Journalists of Color Sprinkled Among the 15,000
Journalists of color will be sprinkled among the reported 15,000 journalists covering the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday in Boston. But for those watching over-the-air television, there will be less time to see them.
“The CNN Washington bureau chief did a double-take when he entered the site of the Democratic convention,” as Joanne Ostrow wrote in the Denver Post.
“I walked into the hall today,” CNN’s David Bohrman told Ostrow from Boston, “and there’s a skybox for al-Jazeera. That really says a lot, about where we are and what the country’s been through. The American broadcast networks might not be covering the conventions, but the Arab world cares and they’ll be watching.”
“The Big Three networks have cut this year’s political convention coverage to just three hours of live coverage on ABC, CBS and NBC,” Ostrow continued.
“Increasingly, the spectacles are moving to cable.”
Ostrow reports that “Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs will join the MTV News team at the conventions. Ana Marie Cox, editor of the political gossip website, Wonkette.com, is also a convention correspondent for MTV. The MTV News division plans cut-ins from the conventions geared to its younger audience, at least hourly.
“BET’s coverage, anchored by Jacque Reid, will profile African-American delegates, Russell Simmons‘ Hip-Hop Action Network and the importance of Boston and New York in African-American history.
“ABC will urge the audience to check out a digital cable feed with Peter Jennings as anchor; CBS will plug cbs.com and NBC will steer viewers to MSNBC and CNBC.”
No such cutback for print.
“With 15,000 journalists in town, we are on display,” said John Yemma, a 15-year veteran of the Boston Globe, reported Jon Friedman for CBS Marketwatch.
“‘We’ll bring our A-game,’ said Yemma, the 51-year-old point editor for much of the Globe’s convention and political coverage,” Friedman wrote.
Journal-isms asked various news organizations which journalists of color would be on their convention teams. Some were proud to list their delegations, some were not so forthcoming, just as not all newspapers participate in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ annual diversity census.
Responses:
- ABC: Reporters “Tam Edwards, Ron Claiborne in Boston,” responded Paul S. Mason, senior vice president of ABC News. “Pierre Thomas will be in Washington and reporting on security issues. Hari Sreenivasin will be anchoring our new 24-hour digital venture from New York. Producer Wonbo Woo will make recurring appearances from various locations around the city using new technology.
“You can also expect to see Michel Martin on Nightline at least once during the week, though not from Boston. I had asked Michel to join our team in Boston — she was a floor reporter in 2000 — but as a relatively new mother of twins, she declined. “That said, in Primetime you will mostly see Jennings, Stephanopoulos, Dan Harris (on Kerry campaign), Kate Snow. I am sure the Democrats will do all they can to compel us with their program from 10p-11p and limit our opportunities to actually do analysis.”
- Associated Press: Sources at AP report that Sonya Ross, world services editor in Washington, and Jesse Holland and Darlene Superville, both from the Washington bureau, are covering. AP spokesman Jack Stokes, who is himself black, declined to comment, saying, “We don’t specify who covers stuff by race or anything.”
- Boston Globe: Kenneth J. Cooper, national editor, is participating in the coverage, and also names Raja Mishra, a health reporter on the Metro staff who has been covering vice presidential candidate John Edwards, and Keith Reed, a business reporter assigned to write about the convention’s economic impact. Wayne Washington, White House correspondent, would have been on the Globe team, but he is leaving for The State in Columbia, S.C., Cooper said — adding that that creates a job opening.
- Boston magazine: Jon Marcus, editor, announced that, “‘Convention Confidential’ is being updated continuously by a team of 15 writers and editors attending the convention, the parties, and related events from a perspective that takes advantage of a city magazine’s strengths — including contacts in the local hospitality and retail industries — to provide edgy, entertaining, exclusive, and informative coverage from an insider’s point of view.” But when asked whether any journalists of color were on the project, he replied, “In this department, yes. On this particular project, as it happens, no.”
- CBS: Byron Pitts will be reporting on-air from Boston, and Al Ortiz producing from New York, according to information supplied by spokeswoman Andie Silvers.
- Chicago Tribune: “We have columnist Clarence Page and reporters Dahleen Glanton and Dawn Turner Trice,” wrote spokeswoman Patti Wetli. “Our deputy managing editor George de Lama, who is Cuban-American, also is attending.”
- CNN: Joe Johns, Dan Lothian and Elaine Quijano are among those who “will provide on-the-spot coverage from the convention hall and across Massachusetts,” says a news release. Political commentator Carlos Watson is listed as one of those providing “insider reports” for CNN.com, and “CNN contributor and superdelegate Donna Brazile,” who was Al Gore’s 2000 campaign manager, is one of those named as primed to use mini-cameras “to show behind-the-scenes developments at the convention.”
“I’ll be there too, writing for washingtonpost.com and doing both CNN Headline News and NewsNight with Aaron Brown, every night of the convention,” adds Terry M. Neal.
- Fox News: Reporter Kelly Wright is in Boston already, and commentator Juan Williams will be offering analysis starting Sunday, said spokesman Paul Schur.
- Gannett Co.: “I’m not going to give out names,” said corporate spokeswoman Tara Connell. “I believe that if anyone wants to be included in a column on this subject, it would be up to them. You would need to ask them.”
- Knight Ridder: Reporters Ruby Bailey of the Detroit Free Press, Sumana Chatterjee of the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau and Carl Chancellor of the Akron Beacon Journal will be in Boston, said Clark Hoyt, Knight Ridder Washington editor, as well as Harry Walker, Knight Ridder Tribune photo editor.
- Los Angeles Times: “It looks like we have data on people of color for the newsroom, but not by specific editorial projects or assignments,” replied spokeswoman Martha Goldstein.
- National Newspaper Publishers Association: “Hazel Edney will represent NNPA,” said editor-in-chief George E. Curry.
- National Public Radio: “Tavis Smiley will cover all week long for both his NPR and PBS shows. Juan Williams and John Ridley will also attend the conventions. Juan will do political features and Ridley will produce 2 or three fun features,” reports spokeswoman Jenny Lawhorn.
- NBC: “Carl Quintanilla has been covering Kerry the entire time and will continue during the conventions,” said spokeswoman Barbara Levin. Rehema Ellis will also be covering, she said.
- New York Times: “I don’t have a breakdown by race. Our political editor, Rick Berke, will be in charge of the coverage on the scene. The reporters and photographers will include all of th[o]se who have been covering politics this year, plus a great many more,” said spokeswoman Catherine J. Mathis. However, Times sources said among those in the delegation are reporters of color Randal C. Archibold, Jonathan P. Hicks and Raymond Hernandez.
- Newsday: Lonnie Isabel, assistant managing editor for national and foreign news, said he is going to Boston, along with Washington news editor Monica Norton and reporter Jioni Palmer.
- Telemundo: “Starting early in the morning with ‘Hoy en el Mundo’ continuing throughout the day with special reports with the nightly newscast ‘Noticiero Telemundo’ at 6:30pm/5:30 CT, Telemundo will bring up-to-the-minute news and will explore the issues affecting the US Hispanic community,” responded spokesman Gerardo Oyola in an e-mail.
“Telemundo Network News Anchor Pedro Sevcec will report live from the Conventions being held in Boston and New York City joined by Political Correspondent Lori Montenegro, who will bring details alongside a dedicated team of correspondents.”
- Univision: “Anchors Jorge Ramos, Maria Elena Salinas and Enrique Gratas will lead the news team in its coverage of an election in which the Hispanic vote will undeniably play a decisive role in determining the next President,” reads a news release.
“Both Presidential Nominee acceptance speeches will be broadcast live with simulcast translation into Spanish, pre-empting regular primetime programming. In addition to Univision’s early evening newscast at 6:30pm and ‘Ultima Hora’s’ (Univision Late Night News) 11:30pm newscast with daily reports and special convention editions, the Network’s live early-morning news-variety program, ‘Despierta America,’ will also offer viewers next-day convention reports and wrap-ups.”
- Wall Street Journal: Editorial writer Jason Riley, among six going from the editorial page. Spokesman Robert Christie provided a list of the Journal’s team covering the convention but demurred on identifying those of color: “We do not make such personal information available to anyone without the authorization of the employee,” he said. Riley, however, has discussed his role as an African American. (?One of the things I like about the Journal,? he said in 2002, ?is that I wasn?t expected to be the ?black? writer. It wasn?t assumed I was going to be trotted out to speak about race.?)
- Washington Post: Evelyn Nieves of the National news staff; Tim Craig of the Metro staff; Style section editor Eugene Robinson; photographers Dudley Brooks and Michel DuCille, and Colbert I. King, deputy editorial page editor and columnist, will be in Boston, said Post spokesman Eric C. Grant.
FBI warns of possible threat against media (Boston Globe)
Bush to Address Unity; Kerry May Skip It
President Bush has accepted an invitation to address the Unity convention on Friday, Aug. 6, in Washington, Unity President Ernest Sotomayor announced today.
But it does not look as though Sen. John F. Kerry, his Democratic opponent, will be there.
“We have been told by representatives at Sen. Kerry’s campaign this week that they don’t believe he can work an appearance at UNITY into his schedule because of the bus tour that is planned immediately after the convention,” Sotomayor told Journal-isms.
“We’ve said we feel an appearance before the largest gathering of journalists ever assembled in the nation is an event that provides a critical opportunity to answer questions we don’t think are going to get asked anywhere else, especially in light of the almost daily proclamations by his campaign and others in the Democratic party about how important the votes of people of color will be this year.”
“We’ve reiterated today our interest in having Sen. Kerry appear at UNITY and take our questions, and hope his people can find a way to arrange it,” Sotomayor continued.
Bush will take questions, the Unity president said.
“My first letter to President Bush, and to Sen. Kerry, made clear that we were inviting them to a journalism convention and that we would expect them to take our questions. That’s been the understanding from representatives in both camps, and we’ve reiterated in many conversations, and it’s never been an issue,” he said.
Asian media rip Kerry strategy; they say $3 million ad campaign snubs their community (San Francisco Chronicle)
BET Taps CBS to Poll African American Voters
“In the most comprehensive election-year study of registered African-American voters ever by a news organization, a BET/CBS News poll shows support is still muted for presumed Democratic Presidential nominee Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), while disdain for the policies of President George W. Bush and his administration is overwhelming,” a news release says.
“The poll was conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit using a series of questions developed by BET NIGHTLY NEWS and BET.com.
“The survey, conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit, comprised telephone calls with 986 African Americans.
“BET Nightly News” and BET.com plan to use the findings and analysis from the poll as the basis for their coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the release said.
The polling, something new to BET, is one result of Viacom’s ownership of both BET and CBS. BET was sold to Viacom in 2000.
Kerry Ahead Among Latinos, Joint Poll Shows
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) holds a strong lead over President Bush among the nation’s Hispanic voters, with a majority rejecting the president’s handling of the economy and the war in Iraq, according to a survey by The Washington Post, Univision and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute,” Richard Morin and Dan Balz reported in the Post Thursday.
“At a time when Bush and Kerry are running about even among all registered voters, Kerry enjoys a 2 to 1 advantage over Bush among Latino registered voters. Hispanics give Bush lower approval ratings than the overall population does, and the poll shows that the bulk of the Latino community continues to identify with the Democratic Party.”
HUD Says Paper Ran 42 Discriminatory Rental Ads
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced it has charged the San Antonio Express-News and its parent company, Hearst Communications Inc., with violating the Fair Housing Act by accepting and publishing 42 ads for rental housing that excluded potential renters because of their race, religion, sex, national origin or familial status,” reports the real-estate news service Inman News.
“The HUD charge stems from an April 2002 complaint filed by the Fair Housing Council of Greater San Antonio, one of many private, non-profit organizations funded by HUD through its Fair Housing Initiatives Program to investigate alleged violations of the Act. The San Antonio FHIP had been investigating possible violations of the Act by the paper since late 2000. Typical of the illegal ads, which ran between November 2000 and October 2002, were the following:
“‘WALZEN Area, Hispanic or White male pref., to share home . . . ‘
“‘2/1 House, Beautiful historic house, in Beacon Hill, See to apprec. No pets/children?”
“‘Some newspapers still do not understand their obligations even though the Fair Housing Act has been the law of the land for more than three decades,’ said Carolyn Peoples, HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. ‘HUD is committed to enforcing the nation’s fair housing laws, and we will act vigorously to keep peoples’ rights from being violated,'” the story continued.
The Express-News’ own story today quoted a Hearst spokesman at company headquarters in New York as saying, “We have not yet seen the complaint, so a comment would be premature.”
Student Press Law Center vs. Kansas State U.
“The Student Press Law Center condemned the position taken by officials at Kansas State University in their legal battle against student journalists over press freedom,” the Center said in a news release. “SPLC Executive Director Mark Goodman described the university’s position as ‘unprecedented, bizarre and offensive to the First Amendment.'”
“In May, KSU officials removed student newspaper adviser Ron Johnson from his position, citing their dissatisfaction with the content of the publication. Student journalists and the ousted adviser filed a lawsuit against the school in July. Federal Judge Julie A. Robinson refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the school on July 14.”
Black students and other students of color had complained that the newspaper was not diverse enough in its coverage.
“Johnson was removed in May after the newspaper was sharply criticized for failing to cover a regional conference on black student government that drew 1,000 people to campus in February,” as the Associated Press reported earlier.
Juan Gonzᬥz to Receive Hispanic Heritage Award
Juan D. Gonzᬥz, New York Daily News columnist and president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, has won the Leadership Award from the Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation, which honors “individuals who have broken ground for other Hispanics and served as an inspiration for all Americans.
“The recipients of these prestigious awards will be celebrated at a star-studded ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on September 10, 2004. The ceremony will be taped for broadcast on NBC Stations on September 18, 2004 and later on Telemundo Stations,” a news release says.
Throngs Show Up for MBC Network Talent Search
“The main attraction: the MBC Network Talent Search 2004 ? or, as a marquee flashed outside the site, the Robert Townsend Talent Search,” wrote Shandra Hill Smith in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Throngs of aspiring actors, singers and other talents turned out [July 10] at the Atrium in Stone Mountain to audition before actor-director-producer Townsend and other production executives from the Major Broadcasting Cable Network.
“MBC Network, which will change its name to the Black Family Channel in October, is holding a seven-city talent search through July 31. The other cities are Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, St. Louis and Dallas.
“Planned new programming on MBC includes a reality show to find the next boxing champion, a talent hour showcasing students and alumni from historically black colleges and universities, and a talk program covering politics, entertainment and more.”
