Frank Del Olmo, the Los Angeles Times associate editor who collapsed in his office Thursday after a heart attack that proved fatal, was remembered today for his contributions to journalism, for raising the Latino voice and for putting a spotlight on autism, from which his son suffered.
By coincidence, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists last night was holding its 15th Annual Scholarship Banquet in New York to benefit its Ruben Salazar Scholarship Fund and Educational Programs.
NAHJ President Juan Gonzalez broke the news to the audience of more than 300, many of whom had not heard of Del Olmo’s death, NAHJ spokesman Joseph Torres said, and Gonzalez recalled that Del Olmo paved the way for many Latino journalists.
Gonzalez connected Del Olmo to Salazar, an L.A. Times columnist and news director for Spanish-language KMEX who was killed in 1970 while covering the Chicano Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium in East Los Angeles, and asked for a moment of silence.
In today’s L.A. Times story, Times Editor John Carroll praised Del Olmo as someone who was “known nationally as an accomplished journalist who always had time to help a colleague get a foot on the ladder.”
“The number of Latino journalists who hold good jobs today because of Frank is beyond calculation,” Carroll said.
“During his nearly 34 years at The Times, he was an intern, a staff writer specializing in Latino issues and Latin American affairs, an editorial writer, deputy editor of the editorial page, a Times-Mirror Foundation director and an assistant to the editor of The Times. The last position put him on the masthead ?- the first Latino to be listed among the paper’s top editors,” the story continued.
Del Olmo also was co-director of the Maynard Institute’s Summer Program for Minority Journalists in 1986.
“When del Olmo visited Summer Program classes at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, he used to give a lecture called ‘The world as it is versus the world as we would like it to be,’ noting that the difference between the two is expecially great for nonwhite journalists who have to be extraordinarily well-prepared,” Alice Bonner, who now teaches at the University of Maryland, told Journal-isms. “I’ve often had occasion to quote his message. It was a memorable and valuable lesson. I hope the student journalists remembered and applied it, too.”
“It was important that his name was on the masthead — not just as a symbol but because of what he was doing,” said Felix Gutierrez, a visiting professor of journalism at USC and longtime Del Olmo friend, in the L.A. Times story. “He was always representing those who couldn’t get in the room.”
“Jay T. Harris, a professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and former publisher of the San Jose Mercury News, said Del Olmo ‘was a tireless and effective advocate -? nationally as well as locally ?- for the proposition that journalism is best that covers its entire community fully and fairly: people of color as well as Anglos, the poor as well as the rich,'” the story continued.
“In 1994, when the newspaper endorsed Gov. Pete Wilson for a second term in office, Del Olmo threatened to resign, citing Wilson’s support for Proposition 187, which was aimed at illegal immigrants. According to a Times spokesperson at the time, then-Editor Shelby Coffey III persuaded Del Olmo to take two weeks off and ‘think about it.’
“Del Olmo did, and instead of quitting he wrote a strongly worded op-ed piece in dissent, excoriating Wilson and calling Proposition 187 ‘the mean-spirited and unconstitutional ballot initiative that would deprive “apparent illegal aliens” of public health services and immigrant children of public education.’
“‘Wilson’s pro-187 campaign will stick in our craws for generations,’ he wrote.
“Among his most notable columns were the 10 he wrote about his son, Frankie, who is autistic,” the story continued. Today, a Web site devoted to autism issues headlined its story, “USA loses top autism columnist.”
The NAHJ scholarship dinner took in $182,000, Torres said, adding that the association usually awards 40 to 50 scholarships of $2,000 to $3,000.
Selected columns on Latino issues
New Baltimore Editor Picks AME to Boost Diversity
Tim Franklin, the Orlando Sentinel editor named in January as editor of the Baltimore Sun, says he will make diversity a priority at the paper and this week named Sun veteran Sam Davis, assistant managing editor for sports, to the new position of assistant managing editor for recruiting and staff development.
“I believe we’ll stress diversity,” Davis, 44, told Journal-isms. “We’re just starting to get some intense effort into it. I’m interested in the challenge.” Davis, who started at the paper as a clerk and rose through the ranks, said some colleagues were surprised by his appointment, fearing he was being sidelined, but said he had spent 25 years in sports and was simply “going in a different direction.”
His appointment, however, drops the number of African American sports editors at mainstream dailies from five to four.
Franklin told Journal-isms that he wants to increase “the number of diverse voices in the newspaper and to do a better job” covering the community, as well as “to increase the diversity numbers in the newsroom,” though he said there was a hiring “chill” in place.
One of his first moves, he said, was to create a 15-person diversity committee, co-chaired by Davis, who is one of two African American assistant managing editors (the other is Michelle Deal, AME for design and graphics) and by Carroll County reporter Athima Chansanchai.
Committee members talked about the perception that the Sun was “not good enough yet in covering the minority community in Baltimore,” they examined the beat structure, and they discussed setting up a diverse source bank and a diverse job-candidate bank, something Franklin said he started in Orlando. At that paper, he also sent editor Tammy Carter to a Maynard Institute program on content audits, he said.
Davis, who officially starts March 1, “will be a valuable partner” in the diversity effort, Franklin said.
In the annual census conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Orlando Sentinel, which has a Spanish edition, last year reported having 18.4 percent newsroom professionals of color; the Sun reported 15.8.
Both the Sun and Sentinel are owned by Tribune Co., and during contract negotiations between the Sun and the Newspaper Guild last summer, the Sun acknowledged that it had been relocating reporters from the Sentinel’s nonunion newsroom in the event of a strike.
“Though Franklin’s good relationship to Tribune management might be an asset at The Sun, some observers feel it might also be a weakness,” the Baltimore City Paper wrote last month.
“Bob Whitby, editor of Orlando Weekly, an alternative newspaper that is owned by City Paper, acknowledges that ‘Franklin had a reputation of really improving the [Sentinel].’ But Whitby contends that Franklin was instrumental in Tribune Co. plans to train and replace Sun Guild members with nonunion Sentinel staff when Guild members threatened to strike, a charge supported by Guild members . . . Whitby says Franklin’s ties to Chicago should concern Sun staffers, especially in light of the heavy-handed stance Tribune Co. has taken toward the Baltimore daily as of late,” said the story by Brendan Coyne.
In January, however, Franklin recalled for the Associated Press his tenure as editor of the Indianapolis Star, his stop before the Sentinel. “I had a good working professional relationship with the guild there and I expect that in Baltimore,” Franklin said.
Billionaire Buys S.F. Examiner From Fang Family
“Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz — known for buying and rebuilding unwanted assets — has bought the San Francisco Examiner and Independent newspaper chain from the Fang family for an estimated $20 million, the parties announced Thursday, as Malaika Fraley reports in California’s San Mateo County Times.
“Anschutz, 64, is founder of QWest Communications and is ranked the 33rd richest man in the world by Forbes magazine. The Anschutz Company was founded as an oil-and-gas exploration company in 1965 and today has ownership interests in approximately 100 companies in a wide range of fields, including railroads, movie theaters, sports, energy and film production,” Fraley wrote.
“Florence Fang will retain a minority interest in the newspaper group, and has been named vice chairman and publisher emeritus. The Fangs will continue to own and operate AsianWeek and Chinese TV Guide. Former Alameda Newspaper Group publisher P. Scott McKibben was kept as publisher of the Examiner and Independent,” the story continued.
“In an era where two newspaper towns are rarities and the money-losing Examiner’s diminishing significance under the tenure of its current owners, the Fang family, analysts doubted the newspaper could compete effectively in a city dominated by the San Francisco Chronicle,” Paul Elias of the Associated Press reported.
“Since taking over the historic Examiner, the Fangs have fired most of the newspaper’s staff and transformed it into a free publication distributed at streetside news racks.
“‘It’s not surprising that the Fangs wanted to sell,’ newspaper analyst John Morton said. ‘What is a surprise is that someone would want to buy it.'”
English-Language Latino Network Plans July 19 Start
“Reflecting the growing influence of the Latino marketplace, yet another television network is launching to serve Hispanic Americans,” Paul J. Gough reports in Media Post.
“But unlike entrenched players such as Univision, Telemundo, TeleFutura and Galavision, the new VOY Network will feature English-language programming aimed at 18-to-49-year-old Hispanics.” It plans to launch July 19, according to a news release.
“VOY, which so far has no distribution on either cable or satellite platforms, is scheduled to launch July 19. The Los Angeles-based digital channel will compete for the hearts and minds of U.S. Hispanics against the established Spanish-language channels, as well as another English-language channel aimed at 18-to-24-year-old U.S. Hispanics, SiTV,” Gough wrote.
The CEO is TV veteran Andrew Thau, who “spent seven years at Fox, where he helped launch both English- and Spanish-language regional sports networks.”
Les Eisner, a spokesman for the new venture, told Journal-isms that the network will not offer news, as “it’s a lifestyle network.”
Detroit Co-Anchor Charles Pugh Comes Out as Gay
“I’ve been pretty openly gay,” Detroit co-anchor Charles Pugh tells Detroit Free Press columnist Desiree Cooper. “But I drew the line talking about it when it came to the media. Now, I’m ready to cross that line.”
“On Jan. 28, he emceed a forum about homophobia in Detroit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The event landed him on the front page of one of the nation’s premier gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered publications, Michigan’s Between the Lines. For Pugh, that was a turning point,” Cooper wrote.
“I am a respectable member of this community,” Push says in the column. “And I happen to be gay. People need to know that gays are everywhere.”
Pugh, 32, is co-anchor of “Fox 2 News Weekend” on WJBK-TV and a morning drive-time personality on Detroit’s WJLB-FM.
Newsweek’s Whitaker: Public “Moved On” from Blair
“Personally, I’d like to round up every copy of Blair’s unspeakable book and deposit them in the world’s largest remainder bin. That way, we’d be done with him. And I would also wish a pox on the house of any responsible media outlet that gives this despicable ‘journalist’ any airtime or column space,” writes Jon Friedman, CBS MarketWatch media columnist, speaking of disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair and his upcoming book, “Burning Down My Master’s House.”
“And this is the crux of the journalism profession’s dilemma: Blair’s book is a news event, maybe even a big one, and our job is to report the news. And even as I bash him, I know I’m also giving Blair what he and his publisher crave: publicity.”
In examining this “dilemma,” among those Friedman quotes is Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker, who “said when his magazine put Blair on the cover, the story was ‘very newsworthy.’ Now that the Times has restored a sense of order to the newsroom, Whitaker says: ‘I have some very real doubts’ if the public will find the Blair saga to be fascinating.
“Whitaker also said: ‘My basic feeling is that we’ve moved on’ and he said it will ‘take a lot’ to rekindle his interest in the subject today,” Friedman writes.
Bouquet for Chicago Tribune’s Dawn Turner Trice
“Pssst! Don’t tell anybody I told you this, but I don’t always read every word of all the long, long stories that appear in the Tribune,” Chicago Tribune Public Editor Don Wycliff wrote Thursday. “But Sunday’s Page 1 story by Dawn Turner Trice, about the five Keystone Kid brothers 10 years later, was one of those that was impossible to put down.
“Exhaustively reported, exquisitely written, the story reached out, grabbed me by the collar, pulled me in and wouldn’t let go until I reached the end. Kudos to Trice for a brilliant piece of work.”
Hari Sreenivasan Joins ABC News Broadband Unit
Hari Sreenivasan has been named anchor/correspondent for ABC News Live, which has been described as “a 24-hour, fee-based broadband package of ABC News clips and time-shifted news programs, extended press conferences and headlines.”
Sreenivasan is the founder of OMpower MediaInc., a firm providing media and communications services, such as reporting and anchoring, for a range of clients. He has reported for CNET, a San Francisco company that reports on technology, and for WNCN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh, N.C.
He is also a board member of the South Asian Journalists Association.
Heather Vincent Producing “BET Nightly News”
Heather Vincent, most recently vice president for program planning at MSNBC, has joined “BET Nightly News” as executive producer, BET announces.
At MSNBC, she handled such programs as “Headliners & Legends,” “MSNBC Investigates,” “Weekend Magazine” and “National Geographic Explorer,” the release says.
“She also led the network?s documentary division which earned multiple awards and recognitions for its work from many prestigious media organizations as well as The Hamptons Film Festival,” the release continues. “Ms. Vincent?s tenure among the NBC Networks also includes seven years as Senior Supervising Producer for NBC News? Dateline, where she oversaw a 20-person booking staff and developed strategic partnerships with major book publishers, magazines and motion picture companies.”
Alina Cho Joins CNN in New York, from ABC
“Alina Cho, formerly an ABC News anchor and correspondent, has joined CNN as a general assignment weekend correspondent,” Caroline Wilbert reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“She will be based in New York.
“During her tenure with ABC News, Cho was a regular substitute anchor for World News Now and World News This Morning.
“She also served as the network’s online correspondent for ABC News Live and as a correspondent for NewsOne, the network’s affiliate news service.”
“Who You Calling Arab?” Columnist Asks N.Y. Times
“The headline on today’s Page One, above-the-fold New York Times story, ‘Arabs in U.S. Raising Money To Back Bush,’ sets the table for a promising meal,” wrote Jack Shafer Tuesday in Slate magazine. “You assume that reporter Leslie Wayne is about to serve a dish about how the war in Iraq and aggressive Republican Party outreach have paid dividends to Bush campaign coffers in the form of Arab-American donations.
“But the uncoiling lede sells a more expansive story than the hed: It’s not just ‘wealthy Arab-Americans’ but also ‘foreign-born Muslims’ who are raising big chunks of money for the president.
“In today’s sensitive times, even schoolchildren know that the terms Arab and Muslim aren’t interchangeable. Not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are Arabs,” Shafer continues, citing further examples of the Times’ confusion on the subject.
Supermodel Campbell Renews Battle Against Paper
Supermodel Naomi Campbell went to Britain’s tradition-steeped House of Lords Wednesday, seeking to overturn the October 2002 ruling that the Daily Mirror was justified in publishing a picture of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting because she’d lied previously to the media about her drug use, the Associated Press reports.
Media Freed of Parking Fee in Covering Jackson
“Santa Barbara County supervisors decided last week to cease charging television news stations parking fees to cover Michael Jackson’s child molestation case, expressing concern over a possible lawsuit from the media,” the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says.
“County officials had proposed that the board raise the Santa Maria courthouse’s parking rental fee from $250, which media outlets paid for Jackson’s Jan. 16 arraignment, to $400 for a Feb. 13 preliminary hearing. However, after attorneys representing several local and national broadcast news organizations contested the constitutionality of the fees, the board decided Feb. 10 to eliminate what amounted to a licensing charge,” the committee reports.
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