Talk-Show Host, Internet Name Bryant’s Accuser
The 19-year-old woman who accused Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault was named on Tuesday by a nationally syndicated talk-show host and on the Internet, pushing her into the spotlight despite pleas for privacy from her family, Reuters reports.
One of the sites today has a note saying it “is temp offline for edits –the traffic to the site has melted down our server!” but another is still up.
And, as the Orange County Register reports, that paper “has reported she was a high school cheerleader, a University of Northern Colorado student, an aspiring singer and a popular but secretly distraught woman who, according to friends, had overdosed on pills two months before making the allegations.”
Writes media writer Mark Jurkowitz in the Boston Globe:
“We’re still two weeks from Bryant’s scheduled arraignment on Aug. 6. But the case has already generated a full-fledged media frenzy from talk radio to the Internet, from the New York Post to The Orange County Register, from MSNBC to ESPN. Not only is a Bryant trial a good bet to rival O. J. Simpson’s day in court for press attention, the torrent of speculation, allegation, and, in some cases, character assassination that has surfaced in recent days suggests that any courtroom drama will be preceded by a trial by media.”
Tim Rutten in the Los Angeles Times notes that:
“Bryant’s case cuts in as many directions as a newspaper has sections: There’s the news coverage, of course, legal analysis and an endless supply of sports stories and columns. This time around, there are even stories for the financial pages, since Bryant reportedly makes as much as $13 million a year from endorsements and last month signed a four-year, $40-million deal to promote Nike shoes.
“‘Should Brands Bryant Endorses Keep Him On?’ demanded a headline on the front page of Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal Marketplace section.
“Then there are all the probing lifestyle features to be written about the scene of the alleged crime, Eagle County, Colo. Is it really an idyllic Alpine community of rough-hewn, plain-spoken cowboys and amiable, laid-back ski bums? Or is it a small town riven by petty jealousies, where bored teenagers are drawn to the high-octane drug-and-alcohol-fueled party scene at the tony resorts nearby? All this will be fodder for an unimaginable number of op-ed pieces and televised commentaries.”
Tom Leykis, host of a radio talk-show based in Los Angeles, aimed mostly at young men, and heard on 60 stations, is the broadcaster who began using her name on the air “and told Reuters that he has no plans to stop,” according to the news agency.
“‘We’re told that rape is violence, not sex, and if that’s true there’s no reason she should feel shame or embarrassment,” Leykis said, adding that he felt it unfair to name Bryant but not his accuser.
Like nearly all news organizations, Reuters did not disclose the Internet site(s) with the accuser’s name.
House Votes to Block FCC Move on Ownership
The House voted overwhelmingly today against allowing companies to own TV stations serving almost half the country, the Associated Press reports.
“The vote was 400-21 to block a Federal Communications Commission decision that would let companies to own TV stations that serve up to 45 percent of the country’s viewers. The current ceiling is 35 percent.
“The vote in the GOP-controlled House came despite a veto threat from the White House and the opposition of House Republican leaders.
“The fight now moves to the Senate, where several lawmakers of both parties want to include a similar provision in their version of a spending bill,” AP reported.
Michael Powell Rumors Called “Without Foundation”
The Federal Communications Commission moved Monday to stop speculation in Washington that Chairman Michael Powell was on the verge of resigning, reports the Financial Times, a day after Time magazine and the New York Post reported the speculation.
“‘The rumours are without foundation,’ said a spokesman for Mr. Powell, who has led the FCC since January 2001.”
Questions Prompted by Bush’s Africa Trip
Kim E. Pearson of the English Department at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J., has been following coverage of the Bush trip in the African press for her blog, and reports:
- “I had the general impression that our major papers underplayed the protests against the visit. There is a real objection to Bush’s style of leadership in many quarters. When an article about criticisms of Thabo Mbeki’s leadership of the African Union reports that his peers describe him as the ‘George W. Bush of Africa,’ we should take note.
- “I didn’t see any coverage of the petition presented by African media activists protesting restrictions on press freedom and the treatment of African journalists in several African countries. That petition was presented to the African Union.
- “Senegalese anger about security restrictions was evident before Bush arrived, and apparently continues to roil after the Goree Island incident.
- “I saw more coverage in Africa of the Congressional Black Caucus’ views on Africa and on the Bush trip than in the U.S.
- “A small point, but I would have thought that the item on Marines selling souvenirs in Uganda outside of the hotel where Bush and [Ugandan President Yoweri Musevini] met would have merited a little mention.
- “Finally, I wonder about the impact of the Bush visit on the political fortunes of those African leaders who have most closely aligned themselves with him. The legitimacy of [Nigerian President Olusegun] Obasanjo’s regime was already being contested, and his opponents in the Muslim north seem to be using the trip for propaganda points. Uganda seemed to be making a play for friendship with the U.S. by saying it was a better East African ally in the fight against than Kenya and Tanzania. How will this affect regional stability?”
Bush Sat With African Journalists — Who Knew?
Meanwhile, it escaped many of us that President Bush sat down with African journalists at the White House before his departure, answering, among other questions, the allegation that his interest in Africa was sudden and driven by oil. Bush was interviewed July 3 by Charles Cobb Jr., an African American at allAfrica.com, Dame Babou of Senegal’s Sud Quotidien, Deon Lamprecht of South Africa’s News 24 and Laolu Akande of Nigeria’s Guardian. The transcript appears on allafrica.com.
On oil, Bush was asked by Akande: “I’d like to know what’s your reaction to people who say that the major driving force for your interest in Africa is oil and that, you know, what you are trying to do, essentially, is to shift the focus from Saudi, with first your relationship between Saudi and U.S. now, to Africa. Now, how much of that –“
Bush: “Saudi Arabia?”
Akande: “Yes. So I’d like to know how much of that is actually for instance, in your interest in Africa?”
Bush: “Well, conspiracy theorists [abound] everywhere, I guess. That’s one of the most amazing conspiracies I’ve heard. Heck, no one has ever made that connection, and so I would say — well, first, look, I have been talking about Africa since I was sworn-in as president. . . .”
Joe Davidson reports from Nigeria for Black Press USA
Bush Misrepresenting Aid to Africa (Joe Davidson NPR Commentary)
Two MBAs from Clark Atlanta Start Men’s Magazine
What the world needs is a black men’s magazine to compete with the likes of Maxim — or so believe two recent MBA recipients.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Troy Evans and James Gilbert III “started Dieve (pronounced ‘deev’) a year ago, launching the first issue nationally. But they couldn’t afford to fly all over the country to properly market the publication and find advertisers, not even after selling Evans’ Honda and moving him into Gilbert’s grandmother’s house in northwest Atlanta.
“So with their second self-funded issue, Gilbert and Evans decided to focus solely on Atlanta. If all goes well, they’ll branch to other areas of the Southeast, then the Northeast, then the West Coast.
“Their MBAs from Clark Atlanta University could get them jobs if things get desperate, but they don’t ever want to work in corporate America.”
Executive Director Named at Black America Web
Katrina Witherspoon, formerly director of business development for Match.com, has been named executive director of BlackAmericaWeb.com, the two-year-old Web site founded by syndicated radio host Tom Joyner.
Match.com offers “millions of possibilities to meet your match.” Witherspoon is to be responsible for Black America Web’s “daily operations, strategic alliances and strategic product development,” a news release says, replacing Donna Byrd, who returned to her consulting business in Atlanta.
The Web site claims nearly 700,000 registered members.
Hartford Cartoonist Calls Reader Rep Out of Line
“After The Hartford (Conn.) Courant’s reader representative criticized a staff cartoon, the artist criticized her comments,” reports Editor & Publisher.
“Bob Englehart’s cartoon showed two African-American residents of Hartford talking to a police officer as bullets whizzed by. One resident says: ‘Sure, we could give up the names of known criminals and make the neighborhoods safe for children but then we’d be “acting white.”‘
“Karen Hunter, the Courant’s reader representative, responded to the July 13 cartoon in her July 20 column. She noted that Englehart ‘is more than entitled to his opinions, he is paid for them.’ But Hunter added that the cartoon ‘insult(ed) a community.’ . . .
“Englehart, contacted Monday for his reaction to Hunter’s column, told E&P Online: ‘I thought it was out of line and wrong.’ He said crime in Hartford — and what he feels is the inadequate response to this crime by residents and those in authority — is an ’embarrassment.’ Englehart added that if residents don’t report criminals because of fear of retaliation, ‘it’s not going to help their neighborhoods.
“The cartoonist also questioned whether a reader representative should be criticizing editorial-page material.”
Secret Service Shows Up After Ramirez Cartoon
An editorial cartoon by Michael Ramirez in the Los Angeles Times that depicted a man pointing a gun at President Bush prompted a visit to the newspaper’s offices Monday by a Secret Service agent, the newspaper reports.
“A Secret Service official said the inquiry was routine, according to Karlene Goller, an attorney for The Times who met with the agent and later spoke to an official in the agency’s Los Angeles office. The government asks questions of anyone publishing material that might be construed as a threat against the president.
“Goller said she met with the Secret Service agent, Peter J. Damos, in the newspaper’s security office and told him he could not speak to Ramirez. After some discussion, Damos left.
“Ramirez said Damos had called him earlier in the day and asked if he could visit. Ramirez said he assumed the call was a hoax, and jokingly said yes. ‘So when he showed up,’ Ramirez said, ‘I was completely surprised,'” the newspaper reported.
“Write Like an American” Goes Out of Style
“It used to be that first- and second-generation immigrants were expected to ‘write like an American’ when telling their stories,” notes a book editor at Riverhead Books, quoted in a Chicago Tribune story by Patrick T. Reardon about “a sharp break with the literary past.”
“No longer,” Reardon’s story continues. “Not only are American readers more open to immigrant accounts written with different cultural and linguistic rhythms, but they’re also finding such books have a piquancy and freshness missing from much home-grown literature,” the Tribune writes.
“Whereas earlier accounts of the immigrant experience stressed the earnestness of new Americans, bent on assimilation into the mainstream, books like [Irene] Zabytko’s highlight the pain and loss of severing links to home. They’re less awe-struck by the New World, more clear-eyed, less reverential. They’re intensely aware of the values of community, culture and history that are damaged, if not lost, in the transition.
“‘Gone is the immigrant striver, and good riddance! It’s so patronizing,’ says Gary Shteyngart who, in his novel, “The Russian Debutante’s Handbook” . . . uses an immigrant’s perspective for a bitingly satiric look at life in these United States: ‘Immigration is a tragic thing — to give up your language, to give up your culture. It has a profound effect on the family, and the result is rarely positive.'”
Will Smith’s Take on Hollywood
The TV column in today’s Washington Post talks about a new show by Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in which they cast their best friend in a lead role.
It includes Smith’s take on dealing with Hollywood:
“And the one thing that we always said is, ‘Look, we’re in Hollywood. We’ve got to do like white people do.
” ‘Give each other jobs.’ “
