Publisher Expecting “Candor” in Gerald Boyd Book
Now that he has sealed a deal for his memoirs, Gerald M. Boyd will be working with an editor who has produced one of the most acclaimed novels of the year — an editor, Dawn M. Davis of Amistad Books, who says her goal is to make Boyd’s book “as honest on the page as he was in the meetings.”
When Boyd met over his proposal with “a number of people at Harper Collins,” Amistad’s parent company, they “were impressed by his candor,” Davis told Journal-isms.
Davis is editorial director of Amistad, founded in the 1970s as a showcase for African American books. She edited “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones, a finalist for this year’s National Book Award for fiction and, writes Laura Miller in yesterday’s New York Times Book Review, the probable winner.
Boyd’s book will cover his beginnings in St. Louis and “his rise to the top” at the New York Times and “the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal,” which forced his resignation in June as the Times’ first African American managing editor, Davis said. But it will also cover “prescriptive information on how journalism should change to keep up with technology,” as well as issues of “race and the workplace.” “I think Gerald is a fabulous writer,” she added.
The deal for the book, scheduled for publication in 2005, was negotiated by Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett, who told Journal-isms that “Gerald has been a friend of mine for 25 years.” Boyd had worked in the Times’ Washington Bureau.
Barnett denied a report last week by New York Post gossip columnist Keith J. Kelly, who quoted “several sources” as saying Boyd’s deal was worth about $300,000, putting the advance money ahead of the $250,000 that Blair is said to have received from another publisher. Barnett told Journal-isms that “Keith got that figure from his imagination.” In the Washington Post today, Howard Kurtz called it “a six-figure deal,” but Barrett said he would not discuss the amount.
Among Television Viewers, Women Rule
“Advertisers and women 18 to 49 are a long-lasting match made in TV heaven,” reports Paula Bernstein in Television Week.
“Data from Nielsen Media Research shows that adult women outnumber adult men by some 8.3 million in the U.S. TV universe.
“Adult women tend to watch prime-time TV in greater numbers (47.2 million women to 40.2 million men in August and September). They tend to watch more TV on a daily basis (four hours and 55 minutes for women vs. four hours and 16 minutes for men in May 2003).
“The profile of adult women becomes much more dramatic in prime time on the broadcast networks. In the first five weeks of the 2003-04 season, the female composition for the vast majority of prime-time network series’ audiences was 60 percent or higher. Only nine of the series attracted more men than women, and that short list was topped by ABC’s `Monday Night Football’ and UPN’s `WWE Smackdown!’ both at 67 percent men 18-plus.
“In cable, it might not be surprising to learn that HGTV, which in October produced its biggest prime-time ratings ever (an average 0.9, representing 714,000 homes), ended the month with a prime-time audience that was 75 percent adult women. But even Sci Fi Channel has been rewarded for broadening its focus to appeal to women, especially with its Friday night lineup, which has helped make Sci Fi one of cable’s top 10 networks.”
Oprah Reinventing Herself, Profitably for Stations
“Oprah Winfrey — queen of daytime talk and mistress of transformation — has reinvented herself again,” writes David Zurawik in the Baltimore Sun.
“Maybe she’s only resting before getting back on her quest toward personal fulfillment, but a less emotionally needy Winfrey seems more focused on transforming the lives of others rather than her own in the enchanted television palace of her talk show.
“Major market stations carrying The Oprah Winfrey Show from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays are riding her coattails to multimillion-dollar increases in ad revenues for their afternoon talk shows and early evening newscasts this fall. Meanwhile, those that don’t have Oprah are scrambling to find new ways to make a buck while eating her dust.”
TV One Sets Launch for Martin Luther King Day
“Radio One Inc., in conjunction with partner Comcast Corp., said yesterday that it plans to launch its cable network targeting African-American viewers on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Jan. 19, with a goal of being in half of the nation’s 12 million black television households on that day,” Andrea K. Walker reported Thursday in the Baltimore Sun.
“Some of the shows lined up include:
- “Gospel Challenge — A talent show with comedian Jonathan Slocumb as host, in which gospel choirs compete for a recording contract.
- “B. Smith Holiday Special — Lifestyle and culinary specialist B. Smith will be host for holiday specials based around celebrations such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and Juneteenth, a commemoration of the ending of slavery in America. She also will have a daytime series called B. Smith with Style.
- “Under One Roof — James Earl Jones will star as the patriarch of a middle-class family whose son and family move in after a military stint overseas.
- “City of Angels — A drama series that aired on CBS in 2001 about the lives of doctors and nurses at an inner-city hospital. The show features stars such as Vivica A. Fox, Blair Underwood and Gabrielle Union.
“TV One declined to say how many cable markets have been signed up to air the channel, pending final agreements with cable companies. But the company hopes to benefit from its partnership with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator with 22 million subscribers. TV One also is trying to sell the network to other cable operators.
“The cable start-up, which has yet to sign on any advertisers, will begin a monthlong tour of advertising agencies tomorrow, said Johnathan Rodgers, the former Discovery Channel executive who was brought on in March to head up TV One. Rodgers said many of the companies want to see strong distribution numbers before committing to advertising,” the story continued.
Shutdown of Black St. Louis Paper Criticized
Not everyone in St. Louis is happy that Sylvester Brown Jr., the publisher of Take Five magazine, the city’s “black independent voice,” folded his paper and, effective last June 29, succeeded the late Greg Freeman as three-times-a-week Metro columnist in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“It bothers me that Sylvester Brown Jr., a talented, courageous black newspaperman, folded his paper, Take Five — even though he is now with the Post-Dispatch, a prestigious white-owned newspaper,” wrote Katie Harper Wright, Women’s Page editor of the St. Louis Argus, in a letter published Saturday in the Post-Dispatch.
“Despite hiring more black writers in recent years, the white-owned media still do a poor job of covering black educational activities and political issues in a fair and consistent manner.
“Black children need successful black press people as role models — people who may influence them to become writers. Impressionable black children need the joy and encouragement of seeing their names in the newspaper or being seen on television in a positive light.
“It is true that there are now many prominent black journalists in the print and electronic media. We have come a mighty long way. However, we still need the black-owned and black-controlled press to meet the needs of black people.”
On “Boondocks” Strip: A Man Is Not the Answer
The Washington Post yesterday ran a 919-word letter from Michele Dyson, a former Republican candidate for Maryland’s 4th District House seat who runs what she’s defined as a “minority, woman-owned small business,” saying that “in conversations I’ve had recently with clients, business associates and friends,” the number one topic has been the “Boondocks” comic strip, “specifically Aaron McGruder’s series about national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.”
As Dyson notes, “Last month, one week’s installment was all about how Rice needed a boyfriend. The Post refused to print some of these panels, but people saw them anyway in other newspapers and online.
“‘The Boondocks’ addresses a hip-hop culture of racial diversity. McGruder says he hopes that his comic strip improves the state of racial discourse,” Dyson continues. “But women don’t need another repetition of the canard that a man in their life will fix everything — and a lack of one means something is wrong with them. McGruder’s strip didn’t poke fun at a member of the Bush administration — it poked fun at women — in this case, an intelligent and strong African American woman who has shattered the glass ceiling for women worldwide.
“Whoever said, ‘Better to trust the art than the artist’ knew what she was talking about.
“But in the case of Aaron McGruder and ‘The Boondocks,’ I trust neither.”
From October, q & a with McGruder
It’s Payback from Kansas City Black Journalists
An alternative weekly’s disclosure in July that Kansas City Star reporter Glenn Rice had “lifted entire paragraphs” from a music review and apparently was punished for it led to Rice’s resignation as treasurer of the National Association of Black Journalists.
And Saturday, the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists let the newspaper, The Pitch, know how just it felt about its handling of the story. “The organization’s 2003 ‘Thumbs Down Award’ was given to C.J. Janovy, editor of The Pitch,” Aman Batheja reported in the Star.
“Janovy wrote a column disclosing that Glenn Rice, a Kansas City Star reporter and former treasurer of the National Association of Black Journalists, had been reprimanded one year earlier by The Star for plagiarism.
“Anita Parran, president of the local group, said Janovy was given the award, in part, because she inaccurately ‘asserted’ that Rice received favorable treatment from The Star because of his race.
“‘The column included Rice’s photograph and an illustration that appeared to be a caricature of a black burglar stealing words, an image KCABJ also found racially offensive,’ Parran said.
“The award is given annually to a Kansas City area media personality or company deemed to have set back the image of African-Americans or other minorities.”
As Journal-isms reported then, the Janovy story said, “Maybe it’s presumptuous of us to suggest that race is the reason Rice kept his job.” Then-NABJ President Condace Pressley, in a statement disclosing Rice’s resignation, said, “Those who use these incidents as a platform against diversity have a fallacious argument at best.” Janovy told Journal-isms then that she did not intend her statement as a platform against diversity, only that the Star benefited from having an NABJ officer on staff.
In its other honors, Lucile H. Bluford, former publisher and editor of The Call of Kansas City, posthumously received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
FAMU Paper Asserts Right to Be “Uncensored Voice”
With the controversy over the confiscation of student newspapers at Hampton University, it’s refreshing to see an unequivocal statement from students at another historically black university that theirs is a “free, unbiased and uncensored voice.”
It comes from The Famuan at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee; it was prompted by a faculty luncheon at which university President Fred Gainous asked all media to leave.
“But little did he know the media had the right to be there, and one reporter from The Famuan was going to exercise her right,” states an editorial in the student paper. “She sat through the entire luncheon and even attempted to get a statement from Gainous at the end. As Gainous refused to comment, he told her that it was deceitful to have disregarded his initial request,” continued the editorial, written by “Elizabeth Broadway for the editorial board.”
“. . . While Gainous may have been upset by the continued negative coverage the university has received from the local and statewide media in the recent weeks, this does not give him justification to refuse media attendance at an open faculty luncheon.
“The Famuan is the voice of Florida A&M University, the free, unbiased and uncensored voice. And despite what the administration, faculty, staff or students may believe, it is not a public relations tool for the university.”
Meanwhile, an Associated Press story on the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ decision to withdraw its high-school journalism program from Hampton over its confiscation of the student newspaper ran in such outlets as USA Today’s weekend edition and in The Guardian in England.
ASNE letter withdrawing program from Hampton (PDF)
Fired White TV Producer Sues Kentucky Station
A former Lexington television news producer sued a media company yesterday, claiming she was fired for standing up to reverse discrimination in a newsroom rife with racial tension,” the Associated Press reported Saturday from Kentucky.
“Audrey Port also claimed she was a victim of libel, slander and harassment in her suit against Media General Inc. and several former co-workers at WTVQ-TV in Lexington. Media General, of Richmond, Va., owns the station.
“Port was fired last April after less than a year as executive producer at the station. Her ouster coincided with the dismissal of top station executives William Stanley and David Foky, also named as defendants.
“Port’s attorney, Jeffrey Smith, said she endured a backlash of hostility and harassment from three black co-workers because she wanted to enforce the station’s anti-discrimination policies. Port is white.
“The suit said racial tension at the station was simmering before Port’s arrival. It cited an incident in which a rope knotted in the shape of a noose was left on the desk of a black producer, Celeste Ward. Foky told Port that Ward was upset about the incident, had hired a lawyer and was demanding $300,000 from Media General, the suit said.
Foky, former news director, “told Port to be his ‘eyes and ears’ in the newsroom and not to provoke Ward and employees Kristi Runyon and Tiani Jones, who also are black, the suit said. All three were named as defendants,” the story says.
Univision Reports 108% Profit Increase
“Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Thursday reported a 108 percent rise in third-quarter profit, propelled by strong ratings at all three of the company’s television networks,” TV Week reports.
“The company’s owned-and-operated television stations ranked No. 1 in several key Hispanic markets, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Phoenix.
“The company also reported strong revenue growth at its radio division, which now includes the former Hispanic Broadcasting Co.”
Weatherman Integrates Century-Old Golf Club
Steve Pool , popular longtime weathercaster at Seattle’s KOMO-TV, has become the Seattle Golf Club’s first African American member since the club began in 1900, Susan Payner reports in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “You don’t apply, you have to be invited to join Seattle Golf Club. And Pool was — by a couple of members whom he met serving on the board of Seattle’s Museum of Flight — cell phone billionaire Bruce McCaw and Bill Rex, director of Prudential Securities,” Payner writes in her column.
“Pool started out as a volunteer at the museum but soon found himself on the board of trustees with the likes of Bill Boeing and John Fluke. “These are some really high-end people and I just kind of took it as a learning experience for myself,” Pool said. “A chance to know and work with some guys who have done some really amazing things.”
“And that chance, plus a darned nice place to play golf, are the reasons Pool decided to join SGC, too — after consulting his parents, that is.
“‘They said “go for it, it’s good and you deserve it. You’ve done a wonderful job in the community,” ‘ Poole said. ‘They didn’t see it as a token thing.’ Then he took his wife and daughters — ages 2 and 5 — to the club and their yes vote sealed the deal.”
Roz Abrams Out, Kaity Tong Stays in N.Y. TV
“Local news veteran Roz Abrams is leaving WABC/Ch. 7, while Kaity Tong has decided to stay put at WPIX/Ch.11,” Richard Huff reported Friday in the New York Daily News.
“In what turned out to be a busy day for news anchor seats, Abrams announced yesterday she will leave Ch. 7 after nearly 18 years, when her contract expires next month. “She anchors the 5 p.m. newscast, along with Diana Williams.
“Meanwhile, Tong, who is paired with Jim Watkins on Ch.11’s 10 p.m. newscast, has signed on for three more years.
“If she is still on the air when the contract expires, it will mark her 15th year in the anchor seat.
“She previously spent nearly a decade as an anchor at Ch. 7.
“‘I’ll go on as long as I can get the words out,’ said Tong.”
Killing Hits Home for Police Reporter in Akron
“In late August, I wrote a story about the unsolved murders of several young black adults — mostly men — in Akron. Little did I know then that a month later, my cousin would be among that number,” writes police reporter Andale Gross in Ohio’s Akron Beacon Journal.
“Knowing people who have been killed is one thing. Having a blood relative who is murdered is another.
“There’s no distance when the victim is your relative and the family left to grieve is yours.
“In the nearly two months since Garland’s vicious murder, I’ve interacted with victim advocates and police officers in ways that I never did before. I’m finding myself talking to victim advocates about the services they can provide for my family members.I’m having detectives interview me, when I’m usually the one asking the questions.
“I’m determined not to let my cousin’s case turn cold.
“. . . For the sake of my cousin — and the murder victims before and after him — the killing needs to stop. And just as crucially, the murderers need to be held accountable.”
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