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Journal-isms Apr. 8

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Orange County Register Lays Off Sportswriting Veteran

Art Thompson III, a sportswriter at the Orange County (Calif.) Register for more than 20 years and for years the only African American staff writer in the Sports Department, was laid off on Tuesday, Thompson confirmed. He covered the NBA.

"He’s one of the original Sports Task Force members, has excelled at every beat he’s had and, if fairness existed in sports journalism, would now be one of the longstanding, revered major league baseball reporters because he truly loves and knows the game," Ron Thomas, who directs the Journalism & Sports Program at Morehouse College, wrote his colleagues in the National Association of Black Journalists on its Sports Task Force’s e-mail list. "But, as it was for so many of us, the NBA had to become his route to big-time sportswriting. Didn’t matter, though, because talent is color-blind."

Baseball is considered the most cherished sports beat.

Thompson, 54, started at the Register in 1988. He told Journal-isms he did not know what he wanted to do next.

"For years I’ve wanted to teach elementary school. I feel that our young African-American children coming up need guidance and there is a dearth of African-American male teachers at the elementary school level," he wrote. "I’ve been a walk-on assistant girls basketball coach at national prep power Long Beach Poly for the past eight years, so I have been in a teaching mode for awhile. Hopefully, I will be alright."

On March 20, the Register announced plans to implement layoffs and mandatory furloughs as part of an effort to reduce expenses. Ken Brusic, senior vice president of content for the parent Freedom Communications, told Journal-isms Wednesday he was not certain he could disclose how many people were being laid off or who they were.

While Thompson said he was the only African American sportswriter at the paper, he added, "We have one other African-American, department clerk Damian Calhoun, whose other duties include helping to cover high school sports."

U.S. Journalist Held in Iran Faces Charge of Spying

"Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist who has been in custody in Iran since January, has been charged with spying, the judge in the case told Iranian state television Wednesday," Thomas Erdbrink reported Wednesday for the Washington Post.

"’This accused has been coming and going to certain government circles under the cover of reporter and without a permit,’ Sohrab Heydarifard said. ‘She has perpetrated actions to compile and gather information and documents and transferred them to American intelligence services.’

"The judge said Saberi was arrested on the basis of tips from Iran’s counterintelligence agency."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for Iran to release Saberi, the New York Times said.

  

A Slight Pause at the Door to 10 Downing Street

If photographer Toby Melville realized the resonance of this photograph he shot April 1 for Reuters, he deserves commendation. Copies have been circulating via e-mail, one with the notation, "both U.S. and British security procedure dictate that they are not supposed to talk, touch, or shake hands, but the two brothers couldn’t resist the historic moment."

Melville didn’t go that far. His caption read simply, "U.S. President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with a British police officer outside 10 Downing Street in London April 1, 2009. World leaders will have their work cut out at a G20 summit where Obama makes his first major international sortie, under perhaps more pressure than anyone to show that the country where the crisis began can lead the way out."

Meanwhile, Obama’s planned visit¬†to Mexico and his participation this month in the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, prompted Obama commentary that included drug abuse and Latin American issues.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fz539F_17g]

First video of the DUI arrest of former Kansas City columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman drew more than 1,000 views on YouTube. She is due in court on Thursday.

Alternative Paper Posts Videos of Ex-Columnist’s Arrest

This week, the alternative Kansas City newspaper the Pitch has been featuring embarrassing videos of former Kansas City Star columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman — wife of Star Publisher Mark Zieman — being arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

The incident took place Jan. 1, six days before Lokeman "told Creators Syndicate that she decided to retire her column to pursue other interests," David Yontz, the syndicate editor, recalled for Journal-isms in February.

The arrest was not disclosed immediately by the Star. Neither Lokeman nor Zieman responded to inquiries then about why Lokeman had decided to suddenly end the column.

So the Pitch decided to write a Valentine’s Day item¬†about "the love story of Kansas City Star publisher Mark Zieman and his wife, the medium-talented and now-retired columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman. Last week, news broke that police had arrested Lokeman on January 1 after she refused to take a breathalyzer test . . . .

"Lokeman filed suit January 7 against the Missouri director of revenue, fighting the revocation of her license after she refused the test. On January 29, a judge issued an order saying Lokeman could keep her license for now. Neither Lokeman’s attorney nor Zieman would comment on the case ‚Äî including how Lokeman’s arrest had failed to make the paper until someone else got hold of the records," the item continued.

Then the Pitch went to work, reporter Peter Rugg told Journal-isms on Wednesday. Rugg asked the police department for the videos of the arrest, taken from the dashboard of a police car and in the police van carrying Lokeman. The contents of three videos arrived on April 1, and by 4:59 p.m. that day, the first of them was edited and posted on the Pitch’s Web site.

"When news broke that Kansas City Star columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman ‚Äî and wife of Star publisher Mark Zieman ‚Äî was arrested for allegedly driving drunk, most of Kansas City wanted to know about the missing tire," Rugg wrote in the accompanying copy. "The police report said Lokeman was driving her minivan on only three tires. Lokeman moves through every stage of grief in this video ‚Äî and there’s two more that we’ll have for you on Monday ‚Äî that show Lokeman being argumentative with officers.

"This first video features Lokeman acting shocked that her car only has three tires — and her inexplicably stopping in the middle of the street instead of pulling over to the side of the road. . . . She also argues with officers who are trying to get her out of the road.

"Check back Monday for video of Lokeman’s booking, cops joking about how she should ‘have another beer’ and Zieman coming to pick her up."

The You Tube video has so far registered 1,045 viewings.

In Tuesday’s final installment, "we see Lokeman inexplicably speaking Italian. On this ride to jail, she’s joined by two other scofflaws ‚Äî men, separated from her by the steel cage," the Pitch site says.

After Part II, viewer Jack Miller asked, "Really, who cares? This is private matter ‚Äî why kick someone when they are down? Almost everyone has [driven] with a few in them ‚Äî not that I suggest it ‚Äî it’s wrong, but..really this is a waste of space."

Editor C.J. Janovy explained the Pitch’s position to Journal-isms this way: "She wrote a regular column in the Kansas City Star. The Star was late in reporting her arrest. She’s the wife of the publisher. So she’s a very public figure. I understand why people might think it was a private matter, but we thought otherwise."

Lokeman, Zieman and Star Editor Mike Fannin did not respond to requests for comment. A hearing on Lokeman’s refusal to take a Breathalyzer test is scheduled for Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

North Carolina set first-half records for points and the biggest lead in an NCAA championship game in pulling away to a 89-72 victory over Michigan State on Monday. Wayne Ellington was seven for nine from the field in the first half. (Credit: http://grfx.cstv.com)

Annual Study Shows Some Got Game, but No Diploma

Before North Carolina defeated Michigan State, 89-72, Denise Stewart wrote¬† Monday for theRoot.com: "If the championship in NCAA men’s basketball was based on the graduation rates of black players on the teams, it would be Duke and Villanova taking the court tonight in Detroit rather than Michigan State and the University of North Carolina.

"Both Duke, which lost in the third round, and Villanova who lost to UNC on Saturday, graduate 86 percent of their black players," Stewart continued. "This is some of the very scarce good news from a study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport conducted by Richard Lapchick."

In a March 21 column, Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star challenged the Lapchick studies, writing that race should not be the primary focus. "I’ll bet every dollar I have that athletes from two-parent families perform better academically than athletes from one- or no-parent families, regardless of race," he wrote.

Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Lapchick told Journal-isms, "Richard Lapchick does not have the time or interest to respond to such articles."

Ebony Names "Most Influential Black Americans"

Black journalists and other media figures are included in Ebony magazine’s 46th annual list of ‚ÄúThe Most Influential Black Americans," according to a list released by the magazine Wednesday.

The "Power 150" are included in the publication’s May issue, due on newsstands April 14.

The list includes radio hosts Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner; Gwen Ifill of PBS; Eric Deggans, TV/media critic at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, CNN’s Don Lemon and Soledad O’Brien; Johnathan Rodgers, CEO of TV One; Paula Madison, executive vice president, diversity, NBC Universal; Roland S. Martin, columnist and CNN journalist; and talk-show hosts Tavis Smiley and Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul.

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