Media Layoffs Rising Again
Don’t get too heartened by positive signs in the economy, because media companies are swinging the ax harder, says Broadcasting and Cable. A layoff-tracking study found that media companies laid off 1,515 workers during August.
That’s down 25 percent from the carnage media employers spread in August 2001, but it’s the worst month so far this year and it seems to be ending an improving situation for media employees.
The study comes from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., which compiles companies’ announcements and filings with regulators concerning layoffs. The study’s media category includes broadcast, cable, radio, advertising, entertainment and print but excludes Internet-related cuts.
Racial Differences on First Amendment Issues
Both whites and people of color increasingly believe the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees, according to the Freedom Forum’s annual State of the First Amendment survey. But the two groups differ on the right to own firearms, whether Americans have the right amount of freedom to speak freely, and whether there is the right amount of access to information about the war on terrorism.
Overall, almost half (49 percent) of those surveyed said the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees — a 10-percentage-point jump from 2001, which suggests new public concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The figure was 49 percent of whites and 51 percent of nonwhites.
However, the Freedom Forum told Journal-isms that differences between whites and nonwhites were especially significant in the case of:
–Owning firearms, where 51 percent of whites thought the right to own firearms was essential, compared with just 35 percent of people of color.
–Freedom to speak freely, where 71 percent of whites thought we have about the right amount of freedom to speak freely, as compared with 52 percent of nonwhites.
–War on terrorism information. (40 percent of whites thought there was just about the right amount of access to information about the war on terrorism, as compared with 27 percent of respondents of color).
While the right to bear arms is covered by the Second Amendment, the questioners asked: “The U.S. Constitution protects certain rights, but not everyone considers each right important. I am going to read you some rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. For each, please tell me how important it is that you have that right. How important is it that you have . . . the right to own firearms?”
The questioners also found noteworthy that there was also significant difference between whites and nonwhites over the right to be informed by a free press, or whether “musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics that others might find offensive.”
The survey, conducted by the University of Connecticut’s Center for Survey Research and Analysis, included 808 whites and 169 nonwhites.
Some Say Black Role in 9/11 Coverage Overlooked
Paul Washington, president of the Vulcan Society, an organization of black New York City firefighters, believes that mainstream media accounts have not adequately reflected the role African Americans played or the number killed in the World Trade Center attack. For some, reports the Associated Press, coverage of Sept. 11 has proved to be just one more way in which they have been excluded from mainstream society.
Gold Star, a black law enforcement group, sponsored a memorial last Saturday in Newark, N.J., billed as, “A Remembrance of African Americans in the WTC Tragedy.” Christelle Rasheed, a Gold Star member, said 183 blacks died in the attack.
George Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, which has 200 black newspaper subscribers, said the absence of blacks in mainstream Sept. 11-related coverage has “definitely” been an issue among black journalists.
Tobacco Industry Targets Asian Americans
For the last 15 years, the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States have been targeted by the tobacco industry to boost flagging sales and win allies against anti-smoking initiatives, researchers say.
The Inter Press Service reported that a team of four U.S. and Canadian researchers combed through 500,000 pages of internal tobacco industry documents — made public as a result of U.S. court cases — to investigate promotion strategies aimed at Asian-American and Pacific Islanders, called the “AAPI” market in industry jargon.
Their findings in the September 2002 edition of Tobacco Control, published by the British Medical Journal, add to earlier discoveries that the tobacco industry developed detailed strategies for other specific groups including African Americans and homosexuals.
RJ Reynolds sponsors groups such as the Asian American Journalists Association and the Organization of Chinese Americans.
The strategies developed to target Asian-Americans in the United States may well be used now in Asia, says Simon Chapman, editor of Tobacco Control and professor of public health and community medicine at the University of Sydney.
N.Y. Times Runs First Gay Union Notice
The New York Times ran its first announcement of a same-sex commitment ceremony, celebrating the union of a Fulbright scholar and the founder of a public affairs consulting firm, the Associated Press reports.
The civil union ceremony of Daniel Gross, 32, and Steven Goldstein, 40, by a judge in Vermont, ran along with the couple’s photo in the newly retitled “Weddings/Celebrations” feature on Sunday.
“Ten years ago, none of this would have been possible,” Goldstein said during an exchange of Jewish vows at the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. “Dreams do come true.”
Melee or Riot? Glad That’s the Only Controversy
Melee or riot, the Aug. 22 event in north Minneapolis remains a community scar, says Lou Gelfand, reader representative at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. “If a dispute over one word is the only journalism aftertaste, the Star Tribune can be proud,” he writes.
USA Network Rejects Women’s Protests, Airing Masters
Despite public outcries from women’s groups over the Augusta National Golf Club’s exclusion of women, The Masters golf tournament at Augusta will still air on cable this spring, reports Broadcasting and Cable.
USA Network, the cable home for the first and second rounds, is still “planning to carry the Masters as we’ve always done it,” a spokesperson said. And like CBS, USA is planning to air the event commercial-free.
Rather than bowing to pressure to admit women, Augusta released its three major corporate sponsors — Citigroup Inc., The Coca-Cola Co. and IBM Corp. — from their advertising commitments and, by extension, from the pressure the women’s groups were putting on them over their ads.
CBS is also sticking by the tournament, which it has aired since the 1950s. If CBS reconsiders, however, USA would likely follow suit.
Anchor’s Favorite Web Sites (AAJA’s Is One)
The “Site Seeing” column of the San Diego Union-Tribune profiles the virtual likes of Lee Ann Kim, weekend news anchor at KGTV/Channel 10.
Her favorite Web sites include http://www.sdaff.org, http://www.rottentomatoes.com, http://www.epicurious.com and http://www.aaja.org.
Media Group Asks Mexico to Protect Journalists
The Inter American Press Association urged Mexican authorities to aggressively prosecute drug kingpins who target journalists, saying nearly two dozen reporters have been killed near Mexico’s border with the United States in recent years, the Associated Press reports.
Searchable Database for Comics, Editorial Cartoons
Universal Press Syndicate has launched a Web site that enables newsletter editors, book publishers, the general public, and others to search for comics and editorial cartoons.
