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“Bloodletting” at the Baltimore Sun

richard

 

A Sun employee¬†messaged on Twitter: "Feeling nauseous. Think I’m coming down with the Zell flu. Symptoms: billionaire overleverages huge company, you lose your career."¬† (Credit: Baltimore Sun)

At Least 8 of Color Among 61 Let Go in Newsroom

A "bloodletting" took place at the Baltimore Sun Tuesday and Wednesday, with 61 newsroom employees, nearly a third, laid off, the newspaper reported on Thursday.

At least eight of the newsroom employees were of color, according to staffers at the Tribune Co.-owned paper. They included sports columnist David Steele, Rashod D. Ollison, pop music writer; Makeda Crane, editorial assistant; Chiaki Kawajiri and Elizabeth Malby, photographers; Lamont Harvey, graphics; Shirdell McDonald, graphic artist; and sports copy editor Teshia Morris.

"Feeling nauseous. Think I’m coming down with the Zell flu. Symptoms: billionaire overleverages huge company, you lose your career," one staffer wrote¬†on the Twitter social-networking system on Wednesday. "Zell" refers to entrepreneur Sam Zell, who recently admitted it had been a mistake to buy the Tribune Co.

Angie Kuhl, unit chair of the Sun unit of the Newspaper Guild, listed the job positions of those laid off in Guild jurisdiction:

Three graphic artists, three editorial assistants, four columnists, 10 copy editors, two critics, one designer, four design editors, one picture editor, one librarian, one makeup person, four news photographers, two sports reporters, two photo technicians and the editor of the letters to the editor. Additionally, a reporter volunteered to be laid off, she said.

The Baltimore e-news said:

"The move comes a day after Tribune fired 18 senior editors and newsroom managers on Tuesday and Wednesday without warning. Many of the editors and managers, who are not members of the newspaper guild, were ushered out of the newsroom by security guards."

[Photographer Kawajiri recalled for David Ettlin Friday on his "The Real Muck" blog, "After [the morning assignment] I tried to call those who were laid off the previous day – not knowing I was getting laid off that day – to make sure they were OK and offered to help."

["She could have sought a transfer earlier to one of those murky-titled new jobs under the heading ‘multimedia,’ but with 14 years at the newspaper it was thought she had the seniority to survive in the endeavor she loves: photojournalism."]¬†

In the Sun story on Thursday, company spokeswoman Renee Mutchnik said, "We’re going to become a 24-hour, local news-gathering media company so we can more effectively gather content and distribute it among our different platforms: print, online and mobile. As everyone knows, more and more readers are moving online, and advertisers are following them. This is our plan for success, not just survival."

Steele and Malby said they received the news of their layoffs while they were on assignment. "They got me over the phone, while I was at the Orioles-Angels game. (Irony of ironies – when the National went out of business in June 1991, they caught me at Memorial Stadium at another Orioles game. I’m pretty much tired of going to Orioles games right now.)" Steele wrote to colleagues in the Sports Task Force of the National Association of Black Journalists. The National was a short-lived national sports newspaper.

"They whacked a bunch of editors yesterday, and it was the writers’ turn today. . . . It’s a complete bloodletting there right now."

Steele, 44, said he was thinking about writing more books, having enjoyed co-writing "Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith" in 2007. It told the story one of the two victorious sprinters who raised a black-gloved fist at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

Malby, 38, said she had already sent out grant applications that would enable her to cover elections in Afghanistan later this year. She also said she planned to go back to school and "re-educate myself" for a field other than journalism.

Ollison, 32, said "I’ve been a music critic at somebody’s paper since I was 19," but that "part of me feels a big liberation" at being laid off.

The stories he enjoyed the most – examining how black music had become more nuanced and diffuse – were being sacrificed to produce those about "the most stereotypical," he said.

"I did have a platform to write about something other than what 50 Cent was doing," he said. "I’m more interested in [writing about] pop culture being a sociological mirror. I feel our history is being rewritten and manipulated by other people," those who are producing the commercial material he was encouraged to write about.

Leaving the Sun will free him to pursue that line of inquiry, he said, citing as an example his December piece, "What is black music? Two Baltimore performers have vastly different answers."

Ollison said he was the Sun’s only black features writer. Others, asked about the impact of the layoffs on diversity, said there were not that many journalists of color at the paper to begin with. In its 2008 report for the annual census¬†of the American Society of News Editors, the Sun reported 15.5 percent journalists of color, including 2.9 percent Asian American, 12.1 percent black, .5 percent Hispanic and no Native Americans.

The blog the Baltimore Brew wrote this on Wednesday: "The list of laid-off editorial-side employees includes:

"Chief of the copy desk, John McIntyre, Deputy Managing Editor Paul Moore, Editorial Page Editor Ann LoLordo, Op-Ed Editor Larry Williams, and editors and reporters on the metro desk, sports desk and other areas. The bureau chiefs for three bureaus that have been eliminated over the past year (Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties) were also laid off.

"This just in from David Simon’s Facebook page: ”[I am] revulsed at what has happened at the Baltimore Sun this week. i really don’t know who Monty Cook is or what he stands for as the editor in chief, but before I asked the likes of Ann LoLordo or Eileen Canzian to leave the building – people who given their working lives to that institution – I would scratch together enough integrity to refuse and be fired my ownself.’"

Simon, a former Sun reporter, is responsible for such television series as "The Wire" and "Homicide: Life on the Street," set in Baltimore and at the Sun. [Updated May 1.]

Questioners from Telemundo and BET asked the president about immigration and the plight of communities of color as Barack Obama commemorated his 100th day in office.

On 100th Day, Obama Calls on Telemundo, BET

President Obama took questions Wednesday night from Black Entertainment Television and from Telemundo in a news conference timed for his 100th day in office.

The presence of Andre Showell from BET ‚Äî and the fact that he was included in the president’s prearranged list of those to be called upon ‚Äî was as surprising as almost anything else that has taken place in the new president’s relations with the news media.

BET did not even televise Obama’s news conference live on its main network, preferring to show it on its BET J spinoff. The main network showed a special on Obama’s first 100 days after the news conference concluded. It aired the conference itself at 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time.

Showell asked, "As the entire nation tries to climb out of this deep recession, in communities of color the circumstances are far worse. The black unemployment rate, as you know, is in the double digits, and in New York City, for example, the black unemployment rate for men is near 50 percent.

"My question tonight is, given this unique and desperate circumstance, what specific policies can you point to that will target these communities? And what’s a timetable for us to see tangible results?"

Obama gave his usual answer to such questions about the racial impact of his policies:

"Every step we’re taking is designed to help all people, but folks who are most vulnerable are most likely to be helped, because they need the most help."

Lori Montenegro, a black Latina from Telemundo, followed up on an Obama meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

"What is your strategy to try to have immigration reform? And are you still on the same timetable to have it in — accomplished in the first year of your presidency?" she asked.

"And also, I’d like to know if you’re going to reach out to Senator John McCain, who is Republican and in the past has favored immigration reform."

Obama said, in part, "what we’re trying to do is take some core ‚Äî some key administrative steps to move the process along, to lay the groundwork for legislation, because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together, we can execute. . .

"On the other hand, showing that there is a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers, as opposed to for example taking seriously the violations of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers, to come in, that’s again something that we can start doing administratively."

Obama took questions from Jennifer Loven (Associated Press), Deb Price (Detroit News), Jake Tapper (ABC), Mark Knoller (CBS Radio), Chuck Todd (NBC), Jeff Mason (Reuters), Chip Reid (CBS), Ed Henry (CNN), Jeff Zeleny (New York Times), Montenegro, Showell, Michael Scherer (Time), and Jonathan Weisman (Wall Street Journal), according to Michael Calderone of Politico.

Grand Jury Ratifies Work of Chauncey Bailey Project

"A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Yusuf Bey IV, the scion of the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, on three counts of murder for ordering the killings of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in 2007, an Alameda County deputy district attorney announced," the Chauncey Bailey Project reported on Wednesday. The news appeared as the project won honors from the National Association of Black Journalists and Columbia University.

"The indictment of Bey IV, 23, includes charges with special circumstances — allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him. He allegedly told two of his followers that in exchange for killing Bailey, he would teach them how to file fraudulent loan applications that could reap hundreds of thousands of dollars," according to the story by Thomas Peele, Bob Butler and Mary Fricker.

"The charges against Bey IV mark the first time in the nearly 40-year history of the former bakery started by his father, Yusuf Bey, that a person associated with it . . . faces murder accusations," with the exception of other Devaughndre Broussard, 21, Bailey’s admitted killer. "Authorities, though, have long investigated the organization on suspicion that members killed for retribution and power, dating back decades ago to a forerunner of the organization in Southern California."

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism announced¬†on Tuesday it has named the Chauncey Bailey Project its 2009 Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award winner for Best Reporting of Racial Bias and Intolerance.

The award carries a $1,500 prize.

"The project is a unique collaboration between nearly three dozen Bay Area news outlets, freelance journalists, journalism schools, local and national media organizations, and funders. The Bailey Project has produced more than a 150 stories over the 20 months since the August 2007 murder," the school explained.

NABJ announced that the project would receive its annual Community Service award. It had won NABJ’s "Best Practices" award last year.

"Thomas Peele, Mary Fricker, Bob Butler and the whole team deserve the highest recognition for their unwillingness to accept the institutional denial of justice in this case," said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. "The tragedy that enveloped a black journalist and community icon called for a deep commitment to uncover the truth, and these individuals made a selfless pledge to honor his memory."”

NAHJ Warns Against Scapegoating on Flu Story

"The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called on the media on Wednesday to be fair and prudent when covering the spread of swine flu in the U.S. and around the world, and resist the portrayal of Mexican immigrants as scapegoats for the possible pandemic," the association said.

“We have come to expect immigrant bashing from the usual suspects – commentators who use purposefully inflammatory rhetoric to seek attention and to suit their agenda. And they haven’t disappointed, now using the swine flu as cause to decry immigration and immigrants. Immigrants, of course, have long been favorite and convenient scapegoats for some for everything from high taxes to infectious diseases. Facts haven’t much mattered," the NAHJ board said in a statement.

"But we trust that credible journalists will cover what is undeniably a big national story with more fairness and accuracy than we are hearing from these talking heads. We would ask that these stories be written as if facts did matter. Because they do."

Meanwhile, Tim Arango and Brian Stelter reported in the New York Times that, "Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical, medical professionals said."

3 Newspaper Sportswriters Land at AOL Sports

Three sportswriters who left their newspapers amid financial turmoil — Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News and Terrance Harris of the Houston Chronicle — have been hired by the expanding AOL Sports, a spokeswoman for AOL confirmed on Tuesday.

Moore, who took a buyout from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote his last column for the paper on Monday. It was preceded by this note:

"This is Terence Moore’s last column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Terence has decided to take a voluntary buyout, ending a stellar 24 years as a sports columnist. Terence sums up his time this way: "My objective was to get people to think, not to agree or disagree, just to get people to think." We thank him for making all of us think and wish him the best as he moves on to new endeavors."

Spokeswoman Alysia Lew called Moore, who is to be a national columnist based in Atlanta, "the longest-running African-American sports columnist in the history of major newspapers." Moore began a as columnist with the San Francisco Examiner in 1983.

Watkins will remain in Dallas, covering the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, colleges and boxing, she said. Watkins had covered¬†the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys for the past three seasons at the Morning News. He left on his own, he said, not because of a buyout or layoff.

Harris will be based in Houston, covering colleges and working in "editorial operations." He worked on the copy desk and covered area colleges at the Chronicle. "Those who know me already know that I’ve been working on a couple things for a while now," he told sports colleagues in the National Association of Black Journalists when he was laid off¬†last month.

Joe Oglesby Retiring Next Month from Miami Herald

"Joe Oglesby, the highest-ranking African-American newsroom executive at The Miami Herald, has announced his retirement, effective in May, according to an email circulated to staff members," Brad Bennett wrote for the South Florida Times.

"Oglesby’s departure follows an announcement by The Herald earlier this month that it is cutting 175 jobs. The company plans to find a replacement for Oglesby as editorial page editor, according to the email."

Bennett quoted from a March 26 memo from Herald Publisher David Landsberg:

"Joe started his career with a stint at the Tallahassee Democrat, and worked for the St. Pete Times before joining The Miami Herald in November 1972.

"His jobs at The Miami Herald have included covering criminal courts and local government, writing columns and editorials, editing on the city desk, Assistant Managing Editor and Editor of the Broward edition. Over the years, Joe also worked as suburban editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and later, as managing editor of The State, in Columbia, S.C.

"He returned to Miami for good in 1997, and became Associate Editor of the Editorial Board, before assuming his current post four years later. Along the way, Joe:

Oglesby, 61, told Journal-isms he looks forward to being able to join organizations, volunteer and "explore the regions in life that I hadn’t explored." Having grown up struggling, he said, he does not have the worries that others might have facing an uncertain future.

Other African Americans heading editorial boards include Dwight Lewis at the Nashville Tennessean, Harold Jackson at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Otis Sanford at the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Cynthia Tucker at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Vanessa Gallman at the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, James F. Lawrence at the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., and Allen Johnson of the Greensboro (N.C) News & Record.

Jodi Rave Ending Column on Native American Issues

"Jodi Rave, who has spent 11 years reporting on Native American issues for Lee Enterprises newspapers, is ending her newspaper career to write a book about Elouise Cobell and the Indian Trust lawsuit," Denny McAuliffe wrote Wednesday for reznetnews.org

"A farewell column by Rave, distributed to Lee editors for publication Thursday, ended rumors this week that Rave had submitted her two-week notice to resign her job as the newspaper chain’s Native affairs reporter and columnist."

"Rave’s announcement of her departure from daily journalism comes a month after another noted Native journalist, Mark Trahant, lost his job when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shut down newspaper operations to produce an online-only edition. Trahant, Shoshone Bannock, was the paper’s editorial page editor."

"Cobell, Blackfeet, is lead plaintiff in a 12-year-old Indian trust case against the U.S. government. The long-running suit alleges that Indians were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887. A District Court ruled last year that the Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million, a fraction of the $47 billion they had sought. Both parties have appealed that decision."

Few Native women journalists are writing columns in mainstream newspapers. Another, Dorreen Yellow Bird of the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, was laid off in March. However, Yellow Bird said she would continue her column in the paper after she completes a move to reservation land.

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