Journalists of Color Urge Meaningful Change on Diversity

NABJ Is $191,000 in Black, Reversing Deficit

Scott Sisters Freed Amid Crush of News Media

Immigration Backlash Top Race Story on Nightly News

Sheila Johnson Says OWN Needs More African Americans

DeWayne Wickham Named Interim J-Chair at N.C. A&T

Short Takes

Journalists of Color Urge Meaningful Change on Diversity

The resignation of Ellen Weiss as NPR’s senior vice president for news can improve prospects for diversity at the network, according to current and former employees of color, but some say only if her departure signals a more drastic change in the corporate culture.

Weiss resigned in the wake of the NPR board of directors’ examination of the firing of Juan Williams, NPR staffers were told on Thursday. It was she who delivered the news to Williams, who on Fox News later Thursday characterized Weiss as “the keeper of the flame of liberal orthodoxy. She was pushing out everyone who had a different point of view. She has kept along her pals, her friends who all think alike.”

“Obviously I can’t comment on the record because of the ‘not authorized to speak to the media’ rule,” said a newsroom employee, one of eight current and former journalists of color at NPR who shared their assessments with Journal-isms.

“I can’t really say if Ellen’s departure will be good for diversity since I don’t know who’s going to replace her. But I can say this:

“Ellen was in positions of authority at NPR for many, many years. She had every opportunity to encourage or demand a diversified workforce, but it was not a front-burner issue for her. You have to keep in mind that Ellen sees the world through the prism of ‘NPRness,’ which encompasses a certain worldview that may or may not include diversity issues. She was inclined to hire and nurture people who reflect her sense of ‘NPRness.’ If a person of color reflected that sense, she was all for them. But more often than not, she spotted that sense of ‘NPRness’ in people like herself — upper middle class or higher, Ivy League or a similarly prestigious schools, even down to a certain temperament, personality and tone of voice.

“The most likely candidates to meet those traits were white women; the least likely were black men. I don’t think she consciously excluded anyone from working at NPR, but I don’t get the sense that she ever seriously examined her own psyche whenever she looked into NPR’s diversity problem.”

Williams was a senior news analyst under contract at NPR and a commentator on Fox News Channel. His Oct. 20 firing came over his remarks on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” that Muslims dressed in Muslim garb on planes made him nervous. For most of his career at NPR, he was the only black male regularly on the air. NPR has since hired two others. NPR also has black women on the air, such as Michel Martin, host of “Tell Me More,” and Michele Norris, co-host of “All Things Considered.” Others work off-air.

“The key is that Weiss was the establishment here, the institutional memory. She had a strong following,” another employee said. “But she also was a big part of this place’s inability to change. She was open to diversity but she was too much a product of this place to bring change.

“Her replacement will be the single-most important decision made here for yrs to come,” this employee said via e-mail.

The diversity issue at NPR came to a boil in October 2009, when less than 24 hours after hosting the National Association of Black Journalists at its headquarters in Washington, NPR terminated Greg Peppers, the black journalist in charge of its newscasts and one of two black men in newsroom management.

Peppers is now a senior editor at WAMU, the NPR news affiliate in Washington. He messaged that he thinks Weiss’ departure will be good for diversity. “I would also hope that the next Vice President for News takes diversity seriously, meaning does a top to bottom review of diversity issues, from hiring to retention and makes significant changes; particularly in the news managerial and editorial areas. There needs to be a diverse of group managers brought on who can hire a diverse workforce as well as green light a story,” he said.

A previous diversity flashpoint took place in December 2008, when the network announced it was canceling “News & Notes” and “Day to Day” effective the following March, and would reduce its work force by 7 percent to forestall a $2 million deficit.

Doug Mitchell, an NPR employee of more than 20 years who has trained scores of young journalists of color to enter broadcasting, was among those laid off.

Mitchell and Farai Chideya, who hosted “News & Notes,” say they see a deeper problem than a single news executive.

“There’s a lot at stake these days and the act of removing Ellen Weiss, I think, is a small part of the performance,” Mitchell told Journal-isms by e-mail. “The political challenges are huge and there’s relationship building to be done on many scales from Congress to communities of color who are not a very large part of the public media landscape. Opportunities have been wasted and perhaps a change of leadership at that level will kickstart bridge building.”

Chideya, who was overseas, sent this message, which she also posted on her blog:

“The framing of the departure of Ellen Weiss will always publicly revolve around Juan Williams. But there was a much longer legacy of questionable decisions regarding diversity and even the decisions to kill the geographic tendrils NPR had in LA and New York, leaving those operations greatly smaller in number.

“Her departure should not be viewed as a victory for the political right, or a case of someone being forced to walk the plank for political reasons. From what I understand, the questions raised by the internal audit are much deeper and more institutional.

“I hope NPR will use this shakeup in leadership as an opportunity to continue some promising steps regarding diversity, including the recent hiring of a reporter to cover diverse communities and having Keith Woods as ‘Diversity Czar’. But public radio, including NPR, is facing a much bigger question about how to integrate itself internally, in terms of staff, and also in terms of adjusting its coverage so it can reach an increasingly multi-ethnic nation.”

Others saw little hope for improvement. Another former employee said, “The people who chose Ellen Weiss and the people whom she chose are still there. The difference is a pretty cold-blooded corporate mindset as represented by Vivian Schiller, which no doubt has Weiss’ minions trembling in their boots, but may not necessarily improve things.

“On paper, as someone said to me, NPR has one of the most diverse workforces in the country but like most intellectual establishments remains suspicious of and downright hostile to African Americans and others who have not adopted the sensibilities of the current media culture in this country. So black Americans, Hispanics and minorities in the strictest sense are there but have seldom had a central role or held key positions that influence editorial decisions in hiring or coverage.

“The numbers are going up but I doubt what you hear and read will change.”

Adam Powell, who was NPR’s vice president for news and information from 1987 to 1990 and the only African American to hold that post, has been a longtime NPR watcher.

“Since they have failed to increase diversity for the past 20 years — and indeed NPR News is *less* diverse than it was in *1990* — we must conclude that either NPR lacks the competence to do it or NPR has chosen not to do it. One or the other: there is no other explanation,” he messaged Journal-isms. “If they say they are in favor of diversity and have tried to implement pro-diversity policies, then they are either insincere or incompetent. ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and Fox News are more diverse than NPR News, which to my knowledge is the only network news organization to have been cited in a federal court order for discriminatory hiring and promotion. It’s in the DNA.”

Powell is now a technology and globalization expert who works as director of Washington policy initiatives at the University of Southern California.

Pressed on diversity, Schiller declared in April 2009, “We need to make sure that we are constantly thinking about a diversity of audience.” Later in the year, she appointed Keith Woods, the No. 2 administrator at the Poynter Institute, the school for professional journalists, to the new position of vice president of diversity in news and operations.

Woods told Journal-isms then that he believed he could succeed because “the leadership of NPR has changed and there is a critical mass of leadership both new and longstanding that wants to see NPR succeed at this.“

• Bob Collins, Minnesota Public Radio: Juan Williams proving NPR’s point
• Current.org: Rep. Lamborn reintroduces bills to end federal support of CPB, NPR
• Eric Deggans blog, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: Review of Juan Williams‘ firing by NPR and resignation of top executive clears up few questions
• Paul Farhi, Washington Post: Supporters decry exit of NPR’s Ellen Weiss in Juan Williams firing (Jan. 8)
• Alicia Shepard, NPR: NPR’S Costly Mistake
• Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute: NPR Board Chair: We did not call for Ellen Weiss’ resignation

NABJ Is $191,000 in Black, Reversing Deficit

“We Accomplished Our Mission for 2010,” Treasurer Says

The National Association of Black Journalists has turned a $338,901 deficit at the end of 2009 to a surplus of more than $191,000 a year later, Gregory Lee Jr., the organization’s treasurer, told Journal-isms on Friday.

“2010 was a year in transition for NABJ,” Lee said, previewing a message he said members would receive next week.

“We renegotiated room blocks and vendors contracts associated with the San Diego Convention, that’s a huge chunk. But also we marketed the Convention so members can fill up the hotel block we were committed to fulfilling. Hotel attrition greatly hurt the association in 2009,” he said by e-mail.

“We also slashed expenses in most of [the] cost centers. Board members picked up the tab on a board meeting. The philosophy ‘if an event is not sponsored, it will not go on’ was actually executed at all levels. The Board determined that in 2010 we would lay low with expenses, lower debts and execute a successful convention in San Diego. Execution from all levels was critical and we accomplished our mission for 2010.”

As with its sister journalism organizations, NABJ suffered in 2009 as the recession took its toll. NABJ President Kathy Times said in October of that year that NABJ had run into higher expenses than projected at its summer convention and was reducing staff, imposing furloughs and asking members for one-time, tax-deductible donations.

The organization had to pay penalties for unused hotel rooms for that year’s Tampa, Fla., event.

“Understandably, many people either doubled up or tripled up in rooms, leaving many rooms empty. Nobody knew when the contract was signed in 2005 that we would be facing the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression,” she said then.

The Asian American Journalists Association also faced a budget deficit that year.

It, too, cited a drop-off in membership dues, losses associated with a lower-than-expected turnout at its Boston convention, sponsors who pulled or reduced their support and a buyout of a hotel contract with the Westin Boston Waterfront.

But late last month, AAJA announced that it turned a $207,000 deficit to a $399,000 surplus, emerging “stronger than ever,” outgoing National President Sharon Pian Chan told members.

Leaders of the American Society of News Editors, Unity: Journalists of Color, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Conference of Editorial Writers and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association also said they ended the year financially healthy.

However, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists has projected a $240,000 deficit for the year, and the National Association of Multicultural Media Executives, dormant for at least a year, now plans to dissolve. The Native American Journalists Association has yet to report.

“NABJ is entering 2011 on a high,” Lee said in a statement. “The association finished the last quarter financially on a high. That momentum is carrying into 2011, where fundraising for our Hall of Fame Gala later this month is doing quite well. We have taken steps to end the trend of slow 4th and 1st quarters. We are moving towards year-round fundraising.”

Scott Sisters Freed Before Crush of News Media

“Jamie and Gladys Scott are expected to reunite with their mother and children in Florida tonight, a reunion 16 years in the making,” Elizabeth Crisp reported Friday for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

“The Scott sisters left the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility this morning, waving to a crush of news media and yelling ‘We’re free.’ ”

” ‘I never thought this day would come — where I would be on the outside of those walls,’ Jamie Scott said during an afternoon press conference. ‘It’s still a dream to me.’

“The sisters had been serving life terms for their involvement in a 1993 armed robbery that netted between $11 and $200, but Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour agreed last week to indefinitely suspend their sentences.”

Barbour’s Dec. 29 decision came in the wake of a furor over an interview in the conservative Weekly Standard magazine in which Barbour, a Republican who had been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, spoke approvingly about a group called the Citizens Council, known in other states as the White Citizens Council.

But it also followed a campaign that saw New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, among others, championing the Scott sisters’ cause.

He wrote of the sisters on Oct. 12: “what has happened to them takes your breath away.

Nancy R. Lockhart, who has championed the sisters’ cause since she was a law student, wrote last night of the sisters’ mother, Evelyn Rasco: “Mrs. Rasco wanted me to inform everyone that Jamie and Gladys have not arrived home yet. The press conference was too much for her and they had to stop at a hospital and have her examined.

“*They are now on the way HOME!*

“Thank you to everyone who assisted in obtaining freedom for the sisters. Your assistance will be needed in gaining a Full Pardon with Restoration of all Civil Rights.”

Immigration Backlash Top Race Story on Nightly News

“Illegal Immigration provokes backlash” was the top story involving race and immigration in 2010 on the television networks’ nightly newscasts, according to Andrew Tyndall‘s Tyndall Report.

The topic logged 100 minutes on ABC, CBS and NBC, followed by “adoption of Haitian immigrants controversy” at 76 minutes, “USDA accused of racial bias against farmers” at 37 minutes and “ICE border controls along Mexico line,” 21 minutes.

“ABC’s Jake Tapper was the most used reporter,” logging 335 minutes; and the Gulf oil spill was by far the top story on the newscasts, logging 1410 minutes, compared with 426 minutes for the runner up, the Haiti earthquake.

• Ruben Navarrette, Washington Post Writers Group: Bashing Immigrants Comes With a Price
• Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald: Obama must reconnect with Hispanics
• Bob Richter, San Antonio Express-News: Mexico media face harsh consequences
• Tod Robberson, Dallas Morning News: Debating the words we use, like ‘illegal immigrant’
• Albor Ruiz, New York Daily News: GOP bullies beating drums versus immigrants, setting them up for tough year
• Marisa Treviño, Latina Lista blog: GOP comes out swinging against undocumented immigrants and Cesar Chavez

Sheila Johnson Says OWN Needs More African Americans

Critics who suggest that Oprah Winfrey‘s new OWN network could use a little more racial diversity found a gentle supporter in Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television.

Johnson, who counts herself as Winfrey admirer, said Thursday on NPR’s “Tell Me More”:

“The only advice that I say, let’s open up your circle a little bit more. You know, we love the Dr. Phils. We love the Suze Ormans. Let’s open up. There are other people. And there’s also African-American experts out there that I think she should start bringing on her show that can reach even a wider audience.”

Host Michel Martin said, “And it’s true that there doesn’t appear to be a great deal of ethnic diversity in her programming at this point, which is puzzling to some people.”

“No. Yes,” replied Johnson. “And I think she really should do that and not be afraid to do it. There’s really a lot of great experts out there that really know the businesses at hand. And I’d like to see her open up her circle to do that.”

Meanwhile, “In a rare Television Critics Association winter tour appearance Thursday, Winfrey told a packed ballroom of TV writers that Saturday’s launch of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network — a joint venture between Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications — was ‘revelatory’ for her,” R. Thomas Umstead wrote for Multichannel News.

” ‘We couldn’t ask for more — we built it and they came,’ Winfrey told Multichannel News Thursday night during an OWN dinner party. ‘My dream is that they continue to come. It’s a long process — it’s not about this weekend it’s about sustainability long term, but I’m pleased with the start.’

“While OWN CEO Christina Norman said the network drew some 13 million viewers during its weekend debut, Winfrey said she’s not concerned about ratings. Instead she’s focused on providing viewers quality and uplifting programming.

” ‘Obviously ratings are important, but they’re not as important to me right now . . . I’m not concerned about that,’ Winfrey said. ‘What I am concerned about is could we get people to the channel. Now that we’re able to do that what we know that if we continue to build the channel with programming that is meaningful to our viewers.'”

• Cherie Saunders, EURWeb.com: TCA: Oprah Lectures for Nearly an Hour on Everything Under the Sun 
• Lauren Williams, Natalie Hopkinson and Jenée Desmond Harris, theRoot.com: The first week of Oprah’s OWN network, the franchising of America’s schools and deciding to become a single mom

DeWayne Wickham Named Interim J-Chair at N.C. A&T

DeWayne Wickham, columnist for USA Today and Gannett News Service, has been named interim chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at North Carolina A&T State University, Dr. David Aldridge, interim dean of the school’s College of Arts and Sciences, told Journal-isms on Friday.

“I’ll continue to do my column. The university has allowed me to hire an assistant chair to help me manage the department and to make it possible for me to continue to go wherever I need to be to report and write my column,” Wickham said.

Wickham founded the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at the historically black university in 2001. The institute annually takes a delegation of black journalists to Cuba to report on the role that Afro-Cubans play in that society and undertakes other reporting projects.

Wickham’s appointment is “for the remainder of the fiscal year and began January 1st and will run through June 30th. He will continue to hold his 12 month position as Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at A&T,” Aldridge said.

Aldridge added by e-mail that because of projected state government budget cuts, Wickham’s post will not be a 12-month position, and that “the College of Arts and Sciences has proposed to convert its 12 month chair appointments to 9 month appointments as part of its strategy of meeting the state of North Carolina’s request for budget reductions for the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium. No final decision has been made by the University on that recommendation.”

The state legislature is seeking to cut $3.7 billion in spending.

“A&T’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication currently has two faculty searches underway,” Aldridge added.

Short Takes

• “The latest example of the sad decline of the New York Times Book Review under editor Sam Tanenhaus is its January 2, 2010 edition on ‘Why Criticism Matters’ that excludes African-American and Latino critics,” Randy Shaw wrote for BeyondChron.org. “Citing the importance of the critic as cultural arbiter, the Times asked six critics to address the subject – none of whom were black or Latino. Further, the back page of the section cites seven cultural critics who inspired the issue’s theme: all seven are white men.”
• “Legendary journalist and 50-year veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to resume her weekly political affairs column today, published in print and online exclusively in the Falls Church News-Press,” the Virginia newspaper in the Washington suburbs reported on Thursday. Her subject was Social Security reform.
• “After a two-day network booking battle, the reunion between Ted Williams, ‘the man with the golden voice’ and his mother, Julia Williams, finally took place Thursday afternoon,” Chris Ariens reported Friday for TVNewser. “After 20 years apart Williams was reunited with his 92-year-old mother, with network cameras in tow. . . . After the reunion yesterday, Williams and his mother went on all three broadcast shows this morning in the 7:30 am half hour.” Radio Ink added, “After an appearance yesterday on Clear Channel’s WNCI/Columbus, the man being called the ‘Golden Voice’ has been offered jobs by a number of organizations — including the [NBA’s] Cleveland Cavaliers.
• “Are Times columnists really allowed to rewrite an opinion column after it has been published (online), just because events have proved their opinions to be wrong-headed? Is that ethical?” a New York Times reader asked Arthur Brisbane, the Times’ public editor. The reference was to a column by William Rhoden. “Put simply, we goofed,” Sports Editor Tom Jolly said in Brisbane’s Christmas Day column.
• “Today GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, started a petition to try and persuade CNN producers and bookers to not bring on guests from, what they call, ‘the anti-gay industry,’ ” Chris Ariens reported Thursday for TVNewser.
• “Sources tell Mediaite that Bill O’Reilly has landed an exclusive pre-game interview with President Barack Obama scheduled to air on the Fox Broadcasting Channel before the Super Bowl,” Colby Hall reported Thursday for Mediaite. “This will mark only the second time that Obama has sat down with Fox News — his first was last year with Bret Baier.” But it’s the first time that Obama will participate with O’Reilly as a sitting president (though O’Reilly did interview Obama in the later stages of his presidential candidacy), Hall wrote.
• Alvin and Kate Peabody, former reporters for the Gainesville (Fla.) Times and the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal and for the black press, have launched a new African website, thediasporavoice.com. Joining them is Harrison “Black Baby” Jiedueh, who is from Liberia as are the Peabodys.
• “Tiger Woods and Golf Digest are mutually ending their relationship after 13 years,” Michael McCarthy reported Thursday in USA Today. “The golf superstar and the world’s largest golf magazine are ending Woods’ longtime role as ‘exclusive playing editor’ as of the current February, 2011 issue.”
• Jose A. Berrios, a former vice president of leadership development and diversity at Gannett Co., and former board member of the National Association of Minority Media Executives, has been elected board chair of the Society for Human Resource Management.
• “The Zimbabwean government on Thursday warned journalists and media organisations operating in the African country that they could be prosecuted if they fail to immediately comply with new registration fees that have soared by as much as 300 percent,” Deutsche Presse Agentur reported on Thursday. “The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists has condemned the new fees as ‘shocking and retributive,’ arguing that they ‘can only make journalists go underground or stop practicing.’ ”
  

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