Sudan, Yemen Join Egypt and Tunisia, Group Says
African American Voices Diminished in Egyptian Crisis
Don’t Expect Cuba to Be Next, Miami Columnist Says
2 Armed Men Threaten Reporter, Rob and Beat Cameraman
Obama’s State of the Union Had Not One Mention of Poor
NABJ Member Tweets From the Board Meeting
NAHJ VP Takes P.R. Job, to Remain on Board for 6 Months
Protesters gather in Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo, to chant against President Hosni Mubarak and raise other issues. More than 10,000 people beat drums, played music and chanted slogans Monday, the Associated Press reported. (Video)
Sudan, Yemen Join Egypt and Tunisia, Group Says
“Journalists in the Middle East are experiencing increased harassment amid rapidly spreading street protests throughout the region, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ is gravely concerned about reports of attacks against journalists not only in Egypt, as CPJ has previously reported, but also in Yemen and Sudan,” the press freedom organization said on Monday.
” ‘We are disturbed by the targeting of journalists that is spreading across multiple countries in the Arab world,’ said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. ‘The governments of Sudan and Yemen are physically attacking journalists in an effort to disrupt the free delivery of news to local and international audiences. Those governments seem to not have learned anything from the mistakes made by the governments in Tunis and Cairo.’ “
Al Jazeera reported Monday, “Six Al Jazeera English journalists, who were briefly detained in Egypt, have been released, however; their camera equipment remains confiscated by the military.”
“The move comes a day after Al Jazeera was told to shut down its operations in the country and saw its signal to some parts of the Middle East cut.
“Following the arrest of the journalists a spokesman of the channel said Al Jazeera will not be deterred; ‘If anything, our resolve to get the story has increased.’ “
Michael Calderone summarized Monday for Yahoo News:
“For those of you who managed to pry yourselves away from the non-stop Egypt coverage on your computer and TV screens this past weekend, here’s a quick roundup of media-related headlines that have emerged over the past few days.
“Egyptian authorities shut down Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau and revoked its license to broadcast from the country. But the network’s reporters are finding alternate ways to cover the story on the ground — they’re doing anonymous phone interviews, filing audio reports, tweeting as often as they can — and enlisting bloggers/citizen journalists to contribute as well.
“Since many U.S. cable providers don’t air Al Jazeera English, its website has reportedly seen a two and a half thousand percent surge in traffic, and media critics are calling for cable companies to start carrying the network. And there’s still plenty being written about how Al Jazeera is having its moment. (Even President Obama is watching.)”
African American Voices Diminished in Egyptian Crisis
“For much of U.S. history, African Americans have been a strong dissenting voice on foreign policy, whether it was the settlement of free blacks in Liberia, the U.S. occupation of Haiti, British rule in India, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or African liberation movements such as the struggle against apartheid,” Joel Dreyfuss wrote Monday on theRoot.com.
The hesitancy of the Congressional Black Caucus to speak up about the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt “reflects a recent shift in the role of African Americans in foreign policy from outsiders to insiders. After all, both of President George W. Bush’s secretaries of state — Gen. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice — were black. But the result has been the diminution of an American voice that gave people abroad hope that at least some of us were sympathetic to their struggles. . . .
“Some U.S. experts and Arab governments have tried to blame Arab network Al Jazeera for fanning the flames of revolt. But U.S. media can also convince citizens abroad that grinding poverty and oppressive rule are not inevitable. I remember sitting with friends in Haiti some years ago, watching the Democratic National Convention on television. Several had tears in their eyes as the delegates voted state by state for their candidates. ‘Why can’t we do that?’ one friend asked.
“In Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere, they’re taking the first step toward doing that — with or without help from America’s political establishment.”
Meanwhile, on theLoop21.com, Kenneth J. Cooper recalled the five months he spent in Cairo on a Fulbright Scholarship.
“As a light-skinned African American, I was often mistaken for Egyptian. Most Egyptians, despite living on the African continent, are Arabs. You would think being able to blend in would be a good thing — it definitely wasn’t when dealing with the Egyptian police, who were everywhere, often in plain clothes. That’s how I know the police aren’t around to ‘serve and protect’ the people, but to protect Mubarak and his government from the people.”
Don’t Expect Cuba to Be Next, Miami Columnist Says
“. . . As these images reach our televisions, computer screens or smart phones in South Florida, many people have told me they can’t help but think about Cuba,” Myriam Marquez, editorial page editor of the Miami Herald, wrote on Sunday.
“As one reader put it in an e-mail: ‘What’s wrong with Cubans? They’ve had a dictatorship for 52 years! Cowards!’
“Easy for you to say from the comfort of your American home. Try living there. There have been reams written about how many Cubans experience the ‘Stockholm syndrome,’ the paradox of hostages loving their captors for not killing them.”
However, Marquez wrote, access to technology marks the difference between the Mideast and Cuba:
“The Internet remains blocked to most Cubans, who have the lowest ratio of computers in Latin America. Smart phones are a pipe dream. Land lines are like cars in Cuba — few people have them and getting a line is prohibitively expensive for people who earn on average $20 a month.
“Satellite TV is accessible for tourists in hotels, but it’s a crime for the average citizen to own satellite antennaes, though a black market has sprouted.
“Bloggers like Yoani Sánchez of Generation Y don’t post directly to the Internet. They need foreigners to go to Internet cafés and spend big bucks to connect and send their messages to friends abroad who then post for the world to see.”
- Megan Garber, Nieman Journalism Lab: Nick Kristof turns to Facebook to report from Egypt
- Ryan Grim, Huffington Post: Al Jazeera English Blacked Out Across Most Of U.S.
- Justin D. Martin, Columbia Journalism Review: Mubarak’s Attempt to Mute 80 Million: An old dictator outdoes himself
- Reporters Without Borders: Cuba: Press freedom prize winner held twice in 24 hours
- Reporters Without Borders: Government shuts down Al Jazeera’s operations
- Saurabh Sati, International Press Institute: Egypt Journalists Attacked and Detained
- Brian Stelter, New York Times: TV Crews Struggle in Egyptian Chaos
- Cynthia Tucker blog, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Egypt and the limits of US power
- WBBM Chicago: Former Medill Student On Front Lines In Egypt
- Edward Wyckoff Williams, theGrio.com: Will Egypt crisis force a closer look at US-African relations?
2 Armed Men Threaten Reporter, Rob and Beat Cameraman
“A reporter and a cameraman for ABC7 TV were assaulted and robbed Thursday evening in East Oakland while reporting about efforts to find new homes for a pack of severely abused pit-bull dogs,” Angela Woodall reported Friday for the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune.
“The two men had finished interviewing neighbors in the 600 block of Capistrano Drive, near where officers found the abused and neglected animals in December, about 7:10 p.m. when two men approached them. One forced the reporter, Tomas Roman, to the ground at gunpoint and threatened his life. The other armed man confronted the cameraman, Stan Wong, and beat him with a gun. The robbers ran away with Wong’s Panasonic P2 video camera. The victims were taken to a hospital. Police have made no arrests and the camera has not been recovered.
“ABC7 News Director Kevin Keeshan said the attack was traumatic for the victims, but he could not discuss their condition because of ABC policies. ‘They had no reason to think they were in danger,’ he said.”
President Obama answers questions on a wide range of issues submitted by and voted on by YouTube users in an interview moderated by YouTube’s Steve Grove. (Video)
Obama’s State of the Union Had Not One Mention of Poor
“It was only the second time since Harry S. Truman’s State of the Union address in 1948 that such a speech by a Democratic president did not include a single mention of poverty or the plight of the poor,” Charles M. Blow wrote Saturday in the New York Times.
“The closest Obama got to a mention was his confirmation for ‘Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear’ that, indeed, ‘the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real.’ I’m sure they appreciated that.
“The only other Democrat not to mention poverty in the speech was Jimmy Carter in 1980, but even he was able to squeeze in one reference to at least a portion of the poor and disenfranchised, stressing the continuation of jobs programs to ‘provide training and work for our young people, especially minority youth.’ (Carter did mention the poor in a written version that he submitted to Congress.)
“John F. Kennedy didn’t say the specific words ‘poor’ or ‘poverty’ in his first State of the Union, but he talked at length about providing ‘more food for the families of the unemployed, and to aid their needy children,’ securing ‘more purchasing power for our lowest-paid workers by raising and expanding the minimum wage’ and of a new housing program to address the problem of ‘cities being engulfed in squalor.’
“So how is it that this Democratic president has the temerity to deliver a State of the Union address that completely neglects any explicit mention of the calamitous conditions now afflicting his staunchest supporters: the poor?”
- Betty Winston Bayé, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Civility, incivility and fake civility
- Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Obama’s Focus on Jobs Good for U.S. — and Him
- Hazel Trice Edney, Trice Edney Wire: Sharpton: Obama Gets Bad Rap On Black Jobs
- Bob Herbert, New York Times: Raising False Alarms
- Courtland Milloy, Washington Post: How can the state of the union be sound if our minds are not?
- Albor Ruiz, New York Daily News: Despite Obama administration’s promise, deportations to Haiti have resumed far too soon
- Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star: Obama became laureate of peace prize too early
- Elmer Smith, Philadelphia Daily News: The Oil Game : Do not pass GOO, do not collect billions
- Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: What do business leaders really want?
- DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: GOP on race: one step forward, two steps back
NABJ Member Tweets From the Board Meeting
It’s become common when online journalists and bloggers meet, but when the boards of the journalists of color do? Not so much.
The phenomenon? Tweeting the proceedings.
Over the weekend, the board of the National Association of Black Journalists met in Washington, and on Friday, Benet J. Wilson, co-chair of the NABJ Digital Journalism Task Force and online managing editor-business aviation for the Aviation Week Group, started tweeting under the hashtag #NABJBD.
The previous night, Wilson and others had tweeted from the NABJ Hall of Fame gala at the Newseum, using the hashtag #NABJHOF.
Friday’s wasn’t Wilson’s first tweetable board meeting. She said she did so in April and plans to do it again at upcoming sessions in Philadelphia that will be held in conjunction with the summer’s NABJ convention in that city.
There had been “a big problem in the delivery of board minutes,” Wilson explained to Journal-isms, so she exercised her right to attend the meetings in person and report on them. Of course, not everything is available for tweeting. The board can and does exercise its right to go into executive session and exclude onlookers.
Wilson’s point about faulty board communications with members has been echoed in other journalist-of-color associations.
Late last year, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists took important votes via conference call about the association’s finances. Someone leaked them in the apparent belief that members weren’t being told about them quickly enough, leading to accusatory hunts for the “leaker.”
During last year’s campaign for the presidency of the Asian American Journalists Association, unsuccessful candidate Neal Justin wrote:
“You should know that I’m proposing that an independent reporter will be present at every board meeting and write a story for members that will be unedited by [the] executive director or anyone on the board. I hope that will help members feel like we’re being more open.”
The National Association of Black Journalists for years had such a practice but eventually abandoned it.
But that was before the Twitter revolution. Although members have complained periodically that they have been slow to learn about actions of the NABJ board, Twitter hadn’t been raised much as an answer.
“Outside of stating that they are at the AAJA board meeting our board of directors generally do not tweet during the meetings,” Kathy Chow, executive director of AAJA, told Journal-isms.
Ivan Roman, executive director of NAHJ, said, “As far as I know, board members don’t tweet about what’s going on in the meeting. Depending on what they’re discussing, I’m not sure if that’s appropriate for board members to do given that tweets are often limited, lack context, and they would have no link on the web to offer more information or provide that context.”
“No tweets that I am aware of,” said Jeff Harjo, executive director of the Native American Journalists Association.
That leaves open the question of whether visiting rank-and-file members, or reporters, can tweet for the occasion, in 140 characters or less.
NAHJ VP Takes P.R. Job, to Remain on Board for 6 Months
Gustavo Reveles, vice president for print of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, left his reporting job at the El Paso Times in December to become public information officer of the local school district, but will remain in his NAHJ post until June, he told Journal-isms on Monday.
According to the NAHJ bylaws, “The Vice President for Broadcast shall be a member of broadcast media, and the Vice President for Print shall be a member of print media.”
“The goal of the Public Information Office is to foster a positive climate within the school district, and between the district and the community, through a two-way process of communication, and to assist in building support for the Canutillo Independent School District through open, honest and planned communication methods,” the Canutillo Independent School District says.
Michele Salcedo, the NAHJ president, would not discuss the issue on the record.
Reveles told Journal-isms, “I have talked to Michele and we have drafted a plan for my departure from the board of directors. I will vacate my position in the summer during our convention in Orlando,” which takes place June 15-18. Reveles’ term ends in 2012.
An NAHJ member raised the issue with Journal-isms in light of the board’s 9-0 vote in September to immediately remove Jacqueline Guzmán-García, its student board representative, although she had defeated two other candidates for the position.
Salcedo acknowledged then that “as a result of today’s action, for the first time since 2002, students will not have a voice on the national board.” She also said, “I want to thank the board for upholding NAHJ’s bylaws, the foundation of our governance.”
Guzman was attending California State University, Northridge part time, not full time as the bylaws require. She called her removal unfair; the board acknowledged that it was responsible for allowing Guzman-Garcia on the ballot in the first place.
In another case, Financial Officer Sam Diaz resigned from NAHJ’s board in 2007 when he left the Washington Post for a job with a Bay Area public relations company, believing he no longer qualified to be on the board.
“Upon re-reading the bylaws, I see that — by definition in the bylaws — an associate member [is] those ‘persons engaged in such media-related jobs as public relations, public or corporate information, directors of media organizations.’ Clearly a public information officer falls under this definition,” Diaz told Journal-isms on Monday.
But, he said, “For what it’s worth, as a dues-paying member, I have less concern about Gustavo finishing his term and more concern about the bylaws needing a major update. . . . When I went to work for that PR firm, my role was to create original content and consult private companies on how to create their own original content in the form of blogs and other non-traditional channels. Depending on how you defined it, I was their editor. I’d say that makes me eligible to hold office.”
Reveles told Journal-isms by e-mail, “I’m very comfortable in my new position. It was extremely hard to leave journalism after nearly 15 years in the business. But the opportunity to work for a school district is one I could not pass up. I’ve always believed in public education and I’m glad I’m part of a strong administrative team.
“NAHJ is my family, and it will always be. . . . I’m proud of my work as a journalist and my time as an NAHJ board member. I look forward to continuing to help the organization grow, this time as an associate and lifetime member.”
Short Takes
- Howard Kurtz looked “as if stricken by a rare form of racially-tinged, ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease” when he interviewed retired ABC News anchor Carole Simpson on his CNN “Reliable Sources” show earlier in January, Amy Alexander wrote on theLoop21.com. “If Kurtz had a wig, it surely would have been snatched,” after he started in “on a myopic narrative that has infused his coverage of the news biz for virtually his entire career.”
- A week after the McClatchy-owned News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., let go 20 members of the organization, Publisher Ann Caulkins of McClatchy’s Charlotte Observer said Monday the paper will lay off 20 employees, part of an effort to cut costs as the shaky economy continues to plague advertisers and revenues remain short of the company’s goals, as the Observer reported. Elaine Lintecum, treasurer of the McClatchy Co., told Journal-isms last week that, “any cutbacks are made on a newspaper by newspaper basis by the management at the respective papers. There is no company-wide initiative underway.”
- Detroit police Friday released a graphic surveillance video of an ambush on the Northwestern District station, “bringing into the public’s view the attack that left four officers injured and the gunman, Lamar D. Moore, dead, Gina Damron reported for the Detroit Free Press. “There were tremendous acts of heroism that rarely individuals get a chance to see,” Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. said in a video message. “Detroit police officers in action.”
- “As if I haven’t had enough health issues
recently, now I’m having trouble with my vocal [cords],” Allison Payne, anchor at Chicago’s WGN-TV, wrote viewers, explaining her latest absence from the air. “As you all know, I can’t read the news without a voice. The doctor says only time will heal it. I hope to be back with you all soon! And thank you so much for your prayers,” she said, according to television writer Robert Feder, reporting Monday on his blog. - “Starting today, award-winning Arián Campo-Flores will be a Miami-based staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, covering Florida and the Caribbean,” Veronica Villafañe reported Monday for Media Moves. “He only had a weekend break between jobs — Friday was his last day as a Senior Writer for Newsweek magazine, based in Miami.”
- When Tania E. Lopez left the Indianapolis Star last month for Newsday, leaving the Star with Melanie Hayes as its only Spanish-speaking reporter, Star Editor Dennis Ryerson told Journal-isms, “As you know, diversity has taken a hit when we haven’t been in the hiring mode. But I’m hopeful we will be able to make some hires this year and we [will] be working very, very [hard] to make up for some lost ground.” Lopez replied on Monday, “I’m sure The Star is going to do what it can to make up for what Mr. Ryerson called ‘lost ground’ because the community, particularly the Hispanic community, has been very concerned about the way they have been covered by the paper. And even though the paper is going through a rough patch in terms of hiring, I truly believe coverage of a growing community does not require new hires but a slight shift in priorities.”
“Brien Blakely‘s newsroom tussle and eventual firing, Charlotte’s WCCB has announced a major on-air shake-up,” Andrew Gauthier reported Monday for TV Spy. “The Fox-affiliate’s 10 p.m. newscast, previously the domain of Blakely and Rebecca Clark, will now be anchored by Morgan Fogarty and Israel Balderas.” - Andre Brooks was promoted to executive producer of the morning show on WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Fla., in January, News Director Mike Garber confirmed on Monday. “He had been a producer since we hired him in October. Now he oversees the entire 2 1/2 hour morning product,” Garber said.
- “Sad news out of Bristol as ESPN anchor Stuart Scott will undergo chemotherapy treatments after doctors discovered cancerous tissue,” Marcus Vanderberg reported Saturday for SportsNewser. “In 2007, Scott underwent chemotherapy after an emergency appendectomy discovered a malignancy surrounding his appendix. He will try to maintain a normal work schedule during his treatments. ‘There are 28 million cancer survivors worldwide,’ Scott said in a statement. ‘You know what that means?..we’ve got a strong army!! . . . ‘ “
- “When Alutiiq Manufacturing Contractors won a $28 million stimulus contract to replace windows at a federal building in Boston, it wasn’t just a win for Alutiiq natives on Alaska’s Kodiak Island,” Michael Grabell and Jennifer LaFleur reported Thursday for ProPublica. “The company, which can obtain large government contracts without competition under a program meant to help Alaska natives, took what’s become a common step. It subcontracted out $23 million, or about 80 percent of the project, to a more experienced firm — in Alabama. Critics of Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) say such pass-throughs increase costs for taxpayers and undermine the intent of the contracting privileges by diverting benefits to non-native firms. ANCs respond that they are simply trying to build the most-qualified team to do the government’s work.”
- Explaining the 1983 origin of the Native American Journalists Association, Tim Giago wrote Monday, “The two people most responsible for funding us in the early days were Jerry Sass and Al Neuharth of the Gannett Foundation.” The group was originally called the Native American Press Association and its conveners met June 22-24, 1983, at Penn State. Neuharth is better known as the founder of USA Today.
- In Miami, “Ex-WPLG-Channel 10 anchor Charles Perez’s complaint against the station — that management fired him because he is gay — has been dismissed,” Steve Rothaus reported Friday for the Miami Herald. ” ‘I have satisfactorily resolved all my differences with the company,’ says Perez, who won’t elaborate on whether there was a financial settlement.”
- Essence magazine is holding its fourth annual Oscar-week Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon on Feb. 24 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the magazine announced on Monday. It will honor Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Loretta Devine and Viola Davis “and will celebrate African-American women who, through their work in Hollywood, have inspired positive images of Black women around the world,” the announcement said.
- “As part of ESPN’s Black History Month coverage, the network will air Wendell Scott: A Race Story,” Marcus Vanderberg wrote for SportsNewser. “The film is about Wendell Scott, the first and only African-American to win a race in NASCAR’s top series. It airs Sunday, Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN, hours after the 53rd annual Daytona 500.”
- In Vietnam, a journalist “who was set on fire as he slept has died of his injuries,” the BBC reported on Sunday. “Le Hoang Hung died 10 days after an intruder broke into his home, doused him with chemicals and set him on fire.”
- “Reporters Without Borders is dismayed to learn that two newspaper journalists based in the eastern city of Port Sudan have been accused of trying to overthrow the constitution, a charge punishable by hanging, just for raising the possibility of eastern Sudan’s secession in an article,” the press freedom organization said on Friday, writing about Sudan. “The two journalists — Abdelgader Bakash and Abouisha Kazem, the editor of the weekly Bar’ut — were arrested in Port Sudan on 10 January, one day after Kazem published an article by Bakash referring to the start on 9 January of a referendum on self-determination for South Sudan and calling for self-determination for the extremely impoverished east of the country.”
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