Both Public, Private J-Schools Flunked on Diversity
The list of journalism programs flunking the diversity criterion when they sought accreditation includes a large percentage of public universities, but also private ones such as Syracuse and Baylor.
Nearly one in four college journalism programs seeking accreditation fails the diversity criterion, according to the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Susanne Shaw, executive director of the council and journalism professor at the University of Kansas, said last week that the diversity bar – known as Standard 12 – was the standard where college journalism programs were most often out of compliance. But, she told a meeting of the Black College Communication Association in Orlando, Fla., no school has been denied accreditation solely because of it.
Under Standard 12, “units should demonstrate a commitment to increased diversity and inclusivity in their student populations and faculties and to the creation of a learning environment that exposes students to a broad spectrum of voices and views. Units must have written diversity and inclusivity goals, and they must demonstrate specific results achieved toward accomplishing those goals.”
Here is the list of 28 of the 29 schools, supplied by the accrediting council:
’95-’96
Oklahoma State University
’96-’97
California State University – Long Beach
Baylor University
University of Alabama
’97-’98
University of Arkansas – Little Rock
California State University – Chico
California State University – Northridge
Louisana State University
University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh
Marquette University
University of Miami
Syracuse University
’98-’99
Colorado State University
St. Cloud State University
University of Utah
’99-2000
University of Georgia
Eastern Illinois University
University of Louisana – Monroe
University of Oregon
’00-’01
Abilene Christian University
University of Illinois
Southern Illinois University – Carbondale
Washington & Lee University
University of Wisconsin – River Falls
’01-’02
California Polytechnic University
Hofstra University
Indiana University
San Jose State University
Popular Mechanics Shows Jesus With Dark Skin, Curly Hair
The December issue of Popular Mechanics, which is owned by the Hearst Corp. and is scheduled to be on newsstands next week, features on the front a shadowy figure looming behind a headline that promises, “The Real Face of Jesus,” reports the New York Times.
Inside, there is a conjured figure with dark skin, a bushy beard and curly hair. Using the tools of forensic anthropology, scientists in the accompanying article concluded that the historical depiction of Jesus as a white man with flowing locks was inaccurate.
“If you look at the history of the magazine, we have been explaining how the world works for 100 years,” said Joe Oldham, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics, who came up with the idea for the article. “Our story demonstrated advances in the field of forensic anthropology.”
Journalism 101: Innocent Until Proven Guilty – 2
U.S. News & World Report wasn’t the only newsweekly to convict the sniper suspects on its cover. Newsweek’s Nov. 4 cover line was “The Sick World of the Snipers: The Inside Story of an Epic Manhunt.” U.S. News had photos of the two sniper suspects with the single word “MONSTERS” across the top. Subheads were “Why They Did It.” “How They Got Caught.”
Gay Group Protests Voter News Service Omission
A gay and lesbian rights group has complained that a polling consortium organized by television networks and the Associated Press is doing away with a key measurement of their political clout. The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign says Voter News Service, which conducts exit polls of voters on Election Day, won’t ask this year whether the voter is gay or lesbian. Voter News Service is a consortium organized by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and the AP to count votes on Election Day and conduct exit polls.
ABC Radio-NPR Partnership Highlights Election Coverage
“The Tavis Smiley Show” on National Public Radio was to simulcast with “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” today to present “Black Agenda 2002: An NPR/ABC Radio Election Special Live from the Apollo with Tavis Smiley and Tom Joyner.” The show offered an stage for the country’s top Republicans — and some Democrats — to discuss important African American issues, including impromptu questions from a live audience.
Meanwhile, Smiley debuted last week on Chicago’s WBEZ-FM (91.5), placing him in one of his largest markets. His show will air from 2 to 3 p.m. weekdays, replacing “Talk of the Nation,” reports Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times.
And, some public television stations are showing “Counting on Democracy,” a 57-minute documentary directed by Danny Schechter, that follows BBC television reporter Greg Palast as he discovers how Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris removed up to 57,000 legal voters, most black, from registries five months before the 2000 election.
It airs Nov. 6 at 8 a.m. on WHUT-TV in Washington, D.C., and Nov. 24 at 1 a.m. on KPBS-TV in San Diego, Calif.
Also, Black Entertainment Television plans an Election Night special, “Balance of Power . . . Weighing the African-American Impact” LIVE,” at 11 p.m. ET/10 p.m. CT (tape-delayed coverage for Pacific and Mountain time zones at 11 p.m. PT/10 p.m. MT) from New York and Washington, D.C. The telecast expects to provide viewers with election returns, exit polling data and analysis of the African American influence at the polls and how the results will affect the African American community and its congressional and political leadership. The network plans post-election coverage Wednesday on “BET Tonight with Ed Gordon” and “BET News.”
“Asian Americans Have Tended to Fly Under the Radar”
About 100 people turned out on a recent Saturday for the first Asian Media Day in Philadelphia, writes Lillian Swanson, Philadelphia Inquirer reader advocate.
“They had come to hear members of the mainstream media and the local Asian media address one question: How do I get a story in the newspaper or on radio or television?
“Among those in the audience were leaders of the Boat People SOS, a Vietnamese group from Pennsauken; the Hmong Association; organizers of the Dragon Boat race; and Chinatown business owners.
“Skip Voluntad, who was the emcee, said he got the idea while attending a similar program in May for African Americans, sponsored by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.
“Voluntad, a management consultant on Asian Pacific issues, saw a need for more media exposure for Asian Americans, too. The Philadelphia Corporation on Aging; Keystone Mercy health plan; AARP of Pennsylvania; and the Pan Asian Association joined as sponsors of the Asian media day.
“When the invitation to participate came last July, I accepted the same day. While some ethnic or advocacy groups have made a well-worn path to The Inquirer’s door, Asian Americans have tended to fly under the radar. This was an opportunity to meet some of their leadership, and to connect with voices and faces that are underrepresented in our pages.”
Minnesota’s Alan Page Decries Novak’s Use of Race
After refusing to comment for a week on speculation about whether he was on a short list of potential U.S. Senate candidates after Sen. Paul Wellstone‘s death, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page broke his silence, reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Angered by a syndicated column by Robert Novak, Page said that though reluctant, he had to comment.
“Because of this week’s extraordinary circumstances and the column’s insidious use of race, Mr. Novak’s comments require a response. Beyond the use of race, the column is, in its references to me, factually inaccurate,” Page said.
The Novak column said, “According to Minnesota sources, he (Page) was eager to seek the Senate seat. But the DFL apparently did not want to risk running the African-American Page in an overwhelmingly Caucasian state, and Page was quickly discouraged.”
Page said that, contrary to the column’s claims, he “did not seek to be nominated to the Senate seat” and that beyond his friends and “a number of supportive citizens,” he was not asked to be a candidate. Nor, he said, was he discouraged.
“I find it offensive and unacceptable that forces beyond my control have used me as a vehicle to interject race into Minnesota’s political debate,” Page said.
Muhammad/Malvo Photo Available, for a Price
The now-famous photograph of sniper suspects John Muhammad and John Malvo on a couch in Baton Rouge, La., is off-limits to the media, unless they are willing to pay the price, reports WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge.
Muhammad’s ex-sister-in-law, Sheila Tezano, sold the rights to New York company Polaris Images for an undisclosed amount of money. Tezano told WBRZ.com that she was not trying to make money off of a tragedy.
A Muslim Take on Sniper Suspect’s Religious Ties
“There is no question that Minister Louis Farrakhan‘s sermons are often bitterly angry, and that such an atmosphere often permeates the Nation of Islam’s meetings, writes the multifaceted Askia Muhammad, who writes for the Nation of Islam’s Final Call, among other media activities. “But in reality, one of the things the Nation stresses most is self-control. So while it’s true that the Nation does not eradicate the violent nature from all the people like John Muhammad who profess belief, I also don’t think it fuels it.
“… Now it is said that this sniper suspect may have participated in the Million Man March. If he did, that was a good thing. On that day in Washington, when as many as 1.4 million mostly black men assembled at the west front of the U.S. Capitol, there was hardly one single crime reported in the entire city. There were no muggings, no burglaries that day. There were no sniper murders in Washington in October 1995 the way the air itself was filled with death in October 2002.
“If only our sniper suspect had held onto and tried harder to practice the message of forgiveness, atonement, and personal responsibility that was taught by word and lived out by example at the Million Man March, we might not have seen a dozen of our neighbors gunned down in cold blood around here.”
FCC Debating Broadcasters’ EEO Requirements
FCC commissioners late last week were mulling whether to keep alive prospects for new annual employment reports that would require broadcasters and cable systems to report demographic hiring data, reports Broadcasting & Cable in an article available only to subscribers.
“Black Issues” Wins Folio Magazine Award
Black Issues in Higher Education has won a gold award from Folio magazine, the magazine about the magazine business. The award was for a July 19, 2001, issue with the cover story, “Why Xavier Remains No. 1 [in sending more African American students to medical school than any other institution]” by Pearl Stewart, a Black Issues correspondent, faculty member at Florida A&M University and founder of Black College Wire.
The silver award went to the Chronicle of Higher Education for its December 2001 issue.
While it is rare for a black-oriented magazine to win such an award from a mainstream group, in May, two magazines edited by African Americans claimed National Magazine Awards, sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors. They were Newsweek, edited by Mark Whitaker, and Vibe, edited by Emil Wilbekin.
Darrian Chapman’s Death a Hard One to Cover
The death last week of Chicago sports anchor Darrian Chapman was a huge blow, writes Ed Sherman in the Chicago Tribune. “On the print side, we’re lucky in the sense in that we get to hide behind our words. Any emotions that come out are private.
“That’s not the case on television, especially for Chapman’s colleagues on Ch. 5. By the nature of their business, their grief was on display.
“The anchors and reporters tried to control their emotions Wednesday, but they didn’t always succeed.”
In Defense of House Slaves
“William Raspberry‘s column, like Harry Belafonte‘s recent controversial remarks about Secretary of State Colin Powell, reflects an age-old notion about house slaves. This notion is that all house slaves were racial sellouts — ‘Uncle Toms’ — and did not resist slavery. This notion was popularized nearly four decades ago in Malcolm X‘s famous ‘Message to the Grass Roots’ speech in 1963,” writes Michael O. Francis in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post.
“But this notion is not true. House slaves were often in the vanguard of resistance to slavery. Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the famous slave revolt in Haiti in 1804, was a house slave. Most of the slaves in Denmark Vesey‘s rebellion in Charleston, S.C., in 1822 were house slaves, as were most of the slaves involved in Gabriel Prosser‘s rebellion in Richmond in 1800.
“House slaves adopted varying methods of resistance to slavery. They would steal food and property from their masters. They would lie to their masters, fake illnesses, work slowly and do ‘sloppy’ work, act stupid, break tools and equipment, sabotage things and refuse to carry out certain tasks.
“And house slaves would run away; poison, assault and kill their overseers and masters; spy on their masters; inform other slaves what their masters were up to; and petition the government for freedom.
“Both Raspberry and Belafonte need to become better students of black history. The notion they perpetuate must be put to rest.”