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Journal-isms Apr 6

richard

Smiley Getting Last Word on Conflict With Obama

"Who Died and Made Tavis King?" famously asked a headline last year on theRoot.com over a column by Melissa Harris-Lacewell. "Does Tavis realize that Obama is trying to win an election?"

Harris-Lacewell was discussing activist and broadcast personality Tavis Smiley and the failure of presidential candidate Barack Obama to attend Smiley’s "State of the Black Union" conference.

Barry Saunders wrote in the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, "Obama turned down Smiley’s request – it sounds now more like a demand – because of that old standby, ‘scheduling conflicts,’ but he offered to send his wife to the New Orleans conference on his behalf.

"Smiley wasn’t even trying to hear that. He sounded almost apoplectic on ‘The Tom Joyner Morning Show’ syndicated radio program, accusing Obama of not wanting to appear at a black event. I swear, it was hard to tell whether Smiley was castigating the candidate for allegedly ignoring blacks – the ostensible reason for his anger – or for ignoring him.

"My money is on ‘a combination of both.’"

What a difference a year makes. Smiley left the Joyner show after listeners questioned the timing of and reason for Smiley’s criticism. Joyner said of his friend, "He can’t take the hate he’s taken over Barack Obama. He’s always busting Barack Obama’s chops. They call. They e-mail. They joke. You know Tavis like I do. He needs to feel loved."

Now Smiley has a new book he co-wrote, "Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise," and Obama is in the White House.

Stories in leading media outlets are portraying Smiley as upholding the values of journalistic accountability against a black community that doesn’t want to hear it.¬† Never mind that Smiley says he is not a journalist, and that he stages events, not just comments on them.

"In an interview this month on National Public Radio, Tavis Smiley, a well-known black radio and television host, urged journalists – black and white – to assess Mr. Obama’s performance critically," Rachel Swarns wrote¬†in the New York Times.

". . . But Mr. Smiley warned that criticizing Mr. Obama was not for ‘the faint of heart.”

In the Washington Post on Monday, Krissah Thompson wrote¬†of the African American punditry, "They are learning to negotiate what talk show host and author Tavis Smiley calls an ‘unfamiliar dance.’ If you push too forcefully, he says he has learned, you risk your credibility in the community."

BET’s Jeff Johnson made much the same point about accountability, but without the baggage: "’Black folks, in particular, get irritated,’ says Johnson, who travels the lecture circuit, hosts a half-hour show on Black Entertainment Television and has a weekly spot for social criticism on a radio program popular with black listeners," Thompson wrote.

"Get past ‘Obama the personality’ and see ‘Obama the president,’ he says. ‘Otherwise all you’re being is a political-celebrity groupie instead of a citizen. . . . It starts with acknowledging he’s my president, and not my homie.’"

Brown Needs to Tell "Some People" the News First

"Tony Brown declined to comment on a rumor that he’s leaving his post as dean of Hampton University’s journalism school, "Cathy Grimes, Samieh Shalash and Jennifer L. Williams wrote¬†Monday for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. "What he did say: ‘I appreciate the interest, but there are some people I need to tell officially before they read it in the paper.’ Hmm.

"Brown was hired as the first dean of the school in 2004. He has worked as a TV talk show host, syndicated newspaper columnist, film director, television and film producer. Brown said he’s in the ‘give-back’ phase of his life and is pleased with accomplishments at HU during his tenure."

To No Uproar, Boomer Esiason Uses the “H” Word

"Here we go again.

"On WFAN Sunday morning former NFL quarterback Norman ‘Boomer’ Esiason called Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels ‘littler Hitler,’‚Äù DWIL wrote on the National Sports Review Web site. "Esiason is one of the guys who is said to ‚Äòtell it like it is,‚Äô and who ‚Äôspares no one with his wrath.‚Äô

"And similar positive spin blather attached to his being a verbal bully.

"So, will Esiason gat the ‘he should be fired’ treatment Jemele Hill received¬† when she included a Hitler remark in one of her columns? Will Esiason be forced to publicly apologize as did Hill?"

The author concluded, "Thanks to the members of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Sports Task Force listserve who caught Esiason red-handed and shared his remark with other listserve members."

 

Eric Brown and Renee Cottrell-Brown are partners in Johnson Products, makers of Ultra Sheen.

Firm Returns to Black Hands, and Most Missed Story

A black-owned company that was sold to a white conglomerate is returned to African American hands. How unusual is that?

Very, but you could never guess that’s what happened from the lack of coverage and the obfuscation in the articles that did appear.

"Once-rival families in the African-American hair care business are celebrating a deal that brings one of their companies to Dallas," began a 300-word story  by Maria Halkias in the Dallas Morning News.

"Procter & Gamble Co. has sold its ethnic hair care products unit, Johnson Products Co. The investment group includes Arlington couple Eric Brown and Renee Cottrell-Brown, former executives at rival Pro-Line International, which was founded by Cottrell-Brown’s father."

In the Los Angeles Times, the lede of the 164-word story by Andrea Chang was, "Procter & Gamble Co. has sold Johnson Products Co., its African American hair-care products unit, to a local group of private investors including a husband-and-wife team."

A small Web site, blacknewstribune.com, however, got it right: "Johnson Products Returns to Black Ownership." 

To be fair, one had to spot the clues in the news release to understand what took place. "’The acquisition of Johnson Products represents the renewal of a family of products that revolutionized the ethnic hair care industry starting in the 1950s, and a next stage of growth for a legendary company that has been an iconic figure and model of success for African-Americans,’ Brown said," it read. But it helps to have those who know those clues.

When the company was sold in 1993, Wall Street Journal reporter Brett Pulley was clear about the significance:

"CHICAGO — Johnson Products Co., the black-owned hair products pioneer, sent a shudder through the ethnic personal products industry by agreeing to be acquired by a publicly held nonminority company Ivax Corp. A Miami holding company proposed acquiring it for about $67 million in stock.

"The surprise announcement immediately sparked concern among black-owned makers of personal care products for ethnic consumers. They’ve long worried that deep-pocketed mainstream consumer products manufacturers will target the $15 billion-a-year ethnic haircare industry.

"’This company historically has been a beacon to other black entrepreneurs in the country,’ said Lafayette Jones, founder of the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute, the trade group for the ethnic arm of the industry. There are many people who are saddened by its sale to a general market company.’

". . . The company and George Johnson played an integral part in developing other successful black-owned companies. Essence magazine, Burrell Advertising and other well-known black enterprises owe some of their success to Johnson," maker of Ultra Sheen and other products.

AOL "Snapping Up" Seasoned Journalists

"Ex-print journalists appear to have found a new home: AOL," Mark Walsh wrote last week for MediaPost.

"As a growing wave of newspapers file for bankruptcy, slash budgets or go online-only, the Web portal is snapping up seasoned reporters and editors to staff its expanding roster of niche sites."

Asked about journalists of color, AOL spokeswoman Alysia Lew told Journal-isms, "As you know, Sunny Wu is one of our newest hires and we are excited that he has joined the FanHouse family. . . . We also have Kevin Blackistone as one of our lead columnists and Ryan Wilson, who covers the NFL." Wu is Page 1 editor.

"We also have women reporters, including Lisa Olsen, as one of our featured columnists as well as a special section hosted by Chris Bosh, who does a series of original blogs for FanHouse.

"We expect to add more reporters — both journalists of color and women journalists — as we expand our original reporting and hire additional people."

Walsh wrote, "With 70 vertical sites up and running another 30 set to come online this year, the editorial expansion will continue."

Binghamton Newsroom on High Alert Since Shootings

Calvin Stovall, editor of the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., said the 50-person newsroom has been on high alert since the massive murder spree that left 14 people at a community center dead Friday morning, Joe Strupp reported Monday in Editor & Publisher.

"He said the paper did not put out any special sections or extras, but devoted increased web and print space to the coverage, with an emphasis on profiles of the deceased.

"Circulation Director Anthony Rapczynski said the paper’s single-copy press run, normally 10,000, was doubled for Saturday. The paper’s overall circulation on Saturday is 46,635.

"Web traffic skyrocketed, according to Digital Desk Editor Jeffrey Platsky, who said Friday saw 1.4 million page views, a sharp increase over the usual 200,000 to 250,000 for a Friday. But it did not top the one-day record of 3 million in 2006 when the area was hit by major flooding.

"Monday’s paper includes four and a half pages devoted just to the dead and wounded. ‘Pretty much everyone has been on it, with the exception of people in sports,’ Stovall said. The paper’s usual limited weekend web presence was boosted, as was the weekend staffing.

"Along with Stovall’s own staffers, six journalists from Gannett’s Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., and The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., were dispatched to Binghamton to help with the coverage, including one staffer who has been doing primarily research."

Franklin Reminds Us of Blacks in the West

"Reading obituaries about John Hope Franklin reminded me about a long-standing beef I have with a certain limited way of thinking about who African Americans are. For me, though, the telling biographical fact was where he was born — Oklahoma," Kenneth Cooper wrote Friday for theroot.com.

"In its obituary, the Raleigh News & Observer said the eminent historian ‘gave definition to the African-American experience.’ That‚Äôs quite a legacy. A black Okie did all of that?

"You see, too many African Americans — you know who you are — believe real black folks are from the South or the urban North. They’re not from the West, not Oklahoma, not Colorado — where I was born — and certainly not Hawaii, though there are exceptions made for California and L.A. I’ve been hearing it for the 30 years or so I’ve lived on the East Coast.

"This narrow-mindedness results in part, I think, from our creative imaginations of the black experience, in fiction and film, almost exclusively in the South or North. Historically, African Americans have been concentrated in the South, but major migrations have taken us not just to the North but to the West. By taking a geocentric view of blackness, we cut ourselves off from parts of our history — and even some of our heroes. With a black Hawaiian in the White House, it’s time to embrace an expansive view of the black experience in its full diversity."

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