Survey Examined Universities With J-Programs
In a tease for its upcoming issue, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recalls that in its winter edition, “we reported the results of our survey on the racial diversity of the newsrooms at the student newspapers of the nation’s highest-ranked universities.
“Newspapers at 19 of the nation’s 25 highest-ranked universities responded to our survey. Overall, our survey found 350 editors at these 19 student newspapers. Only nine, or 2.6 percent, were black.
“After reading the JBHE survey, Joe Ritchie, who holds the Knight Chair in Journalism at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, suggested to us that we check on the racial diversity of student newspapers at second-tier institutions that have accredited undergraduate journalism programs. Professor Ritchie speculated that we’d find ‘only marginally better results.’
“Professor Ritchie was right on the mark,” the Journal note continued. “The student newspapers at 17 universities with accredited undergraduate programs in journalism responded to our survey.
“At these newspapers, there were a total of 181 student editors during the most recent spring term. Of these, eight, or 4.4 percent, were black. There were no black student editors at the University of Georgia, Indiana University, the University of Kansas, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, the University of Maryland, Michigan State University, the University of Missouri, New York University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Texas, or the University of Washington. All told, there were 114 student editors at the student newspapers at these schools. Other than at the University of Washington, blacks make up a significant percentage of the student body at all of these universities.”
Text of the winter story is at the end of today’s posting.
Esther Wu Sole Candidate to Lead AAJA
Esther Wu, columnist and reporter for the Dallas Morning News and secretary of the Asian American Journalists Association, is the sole candidate for national AAJA president.
The elections take place at the Unity convention in Washington, with polls closing Friday, Aug. 6. The deadline for absentee voting is Wednesday, July 15, according to the AAJA Web site.
Other national candidates are Stanton J. Tang, executive news producer, KLAS-TV Las Vegas, vice president for broadcast; and Cynthia Wang, associate bureau chief, People magazine, treasurer.
Wu’s Morning News bio calls her a San Antonio native.
As her “most unforgettable experience on the job,” Wu lists:
“1. Covering former Chinese leader Deng Xiaopeng’s visit to a rodeo in Sealy, Texas. He was one of the first Chinese presidents to visit the U.S. and he wanted to see cowboys. We may be worlds apart politically, but there’s a common child in all of us.
“2. Covering a grain elevator explosion in Westwego, La. Forty-two people buried alive under three tons of grain. As the rookie reporter for UPI, I was told to stay at the site until all the bodies had been recovered. I stayed and followed the last body to the morgue about four days later — on Christmas Eve.”
Editor of Afro Papers Had Son Passing for White
A light-skinned longtime editor of the Baltimore-based Afro-American newspapers had a son who decided to pass for white — and both father and son appeared this week on CBS-TV’s “Sunday Morning.”
Ralph Matthews, 76, whose father was also an Afro editor, said he was “bemused” by his son’s action. The younger Matthews, 37-year-old screenwriter David, “says it was not until college that he finally realized what a rich heritage he was giving up,” according to the piece by CBS correspondent Erin Moriarty. The story was keyed to the new book, “Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are,” by New York University professor Brooke Kroeger.
David Matthews’ mother was Israeli. His elementary school in Baltimore, he said, was 20 to 30 percent white, and “I just noticed that they got more attention. Teachers assumed that they somehow had more on the ball.” As he walked every day to school in a primarily white neighborhood, “I knew all I needed to know about where I wanted to be as I watched the property values — the Volvos as opposed to burned-out, you know, Cadillacs.”
“When people would ask you what your dad did, what would you say?” asked Moriarty.
“I would say he was a journalist,” David Matthews replied.
“David, whose father was a newspaper editor, would just avoid mentioning which newspaper,” Moriarty told viewers.
Ralph Matthews told Journal-isms he started at the Afro as a cub reporter in 1950, working for the Afro newspapers on and off until 1986. By then he had been managing editor for 10 years.
According to “The Baltimore Afro-American: 1892-1950” by Hayward Farrar, David Matthews has quite a newspaper lineage. His grandfather, Ralph Matthews Sr., was the Afro’s answer to H.L. Mencken, who was writing for the Baltimore Sun. He “became a power in the Afro, serving as the theatrical editor, city editor, managing editor, and editor of the Washington Afro-American. A witty and acerbic man, Matthews had one or two columns in the Afro-American from the 1920s onward. In them he lampooned sacred cows in the black community, such as the black church and its ministers, black politicians, black society and the institutions of marriage and family.”
David Matthews was “raised entirely by his father after his mother returned to Israel,” the CBS piece said. Asked what he thought of his son’s “passing,” Ralph Matthews said on the show,”I call it doing what you have to do.”
Moriarty told Journal-isms she had plenty of positive reaction to her piece. Viewers said they talked about it at work on Monday “and were talking about it for the rest of the day.”
Earl Graves Won’t Rush Out New Heart & Soul
Black Enterprise magazine publisher Earl G. Graves Sr. plans to restart Heart & Soul magazine, but has no timetable and has not thought about who would be its editor or publisher, Derrick Godfrey, vice president for business ventures of Graves Ventures, told Journal-isms.
“The plan is to eventually publish a magazine. We’re kind of absorbing all of it now,” Godfrey said. The health and fitness focus of Heart & Soul “would be a departure from what we’d normally do. We need to get well-versed,” Godfrey said.
Graves Ventures won the bidding May 19 for Heart & Soul, one of three Vanguarde Media publications being auctioned off in Manhattan bankruptcy court, for $450,000 plus its liabilities, Joseph Sarachek, managing editor of Triax Capital Advisors, the firm overseeing Vanguarde’s restructuring, said then.
Graves was outbid for Savoy, Vanguarde’s flagship publication, and for Honey, a publication for urban young women. “We had to make reasonable business decisions on price points,” Godfrey said. Vanguarde had made “some decisions regarding cost that were not the most prudent,” and Graves Ventures did not want to repeat that mistake, he said.
Heart & Soul, like Honey, had a circulation of 400,000. It will be the first magazine that Graves’ firm will publish other than Black Enterprise since BE was founded in 1970. The acquisition “seems to work in terms of synergy,” Godfrey said, and is part of an expansion strategy that includes a television show and radio report.
“We’re looking to extend our reach, our footprint on the media overall,” Godfrey said.
NABJ Presidents Remember Vernon Jarrett
“All of NABJ?s 3,600 members celebrate the life and legacy of Vernon Jarrett, the association?s president from 1977-1979 and one of its 44 founding members, who died on May 23, 2004, in Chicago, succumbing to cancer,” reads the notice on the Web site of the National Association of Black Journalists. In tribute to Vernon, each of the other 14 men and women to have served as NABJ president offer thoughts on the man who was a mentor, friend, advisor, inspiration — and so much more.”
The remembrances come from Chuck Stone, Bob Reid, Les Payne, Merv Aubespin, Al Fitzpatrick, DeWayne Wickham, Sidmel Estes-Sumpter, Dorothy Butler Gilliam, Arthur Fennell, Vanessa Williams, Will Sutton, Condace Pressley and Herbert Lowe.
The NAACP, for whom Jarrett started the ACT-SO program to promote academic excellence, also plans to honor him. “I understand the 2004 ACT-SO events at the Philadelphia Convention will be in Vernon’s honor and memory — and just received an email message from Los Angeles asking for comments on Vernon for their program – their 25th year!” board chairman Julian Bond told Journal-isms.
Services are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Rainbow PUSH Headquarters at 930 E. 50th St. in Chicago, with viewing from noon to 9 p.m. today and a special memorial service from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The family is asking that in lieu of flowers that donations be sent to: NAACP ACT-SO, Vernon Jarrett Fund, 4805 Mt. Hope Dr., Baltimore, MD 21215
Other remembrances:
- Wayne Dawkins, Black America Web: Death of Pioneering Black Journalist Marks End of an Era
- Editorial, Chicago Tribune: More Than a Witness to History
- Acel Moore, Philadelphia Inquirer: A pioneer journalist who won respect
- Michael Miner, Chicago Reader: Vernon Jarrett, Witness to History
- NAACP: NAACP Mourns Loss Of Vernon Jarrett, ACT-SO Founder and Veteran Journalist
- Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune: For Jarrett, inspiring blacks was part of job
Charles Blow, N.Y. Times Graphics Man, Promoted
New York Times Graphics Editor Charles Blow has been promoted to the newly created position of deputy design director for news, presumably making him the highest ranking person of color in the Times newsroom.
Tom Bodkin, assistant managing editor and design director wrote to the staff: “This job is to fulfill a longstanding ambition for someone with both news and visual savvy to devote full attention to the presentation of the daily news report, to help shape our coverage and to look for particularly compelling ways to display the major stories of the day.
“Charles Blow first came to us in 1993 as a summer intern in the graphics group. We kept in touch with him and after a year at The Detroit News we invited him to return to join our graphics staff in 1994. It didn’t take long for Charles to impress us with his talent, enthusiasm and maturity, and two years later we made him the manager of that group. In running that department for the past eight years, Charles has proven himself to be both a superb manager and a first-class journalist.”
Blow, 33, went to Grambling State University, is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and participates in training programs for younger journalists. Under his leadership, the Times won a Best of Show from the Society of News Design for its 9/11 coverage, the first time that honor was given for graphics.
AAJA’s Mae Cheng Testifies Before EEOC
Mae Cheng, an assistant city editor at Newsday and president of the Asian American Journalists Association, told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Wednesday that unless there is more mentoring from the top down, the numbers of Asian American journalists would shrink with many people leaving the field due to a lack of challenge and growth opportunities, according to Sandra Ewon Kim, reporting for the Medill News Service.
The focus of the public forum, held in Washington, was the problems Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders face in the job market.
Hispanic Newscasts Rule in Miami-Fort Lauderdale
“The influence of Spanish-language television continues to grow in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market,” writes Tom Jicha in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“WLTV-Ch. 23 again leads the market overall, in prime time and in early and late news, as it has for the past several years. However, for the first time, Spanish newscasts are first and second at 6 p.m., as WSCV-Ch. 51 also moved ahead of the English stations. What’s more, a relatively new Spanish channel, WJAN-Ch. 41, ranks second at 10 p.m., behind clear leader WSVN-Ch. 7 but ahead of the English-language news programs on WBFS-Ch. 33 and WBZL-Ch. 39 (which is owned by Tribune Co., the Sun-Sentinel’s parent company).”
Reporter Suspended for Disparaging Remarks
“Sarah Schulte, the Channel 7 reporter who was overheard making disparaging remarks about minorities in an internal communication, has been slapped with a two-month suspension without pay,” Robert Feder reports in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Schulte was covering a story last March when she was overheard on an open microphone complaining about the difficulty of firing incompetent employees who happen to be minorities. Her remarks, though never broadcast, were recorded on a digital server.
“In an open letter to colleagues this week, Schulte apologized for ‘any hurt feelings caused by [her] comments,’ adding: ‘Should there be any doubt over my beliefs, please know that I’ve advocated a diverse and multicultural workplace throughout my career. I’ve extended my convictions into the field, where I have actively campaigned for stories that shed positive light on minorities in our community.’
“Schulte, who is on maternity leave, will begin serving her suspension in July and return to work in September. She joined Channel 7 as a reporter in 1998,” Feder wrote.
Roundup of Magazines’ Outreach to Latinos
“Magazine companies are trying to translate their Spanish publishing efforts into bigger paydays,” writes Paul D. Colford in the New York Daily News.
“American Media, publisher of the Star, has been testing the beauty and celebrity mag Thalia, tied to the popular Mexican singer-actress and wife of ex-Sony Music honcho Tommy Mottola, after spinning off Shape en Espanol from Shape last fall.
“The company, which also publishes the 4-year-old celebrity tabloid Mira!, will relaunch Men’s Fitness en Espanol later this year.
“Sue Yein Butcher, who oversees American Media’s Latino division, put the circulation of the monthly Shape en Espanol at 75,000 and would say only that Thalia has been selling up to 45% of copies distributed to newsstands.
“In Spanish publishing, size is relative, falling far below the circulation levels of major English-language titles.
“On the top end, People en Espanol has grown slowly but steadily since Time Inc. put the People spinoff on a monthly schedule in 1998, reaching a circ of 425,000 late last year.
“Latina, the bilingual beauty and lifestyle mag published by Latina Media Ventures, rose to 308,400.
“Meanwhile, by comparison, Spanish-language editions of other big mags have posted modest numbers in the U.S.
“Between 2001 and late last year, the circ of Glamour en Espanol grew by a grand 37.4%, but hit just 65,000.
“In the same period, Cosmopolitan en Espanol was up a healthy 11.4%, but totaled just 53,700.
“George Green, president of Hearst Magazines International, which publishes Cosmo en Espanol and Harper’s Bazaar en Espanol with Editorial Televisa, said: “We know, strategically, that we should be there [in the Spanish market].”
“But we don’t know, economically, if it’s a business,” he added.
Green said the big challenges are distribution and the need to develop an editorial product that speaks to the diverse Latino market.
“As Green put it, ‘We never do just a translation. We’re not losing money, but we’re not making any money, either. The scale just isn’t there yet.'”
Chicago Sun-Times No Longer for Sale
“The Chicago Sun-Times isn’t for sale after all. At least not right now,” writes Jim Kirk in the Chicago Tribune.
Potential buyers may want to check back in a couple of years, though.
“Sun-Times parent Hollinger International Inc. on Thursday made official what had been rumored for weeks: It is seeking only a buyer for its United Kingdom operations, which include the company’s prized assets, London’s Daily and Sunday Telegraph, as well as The Spectator magazine.”
Yusef Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, had made a bid for the Sun-Times with financier and supermarket mogul Ron Burkle. Had he won, it would have made the newspaper the nation’s largest with an African American owner.
Commentary Continues on Bill Cosby Remarks
- Stanley Crouch, New York Daily News: Some blacks stand tall against the buffoonery
- Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: Cosby’s comments had wrong target
- Michael Eric Dyson, NPR’s “The Tavis Smiley Show”: “classist, elitist and rooted in generational warfare”
- Editorial, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Cosby Starts an Overdue Dialogue
- Jimi Izrael, africana.com: What It Iz: Does America’s Father Know Best?
- Jerry Large, Seattle Times: Cosby was right to say what he thinks? we all should
- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: An icon’s classism disappointing
- Theodore M. Shaw, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., Washington Post: Beyond What Bill Cosby Said
- Thomas Sowell, Creators Syndicate: Bravo for Bill Cosby
Blacks in Newsrooms at “Highest-Ranked” Schools
From the Winter 2003/2004 issue, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education:
Over the past five years, the number of blacks in the newsrooms of student newspapers at the nation?s highest-ranked universities has declined. In fact, there are no blacks whatsoever on the editorial boards of the student newspapers at 13 of the 19 highest-ranked universities that responded to our survey.
When we consider the strength of reporting on racial minorities, women?s rights, sexual harassment, and malfeasance within the faculty or administration, as well as other acts of institutional mischief, the student editors of our great universities are diligent guardians of the First Amendment. But as to what is going on within the ranks of their own newsrooms, the students tend to be either blind or fogbound. Indeed, in their news stories these papers fret and stew about gender and race codes but they steadfastly ignore the racial composition of the editors within their newsrooms.
As is the case in journalism generally, blacks have never had a serious presence on the editorial side of student newspapers at the nation?s highest-ranked universities. Our 1995 survey found that only five, or 1.3 percent, of the 380 editors at the student newspapers at the 25 highest-ranked universities were black. Three years later, in 1998, JBHE conducted a second survey. Here we found that some progress had been made. That year our survey revealed that 20 of the 520 editorial staff members of these student newspapers were black. Thus, in 1998 blacks made up 3.8 percent of the student editors at these newspapers. This figure was nearly triple the 1995 percentage. At the same time, blacks made up an average of about 6 percent of the student body at these institutions. So, distinct progress had been achieved. But blacks were still significantly underrepresented on the editorial boards of these student newspapers.
Once again, we have surveyed the student newspapers at the nation?s most selective universities. We were disappointed with the results. There has been no progress since our last survey in 1998. In fact, the number of black editors and the black percentage of all student editors have declined. Overall, our survey found 350 editors at the 19 student newspapers that responded to our survey. Only nine, or 2.6 percent, are black.
Six university newspapers that had furnished information on the racial makeup of their editorial boards in the past declined to participate in our current survey. These newspapers are at CalTech, Columbia, Dartmouth, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Yale. Our experience has been that institutions that decline to reveal updated information on racial data which they had previously shared usually are not proud of their records and prefer to keep somewhat embarrassing information to themselves. Therefore, it is next to certain that if these student newspapers did report the data on the racial makeup of their editorial boards, the total number of student editors in the entire group would still be down from the numbers registered five years ago.
Among the student newspapers at the 19 universities that responded to our survey, only three showed an increase in black editorial representation from 1998 to 2003. The number of student editors at the Duke University Chronicle rose from two to three. The student newspapers at Rice and Brown now have one black editor whereas in 1998 there was none. Other than the Duke Chronicle, the only other student newspaper at a high-ranking university with more than one black editor is the Harvard Crimson. There are two blacks on the Crimson?s 30-member editorial board. Incidentally, we note that among the nation?s newspaper junkies, the Harvard Crimson is often ranked next to the Globe as the best paper in the Boston area.
Combined there are 200 editors at the student newspapers at Princeton, MIT, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Cornell, Emory, the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, the University of Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. Not one is black.
In 1998 there were four blacks on the 30-member editorial board at the University of Virginia?s Cavalier Daily. Today there is none.
