Magazine Sorry for “Gay or Asian?” Piece
“One cruises for chicken; the other takes it General Tso-style,” begins the copy next to the photo of an Asian man on Page 52 of the April issue of Details magazine. “Whether you’re into shrimp balls or shaved balls, entering the dragon requires imperial tastes.”
Details magazine is now apologizing for this “Gay or Asian?” feature on its page marked “Anthropology” after sparking an outcry large enough to warrant a special voice-mail response at Details offices in New York.
“We regret the fact that anyone has been offended by this article,” Andrea Kaplan, a spokeswoman for Fairchild Publications, told Journal-isms. “We are sorry that a piece of satire has been interpreted in a way that was certainly not intended. We are printing our response which conveys our regret in the May issue.”
The official response, in the issue that goes on sale April 27, reads:
“The ‘Gay or Asian?’ item in our April issue was part of a continuing feature that is intended as a humorous swipe at social stereotypes. Details has a wide readership -? male, female, straight, gay ?- from all cultures, and we value all of them. We appreciate the substantial feedback on this item that we have received, and we will certainly keep those concerns in mind as we move forward. We regret that anyone was offended by the article, as that was not our intention.”
The Asian American Journalists Association was among those who wrote to Editor-in-Chief Daniel Peres asking for an apology:
“We’re not sure which is the more offensive aspect of ‘Gay or Asian?’ by Whitney McNally in your April issue: its reduction of two minority groups to grabbags of demeaning stereotypes, or its utter lack of humor. But we’ll focus on the former. While we can’t figure out exactly what the feature is trying to say — Asian men are gay? Asian men look gay? Asian men would be better off gay? — there’s no disguising the fact that it combines leering sexual innuendo and a litany of the most tired cliches about both Asian and gay culture with no goal other than to ridicule both groups,” began the letter signed by Mae Cheng, national president, and Abe Kwok, national vice president for print.
Charlotte Hall, Diversity Advocate, to Edit in Orlando
Charlotte H. Hall, a champion of newsroom diversity, Monday was named vice president and editor of the Orlando Sentinel in Florida, effective immediately. She was vice president for planning of Newsday on Long Island, N.Y. Both the Orlando Sentinel and Newsday are Tribune Co. newspapers.
“Hall’s responsibilities will include overseeing the entire newsroom including content for OrlandoSentinel.com, the bilingual El Sentinel and its companion Web site, and several English- and Spanish-language television and radio partnerships,” as Editor & Publisher reported.
“In January, Orlando Sentinel Editor Tim Franklin was named editor of the Baltimore Sun (another Tribune Co. paper), replacing Bill Marimow.”
As reported last month, Franklin told Journal-isms he would make diversity a priority in Baltimore and named Sun veteran Sam Davis, assistant managing editor for sports, to the new position of assistant managing editor for recruiting and staff development.
“Hall, 58, was Newsday’s managing editor and vice president for nearly seven years before being named to the new position of vice president for planning at Newsday in October 2003,” E&P wrote.
“She reportedly was passed over for the position of Newsday editor in July 2003 when Howard Schneider was named to the position, replacing Anthony Marro. Hall served as his managing editor and second-in-command under Marro,” the Orlando Business Journal reported.
In September, Hall, who has chaired the Diversity Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, won a Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership from the Associated Press Managing Editors association.
“Anthony Marro, the recently retired editor of the Melville, N.Y.-based newspaper who nominated her, said Hall not only made the journalistic case for diversity in content and staffing, ‘but also founded and steered a paper-wide project that made the business case as well,'” AP reported then.
“‘Under her leadership, starting with her appointment as managing editor in 1997, Newsday’s newsroom staff became the most diverse among the 10 largest newspapers in the country,’ Marro wrote. ‘The percentage of people of color in the newsroom grew from 14.2 in 1996 to 25.8 in 2003.’
“Peter Bhatia, ASNE president and an awards judge, called Hall a ‘constant and unwavering voice’ for diversity.”
Haiti Picks Ex-Wall St. Journal Writer as Envoy
“Raymond Joseph, a Brooklyn-based journalist and longtime campaigner for democracy who was once sentenced to death by the Duvalier regime in Haiti, has been named chief diplomatic representative to America for the newly formed government in Port-au-Prince,” Errol Louis reports in the New York Sun.
“Mr. Joseph, who is a contributing editor of The New York Sun, will serve in Washington as chargé d?affairs and lead the Haitian Mission to the United States. He will hold the rank of ambassador.
“Although Mr. Joseph will head to Washington this week to take charge of Haiti?s diplomatic staff, yesterday found the new ambassador at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, doing what he does every Tuesday: working with his brother to publish the latest edition of Haiti Observateur, a family-owned French-language weekly newspaper distributed in New York and throughout Haiti.
“For more than 30 years, Mr. Joseph, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has used a range of press outlets ? including the Observateur, the Sun, and various newsletters ?- to pound away at the shortcomings of various Haitian governments.”
Jesse Jackson Signs for National Radio Talk Show
“Clear Channel Radio, perpetually under fire for everything from its conservative politics to its rampant consolidation, has signed one of its most outspoken critics — the Rev. Jesse Jackson — to host a live national talk show from Chicago, starting this weekend,” Robert Feder reports in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“‘Keep Hope Alive,’ a call-in show focusing on ‘issues of cultural, political and religious significance,’ will air from 7 to 8 a.m. Sundays on WGCI-AM (1390) and on other Clear Channel stations in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit and Norfolk, Va.
“Although he hosted a weekly talk show on CNN for eight years and a syndicated TV show before that, this marks the first time Jackson will host a live radio show with guests and phone calls from listeners.
“John Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Clear Channel Radio, declined to disclose terms of Jackson’s agreement, but said he is eager to expand the show in syndication.
“‘The goal is to have it in as many markets as possible,’ Hogan said. ‘I hope that this is the greatest radio program that ever airs. The only way we can go into this venture is hoping for widespread, unprecedented success,'” he said in Feder’s piece.
“Jackson’s show will be something of a family affair — at least at the outset. His first guest will be his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), and his producer will be his daughter, Santita Jackson,” Feder reported.
Air America Went Live at Noon Today
Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, went on the air at noon today, as scheduled, on WLIB-AM in New York, KBLA-AM in Los Angeles, WNTD-AM in Chicago, KPOJ-AM in Portland, Ore., and KCAA-AM in San Bernardino, Calif., spokesman Matthew Traub told Journal-isms.
The company is negotiating to air on a sixth station in San Francisco, Air America spokeswoman Candace McAdams said, according to Greg Baumann of Bloomberg News Service.
Also, live streaming of Air America Radio shows, along with show archives, are to be available on www.airamericaradio.com.
“XM Satellite Radio agreed on Monday to offer Air America programs to its 3 million subscribers,” Baumann’s story continued.
“Air America Radio will be seeking about $1,500 for a minute of advertising time when comedian Al Franken takes to the airwaves tomorrow as a liberal alternative to talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.
“That’s just a fraction of Limbaugh’s rate, which goes as high as $16,000 for a 60-second ad. The disparity illustrates the difficulty New York-based Air America may face as it seeks to counter what its creators say is a conservative influence in U.S. radio. The network begins broadcasting at noon New York time on Wednesday.
‘They’re pushing a rock up a hill,’ said Robert Carey, president of Syndicated Solutions Inc., which sells programming to radio stations. `There are only so many talk stations in the country and these stations already run some very solid programming.’
“Air America, supported by as much as $60 million from investors including RealNetworks Inc. Chairman Rob Glaser, will offer 24-hour programming on five radio stations and on XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.’s pay service. It may take years for the network to establish itself with advertisers and listeners, Carey said.”
A news release on Air America’s first day is at the end of today’s posting.
Progressive Radio Launch Needs Blacker Lineup (David Person, Black America Web)
Tougaloo College to Start Communications Dept.
Historically black Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., has received a $780,000 grant to expand its journalism program and establish a communications department, with Eric Stringfellow, Jackson Clarion-Ledger columnist who has chaired the program since September, heading up the new department.
The communications department is to be established this fall.
“We are talking about TV, radio, film and even music,” Tougaloo spokesman Chip Washington said. “This is the first time Tougaloo has ever had a program like this, and we are excited about the possibilities of more opportunities for our students interested in the field,” he told the Associated Press.
The school has about 900 students, he told Journal-isms, but the number of students in the communications program is still being worked out.
“It’ll be a real good mix of academics and practicality,” Stringfellow said. He told Journal-isms he would be hiring an instructor, who must have a master’s degree and would be paid about $29,000; and an assistant professor, whose salary would range from $40,000 to $55,000 and should have a Ph.D. But he said salaries are negotiable.
The grant comes from Communications Improvement, Inc., a biracial non-profit organization that was the center of a landmark media case. In 1970, the Federal Communications Commission gave Communications Improvement control of WLBT-TV in Jackson, taking it away from Lamar Life Insurance Co. after complaints that the station systematically ignored news and programming about African Americans, as the New York Times reported at the time. The case had led to a landmark ruling in 1965 that public interest groups have a right to challenge broadcast licenses and that the commission must rule on their complaints.
The group operated the station from 1971 until 1980, when the station was sold to another biracial group, Earl Jones, chairman of Communications Improvement Inc., told Journal-isms. Profits from the sale were used to finance the new grant. Since 1980, as Tougaloo went through a series of administrations, “we were just waiting for a grant proposal that we could approve,” said Jones, who is co-chair of the MMI Hotel Group/Dining Systems in Jackson.
Ronnie Ramos Named Sports Editor in Atlanta
Ronnie Ramos, editor of Louisiana’s Shreveport Times for the last year, has been named sports editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Don Boykin, an AJC deputy managing editor, announced to his staff.
Ramos was managing editor at the Fort Myers (Fla.) News Press and deputy sports editor and neighbors editor at the Miami Herald.
Ramos was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2002-03.
He is also a 1991 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s management program at Northwestern University, and tells Journal-isms that the photo editor at the AJC, John Glenn, was in the same class.
During Ramos’ 13 years at the Miami Herald, he wrote “Florida’s Best Golf Courses,” ranking the state’s top 100 public-access golf courses.
Alan English, managing editor since 2000, was named executive editor in Shreveport, the Associated Press reported.
Knight Ridder Picks 5 Student “Minority Scholars”
Five high school seniors who aspire to careers in newspaper and online publishing have collectively been awarded more than $200,000 in academic scholarships and internships by Knight Ridder, the media company announces.
Each winner receives a $40,000 cash scholarship, payable over four years, four paid internships at Knight Ridder companies and employment within Knight Ridder upon successful completion of the program and college.
The 2004 scholars are Nissa Benjamin of Miramar High School in Miramar, Fla., sponsored by the Miami Herald; Ashlee Garrett, from Lake Worth High School in Lake Worth, Texas, sponsored by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Eba Hamid of Oxford High School in Oxford, Miss., the (Biloxi) Sun Herald; Rachel Luna of Hercules High School in Hercules, Calif., sponsored by Contra Costa Newspapers; and Toluse Olorunnipa of Florida State University School, Tallahassee, Fla., sponsored by the Tallahassee Democrat.
“At a time when some companies appear to be hesitating on their commitment to diversity and the future, we are proud to again confidently embrace both through the scholars program and our selection of these five students,” said Tony Ridder, chairman and chief executive officer of Knight Ridder, in the news release.
“For nearly two decades, the Knight Ridder Minority Scholars Program, the first of its kind in the newspaper industry and still the largest, has been the centerpiece of Knight Ridder’s early-career diversity efforts,” the news release said.
A Latina “Thalia” as Counterpart to Oprah’s “O”
“This spring American Media will launch a women’s magazine that mixes beauty tips, lifestyle advice, celebrity interviews and inspirational stories of selfless acts — all reflecting the spirit of one very famous woman whose name and image will grace each issue’s cover,” writes Karen Holt in Folio, the magazine about magazines.
“Oh, you mean O? No.
“We’re talking Thalia, an Oprah-like icon for Hispanic women.
“Ah, yes, Thalia.
“Whether you nod in instant recognition or draw a blank at the name is probably a barometer of how close you are to Hispanic pop culture. Among Hispanics, the sexy Mexican soap star-turned-singing diva has a one-name cachet comparable to Oprah’s. American Media’s plan to stake a monthly glossy — called Thalia — on her appeal is just one sign of an industry- wide rush to grab a share of the large and fast-growing Hispanic audience.”
Jack Kelley’s Criminal Culpability Studied
“Two weeks after revealing that former reporter Jack Kelley committed ‘sweeping and substantial’ journalistic fraud, USA Today is studying whether he could face criminal prosecution because of his actions,” Paul D. Colford reports in the New York Daily News.
“‘It’s an issue being looked into as part of the ongoing investigation,’ USA Today spokesman Steve Anderson told the Daily News.
“But Anderson said the paper hasn’t been approached by any law enforcement agency,” Colford wrote.
“60 Minutes” Scored Over Piece on Judge Pickering
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice’s interview on CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes” Sunday might have received the lion’s share of media attention, but the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition with more than 180 member organizations, also noticed Mike Wallace’s story on the debate surrounding the nomination of Charles Pickering to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — and wasn’t happy.
Mississippi’s Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports that the coalition sent a letter to the executive producer Monday expressing its outrage.
“Far from a balanced piece of journalism, Mr. Wallace’s segment unfairly distorted arguments put forth by Pickering’s opponents; failed to accurately convey the range of serious concerns that many Americans have with this nomination; and chose to highlight only those aspects of Pickering’s record supporting his thesis that opposition to Pickering’s confirmation is thin and that the criticism is exaggerated,” said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference, in a letter to Don Hewitt,” the program’s creator and producer.
“Most significantly,” Henderson said, “the 60 Minutes piece, rather than discussing the arguments of proponents and detractors forthrightly, instead set up a straw-man ? the notion that opposition to Pickering is rooted in charges that he is a racist. . . . It is not, in fact, any part of the real debate over this confirmation. The real question is whether Pickering’s record warrants elevation to the Fifth Circuit.”
Sale of Vanguarde Assets Delayed Until April 15
An auction of the assets of Vanguarde Media, Inc. — the publishers of Savoy, Savoy Professional, Heart & Soul and Honey magazines that filed for bankruptcy protection last year — has been rescheduled for April 15. It was to have been held today.
As reported March 3, at least three figures were bidding for the assets: Black Enterprise Publisher Earl G. Graves, former Vanguarde CEO Keith Clinkscales and Provender Capital, headed by Frederick O. Terrell, a major financial backer of Vanguarde before Provender cut off the money last November.
In Folio magazine, Jeff Bercovici reports that the number of interested parties has risen to three dozen.
“In the course of the showdown, Provender revealed its plans for a stand-alone reorganization of Vanguarde, which consists of Honey, Heart & Soul and Savoy magazines. Deryck Palmer, Provender’s counsel, said that the company was pursuing a ‘dual approach’ that could involve selling one or more of the titles and using the proceeds to relaunch whatever remains,” Bercovici wrote.
Journalists, Too, Felt White House “Attack Machine”
With the White House attack on Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism adviser to presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, a number of columnists are asserting, as the New York Times’ Paul Krugman put it, that “the administration responded to Mr. Clarke the way it responds to anyone who reveals inconvenient facts: with a campaign of character assassination.”
We should not forget that that technique has also been applied to journalists.
In White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s first week on the job last July, ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman filed a story from Baghdad for the July 15 “World News Tonight” that detailed how morale had plummeted among the troops after they had been told for the fourth time that they were not returning home as planned.
As Lloyd Grove reported then in the Washington Post, “the next day, a White House operative alerted cyber-gossip Matt Drudge to the fact that Kofman is not only openly gay, he’s Canadian.
“Yesterday Drudge told us he was unaware of the ABC story until “someone from the White House communications shop tipped me to it” along with a profile of Kofman in the gay-oriented magazine the Advocate. On Wednesday, for 6 hours 38 minutes, the Drudge Report bannered Kofman’s widely quoted ABC story — in which enlisted people questioned the Army’s credibility and one irked soldier went on camera to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign — and linked to the Advocate piece with the understated headline ‘ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN.'”
“Lest this be dismissed as an isolated incident, we bring you Exhibit B,” the Hollywood Reporter continued at about the same time. “The right-leaning Los Angeles Times political cartoonist Michael Ramirez drew a cartoon that appeared in the July 20 edition of the paper, depicting President Bush with his hands tied behind his back as a man labeled ‘Politics’ points a gun at his head.
“It’s an obvious takeoff on a famed Pulitzer Prize-winning 1968 photograph from the Vietnam War that shows Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong lieutenant at point-blank range.
“But this little fact seems to have eluded those who are charged with protecting our commander in chief. The following day, a Secret Service agent actually showed up at the Times offices requesting a meeting with Ramirez — who had earlier received a call from the man and presumed he was kidding. He wasn’t.”
As for Kofman, he told Journal-isms that to this day he has heard nothing from the White House by way of apology or anything else. While in Baghdad, “with soldiers dying and bombs going off daily, [the White House action] was a tempest. For me, it was a diversion. Never in my career was it so easy to keep focused on what really matters.” But, he said, the people who spoke out on his behalf “really crossed the spectrum — conservative commentators, people in the gay community, journalists of all stripes.”
News Release on Air America’s First Day
CONSERVATIVES HELP LAUNCH NEW AIR AMERICA RADIO NETWORK
The O?Franken Factor?s First Show Features G. Gordon Liddy, Ben Stein, and Ann Coulter*
Conservatives Counterbalanced by In-Studio Guests Bob Kerrey, Michael Moore, and Chuck D
NEW YORK, March 31 — “Broadcasting from an underground bunker 3,500 feet below Dick Cheney?s bunker,? the Air America Radio network hit the airwaves today, with Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher?s The O?Franken Factor. Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh ducked his much anticipated head-to-head battle with Franken and was notably absent from his show today.
Conservative talk-show host and Nixon spymaster G. Gordon Liddy called to welcome Franken to talk radio while simulcasting from his own radio program. Former Nixon speechwriter and cable TV wit Ben Stein also called in to wish Franken well. Due to a deliberate maintenance problem, Ann Coulter* was forced to spend the entire show locked in an over-heated greenroom. The O?Franken Factor?s in-studio guests included former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, and Public Enemy?s Chuck D, who also co-hosts Air America Radio?s Unfiltered with The Daily Show?s co-creator, Lizz Winstead.
Responding to questioning from veteran journalist and co-host Lanpher, Senator Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 Commission, told The O?Franken Factor that he was planning to ask National Security Adviser Condeleezza Rice the same questions he posed to former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, with one exception: he will ask her what she was doing during the transitional period between the Clinton and Bush administrations. Kerrey said:
?You asked earlier what am I going to ask Dr. Rice, well it?ll be the same thing I ask Sandy Berger with one exception . . .the single exception is that the Bush campaign in the election campaigned against the Clinton/Gore foreign policies. The way I see the documents thus far, they came in determined to change a substantial number of those foreign policies and to rewrite all the national security presidential directives. So when I hear Dr. Rice say publicly that ?we just did what the Clinton administration was doing,? all the external evidence seems to me to say just the opposite. So, I?ll need to hear from her?the answer to the question what it was precisely she was doing to deal with terrorism. And inside of that, all the commissioners are going to want to know why didn?t the administration use military force [after] the Cole? There?s some dispute as to whether Al Qaeda was responsible for that in December or January . . . But clearly prior to the 11th of September, we knew Al Qaeda had attacked the Cole and killed 19 sailors.?
Former Vice President Al Gore called The O?Franken Factor ?- on his birthday ?- to congratulate Air America Radio on its launch while Michael Moore was being interviewed. Franken demanded that Moore apologize to Gore for campaigning for Ralph Nader in 2000. Moore hedged, saying: ?We?re really sorry, because you won.?
Radio comedy legend Bob Elliott, of Bob & Ray fame, came out of retirement to resurrect Wally Ballou, the hapless reporter, in a comedy sketch recorded with Saturday Night Live humorist Robert Smigel. In the sketch, Ballou interviews a frustrated traveler, Mohammed Al Hazmani, who is traveling to New York with four friends.
*Actually, Bebe Neuwirth
