Is Newsday Growing News Diversity Leaders?
The election of Herbert Lowe as president of the National Association of Black Journalists means an unprecedented number of news diversity leaders of color from the same newspaper, Newsday, a Tribune Co. property based on Long Island, N.Y.:
- Lowe is a criminal courts reporter for the newspaper’s New York City edition.
- Mae M. Cheng, who covers the immigration and demographics beat for the New York City edition, is president of the Asian American Journalists Association.
- Ernest Sotomayor, president of Unity: Journalists of Color, is Long Island editor of Newsday.com.
- Errol Cockfield, a political reporter at the paper, is president of the New York Association of Black Journalists.
- P.J. Joshi, a business writer at Newsday, is president of the New York chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.
“Newsday has been a leader in the industry in promoting diversity in newsrooms, so it is no wonder that they are so supportive of individual staff members who would like to take a more active role working on the issue,” Cheng told Journal-isms.
Editor Tony Marro added that he believed that Newsday had the highest percentage of people of color among the top 10 papers in the nation, excluding the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald combination, in the annual census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Newsday’s newsroom “is filled with talented pepole, and a lot of people who have a commitment to diversity, and work with organizations that have a commitment to getting people into the business and keeping them there. It’s that simple,” he told Journal-isms.
In other reports on the NABJ convention just concluded in Dallas, where Executive Director Tangie Newborn reported more than 2,600 were in attendance and more than 70 workshops were held:
- The undercutting of NABJ convention host-hotel rates by other nearby hotels was noted in an Wall Street Journal piece by Ron Lieber headlined, “When Hotel Discounts Are No Bargain — Guests Undercut Group Rates For Conventions, Weddings; Banned From the Shuttle Bus.”
“This is the No.1 issue in the meeting and convention industry right now,” said Mary E. Power, president of the Convention Industry Council, in McLean, Va. Her session on this topic at a conference the previous week drew more than 600 people, Lieber reported.
- “Two of the NBA’s most outspoken and misunderstood personalities — Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former superstar-turned-broadcaster Charles Barkley — shared a stage Saturday afternoon, and their opinions, predictably, were unpredictable,” wrote the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Barkley said he would make a decision in the next six months about whether to run for governor of Alabama. (‘My calling in life is to help poor people,’ he said.)
“The panel discussion, taking place in downtown Dallas, also featured former NBA player Mario Elie and several national media members. A crowd of several hundred, including Mavs assistant coach Charlie Parker, attended the spirited two-hour seminar, entitled ‘Changing faces in the Game,’ as part of the National Association of Black Journalists convention.
“Many of the questions for Cuban centered on the recent Kobe Bryant firestorm. Cuban spent much of last week defending his position that media coverage of Bryant’s sexual assault charges could help the NBA from an economic standpoint.
“Cuban took time Saturday to again criticize media organizations for taking his words out of context. And he commended others who examined the full scope of his assertion that the Bryant situation impacts the league.”
- “One sentiment became increasingly clear as reporters and editors talked shop in hotel hallways last week during the nation’s largest gathering of black journalists: The fall from grace of one reporter should not indict every reporter who happens to be a person of color,” wrote Adrienne Samuels in the Miami Herald.
Her piece partly reported on the “industry plenary” featuring New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and others. “The fallout from the Jayson Blair scandal gave journalism a bruised eye but it won’t affect efforts to improve diversity in the newsroom, a panel of journalists” at the convention said, Renee C. Lee reported for the Associated Press.
- The Taipei Times wrote about the significance of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice using the word “country,” “in a reference that equated Taiwan with other nations such as Germany and Japan.”
- Writing in the Baltimore Sun, conservative black columnist Gregory Kane wrote of Rice’s appearance, “Diversity isn’t just for liberal whites who want to promote or hire liberal blacks. Conservatives — they come in all races, since ideas themselves have neither color nor ethnicity — have a right to have a crack at diversity.
“It would just be nice if African-Americans in a conservative administration didn’t have to pass the black test.”
- A panel discussion featuring those who covered the war in Iraq “raised some interesting questions about media credibility and the Bush propaganda machine,” wrote Eric Stringfellow in the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger.
He noted that George Curry of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service “rocked the room by invoking two of the most memorable names from the war: Specialist Shoshana Johnson and Pfc. Jessica Lynch.” Curry said that Lynch “fit the all-America mold” and was made a hero in the news media. “They don’t do that for black women,” Curry said.
- Citing lagging immunization levels among ethnic minorities, federal health officials are stressing the importance of giving more black and Hispanic adults a shot in the arm, reported the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Dr. Bonnie M. Word, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, and Dr. Walter Orenstein, assistant surgeon general and director of the National Immunization Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, discussed the immunization issue Friday during a news briefing at the convention.
- George Curry made his acceptance speech as “Journalist of the Year” available on his Web site.
Esquire Cancels Jayson Blair Assignment
“Esquire has canceled a movie review it commissioned former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair to write, the magazine said Friday,” reports the Associated Press.
“Blair, who resigned from the Times after editors learned he had embellished and plagiarized parts of dozens of reports, was to have reviewed ‘Shattered Glass,’ a film about another journalist found to have fabricated stories, Stephen Glass.
“David Granger, editor in chief of the 68-year-old men’s magazine, said Esquire reversed its decision after news of Blair’s assignment became public.
“‘It was intended as a joke that readers would see when they picked up the issue,’ Granger said. ‘All the news reports took away that element of surprise. Mr. Blair never got to see the movie and was very understanding when we told him of our decision,'” reported AP.
The assignment of Blair to cover the piece had been criticized on a number of fronts. Some journalism experts said they feared it would feed public skepticism about news reports. On the e-mail list of the National Association of Black Journalists, Roy S. Johnson and other members wondered aloud whether journalists of color must discredit themselves in order to be hired by those publications.
Granger replied then to the NABJ members’ concerns by telling Journal-isms through a spokesman:
“Esquire has a long history of running ground-breaking articles written by and about African-Americans. Jayson Blair’s race, however, was irrelevant to why he was assigned this piece. I merely thought it was an interesting idea to have one infamous fabricator comment on a movie about another infamous fabricator.”
Blacks, Latinos Cast in More TV, Movie Roles
The number and share of roles for Latinos and African Americans in motion pictures and television programs increased during 2002, but the total number of Asian-Pacific and Native American roles decreased, according to casting statistics for 2002 released today by the Screen Actors Guild.
“Latino performers realized a net increase of 379 roles, driven primarily by episodic television. Their share of total TV and theatrical roles rose to 6.0%, an increase from 4.8% in 2001, marking their greatest share since SAG began tracking employment.
“African-Americans realized a small increase of 39 roles, and also gained their highest share of roles ever, 15.5% of all roles cast, an increase from 14.4% in 2001.
“By contrast, the total number of both Asian-Pacific and Native American roles decreased in 2002.
“Data is based on all television and theatrical productions (excluding commercials and animation) reported to the Guild via casting data reports provided by producers, under the provisions of SAG collective bargaining agreements.”
Wrap-Up of Expansion of Spanish-Language Media
“In the coming months, Spanish-language newspapers will debut or expand in Dallas, Orlando and Chicago,” write Frank Ahrens and Krissah Williams in the Washington Post in a wrap-up of the landscape in Spanish-language media.
“Spanish-language radio companies have been buying FM stations that cost $250 million each. Spanish-language television stations are top-rated in major cities. And a merger between the dominant Spanish-language television network and largest radio chain appears about to win federal approval this month, creating the first Hispanic media giant, an entity with enough firepower to reach nearly every member of the nation’s largest minority group.”
Meanwhile, shares of Univision Communications Inc., owner of the nation’s biggest Spanish-language television network, rose more than 13 percent yesterday after the company said second-quarter profit almost doubled, reports Bloomberg News. The stock jumped $3.89, to $32.96.
“Univision’s earnings soared as costs fell at its TeleFutura network, which had start-up expenses in 2002. Together the networks attract more than 80 percent of Hispanic viewers,” said Bloomberg.
Also, on Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the parties seeking approval of the Hispanic broadcasting merger are big donors to the Bush campaign.
N.Y. Weatherman Canned After Arrest
“David Rogers has delivered his last weather forecast for WCBS/Ch. 2,” the New York Daily News reports.
The station cut Rogers loose on Tuesday, “less than a month after he was arrested for hitting construction workers in an early-morning car accident in Cleveland.
“Rogers hit two workers and sent others scrambling as his SUV barreled down I-480 shortly after 4:30 a.m on July 10. He refused to take a Breathalyzer test.
“The weatherman, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident, has been off the air since the incident. Just days before the crash, Rogers lost his early-morning gig at the station to Dave Price, although he was to continue on Ch. 2’s noon news,” the newspaper reported.
Atlanta Daily World Marks 75 Years
Aug. 5 marked the 75th anniversary of one of the nation’s oldest black-owned newspapers, the Atlanta Daily World, and celebrations were planned for most of last week.
On National Public Radio, Tavis Smiley interviewed publisher Alexis Scott, granddaughter of the paper’s founder, W.A. Scott.
“I think we’re still vitally important,” Scott said on “The Tavis Smiley Show.”
“We need additional resources and investment to make us stronger and better, but I think we’re vitally important to the larger community because, as the country gets more and more multicultural and multiracial, I think that ethnic and community newspapers are going to take on increasing importance, and particularly in the black community. . . . 350 years of slavery, discrimination, Jim Crow and racism is just not going to be banished overnight.
“We have a perspective that no one else has, and I think that is why it’s so important to maintain the black press.”
CBS Chicago Station Awaiting Diann Burns
“The expected arrival of news anchor Diann Burns in October just can’t come soon enough for WBBM-Channel 2, which fell further behind its rivals in the late-news ratings for July,” reports Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Nielsen’s monthlong averages through Tuesday show the CBS-owned station’s 10 p.m. weekday newscast stuck in fifth place with a 4.4 rating and 7 share — down 2 percent from a 4.5/7 in July 2002. That was despite a 16 percent increase in prime-time lead-in ratings.
“Channel 2 insiders are pinning their hopes on the planned hiring of Burns, the former top anchor at WLS-Channel 7, as their last best chance of jump-starting the ratings.”
Feder also reports that “Giselle Fernandez, the flashy former weekend news anchor at Channel 2, has signed off after two years as morning show host at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. She previously worked at the Tribune Co.-owned station as a weekend anchor and reporter before joining Channel 2 in 1987.”
Sharpton Links White Newsrooms, Lack of Coverage
Veteran black activist Al Sharpton contended that the news media are dismissive of his presidential campaign because newsrooms are overwhelmingly white, the Associated Press reports.
“I think when you look at the lack of diversity in the newsrooms, when you look at the lack of diversity from the editors and those in power, then you see them as automatically dismissive of anything that is not like them, which is white males,” said Sharpton in an interview with AP.
Granite Broadcasting Plans to Swap Stations
Granite Broadcasting Chairman and CEO W. Don Cornwell said that the black-owned company will focus on changing its mix of television stations to take advantage of the relaxed TV station ownership rules and create duopolies in certain markets, reports Television Week.
“As part of that strategy, he said, Granite wants to sell or swap its WB stations in San Francisco and Detroit for TV stations that are news-oriented and generate positive cash flow.” Granite owns eight TV stations.
Abel Dimant, Spanish-Language Pioneer, Dies at 64
Abel Dimant, a pioneer in Spanish-language media, died Aug. 1 in Santa Monica, Calif., “far from the East Coast where he spent most of his life and even further from his native Argentina. He was 64. He battled and overcame prostate cancer. Yet he lost against another disease: depression,” reports Daisy Pareja in Pareja Media Match.
“Abel was well-known for being blunt, demanding and sometimes rude. Oh, but we all loved him just as much.
“He was a workaholic. He wrote, copyedited, and supervised the editorial assignments (and everything in between) always above the call of duty. He was also a news director at one point during his 12 years at CNN En Español. Previously, he was an international editor for The Miami News (English-language newspaper) and based out of New York City, he directed United Press International?s Latin American and Caribbean operations involving 21 bureaus and 87 staffers.
“He started out as a writer for Reuters. He then became a [Washington] correspondent for Argentina?s daily newspaper La Nacion and for the financial newspaper Ambito Finaciero. He had a passion for good journalism and for the impeccable use of the Spanish language. He authored two Stylebooks and contributed to the [National Association of Hispanic Journalists’] Stylebook, which will soon be released.”
Tribune Co. Changing “Exito” to “Hoy”
“Tribune Co. is relaunching its weekly Spanish-language newspaper Exito as a Monday-to-Friday publication beginning Sept. 2 and changing its name to Hoy to match the company’s sister publication in New York,” reports Jim Kirk in the Chicago Tribune.
“Advertisers who have been briefed on the plans said Tribune plans to publish 60,000 copies a day with a newsstand price of 25 cents per copy. It is not clear whether the publication will be delivered to homes. Exito, which is free, now publishes roughly 120,000 copies per week.”
“Liberal” Papers Called More Open-Minded
“So-called ‘liberal’ newspapers tend to be more open-minded and willing to criticize a like-minded U.S. president than their ‘conservative’ counterparts, according to a report released last week,” reports Editor & Publisher.
“In a study for The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, Michael Tomasky looked at 510 editorials over the past decade. He found that on their editorial pages The New York Times and The Washington Post criticized the Clinton administration 30% of the time. By contrast, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times opposed the Bush White House 7% of the time.
“Tomasky also found a ‘striking difference in tone between the two sides as well,’ with the conservative papers using far ‘harsher’ language in responding to Clinton and engaging in ad hominem attacks. The two sides, therefore, ‘represent two different models of journalism. The conservative editorial pages are more likely to think of themselves as being ‘on the team,’ as it were . . .'”
Read the study (PDF)