Columnist Robinson, Free Press Win Pulitzers

Washington Post Writer Glad He Didn’t Become M.E.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary on Monday, and the Detroit Free Press won for its coverage of the text message scandal that led to the resignation and jailing of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Robinson, who won for his commentaries on the presidential campaign, told an assemblage in the Washington Post newsroom that the challenge in 2008 was "to believe what we were seeing and hearing and experiencing and not what we were expecting."

To convey the unreality of what he said Barack Obama’s victories felt like last year, Robinson¬†told the group it was as if he were in the fictional town created by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez in "100 Years of Solitude."¬†

Robinson also recalled being at¬†NBC’s New York studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at 10:45¬†on election night as he got the news that Obama had won the presidency.

Robinson, who was working that night as a commentator on MSNBC, called his parents in South Carolina; his father died on Jan. 2.

With another nod to his wife’s parents, Robinson spoke of the need to honor "that greatest generation of African Americans now passed away – we’re losing them," he said.

Robinson has been at the Post for 29 years. He began his syndicated op-ed column in 2004 after losing a bid to become managing editor, prompting an examination of racial and gender issues in the newsroom. In his remarks, he thanked then-executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. "for not making me managing editor."

The Pulitzer to the Free Press was its ninth.

"Beginning in January 2008, Free Press reporters Jim Schaefer and M.L. Elrick were the first to uncover secret text messages showing that Kilpatrick and his aide and lover, Christine Beatty, had lied under oath at a 2007 police whistleblower trial when they denied having an extramarital affair or firing Deputy Chief Gary Brown," the Free Press said.

When Kilpatrick resigned in September, then-executive editor Caesar Andrews told Journal-isms, "It’s one of those magic moments that really justifies so much of what we try to do. This shows what aggressive investigative reporting can yield when done the right way. It shows what can happen when you have highly skilled investigative reporters cut loose to do what they can do."

But, he added, "Make no mistake about it. It is a sad day, at least from my perspective, when a person as deeply talented (as Kilpatrick) is forced to resign," even though Andrews said he was "very proud" of the quality of work his staff performed.

In other awards, the New York Times won five Pulitzer Prizes, the second-most in its history, "for work on subjects as varied as America’s wars in Asia, the sudden downfall of a political titan, art from ancient to modern, and a history-making presidential campaign. Among them was one for breaking news reporting, for its coverage of the swift disintegration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s political career, less than a year and a half after he was elected governor of New York in a landslide," as Richard Perez-Pena reported.¬†

Photographer Patrick Farrell of the Miami Herald won "for his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti."

"Annette Gordon-Reed, a law professor at New York Law School, who won in the history category for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton & Company), a multigenerational saga that the Pulitzer citation says ‘casts provocative new light’ on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson. Ms. Gordon-Reed initially laid out her thesis of the relationship in ‘Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy’ (University Press of Virginia, 1997), which was later supported by new DNA evidence," according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

And, "Lynn Nottage has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play ‘Ruined,’ a hard-hitting tale of survival set among the denizens of a Congolese bar and bordello. ‘Ruined,’ based in interviews Nottage conducted in Africa, revolves around young women who have been raped and brutalized, casualties of the decades-long war in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo,"¬†Diane Haithman reported in the Los Angeles Times.

• List of winners
• Robinson’s Pulitzer entry

President Obama ended his trip to the Summit of the Americas conference in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Sunday. (Credit: Pete Souza/White House)

Obama Takes Questions from Black, Hispanic Networks

President Obama took questions from Univision and American Urban Radio Networks as he concluded his trip to the Summit of the Americas Sunday evening in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

He took his first news conference question from Edna Schmidt of Univision.

"The spotlight on your visit here was on the handshake and smiles with Hugo Chavez, but we didn’t see much interaction with some of the other leaders of the region like Daniel Ortega, Rafael Correa, or Evo Morales, who yesterday accused the United States of still interfering in its affairs and, even though it’s too soon, he says, of not seeing much of change. Did you have any private meetings with any of these leaders, and if so, can you tell us what was discussed?" Schmidt asked.

Obama said, in part, "I just want to make absolutely clear that I am absolutely opposed and condemn any efforts at violent overthrows of democratically elected governments, wherever it happens in the hemisphere. That is not the policy of our government. That is not how the American people expect their government to conduct themselves. And so I want to be as clear as possible on that.

"But one of the things that I mentioned in both public remarks as well as private remarks is that the United States obviously has a history in this region that’s not always appreciated from the perspective of some, but that what we need to do is try to move forward, and that I am responsible for how this administration acts and we will be respectful to those democratically elected governments, even when we disagree with them."

April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks asked, "as you’re concluding your summit here and the meeting in Mexico, there is a U.S. — a U.N. conference, the world conference on racism in Geneva tomorrow. The U.S. is boycotting. And what say you about that? And is Zionism a main issue in the reason why the U.S. is boycotting the racism conference?"

Obama replied, in part, "I would love to be involved in a useful conference that addressed continuing issues of racism and discrimination around the globe — which, by the way, are not a particular province of any one country. Obviously we’ve had our own experiences with racial discrimination, but if you come down to Central and South America and the Caribbean, they have all kinds of stories to tell about racial discrimination.

"Somebody mentioned earlier President Morales. Whatever I think about his politics, the fact that he is the first indigenous — person of indigenous background to be elected in a country that has a enormous indigenous population indicates how much work remains to be done around the world.

"So we would love to engage constructively in a discussion like that. Here’s the problem: You had a previous conference — I believe it was in 2001, maybe it was 2002 — I think it was 2001 — in which it became a session through which folks expressed antagonism towards Israel in ways that were oftentimes completely hypocritical and counterproductive. And we expressed in the run-up to this conference our concerns that if you incorporated — if you adopted all the language from 2001, that’s just not something we could sign up for."

• David Bauder, Associated Press:¬†CNN to treat Obama‚Äôs 100th day like election night
• George Diaz, Orlando Sentinel:¬†Let’s throw Castro a curveball and end the embargo
• Errol Louis, New York Daily News:¬†Barack, forget about comprehensive immigration reform
• Reporters Without Borders:¬†Appeal to international bodies and NGOs participating in 2nd World Conference against Racism
• Albor Ruiz, New York Daily News:¬†Rally to boost Bam’s bold reform moves
• Barry Saunders, Raliegh (N.C.) News & Observer:¬†Relatively better Cuba policy
• Jos?© Luis Sierra, New America Media:¬†Obama Leaves Mexico Dry

How Cable, Broadcast Covered the Tea Parties

"We’ve been monitoring how the networks are covering the tea parties today (via TV Eyes)," Steve Krakauer wrote¬†Wednesday on his Media Bistro blog. "As of 6pmET, here’s how many times the tea parties have been mentioned by each network:

• "FBN ‚Äî 78
• "FNC ‚Äî 55
• " CNN ‚Äî 36
• " MSNBC ‚Äî 32
• " HLN ‚Äî 24
• " CNBC ‚Äî 17

"During his report on The Situation Room, CNN media critic Howard Kurtz characterized the coverage this way: ‘Fox News sees today’s tea party tax day protests as a big story, CNN as a modest story and MSNBC as a great story . . . to make fun of.’"

• Chris Ariens, MediaBistro: How The Evening Newscasts Covered the Tea Parties
• Dreadman, ebonyjet.com:¬†Dreadman on Tea Bagging
• Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal: Tea parties proved little except right to protest
• Rob Schmidt blog: Teabaggers misuse Indian imagery

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, left, and former Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., were guests on Sunday’s "Meet the Press."

Blacks Increase Appearances on Sunday Talk Shows

During a "Meet the Press" roundtable earlier this month, NBC’s David Gregory turned to Rutgers University economist William Rodgers for an assessment of President Barack Obama’s overseas trip, David Bauder wrote Monday for the Associated Press.

"Rodgers’ appearance marked one of 40 times a black American had been on one of the four broadcast shows this year, through April 12. During the same period two years ago, there were 25 appearances.

"’We wanted to try to broaden the voices that we have on our round-table, and that includes more diverse voices in terms of race, gender and inside and outside of Washington,’ said Betsy Fischer, executive producer of ‘Meet the Press.’

"Two of the 40 appearances were by Obama himself, on ‘This Week’ in January and CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ in March. ‘Fox News Sunday’ had the greatest frequency of appearances by blacks, primarily because Juan Williams is a regular panelist." Michele Norris of National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered" made three appearances on "Meet the Press" during that time, according to figures compiled for the Associated Press by Media Matters for America, Bauder wrote.

". . . Media Matters also measured the number of Latino guests or panelists on ‘Meet the Press,’ ‘This Week,’ ‘Face the Nation’ and ‘Fox News Sunday’ this year for the same period.

"The count?

"Zero.

Kerry to Hold Hearings on Newspaper Problems Next Week

"Senator John F. Kerry will hold hearings in Washington next week on the financial problems facing the newspaper industry, as dwindling advertising dollars push many US papers to the brink of closure," James Vaznis reported  Monday in the Boston Globe.

"The hearings by the Senate Commerce Committee, beginning April 30, are the latest effort in the nation’s capital to help out newspapers. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, introduced a bill last month that would enable newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits.

"Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of a Commerce subcommittee, moved to spotlight the financial plight of newspapers after The New York Times Co. threatened earlier this month to shut down The Boston Globe unless its labor unions agree to $20 million in cost concessions, including pay and benefit cuts. The Globe is on track to lose $85 million this year, executives told labor representatives."

Short Takes:

• "Tom Joyner, off the air in Chicago since his syndicated morning show was bounced from Clear Channel’s WVAZ-FM 102.3 a month ago, has reached an agreement to bring his program to Crawford Broadcasting’s Soul 106.3, beginning Wednesday," Phil Rosenthal wrote¬†Monday for the Chicago Tribune.
• "African-American men and boys such as William Van Croft IV,17, Wallace Richards, 23, Dennis Palmer, 44, and Adji Desir, 6, are currently missing and have not yet received the national media attention as other missing people such as Laci Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, or Haleigh Cummings; White women usually get more attention than men of all races when they are missing," Diasia Ellerbee wrote¬† last week for the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Martin G. Reynolds, editor of the Oakland Tribune, said of African American men and boys, "They get less positive attention . . . There is plenty negative attention. We were not aware that there was such a large number particularly in African-American children. It was something I wasn‚Äôt aware of, but something I will look into.‚Äù
• Kim Moy has been promoted to director of the Yahoo! U.S. Front Page editorial programming group. She had been managing editor of the team since October 2007, the Asian American Journalists Association reported¬†on Friday. Moy participated in AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program Mentor Program Class of 2008-2009.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has ‚Äúmoved to a different kind of editorial that‚Äôs much more about community issues and less about, ‚Äòlet me opine on national issues,‚Äô ‚Äù Julia Wallace, editor of the paper, said¬† in a story Sunday by Richard Perez-Pena in the New York Times. Most of the editorial board will be replaced in May. "The new board members have not made their political views public. Asked about her own, Ms. Wallace said, ‘I want to be about making Atlanta a better place,’" Perez-Pena wrote.
• "The lawyers representing the Miccosukee Tribe used strong language in criticizing The Miami’s Herald’s coverage of a car crash involving tribal members in which a Kendall woman died," Edward Schumacher-Matos, ombudsman of the Herald, wrote¬†on April 12. "I have reviewed all the stories and wonder if the attorneys aren’t grandstanding for their clients and readers. With some minor exceptions, I found the stories fair and responsible. What was missing was information that tribal police and the tribe itself refused to make available."
• "Jonathan Rheingold announced Friday that he is stepping down as executive publisher at Harris Publications. Rheingold joined the company two decades ago and helped launch Slam and XXL magazines," Jason Fell wrote Friday for Folio magazine. "It was not immediately clear who, if anyone, will replace him as executive publisher.
• The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) supports fully the statement of the National Association of Peruvian Journalists (ANP), IFJ affiliate, welcoming the conviction of Alberto Fujimori who was president of Peru between 1990 and 2000," the international group said¬†on April 10. "The court in Lima also convicted Mr. Fujimori of ordering the abduction of a journalist and a businessman. The ANP recalled that 26 journalists were killed during the decade long presidency of Fujimori which was characterised by heavy handed government action in its fight against terrorism and drug traffic."