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Journal-isms 3/25

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


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


“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



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