Journal-isms May 8, 2009

San Diego Casualties Rise to 9 Journalists of Color

The number of journalists of color identified among the casualties at the San Diego Union-Tribune rose on Friday, as the names of more of the 192 affected employees surfaced.

The additional names included Todd Davis, a copy editor who is African American; reporter Jennifer Vigel, photo editor Mike Franklin and Lupe Quiroz, a page designer, who are Hispanic; and Jacie Landeras, a designer/illustrator who is Korean American.

As reported on Thursday, also affected were Jerry McCormick, a copy editor and president of the San Diego Association of Black Journalists, Henry Fuentes, a veteran journalist who is the letters editor, photographer Crissy Pascual and Greg Gross, a "breaking news" reporter who covers news for the Internet, according to staffers at the paper. McCormick and Gross are African American; Fuentes is Latino and Pascual is Asian American.

"Three days after taking The San Diego Union-Tribune’s helm, Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity gave its most substantive glimpse of what it has in mind for the newspaper’s future," Rob Davis wrote Thursday in the Web-only Voice of San Diego.

"It’s going to be smaller.

"The company laid off 192 employees companywide Thursday, an approximate 18 percent reduction in the newspaper’s staff. Every department was affected, the company said. The Union-Tribune reported that the company now has 850 employees. That’s down 40 percent from December 2007."

Gross, 57, told Journal-isms he did not have a Plan B in place, but said he was grateful for the California law requiring The that employees receive two months’ notice.

Pascual, 41, said she had taken training in using video and "would like to stay in what I consider this field.

"I’m trying to do work with nonprofits, and still tell stories that way. I got into journalism to contribute in that way. I don’t want to become some corporate photographer or wedding photographer – not that I would turn work down," she said. "I consider myself a public servant."

• Chris Rauber, San Francisco Business Times: S.F. Chronicle begins layoffs
• Eric Wolff, San Diego City Beat: Some of the Union-Tribune staffers having a terrible day
• Holly Quinn, KCBS: Layoffs Expected to Continue at the Chronicle¬†
• Sfist.com:¬†Chronicle Layoffs Today

2 Black Groups Score "Future of Journalism" Hearing

Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Association of Black Journalists have criticized a Senate subcommittee’s hearing¬†on "the future of journalism" as slighting the interests of African Americans.

"Of the five panelists, there were no black representatives and only one minority," NABJ President Barbara Ciara wrote of Thursday’s hearing of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, chaired by John Kerry, D-Mass. "It is disgraceful that a discussion on Capitol Hill about the future of newspapers can happen without doing more to incorporate the perspectives of America’s increasingly diverse population.

"we call on our nation’s leaders to open their eyes to the communities that surround them and ensure that black media representatives have a seat at the table as new legislation is discussed."

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who chairs the Black Caucus, wrote, "An examination of the future of journalism should also include a careful look at news outlets that serve primarily African American and other communities of color," many of whom "are fighting for their very lives amid this faltering economy.

"Too often African American newspapers and radio stations are underrepresented when it comes to receiving federal government advertising dollars. I am also concerned that black-owned media outlets are (not) being utilized by federal agencies tasked with distributing the $787 billion recovery package or by corporations, banks, and auto companies receiving bailout money.

"As your committee examines the future of journalism, I strongly encourage you to include a review of African American-owned news outlets and their struggle to receive an equitable distribution of taxpayer funded advertising dollars."

In its "State of the News Media" report this year, the Project for Excellence in Journalism found a decline in the black print press.

"Heading into 2009, the makeup of African American media seemed to be shifting. Newspaper circulation continued to fall in 2008, and one major black daily converted to weekly. But the reach of black-oriented cable television networks grew. As the print sector shrank, the industry also clearly moved, if belatedly, to expand online."

Meanwhile, "members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus have written to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to ask that he consider holding a hearing on the potential impact of a performance royalty on minority-owned radio. The Judiciary Committee may soon vote on the Performance Rights Act, which would impose a performance royalty on broadcast radio under an as-yet-undetermined structure. There is a similar bill in the Senate," Radio Ink reported on Friday.

The letter "says the lawmakers have been contacted by African-American and Hispanic radio owners and executives who believe a performance royalty ‘threatens the survival of minority-owned radio.’"

• Kevin Abourezk, reznetnews.org:¬†Could Tribal-Owned Media Save Newspapers?
• Bill Grueskin, newsosaur blog: What would Google do about newspapers?
• James Rainey, Los Angeles Times:¬†Senators ponder the future of journalism
• Frank Washington Jr., African Americans on Wheels: As black media is axed from ad budgets, the NAACP presses advertisers to recognize the benefits and advantages of diversity.

Investigative Reporting Initiative Has Jobs to Fill

"In response to the downsizing of California newsrooms, as well as the economic crises facing the state, the Center for Investigative Reporting is launching a new reporting initiative on issues of crucial importance to California and its future," the Berkeley, Calif.-based nonprofit news organization announced on Friday.

"The initiative will be supported by a range of sources, including major grants from The James Irvine Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. With a team of experienced journalists at its core, it will produce in-depth, high-impact investigative reporting in multimedia formats on issues ranging from education to the economic crisis, to immigration, public safety and the environment. We will place a major emphasis on solution-oriented reporting intended to have an impact on the quality of life for Californians and the communities where they live."

• Jobs, internships available¬†

Broussard Admits Killing Chauncey Bailey

"Devaughndre Broussard, a handyman at the now defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, admitted on Thursday to killing Chauncey Bailey as part of plea deal in which he agreed to give prosecutors evidence that the journalist’s murder and two other slayings were ordered by bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV," Paul T. Rosynsky reported¬†for the Oakland Tribune.

"Broussard, 21, also admitted killing Odell Roberson about a month before Bailey’s slaying. Both murders, Broussard has said, were ordered by Bey IV.

"Broussard pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter after an exhaustive review of his plea deal and extensive questioning about it from Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson."

• Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle:¬†Slain journalist’s family leaves court unhappy

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEKSBh7r6mE&feature=player_embedded]

Concern Expressed Over Prosecution of Michigan Reporter

Press-freedom groups are expressing concern about the prosecution of Diane Bukowski, who was found guilty May 1 of two felony counts of resisting, obstructing, opposing, and endangering two Michigan state troopers while covering a crime scene, as the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday.

"Bukowski, 60, will face sentencing, which may include a fine of up to $4,000 as well as up to four years in prison or both, on June 1.

"Bukowski is a freelance reporter for The Michigan Citizen, a self-described ‘progressive community’ weekly newspaper oriented toward the Detroit area’s African-American communities. Many of Bukowski’s reports have been critical of the Detroit Police Department as well as the office of the Wayne County prosecutor. She was arrested on Election Day in November 2008 while covering a crime scene involving a chase by Michigan State Police, resulting in the fatalities of a suspect as well as a pedestrian. A Michigan state trooper admitted in court that he seized Bukowski’s camera after her arrest and, while still at the scene of the incident, erased two digital images.

"’We are monitoring the proceedings closely because of their implications for press freedom,’ said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director. ‘We are particularly troubled that a state trooper deleted two photographs. The prosecution strikes us as excessive and we worry that it could send a message to reporters that covering an accident or crime scene could make them subject to felony charges.’"

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press also called attention to the case.

Networks Say Broadcasting Obama Cost Them $30 Million

"By and large, they personally forked out for his campaign, they voted for him, and they know he is capable of boosting TV ratings just by making an appearance," John Consoli wrote Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter.

"But executives at the Big Four broadcast networks are seething behind the scenes that President Obama has cost them about $30 million in cumulative ad revenue this year with his three primetime news conference pre-emptions.

"Now top network execs quietly are hoping that Fox’s well-publicized rejection of the president’s April 29 presser will serve as precedent for denying future White House requests for prime airtime.

". . . Like many businesses, broadcasters are having to cut costs and lay off staffers. Said another broadcast exec, ‘The millions of ad dollars the president is costing us could help us keep some of those people working.’"

 

"Wealthiest Blacks" List Notes Johnson’s Losses

With a net worth of $2.7 billion, Oprah Winfrey "tops the inaugural Forbes list of the Wealthiest Black Americans. She is the only billionaire on the list of 20 tycoons, all of whom are self-made," Matthew Miller wrote Wednesday for Forbes magazine.

"Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson became the first African American billionaire in 2000 after he sold the network to Viacom for $3 billion in stock and assumed debt. Since then, sagging Viacom and CBS stock, plus investments in real estate, hotels and banks ‚Äî industries pummeled in the past year amid the recession ‚Äî have dragged Johnson’s net worth to $550 million, we estimate. He ranks third on the list; his former wife and BET co-founder, Sheila Johnson, ranks seventh with $400 million.

". . . Near misses include former Merrill Lynch chief Stanley O’Neal and Citigroup chairman and former Time Warner head Richard Parsons. Both O’Neal and Parsons were compensated primarily with stock and options while at the helms of their respective companies; the value of their stakes in those companies has languished since the onset of the recession, shoving their fortunes below the $100 million mark.

"Also not on the list: Linda Johnson-Rice, chief exec of Johnson Publishing Co. Her father, John H. Johnson (died 2005), founded the company with a $500 loan from his mother in 1942 to publish Negro Digest. Over time he added such keynote brands as Ebony and Jet magazines, Fashion Fair Cosmetics, plus television, fashion and book publishing divisions.

"As the recession punishes the publishing industry, revenues at JPC have fallen precipitously, knocking Johnson Rice out of contention for the list."

For 9th item, pick up:

Elsie Washington, Essence Writer, Novelist, Dies at 66

Elsie B. Washington, a onetime writer for Essence magazine and a novelist, died Tuesday in a Bronx, N.Y., geriatric home after battling multiple sclerosis and cancer, her brother, James E. Peterson, told Journal-isms. She was 66.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer called Washington "the mother of the African-American romance" after she wrote "Entwined Destinies" while working as a business reporter for Newsweek. That book’s publication by Dell Candlelight Romances in 1980 "laid the groundwork for all the ethnic romances to follow," Katherine Wikoff wrote. Washington used the pseudonym Rosalind Welles.

At the time of Wikoff’s 1996 piece, Washington was a writer in the San Francisco schools with a long career in the New York publishing industry behind her. She had moved to Oakland, Calif., "to be with my lifelong love of 17 years," a paramour.

Later in 1996, she released her first nonfiction book, "Uncivil War: The Struggle Between Black Men and Black Women," published by The Noble Press in Chicago. A blurb said the book "explores the glorious history of Black relationships and marriage from slavery until today."

Washington worked at Essence in late 1980s and early 1990s, sharing the masthead with such luminaries as Susan L. Taylor, Valerie Wilson-Wesley, Audrey Edwards, Diane Weathers, Linda Villarosa, Belinda Little, Harriette Cole and Michaela Angela Davis, all of whom were together in the front-of-the-book listing of January 1993.

In "The Bluest Eye," in the January 1988 issue of Essence, Washington denounced what she called a growing tendency of black celebrities, trendsetters and "just plain folks" to "alter their natural-born God-given dark eyes," by wearing tinted contact lenses, as Lena Williams wrote later in the New York Times.

"In my mind, I’m connecting this blue-eyes-green-eyes trend with the current anti-black mood around the country. I’m connecting it with another trend that glorifies and promotes mixed-race (read light-skinned) models and screen heroines, even in films that decry the maltreatment of blacks by whites."

Services are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at New Hope for All Saints/St. Peters Bronx, 585 E. 163 St., Bronx, N.Y.

Short Takes

• Although the war in Congo is officially over, an estimated 45,000 people are dying each month from conflict-related causes (primarily hunger and disease), "nearly the same shocking rate as during the war itself," Julie Hollar wrote¬†for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. Why is it not getting the media attention of the Darfur genocide? "Darfur fit neatly into the Bush administration‚Äôs ‘war on terror’ narrative, with the story (inaccurately) framed as Arabs versus black Africans; China‚Äôs increasing business ties to the country also threaten U.S. interests in a region with substantial oil reserves," she writes. Also, "Paying attention to the Congo would also mean reporting on the main factor fueling the conflict: the plunder of the country‚Äôs resources, which primarily benefits multinational corporations."
• In Pittsburgh, WPXI-TV reporter Marc Willis, who’s been at WPXI for three years, left the station Friday, Erv Dyer of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation told Journal-isms. "Willis chose to depart after landing a job in Durham, N.C., as public information officer for a Veterans Administration medical center. ‘I was looking for other stations but with the economy and all, no one is hiring right now,’ said Willis, ‘This opportunity came available and it helps put my wife closer to her family [in Georgia] and gives me a great schedule to get to know my wife.’ Willis married last fall and said he wanted a consistent work schedule that WPXI management would not provide." Willis said he was sad to leave TV news without accomplishing his long-held goal to work for a network, Dyer said.
• Before formally retiring, Chicago’s Warner Saunders "plans to make a final live appearance on WMAQ’s May 20 10 p.m. newscast to say goodbye, but not to read the news. The station then will air a 30-minute taped tribute to Saunders on Sunday, May 24, at 7:30 a.m., a time slot that pretty much ensures the show won’t reach an especially large audience," Lewis Lazare reported¬†Friday in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Two events to honor Saunders’ retirement are planned. WMAQ and Telemundo/Chicago will host a free-admission celebration at the Museum of Science and Industry on May 21, and the Museum of Broadcast Communications will host "A Salute to Warner Saunders" on May 16."
• If one watched KOTA-TV in Rapid City, S.D., every night for one month, "troubling, and I would go so far as to say racist, images would lead off the nightly news nearly 75 percent of the time," syndicated Native columnist Tim Giago wrote¬†this week. African Americans spoke up about this same treatment by television news years ago and did win many concessions. What about the thousands of Native American children watching these nightly news reports? How do images of Indians bound and shackled affect their self-esteem? With racism on the rise in Rapid City, positive self-esteem is imperative for these children." The station did not respond to requests for comment.
• "In a May 2 story about swine flu comments and the immigration debate," reported in Journal-isms, "The Associated Press mischaracterized a comment by CNN‚Äôs Lou Dobbs. The story said Dobbs called the current epidemic ‘Mexican flu.’ While Dobbs used that language, he was making light of those who were suggesting the name should be changed to something other than swine flu," the AP said¬†in a correction.
• "The Reader‚Äôs Digest Association has closed the U.S. edition of Selecciones magazine.The June issue will be its last," Jason Fell reported¬†Monday in Folio magazine. "As a result of the closing, the magazine’s four full time positions have been eliminated, a spokesperson told FOLIO:. Editor Genevieve Fernandez, who is based in Mexico City, will continue to oversee editorial at other editions in the Americas."
• In a q-and-a with RealClearSports, Jason Whitlock, columnist for the Kansas City Star and Fox Sports said¬†Wednesday he attributed his popularity to "Good headlines. Editors who allow me to be very different. Media outlets that let me take difficult stances. A column approach that demands trying to write on Monday what everyone else will think to write on Tuesday. A willingness to address sensitive issues in an honest, raw fashion. Good instincts. Consistency. Unafraid to publicly admit when I’m wrong. I work hard to maintain credibility with readers." He also said, "When I was at the Final Four this year you could really sense the dramatic shift in power from newspaper columnists to Internet columnists."
• Chloe Hilliard, who in 2007 quit her job as news editor of the Source and launched Journalisticks, an online community for journalists of color, is relaunching the project as "A Weekly Twitter Chat for Urban Journalists." The tweets will take place Mondays from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST, she wrote¬†on her Web site.