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Journal-isms 4/29

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Storm Delays Birmingham Weekly for 36 Hours

Newsroom Sports Departments Urged to Adopt a “Rooney Rule”

Ann Curry to Be Promoted to “Today” Co-Host

Schumacher-Matos of Miami Herald Named NPR Ombudsman

Logan Speaks Up Sexual Assault She Endured in Egypt

“Strictly Old School” Gregory Lewis Battling Cancer in Fla.

Elyse Tanouye Named Deputy M.E. in Wall St. Journal Changes

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Damage in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after tornadoes struck Wednesday. (Credit: Izzy Gould /Birmingham News)

Storm Delays Birmingham Weekly for 36 Hours

The Birmingham (Ala.) Times, which claims to be “the Southeast’s largest black weekly,” finally published at 5 p.m. Friday, publisher James Lewis told Journal-isms. The 10,000-circulation paper was originally scheduled for publication at 5 a.m. on Thursday, but a tornado intervened.

“At least 15 people were killed and more than 100 injured as severe weather barreled through Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon, and that total is expected to grow as rescuers continue to dig the city out of the rubble today,” the Birmingham News reported on Thursday.

The Birmingham Times’ graphic designer and its printer are in Tuscaloosa, Lewis said. “They were not hurt, but much of the power was out.” The power resumed Friday morning. “It is bad. Many people don’t have power. Bodies are stacked up. A large part of the devastation is in the black community.” Radio stations lost their signal, he said, and many homes have no power to hear the stations anyway. Trees block many streets, so listeners are unlikely to use their car radios.

Still, he said, “we’re delivering wherever we can.” Lewis said the Web site would be updated when the Internet technician is able to return to work.

The Alabama Press Association reported that the Huntsville Times, the Hartselle Enquirer, the DeKalb Advertiser, the Fort Payne Times-Journal and the Madison county Record were without power. Some were working out of hotels and using the facilities of other newspapers. The Huntsville Times, for example, was printing at the Birmingham News. The Tuscaloosa News building was on backup power, and that paper was also being printed at the Birmingham News.

Newsroom Sports Departments Urged to Adopt a “Rooney Rule”

Reporting that the percentage of sports editors at websites and newspapers who were women or people of color fell 2.3 percentage points, from 11.7 percent in 2008 to 9.42 percent in 2010, Richard Lapchick, the study’s primary author, called Wednesday for a news media version of the “Rooney Rule.”

“My primary new recommendation to the APSE is that it adopts a Ralph Wiley Rule, named after the late African-American writer. The Wiley Rule would be like the Rooney Rule in the NFL and would call for a diverse pool of candidates including men and women for each opening of these key positions,” he said.

Lapchick’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida conducted the survey at the request of the Associated Press Sports Editors. It is the third bi-annual edition of the Racial and Gender Report Card, covering more than 320 websites and newspapers (up from 281 APSE members a year ago).

“This report shows that in 2010, 97 percent of the sports editors, 85 percent of the assistant sports editors, 86 percent of our columnists, 86 percent of our reporters and 90 percent of our copy editors/designers were white. In the 2008 report, those numbers for the same positions were 94, 89, 88, 87, and 89 respectively.

“The percentage of males in those positions this year are 94, 90, 90, 89, and 84. In 2008, the percentages were 94, 90, 93, 91 and 84, respectively.

“The 2008 report showed a terrible lack of opportunity for people of color and women. In spite of that, there was actually a decline in 2010 for opportunities for people of color as sports editors (from 6 percent to 3 percent) and copy editors (from 11 percent to 10 percent). The percentages of people of color increased for assistant sports editors (11 percent to 15 percent), columnists (12 percent to 14 percent) and reporters (13 percent to 14 percent).

“. . . As with the 2008 APSE Report Card, ESPN’s record formed a substantial part of the totals for sports editors and columnists of color. ESPN has two African-American sports editors and 23 African-American men and women as columnists.

“. . . For 2010, the APSE Web sites and newspapers improved with a grade of C+ for racial hiring practices, up from a C in 2008.”

Kathy Y. Times, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a statement, “It is critical that media companies take steps to right the ship and promote and hire editors of color who can offer a unique perspective when covering sports and African-American players who dominate the rosters of the NFL and NBA.”

 

Ann Curry to Be Promoted to “Today” Co-Host

“Meredith Vieira will exit NBC’s Today show in June, nearly three months before the end of her contract, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation,” Marisa Guthrie reported Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter.

“Today newsreader Ann Curry will be promoted to co-host, and correspondent Natalie Morales will take Curry’s place as newsreader.

“An official announcement could come as early as next week.

“Vieira took the seat next to co-host Matt Lauer in 2006, replacing Katie Couric. Since then, Today has extended its run as the top-rated morning news program to more than 800 weeks. The show is critically important to NBC News’ bottom line, pulling in half a billion dollars in ad revenue last year for the weekday morning hours alone.

“By elevating Curry and Morales, Today executives have the benefit of personalities who are familiar to viewers at a time of pronounced tumult in television news in general.”

Curry, 54, has been a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and spoken at AAJA conventions.

 

Schumacher-Matos of Miami Herald Named NPR Ombudsman

Edward Schumacher-Matos, a career award-winning journalist, educator and columnist, has been named ombudsman for NPR, succeeding Alicia Shepard, NPR announced on Friday.

Schumacher-Matos, ombudsman for the Miami Herald since 2007, begins a three-year term on June 1. Shepard told Journal-isms he had been chosen by former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller before her forced resignation in March.

The Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicates Schumacher-Matos, says in its bio of him: “He is an immigrant, born in Colombia. He was in the U.S. illegally from age 14 until age 21, when he went to court, was allowed to declare his citizenship, and joined the Army to serve in Vietnam. He has worked for newspapers as ideologically diverse as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He has lived in four different continents comprising a cultural smorgasbord of cosmopolitan cities, Third World countries and the United States’ Deep South.”

The NPR announcement said, “As Ombudsman, Schumacher-Matos will serve as the public’s representative to NPR, responsible for bringing transparency to journalism decision-making processes. He will pen a regular column at NPR.org, appear on NPR and public radio programs, visit member stations and consult with stations about journalism practices,” an announcement said.

“At the Philadelphia Inquirer, he was part of the team that won a 1980 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Three Mile Island accident. Earlier in his career, Schumacher-Matos reported from Japan, South Korea and Boston for the Washington Post.

“Schumacher-Matos is a member of the International Advisory Board of IE University Graduate School of Business in Madrid, and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. He also is active in the Council on Foreign Relations, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Inter American Press Association.”

 

Lara Logan said of being attacked in Egypt: “What really struck me was how merciless they were.” (Video)

Logan Speaks Up Sexual Assault She Endured in Egypt

Lara Logan feared she would die a “torturous death” during a sexual assault and beating she suffered at the hands of a violent mob in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. In her first television interview since her ordeal two months ago, the CBS News chief foreign correspondent and 60 MINUTES reporter reveals what happened to her for the first time in an interview conducted by Scott Pelley. Logan’s story will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, May 1 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network,” “60 Minutes” announced.

Logan told Brian Stelter of the New York Times, “For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands.” She estimated that the attack involved 200 to 300 men.

“. . . What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.”

“After being rescued by a group of civilians and Egyptian soldiers, she was swiftly flown back to the United States,”Stelter wrote. ‘She was quite traumatized, as you can imagine, for a period of time,’ Mr. Fager said,” referring to Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of “60 Minutes.”

“Ms. Logan said she decided almost immediately that she would speak out about sexual violence both on behalf of other journalists and on behalf of ‘millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse.’ ”

“Strictly Old School” Gregory Lewis Battling Cancer in Fla.

Gregory Lewis, a veteran journalist and senior reporter at the South Florida Sun_Sentinel, is battling cancer and has been in the intensive care unit of a Florida hospital for about a month, Metro Editor Dana Banker told Journal-isms.

“He’s going through an especially tough time now, and could use everyone’s prayers,” she said. “His wife Chandra says friends from California and New York have arranged for meals to be sent to the family, which has been a huge help. She says Greg also appreciates cards, which can be sent to their home at 4139 Open Way, Cooper City, FL 33026. (She discourages flowers, as they are not allowed in the ICU).”

Lewis, 57, worked at San Francisco newspapers from 1987 to 2001. In 2007, he started a blog at the Sun-Sentinel, “Strictly Old School: Gregory Lewis on Black Culture and Politics.“

He described himself there this way: “Gregory Lewis has worked in newspapers since 1976. He attended both segregated and integrated schools, back when a parent’s word was law and neighborhood men made sure kids didn’t get lost in the streets.

“His blog is where R&B meets rap; red Kool-Aid meets Red Bull; P.F. Flyers meet Air Jordans. Where old school meets new school.”

His wife told Journal-isms, “Please let others know they can pray as well.”

 

Elyse Tanouye Named Deputy M.E. in Wall St. Journal Changes

Elyse Tanouye, corporate editor at the Wall Street Journal, has been named deputy managing editor, the Journal announced on Friday.

“Tanouye will be charged with the Journal’s efforts to maintain and extend the paper’s unparalleled reputation for accuracy and fairness.

“Elyse transformed the Marketplace section of the Journal and is a beacon of integrity for all at Dow Jones. Her promotion to Deputy Managing Editor is recognition of both her achievement and her important role in overseeing standards and ethics,” Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Company and managing editor of the Journal, said in a news release.

Tanouye, a Honolulu native, shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 in the national reporting category for the Journal’s AIDS coverage.

Tanouye’s appointment was one of several shifts announced, including the appointment of Francesco Guerrera of the Financial Times as editor of Money & Investing.

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