What Happened to the 18% of Blacks Backing Bush?
If news stories separated out the black and Hispanic votes today, most likely they noted, as Siobhan McDonough reported for the Associated Press, that “Republicans’ hopes that President Bush would improve his standing with black voters came to little or nothing Tuesday, but he did better with Hispanics than four years ago.”
The AP story went on to say that, “Bush was doing as poorly with blacks as he did in 2000, getting only about one in 10 of their votes, exit polls indicated. His performance with black voters in 2000 was the worst for a Republican presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater got 6 percent in 1964 in his race against Lyndon Johnson.
“Kerry also led among Hispanic voters, but the gap was closer and Bush made some progress on that front — getting 40 percent of their votes or a bit higher. Kerry had a 15-point lead over Bush with Hispanics — about half the margin that Democrat Al Gore enjoyed in 2000.”
Which is fine. But what about that survey released last month by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, picked up by many news organizations, that showed that “18 percent of African Americans say they would vote for President Bush, doubling the nine percent that said they would support him in the Joint Center’s pre-election 2000 poll,” as an Oct. 19 news release put it?
It turns out that journalists who tossed around the 18 percent figure didn’t read the fine print, according to the survey’s conductor, David Bositis.
“This was not a voter survey, but a survey of black adults,” which is different, Bositis told Journal-isms today. Moreover, it was “a large social survey, mostly about health and lifestyle,” with some political questions thrown in.
Still, Bositis, the Joint Center’s senior research associate, said that Bush did raise his figures among black voters.
Citing a later version of this exit poll, he said that the black vote for Bush increased in Ohio from 9 percent to 16 percent; in Pennsylvania from 7 to 16 percent, in South Carolina from 7 to 15 percent, and in Texas from 5 to 16 percent. Nationally, he said, it was 11 percent.
“Given how close things turned out in Ohio, if Kerry had done as well as Al Gore with black voters in Ohio, Kerry might be within striking distance of winning,” he said.
Bositis said that African Americans, “just like whites,” were affected by the so-called “moral values, Bush’s overt religiosity, faith-based initiatives, the gay-marriage issue. In 2000, it was the U.S. Supreme Court who put Bush on the court. It may be that in 2004, it was the Massachusetts Supreme Court that did,” he said.
It was a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling last November to grant gay marriage that prompted the national debate over same-sex unions.
Black voters stand tall; rest of America is problematical (BlackCommentator.com)
Voters Spurn Newspapers on Gay Marriage
“Daily newspapers in 11 states with ‘anti-gay’ constitutional amendments on the Nov. 2 ballot are editorializing against the measures by more than 10-1, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is reporting,” Editor and Publisher wrote before yesterday’s vote.
“As of Oct. 31, GLAAD has tracked a total of 73 newspapers that have published endorsements on the Nov. 2 ballot initiatives. A total of 67 daily newspapers are opposed to the local amendments, with only five in support: The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), The News-Review (Roseburg, Ore.), The Winchester (Ky.) Sun, and the Daily News (Bowling Green, Ky.)”
However, voters in all 11 states where gay marriage became a ballot issue passed restrictions on same-sex unions. as the Associated Press wrote.
Court Overturns Ohio Ban on Reporters at Polls
“A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a directive from the Ohio secretary of state that had barred reporters and photographers from polling places, finding the restriction unconstitutional,” as Joe Strupp reported in Editor & Publisher.
“The ruling ‘says that the court cannot support the proposed restriction of the First Amendment guarantee,’ [says] attorney Karen Lefton, who represented the Akron Beacon Journal in the appeal. ‘I think it was important to establish media access to voting places.’
“Prior to the reversal, some newspaper editors had urged staffers to ignore the order and seek access to voting sites until they were ordered out.
“In addition, at least one paper — The Columbus Dispatch — had registered newsroom employees as election challengers so they could gain access to polling places.”
The Radio-Television News Directors Association was among the journalist organizations protesting the secretary of state’s ruling. “RTNDA regional director Ed Esposito, news director for three radio stations in Ohio, asked for RTNDA?s help and led a campaign to have other journalists in the state contact the Secretary of State on the matter,” said an RTNDA news release.
Blackwell, who is a black Republican, had issued a statement in response to the lawsuits, saying, “. . . allowing anyone inside the mandated 100-foot protection zone aside from voters and election officials would violate Ohioans? right to vote in privacy?and I will not allow it. . . . The news media have not only sued me in this frivolous case, they have sued by proxy the people of Ohio and the 45,000-plus hardworking poll workers who will be doing everything within their power. . . to ensure an orderly and efficient election.?
“Blackwell is an ambitious chap who imagines himself Ohio’s next governor,” Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Sam Fulwood wrote last Saturday.
“That’s a long shot. Blackwell’s path to the governor’s mansion is filled with obstacles. His support is limited to the far-right religious zealots and anti-tax fanatics.
“He’s being cheered on by GOP leaders who applauded rulings that would have made it easier for party hacks trying to suppress the black vote in the state’s predominantly Democratic urban centers.”
GOP prefers to suppress blacks instead of engage them (Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com)
With Vote, Old Confederacy Comes Full Circle
Kudos to Mara Liasson, national political correspondent of National Public Radio, for noting that, as she put it, the Old Confederacy has come full circle.
In commentary today before Democrat John Kerry officially conceded, Liasson noted that the formerly Democratic “Solid South” began to turn Republican in a reaction against the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a point that was highlighted during the controversy over then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s praise of Strom Thurmond last year, but largely unremarked upon since. Both Lott, of Mississippi, and the late Thurmond, of South Carolina, were Republicans; Thurmond was a GOP convert.
In yesterday’s vote, every Southern state — from Texas to Virginia — went Republican. The early exit polling showed the South to be the only section of the country where a clear majority chose Bush.
Obama’s Win One of Democrats’ Few Bright Spots
If there was a bright spot for Democrats in yesterday’s results, it was the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. Senate.
“When Barack Obama enters the U.S. Senate in January, he’ll be the sole African-American in the world’s most powerful legislative body. But he also will arrive in Washington riding a wave of national media buzz and carrying an armful of political IOUs more befitting a Beltway insider than a newcomer,” began a story in the Chicago Tribune by David Mendell, picked up by other papers.
In the Chicago Sun-Times, columnist Mary Mitchell wrote a piece headlined, “Let Obama’s shining light lead the way for us all.”
Kenya Celebrates Obama Win (East African Standard)
EEOC Backs Pregnant Anchor Denied Promotion
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against WLOX-TV and its parent company, The Liberty Corp., Melissa M. Scallan reported in the Sun-Herald of Biloxi, Miss.
“In its complaint, the commission alleges that the station violated the Civil Rights Act when it failed to promote Trang Pham-Bui to a news co-anchor position because of her pregnancy.
” . . . In a news release, the EEOC said it filed suit ‘after exhausting its conciliation efforts to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement.'”
The lawsuit, filed in September, recently attracted the attention of the Asian American Journalists Association.
Teng, Chen, Pool-Eckert Up for Business Emmys
Marquita Pool-Eckert, a senior producer with CBS’ “Sunday Morning,” Joie Chen, a correspondent with that show, and Michael Teng, a producer with “CBS Evening News – Weekend Edition,” are among the nominees for the Second Annual Emmy Awards for Business and Financial Reporting.
Some 31 nominations were announced in eight categories. They are to be presented Dec. 2.
In Cutback, Lynne Adrine Leaving ABC News
“ABC News has decided to reduce the size of its workforce in Washington, and my job is being eliminated,” Lynne Adrine, a producer in the Washington bureau of ABC News, tells Journal-isms.
“My last day at work will be Thursday, November 4th. I’m casting a wide net for new opportunities, but first up will be participation with a Poynter seminar on ‘Media Coverage Through the Lens of Race.’
“For the past 16 years, I worked at the ABC News bureau in Washington in a variety of positions including as Senior Producer for the Morning and Weekend newscasts. Most recently, I was a beat producer covering Federal Agencies at ABC News in Washington, including the Department of Agriculture, Health & Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau, At the same time, I served as the Washington coordinator for ABCNEWS.com, writing and producing stories for use on the website. I came to ABC in 1988 as a producer for The Health Show, a half-hour weekly broadcast on health and medical issues.”
Adrine, who won Peabody and duPont awards for her participation in the ABC coverage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Wilbon, Kornheiser Reportedly Split $9 Million
Washington Post sportswriters Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon “have worked out a lucrative, five-year contract with ESPN for “Pardon the Interruption,” Harry Jaffe reports in the November issue of Washingtonian magazine.
“No one is talking money, but agents say the two sportswriters will split some $9 million for the five years.
“. . . Both Kornheiser and Wilbon are media machines. In addition to ‘PTI,’ which airs weekdays at 5:30 p.m., Kornheiser still writes a column a week for the Post, and he’s angling to start another radio program. He often writes about ‘Listen Up,’ the sitcom based on his life.
“Wilbon still writes three to four sports columns a week for the Post. He’s also working on his second book with former pro-basketball star Charles Barkley. For this book, on race, the pair is lining up interviews with Oprah Winfrey — and Trent Lott.”
Fresno Anchor Knows About Life Working the Fields
David Ibarra, begins a Sunday story by Rick Bentley in California’s Fresno Bee, “is talking about his long, emotional journey from working under the blistering sun in the fields of the central San Joaquin Valley to taking his place as the main provider of news to a huge Spanish-speaking community from his spot behind the television news anchor desk.”
“Ibarra had just arrived in the United States. He left college in Mexico to travel to Huron to visit his sick father, Saul. Both of Ibarra’s parents came to the United States to work in the fields. Ibarra’s trip here was to be short, a month at the most. That month became a year as he stayed with his family. Because of his extended stay, he had to get a job.
“Ibarra faced the first of the many barriers that would be thrown in his life’s path. He spoke no English. That meant his job options were limited. He followed the path of thousands before him. Ibarra took a job working in the fields.
Eventually, “Ibarra convinced the management at KNSO, Channel 51, to allow him to work without pay at the Telemundo affiliate.”
As Bentley recounts Ibarra’s story, he notes a survey conducted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists showing that 92 percent of the print and electronic journalists working at U.S.-based Spanish-language news organizations were born outside the United States.
And he concludes with a quote from Ibarra, who now anchors at Univision affiliate KFTV, the dominant Spanish-language station in the Fresno market: “Look at me. I am the real proof that dreams can come true.”
