Grown-Up “Crack Babies” Belie Media Predictions of ’80s
“Crack hit the streets in 1984, and by 1987 the press had run more than 1,000 stories about it, many focusing on the plight of so-called crack babies,” writes Mariah Blake in the Columbia Journalism Review.
“The handwringing over these children started in September 1985, when the media got hold of Dr. Ira Chasnoff‘s New England Journal of Medicine article suggesting that prenatal cocaine exposure could have a devastating effect on infants. Only twenty-three cocaine-using women participated in the study, and Chasnoff warned in the report that more research was needed. But the media paid no heed. Within days of the first story, CBS News found a social worker who claimed that an eighteen-month-old crack-exposed baby she was treating would grow up to have ‘an IQ of perhaps fifty’ and be ‘barely able to dress herself.’
“Soon, images of the crack epidemic’s ‘tiniest victims’ — scrawny, trembling infants — were flooding television screens. Stories about their bleak future abounded. One psychologist told The New York Times that crack was ‘interfering with the central core of what it is to be human.’ Charles Krauthammer, a columnist for the The Washington Post, wrote that crack babies were doomed to ‘a life of certain suffering, of probable deviance, of permanent inferiority.’ The public braced for the day when this ‘biological underclass’ would cripple our schools, fill our jails, and drain our social programs.
“But the day never came. Crack babies, it turns out, were a media myth, not a medical reality.”
One of the “crack babies,” Antwaun Garcia, is now 20, “studying journalism at LaGuardia Community College in New York City and writing for Represent, a magazine for and by foster children. In a recent special issue he and other young writers, many of them born to crack addicts, took aim at a media myth built on wobbly, outdated science: crack babies. Their words are helping expose the myth and the damage it has done.”
Added E.R. Shipp, who wrote about Garcia March 28 in her New York Daily News column:
“Laws were enacted and policies were adopted that made it much more difficult for troubled women to address their addiction while caring for their children. Fortunately, the pendulum is swinging back toward helping those moms function. Even when our hearts are in the right place, we should think more before we leap to legislation and punitive policies.”
Television’s performance during the “crack baby” hysteria was the subject of a 1994 book by two communications professors at the University of Michigan, Jimmie L. Reeves and Richard Campbell, called “Cracked Coverage: Television News, the Anti-Cocaine Crusade and the Reagan Legacy” (Duke University Press).
“The journalistic recruitment in the anti-cocaine crusade was absolutely crucial to converting the war on drugs into a political spectacle that depicted social problems grounded on economic transformations as individual moral or behavioral problems that could be remedied by simply embracing family values, modifying bad habits, policing mean streets, and incarcerating the fiendish ‘enemies within,'” they wrote.
“While we do not expect that our charges will be at all convincing to drug warriors, we do think they are compelling enough to make most thoughtful readers reevaluate journalistic performance during the 1980s. But, perhaps even more important, we believe our arguments are incisive, comprehensive, and accessible enough to force thoughtful journalists (at least those who have the courage to confront our critique) to reconsider: (1) how reporters deal with government officials and enterprising experts who have vested interests in cultivating drug hysteria; and (2) how reporters mark off certain segments of the population as deviants who are ‘beyond rehabilitation.'”
Bob Johnson Off Forbes List of the 400 Richest
Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, and the first African American billionaire, has dropped off Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans. Oprah Winfrey, however, is ranked as tied for no. 215.
“The nation’s first African-American billionaire has seen his fortune shrink along with the value of the Viacom shares he got in 2001 when he sold Black Entertainment Television,” the magazine writes in reporting that Johnson is one of 54 former “Forbes 400” members who “either died, declined or got left behind.”
“Also, ex-wife Sheila got half in 2002 divorce. Became first African-American with a majority stake in a pro sports team, buying a 60% stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. Also owns the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting,” it says in its thumbnail sketch.
Talk-show entrepreneur Winfrey, 50, is still on the list, however, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.
“The biggest billionaire of all was again Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, whose $48 billion in estimated wealth was up $2 billion from 2003,” as Madlen Read reported for the Associated Press. “There are now 313 billionaires in the country, the largest number ever and a huge jump over the 262 counted last year.”
Finalists for First CUNY J-Dean Reportedly All White
No person of color is on a list of finalists to become the first dean of City University of New York’s new graduate school of journalism, though some are diversity-friendly, according to the names published Thursday in the New York Daily News.
CUNY’s students are 50 to 60 percent black, Latino and Asian, and the school plans to begin a one-year master’s program next fall. It is to be “the first such master?s degree to be offered by a public university in the Northeast. The program will concentrate on urban journalism with New York City as the focus of exploration,” a statement from the university had said.
The Daily News’ Paul D. Colford named these finalists: Stephen Shepard, longtime editor in chief of Business Week; Michael Oreskes, an assistant managing editor of the New York Times; Chris Callahan, a former Associated Press reporter who is associate dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland; Paul Friedman, a former executive vice president of ABC News who produces “The Journal Editorial Report” on PBS, and Betty Medsger, who headed San Francisco State’s journalism department and is now a New York-based writer and consultant.
Colford said that Michael Arena, CUNY’s director of media relations, declined to comment on the names, and Arena was not available today.
Latinos Give Corpus Christi Editors an Earful
“Dozens of local Hispanic leaders spoke — often passionately — with Caller-Times editors, executives and reporters Tuesday about steps the newspaper needs to take to get in better touch with the Hispanic population and to improve coverage of Hispanic issues,” Tim Eaton reported Wednesday in Texas’ Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
“. . . The town hall-style meeting at the Solomon P. Ortiz International Center was the first public step in the Parity Project program. Created by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the program seeks to increase the number of Hispanic and other multicultural candidates in newsrooms and to more accurately reflect the population. It also is intended to improve coverage of people, events and issues that have been underrepresented.”
“I thought things went very well,” said Mike Phillips, editorial director for the E.W. Scripps Company Newspaper Division, in the story. “People were frank and honest. They told us things they had wanted to tell us for a long time.
“Local dentist and former Corpus Christi Independent School District Trustee Rene Vela said he believes the newspaper has not represented the Hispanic community and has gone so far as to ruin Hispanic people who have risen to prominence, including him, outgoing state Rep. Jaime Capelo and former CCISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra,” the story continued.
“They assassinate every Hispanic who has gained power,” Vela said in the piece. “The Caller-Times goes and goes and goes until you are dead.”
“Like many other speakers at Tuesday’s meeting, Vela said he believes the paper’s leadership is sincere with its attempt to reach out to the Hispanic community, even if it is out of a need for Hispanic readers’ dollars, he said, and added he was glad to see the effort,” Eaton reported.
GOP Tries Conference Calls With Black Journalists
The John Kerry for President campaign has made use of conference calls with black journalists around specific issues, and this week the Republicans followed suit.
As Robert Redding Jr. reported in the Washington Times, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who spoke at the Republican National Convention and is considered a rising GOP star, “said during a conference call with black journalists that he could no longer remain silent as the Kerry campaign insinuates that President Bush wants to suppress the black vote.
“‘I am offended,’ said Mr. Steele, a black Republican. ‘I consider such comments to be borderline ignorant,'” reported Redding, who was in on the call.
Tara Wall, press secretary for outreach at the Republican National Committee, told Journal-isms that the RNC had also arranged a conference call with black journalists during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Then, the party put forward Michael L. Williams, the commissioner of the Railroad Commission of Texas who was appointed by George W. Bush when he was governor, and who was assistant secretary of education for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education under George H.W. Bush.
Wall could not say immediately how many journalists were on the conference call but said the Miami Times, Washington Times and US Black Engineer & Technology asked questions.
African Journalists Get Space at Howard U.
“Howard University has given the National Association of African Journalists (NAAJ) a free office space to use as its national secretariat,” the group announces.
“The gesture was approved recently by Dr. Jannette L. Dates, dean of Howard University?s John H. Johnson School of Communications in Washington, D.C. The deal also has the backing of Prof. Phillip Dixon, journalism department chair and Dr. Larry Kaggwa, Ugandan-born journalism professor and member of the African journalism organization also known as NAAJ. The new NAAJ secretariat, to be located at the lower level of the school of communications, has space for a conference room and a main office.
“The secretariat will be rent-free, but the organization will be responsible for expenditure to staff and furnish it.
“Howard University also will allow the NAAJ to use the Howard University Television studio (WHUT) for its press conferences with visiting African presidents, ambassadors to the United States and other political and business leaders involved with the African continent.
“This will accomplish one of our goals, which is for the NAAJ to serve as a forum for visiting African presidents and other prominent Africans to address African journalists on the situation in their various countries,” said Eyobong Ita, the NAAJ founder and interim president who works as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. “We will be working with African embassies to work us into the itineraries of such people. Hopefully, no longer will they have to go to the National Press Club for their briefings,” Ita said in the announcement.
Some 60 African journalists working in the United States held their inaugural meeting as a group during the Unity convention Aug. 7, as reported then.
Sundra Hominik Named ME in Myrtle Beach
Sundra Hominik, features editor of The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., a Gannett paper, has been named managing editor of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, the Knight Ridder paper reported today.
Hominik, a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, will be in charge of daily content, beginning Oct. 14, the paper said.
“A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Hominik has worked for media organizations in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Washington, D.C.
“Hominik also has worked with newspapers through the Associated Press Managing Editors association to identify how communities view their newspapers’ credibility and coverage of varied reader interests and demographics,” the story said.
“Both diversity and credibility are extremely important aspects that newspapers need to be aware of and make strides to do better,” she said in the story. “I know The Sun News embraces diversity and makes credibility a key component.”
Hominik, who graduated first in her class of 1993 at Tennessee, was assistant city editor of the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., from 2000 to 2002 and city editor of the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pa., from 1995 to 2000.
She told Journal-isms her first step will be “to figure out how to get to be a part of the community,” and that her goal was “to make a strong newspaper even better.”
Greg Lee Leaving D.C.’s Post for Boston Globe
Gregory Lee Jr., chair of the Student Education Enrichment and Development (SEED) Programs of the National Association of Black Journalists, a former secretary of the association and current editor of the NABJ Journal, is leaving the Washington Post sports section for the Boston Globe.
Lee, 30, is a New Orleans native who gradated from Xavier University there in 1996. He is deputy high school editor at the Post, which he joined in 1999, and at the Globe will be senior assistant in charge of the Sunday sports section, according to Ken Fratus, assistant sports editor at the Globe.
The vacancy arose when Joe Sullivan, who had been senior assistant for the daily section, moved up to sports editor this summer, and another editor moved up. Fratus said the Globe was familiar with Lee because he had applied to the Globe previously, but had decided to go to the Post.
Fired L.A. Weathercaster Claims Discrimination
“Former KNBC-TV weathercaster Christopher Nance has sued his former employers in Los Angeles and NBC Inc. for allegedly firing him to cover up the fact that he was subjected to racial and religious discrimination at work. KNBC officials said the case was without merit and that they expect to prevail,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“After being fired Dec. 27, 2002, Nance filed a discrimination complaint with the California Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing. That agency granted him the right to sue in January,” the story continued.
Nance’s claims differ sharply from published reports at the time.
“Popular Los Angeles weatherman Christopher Nance was fired shortly before the new year after developing ‘a reputation for profane and menacing off-air behavior, marked by sexual innuendo and violent outbursts,’ reports Los Angeles magazine,” this column wrote in January 2003.
“KNBC President and General Manager Paula Madison fired the station’s only African American weekday anchor over what Nance claimed in the Los Angeles Times were unfounded allegations of sexual harassment involving an intern.”
Carole Simpson: Beyonce Won’t Get You a Job
Since February, former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson “has traveled to 13 cities, encouraging thousands of teens to pay attention to what?s happening around them by watching the news, reading newspapers and listening to radio news broadcasts. She took that message to students at Pershing and Chadsey high schools in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Kimberly Hayes Taylor writes in the Detroit News.
?Our next generation is not reading or watching the news,? Simpson says in the piece. ?They are entertaining themselves to death almost. They are on the Internet chatting. They play games on their cell phones. They watch MTV and BET and are obsessed with celebrity. They don?t know the name of the vice president of the United States, but they know all about R. Kelly, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.
Simpson’s current job is ABC ambassador to the schools, one that she says is her most important.
?Our democracy cannot survive if we don?t have a generation coming along who are informed,? she continued in the News story. ?Beyonce is not going to get them a job. R. Kelly is not going to help them.?
“Multicultural” Award for Piece on Muslim Students
Paul Barrett of the Wall Street Journal has won the 2004 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award in the “Multicultural” category for a May 28, 2003, piece, “Radical Politics (Idaho Arrest Puts Muslim Students Under Scrutiny).”
The Missouri School of Journalism named 53 writers and 36 newspapers as winners and finalists in the 44th annual competition.
“This is hard-hitting, off-the-news depth reporting,” the judges said of Barrett’s piece, according to a news release. “The topic is extraordinarily difficult but extraordinarily timely. It provides hard information that helps us understand a religion and a people we are regularly told to think of as enemies. It is unflinching but sensitive. It is not narrative or literary, but it is packed with telling detail and memorable characters.”
Finalists in the category were Joe Miller of the alternative paper The Pitch in Kansas City for “War of Words; Word War 2, about a black student who is sought after despite a low grade-point average, attributed to boredom; and Wil Haygood of the Washington Post, for “Heaven’s Window: Turner Memorial AME Has Moved Out of Washington, and So Has Bobby Ashe’s Lasting Legacy to His Church.”
China Detains N.Y. Times Research Assistant
“A Chinese research assistant in the Beijing bureau of The New York Times has been detained on suspicion of revealing state secrets,” Erik Eckholm reports in the Times.
“The research assistant, Zhao Yan, was detained on Sept. 17 while in Shanghai on personal business. His family received formal notice on Sept. 21, from the Beijing State Security Bureau, that Mr. Zhao was ‘in criminal detention under suspicion of illegally providing state secrets to foreigners.'”
“We can state categorically that Mr. Zhao has not provided any state secrets to our newspaper,” foreign editor Susan Chira said in the story.
“Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, has contacted the White House, the State Department and the Chinese government on Mr. Zhao’s behalf.”
