(Originally published Feb. 7, 2005)
Papers Vary in Prominence Given Actor’s Death
Can you measure a newspaper by where it played the obituary of actor-activist Ossie Davis, who died Friday at age 87, and by the words the paper used in the headline?
“I’m prejudiced,” Wayne Metz, weekend news editor at the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., told colleagues in the National Association of Black Journalists. Then he answered his own question. “I think papers who started the story out front are the most enlightened about black culture and how important Davis was to black history and culture; they get an A. Those papers that merely promo’d to the story get a B/C. Those that didn’t even have a refer [a reference to the story inside] get a D.”
The front pages of daily newspapers are posted each day on the Web site of the Freedom Forum’s Newseum.
Those receiving an “A” from Metz, all of which included on the front page a story, photos, Davis’ name and years of his birth and death, included: the Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.; Chicago Tribune; Seattle Times; Detroit News and Free Press; Charlotte Observer, N.C.; Dallas Morning News; Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.; Sacramento Bee, Calif.; Orlando Sentinel, Fla.; Hartford Courant, Conn.; South Florida Sun-Sentinel; Miami Herald; Kansas City Star; Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Baltimore Sun; Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.; Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.; St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minn.; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.; and News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
One of the most striking front pages was that of the Herald-News of Passaic, N.J., which had a big center photo of Davis, under a headline, “Voice of His Time.”
The rationale for the display was “readers’ interest,” editor James McGarvey told Journal-isms. “We have a substantial African American community,” 20 percent of his circulation area. “The interest in him [is] not simply as an artist, but as a man who spoke and acted from conscience.” The paper also ran an appreciation by Herald-News entertainment writer Ed Beeson.
The Chicago Sun-Times, a tabloid, was one of many that did not run the full obit on its front page, but had a photo and reference to the story inside. The New York Times was another, running two photos, each 2 1/2 X 2 inches, of Davis and boxer Max Schmeling, whose death also was announced that day, in its “Inside” box in the lower right hand corner of the front page. But the Sun-Times prominently stripped its reference across the page under its nameplate, and headlined it, “Ebert’s Tribute to Ossie Davis,” a reference to film critic Roger Ebert.
The prominence it gave Davis’ death “was a combination of the subject and the writer, Roger Ebert. Obviously, we listen to what he has to say,” Don Hayner, managing editor for news, told Journal-isms. “And of course, Ossie Davis—who he was and what he did and what he represents. We had almost a full page inside,” Hayner said. That was unusual for a Saturday paper, the smallest of the week.
The Des Moines Register had no reference to Davis on the front page. Neither did the Oakland Tribune, Washington Times, Oregonian in Portland or Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, according to Metz’s survey.
“We ran a 16, 17 inch story on Page 6A,” Richard Tapscott, the Register’s managing editor, told Journal-isms, “with a photo of [Davis] and Ruby Dee at the Kennedy Center.”
Tapscott said his paper usually had no more than four stories on its front page, and that the Davis story might have been there if not for some local developments: The art center director resigned late in the day; the state Supreme Court ruled that foundations that secretly accept donations for colleges must open their books; President Bush’s budget was reported to include cuts in agricultural subsidies, and the temperature reached 61 degrees.
A number of other papers, such as those in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Palm Beach, Fla.; Clarkson, Tenn.; Beaumont, Texas; Fort Worth and Houston also gave the Davis obituary front-page prominence, though the full story was not always out front. In Metz’s eyes, “Akron, Cincy, San Fran and San Jose each had classy treatment.”
Some black journalists said privately that the play in some papers had to do with whether journalists of color were in the meetings when front-page planning was discussed.
Metz marked down California’s San Jose Mercury-News a point. He said that when it “billboarded” the story, the photo was under a headline that said, “Da Mayor.”
In Spike Lee‘s movie “Do the Right Thing,” “Da Mayor” was “a street person who had a crush on a disapproving matron played by Ruby Dee,” as National Public Radio noted.
Ossie Davis, Artist/Activist, Joins the Ancestors (Herb Boyd, The Black World Today)
Discussion on “News And Notes With Ed Gordon” (National Public Radio)
“Democracy Now!” Tribute (Pacifica Radio)
Friend remembers Ossie’s selflessness and strength (Bob Ray Sanders, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Black Columnists Weigh in on Super Bowl XXXIX
Some African Americans were hoping that the Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb would become the second black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. McNabb’s disappointing performance Sunday, in which his team lost 24-21 to the New England Patriots, supplied one aspect of the game for black columnists to write about:
- David Aldridge, Philadelphia Inquirer: Patriots are a special case
- Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Stars — yes, stars — spark Pats
- John Smallwood, Philadelphia Daily News: McNabb came up short at wrong times
- Stephen A. Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer: In midst of team’s misery, Owens disproves doubters
- Tim Smith, New York Daily News: Rodney has Eagles’ number, & they’ll remember his
- Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star: Patriots had flawless game plan — but the Eagles?
- Michael Wilbon, Washington Post: A Case for All Time
Activists-Turned-Journalists Honor SNCC’s Forman
The Washington memorial service Saturday for James Forman, the former chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was bound to be a lesson in the civil rights movement for anyone who attended. And it was, according to the Washington Post story Sunday by Robert E. Pierre, assisted by Vanessa Williams and Hamil R. Harris.
“Conversations about southern summers, dangerous nights and youthful dreams of changing the world were a clear sign that a reunion was underway. There were playful pats at tummies that have added a few inches, updates about children who’ve grown into adults and bearhugs meant to make up for those missing years,” the story began.
“The crowd of lawyers, teachers and writers that gathered yesterday to celebrate the life of civil rights icon James Forman, 76, who died last month, needed little prompting to retell harrowing stories of stewing in jail or getting beaten or nearly shot.”
Among the crowd were journalists, many there in other capacities. Charles Cobb Jr. was a SNCC volunteer when he met Forman in 1962 in Nashville, as he wrote in a remembrance. Cobb, a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, now writes for allafrica.com.
Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor of the Washington Post, greeted people as he served as an usher. “Faye and I went to attend the service and see old acquaintances,” Coleman said. When the chief usher was short, he turned to the Colemans to help out, as both are prominent in the church.
Betty Winston Baye, columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, was also there. “In a high time of my life, I was in the SNCC New York Office,” doing “quite a bit of typing” for the organization. “Ralph Featherstone recruited me,” she told Journal-isms. “And like so many others in the movement, Jim became a friend, mentor and my leader. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I went so that no one would have to tell me what happened.”
Others spotted were Terri Shaw of the Washington Post, who volunteered in Mississippi during 1964’s Freedom Summer; longtime journalist Dorothy Gilliam, who now directs a program for high school journalists at George Washington University; photographers Roy Lewis and Roland Freeman; C. Gerald Fraser, retired New York Times reporter; and filmmaker Judy Richardson, who as a college sophomore worked on SNCC projects throughout the South.
“Eyes on the Screen” Protest on Tuesday
“According to some, it’s illegal for makers of the civil rights documentary ‘Eyes on the Prize’ to put it on DVD or show it in public. But at 8:00 PM on February 8 during Black History Month, Downhill Battle (downhillbattle.org) is encouraging Americans to celebrate the struggle and triumph of the civil rights movement with screenings of ‘Eyes on the Prize’ in homes and public places with the goal of having a screening in every major city in America,” the group announces. “The campaign is called Eyes on the Screen.
“‘Eyes on the Prize’ is the most comprehensive and revered civil rights documentary ever made. But the documentary has not been available for public viewing for the past 10 years because of unreasonable copyright laws that impose stifling restrictions on artists and filmmakers. In one instance, copyright holders believe they should receive licensing fees for the song ‘Happy Birthday,’ which appears in footage of a group of people singing to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
A group of Bay Area civil rights veterans announced over the weekend they were endorsing the screenings.
Pamela Thomas-Graham Shifts Titles at CNBC
New York newspapers reported last month that Pamela Thomas-Graham, who as president and CEO of CNBC is one of the highest ranking black women in television, might be on the way out as Fox gears up to start a competing business channel. Instead, Thomas-Graham today was named CNBC chairman, with Mark Hoffman, general manager of NBC-owned WVIT in Connecticut, named to her CNBC president’s position.
As chairman of CNBC, reporting to Bob Wright, vice chairman of parent company GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal, “Thomas-Graham will be responsible for strategic planning for CNBC and for identifying major growth opportunities for the brand, including potential brand extensions,” a news release said.
“As President of CNBC, Hoffman will undertake day-to-day responsibility for the network’s operations, programming and technology,” said a separate notice.
Phyllis Furman wrote in the New York Daily News last month:
“The possible changing of the guard comes as News Corp.’s powerful Fox News Channel is preparing to wage an assault on CNBC by launching a financial news network this summer.
“CNBC has seen its ratings decline. Fixing it has been a focus of NBC Universal TV chief Jeff Zucker. The network remains a key money-maker for General Electric’s NBC Universal, generating some $250 million in annual profits.”
Pentagon Looks at Questionable Payments to Writers
“The Pentagon’s chief investigator is looking into the military’s practice of paying journalists to write articles and commentary for a Web site aimed at influencing public opinion in the Balkans, officials said Friday,” according to the Associated Press.
“At the request of Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Pentagon’s inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, is reviewing that case and also looking more broadly at Pentagon activities that might involve inappropriate payments to journalists.”
Barbara Starr and Larry Shaughnessy reported Saturday for CNN that, “The U.S. Department of Defense plans to add more sites on the Internet to provide information to a global audience—but critics question whether the Pentagon is violating President Bush‘s pledge not to pay journalists to promote his policies.”
The Defense Department runs two Web sites overseas, one aimed at people in the Balkan region in Europe, the other for the Maghreb area of North Africa.
“It is preparing another site, even as the Pentagon inspector general investigates whether the sites are appropriate.”
“. . . The Defense Department has hired more than 50 freelance writers for the sites.”
Paul Good, Civil Rights Reporter, Dies at 75
“Paul Good, a television and print journalist known for his coverage of the civil rights movement, died on Jan. 23 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 75 and lived in Westport, Conn.,” Margalit Fox reported today in the New York Times.
“The cause was a stroke, said his daughter, Regan.
“Mr. Good was best known for his reporting from the South in the 1960’s, first for ABC News and later as a freelance newspaper and magazine writer. He wrote several books on race relations, including ‘The American Serfs: A Report on Poverty in the Rural South’ (Putnam, 1968); ‘The Trouble I’ve Seen: White Journalist/Black Movement’ (Howard University, 1975); and a novel set in the South, ‘Once to Every Man’ (Putnam, 1970).
FAMU, Grambling, N.C. Central Papers Win Honors
The Famuan at Florida A&M University; the Gramblinite at Grambling University and the Campus Echo at North Carolina Central University were named the best newspapers in their categories over the weekend at a conference of student journalists and advisers at historically black colleges and universities.
The Famuan won for best student paper published twice a week or more; the Gramblinite was named best weekly; and Campus Echo won honors as best non-weekly. A total of 171 students, 29 advisers, 21 recruiters and 18 others registered for the three-day conference in Baton Rouge, La., hosted by Southern University, said convener Derick S. Hackett at the event.
“This year, a new award was created to honor students and college newspapers that have demonstrated journalistic courage,” a news release said. “The award is named in honor of Pearl Stewart, a stalwart advocate of HBCU [historically black colleges and universities] student journalism, founder of the Black College Wire and the new managing editor of the Chicago Defender. The ‘Freedom Fighter’ award will encourage student journalists to uphold the First Amendment and strive for excellence in news coverage.
“This year’s inaugural recipient is Daarel Burnette, a student at Hampton University. Burnette was the reporter who wrote the story on the code violations at the university cafeteria. Publication of the story prompted the school administration to confiscate the homecoming edition of the Hampton Script. That breach of the First Amendment set off a flurry of criticism that brought the actions of the university’s president under national scrutiny.”
Fifteen college newspapers competed in this year’s contest, submitting more than 825 entries in 25 categories. In addition, almost a dozen HBCU newspaper Web sites entered the contest, said Jean Thompson, former associate editorial page editor at the Baltimore Sun and contest coordinator.
Young journalists, potential employers meet at conference (Donald Lee column, Baton Rouge Advocate)
Daily Audio From Census Bureau on Black History
The Census Bureau is producing a daily Black History Month feature for both broadcast and print outlets.
“These daily features are available as produced segments ready to air or listen to on the Internet,” it says.
The only journalist spotlighted appears to be Mary Ann Shadd Cary on Feb. 26, and her journalism contribution gets short shrift.
Cary was the first black woman in North America to edit a weekly paper, establishing in 1853 the Provincial Freeman, a weekly paper designed to cover the lives of Canadian blacks and promote the cause of black refugees to Canada.