GOP Chairman Cites Reporter’s Party Affiliation
The chairman of the Republican National Committee attempted to discredit a story in The New York Times Magazine yesterday by saying that the journalist who wrote it “is a registered Democrat.”
Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer winner who left the Wall Street Journal in 2000 to freelance and write books, authored the cover story in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush.”
It instantly became presidential campaign fodder when one line in the 8,300-word piece on Bush’s faith-based governing style had Bush describing his post-election agenda to a private luncheon for major donors last month, saying: “I’m going to come out strong after my swearing-in, with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatizing of Social Security.”
Democrat John Kerry, campaigning in Florida, seized on the statement to say that the president was plotting a “big January surprise” if he is reelected — to privatize Social Security.
On CNN’s “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer,” Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie and Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe were asked about the magazine piece.
From the transcript:
“GILLESPIE: Wolf, I’m at these events where the president spoke.
“BLITZER: Were you at that event where he was quoted?
“GILLESPIE: I’m not sure. I don’t know the date of it, but it’s likely that I was. The president never said that. I’ve been around him many times in these events. He never said it.
“Suskind, the author of the piece, is a registered Democrat. The fact is that, unlike the interview that John Kerry was quoted in The New York Times [the previous week] — it was verbatim, out of his mouth to the reporter — this is a secondhand report, and it is just flat inaccurate.
“BLITZER: He said he spoke to people who were there. But how do you know he is a registered Democrat?
“GILLESPIE: Because he’s a registered Democrat in the District of Columbia.
“BLITZER: All right.
“MCAULIFFE: I don’t know what his — I don’t go around chasing what reporters’ political affiliations. . . .”
Suskind told Journal-isms today that he found Gillespie’s comments “scurrilous” and “taking attacking the press to a new level. I’m sure the White House has done due diligence to find out everything that they can about who I was and what I do.”
But, he said of his party registration, “by virtue of these attacks, I’m not going to step back from participating in America’s democracy like any citizen.”
He noted that he had written about Bill Clinton as well as George Bush, and noted his 1983 degree from the Columbia School of Journalism. “I’m a professional; this is what I do,” he said.
Among the books Suskind has authored are “A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League” (1999) and “The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O’Neill” (2004).
“A Hope in the Unseen” tells the story of Cedric Jennings, a student from a tough D.C. school who went to the Ivy League. Suskind, who is white, followed Jennings, who is black, through his high school years and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1995 for a two-part series in the Wall Street Journal in which he chronicled Jennings’ journey through high school and into college. He said at the time that some readers thought he was black.
Today, he said, Jennings has two master’s degrees and works as a social worker in D.C., “dealing with kids in foster care, assessing the situation and trying to reunite families.”
“60 Minutes” Piece on Texas Diversity Plan Faulted
A segment on CBS-TV ‘s “60 Minutes” last night on Texas’ “10 percent” plan to achieve diversity in public colleges took some barbs today on the listserve of the National Association of Black Journalists.
“In Texas . . . many students already know they’re in — before they even apply,” went the piece, produced by Rome Hartman.
“Everyone who finishes in the top 10 percent of his or her class at any high school in Texas is guaranteed admission at any public university in the state.
“The Texas legislature passed the ‘Top 10’ law seven years ago in an effort to promote ethnic diversity. How well has it worked? As Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, it appears to have worked too well at the University of Texas in Austin.”
Stahl says: “Call Laura Torres the top 10 percent plan’s ‘poster child.’ She’s smart, Hispanic, and poor. Her family lives in public housing in San Antonio.
She also talks with Elizabeth Aicklen, a white student.
“‘Everyone in my family has gone to U.T. I’ve lived in Austin for my whole life. I love it,’ says Aicklen, who took a lot of advanced placement classes to improve her class rank.
“Elizabeth’s problem, if you can call it that, was that she went to Westlake, the most competitive public high school in Austin, filled with overachievers from upscale families.”
“Aicklen had a 3.9 GPA, and she still didn’t make the top 10 at her school.”
So what was wrong with this piece?
“I think it was a cheap shot to confront the student instead of the policy makers, if you’re going to challenge the rule,” said one black journalist.
“CBS took a stereotypical approach to the story — whites lose out to minorities,” said Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post, a former NABJ president. “It would have been more interesting to use a school in a low income or rural white community. Indeed, most stories about affirmative action and education fail to mention or only give passing reference to the fact that lots of white students with lower grades and test scores get in ahead of white plaintiffs in discrimination law suits.”
“Stahl and her producers could have improved the piece, in part, by providing more background on why such disparities exist between ‘inferior’ schools and top-tier schools,” wrote Marcus Franklin of the St. Petersburg Times. “Stahl suggested a lack of a level playing field in the 10 percent policy but she failed to explore the uneven playing field in America in general.”
Said Joel Dreyfuss, editor of Red Herring magazine and one of NABJ’s founders: “For all its good works, `60 Minutes’ has always avoided ‘systemic’ issues. In going after corruption or privilege, the program has mostly preferred to focus on individuals; this may make good television (deserving white girl vs. undeserving Latina; corrupt politician vs. good guy), but it also fits into the comfort zone of liberal journalists who don’t want to be accused of promoting ‘class warfare,’ the favorite buzzword of conservatives who want to avoid examining class and economic disparity on a large scale.”
A spokesman for “60 Minutes” told Journal-isms: “The report accurately illuminated the real dilemma this law has caused for all concerned, and in doing so, was fair to both sides of the issue.”
Wealthy Whiners Want to Clip Minority Students’ Wings (Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com)
Latest Press Outreach From Democrats, GOP
“Congressman Charlie Rangel [N.Y.], Congressman Xavier Becerra [Calif.], and Kerry Deputy Policy Director Heather Higginbottom will host a conference call to discuss the recently released study by the Pew Hispanic Center on the widening wealth gap between whites and minorities and John Kerry’s plan of action,” announces the Kerry-Edwards campaign. The call takes place Tuesday.
“The study from the Pew Hispanic Center found that the wealth gap between minorities and non-Hispanic White households has widened under the Bush administration. The study states that the net worth of Hispanic households in 2002 was only $7,932 percent and $5, 988 for Non-Hispanic Blacks as compared to $88, 651 for non-Hispanic White households.”
From the Republican National Committee:
“Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams and Cosby Show Actor Joseph Phillips continue a two-day, four-city ‘Empowering People of Color’ Tour.
“The tour highlights President Bush’s and Republican policies for African-Americans and denounces the Kerry campaignís recent racially divisive fear tactics.”
“Press availabilities” are announced for Toledo and Detroit. A later release added former Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma to the “African American Truth Squad.”
Jackson, Miss., Paper Breaks Army Reserve Story
The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., made international news over the weekend with a story about an Army Reserve platoon in Iraq refusing to go on a “suicide mission” because it felt underprotected.
“A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a ‘suicide mission’ to deliver fuel, the troops’ relatives said Thursday,” began the story Friday by Jeremy Hudson.
“The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq, north of Baghdad, because their vehicles were considered ‘deadlined’ or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.”
“Our folks busted our butts,” Don Hudson, the paper’s managing editor, told Journal-isms today.
“One of the wives spoke up,” said Hudson. “Her husband insisted that this story needed to get to us. Someone contacted one of our assistant city editors. It took off from there.”
Now, he said, “we’re getting phone calls from people in other states” about what’s happening with soldiers from their towns who are in Iraq.
The lesson, Hudson said, is gaining the trust of the community. His Gannett paper is one of the few with African Americans in both the editor’s and managing editor’s seats.
Greg Moore: We Won’t Name Bryant Accuser
“The Denver Post will withhold the name of the accuser in the Kobe Bryant civil case as it moves through federal court, in accordance with our long-standing practice of not naming alleged victims of rape or sexual assault,” Denver Post Editor Gregory L. Moore wrote to readers Friday, differing from the decision by the rival Rocky Mountain News, which ran the name.
“After careful deliberation, we see no public benefit in naming the alleged victim or publishing her photograph,” Moore wrote. “Indeed, we can see harm.”
“The AP, whose stories on the case appear in hundreds of newspapers, chose to continue with the practice of keeping her identity protected, Joe Strupp added in Editor & Publisher. “That is where we stand at the moment,” AP spokesman Jack Stokes is quoted as saying. “Our story says clearly that she has asked not to be identified and only did so because the judge required it.”
Africans Think Positive, Challenge Perceptions
“Western perceptions of a grief stricken Africa, torn apart by fighting, famine and disease, are challenged by a BBC World Service (WS) survey which shows Africans have largely positive attitudes to their lives, countries they live in and are proud of their continent,” the BBC announces.
“Commissioned by BBC WS to better understand its 65 million listeners across the continent, The Pulse of Africa is believed to be the largest lifestyle and attitude survey ever carried on the continent. Alan Booth, Controller of BBC WS Marketing, Communications and Audiences explained: ‘We have huge audiences in Africa, listening in a range of languages including Hausa, Swahili and English. Just like other audiences across the world, their lives have changed enormously in recent years. We need to understand that change so we can serve their listening needs.’
“Jerry Timmins, Head of BBC WS Africa and Middle East Region added: ‘The world is bombarded with images of war and want from Africa. As broadcasters working with Africa every day, we know there are other important trends and issues that are not widely reported outside the continent and the confidence and creativity of so many people on the continent does not always come across. I think it does in this survey. This research expands our vision and informs the way we reach our African audiences.”
La Opinion, El Diario — and Now La Raza
“When Spanish-language newspaper publisher ImpreMedia was formed in January of this year, it had a determined plan to expand beyond newspaper dailies La Opinion in Los Angeles and New York’s El Diario La Prensa,” writes Nancy Ayala in Editor & Publisher.
“Today, the company officially welcomes Chicago’s Spanish-language weekly La Raza into its fold, which it bought from PrensAmerica Corp.
“Earlier this month, ImpreMedia CEO Doug Knight told Marketing y Medios: ‘If you can imagine in the English-language space if someone said let’s put together The New York Times and the L.A. Times and The Washington Post all into one company, that’s what we’re doing with ImpreMedia.'”
Boston’s WCVB-TV Targets Bilingual Hispanics
“Not content to relinquish the Hispanic audience to Spanish-language outlets, several TV groups have begun targeting bilingual Hispanics with Spanish-language translations of their local newscasts,” Katy Bachman reports in Media Week.
“Using year-old technology by Translate TV, which inserts a translation of the newscast into the closed-caption space, WCVB, Hearst-Argyle’s ABC affiliate in Boston, today became the ninth station to offer the service, joining Dispatch Broadcast Group outlets in Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, and LIN TV outlets in Michigan, Texas and Connecticut. And more Anglo stations are expected to sign on to the service in the coming months, including ABC stations in New York, Chicago and Houston.
“In Boston, WCVB will broadcast Spanish translations for all its newscasts. As part of its outreach to Boston Hispanics, which now make up 15 percent of the population, WCVB also formed a content and cross-promotion agreement with El Mundo, the marketís weekly newspaper to launch a Spanish-language page on the stationís Web site (thebostonchannel.com).
“The station also plans to step up its coverage of the Hispanic community through its two bilingual reporters, Jorge Quiroga and Amalia Barreda.”
“. . . Rivals donít view the service as a serious threat. ‘If youíre translating, youíre just translating the words, youíre not translating the culture,’ said Philip Wilkinson, president/CEO of Entravision.
S.F. Tribute to Barbara Rodgers Raises $5,000
“We hoped to sell 200 tickets and ended up with at least 250 people, Bob Butler of KCBS Radio, and acting president of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association, tells Journal-isms.
He was speaking of Friday’s luncheon in San Francisco honoring Barbara Rodgers on her 25th anniversary as a Bay Area anchor.
The event raised at least $5,000, according to Karen Stevenson, the luncheon chair.
“In addition, we awarded the 2004 BABJA/Luci Houston scholarship to University of California Berkeley graduate student Mydria Clark,” Butler continued. “Mydria says she’ll use the $2,500 for her graduate reporting project.”
Among the tributes was this from Taigi Smith, a producer for CBS News’ “48 Hours”:
“I am one of the many young women from San Francisco who grew up watching you on KPIX . . . It is because of you that I decided to be a journalist. At the time, you were one of a very small handful of Black women on-air in San Francisco, and whether you know it or not, you were an inspiration to every black girl who watched you.”
P.R. Group Helps Fund Budding Journalists
As reported in July, the Minnesota Media Collaborative helps African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Egyptian American and Caucasian high school students pursue journalism with the help of local media outlets and the Twin Cities Association of Black Journalists.
Now the Minnesota chapter of the Public Relations Society of America joins in, with its board approving a two-year, $4,000 commitment to fund programming.
“The program gives more than 400 students a year basic training in journalistic skills and a taste of the profession’s adventure and challenges by offering half-day workshops, classroom presentations, a two-week summer camp, teacher training and special projects,” its announcement says.
“‘Journalism programs are the proving grounds for both the journalists and the public relations professionals of tomorrow,’ said Kelly Groehler, APR [accredited in public relations], Minnesota PRSA president.”
“The Minnesota PRSA move supports the recent launch of the PRSA national diversity initiative, designed to promote multiculturalism in both the public relations industry and business community.”