Debate Moderator Gets Share of Praise, Pans
Many journalists of color understandably took pride in Gwen Ifill’s performance moderating Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate — she’s the only person of color moderating any of this month’s critical debates — though her handling of the task also drew the inevitable second-guessing.
“Ifill?s historic role . . . may prove to be the most memorable thing about an event that many people thought would produce high drama,” wrote DeWayne Wickham on BlackAmericaWeb.com
Ifill, of PBS’ “Washington Week in Review” and “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” “is an old-school, no-nonsense journalist,” Wickham continued. “She?s cut from the same cloth that produced Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the legendary 19th century Memphis newspaper editor who challenged the racial bigotry of Southern whites; and Elizabeth Oliver, the ‘no guts, no glory’ journalist, who was city editor of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper in the early 1970s.”
Plugging Wickham’s piece on radio’s syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show” (BlackAmerica Web is also a Joyner product), the morning team noted the times Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the moderator as “Gwen” vs. “Ms. Ifill.”
They approvingly noted Ifill’s hairdo, and how it looked when the camera showed it from the rear. “She had one of her girlfriends on the lookout for a place in Cleveland to get that done,” speculated the show’s Sybil Wilkes, laughing.
More seriously, Joe Davidson contended on BET.com that the debate “was particularly important for the role it played in highlighting and clarifying the differences between the Republican and Democratic campaigns on issues important to Black people.
“One reason for that clarification is that a sister, Gwen Ifill, was the moderator asking questions,” Davidson said. “At one point, she noted that in America ‘Black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the (AIDS) disease than their counterparts’ in this country.
“You know the chance of that issue being raised by any of the White men who are moderating the presidential face-offs is slim. Then she continued: ‘What should the government’s role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?’
“The question went to Cheney, who had to confess: ‘I have not heard those numbers with respect to African-American women. I was not aware that it was — they’re in epidemic.’
“That?s a stunning announcement for a man in his position,” said Davidson. “Not because he did not know the precise numbers, but because he was not aware of the epidemic spreading in Black communities. If you are not aware of the epidemic, how can you even begin to fight it?”
In the mainstream media, others were second-guessing. On National Public Radio’s “The Diane Rehm Show,” Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said Ifill stayed on Iraq too long, to the exclusion of such subjects as stem-cell research, the deficit, Social Security and Medicare.
On Salon.com, Tim Grieve wrote that, “If Cheney and [Sen. John] Edwards want to feel better about their performances Tuesday night, they can take solace in this. As bad as they were, moderator Gwen Ifill was even worse. She lost track of the order of questioning at one point, then cut off Edwards mid-sentence in order to correct her error. She suggested — in a bizarre non sequitur — that Kerry and Edwards were ‘trying to have it both ways’ by opposing gay marriage when Kerry comes from a state whose highest court backs gay marriage. She claimed, falsely, that Kerry ‘changed his mind about whether to authorize the president to go to war.’ And she imposed — and then actually enforced — a silly rule prohibiting the candidates from mentioning their running mates by name while talking about their own qualifications.”
But Frazier Moore of the Associated Press said Ifill “generally handled her duties with poise, although she did bobble one sequence.” Tom Shales of the Washington Post called her “skillful.” Walter Shapiro of USA Today called one of her questions “artful.”
On another media Web site, one e-mailer wrote, “A friend asked me tonight during the debate, ‘Who is she?! Who’s she with?’ I said ‘Gwen Ifill, with PBS. But after tonight, I have the feeling she can be with whoever she wants.'”
To which another e-mailer replied, “She is one of the best correspondents in the biz. The NewsHour on PBS is an incredible show — they are objective and very experienced. Unfortunately, the show gets little press and/or recognition except around presidential election time when [Jim] Lehrer and Ifill get selected as moderators and everyone goes ‘who’s that?””
Well, maybe not everyone.
[Added Oct. 7: Bernard Shaw was the sole moderator of the 2000 vice presidential debate between Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Cheney, but Ifill is the first black woman to moderate the vice presidential debate. In addition, the Washington Post reports, “Tuesday’s audience, accumulated among ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC, represents about 14.5 million more viewers than caught the polite exchange between Cheney and Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2000.” Shaw, then of CNN, and ABC-TV’s Carole Simpson, both black journalists, have moderated debates for the top job.]
The vice presidential debate: A downward spiral (Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe)
Stan Allison of L.A. Times Dies at 53
“Stan Allison, one of our favorite office mates and chief merrymakers, hadn’t shown up for work. Worried editors dispatched staffers to his Cypress house and, sometime after lunch, most of us learned that he’d been found dead in his bedroom of as-yet undisclosed causes,” Dana Parsons writes today in the Los Angeles Times.
“If you knew what a big, funny guy Stan could be, you’d appreciate how quiet the office suddenly got. He used to slap me on the shoulder and I’d wince at the force of the blow. ‘You’ve got a hand like a bear’s paw,’ I’d say. ‘Sorry, honey,” he’d say with a grin.
“There’s not a person in the newsroom who hasn’t written about someone’s death, but it was hard to accept that we were now talking about Stan, who when he left Friday night was talking about turning 53 the next day. Hard to accept because in our small newsroom, his voice could always be heard on the telephone ? sometime serious, sometimes upset and sometimes lapsing into what I’d call the ‘street talk’ from his native Staten Island while he talked to a longtime friend.
“Stan was probably pushing 300 pounds and knew he needed to lose weight, in part because he’d had a scare a few months ago with a heart problem. Typically, he dived into his ‘rehab’ with vigor and humor.”
Allison, a one-time member of the National Association of Black Journalists, was a former Times hiring and development editor and was most recently a general assignment reporter in Orange County, covering the beach cities.
Jack Robinson, editor of the Times’ Orange County edition, said the cause of death had not been determined. “He was obviously a big-hearted guy and he made an impression not only on people in this room, but in the community,” he told Journal-isms from the Orange County bureau. “He was a larger-than-life character. His death has really affected a lot of people.”
Famed Prison Journalist to Be Tried 4th Time
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for prison journalist Wilbert Rideau to be tried for the fourth time on charges he killed a bank teller more than 43 years ago,” Bruce Alpert reports in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“Without comment, the court let stand a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year that allowed the trial to proceed. The trial is scheduled for early next year in Monroe.
“Rideau, 62, earned international notoriety after writing and editing articles in magazines at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, doing a series of columns for black newspapers about prison life, and helping with the production of a documentary about the Angola penitentiary. The documentary, called ‘The Farm,’ was nominated for an Oscar.
“Through his attorney, Julian Murray of New Orleans, Rideau argued against a new trial, claiming the double jeopardy clause of the 5th Amendment barred repetitive trials.
“Rideau, once billed by Life magazine as the ‘most rehabilitated prisoner in America,’ was recommended for parole by the Louisiana Pardon Board in the 1980s. But a series of governors refused to release him.”
Voice Press Critic Job Back to White Journalist
When we wrote in August that Village Voice reporter Ta-Nehisi Coates had become the interim “Press Clips” columnist, we said “it remains rare to have a press critic of color in the mainstream media.”
And so it shall remain.
The Voice this week named a permanent press critic, and it’s not a person of color.
“Jarrett Murphy will be joining the Village Voice on November 8 as the Press Clips columnist, giving readers a front-row seat for the dissection of the media and a window into the power of the press,” a Voice announcement says.
“Murphy comes to the Voice most recently from CBSNews.com, where he worked as a producer. Murphy has also written for City Limits and the Hartford Advocate, served as a field reporter for WFUV-FM, and interned with the Voice’s Wayne Barrett. Murphy also conducted economic research and analysis for David Cay Johnston’s book, ‘Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich-and Cheat Everybody Else.'”
“They decided the column should go in another direction,” Coates told Journal-isms.
It was a memorable few months, with topics ranging from “the irresistible pull of the down-low myth – uh, story” to “Favorite attempts by white people to convince themselves Barack Obama isn’t black” to whether the media are reporting accurately about race in the Sudan, to Russell Simmons’ plans for a TV show called ” Hip-Hop Justice” to the new Suede magazine for black women.
Journalists Honored for Latin American Reporting
Gerardo Reyes, investigative reporter for El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language product of the Miami Herald, and Joel Millman, The Wall Street Journal U.S.-Mexico border bureau chief, are the U.S. recipients of the 2004 Maria Moors Cabot Prize for outstanding reporting on Latin America.
“This year, a Special Citation also will be awarded to Alberto Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, for his leadership in the campaign to end impunity for those who seek to silence the media in Latin America,” Columbia University also announced.
Reyes won “for advancing the practice and method of investigative journalism through his pioneering work in both U.S. and Latin-American media.
“As a member of the El Tiempo (Bogotá) newspaper’s groundbreaking investigative unit, one of the first such teams in the hemisphere, and later with The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, Reyes produced a stream of landmark reports on topics ranging from medical malpractice, to election fraud and drug and arms trafficking. Reyes published the first systematic guide in Spanish to the practice and methods of investigative journalism. He co-founded Investigative Reporters and Editors, Mexico, and through this organization, has promoted cross-national investigative collaborations among journalists.”
Of Millman, the citation begins, “In the 1980s, he broke two of the most important investigative stories published about U.S. policy in Central America . His work on drug pilot Adler ‘Barry’ Seal for the Village Voice and Mother Jones magazine in 1986 was prescient in tying covert U.S. activity to the world of drug trafficking. His 1989 award-winning exposé for The New York Times Magazine about corruption in El Salvador’s military helped break a deadlock in peace negotiations that eventually led to the end of a 20-year civil war.”
Paper Asks End to Bryant Accuser’s Anonymity
“Denver’s Rocky Mountain News and attorneys for Kobe Bryant have both asked a federal judge to lift the anonymity of the woman who accused the Los Angeles Lakers star of rape, saying her decision to file a federal lawsuit against him should require that she be treated equally with the defendant,” the Associated Press reports.
“The Rocky Mountain News said in its motion that courts rarely allow parties in civil suits to remain anonymous, even cases of alleged sexual assault.”
“Boondocks” Said to Reveal “Cultural Divide”
“When black cartoonist Aaron McGruder?s ‘Boondocks’ comic strip was pulled from seven newspapers recently because it used the N-word in lampooning the slovenliness of some blacks, the controversy did more than expose the skittishness of white-operated news organizations when it comes to dealing with racially charged topics,” Keith Rushing writes on BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“The strip itself also further exposed a cultural divide among blacks, black studies scholars told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“That divide exists among blacks with traditional middle-class, upwardly mobile values and others who don?t share those values, scholars say. The split, they say, and the perceived reasons for it have been growing in black America for years.”
However, not only African Americans reacted to the “Boondocks” series.
Dallas Morning News columnist James Ragland had asked readers to tell him what they thought, and on Sunday he said he had heard from dozens of readers across the country.
“I’m a white guy from Dallas living in Utah. I’ll admit that sometimes in Boondocks, I don’t get the joke. Overall, though, I appreciate Mr. McGruder’s humor ? it’s nonpartisan, evenhanded and extremely funny,” wrote Kevin Walthers of Salt Lake City.
“I think people complaining about the N-word are missing the point ? although maybe it’s me that’s fooled. I thought the joke was on Russell Simmons and BET ? essentially calling them on their hypocrisy of claiming to be for advancing the African-American cause while continuing demeaning stereotypes through hip-hop videos. I took it as Mr. McGruder saying, ‘If Simmons and BET thought they could make a buck with this, they’d do it.’
“I think people need to lighten up ? life’s too short to go around looking for reasons to be offended.”
Showtime Plans Series on Islamic Terrorist Cell
“Cable channel Showtime is quietly at work on a new series about the personal lives of an Islamic terrorist cell in the United States, The Post has learned,” reports Susan Karlin in the New York Post.
“The series ?- to be called ‘The Cell’ -? will be told from the viewpoints of a group of European and American converts to Islam who are plotting terror attacks here.
“Showtime says it realizes it is walking into a potential minefield by portraying terrorists sympathetically without pulling punches about their violent aims.
“. . . ‘We’re trying to look into the minds of these [terrorists] and the issues driving them, beyond a black-and-white portrayal,’ says Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt, who will decide next month whether to commit to a series.
“‘The leaders of the cell look like nice, normal people you would encounter in everyday life and never know were quietly putting together a power base,’ he says. ‘Our only hesitation was sensitivity to the subject matter, which was very scary. Several plot points have already come to pass.'”
Sewell Chan Leaving D.C.’s Post for N.Y. Times
“Sewell Chan will join the Metro desk after the election. He comes from The Washington Post, where he has been covering education in the district,” New York Times Metro Editor Susan Edgerley wrote in a note to the Times staff this week.
“Sewell took on the schools beat after doing a short stint in Iraq. He loves beat reporting (a noble passion) and in previous assignments at The Post has covered social services and City Council. He was a partner in writing a juvenile justice series that led to changes in the Washington system and was honored as one of the finest pieces of work on social welfare produced in the country that year. We haven’t decided what beat he’ll take on here, but we’re pretty excited about his arrival.
“He is a son of the city who grew up reading The Times in Queens and has lived in three of the five boroughs (sorry, Staten Island and the Bronx). He attended Hunter High School (he once interviewed Soma [Golden Behr, assistant managing editor] for the school paper) and is a graduate of an Ivy League college and another school in England that I forget the names of.
“In December of 1997, Sewell was described in a brief story in The Metro Section as ‘the son of a New York City cab driver, who dreams of becoming an investigative journalist. He says that writing about his hometown, and for his hometown paper, has long been a part of that dream.'”
He starts Nov. 8.
J.C. Watts, Black Pastor Spread GOP Word
Former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and the Rev. Joe Watkins, pastor of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest African American Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, are the latest blacks presented to black journalists via conference call to explain the GOP position.
The Republican National Committee set up calls with the three on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Coincidentally, the New York Times ran a piece Tuesday by David D. Kirkpatrick called “Black Pastors Backing Bush Are Rare, but Not Alone.”
Pa. Historical Marker Honors Frank Bolden
A state historical marker in honor of Frank Bolden, “the dean of Pittsburgh’s black journalists” who died a year ago at age 90, was unveiled at the original site of the Pittsburgh Courier in the Hill District, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted with satisfaction Tuesday in an editorial.
The ceremony was covered Friday by Ervin Dyer, who wrote that, “Bolden’s marker is a few feet away from the one for Robert L. Vann, a founder and editor of the black newspaper. Both stand on Centre Avenue, at the Hill District site where the 94-year-old paper was published in its heyday.
“It’s appropriate because Bolden always underplayed his talent, crediting the Pittsburgh Courier for his success.”
Use of Intern a Factor in Joe Vazquez Firing
“Improper use of an intern seems to be another factor in NBC-10’s firing of reporter/anchor Joe Vazquez,” Dan Gross reported Tuesday in the Philadelphia Daily News.
“Yesterday we told you Vazquez was fired Friday following a station investigation into off-air remarks made to colleagues about a rape case, remarks that upset a male intern, who told management.
“Turns out NBC-10 interns, including this one from the promotions department, are not to be used for investigatory purposes.
“The La Salle University student intern in this case, sources say, volunteered to help out on the story, saying he knew the basketball player who was arrested.
“The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union that represents broadcasting folk, is said to be working on a memo to its NBC-10 members advising they not work with interns until further notice.
“Meanwhile, sources say, Vazquez’s camp is trying to get NBC-10 to pay him the length of his contract, which expires in March.”
Viacom Makes Deal with Spanish Broadcasting
“Viacom said yesterday that it would sell a radio station to the Spanish Broadcasting System for a 10 percent stake in SBS, giving Viacom an entry into the Hispanic radio market in the United States,” Reuters reports.
“The move is a step by Viacom toward offsetting slowing growth in advertising revenue from English-language radio stations by aiming at the nation’s increasingly prosperous Spanish-speaking population, one analyst said.
“‘It’s a very important market for Viacom to be in,’ said Todd Mitchell, an analyst with Blaylock & Partners. He said that Viacom’s presence in the Spanish-language market had not been as strong as some investors would have liked.
“Viacom, which owns the CBS network and cable networks, already runs Spanish versions of its MTV music television channel and its Nickelodeon channel for children. The company lost a bidding war last year with a rival, NBC, which is owned by General Electric, to buy assets that included the Hispanic television broadcaster Telemundo.”
Oprah Gets OK for Home-Design Magazine
“Oprah Winfrey’s home-design magazine is building a solid foundation,” writes Paul D. Colford in the New York Daily News.
“After debuting in May and publishing a second issue this week, O at Home has the go-ahead at Hearst to return twice next year.
“O at Home — spun off from the monthly O, The Oprah Magazine — sold more than 800,000 copies of its first issue, according to Hearst.”
Warren Howard, Editor, Guild Activist, Dies at 72
Warren E. Howard, 72, a journalist and Newspaper Guild activist, died Sept. 30 at Washington Hospital Center of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a friend, Joan M. Anderson, reports.
Howard came to Washington in 1968 to join the copy desk of the old Washington Star, where he stayed until the paper closed in 1981, serving as national desk copy editor, New York Times and wire service copy editor, and in other capacities. He was president of the Baltimore-Washington Local Newspaper Guild in 1974-75 during a controversial Washington Post strike. He also was a member of the local executive committee from 1969 through 1975 and was Guildman of the Year in 1974, according to the obituary.
“Prior to coming to Washington, Mr. Howard served on the Philadelphia Guild Executive Board and was a delegate to the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. In 1966, while working as Sports Editor for the Pottstown Mercury, he helped organize the advertising and editorial employees as a Guild unit and subsequently was fired.
“After the Star closed, Mr. Howard worked at US News & World Report and Air Transport World until he retired in 1999.”
Among the survivors are his wife of 31 years, Diane K. Brockett, who also worked at the Star.
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. in St Mark’s Episcopal Church, 118 3rd St SE on Capitol Hill. “In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate contributions to the United Negro College Fund in Memoriam to Warren E. Howard,” the obituary says.