Publisher of Ebony, Jet Was Pioneer Entrepreneur
John H. Johnson, the legendary founder of the Johnson Publishing Co., publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines, died today at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the company confirmed today. He was 87. The cause of death was later given as heart failure.
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“The founder and publisher succumbed after an extended illness on the 60th anniversary of EBONY magazine, which, under his leadership, has been the biggest Black-owned magazine in the world for 60 straight years,” the company said in a statement tonight.
Johnson was publisher and chairman of the company, though his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, became president and CEO in 2002. The company also markets Fashion Fair cosmetics and the Ebony Fashion Fair.
In a 1993 story on the 50th anniversary of Johnson Publishing in the NABJ Journal, Jim Hawkins, now dean of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University, called Johnson the most prominent African American businessman in American history. For years, Johnson headed the largest and most visible African American-owned enterprise, one that provided a home for many black journalists when white publications would not hire them, Hawkins noted. Ebony and Jet were required reading in many a black household, where they were prominent on the living-room coffee table.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. said today on the Web site of the Chicago Defender:
“The tallest tree in the history of African American journalism has fallen, but has fallen gracefully. The tree that stood tall for over 60 years and a tree that planted a forest, a tree with widespread limbs and full of fruit. He connected to Africa and African Americans. He shared the pain of Emmett Till, the development of Martin Luther King Jr., and was a source of information and inspiration. He was the number one black publisher for 60 years. His impact had been felt through the whole world of journalism.”
The new president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Bryan Monroe, said, ?We all grew up with Ebony, Jet and Johnson publications. Mr. Johnson was a pioneer, a visionary, and an inspiration to us all. He is responsible for the careers and success of hundreds of black journalists and his voice will be missed,? said Monroe, assistant vice president for news at Knight Ridder in San Jose, Calif.
In Ebony, Lerone Bennett Jr.’s award-winning pieces on African American history have been many readers’ first introduction to the subject.
Jet’s coverage of Till’s killing is considered a major development in the civil rights movement. Jet’s “one photograph of Emmett Till,” his body mutilated after being beaten by white men allegedly after Till whistled at a white woman, “showed the entire black community about life for blacks in the South,” Oliver Jones of FAMU said in Hawkins’ article.
“Yet, as Johnson wrote in his 1989 autobiography, ‘Succeeding Against the Odds,’ ‘no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’m always looking for opportunities to make money,” continued the NABJ Journal article, which included material from Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy.
“In other words, making money has not been a means to ensure Johnson’s ability to publish. Publishing has been Johnson’s means to make money.”
Still, Johnson’s story was inspirational.
In 1998, when Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore, now dean of Howard University Law School, was asked, “What book have you ever given to another person that you found had even greater good impact than you had hoped?” he picked Johnson’s “Succeeding Against the Odds.”
“I felt so strongly about the messages in this book that I personally purchased enough copies to give one to every ninth-grade student in the academy of finance program at Lake Clifton-Eastern High School. It apparently encouraged a great number of them to pursue careers in business that they originally thought were not open to them,” Schmoke told the Baltimore Sun then.
Johnson was an investor in Essence, founded in 1970, which soon became the most successful magazine for African American women. “He is the godfather of African American publishing, and Essence would not be here if it were not for John H. Johnson,” Essence Communications President Michelle Ebanks told Journal-isms late today.
Johnson publications “speak directly to the heart of the African American family. The category of African American magazines is growing, and it’s absolutely the best thing that can happen. Madison Avenue needs to see that African Americans can support a variety of publications. We’re a diverse set of consumers. The more the better for us. Ebony still has a very important role in the equation.”
Clint C. Wilson II, a Howard University journalism professor and co-author of “A History of the Black Press” (1997), said Johnson should be credited for “his intuitive awareness that the black market was a quality market,” producing, with Ebony’s debut in 1945, a “first-class magazine in terms of appearance, page stock and the equal of anything that white folks were doing.” That contrasted with many black newspapers of the time that featured sensational stories and ads for palm readers, he told Journal-isms.
Wilson also noted that “throughout the years, he’s resisted the idea of selling out the property to white folks, because he had a staunch belief that [blacks should have] an African American-owned and -operated enterprise that belonged to us and one we could say was ours.”
In January 2003, Howard University renamed its School of Communications for Johnson after receiving a $4 million contribution from him. Dean Jannette Dates said last night she had just returned from New York, where Johnson Publishing had sponsored a showing of Ossie Davis’ final movie, “Proud,” a true story of African American sailors in World War II, as part of the annual “Hollywood in Harlem” event.
“In a sense it was Ossie Davis and John H. Johnson together. It’s so ironic that John H. Johnson would die after this major activity. . . . He was working always until the end, thinking of new ways to tell our story. That’s really what he was about,” Dates said. “That John H. Johnson School bears his name is something we’re so proud of.”
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Odd Couple: Peter Jennings and Tavis Smiley
ABC-TV anchor Peter Jennings, who died Sunday at age 67 of lung cancer, and Tavis Smiley, the 40-year-old African American broadcaster and activist, might be considered an odd couple.
But they found they had commonalities, appeared on each other’s shows and found a mutual respect.
Journal-isms asked Smiley about that today, and he responded with this statement:
“Someone once told me that each of us needs someone to usher us into the room. My friend opined that even after you’ve more than proved that you belong in the room–somebody still has to usher you into the room.
“Peter Jennings helped usher me into the room. Why? I’m not so sure I know why. What I do know is that for a powerful, influential white male network news anchor to put his imprimatur on me by inviting me to do presidential debate coverage, presidential election night coverage, inauguration day coverage–say nothing of other analysis from time to time on other subject matter–well, his stamp of approval was terribly important in getting others to recognize that I was more than capable of holding my own in the room.
“Whenever I was in New York City, I’d drop by ABC to see Peter and if he was around, he was always more than gracious to receive me, even when I wasn’t on his appointment schedule. The last time I saw Peter and his wife Kayce earlier this year, we sat for dinner one night with the now late Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee, the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin and Princeton professor Cornel West. That night, as always, Peter was as curious as ever. Asking the most interesting questions of an eclectic dinner party. Not a bad character trait for a reporter and news anchor–curiosity. I was always a bit taken aback when Peter and I were together and he would insist on asking me 20 questions. It made me nervous, but it also humbled and empowered me to know (or at least think) that this guy was genuinely interested in me, in what I thought about domestic and global issues.
“It came as no surprise to me then, when I learned that Peter had started his career at ABC News covering the civil rights movement in the South. He understood, or at least appreciated the struggle I have as a Black man trying to make it in a white man’s media world. (Even as a white guy, it took Peter two turns at the anchor desk. He wasn’t ready the first time — but he struggled to get it right. When his second chance came around, he was ready, and the rest as they say is history.)
“So, Peter didn’t feel sorry for me–rather, he listened to my public radio program with interest and wanted to help expose me to an even broader audience. His unsolicited and unpredictable personal e-mails made me feel special. In fact, on the one year anniversary of my public radio program, Peter Jennings interviewed me on my program! Now that’s respect.
“I wish more people in the news business understood, valued and embraced the diversity imperative. Peter got it — so much so that he knew not to ask me all the ‘black’ questions. I always thanked him and told him that was mighty white of him! He would laugh hysterically.
“We live in the most multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial America ever. As the guy who started the Middle East Bureau for ABC News, Peter was keenly aware of the global world in which we live. I believe that the sum total of his experiences made him more sensitive to what a guy like me could bring into the room.
“So, thanks Peter for escorting me into the room, and now that you’ve departed, for as long as I’m in the room, I’ll keep representing and finding ways to sneak other qualified folk up in here.”
Paul S. Mason, senior vice president of ABC News, and one of the highest-ranking African Africans in broadcast news, told Journal-isms that he never fully understood what drew Jennings and Smiley together. But Mason, who first met Jennings in ABC’s London bureau while Mason was on a fellowship in 1981, praised Jennings for his ability to listen, for his curiosity and for his overall professionalism. “I misunderstood Peter early in my career,” he said, learning later that “Peter was hard on everybody — because he was demanding. . . . He consistently set the bar high and the next day set it even higher.”
The South Asian Journalists Association noted on its Web site today that Jennings had been a winner of its 2003 SAJA Journalism Leader Award, “our highest honor. He won prizes for his live coverage of Mother Teresa’s funeral in Calcutta in 1997 and for his 2000 documentary about nuclear arms: ‘India, Pakistan and the Bomb.'”
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Kashiwahara: Jennings Understood Asian Issues
Peter Jennings “has had a special relationship with AAJA for many years,” Esther Wu, national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, said in a statement today. “He was the keynote speaker for the San Francisco chapter’s scholarship banquet twice — once in 1987 and again in 1992. He was known for never compromising his standards for truth, fairness and integrity. Mr. Jennings was a role model for many aspiring broadcasters.”
Ken Kashiwahara, honored by AAJA as an Asian American Pioneer of Journalism last year, was a close friend of Jennings’. He said in a statement that Jennings “was extremely supportive of my career and of minority journalists in general.
“When we started the AAJA San Francisco chapter in the mid 1980s, he was one of the first of his stature to support us. For our first gala awards dinner, we needed a celebrity name to draw attention to our existence, our mission and our fund raising goals. When I asked him to be our keynote speaker, Peter did not hesitate to accept even though it meant his staff traveling from New York to broadcast ‘World News Tonight’ in San Francisco. Some years later, he accepted a second invitation to deliver another keynote address. He was that committed to our organization. He was that committed to the success of minority journalists.
“He was able to understand the issues facing our Asian American communities. Whenever I would suggest stories that should be covered, such as reparations for Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War Two, he never hesitated to put them on the air. He was very sensitive to our plights and our needs. In that way, he was a friend to all of us and in that way we will all miss him dearly. I can only say thank you, Peter, for your support and for your friendship.”
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