Austin Series Looks Under “Veneer of Liberalism”
“We’ve raised the temperature around town with this series,” on unequal use of force by police, writes editor Rich Oppel of the Austin American-Statesman in a Sunday column called, “Onus for racial disparity falls on many shoulders.” Oppel also reports that in an e-mail, Texas Monthly Publisher Mike Levy characterized an African American and a Hispanic reporter as being of “questionable intellectual capacity and work ethic.”
However, Levy told Journal-isms that “You need to look at the entire e-mail series. I had no idea who these reporters were, other than they had done a lousy job.”
Oppel wrote in his column that his paper would continue to raise the temperature in the Texas capital. “If you are uncomfortable with challenges to power, if you are uncomfortable with investigative journalism, you may not like this or the unending discussion of statistics,” he said.
He added, “Austin is covered with a veneer of liberalism. Under that, some who attempt to shape public opinion have a love of silence, intimidation, disinformation, name-calling, suppression of debate and the protection of established power.
“In Austin we have Mike Levy, the publisher of the magazine Texas Monthly, who regularly e-mails thousands of people to attack enemies, and I am proud to appear on his enemies list. In one recent e-mail, he threatened the newspaper with a $1 billion ‘class-action libel suit’ by Austin police officers. In another, he slurred the two reporters who spent more than six months writing and researching the use-of-force series. Those reporters are Andy Alford, who is black, and Erik Rodriguez, who is Hispanic. Our magazine publisher said they were of ‘questionable intellectual capacity and work ethic.’
“Got it?
“Stupid and lazy.
Oppel also writes, “Our critics say we’ve opened a racial chasm in Austin.
“Actually, a racial divide is a reality in Austin ? just as in every large American city. All we did was draw back the draperies by showing how citizens of different colors are treated differently when police use force.”
Levy said that “challenging the ethics of his critics” was a favorite tactic of Oppel’s. “He’s trying to make me out as a racist,” Levy said. “I’m Jewish . . . I don’t care about stuff like that.” Levy said he sits on the board of the Magazine Publishers of America and that “we can’t find enough people of color” on magazines. Of Texas Monthly, he said, there are “not enough” — 5 to 10 percent — and that the sole person of color on the editorial side is Valerie Wright, a fact-checker.
He sent along the e-mail string to show that others in Austin thought the series unfair.
The American-Statesman series is available to those who take out a free subscription to the Web site.
Was She Watching Grammy Show? Or BET?
Writes Rochell Thomas, a columnist for TVGuide.com, on Sunday’s Grammy Awards:
“Speaking of black people, and I’m African-American so don’t go calling TV Guide (just say ‘that girl Rochell’s got issues’) — Was CBS just trying to knock out its annual Black People Quota for the year with this one telecast? For real. I know it’s Black History Month and I love my people and I love seeing wonderful reflections of us on television. But, for a second I thought I was watching BET. It was almost as if CBS and the Grammy folks were trying to make up for past Grammy evils and say, ‘See, we’re ‘down, too. We love “Soul music”! See? See!'”
But Journal-isms can’t help but wonder whether this is TV Guide.com — or africana.com.
U.S. Held Responsible for Native Kids Falling Behind
The Gannett Co.’s Diversity Page points out that “Brenda Wade Schmidt of the Argus Leader at Sioux Falls reported that 7,000 Native American children living on South Dakota Indian reservations in the poorest counties in the nation are in danger of falling behind the requirements of President Bush?s No Child Left Behind Act because they attend schools supported by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs instead of state-funded public schools.
“Schmidt wrote: ‘Bush has demanded that states reform their public schools, but the federal government itself is leaving behind some of the very students the legislation is aimed at helping — the nation?s poorest minority students.'”
Print Media Hold Back on Publicizing Blair Book
Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair’s publisher is gearing up the publicity machinery for Blair’s book “Burning Down My Master’s House,” but Editor & Publisher reports that while Blair has lined up television interviews for the book, due out March 6, the print media have been slow to respond.
As part of the public relations campaign, publisher Michael Viner gave an interview to E&P, repeating what he told Publishers Weekly in December: that the book will be “full of surprises.”
“Viner claims advance orders are forcing a second printing, beyond the planned 100,000 copies, with a second run likely reaching at least 20,000 copies,” E&P said.
“Blair’s first interview about the book will occur on March 5 as part of a segment on ‘Dateline,’ the NBC newsmagazine, followed by a ‘Today’ show appearance the following morning, Viner said. ‘They have done tapings already — they are spending a lot of time with him,’ he added. In addition, Blair will appear on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live,'” the piece by Joe Strupp reported.
“Blair appears to be faring less well in the print realm. Viner claimed Variety would run an excerpt from the book, expecting it to occur shortly before the publication date. For a high-profile book, Variety is rarely near the top of the list for an exclusive excerpt, however.
“‘That was the place I wanted it,’ he told E&P when asked which other publications he’d approached about excerpts. ‘In terms of the media paying attention, it is the bible.’
“But when asked about an excerpt deal, Variety Editor-in-Chief Peter Bart denied that such an agreement had occurred, saying that his editors were still reviewing the book for a possible 350- to 400-word Op Ed piece. ‘We have no idea at this point what we might do,’ Bart told E&P on Friday. ‘We have not had a chance to read the book and decide.'”
Southampton to South Dakota — Looking for Latinos
From Southampton to South Dakota, newspapers are drawing up new plans to reach the Latino market.
In recent days:
- The Wall Street Journal said it would produce a weekly, tabloid-sized Spanish-language insert for the Tribune Co.’s Hoy newspapers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, reflecting the growing clout of the Hispanic media market, the Washington Post reported.
“The insert will appear on Thursdays under the Journal banner and focus on personal finance and technology, careers and small business. Articles will be culled from the Journal’s American, European and Asian editions and translated into Spanish by Journal editors, said Dow Jones & Co., parent company of the Journal.”
- The first Spanish-language newspaper in Sioux Falls, S.D., El Hispano en Sioux Empire, will hit the streets during the first week of March, that paper announced.
“Behind the effort is Miguel Puentes, who founded the nonprofit Hispanic Service Center in Sioux Falls about two years ago. He is president of the weekly newspaper, which is a separate business,” the paper said.
- On Long Island, “the Southampton Press is about to launch a new Spanish-language weekly, Nuestra Prensa (Our Press), on the East End,” Keith J. Kelly reports in the New York Post.
“It is the second Spanish-language weekly to announce launch plans this spring in what is likely to become a battle for the Hamptons.”
- Meanwhile, in broadcast, “the big ratings winner these days in the heart of North Carolina is WUVC-TV, a six-month-old Spanish-language station,” reports the Miami Herald.
“The channel, owned and operated by Los Angeles-based Univision, posted prime-time ratings during November’s sweeps period that rivaled and even outdistanced some English-language network affiliates among adult men.”
Philadelphia Magazine Seeks “Elite” Black Readers
Philadelphia magazine has undertaken its year-long project examining the city?s race relations in part to secure more “elite” and middle class black readers, editor Larry Platt tells the Philadelphia City Paper’s Deborah Bolling.
“I think we have about 12 to 15 percent readership that’s African American. Our demographics are elite. It’s for the elite and those who aspire to join the elite in Philadelphia and the region. There is a vibrant African-American elite and African-American middle class that we’d like to have read our magazine in greater numbers than they do already. And so it is both for our readers and the pursuit of other readers, newer readers,” Platt tells Bolling in a q-and-a.
Bolling also asks, “Why has Philadelphia magazine never had a black staff writer? And, considering that you?re going to take this leap into covering a subject over the course of a year, do you feel the need to hire one?”
Replies Platt, “I’d like to — at some point. I have no plans to make any hires now. But it would be nice. And as to the historical question, I don’t know. I think it deals with something we spoke about earlier, which is that Philadelphia magazine has at best ignored race and most of the time I think it?s considered itself not writing for African-American readership, which I?d like to change. And it would be good in brainstorming sessions to get outside viewpoints of people who haven?t lived exactly like some of us here have. My three predecessors were all white, male Jews from Penn. And I like to say, I?m a white, male Jew who went to Syracuse, so I?m affirmative action — Philadelphia magazine style [laughs].”
J-Grad’s Wealth Leads to $31 Million Grant for Mizzou
When people talk about net worth built over generations, and the lack of same by people of color, they might have examples like this in mind:
“The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation announced today the awarding of $31 million to the Missouri School of Journalism for the creation of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, a center that will focus on advanced studies of journalism and its role in democratic societies.
“The award is the largest private donation ever to the University of Missouri.
“The award will include up to $16,731,129 to build a new building and renovate two existing buildings on the MU campus to house the institute. An additional $1,834,702 will fund technology and furnishings for the high-tech facilities,” a news release says.
“In addition, up to $12,434,169 will be made available over a six-year period to fund the Institute?s staff salaries, programs and operations.
“Donald W. Reynolds, who passed away in 1993, was a 1927 graduate of the School of Journalism. Reynolds turned an initial $1,000 investment?-part of it borrowed?-into the Donrey Media Group, one of the largest privately held communications companies in the United States. Fred W. Smith was the president and chief executive office of that organization.”
“Black colleges, by the very nature of their constituency, operate very close to the line,” William Gray, outgoing president of the United Negro College Fund, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last June. “They simply don’t have alums who have had access to capital accumulation; they generally don’t have multimillionaires to draw from.”
Last year, John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, gave $4 million to Howard University, which renamed its School of Communications after him.
Variety Going Chinese — Without Adding U.S. Jobs
Variety, the show business newspaper, plans to launch a Mandarin-language edition in China, in hopes of tapping into the expanding film and entertainment industry there, Variety’s parent company has announced. However, there will be no new jobs for U.S. journalists as a result, spokeswoman Salina Le Bris told Journal-isms.
The U.S. entertainment information will come from current Variety reporters, but there will be a local staff of journalists — she didn’t know how many — in Beijing, Le Bris said.
A news release calls the venture a “strategic alliance” between Variety’s parent company, Reed Business Information, “the largest business-to-business publisher in the United States,” and International Data Group, “the leading global technology media, research and event company.” The two organizations also plan to publish a Chinese edition of another Reed publication, Packaging Digest, and expect to launch more local editions of other Reed magazines in China in the next few years.
New Papers “More Ja Rule Than Jack Straw”
Under the headline, “New US tabloids: more Ja Rule than Jack Straw,” a reference to the 21-year-old rapper and the 57-year-old British foreign secretary, the Christian Science Monitor looks at newspapers’ new spinoff tabloids aiming to attract younger readers.
“Frantic about losing two generations of readers indifferent to mainstream news, newspaper publishers across the country are launching one of the most aggressive periods of experimentation since the colorful pages of USA Today revolutionized the industry 20 years ago,” reads the story by Andy Nelson.
“These publications are a mélange of Entertainment Weekly and Reader’s Digest, with some big photos and local event listings thrown in.”
The words in blue (on most computers) are links leading to more information.
