Maynard Institute archives

Ebony, Univision Join News Conference Mix

by richard0491

Obama Broadens Pool of White House Questioners

President Obama broadened the pool of questioners at White House news conferences Tuesday night by calling on representatives of Ebony magazine, Univision and Stars and Stripes, the publication for military service members. 

For Tuesday's news conference, the average audience across 11 networks totaled 40.3 million. (Credit: MSNBC)"Indeed, there were no questions from the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or USA Today," as Michael Calderone noted on his Politico blog.

Networks covering the news conference were so unprepared for Univision to be called upon that some had no name to superimpose on the screen when reporter Lourdes Meluza asked her question.

After Obama’s first prime-time news conference as president last month, Hazel Trice Edney, editor of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America, was quoted telling colleagues, "We were nothing more than window dressing." She had a front-row seat then but was not called upon.

Obama’s plans to redress the nation’s economic straits dominated Tuesday’s news conference, but the president also took a question on race, from Ann Compton of ABC News.

"Yours is a rather historic presidency," she said. "And I’m just wondering whether, in any of the policy debates that you’ve had within the White House, the issue of race has come up or whether it has in the way you feel you’ve been perceived by other leaders or by the American people? Or has the last 64 days been a relatively colorblind time?"

Obama replied, "I think that the last 64 days has been dominated by me trying to figure out how we’re going to fix the economy, and that affects black, brown and white.

Ebony's Kevin Chappell said the president was 'thorough' in answering his question on homelessness."And, you know, obviously, at the inauguration, I think that there was justifiable pride on the part of the country that we had taken a step to move us beyond some of the searing legacies of racial discrimination in this country, but that lasted about a day.

"And, you know, right now, the American people are judging me exactly the way I should be judged. And that is: Are we taking the steps to improve liquidity in the financial markets, create jobs, get businesses to reopen, keep America safe? And that’s what I’ve been spending my time thinking about."

Compton’s question was immediately preceded by one from Kevin Chappell, Washington bureau chief of Ebony and Jet magazines, which followed a question from Univision, the Spanish-language network.

"Today your administration presented a plan to help curb the violence in Mexico and also to control any or prevent any spillover of the violence into the United States," Meluza said. "Do you consider the situation now a national security threat?

"And do you believe that it could require sending national troops to the border? Governor Perry of Texas has said that you still need more troops and more agents. How do you respond to that?" referring to Gov. Rick Perry.

"We are sending millions of dollars in additional equipment to provide more effective surveillance," Obama said. "We are providing hundreds of additional personnel that can help control the border, deal with customs issues. We are coordinating very effectively with the Mexican government and President Calderon, who has taken on a(n) extraordinarily difficult task dealing with these drug cartels that have gotten completely out of hand," referring to Felipe Calderon.

The president also said, "if the steps that we’ve taken do not get the job done, then we will do more."

Chappell asked Obama, "A recent report found that as a result of the economic downturn, one in 50 children are now homeless in America. With shelters at full capacity, tent cities are sprouting up across the country.

"In passing your stimulus package, you said that help was on the way, but what would you say to these families, especially children, who are sleeping under bridges and in tents across the country?"

"The most important thing that I can do on their behalf is to make sure their parents have a job," Obama replied, outlining items in his recovery package that address unemployment.

He continued, "Part of the change in attitudes that I want to see here in Washington and all across the country is a belief that it is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours. And so we’re going to be initiating a range of programs as well to deal with homelessness.

"One area in particular I want to focus on is the issue of veterans."

Chappell told Journal-isms afterward, "I think that the president was thorough in his answer to my question. I believe increased homelessness in today’s economy is affecting people across racial and socio-economic lines."

Compton said, "We were all amused by his observation that the historic notice of his inauguration ‘lasted about a day.’

"And satisfied that the question seemed to come as a surprise, not something he expected.  I had several questions in mind, but thought the two month point is an appropriate time to get him on the  record about the issue of race."

As with previous news conferences, questioners were selected in advance. But, as Compton noted in an e-mail, "reporters do not know in advance they are on the list given to the Pres."

Michael H. Cottman, who covered the event for BlackAmericaWeb.com, said he counted about 10 black journalists in the room. About 300 in all were present, Cynthia Gordy of essence.com, who was also present, wrote on her blog.

On CNN, pundits presented the range of reactions to Obama’s performance. Roland Martin said the president had undertaken a "smart strategy" in urging patience, echoing Obama’s closing words, "This is big ocean liner; it’s not a speedboat. It doesn’t turn around immediately." But Bill Bennett, a former Reagan administration official, said Obama had entered a "murderers row" with a press corps that had lost its infatuation with the president.¬†

 

The 3 Papers Obama Reads Each Morning

March 23, 2009

 

President Obama tells "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft, "People keep on asking me, ‘Well, what are you reading these days?’ Well, mostly briefing books. You know, you get a little time to read – history or – you know, policy books that are of interest. But there’s a huge amount of information that has to be digested, especially right now." (Credit: CBS)

President Says It’s Workout, Breakfast, Then Newsprint

It was just a passing reference in President Obama’s account of how he spent his morning, but with traditional media outlets battling for survival, the words took on added significance.

Asked at the White House by Steve Kroft of CBS’ "60 Minutes" whether he had settled into a routine, Obama said:

"After the workout, have breakfast, read the papers, read my morning security briefing. And then I come down here and talk to our national security team. Then we talk to the economic team. After that, who knows? Anything goes. But – typically – between 7 and 10, I sort of know what I’m doing."

"Read the papers," he said. Not "read a paper." Nor did the man famous for his campaign’s mastery of 21st century technology say, "fire up the computer."

Obama met in January with the staff of the Washington Post, one of the papers he reads daily. (Credit: Bill Snead/Washington Post)The chosen ones are the Washington Post, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Corey A. Ealons, director of African American Media and coordinator of special projects, told Journal-isms.

Reading those papers is not a given.

Former president George W. Bush famously said he did not read newspapers, and left it to his staff to provide him with what he called unbiased news. The first lady, Laura Bush, later said her husband was just posturing – the couple actually read five national papers every morning, according to Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times.

Perhaps just as notably, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaigning as the Republican nominee for vice president, failed to name a single newspaper or magazine when CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked her in September where she got her information. Later, she told People magazine that she has always been a "voracious reader."

In 2007, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, still wounded by coverage of his bruising confirmation hearing 16 years earlier, told C-Span’s Brian Lamb that reading newspapers would not be "a good use of my time."

"So, you don’t read the Post in the morning?" Lamb asked.

"No. I used to read the New York Post, but that was about it," Thomas replied. Unlike the others, Thomas let his remarks stand.

Presidents do have their preferences. The conservative Washington Times was a favorite during the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations. John F. Kennedy, the president Obama is most often compared with, displayed his pique with the New York Herald Tribune, a leading paper of the day, by canceling the White House subscription. When JFK found a puppy litter box being lined with the newspaper, he said, ‘It’s finally found its proper use.’

In what was likely a first, the nation’s first black president hosted members of the black press in the White House Friday, the same day he spoke with Kroft. Members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association presented the president with their Newsmaker of the Year award.

It turned out to be a good day. CBS won its first Sunday in months, thanks to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the ’60 Minutes’ interview, which followed, Toni Fitzgerald reported for Media Life magazine.

Publisher Laurel Champion says the new Ann Arbor site will be built "from the ground up."

Another Blue Monday for the Newspaper Business

It was another blue Monday for the newspaper industry, as the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News announced it will close in July, the Gannett Co. and Advance Publications both announced further furloughs, and other papers said more cuts were in the works.

"Heavy losses in revenue drove the decision" in Ann Arbor, reported the News, which claims a daily circulation of "nearly 45,000." Publisher Laurel Champion said the current "business model is not sustainable."

"A new Web-based media company called AnnArbor.com LLC will be launched later this year. In addition to publishing continuously online, AnnArbor.com will publish a print edition twice a week," the story said.

"Champion, who will be executive vice president of AnnArbor.com, told News employees they can apply for positions with the new company, although job losses are inevitable."

The newspaper did not participate in the annual diversity census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and neither Champion nor editor Ed Petykiewicz responded to questions about the diversity of its staff. Journalists of color seemed absent on its Web site on Monday.

Advance Publications is "instituting mandatory 10-day furloughs and a pension freeze at nearly all of its daily papers outside Michigan, according to Steve Newhouse, chairman of Advance.net and a company spokesman," Joe Strupp reported for Editor & Publisher.

"Word of the furloughs began to spread last week, but formal announcements were going out today at most of the company’s Newhouse Newspapers, including The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.; The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; The Oregonian in Portland; The Times-Picayune in New Orleans; and The Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance, as well as the chain’s dailies in Syracuse, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Harrisburg, Pa."

At Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper-based company, CEO Craig Dubrow said in a memo, "We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company. Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.

"One of those choices was between more layoffs or another round of furloughs. We chose, for most employees, a furlough program consisting of at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May or June."

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said it would cut its workforce by 14.6 percent and reduce the pay of most remaining employees. A total of 30 newsroom positions — 19 full-time and 11 part-time — will be eliminated, it said.

The Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader began notifying employees affected by a workforce reduction there on Monday, according to that newspaper. A cost-cutting plan is to result in the layoffs of 49 full-time and four part-time employees, and includes a 5 percent wage reduction for all employees who make $25,000 or more annually, according to the Herald-Leader. "Members of the newspaper’s executive group, including the publisher, will have a 10 percent reduction in salary, and their bonus plan will be eliminated for 2009," it added.

Employees of the Houston Chronicle were told on Monday that "the major portion" of its "reorganization plan," in which regular full-time and contract positions are being reduced about 12 percent, will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.

Columnists Tell Readers How It Feels From Inside

In North Dakota, Dorreen Yellow Bird; in Texas, David Flores"When Steve Kroft of CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ asked President Barack Obama why he was seemingly light-hearted Sunday night while talking about this country’s financial woes, Obama said sometimes he and his staff use ‘gallows humor’ to get through the day," Merlene Davis, columnist for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, told readers on Monday.

"I knew exactly what he was talking about because we here at the Herald-Leader have often employed a type of humor that arises when the future looks very bleak, to deal with the stress of pending layoffs and wage reductions for a few weeks now.

"The ax fell Monday, but there was no humor to be heard.

". . . there are people who are losing their homes, losing their lifestyles, losing their self-respect.

"Nothing about that should be celebrated. Nothing."

As newspapers shrink, it has often fallen to familiar faces — some losing their own jobs — to explain to readers how it feels from the inside.

"The people who have left our fold gave much of their lives — five, 10, 20, 30, yes, even more years — to the Express-News and its readers. They never thought our work would be done, and never wanted it to be done," Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, told readers on Sunday.

"This is a column I had hoped I wouldn’t have to write until I retired, 10 or so years down the road. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out that way," David Flores, Express-News high school sports columnist, began in a farewell column on Friday.

Metro columnist Ken Rodriguez wrote the same day, "Since learning in late February that my final piece would appear today, I’ve changed the focus of this column. There is a need for watchdog reporting, yes. And there is a need to expose public corruption. But there’s also a need to inspire, a need to tell stories that touch the heart and make you say: "Wow, there’s hope for this world."

He concluded, "I’m not sure where my next adventure will lead, but I hope to see you along the way."

In the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, reporter and columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird told readers on Saturday, "On March 12, I started a new chapter in my life. Although I had planned to move home this summer, my plans were moved up by three months when I was laid off along with eight other Herald employees.

"As it turns out, the layoff for me was a good thing because I can go home. The Herald also is giving me a chance to continue my column. When I‚Äôm settled into my new ‘digs’ at home near Garrison, N.D., I will write again. . . . I‚Äôll be moving to a parcel of reservation land where I‚Äôm hoping I‚Äôll have a house built in the next six months."

Arrested Journalists Taken to N. Korean Capital

"The two American women journalists who were arrested at the border between North Korea and China on 17 March have been transferred by the North Korean authorities to Pyongyang for questioning," Reporters Without Borders reported on Monday.

In custody in Pyongyang: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling"The detention of Euna Lee (who is of Korean descent) and Laura Ling (who is of Chinese descent) was confirmed by the North Korean press on 21 March. The fact that the state media reported their arrests suggested the government was directly involved."

In the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Sharon Pian Chan, a Seattle Times reporter who is national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, linked the Korea case with that of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been held in a Tehran, Iran, prison for about seven weeks.

"The stories American journalists report from abroad are crucial to understanding U.S. foreign policy and what it means to be a citizen of the world," Chan wrote. "With many newsrooms cutting their foreign coverage, the public is more reliant than ever on the work of freelance and Web journalists willing to risk their personal safety so we may know more. These journalists go abroad because of their commitment to tell stories that would otherwise go untold. With their cultural upbringing, these three Asian-American women were capable of bringing more to their stories — a nuanced perspective of issues affecting Americans, Koreans and Iranians."

Judge Throws Out Golfer John Daly’s Libel Case

"Pro golfer John Daly claimed a Florida newspaper libeled him in a column suggesting he failed ‘the scoundrel sniff test,’ but a judge disagreed," Ron Word reported Monday for the Associated Press.

"Duval County Circuit Judge Hugh Carithers dismissed Daly’s libel lawsuit Monday and granted the Florida Times-Union’s request for summary judgment. He ruled that former columnist Mike Freeman’s statements were either true or constitutionally protected opinion." Freeman now writes for CBSSports.com

"Daly had sued in 2005, alleging a column by Freeman written during The Player’s Championship that year defamed him," Word’s story continued.

"Freeman’s column said: ‘How does Daly not fail the scoundrel sniff test with fans despite possessing definite Thug Life qualifications. Look at the Daly blog. Domestic violence accusations? Yup. Substance abuse issues? Unfortunately, three different kids from three different moms, making him the Shawn Kemp of golf? Yes. A former wife indicted for laundering illegal drug profits? Roger that.’

"Carithers wrote in his opinion that the alleged defamatory statements were opinions based upon disclosed facts. . . . The judge also cited constitutional protections against libel."

2 Detroit Journalists in Need of Kidney Transplants

In Detroit: Jim McFarlin, left, and Hugh GrannumHugh Grannum, "the affable, fun-loving and ‚Äî oh, let’s just say it ‚Äî ?ºbercool photographer" who worked for the Detroit Free Press for 37 years, and Jim McFarlin, "the eternal optimist who spent 16 years covering pop music and TV at the Detroit News before moving to the Metro Times," are both in need of kidney transplants, columnist Rochelle Riley wrote Thursday in the Detroit Free Press.

"Neither predicted this future: hypertension leading to renal disease that requires Grannum, 69, to undergo regular dialysis and both to need kidneys as soon as possible. McFarlin, a 55-year-old with an infectious sense of humor, quit smoking, takes six medications and is on the kidney diet: ‘Anything you like, you can’t eat anymore,’ he said.

"Grannum said he has a six-year window to get a transplant."

McFarlin said, "Four of my dearest friends, a comedy writer in Atlanta, one in Kansas City, one in Los Angeles and one here stepped up and said, ‘Test me!’ I was stunned. The only one who was a match is older than me. And he’s so beat up that they politely said, ‘Thank you for your time, but your organ is almost like the one he’s got now.’

"To help Grannum, contact Harper Hospital at 313-966-4931. To help McFarlin, call Beaumont Hospital at 248-551-2283."

Twitter Appeals to Older Crowd Than Many Believe

"Twitter has become primarily a business tool used by people in their late twenties to early fifties, according to new data from market research firm Nielsen," Rosalie Marshall reported Friday for vnunet.com.

"The micro-blogging site has grown by 1,382 per cent since last year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to seven million in February 2009.

"The Nielsen data shows that the majority of Twitter users are not teenagers or college students, as on many other social networking sites, but are from older generations."

The Nielsen report said, "The ability to twitter via a mobile phone — whether through the mobile Web or via text messages — is a driving factor in the social network’s success. In January, 735,000 unique visitors accessed the Twitter Web site through their mobile phones. The average unique visitor went to Twitter.com 14 times during the month and spent an average of seven minutes on the site."

 

Short Takes

  • Genetta AdamsGenetta Adams, appointed entertainment editor for the Associated Press in September, resigned abruptly on Sunday "to pursue other interests." Adams was based in New York and was responsible for 20 reporters and editors based primarily in New York, London and Los Angeles, according to AP’s September announcement. Adams was assistant managing editor for features and entertainment at Newsday before taking a buyout there a year ago. She did not respond to requests for comment. [Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher reported on Tuesday that Adams, contacted at her New York home, confirmed she had left and said that’s "pretty much that’s all I have to say."]
  • "Two-term Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was nominated by President Barack Obama to be administrator for the Rural Utilities Service at the Department of Agriculture. The White House made the announcement late Friday," Jeffrey Yorke reported Monday for Radio and Records. "With Adelstein’s exit, that leaves two vacant FCC seats. President Obama has nominated Julius Genachowski as chairman, but he has yet to be confirmed. . . . Obama has been focused on increasing diversity in all FCC matters ‚Äî in the ownership and programming of America’s media outlets, and at the FCC’s headquarters itself."
  • At last week’s National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Awards Dinner, "Several people noted the parlous state of black-owned radio and TV stations, which often struggle even when there isn’t a recession," Paul Farhi wrote in the Washington Post. "NABOB, founded in 1976, has lost 45 percent of its membership since the mid-1990s, as old-line owners have sold out to mainstream companies or merged into other black-owned companies. The organization’s members now own 245 radio stations (Lanham-based Radio One is the largest black-owned broadcaster in the nation) and just 13 TV stations."
  • "Last hired, first fired: This generations-old cliche rings bitterly true for millions of Latinos and blacks who are losing jobs at a faster rate than the general population during this punishing recession," Jesse Washington reported Monday for the Associated Press. "Much of the disparity is due to a concentration of Latinos and blacks in construction, blue-collar or service-industry jobs that have been decimated by the economic meltdown. And black unemployment has been about double the rate for whites since the government began tracking those categories in the early 1970s. But this recession is cutting a swath through the professional classes as well, which can be devastating to people who recently arrived there."
  • "The already murderous conditions for the press in Sri Lanka and Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes," the press freedom organization said on Monday in a report, "Getting Away With Murder." "Colombia, historically one of the world‚Äôs deadliest nations for the press, improved as the rate of murders declined and prosecutors won important recent convictions."

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