Students, Provost Reach Agreement at Hampton
Student journalists and the Hampton University administration reached an agreement late today in which the students will redesign the front page of the confiscated issue of the student paper, The Hampton Script, to accommodate the administration. In return, the administration agreed to create a task force, to be headed by veteran journalist Earl Caldwell, who is “Scripps Howard endowed professional” at Hampton this year, journalism school director Christopher Campbell told Journal-isms.
Other members of the task force are to be Campbell, Talia Buford, editor of The Script, Daarel Burnette II, campus editor at the paper, and the three faculty advisers: an English professor, an assistant professor of journalism and an employee in the University Relations department.
The administration has agreed to abide by the task force recommendations, Campbell said, and the panel could recommend that the newspaper become independent of the administration, something Campbell advocates.
Criticism of the administration was mounting before the agreement, but there were also concerns over the administration’s power to retaliate against the students.
Greg Morrison, news director of the Major Broadcasting Cable network, told colleagues in the National Association of Black Journalists yesterday that “This afternoon we were scheduled to do a satellite interview with Talia Buford, editor of the Hampton Script. At the last minute she told me that she couldn’t make it because she had been in meetings all day around the crisis. In the course of the conversation she indicated that her future at the schoool might be in jeopardy. Let us hope that was just an unfounded suspicion due to the ongoing crisis atmosphere.”
Campbell, director of Hampton’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, told Journal-isms yesterday that the need for the independence of campus newspapers holds true “especially at historically black colleges. What happened here is not unusual for private HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities), and even some state schools [where] the students really don’t have First Amendment rights.”
The Hampton administration seized the 6,500-copy press run of The Hampton Script Wednesday after the students did not place a letter from the administration on the front page as the administration requested.
Later in the day, student editor Buford said the administration offered the students only one alternative at a meeting on the issue: to republish the paper with the administration’s letter on the front page. The student staff decided not to distribute the publication at all if that were the only alternative, she said. Since then, students, faculty members and administrators met separately and sometimes together over the situation, discussing possible compromises. But the newspaper edition was oriented toward this weekend’s Homecoming.
University President William R. Harvey had become involved, though the order to put the letter on the front page came from the provost, Acting President Dr. JoAnn W. Haysbert, and Harvey is on sabbatical. The letter concerned health-code violations at the school cafeteria that have since been redressed. The Black College Wire, of which this columnist is editor, published two articles from confiscated issue about the cafeteria last night on its Web site.
In other developments:
- At least two grant sources to Hampton University’s journalism school were questioning whether to give money to the school in the future, some media officials said Thursday, the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Va., reported. The two sources are the John S and James L. Knight Foundation and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Eric Newton, Knight’s director of journalism initiatives, told Journal-isms that he did not want to comment on the Hampton situation, but said that “Knight Foundation-funded programs, including Black College Wire, are designed to support a free and independent student press. Our experience has been that the more educators know about the benefits of an independent student press, the more they value it.”
- The National Association of Black Journalists late today issued a statement saying that “NABJ’s 3,000 members include hundreds of students — including some at Hampton — who share the same journalistic standards, aspirations and challenges as those aiming to excel at the Hampton Script.
“They, NABJ’s board of directors and black journalists everywhere stand firmly behind the staff and call on the university to release the swiped edition of The Script immediately. We also abhor any effort to intimidate or punish the students involved.”
” . . . Frankly, we will advise any aspiring college journalism applicant against enrolling at any college or university that demonstrates intolerance for anything but the best student newspaper.”
- Senior broadcast major Jameil Hamilton circulated a petition on campus Thursday, seeking 500 signatures by today so she could ask the acting president for the “release of the paper.” She collected about 100 signatures in an hour, the Daily Press reported.
- Judith Clabes, president of the Scripps Howard Foundation, which has given the journalism school a $10 million commitment over the next decade, is away from her office this week. But Campbell said he received an e-mail from her Wednesday expressing support for the students, according to the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk.
- Haysbert did not return a telephone call from Journal-isms, but the Daily Press said Thursday that she confirmed that she had ordered the newspapers confiscated, saying only “the publication was delayed,” and “I’m looking forward to a homecoming paper.”
- Another Virginia campus newspaper, The Collegiate Times at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, wrote an editorial, “Hampton president violates free press,” in solidarity with The Script.
Campbell told Journal-isms yesterday that he feared the administration’s actions would drive away potential speakers and donors. But he said he hoped “it will lead to a discussion here and at other private black colleges with journalism programs that the First Amendment is actually a good idea, even though legally you don’t have to abide by it. The civil rights movement rested on the First Amendment.” The student paper reports to the administration, not the journalism school.
However, the most prominent examples of campus newspapers independent of their universities — the Michigan Daily and Harvard Crimson, to name two — are at larger schools with well-developed business staffs. The closest a historically black college has come is the District Chronicles, a community-oriented paper published at Howard University.
“The financial workings of the District Chronicles are still evolving,” adviser Lawrence N. Kaggwa, a Howard journalism professor, told Journal-isms. “Ninety percent of our operating costs come from advertising revenue, the remaining 10 percent from annual gifts from alumni and friends. I and the student editors are our own oversight. However, we plan to install a national oversight council consisting of top editors, alumni and community leaders at some future date. The hold up is that right now, the day-to-day battle for meeting student payroll, printing and distribution costs is sapping all our energies. This is exacerbated by the fact that our ad revenue and gifts have not caught up with our operating costs yet. But we are getting there.
“This is something doable, especially on those campuses where there is only one newspaper,” he said.
“This is a message that needs to be drummed into our heads if we are to develop independent voices on our campuses while at the same time teaching our students the real influences on the content of the commercial newspapers most of them are inevitably going to work for as interns and when they graduate. Advertising is the lifeline of these papers and we have to teach our students this basic principle, especially those who have notions of owning their newspapers, magazines, radio or television stations, cables or online newspapers.”
Navajo Times Wins Independence in Historic Vote
The weekly Navajo Times in Window Rock, Ariz., won its quest for independence in a 66-1 vote last night by the Navajo tribal council, publisher Tom Arviso Jr. told Journal-isms. “It’s a historic thing. No other newspaper has done this in Indian Country,” he said.
Independence from tribal oversight is a dream of many Native journalists, and Arviso said he hopes it can inspire other tribal papers.
The vote came after Arviso made a presentation toward the end of a lengthy tribal council meeting. “As soon as I got done, people said, ‘vote!’ vote!’ which is very unusual,” he said. “The tally board lit up all green. . . . It was a great moment. I can’t tell you how happy I was. I was actually kind of stunned.”
Arviso said the paper can start acting immediately as a corporation, although it is targeting Jan. 1 as the date that actually happens. It next plans to select a board, “get our finances straightened out,” and down the road, looks forward to getting its own building and going daily, he said.
Native Journalist Fired From Tribal Paper
Lori Edmo-Suppah, treasurer of the Native American Journalists Association, “has been fired as managing editor of the tribal newspaper on eastern Idaho’s Fort Hall Indian Reservation,” the Associated Press reports.
“Fred Auck, chairman of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Business Council, said Edmo-Suppah was dismissed for gross insubordination in front of other employees. He did not elaborate.”
“The Sho-Ban News is a weekly publication owned by Tribal Enterprises. It covers news on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation,” AP said.
The Idaho State Journal reported that “The Sho-Ban News will publish this week’s edition today, one day later than the scheduled publishing date.
“Sho-Ban News interim editor Evelyn Small said she discussed the future of the paper with the tribal business council after hearing the newspaper would temporarily cease publication.
“‘I told them we had a capable staff and we could do it,” Small said. “I’m just planning on continuing with business as usual,'” the newspaper reported.
“Small was named interim editor Thursday morning.”
El Diario Apologizes to Readers
The owners and publisher of the New York Spanish-language daily el diario/La Prensa apologized to their readers for censoring a column written by Fidel Castro.
As reported earlier this month, the decision to kill the column led to the sudden resignation of the paper’s editor-in-chief, Gerson Borrero, who said he would stay on as a columnist.
More Than 650 Say Goodbye to Faith Fancher
“Mourners young and old filled the pews, lined the walls and crowded every inch of the Catholic church” to say goodbye to longtime Bay Area television reporter Faith Fancher, “a woman defined by her strength and optimism. Her courage was with her even as she fought a losing battle with breast cancer, friends and colleagues said,” reports Laura Casey in the Oakland Tribune.
“Fancher, 53, died Sunday at her Oakland home surrounded by close friends and family. More than 650 people gathered at her funeral Wednesday to celebrate her life.”
Senators Publicize Black Web Site’s Harsh Cartoon
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee gave unexpected attention Wednesday to a cartoon that showed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with a fright wig, a persona called “Janice Brown” after black conservative Janice Rogers Brown, nominee for a seat on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The cartoon was displayed prominently during the hearing as the senators at Brown’s confirmation hearing took turns denouncing it as offensive.
The Black Commentator Web site, which ran the cartoon, took delight and wrote a story about it, reporting that “Brown said she became aware of Khalil Bendib?s cartoon, featuring the Thomas character (with and without fright wig), Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and George Bush, when shown it by her husband. ‘At least I?m in good company,’ she told [Sen. Orrin] Hatch. Our point, entirely!” it wrote.
The Web site is produced by veteran black journalists Glen Ford and Peter Gamble.
NAHJ to Pursue Creating Local Chapters
The board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists “voted this weekend to craft a plan by early next year that will permit the association to create local chapters and affiliated organizations in cities and colleges throughout the United States,” the organization announces.
“Among minority journalism organizations, NAHJ is almost alone in not having local chapters,” NAHJ president Juan Gonzalez said.
The announcement said the NAHJ board also voted to:
- Hold the first-ever joint meeting with the California Chicano News Media Association to discuss ways to unify the efforts of both groups to improve diversity in newsrooms throughout California.
- Sponsor receptions around the country to introduce NAHJ?s new Spanish-language stylebook.
- Organize a series of nationwide workshops with Alberto Gomez Font, director of Español Urgente EFE news agency, on the proper use of Spanish in news coverage in the United States.
- Co-sponsor seminars across the country with the Open Society Institute to provide more information to the Spanish-language media on how the civil liberties of immigrant communities have been affected by government actions since Sept. 11, 2001.
Appeal Filed on Univison-Radio Merger
“Univision Communications Inc.’s fight to acquire Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. isn’t over yet,” reports Jaret Seiberg on TheDeal.com.
“The National Hispanic Policy Institute, a Washington advocacy group, asked a federal appeals court Wednesday, Oct. 22, to overturn the FCC?s approval of the $3.5 billion deal.
“Approval of the merger was ‘arbitrary, capricious and violates well-established FCC rules and policies,’ NHPI said in its notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.”
FCC Pulls Plug on “Liberation”
“A low-power radio station in San Francisco, which broadcast without a license for the past 10 years, was shut down by the Federal Communications Commission last week,” writes the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press.
“On July 2, broadcasters at Liberation Radio turned away FCC officials asking to inspect the station’s equipment. On Oct. 15, the FCC returned to the station with police officers, federal marshals and a court order to seize all broadcast equipment.”
FCC’s Powell Says Rules Don’t Hurt Minorities
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell dismissed criticism that the agency’s looser limits on media ownership will harm minority interests, Ron Orol reports on TheDeal.com.
“‘The key to minority opportunity is not hiding in an ownership rule,’ Powell said in an interview following a speech before the American Bar Association in Washington on minority representation in the legal profession,” Orol reported.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that “North Carolina residents aired their complaints and praises on Wednesday about local television and radio stations while broadcasters defended commitments to their communities during the first of several nationwide federal hearings about local stations’ public service.
“The Federal Communications Commission went to Charlotte on its first stop of its review of how local stations serve their local communities amid complaints about diminishing local reporting, community service and crass programming.”
Women Sportswriters Protest ESPN’s “Playmakers”
“ESPN’s dramatic series ‘Playmakers’ has been criticized by reviewers and the NFL for its unoriginal and stereotypical portrayals of professional football players as drug-abusers, womanizers and worse,” writes Elliott Teaford in the Los Angeles Times.
“Now the Assn. for Women in Sports Media has protested a story line that revolves around a flirtatious female reporter who enters the locker room and touches a player suggestively.”
New Typeface Helps Dyslexics Read Online
“Dyslexics who have trouble reading words online and in print may soon find relief in a new typeface being developed by a Dutch designer,” writes Amit Asaravala in Wired.
“Unlike traditional typefaces, which reuse the same forms for multiple letters — such as b and d, or p and q — the Read Regular typeface makes each letter significantly unique so that dyslexics can more easily distinguish one character from another. Additionally, Read Regular features simplified forms and extended openings in letters like c and e.”
The words in blue (on most computers) are links leading to more information.
