Census: Latino, Asian Numbers Tripling in 50 Years
In a development with profound significance for the news media, “The numbers of Latinos and Asians in the United States will triple over the next half-century as an aging white population slips from its traditional majority perch, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections released today,” as Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar wrote Thursday in the Los Angeles Times.
“The estimates through 2050 show that during the current decade, the U.S. will, for the first time, reach the demographic milestone of more than 100 million minority residents. By 2010, minorities will number more than 110 million out of a total population of 309 million.”
The Census Bureau said in a news release:
- “Nearly 67 million people of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) would be added to the nation?s population between 2000 and 2050. Their numbers are projected to grow from 35.6 million to 102.6 million, an increase of 188 percent. Their share of the nation?s population would nearly double, from 12.6 percent to 24.4 percent.
- “The Asian population is projected to grow 213 percent, from 10.7 million to 33.4 million. Their share of the nation?s population would double, from 3.8 percent to 8 percent.
- “The black population is projected to rise from 35.8 million to 61.4 million in 2050, an increase of about 26 million or 71 percent. That would raise their share of the country?s population from 12.7 percent to 14.6 percent.”
Ex-USA Today Reporter Faked “Major Stories”
“Seven weeks into an examination of former USA TODAY reporter Jack Kelley?s work, a team of journalists has found strong evidence that Kelley fabricated substantial portions of at least eight major stories, lifted nearly two dozen quotes or other material from competing publications, lied in speeches he gave for the newspaper and conspired to mislead those investigating his work,” Blake Morrison writes today in USA Today.
“Perhaps Kelley?s most egregious misdeed occurred in 2000, when he used a snapshot he took of a Cuban hotel worker to authenticate a story he made up about a woman who died fleeing Cuba by boat. The woman in the photo neither fled by boat nor died, and a USA TODAY reporter located her this month. If Cuban authorities had learned she was the woman in the picture, she says, she could have lost her job and her chance to emigrate.
“Confronted Thursday with the newspaper?s findings, Kelley spent 2 1/2 hours again denying wrongdoing. ‘I feel like I?m being set up,’ he told them.
“Kelley?s conduct represents ‘a sad and shameful betrayal of public trust,’ former newspaper editors Bill Hilliard, Bill Kovach and John Seigenthaler said in a statement. The three editors said their ‘analysis of how these abuses occurred’ will conclude ‘in the near future.’ Reporters Michael Hiestand, Kevin McCoy, Blake Morrison, Rita Rubin and Julie Schmit investigated Kelley?s work,” the story said.
Kelly is white. The more famous, African American fabulist, former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, meanwhile, has set up his own Web site and appeared last night at an African American bookstore, Karibu Books, in Hyattsville, Md. A store employee said Blair appeared before a standing-room-only crowd of 50 or 60 and sold more than 20 books.
Anchor Refused Story Because He’s Not a “Robot”
Anchor Don Lemon of Chicago’s WMAQ-TV has explained to Philadelphia Inquirer television columnist Gail Shister his March 12 decision to sit in the TV truck rather than cover a stabbing this way:
“I am a journalist, not a news robot,” he says. “I get paid to ask questions. As a journalist, I can question the content of what goes on our air and what I’m sent out to do. Any journalist worth their salt would.”
Lemon, 38, who worked at Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV from 1999 to 2002, was suspended from WMAQ for three days.
Reporters Become Part of Same-Sex Marriage Story
On both East and West coasts, reporters are becoming part of the same-sex marriage story.
Philadelphia Inquirer television columnist Gail Shister confirms that after the first same-sex marriage in New Jersey’s history took place March 8, she and her partner, Penny Jeannechild, were turned away from applying for a license after Asbury Park officials said there would be no more gay marriages or licenses given out until the courts settled the issue, Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV reported
“I happen to believe that separate does not equal, equal. It’s not the same thing. I refuse to be a second-class citizen,” Shister told the station.
Shister told Journal-isms that she and Jeannechild were married by a rabbi in June 1993.
She said they had been together 14 years, and have three children between them. “Hers are grown; my daughter is 18,” she said.
On the West Coast, as the gay publication The Advocate reported:
“The San Francisco Chronicle removed its lead City Hall reporter and photographer from covering the city’s same-sex marriage controversy after the longtime lesbian partners were wed last week. In a decision he characterized as difficult and painful, executive editor Phil Bronstein told the paper’s staff on Monday that reporter Rachel Gordon and photographer Liz Mangelsdorf had been pulled from the story after editors concluded there was a potential for the appearance of a conflict of interest.
“A similar move was made at public radio station KQED, where Scott Shafer, host of the popular California Report program, agreed to stop reporting on gay marriage after he and his partner were wed.”
“Steven Petrow, president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, said he is ‘troubled’ by the Chronicle’s decision and believes it sets a bad precedent.”
Two San Francisco supervisors, joined by other gay leaders, on Thursday called on the Chronicle to reverse its decision, the newspaper reported today.
Kripalani, Zakaria, Als Are Magazine Award Finalists
Manjeet Kripalani of Business Week, Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker, Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria, New Yorker writer Hilton Als and Oprah Winfrey, in her role as editorial director of “O” magazine, are among those honored in nominations for National Magazine Awards.
Whitaker and Winfrey were nominated for their magazines’ “general excellence” in the over 2 million-circulation category.
Kripalani was nominated for “Is Your Job Next” and “The Rise of India,” articles for which he was a co-author in Business Week.
Whitaker was again nominated for three Newsweek columns by Zakaria, “Here?s a Bet for Mr. Rumsfeld,” “And He?s Head of Intelligence?” and “No Way to Make Friends.”
New Yorker editor David Remnick was nominated for three pieces by Als, “Glacier Head,” “Playing for Immortality” and “Borrowed Culture.”
God and Whitney Sell, but Not Ruben and Serena
Magazine covers featuring God and the Virgin Mary were top sellers for some weekly and biweekly magazines in 2003, the Media Industry Newsletter reports, but television’s “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard and tennis superstar Serena Williams graced the covers of other publications’ worst-selling 2003 issues.
Studdard was on the cover of Rolling Stone’s Aug. 21 issue and Williams fronted the May 26 Sports Illustrated with golfer Annika Sorenstam.
For Mira magazine, a Dec. 16 cover with singers Beyonce; and Shakira was its most successful; the May 20 issue with actress Ninel Cond銬t; and singer José ?anuel its least.
The Economist’s best cover featured the Virgin Mary and Newsweek’s best was on “Bush and God.”
Journal-isms asked other magazines not included in the article for their best- and worst-selling covers of the year.
Black Enterprise reported that the worst-selling was August’s “She’s the Boss” on women CEOs and the best was “The Hot List Best & Brightest Under 40” from December.
Essence magazine reported its July cover featuring singer Whitney Houston as its most successful; its least-successful featured the singer Monica.
At Native Peoples magazine, editor Daniel Gibson said the best-selling cover for his bimonthly publication was September-October’s, showing the image of a dancer from the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, wearing a big turquoise necklace, a cover with “a traditional-looking image that screamed Native American and Indian.” The worst-seller was March-April’s travel and tourism issue, “showing a Native American guide with two Anglos in Monument Valley. People didn’t identify it as Native Peoples magazine,” Gibson told Journal-isms.
Marita Hudson, a spokeswoman for Johnson Publications, which publishes Ebony and Jet, and Lauren Kuschner, spokeswoman for Time Warner’s People en Espanol, did not provide information about their publications by today’s deadline.
Chart of best- and worst-sellers
Jennifer Lawson, ex-PBS, to Lead WHUT-TV
“Jennifer Lawson, the former PBS programming chief who helped bring ‘The Civil War’ and ‘Barney’ to the airwaves, will be the new general manager of WHUT (Channel 32), the Washington-based public TV station,” John Maynard reports in the Washington Post.
“Lawson replaces Adam Clayton Powell III, who left the station in January 2003 after a nine-month stint to join the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication as a visiting professor,” Maynard wrote.
“Lawson, who joined PBS in 1989 as the network’s first executive vice president of national programming, resigned unhappily in 1995 after a reorganization that she felt diminished her role. During her tenure at PBS, she oversaw the development of Ken Burns’s documentaries ‘The Civil War’ and ‘Baseball,’ and also helped launch the PBS Children’s Initiative, which included programming such series as ‘Barney and Friends’ and ‘Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'”
Lawson told the NABJ Journal when she left PBS in 1995: “I’m very proud of the diversity I brought to the PBS staff. There are more programs hosted by people of color or where people of color were producers or played key roles in creating the programs. There is a visible difference in the staff in advertising and promotion. Our children’s programming was always outstanding. I continued that and brought more of it to prime time as well.”
Back in the day, Lawson dropped out of Tuskegee Institute to work with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), but later secured a master of fine arts in film at Columbia University.
Diversity Advocate Joins Copy Editing Group’s Board
Douglas Backstrom, metro copy chief at the The Miami Herald, has been elected to the board of the American Copy Editors Society, the society announced Thursday.
Describing his qualifications, Backstrom wrote, “Douglas has been a member of NABJ for nine years and is working to build a bridge between NABJ and ACES.” He also said he wanted to “improve the diversity” of ACES. He begins his term, which expires in 2006, on April 17.
The most recent figures from the American Society of Newspaper Editors showed 10,708 copy editors at the 1,423 daily newspapers that reported. Of those editors, 1,209 were people of color, 11.3 percent.
Also elected to the board were Susan Blair, who retired from Time magazine; Deirdre Goebel Edgar of the Los Angeles Times and Zoe Cabaniss Friloux of the Houston Chronicle (who is a 1998 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program).
Howard Stern Show Draws Fines, Racist Caller
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed imposing large fines in connection with radio broadcasts by shock-jock Howard Stern, as Viacom Inc. President Mel Karmazin apologized for a racist comment phoned in to Stern’s show.
“Stern, whose show is syndicated by Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting unit, last month had an on air interview with Rick Salomon, who had been filmed having sex with hotel heiress Paris Hilton,” Reuters reported.
“Stern and Salomon discussed sex acts and at one point a caller asked Stern’s guest if he had had sex with any ‘famous nigger chicks.'”
“But, while offensive, this language does not fall within the ambit of the indecency definition,” Karmazin said in a March 12 letter to Sen. Sam Brownback,” R-Kan., the Reuters story said.
In the Los Angeles Times, Jube Shiver, Jr. and Jesus Sanchez report that, “Federal regulators proposed slapping Infinity Broadcasting with the maximum $27,500 fine for a Stern broadcast on a Detroit radio station during which the show’s cast discussed sexual practices and techniques.
“The FCC, ignoring an earlier staff report, also found that rock star Bono did make a profane remark during last year’s Golden Globe Awards telecast but decided against imposing a fine,” they wrote.
In addition, the FCC also proposed imposing a $55,000 fine on Clear Channel Communications for broadcasts on its network involving allegedly indecent and offensive remarks, according to Associated Press.
Also:
- The Page Six column in the New York Post asks, what about Chris Rock and Britney Spears?
- Peter Johnson reports in USA Today that, “As the Janet Jackson breast-baring scandal at the Super Bowl has heightened concern over indecency in the media, things are becoming unnaturally quiet on the nation’s radio airwaves. Recent actions show ‘the bone-crunching power of the government,’ says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine.
- Five radio shows were responsible for $3.44 million in proposed fines since 1990, or 87 percent of the total, John Dunbar writes for the Center for Public Integrity.
Cartoon on Firefighters Creates Uproar in Chicago
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is asking the Chicago Tribune to apologize for a Doug Marlette cartoon that shows firefighters spraying African Americans with hoses while ignoring a blaze behind them. One of the firefighters says, “No, guys–the fire’s over there!”
“That was disgraceful,” Daley said. “You cannot depict, because of a few comments, [an entire] Fire Department,” reports Gary Washburn in the Tribune.
“The cartoon appeared in Sunday’s editions as Fire Department officials investigated racial slurs made in a spate of radio transmissions over department frequencies.”
Marlette replied to Editor & Publisher today: “Is it an exaggeration? Of course. That’s what cartoons are. Is it unfair? I think it was fair commentary to invoke the iconic image of firehoses and police dogs of 1963 Birmingham to make the point that there is a problem in the Chicago Fire Department.”
Public editor Don Wycliff, who is African American, weighed in today, saying, “I think the malevolent firemen with their hoses would have been sufficient to convey Chicago’s unique and serious problem. The dogs I thought were gratuitous.
“But hey, if I knew what makes for a good editorial cartoon I’d be drawing them instead of opining about them.”
NPR Silent on Exit of Comedian Sandra Tsing Loh
National Public Radio ombudsman Jeffrey A. Dvorkin has taken NPR to task for not reporting on the firing of comedian Sandra Tsing Loh by NPR member station KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., an action later rescinded. “She was fired for uttering an obscenity that had been recorded — but not removed or bleeped — before airing.
“Why has NPR not reported this story? So far, nothing has aired on any of the news magazine programs. Only Marketplace (a public radio program not produced by NPR) has aired a report on the controversy (granted, only presenting Loh’s side of the story). NPR, in my opinion, owes it to its listeners to take a look at this story, even though it may be uncomfortable to some in the public radio community,” Dvorkin writes.
TV One to Relocate to Silver Spring, Md.
TV One, the cable network for African Americans that began broadcasting in January, will relocate to the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, Md., effective in June, the station and Maryland officials announced.
“TV One, which was created by Radio One Inc. of Lanham and cable giant Comcast Corp., will move 40 employees this summer into an area of Silver Spring that contains a growing number of media groups, including Discovery Communications Inc., Univision Communication Inc.’s WMDO-TV and TeleFutura WFDC-TV, the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre and a handful of video and postproduction film companies such as Brainbox Productions, Paradise Productions and Vox-Cam Associates Ltd.,” reports Krissah Williams in the Washington Post.
A news release from the government of Montgomery County, Md., says, “TV One will receive a $100,000 conditional grant from the County?s Economic Development Fund in addition to permitting and workforce recruitment aid. The company will also receive a $75,000 conditional grant from the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority Fund and a $75,000 Maryland Industrial Training Program workforce grant to assist with employee training. TV One has committed to bringing 50 new high-paying jobs to the area over the next two years and plans on further expansion.”
“El Cucuy” Leaves Univision Radio for Rival
“Renan Almendarez Coello, the No. 1 Spanish-language radio personality who exited his afternoon drive slot on Univision Radio’s KSCA-FM on Wednesday, has landed a new gig with Univision rival, Spanish Broadcasting System,” Katy Bachman reports for Media Week.
“Beginning Monday, March 22, Coello, known as El Cucuy, will return to mornings on Regional Mexican KLAX-FM, which goes head to head with KSCA-FM in Los Angeles.
“Coello had been off the air since late February when he was suspended by Univision after he walked out in the middle of one of his shows over a contract dispute,” Bachman reported.