NABJ President to Address Members on Unity
Reporters Committee Holds First Meeting With Sitting President
Few Journalists of Color Analyzing Libya Speech
Libyan Woman Snatched as She Tells Foreign Media of Rape
Libyan Newscaster Brings AK-47 to Anchor Desk
NABJ President to Address Members on Unity
Kathy Times, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, plans to write to NABJ members on Tuesday regarding NABJ’s status within Unity: Journalists of Color, she said Monday night.
Over the weekend, the Unity board met face to face for the first time since NABJ raised the possibility of pulling out of the 2012 Unity convention. The Unity board made concessions to NABJ, but some NABJ board members Monday challenged a Journal-isms statement and headline stating that the concessions reduced the likelihood of such a pullout.
The meeting ended with one of the key disagreements between NABJ and its Unity partners unchanged: the revenue split between the associations and the Unity umbrella group. NABJ’s proposals had been voted down by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association. Instead, they voted to change the formula in a different way.
Members said there was no formal vote to revisit the financial split. Michele Salcedo, president of NAHJ, said during the Unity meeting on Sunday, “We ended up with a revenue sharing plan that was virtually identical to what was passed a few weeks ago. We’re all committed to coming up with a process that is equitable for everyone.”
Much of the meeting at Gannett Co. headquarters in McLean, Va., was held in executive session, with non-board members excluded.
Times, the only Unity board member who is also a member of the NABJ boards, emerged from the meeting Sunday saying, “Communication was effective. I’m happy to hear the alliance partners . . . have a better understanding of what our concerns are.”
Reporters Committee Holds First Meeting With Sitting President
“The Oval Office meeting — during which the president was given an award for his work thus far in encouraging agencies to release information to the public — was the first time that longtime open government advocates in Washington recalled a sitting president meeting with them to discuss government transparency.
“During the meeting, President Obama reiterated the administration’s commitment to encouraging federal agencies to improve their response rates to Freedom of Information Act requests and to more proactively post government records and databases online. The president also reaffirmed support for a qualified federal shield law protecting reporters’ confidential sources.
“President Obama also said that the administration would continue to support federal legislation to protect from retaliation whistleblowers who report government fraud and other illegal activity, but he noted that it is his duty as president to limit those protections in the cases of government employees who release information that is damaging to national security.
“. . . Joining Dalglish at the White House meeting with the president were: Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch; Tom Blanton, executive director of The National Security Archive at George Washington University; Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight; and Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org.”
The Reporters Committee was created in 1970 during a climate that saw New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell ordered to reveal to a federal grand jury his sources in the Black Panther organization, threatening his independence as a newsgatherer, according to “a short history” on the committee’s website.
“Caldwell’s dilemma prompted a meeting at Georgetown University to discuss the need to provide legal assistance to journalists when their First Amendment rights come under fire. Among those present, or involved soon afterwards, were J. Anthony Lukas, Murray Fromson, Fred Graham, Jack Nelson, Ben Bradlee, Eileen Shanahan, Mike Wallace, Robert Maynard and Tom Wicker.
“They formed a committee that operated part-time and on a shoestring (its first ‘office’ was a desk in the press room at the U.S. Supreme Court). With support from foundations and news organizations, the founders built a staff and began recruiting attorneys to donate their services.”
President Obama spoke in the early evening from the National Defense University in Washington. (Credit: Pete Souza/White House)
Few Journalists of Color Analyzing Libya Speech
In an early-evening speech scheduled to be carried by the major broadcast and cable news networks, “President Obama defended the American-led military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have ‘stained the conscience of the world,’ ” as Helene Cooper phrased it for the New York Times.
Obama’s litany of offenses by Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi included that “Journalists were arrested, sexually assaulted, and killed.” Few journalists of color were visible in the pre- and post-speech commentary, even on CNN or MSNBC.
In an instant blog analysis for the Washington Post, columnist Eugene Robinson, who is often a commentator on MSNBC after such speeches, wrote:
” ‘It is true that America cannot use our military wherever oppression occurs,’ he said. ‘But that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what’s right.’
“What he didn’t do, though, was explain exactly how ‘what’s right’ differs from what isn’t. He didn’t explain how factors such as politics or oil should figure in decisions on whether to intervene. He didn’t explain which conflicts are worthy of ground troops and which are not. The Obama Doctrine’s outlines are clear, but the details are hard to make out.”
In a “fact check” of the speech, Calvin Woodward and Richard Lardner of the Associated Press wrote, “There may be less than meets the eye to President Barack Obama’s statements Monday night that NATO is taking over from the U.S. in Libya and that U.S. action is limited to defending people under attack there by Moammar [Gaddafi’s] forces.”
Univision was to air at 7 p.m. Eastern time an education town hall meeting featuring Obama addressing students, teachers and parents. It was filmed earlier in the day at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington.
- Jonathan Hicks, New York Amsterdam News: Obama’s Libyan dilemma
- Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Modest Support for Libya Airstrikes, No Clear Goal Seen; Little Public Interest in Libyan Mission
- Marisa Trevino, Latina Lista blog: Three reasons to be pessimistic on improving Latino academic achievement
- Dr. Boyce Watkins, theGrio.com: Farrakhan goes to war with Obama over Libya
- Peter Wallsten, Washington Post: Obama rewarding local stations in battleground states with biggest ‘get’ in TV news
Libyan government minders try to prevent Minders tried to prevent Iman Obeidi from speaking to foreign journalists. (Credit: Sky News)
Libyan Woman Snatched as She Tells Foreign Media of Rape
“The Libyan government claims an alleged Libyan gang rape victim who took her case to the international media in Tripoli is safe and secure. But a rights group says Libyan authorities have a history of abusing rape victims and shouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt,” Borzou Daragahi reported from Tripoli, Libya, for the Los Angeles Times.
“Iman Obeidi has been missing since Saturday, when she was forcibly bundled into a car and driven off by Libyan security officials after she alleged to reporters that members of Moammar [Gaddafi’s] notorious militias gang raped and imprisoned her for two days.
“Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group that has been trying unsuccessfully to gain access to Libya, demanded that her family and international media be allowed to independently verify the official claim that she is free and safe.
“ ‘The last time Obeidi was seen, she was bruised and recounting a horrible account of rape, then was snatched from journalists by security forces,’ Nadya Khalife, women’s rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, said in a press announcement. ‘The government needs to produce her, free her, find out what happened and prosecute anyone who violated the law.’
“Until the media and her family have that verification, assume that that she remains in state custody, the rights group urged.”
- Tom Rayner, Sky News: Arrests After Benghazi Woman’s Rape Claim
Libyan newscaster says, “In the name of almighty god, I pledge to you dear leader that I will sacrifice my last breathe, my last bullet, my last drop of blood, my last baby and child for you.” (Credit: businessinsider.com)
Libyan Newscaster Brings AK-47 to Anchor Desk
“A newscaster on a pro-[Moammar Gaddafi] television show wanted to make a point about the greatness of the Libyan leader,” Noah Davis wrote Friday for businessinsider.com.
“He used some serious firepower to do so, bringing an AK-47 to the anchor desk to prove Qaddafi’s willingness to arm his people.
” ‘I’m ready at any time, awake or asleep, to defend the country. This is our weapon,’ the anchor said.”
- Habibou Bangré, theRoot.com: African Women and the ‘Arab Spring’
- CNN.com staff: CNN cameraman faces gun, has camera smashed in Libya hotel
- Joe Pompeo, Yahoo: LIBYA MEDIA WATCH: Journos clash with security forces; too much news for U.S. citizens to process
- Reuters: Reuters journalists freed in Syria
Short Takes
- “Katie Couric is on vacation this week — perhaps her last as the anchor of the CBS Evening News ,” Chris Ariens wrote for TVNewser. “She won’t be interviewing the president tomorrow, like her cross-network colleagues Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams will be. (CBS’ Erica Hill, who is filling in on Evening News, will conduct the interview.) “Two months from now — if you believe all the reports of the last few days — she’ll be out of the anchor chair and on to her new TV life, most likely daytime syndication.” TVNewser’s poll, “Who should be the next anchor of the CBS Evening News?” includes black journalists Lester Holt and Russ Mitchell.
- “Federal government officials yesterday refused to let a reporter from the Rapid City Journal sit in on a major meeting to discuss how to improve the quality of health care for Native Americans,” the editorial board of the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal wrote on Friday. “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Indian Health Service, met this week with tribal leaders from an eight-state region. . . . An official from Health and Human Services said the meeting was closed at the request of tribal leaders.”
- “In the wake of the March 11th earthquake that struck Japan and caused a devastating tsunami, many publishers are offering assistance in the relief effort,” Stefanie Botelho wrote Friday for Folio, listing some of the efforts.
- In Jackson, Miss., Jobie L. Martin, 93, was pronounced dead at the scene Saturday after reportedly driving northbound in the southbound lane on I-220 and striking two other vehicles head-on, Cassandra Mickens reported for the Clarion-Ledger. “Martin hosted a TV variety program titled ‘The Jobie Martin Show,’ which aired on WLBT and WAPT in the 1970s. Known as ‘the Loud Mouth of the South,’ Martin was the first African American in Mississippi to host a commercial TV show.”
- Jonathan Katz and Rukmini Callimachi of the Associated Press won a first place National Headliner Award of the Press Club of Atlantic City for “News beat coverage or continuing story by an individual or team.” Their entry was titled, “Haiti,” the AP reported Friday.
- “After 33 years of touching his audience with the human drama behind a story, Ken Screven has turned off his microphone at CBS6, ending an award-winning career that took him to Georgia to trace his roots and throughout the Capital Region to find the stories that hit home,” Carol Demare reported for the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union. “Screven, 60, Albany bureau chief for the Niskayuna-based television station, began his career with the CBS affiliate in May 1978 after a little more than a year at WROW radio in Albany. His smooth bass voice was his trademark.”
- Karen Parker, recently retired from the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, recalled at a Saturday event, “The Negro Beat: Breaking News and Breaking Barriers,” “I got kicked off the copy desk because whites didn’t want me editing their copy. And, this is 1962, 1963. So, those things have changed tremendously.” The International Civil Rights Center and Museum in downtown Greensboro hosted the event, Kimberly Page reported for WFMY in Greenboro.
- “This article in the Union Weekly, a student publication at California State University Long Beach, sparked a strong reaction among the Native community,” JoKay Dowell reported Monday in Native American Times. Noah Kelly covered a powwow held on the California State University Long Beach campus, introducing the setting as a “Native American-themed flea market.” “Using expletives to describe the food he saw, including fry bread, Kelly asked, ‘What the f… is an Indian taco?’ He went on to compare the dish to Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza, ‘only shittier.’ ”
- “According to news accounts, Côte d’Ivoire is a tense, unsafe paralyzed West African country because of a contested presidential election in which incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede his office to Alassane Ouattara, whom the international community – especially France and the U.S. — has proclaimed the winner of the recent presidential election,” George Curry wrote from that country for the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service. “. . . Unlike the western world, people here are not consumed with the nation’s intractable political crisis.”
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