Will Wright Quits BET, Says He Wants a Life
Veteran broadcaster Will J. Wright has left “BET Nightly News,” where he was executive producer, four months before his contract was up, saying he had accomplished what he set out to do and was ready for what he called his first professional break in 37 years.
“Will wants his life back,” Wright, 52, told Journal-isms. “Now my passion is my living. It’s all about me. I woke up this morning with such a sense of freedom,” he said Thursday, the day after leaving BET.
Wright joined BET in February 2002 after having been news director of WWOR-TV in Secaucus, N.J., just outside New York, since 1992, and vice president and news director of KRIV-TV in Houston.
“BET Nightly News,” formerly produced in Washington, was moving then to New York, to the CBS Broadcast Center. BET and CBS had become part of the same company, Viacom, when BET was sold to Viacom in 2000. Wright’s job was to integrate BET’s news into the CBS operation and still produce an African American-oriented newscast.
“The ratings doubled; the show has been able to be fully integrated, with synergy with CBS and BET. and [with] a stronger level of journalism,” Wright said. “The rest is maintenance work.” He said he had brought in capable people, and they and BET are “going to be just fine.”
Over his career, “I imagine I’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars for other people. With the direction this business is going in, the less likely I was going to make hundreds of millions of dollars for me,” Wright said. He said he was considering forming a creative or producing consortium, wanted to resume his work in fine arts and video production, and was open to “all aspects” of the business.
“BET Nightly News” was the one regular news show left standing last December when BET canceled “BET Tonight With Ed Gordon,” “Lead Story” and “Teen Summit.” Wright confirmed that Gordon has left the network.
N.Y. Weatherman Charged After 2 Mowed Down
WCBS New York weatherman David Rogers was arrested in Cleveland early yesterday after mowing down two highway construction workers, authorities said, according to the New York Daily News.
“Rogers fled, and when cops caught up to him, he refused to take a Breathalyzer test, officials said.
“Although Rogers was unhurt in the predawn smashup, one of the workers was in critical condition. The other was treated and released, officials said.
“The accident came the day Channel 2 announced that some of Rogers’ early morning weather duties would be given to former Channel 5 weatherman David Price. Rogers is still assigned to the noon newscast — but won’t be on the air anytime soon.
“‘Mr. Rogers will not appear on the station’s newscasts pending further investigation,” Channel 2 officials said in a statement.
“The statement added that Rogers was on vacation in Cleveland, his hometown.”
“Prior to joining CBS 2, Rogers worked as the chief meteorologist for WKYC-TV3, in Cleveland, for the past three years. A seasoned weatherman, Rogers spent six and a half years at KYW-TV in Philadelphia and four years at WJBK-TV in Detroit,” says Rogers’ bio.
Condoleezza Rice to Speak at NABJ Convention
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to address the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Dallas on Aug. 7, after she returns from a visit to the Middle East.
“Following Dr. Rice?s address, NABJ members who covered the Iraq War will discuss their experiences,” NABJ President Condace Pressley says in a column on the NABJ Web site. Rice addressed a luncheon at NABJ’s Kansas City convention in 1991, during the first Bush administration. Known then as a Soviet specialist, she urged African Americans to become more involved with international affairs. She also has met twice with members of the William Monroe Trotter Group of African American columnists.
A plenary session on Friday, Aug. 8, will examine how the Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times afffected ethics, newsroom diversity initiatives and African Americans in journalism, Pressley said. “Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The New York Times, P. Anthony Ridder, chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, Inc., Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC Television, have all agreed to participate in the panel which will be moderated by Lester Holt, co-anchor of NBC?s ‘Weekend Today.'”
Members will also elect new officers and vote on constitutional amendments.
Wiley Hall Steps Down as Afro Editor
Wiley A. Hall III, hired by the Afro-American newspapers in 2001 as executive editor of its Washington and Baltimore editions, is no longer editing the papers, sources there said.
Hall, who had been a reporter and columnist at the Baltimore Evening Sun, was an example of the black press reaching out to African Americans in the mainstream media to improve its product. In turn, Hall’s service was an example of what many consider “giving back” to the community.
The new editor of the Washington edition is Talibah Chickwnendu, who had been editor of special supplements for both editions, and is a former editor of the Baltimore edition.
In Baltimore, the editor is Dorothy Boulware, who had been assistant editor.
Sources said Hall would continue to write his “Urban Rhythms” column for the paper. John J. “Jake” Oliver Jr., publisher and CEO of the Baltimore and Washington Afro-American newspapers, is immediate past president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the chief organization of black newspaper publishers.
In a May 18, 2001, story in the Baltimore Afro, Hall said, “My goal is to compete with the dailies. A weekly can step back and give depth. I want the paper to become issue-oriented, looking beyond news events to putting those issues in context. . . . A strong newspaper can help establish the identity of a community,” Mr. Hall said. “That’s certainly the potential of the Afro. I think we can be the finger pointer and the back-slapper when it’s called for.”
Howell Raines to Be Interviewed on TV Tonight
Howell Raines is breaking a public silence since resigning five weeks ago as executive editor of the New York Times with an hour-long appearance tonight on public television’s “The Charlie Rose Show”.
In addition, Raines and his managing editor, Gerald Boyd, who has also been publicly silent, are expected to sit for questions from a committee reviewing how the Jayson Blair reporting scandal could have happened, Paul D. Colford reports in the New York Daily News.
The panel, headed by assistant managing editor Allan Siegal, will not interview Blair himself, Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis told Colford.
Also, Los Angeles Times editors and department heads were told in a memo this week that Managing Editor Dean Baquet “will not be leaving” for The New York Times, where he used to be national editor, no matter what they might be hearing elsewhere, Colford writes.
Don Lemon Joins Chicago’s WMAQ as Anchor
Don Lemon, an NBC News correspondent with a track record at local stations in Philadelphia and St. Louis, is joining Chicago’s WMAQ-Channel 5 as a Monday-through-Friday news anchor, reports Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Lemon, 37, will sign on at the NBC-owned station as anchor of the 5 p.m. weekday newscast (alongside Marion Brooks) and as a general assignment reporter, starting Aug. 18. He replaces Mark Suppelsa, who left Channel 5 after 10 years last February to jump to Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32,” writes Feder.
“While Channel 5 bosses declined to speculate on future moves, their hiring of Lemon would seem to put him in line eventually to succeed Warner Saunders, 68, as the station’s principal anchor.”
Boston Globe Editorializes for Gay Marriages
Gay-rights advocates scored two victories in newspapers this week when The Boston Globe endorsed gay marriages and the Dallas Morning News said it would publish notices of same-sex unions.
The Globe editorial on Tuesday compared restrictions on gay marriages, now before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court, the state’s highest, to the bans on interracial marriage overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967 in Loving vs. Virginia.
“In Loving, the Supreme Court said that constitutional rights must be vindicated despite a long history of laws to the contrary. So too with the right of same-sex couples to marry,” the editorial said.
“It is true that most people still view marriage as an arrangement between a man and a woman. The traditional definition of marriage as a social institution designed to promote child-bearing and child-rearing is grounded in distinct gender roles that were not just socially but legally imposed for much of American history. But society, and the law, have already greatly expanded the definition of family, and civil marriage has been redefined as a partnership of equals. No doubt marriage between one man and one woman will continue to define the vast majority of unions. But that needn’t be the only acceptable definition.”
The Dallas Morning News announced in its Sunday paper that it would immediately begin publishing announcements of same-sex unions that would run alongside paid marriage and engagement announcements on Sundays.
“‘The publication of same-sex union announcements is a logical step for The Dallas Morning News to take,” says James Moroney III, the paper’s publisher and CEO. ‘We are now in line with practices of most major metropolitan newspapers across the country.’
“The paper’s criteria for publishing an announcement are that the ceremony takes place in public, and that somebody officiates.
“A two-inch announcement is free, while photos or longer announcements are charged according to size.
“The Dallas Morning News joins 205 other papers that publish same-sex union announcements, including 10 in Texas, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, or GLAAD,” the paper reported. The New York Times’ decision last August to begin publishing same-sex union announcements was a watershed, GLADD said.
Pentagon Would Embed Reporters in Liberia
American officials said they would likely embed the media with any soldiers that might be deployed in Liberia, Editor & Publisher reports.
“‘It is very likely that we will want to embed if there are troops that actually go into Liberia,’ said Lt. Col. John Robinson, who oversees the embedding program from U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. ‘It has been proven to be successful. We have been able to provide our perspective to the story.'” Editor & Publisher said.
“Stressing that no final decision about U.S. military involvement in Liberia had been made, Robinson said any embedding program would be based on the assessment of unit commanders. ‘It will have to be considered,’ he said of an embedding option in Liberia. ‘The assessment would be based on the situation on the ground.'”
N.Y. Times Accused of History of Africa Fabrications
In its coverage of Africa from the 1960s to the 1980s, editors of The New York Times “routinely fabricated scenes and manufactured quotes for their articles,” charges Milton Allimadi, a former Times stringer who publishes The Black Star News, a weekly newspaper in New York City. “In some instances, the editors wanted articles to conform to the racist stereotypical biases that American readers had come to expect in reports from Africa,” Allimadi writes on BlackCommentator.com.
“Consider the case of Lloyd M. Garrison, a descendant of the great American abolitionist, who was the Times’ first West African correspondent during the 1960s. Garrison covered the Nigerian civil war but was expelled by the military government there for alleged bias in favor of Odumegwu Emeka Ojwuku’s Biafran secessionists. In a letter from Nigeria dated June 5, 1967, Garrison complained bitterly that ‘tribal’ scenarios had been concocted and inserted into the edited version of his story, which had been published on May 31, 1967, in the newspaper:
“‘The reference to “small pagan tribes dressed in leaves” is slightly misleading and could, because of its startling quality, give the reader the impression there are a lot of tribes running around half naked,’ Garrison complained about the concoction by the Times editors. He protested the numerous use of the derogative term in his story, and added: Tribesmen connote the grass leaves image. Plus tribes equals primitive, which in a country like Nigeria just doesn’t fit, and is offensive to African readers who know damn well what unwashed American and European readers think when they stumble on the word.'”
New York Times spokeswoman Catherine J. Mathis told Journal-isms: “We do not believe our coverage has been distorted, and certainly never intentionally. We believe we have had a succession of excellent correspondents in our several African bureaus, and have been attentive to constructive suggestions.”
Tavis Smiley Not Drawing Enough Black Listeners
About a year and a half old, “The Tavis Smiley Show” on National Public Radio already airs on 62 stations and draws an estimated 1 million listeners a week, writes Raoul V. Mowatt in the Chicago Tribune.
“The challenge for Smiley is to balance out his audience. NPR officials said 30 percent of Smiley’s listeners are black, and the talk show host wants to draw in more African-Americans,” Mowatt writes.
“The fact of the matter is the show has become a huge hit, but it’s become a hit with an overwhelmingly white listening audience,” Smiley said. “My job and NPR’s job is to market the show to the audience it was intended to serve.”
Meanwhile, some regular white listeners find Smiley grating, superficial and overly concerned about race, according to focus groups.
“Smiley said that some of that comes from his background in television, where aggressive tones come across differently, and that he has been moving away from that,” Mowatt writes.
“Boondocks” Creator Signs for Film, TV Series
“Aaron McGruder, creator of the provocative comic strip ‘Boondocks,’ has signed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to develop a feature film and television series based on the strip,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“There is no network signed on for a series based on the strip. McGruder will begin writing scripts for the feature and the series.
“He’d previously tried to launch a ‘Boondocks’ vehicle for MTV that never got off the ground,” the story says.
Senators Link Dixie Chicks Ban to Book-Burnings
At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led his colleagues in a tongue-lashing of radio giant Cumulus Media Inc. for its decision this spring to temporarily ban the country stars the Dixie Chicks from some stations, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“At times likening the embargo to Nazi book-burnings and McCarthy-era blacklists, lawmakers said Cumulus’ action illustrated the potential danger of allowing corporations to amass nationwide broadcasting networks,” the Times said.
Meanwhile, “in a jarring about-face,” the National Association of Broadcasters has decided to oppose all pending legislation that would roll back the Federal Communications Commission’s recently enacted rules changes that relaxed media ownership limits, Television Week reports.
“The NAB has also reached out to the major networks to join with it in its new position, apparently seeking to head off the formation of a competing trade group that would represent network interests,” Television Week said.
And in another development, about 100 general managers of the TV stations owned by the Big 4 TV networks are slated to be in Washington July 16 to urge lawmakers to derail legislation aimed at rolling back the FCC actions, Television Week said.
The country-station ban on the Dixie Chicks came after lead singer Natalie Maines, upset as the White House prepared to invade Iraq, said during a March concert in London that she was ashamed that President Bush was from her home state of Texas.
Cumulus Chairman Lewis W. Dickey Jr. said Maines’ comment about Bush sparked an unprecedented “hue and cry” from country music listeners. “He denied that corporate executives gave their blessing to a promotion by one station in which Dixie Chicks CDs were smashed by a 33,000-pound tractor,” the Times said.
“To underscore that the ban was a business rather than a political decision, Dickey noted that the company continued to air the band’s songs on its Top 40-format stations because those listeners hadn’t complained as much as others,” the L.A. Times reported.
Honolulu Station to Reimburse Convention Bureau
“A Honolulu television station that sent a reporting team to Japan with Gov. Linda Lingle said it would reimburse the Hawai’i Visitors & Convention Bureau for travel expenses the bureau had agreed to pay,” reports the Honolulu Advertiser.
“Meanwhile, top Democratic Hawai’i lawmakers said they were “very concerned” about Lingle’s involvement in the free trip that KITV-4 accepted, and called for an investigation by the House and Senate tourism committees.
“KITV general manager Mike Rosenberg yesterday maintained the station did nothing wrong by arranging for the HVCB to pay for a reporter and cameraman to accompany Lingle on the trip.
“We don’t think there’s a conflict of interest, but the perception of a conflict of interest is something we can’t live with,” Rosenberg said.
“. . . Rosenberg was not sure how much the trip would cost the station. But Tony Vericella, HVCB president and chief executive, estimated the cost at around $4,100,” the Advertiser reported.
“Don’t Let Racism Creep Into Your Copy”
“A long time ago I was assigned to write a crime story that looked pretty much like any other. There were a few details about the incident, and a brief police description of the suspect: Male Black, 25-30 years old, 5?10″, 175 lbs., dark shirt, dark pants. I wrote the story, included the description, and thought nothing more about it,” writes blogger Abe Rosenberg of Marina Del Rey, Calif., on his newswriting.com Web site.
“A day or two later, at the morning meeting, the news director read an irate letter from a viewer complaining that we had perpetuated negative stereotypes about African-Americans. Such a vague description of a suspect, the writer complained, adds nothing to the story, because it could apply to millions of people. All it does is contribute to the harmful perception linking blacks to criminal behavior.
“The letter was signed, Ed Bradley.”
Rosenberg goes on to list some suggestions for not letting “racism creep into your copy: “Be a person of goodwill.” “Don’t keep things to yourself.” “When in doubt, don’t!” He says his goal is to start a conversation. Here’s how Rosenberg describes himself:
“I’ve been writing news since 1982, and I care passionately about doing it right, and showing others how. In 1996 I began contributing to the Newswriting section of Communicator, the RTNDA magazine. I also started a seminar business, bringing the essentials of clear, strong, conversational newswriting to individual stations.”
