Few Black Editors Found at Mainstream Magazines
A survey of the editorial leadership of American magazines “has found only nine top editors — defined by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) as chief editor, executive editor, or managing editor — among hundreds of mainstream, nonethnic, nonurban titles from major publishing houses,” Black Enterprise magazine reports in its September issue.
The number could actually be lower. By the managing-editor-or-above criterion, only three would be on the list.
“Although more people of color appear in ads, and celebrities like Halle Berry and Beyonce Knowles land the covers of top fashion magazines, the mastheads remain predominantly white. According to findings in Success in the Magazine Industry, a recent study commissioned by the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), management’s approach to diversity is not in race, gender, or ethnicity but in a diversity of perspectives, knowledge, and styles,” says the article by Carolyn M. Brown, with additional reporting credited to Joyce Jones and Christina Morgan.
“Moreover, the study finds that publishers aren’t recruiting aggressively at historically black colleges and universities or minority professional associations such as NABJ,” the National Association of Black Journalists.
“Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell, who conducted the MPA study, notes most hiring is still done through word of mouth, thereby reinforcing the status quo. ‘The rationale persists (that there) just are not enough people of color in circles of “smart people,”‘ says Bell, an associate professor at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, in the survey findings,” the article says.
The list of African Americans in top editorial roles is being compiled by Jacklyn Monk, assistant managing editor of Real Simple, for NABJ.
NABJ President Herbert Lowe announced at the NABJ business meeting during the Unity convention that the association was putting together such a list to accompany one of newspaper editors compiled by Don Hudson of the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, and one it is planning of broadcast managers. (Hudson is a 1995 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Management Training Center.)
The nine editors are, according to the Black Enterprise article, which is not online:
Carla Shackleford, deputy managing editor at Fairchild Publications’ Jane magazine; Donna Banks, a features editor (formerly assistant managing editor) at the Reader’s Digest; Mark Whitaker, editor of the Washington Post Co.’s Newsweek; and, at Time Inc., Amy Barnett, managing editor, Teen People; Sheryl Hilliard Tucker, executive editor, Money; Angela Burt-Murray, executive editor, People; Jacklyn Monk, assistant managing editor, Real Simple; Roy Johnson, assistant managing editor, Sports Illustrated; Janice Simpson, assistant managing editor, Time.
Media Schmoozing, Perks Raise Ethical Questions
Only last month, some members of the media establishment were wagging fingers at the Unity audience over the display of positive and negative reactions to the appearances of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.
Now, at the Republican convention, journalists are partaking of $5 million in donated perks in a building billed as “The Spa,” and singing “Happy Birthday” to Sen. John McCain.
As Richard Leiby reported in the Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” column: “One guest, who asked not to be identified, described invitees as ‘the Journalistic Committee for a Government of National Unity,'” and Leiby called the McCain party a press secretary’s dream, one “leaving no media icon behind.”
“Guests included NBC’s Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC’s Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS’s Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN’s Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, CNBC’s Gloria Borger, PBS’s Charlie Rose — pause here to exhale — and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro. They and others dined on lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts.”
In the same Tuesday edition of the Post, media writer Howard Kurtz described the perks at “the Spa”:
“Laura Raposa, a Boston Herald columnist, has just finished receiving a ‘very soothing and relaxing’ facial in a curtain-enclosed bed, and now makeup artist Ralph Johnson is dusting her face with Yves St. Laurent sheer skin tint and bronzer. Her writing partner, Gayle Fee, is waiting for a head and neck massage, currently being performed on ABC’s Sheila Marikar.
“Welcome to the gritty front lines of the Republican convention, where hard-bitten, hard-driving, tough-as-nails journalists are getting five-star coddling. It’s all free of charge, a fact that seems to cause few ethical concerns in a section of the office building adjacent to Madison Square Garden billed as ‘The Spa.'”
Journal-isms asked Unity President Ernest Sotomayor what he made of the story about the McCain party guest list.
“I would assume that all of the people who were at that party and applauded, cheered, or expressed any other emotions like singing might now have to recuse themselves from deciding on any coverage of Sen. John McCain in the future,” he said. “Even if it was an off-the-record session, these types of gatherings are by their nature still on-the-record since word always leaks. Bill O’Reilly even did a segment on his show about the ‘UNITY flap.’
“According to all of those purists and ethicists who widely criticized the UNITY journalists recently for showing emotions at the Bush and Kerry appearances, you’re never really off-duty, and one should never show a preference to our elected officials.
“So I guess that means that this display, by that standard, also would seemingly violate journalistic ethics and standards.
“But from the list in this item of the people who attended McCain’s party, like nearly all of the most powerful media executives, very few were people of color. Maybe that’s the difference between how the UNITY event was criticized and how this gathering is being perceived.
“Just another reason to illustrate why we need to keep having our annual association conventions and UNITY conventions . . .”
On Unity: A choice between a boor and a bore (Bageshree Paradkar, Toronto Star)
Illustrations for convention coverage (Ron Rogers, South Bend Tribune)
“March on the Media” planned today (Newsday)
1,000 Protesters Denounce Fox News (CNSNews.com)
Roland Martin Named Editor of Chicago Defender
“Award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist Roland S. Martin has been named executive editor of the Chicago Defender, the newspaper’s parent company announced Tuesday,” as the Associated Press reports.
“As the Chicago Defender moves into its centennial celebration next year, we know we needed a journalist with impeccable credentials and a national stature to help us reshape the nation’s most historic black newspaper,” Clarence Nixon, president and CEO of Real Times LLC, said in a statement. “Roland certainly fits that bill.”
“Nixon said the 35-year-old Martin, who has served as an editorial consultant with the paper for the last six weeks, was chosen because of his extensive experience in print and broadcast media and the Internet. The appointment is effective immediately. Martin said that even though the circulation of what once was one of the most influential black newspapers in the country has fallen in recent years, he is confident it can attract new readers. He has extensive experience working with the black press, including stints as managing editor of the Dallas Weekly and the Houston Defender. He was founding editor of BlackAmericaWeb.com and founding news editor of Savoy Magazine,” the AP story said.
Martin has put the Defender’s circulation at 16,000.
It was Martin whose exchange with President Bush at the Unity conference last month made news when Bush said he opposed “legacy” admissions programs such as the one that benefited him in entering Yale.
As reported in May, Real Times last year bought the Chicago Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New Pittsburgh Courier, Memphis Tri-State Defender and Michigan Front Page and hired Angelo Henderson, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1999 while at the Wall Street Journal, to help upgrade the African American newspapers.
Henderson, in turn, said last month that Martin had been hired for a three-month stint as an editorial consultant, one that yesterday was made permanent. “We were looking for someone with energy,” Henderson said then, “who could come in and get the people together, create a newsroom flow, set up systems . . . to have a redesign, with more entry points [on the page], more sky boxes” and the like. Martin’s experience in the black press was a plus, said Henderson, who added that the changes were being guided by Nixon.
The Chicago Tribune wrote in June: “A year and a half after a new ownership group took over, the Defender is going through a particularly painful period. Sixteen positions have been eliminated since the new owners arrived, leaving behind a staff of 30.”
As PBS noted in a piece accompanying the documentary “Soldiers Without Swords,” the Defender, founded by Robert S. Abbott on May 5, 1905, was the nation’s most influential black weekly newspaper by the advent of World War I, with more than two thirds of its readership base located outside of Chicago. By 1956, it had become the largest black-owned daily in the world.
But like most of the black press, it lost much of its circulation and influence as mainstream dailies hired more African American writers and editors and began to target black readers.
Richard Luna Lands as ME of Ventura County Star
Rich Luna, who abruptly left his last two jobs at the Indianapolis Star, where he was managing editor, and the Detroit News, where he was metro editor, has landed as managing editor at California’s Ventura County Star, Gretchen Macchiarella reports in that paper.
“Family has been Luna’s focus for the past few months,” the story said. “He ended a stint as metro editor at the Detroit News in April to spend time with his newborn daughter, Abby, and his sons, Alex, 11, and Austin, 6.
“After putting a lot of emphasis on his career, Luna said, he wanted to refocus. He said he spent the time looking for a position that he would be excited about.
“I just wanted to step back and look at some things and reassess where I wanted to go,” Luna, a 1994 graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Management Training Center, said in the story.
The Ventura County Star is a Scripps Howard paper that is partnering with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to improve news coverage of Latinos and increase the number of Latinos in the newsroom staff.
Luna is a former board member of NAHJ.
Janet Clayton Shakes Up L.A. Times Staff
“Janet Clayton came upstairs from the editorial page in June to take over as editor in charge of L.A. Times state and local coverage,” reports LA Observed.
“After sizing up things for a couple of months, she announced her shakeup of the desks. There’s to be a new City Editor (Shelby Grad) and new State Editor (Steve Padilla), and Sunday Opinion editor Sue Horton -â?? the former editor of the LA Weekly â?? is coming upstairs to oversee projects and investigative stories.”
Among those getting new assignments is Sam Enriquez, “City Editor for the past two years and a key Metro editor for several more,” who “will edit the California Narrative Team, a group of several Los Angeles-based general assignment reporters who will focus on the art of storytelling. After launching the Metro narrative team, Sam will join the Foreign staff sometime next year,” a memo from Clayton says.
Another is Carlos Lozano, Ventura edition editor, who will become the morning assignment editor. Lozano has managed the Ventura staff since 2000, and came to The Times in 1987 under the METPRO program, the paper’s editorial training program for journalists of color.
Daniels, Ex-NABJ Activist, Eyes N.Y. Governorship
Longtime members of the National Association of Black Journalists who live outside New York might be surprised to learn that one of NABJ’s most active members in its early years is being talked about as the first black governor of New York.
That would be Randy Daniels, who worked as a CBS correspondent from 1971 to 1981 and was active in NABJ in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He is now, as secretary of state to Gov. George Pataki, the highest-ranking black Republican in New York state, and one whose “name is mentioned as a gubernatorial candidate if Pataki does not run for reelection,” Austin Fenner reports in the New York Daily News in a story about black Republicans in the state, “GOP Blacks Are Biggest Misfits in the Room.”
Referring to NABJ, Daniels once described himself as “someone who was a conscience of the organization and what it purported to stand for” who “sought to broaden our horizons” so that we “see ourselves in a global context.”
After leaving CBS, Daniels took 50 African American journalists and technicians to Africa to upgrade the Nigerian television system. Later, he became press secretary or media adviser to various politicians, including former Bahamas prime minister Lynden Pindling, and worked at New York-based Caroline Jones Inc. advertising agency. After that, he began immersing himself in the business world, representing Donald Trump in a deal in the Bahamas, raising money to start a television station and serving as vice president of wealthy developer Abe Hirschfeld’s Hirschfeld Realty in Manhattan.
According to the New York Beacon, Daniels served under Pataki from 1995 to 1999 as senior vice president and deputy commissioner of economic revitalization at the Empire State Development Corporation.
In December 1999, Daniels was named a vice president at Canyon Capital Realty Advisors LLC, a California-based money management and real estate investment firm where he co-managed a $400 million institutional equity fund that invests in real estate development projects in urban communities across the country.
Pataki swore him in as secretary of state in 2001.
By last year he had “begun raising money to fund a statewide race that most observers assume will be a shot at the governor’s office in 2006 — assuming Gov. George Pataki doesn’t seek a fourth term,” as the Albany Times-Union reported.
Pataki won a second term in 2002 by soundly beating Democrat H. Carl McCall, who had hoped that he would be the Empire State’s first African American governor.
Wickham Fact-Checks Michael Steele Comments
â??’Democrats take us for granted,’ Rev. Jesse Jackson told a small group of black columnists last month, ‘Republicans take us for fools,’â?? begins a column by DeWayne Wickham on BlackAmericaWeb.com
“Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele wasnâ??t at that meeting, but he should have been. Maybe if heâ??d heard Jacksonâ??s honest analysis of how blacks are treated by the nationâ??s leading political parties he might have chosen his words more carefully during an interview Monday on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.
“But instead, Steele -â?? a black Republican -â?? tripped all over his tongue . . . BlackAmericaWeb.com offers our readers this fact-checking assessment of what was said during this interview.”
One example: Steele said the incarceration of African Americans rose during the Clinton years, but “the number of persons in prisons and jails did increase during Clintonâ??s presidency â?? and it has continued to increase during the Bush presidency.”
Steele is considered a rising Republican star, as the first African American elected to statewide office in Maryland and co-chairman of the National African-American Steering Committee for the Bush-Cheney campaign. He addressed the convention Tuesday.
Steele’s remarks at convention
Cops Seize Newsday Photog Covering Protest
“Newsday photographer Moises Saman — who spent eight days in an Iraqi prison in 2003 — was taken into police custody yesterday in Times Square while covering a protest related to the Republican convention,” Karen Freifeld reported Tuesday in Newsday.
“‘I was photographing a guy getting arrested and somebody grabbed me from the back with a lot of force and made me fly backwards,’ said the award-wining photographer, who was at 45th Street and Seventh Avenue at about 5 p.m. when the incident occurred.
“Spencer Platt, a staff photographer for Getty Images, who was on the scene, said police had started to arrest some quasi-anarchists on the street corners when officers got rough with Saman and others.
“‘There were about 10 photographers photographing what I think was an arrest,’ said Platt. ‘A cop just walked up, arbitrarily grabbed Moises by his shoulders and just threw him backwards. . . . Moises was on the ground, dazed and shocked.
“Saman, 30, said police handcuffed him and put him in a van with about 10 protesters, took a Polaroid photograph of him, and drove him to the West Side pier, where a temporary processing center has been set up.
“Saman said it took about two hours before he was released. An officer then escorted him to the West Side Highway, where he hailed a cab and returned to Times Square to continue work.”
Al Jazeera Complains of Manhandling by GOP
“The good news for Al Jazeera is that, unlike at last month’s Democratic convention, it’s being allowed to hang a banner just like any other media organization,” reports Lloyd Grove in his New York Daily News “Lowdown” gossip column.
“The bad news is that Arab satellite channel’s staffers are complaining that they’ve been getting manhandled at the Republican National Convention by Gov. Pataki staffers.
“‘We tried to interview Mr. Pataki a few times, and every time we were told he’s not available or doesn’t have time,’ producer Sanaa Hannound, a slightly built thirtysomething Palestinian woman, told Lowdown yesterday in Al Jazeera’s tiny workspace. ‘And then we would notice him giving other interviews.
“So I followed him to ask him why some New Yorkers were critical about New York hosting the RNC. Even before I asked the question, I was pushed by a female staff member! I told her to stop pushing me.’
“Pataki spinmeister Lynn Rasik responded with a nondenial denial: ‘There was a crush of media people and we did our best to accommodate all of the media while keeping everyone safe.’
“Al Jazeera, which has 19 staffers trolling Madison Square Garden, plans to beam about 15 hours of convention coverage and commentary this week its 40 million viewers worldwide.
“‘We’re trying to explain to our Arab audience the American political system,’ said bureau chief Al-Mirazi, adding that 500,000 Arab-Americans are among viewers in the United States.”
Will Wright Now GM at HDTV Satellite Firm
When last this column left Will J. Wright, in July 2003, the veteran broadcaster was leaving “BET Nightly News,” where he was executive producer, and was ready for what he called his first professional break in 37 years.
“Will wants his life back,” said Wright, who had been news director of WWOR-TV in Secaucus, N.J., and vice president and news director of KRIV-TV in Houston. “Now my passion is my living. It’s all about me. I woke up this morning with such a sense of freedom.”
Now Wright’s name has surfaced in a paid ad in the TV tipsheet “Shop Talk” as general manager for VOOM HDNews part of VOOM High-Definition Satellite Television, which was announcing its GOP convention coverage.
“We’re committed to bringing our viewers incredible ‘first person’ around-the-clock coverage, which we brought first in HD for the DNC, and now we are offering the same complete and unfiltered coverage of the RNC,” he says.
“If any job was worth staying in the business for, this is it!” Wright tells Journal-isms.
“VOOM, provided by Rainbow DBS, Cablevision System Corporation’s satellite division, is the first television service to provide a comprehensive array of high-definition (HD) programming for the rapidly growing but underserved HDTV audience. With a lineup of more than 35 HD channels, VOOM delivers more HD programming than any other satellite or cable service provider,” says the ad.
Carl Morris Services Friday in Washington Suburb
Services for Carl E. Morris, the former executive director of the National Association of Black Journalists and a founder of the National Association of Minority Media Executives, are scheduled for Friday in the Washington suburb of Herndon, Va.
As reported Monday, Morris died Aug. 27 at his home in nearby Reston, Va., at age 73. An obituary by Michelle K. Massie in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today says that, “visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Adams-Green Funeral Home, 721 Elden St., Herndon, Va., where the funeral service will be held Friday at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Chestnut Grove Cemetery, Herndon.”
The headline calls him “Tireless advocate for diversity in newsrooms.”
“Sometimes he ran into managers who were too willing to give up and walk away, but Carl had to keep them focused,” Lee Stinnett, retired executive director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, who hired Morris as ASNE’s first minority affairs director, said in the obituary. “He was fearless and there wasn’t a single editor in the world who intimidated him.”
Thanks to people like Peggy Peterman, I don’t let negative vibe drag me down (Ernest Hooper, St. Petersburg Times)
Advice Against Getting Two Journalism Degrees
Lee Thornton, a senior producer for CNN who holds the Richard Eaton Chair in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Maryland, was asked by Black Issues in Higher Education’s Ronald Roach to offer advice to young people interested in both academe and journalism.
“Well, I tell anybody who asks me about anything they want to do to just go do it. You’ve got to give it a go,” she replied.
“What’s interesting to me is that I get so many questions from people with bachelor’s degrees in journalism asking about getting a master’s in journalism. I happen to think that there’s not a lot of use in getting two degrees in this field. I tell people the year and a half, two years it takes to get a master’s is better spent getting the experience. Of course, if you want to teach then obviously you should pursue getting the advanced degrees.”
Young Black Men Get Their Own Lad Magazines
“On the pages of King, a bimonthly men’s magazine for the rims, bling and sneakers set, one thing is prized more than a taut waistline and a pretty face, shapely legs or a perky bosom: a large behind,” writes Lola Ogunnaike in the New York Times.
“On the surface, King, a spinoff of the popular hip-hop magazine XXL, owned by Harris Publications, appears to follow the same formula that lad mags like Maxim, FHM and Stuff have used to great success. Hot girl on the cover. More hot girls in various stages of undress on the inside. Fast cars, expensive gadgets, even the occasional article thrown in for good measure. The difference is one of audience.
“King is the leader in a small but growing market of magazines that cater primarily to young African-American men. According to a report released this month by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six-month period ending on June 30, King’s paid circulation grew by 52.2 percent, to 227,323. Other magazines in the category include BlackMen and Smooth.
“Not all the women King has put on its cover have been, as Mr. Thomas puts it, thick,” the article continues, the reference being to Datwon Thomas, King’s editor since it began publishing three years ago.
“While seemingly perfect for the pages of a mainstream women’s magazine, the R&B singer Brandy’s relatively waiflike frame did not go over well with King readers when she appeared on the cover of the magazine’s September issue.
“‘We’ve never gotten such a negative response before,’ Mr. Thomas said, shaking his head. ‘Our readers were like, “What’s up with the thinnie on the cover?”‘
“For her part Brandy seemed to understand what King’s readers were looking for. ‘I think my booty could be bigger,’ she said in the interview that accompanied her photo layout. ‘Just a little more budonkadunk, and then I would be good.'”
