is still being used against journalists and those who defend free speech. . . . The most emblematic case today is in a country which, paradoxically, is under the surveillance of powerful parliamentary democracies — Afghanistan. "
  • The Associated Press announced on Friday in a memo that, "This week, we instituted a company-wide strategic hiring freeze," though it said, "AP is on solid financial footing, thanks to modest revenue growth and responsible expense management over the past few years."
  • At the Newark Star-Ledger, "There were eventually 409 volunteers for a buyout that included a year’s pay. That is more than 50 percent of the non-union work force of 756. The company said it needed 200, and would accept up to 230," Keith J. Kelly wrote Friday in the New York Post.
  • Lawsuits from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram were filed Friday against Arbitron Inc. over a new ratings service designed to accurately gauge radio listening. "Mr. Cuomo and Ms. Milgram want Arbitron to fix what they see as flaws in the People Meter that result in a misrepresentation of radio’s minority listenership," Sarah McBride reported for Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.
  • Nearly six months into her online forum on race, the Chicago Tribune’s Dawn Turner Trice said Monday that two themes most resonated with her: "No. 1: Nobody wants to be stereotyped. . . .No. 2: We are a nation of strangers."
  • "The News Service of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Black Press of America, has launched a new op-ed series and partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), aimed to quell the disparate rate of cancer in the African-American community and educate Black newspaper readers on the best possible preventive and treatment measures in order to save lives," the news service said in an undated article. "The 25-part column series titled, ‘Lifelines’ debuts this week in NNPA member newspapers across the country."
  • Lin-Manuel MirandaThe Los Angeles Times ran this correction Wednesday: "An article in the June 16 Calendar section about the winners of the 2008 Tony Awards misquoted an impromptu rap that Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer and star of the show ‘In the Heights,’ gave in accepting his Tony for best score. Miranda did not say, ‘I’m off the dole, I wrote a little show about home,’ but rather, ‘I’m off the dome, I wrote a little show about home.’"
  • "The owner of La Conexi??n, the Triangle’s first Spanish-language newspaper, has sold the 13-year-old weekly." John Murawski reported Wednesday in the Raleigh News & Observer. "Michael Leary Sr. announced the sale in today’s edition. His open letter to readers said publishing a weekly newspaper had become a ‘heartache.’"
  • Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and other prominent political figures have denounced the decision by WETA, the PBS station in the nation‚Äôs capital, not to air "Latino 08," a well-received documentary on Latino influence on the presidential election that debuted on Wednesday elsewhere, a coalition of activists said. The documentary is scheduled to air on WETA at 10 p.m. Oct. 28, after "Frontline." Mary Stewart, WETA’s vice president for external affairs, told Journal-isms that the station often airs documentaries after others have done so and that it had not been flagged that this one should be treated differently. Stewart said the station had not heard from the activists, denying that WETA scheduled it as the result of the complaints.
  • In Wichita, Kan., "Kindergartners sang and danced at Monday’s dedication of the new school named for famed photographer, filmmaker and author Gordon Parks," columnist Mark McCormick wrote Wednesday in the Wichita Eagle. The Kansas native "has several schools named in his honor around the country, but few have invited the Parks family to dedication ceremonies, grandson Alain Brouillaud, who arrived from Helsinki, Finland, said in the column.

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