Maynard Institute archives

Journal-isms 3/25

by richard0511

Hispanic, Asian Populations Grew Fastest During Decade


Mixup Leads to Call Reporters Have Nightmares About


Obama to Address Nation Monday Night on Libya


Mexican Media Outlets Agree on Guidelines for Covering Drug War


Chairman of Black-Newspaper Publishers Targets Toyota


School Newspapers in Resurgence on Pine Ridge Reservation


Surveys Show “Millions” of Conservatives Choose NPR, Host Says


Short Takes



In this Washington Post video, District of Columbia residents discuss demographic changes. The Post headline read, “Blacks’ majority status slips away.” In the New York Times, it was, “Wave of Blacks Moving South.” (Video)


Hispanic, Asian Populations Grew Fastest During Decade


“The U.S. Census Bureau released today the second in a series of 2010 Census briefs, Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 [PDF], which looks at our nation’s changing racial and ethnic diversity and provides a snapshot of the racial and Hispanic origin composition of the United States,” the Census Bureau reported on Thursday.


“The examination of racial and ethnic group distributions nationally shows that while the non-Hispanic white alone population is still numerically and proportionally the largest major race and ethnic group in the United States, it is also growing at the slowest rate. Conversely, the Hispanic and Asian populations have grown considerably, in part because of relatively higher levels of immigration.


“More than half of the growth in the total U.S. population between 2000 and 2010 was because of the increase in the Hispanic population. Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population grew by 43 percent, rising from 35.3 million in 2000 to 50.5 million in 2010. The rise in the Hispanic population accounted for more than half of the 27.3 million increase in the total U.S. population. By 2010, Hispanics comprised 16 percent of the total U.S. population of 308.7 million.


“The non-Hispanic population grew relatively slower over the decade at about 5 percent. Within the non-Hispanic population, the number of people who reported their race as white alone grew even slower (1 percent). While the non-Hispanic white alone population increased numerically from 194.6 million to 196.8 million over the 10-year period, its proportion of the total population declined from 69 percent to 64 percent.


“The overwhelming majority (97 percent) of the total U.S. population reported only one race in 2010. This group totaled 299.7 million. Of these, the largest group reported white alone (223.6 million), accounting for 72 percent of all people living in the United States. The black or African-American population totaled 38.9 million and represented 13 percent of the total population.


“Approximately 14.7 million people (about 5 percent of all respondents) identified their race as Asian alone. There were 2.9 million respondents who indicated American Indian and Alaska Native alone (0.9 percent). The smallest major race group was Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone (0.5 million), which represented 0.2 percent of the total population. The remainder of respondents who reported only one race, 19.1 million people (6 percent of all respondents), were classified as ‘some other race’ alone.


“Nine million people reported more than one race in the 2010 Census and made up about 3 percent of the total population. Ninety-two percent of people who reported multiple races provided exactly two races in 2010; white and black was the largest multiple-race combination.”




Mixup Leads to Call Reporters Have Nightmares About


Anthony Blackmon, left, and Anthony Barder. (Credit: Colin Fogarty for NPR/Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)“It started with the kind of call every reporter has nightmares about,” Colin Ferguson told NPR listeners on Thursday.


” ‘We made a serious error and are profoundly sorry,’ said Judy Stavisky, executive director of Friends of the Children.


“In February, I profiled a boy named Anthony who had participated in Friends of the Children, a mentoring program for at-risk kids in Portland, Ore. His was a story of success, but there was one problem: He wasn’t the right Anthony.


“The story was supposed to be a follow-up to one that first aired 10 years ago, and the mentoring group tried to help me find the Anthony I originally interviewed — they hadn’t given me his last name back then because he was just 8 years old.


“Stavisky calls the mixup an ‘honest mistake.’


“. .. Anthony Blackmon, from last month’s profile, is in college and said Friends of the Children helped him overcome the odds to get there.


“. . . Anthony Barber dropped out of Friends of the Children in high school because he moved away. He’s now 19 years old and not exactly what you’d call an inspiration.”


“While Blackmon is in college, Barber is in the Multnomah County Detention Center in Portland.”


 


Obama to Address Nation Monday Night on Libya


“President Obama plans to talk about the military operation in Libya on Monday evening in a nationally televised speech at the National Defense University, the White House said, offering his first formal explanation of the goals of this increasingly complex and dangerous mission,” Mark Landler reported Friday in the New York Times. “Mr. Obama has come under criticism from Republicans in Congress for failing to provide a coherent explanation of the operation, which is in its sixth day. Administration officials say the air strikes have averted a rout by Col. [Moammar Gaddafi] in the Libyan city of Benghazi and established a no-fly zone over Libya.”



Mexican Media Outlets Agree on Guidelines for Covering Drug War


“Many of Mexico’s top media companies agreed Thursday on first-ever guidelines for covering a drug war that has drastically increased risks for journalists,” Ken Ellingwood reported Friday for the Los Angeles Times.


“The 10-point accord, covering more than 700 outlets across the country, calls on news-gathering organizations to find ways to protect their journalists and avoid glorifying crime bosses.


“The guidelines also urge news organizations to unite against threats to journalists, such as by jointly publishing stories. Under the agreement, the companies should draw up standards for showing violent images, such as decapitated bodies, and provide more context when reporting on drug violence.


“Mexico’s drug war, launched by President Felipe Calderon in late 2006, has put Mexican news organizations in a tough spot: They have been attacked or threatened by drug gangs and also accused by the government and others of sensationalizing carnage that has killed more than 35,000 people.


” ‘The media have a responsibility to act with professionalism and question ourselves about the potential implications of how news is handled,’ the six-page agreement says.


“But written guidelines may do little practical good in zones such as the northern state of Tamaulipas, where drug gangs have already in effect muzzled news organizations, leaving residents in the dark about the violence raging around them. Many people in these places rely on social networks, such as Twitter, to trade information on street shootouts and other incidents.”



Chairman of Black-Newspaper Publishers Targets Toyota


Columnist George Curry, left, questioned Benjamin Chavis, at a National Newspaper Publishers Association event at the National Press Club. The NNPA is supporting a pardon for Chavis, one of the 'Wilmington 10.'“I have recently been shocked and appalled by ads that I and other Black publishers saw in several major newspapers (The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.) confirming that Toyota spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise in White mainstream daily news-papers “THANKING” their general market consumers for their loyalty and patronage to Toyota during their time of major controversy and concerns over the safety of Toyota’s vehicles Danny Bakewell, chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, wrote in a column this week.


“Thanking their customers is a smart move on Toyota’s behalf and one that I applaud. However, we can’t overlook the fact that Black people represent almost 10 percent of Toyota’s American market share, and with a $1.2 billion annual advertising budget it is not unreasonable for the Black Press to always expect to have a stake in Toyota’s advertising (including Black advertising agencies). Nevertheless, Black newspapers were left off Toyota’s latest marketing campaign, sending a clear and direct message that the Black consumer is still being taken for granted and Black people are still being disrespected and undervalued,” wrote Bakewell, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel.


“. . . As chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, I represent 200 Black publishers throughout America. I am challenging Toy-ota’s chairman and CEO to do the right thing and meet with me to discuss the future of their relationship with Black consumers and whether or not we as Black newspaper publishers should continue supporting Toyota or should organize a campaign to take Black brand loyalty to Toyota elsewhere. WE WILL NOT BUY WHERE WE ARE DISRESPECTED….THAT IS A PROMISE!”


At an NNPA luncheon last week, Mary Alice Thatch, publisher of the Wilmington (N.C.) Journal, provided a historical retrospective on the Wilmington 10, who were falsely convicted and imprisoned in 1972 on arson and conspiracy charges. The case became an international cause celebre and while their convictions were overturned in 1980, no pardon was issued.


“NNPA is rallying its member newspapers to support that cause in the year ahead,” Khalil Abdullah reported for New America Media. Benjamin Chavis Jr., one of the 10 who went on to briefly become president of the NAACP, spoke to the group.


 



Little Wound High School journalism students check their published work. Their newspaper is a supplement to the Lakota County Times. (Photo credit: Jared Reddy)


School Newspapers in Resurgence on Pine Ridge Reservation


A new journalism teacher and an enthusiastic newspaper publisher are giving Native American teens on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota an opportunity to be heard,” Jim Kent wrote last week for the voice of America.


“The school newspaper isn’t just circulated around school. It’s also read across the reservation — and the region — as a supplement to the Lakota Country Times.


“The Mustangs of Little Wound High School on the Pine Ridge Reservation are hoping to have a winning basketball season this year. But basketball isn’t the only group activity that’s been rebounding at Little Wound.


“Speaking over the noise of the classroom heater, Nicky Oulette gives her 12 students some pointers on what makes a story newsworthy. Oulette is the first journalism teacher Little Wound has had in years. Her arrival last fall helped spark the resurgence of an activity that’s also been absent for some time: the school newspaper.


” . . . Other student papers have been incorporated into Native American newspapers, but it’s not the norm, according to Jeff Harjo, executive director of the Native American Journalists Association, who notes that the Association’s slogan is “raising the next generation of storytellers.”


“. . . The Mustang News inspired two other schools on the Pine Ridge reservation to publish their own papers, and they take turns being circulated in the Lakota Country Times. Publisher Connie Smith’s goal is to have a student newspaper in every reservation school.”


Surveys Show “Millions” of Conservatives Choose NPR, Host Says


“The facts show that NPR attracts a politically diverse audience of 33.7 million weekly listeners to its member stations on-air,” Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” wrote Thursday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “In surveys by GfK MRI, most listeners consistently identify themselves as ‘middle of the road’ or ‘conservative.’ Millions of conservatives choose NPR, even with powerful conservative alternatives on the radio.”


 “I’ve met an incredible variety of listeners in my travels. The audience includes students, peace activists, and American soldiers I met in Iraq. They’re among many people in the military who rely on NPR’s international coverage. When I was NPR’s Pentagon correspondent, I discovered that it’s a prize beat, because on every base you meet people who already know who you are. Many other Americans are listening in places like Indiana, my home state, or Kentucky, where I first worked in public radio. Not much of the media pays attention to the middle of the country, but NPR and its local stations do. Many NPR stations have added news staff as local newspapers have declined.


“Conservatives in our diverse audience let us know when they disagree with our coverage — as do liberals, who’ve sent notes for years to advise me that I am conservative. Most listeners understand that we’re all figuring out the world together, calmly and honestly, in an atmosphere of mutual respect.”


Short Takes



  • “While many city halls and state capitals have lost news-media enterprise, Capitol Hill looks like journalism’s growth market,” Paul Farhi wrote Friday in the Washington Post, citing hiring by National Journal, Bloomberg, Politico,, Roll Call, and CQ. “New energy is coming from the online side, too: the Huffington Post, RealClearPolitics, Daily Caller and Talking Points Memo, among others, have started doing original reporting from the Hill.”


  • Chris Brown’s independent publicist, Tammy Brook, has parted ways with the singer, Brook confirmed to Billboard,” Billboard reported. “On Tuesday, Brown reportedly smashed a window, tore off his shirt and stormed out of the “Good Morning America” studios after being asked repeatedly about his 2009 assault on Rihanna; he later apologized. However, Brook did not directly reference the incident when discussing her departure from Brown’s camp.”


  • “As of today, the biggest media error in terms of virality is Fox News’s misidentification of a Tokyo nightclub as a power plant. That’s good for a chuckle, but it also speaks to a larger complaint that the media is spreading misinformation about the situation at Japan’s nuclear facilities.” Craig Silverman wrote Friday for Columbia Journalism Review. “… the basic problem is that most journalists simply don’t have a clue when it comes to science and engineering. They don’t understand what they’re writing about; they don’t know which questions to ask; they don’t understand that science, unlike the arts, is ultimately about provability and falsifiability, not interpretation and opinion; they don’t know when government advice is reasonable and when it’s terrified CYA boilerplate; and they don’t know when to call bullshit on whatever source they have dredged up to provide ‘balance,’ which they worship beyond all explanation.”


  • “After the Daily Caller published an interview in which conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart “called former White House adviser Van Jones a ‘commie punk,’ a ‘cop killer-supporting, racist, demagogic freak,’ a ‘cockroach,’ and a ‘human toxin,'” Arianna Huffington agreed to take his works off the HuffPo homepage, New York magazine reported Friday. “(A group Jones founded, Color for Change, had criticized the website for continuing to publish Breitbart’s writing, calling him a ‘race-baiter’ and criticizing his style of journalism.)”


  • “In honor of Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8th,” the Indian Country Today Media Network “debuts Navajo writer Valerie Taliman’s new series on the growing human rights crisis in Canada where more than 600 Native women are missing or have been murdered,” the network said on Thursday. “More than half of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples are women, and for most, the world is a difficult place. Indigenous women bear the brunt of violence, war, poverty, homelessness, poor health, disease and a lack of access to education and employment opportunities. In the United States and Canada, statistics indicate one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime.”


  • Using Google search, Nate Silver tallied how often various news organizations were cited as having “reported” news. . . (instead of just writing about someone else’s reporting), Ujala Sehgal reported Thursday for FishbowlNY., “The fascinating results: ‘Collectively, just eight of the 260 organizations accounted for more than half the citations for reporting.’ The point he makes by this exercise is simple: there is a lot of competition for where to read the news, but little competition for actually reporting the news. And ‘the sort of reporting that organizations like CNN, The New York Times, The Associated Press, the BBC and Al Jazeera do… doesn’t come cheaply.’ ”


  • Louise Davis Stone“Louise Davis Stone will always be remembered for her elegance, eloquent prose and commitment to the arts,” Jan Ransom wrote Friday in the Philadelphia Daily News. ” ‘She was always elegant in every way, her dress, her attitude,’ said Richard Aregood, Daily News public editor. ‘She was a class act.’ ” “Stone, who wrote opinion pieces in the Daily News from the late ’70s until the early ’90s, died Tuesday at age 79.” She was the former wife of Chuck Stone, a former Daily News columnist and founding president of the National Association of Black Journalists.


  • “I felt privileged when I recently received an electronic copy of a February 1970 advertisement in the New York Amsterdam News, a Black newspaper that thankfully still exists. The 41 year-old ad was a ‘message to the Black community’ from 69 Black journalists in support of Black New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell,” a co-founder of the Maynard Institute, Glen Ford, executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com, wrote. “. . . That was February 1970. It is almost impossible to imagine that so large and prominent a group of Black journalists would affirm their responsibility to the Black community today — or even acknowledge that such a responsibility exists.”


  • “Reporters Without Borders is having difficulty establishing whether Cameroonian mobile phone operator MTN’s Twitter via SMS service has finally been restored after being blocked for about 10 days at the government’s behest. Contradictory statements are being made,” the press-freedom organization said Tuesday. “After initially blaming a technical problem, MTN admitted that it had blocked the service on orders from the government.”


  • “The 19th annual NABJ Multimedia Short Course was held March 16-19 Students from 14 prestigious universities from across the nation who have a career interest in journalism participated in this four-day program,” Essence Lee reported Wednesday for the A&T Register at North Carolina A&T State University, referring to the National Association of Black Journalists. “The event featured important information from professionals in the journalism field including Anthony Wilson, news reporter and anchor for ABC 11 in Durham, N.C.; Charlitta Rodrigues, content producer for NBC Universal in Washington, D.C.; Anzio Williams, news director for KCRA-TV and KQCA-TV in Sacramento, Calif., and many more.”


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