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Asian Staffing = Asian Coverage

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Study of 6 Papers Provides Documentation

A study from the Asian American Journalists Association documents the link between Asian American staff members and newspaper coverage of Asian American issues.

“In examining the substance of the stories surveyed, the study found that the three most frequent topics were culture and entertainment, features on individuals and immigration/naturalization—representing approximately 71 percent of the sample. Stories on business, education and food were the fourth, fifth and sixth most common topics,” the organization said in a news release Thursday.

The study, “Representing the Total Community: Relationships Between Asian American Staff and Asian American Coverage in U.S. Newspapers,” was co-authored by Ohio University mass communications professor Ralph Izard and Louisiana State University communications professor Denis Wu. The World Journal funded the study, which was coordinated by Abe Kwok, online news editor, azcentral.com,” the release said.

“Izard and Wu surveyed a sample of newspapers from different parts of the country, with varying numbers of Asian American staff and circulation: Baton Rouge Advocate, Boston Globe, Raleigh News & Observer, San Diego Union-Tribune, Seattle Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Only the Boston Globe did not provide the number of their Asian American staff members, so the authors used the number of Globe staff that were members of AAJA as a reference.

“The study’s research team identified 166 stories throughout all six newspapers and each story was given values reflecting: byline (whether the writer was Asian American or had an Asian American name), length, topics, sources (the kind of source and whether the source was Asian American or had an Asian American name) and depth (substantive or superficial).

“. . . The study also found that the three papers with larger numbers of Asian American staff members and larger Asian American populations—Boston Globe, Seattle Times and San Diego Union-Tribune—appeared to provide better coverage of Asian Americans. The coverage from those newspapers was also qualitatively better than the other three newspapers, where more of the coverage was event-driven.”

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AAJA Members Ready to Weather Airline Strike

A total of 1,175 people are attending the Asian American Journalists Association convention this week in Minneapolis, compared with 1,241 at the last stand-alone AAJA convention in San Diego in 2003, AAJA spokesman Keith Kamisugi said today. (Unity, held with the other journalist-of-color groups, took place in 2004.)

Kamisugi spoke as a strike threat by Northwest Airlines mechanics loomed as a major inconvenience for convention attendees planning to use the airline to return home. Minneapolis is a major hub for Northwest.

At 11:15 p.m. Central time today, Lee Egerstrom reported on the Web site of the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

“Mechanics at Northwest Airlines walked off the job about 10 minutes before their 1l:01 p.m. strike deadline Friday night when negotiators in Washington, D.C. failed to reach a last minute settlement of their prolonged labor dispute. By the time the deadline arrived, however, several hundred of 4,400 members of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association were conducting informational picketing at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport sites, a precursor of the strike that is now official.

“Northwest officials pledged to keep the airline flying and taking care of their customers, having brought in replacement workers for Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association members earlier in the evening. In preparation for the all-but-certain strike that was to follow, Northwest began sending employees home early.”

Officials at the main convention hotel, the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, could not be reached for comment, but Rhonda Omodt at the Millennium Hotel, where AAJA members have a block of 120 rooms, said last night there had been “no fallout” so far of guests either leaving early or extending their stays.

AAJA is the last of the journalist-of-color associations to hold its annual summer convention. The National Association of Black Journalists reported 3,210 registrants in Atlanta; the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, 1,569 in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Native American Journalists Association about 230 in Lincoln, Neb. The combined total is about 2,000 less than the 8,158 who registered for the Unity convention last year in Washington.

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Term “Minority” Criticized as Outdated, Inaccurate

“What do you call a minority that is becoming the majority?” asks Erin Texeira, writing for the Associated Press.

“News that Texas is the fourth state in which non-Latino whites make up less than 50 percent of residents has renewed discussion about whether the term ‘minority’ has outlived its usefulness; critics include both liberals and conservatives.

“While some think the complaints are mere nitpicking, others argue the word is increasingly inaccurate, obsolete and even offensive.

“‘Twenty or 30 years ago, we saw the country as a majority-white country with a black minority, but now you have places where that is a woefully poor description of what is going on,’ especially given the rapidly growing Latino population, said Roderick J. Harrison, a demographer with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think-tank. The word ‘minority’ is “a confusing term as one of thinks of today’s population.”

“. . . Harrison noted that ‘minority’ refers to more than just numbers.

“The word’s origins are that these are populations that once had the status of minors before the law,” Harrison said in the story. “These are populations that, in one way or another, did not have full legal status or full civil rights.”

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Latest Top Editor at The Source Resigns

“Joshua ‘Fahiym’ Ratcliffe resigned his position as Editor-in-Chief of ‘Hip-Hop Bible’ The Source Magazine today,” allhiphop.com reported on Tuesday. “According to Ratcliffe, the reason for his abrupt departure is a difference of opinion between himself, Chief Brand Executive Raymond “Benzino” Scott and CEO Dave Mays.”

Ratcliffe, who had been culture editor and then deputy editor, becaame top editor only in March, after editor in chief Kim Osorio and managing editor Adila Francis left at Mays’ request, the company’s chief executive officer, WWD wrote then.

“I still think The Source is a top-notch Hip-Hop publication,” Ratcliffe told allhiphop.com. “I would say to anybody—be it journalist, rapper or whatever profession—there are certain things you have to stand up for, whether it’s popular or not. It was not popular with my employers and that’s why I’m not with this company today. It’s no personal malice towards Dave Mays or Raymond Scott. I thank God that they gave me the opportunity to be the Editor-in-Chief for my tenure there. I enjoyed it, I learned a lot. Now I’m moving on.”

“Ratcliffe plans to pursue freelance opportunities as well as continue working on a book about character development aimed at high school and college students. ‘It’s something that Hip-Hop is missing, character,'” the report continued.

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Van Susteren Reports on Missing Woman of Color

After months of commentary about cable television’s obsession with missing white women, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren returned to Philadelphia Thursday night to report on the case of Latoyia Figueroa, a 24-year-old pregnant mother from Philadelphia, of African American and Hispanic background, who has been missing since July.

[Added Aug. 20: Authorities announced Saturday that police had recovered Figueroa’s remains and arrested her ex-boyfriend, Dan Robrish reported for the Associated Press.]

Van Susteren wrote in her blog Thursday that she was on her way.

Today, she defended her coverage of missing women, saying, “If you had watched last night’s show, you would know that we got up very early, drove four hours (through three cities of rush hour traffic) to Philadelphia and went to her home . . . and the home of the father of her child. We conducted interviews about [t]he disappearance and also showed them last night. After the interviews in Philly, we drove the several hours back to D.C. and then got ready for our 10 p.m. show. While I agree we could do better, our show does cover many missing people of various ethnic backgrounds.”

Meanwhile, what are believed to be the remains of Tamika Huston, another African American woman whose disappearance was cited in commentaries on the disproportionate media coverage given missing white women, were found last week near Duncan, S.C., as South Carolina’s Greenville News reported.

“Police, searching for the 24-year-old woman since family reported her missing in June 2004, now say they believe she was killed around May 9, 2004,” the paper said.

Christopher Hampton, who is now in custody, “told a reporter for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal that he was ironing clothes before work and threw a hot iron at 24-year-old Tamika Huston and hit her in the head as they argued about money,” WYFF-TV in Greenville, S.C., reported.

In another case of a missing person of color that ended tragically, “A slain little girl, long known only as Precious Doe, was buried Thursday and mourned by the residents and investigators who kept the search for her family and her killers alive for four years,” David Twiddy reported Thursday from Kansas City for the Associated Press.

“The marble grave marker in a city cemetery bears her picture and more importantly, her name, Erica Michelle Marie Green.”

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Geographic’s Africa Issue Has Photoless Cover

The new editor of National Geographic decided that Africa could not be captured in one photograph, and so for the first time since 1959, the magazine has a cover with no picture, as DeNeen L. Brown reported Thursday in the Washington Post.

“Instead, the September cover is simply a white background with the word ‘Africa’ in brown ink, followed by a statement: ‘Whatever you thought, think again.’

“. . . Chris Johns, the magazine’s new editor in chief, spent 17 of his 30 years as a photographer covering Africa. He said his goal with the issue was to highlight the complexity of the continent, its stories of renewal and ingenuity as told by Africans, stories that would serve as a balance to the daunting headlines of disease, poverty, war and extinction.

“Africa is not just a place; it’s a million places. It’s a million voices,” Johns said in the Post story. “We felt no one photograph could capture the mystery, the diversity and the surprise of Africa as it moves forward. Our issue is a very forward look at Africa.”

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Gainesville “Black” Paper Set to Debut Wednesday

The New York Times Co.’s Gainesville Sun officially announced on Wednesday the launch of its black-oriented Gainesville Guardian.

However, the Florida paper did not call use the words “black” or “African American” in describing its target audience. Instead, the spinoff was called “a full-service weekly newspaper covering the East Gainesville community” that “is scheduled to hit newsstands on Wednesday, Aug. 24.”

As Mark Jurkowitz wrote in the Aug. 19-25 edition of the Boston Phoenix, “The organization’s venture with an African-American paper is a dramatic move from a social and business perspective. . . . Reaction to the New York Times Company’s plans to launch the Gainesville Guardian can be broken down into three categories: angry, wary, and cheery.”

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Jackson Faults Network Coverage of Johnson

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has added his voice to criticism of the news media’s undercoverage of the death of publishing pioneer John H. Johnson. He focused on the television networks.

“Last week, the American media lost a giant, John Johnson, the chairman of Johnson Publishing Co.,” Jackson wrote in a commentary published Thursday on the Chicago Defender Web site.

“Thousands of mourners, including a former U.S. President, former heads of state from Africa and leaders from business, civil rights and religion, attended his funeral on Monday, recognizing him as an authentic America hero. But his passing was practically ignored by the networks.

“Unlike the news coverage accorded to those who make a difference in society, there was no news special on Mr. Johnson. This is patently unjust, a spasm of neglect that can only be explained by ignorance about how John Johnson altered the American landscape.”

BET plans to rebroadcast its special, “Citizen Johnson,” Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time.

Jackson expressed his concerns about the broader issue of media diversity at the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, Eric Deggans reported Thursday in the St. Petersburg Times.

“Specifically, he recalled a recent visit to nearby CNN headquarters, where he noticed that a display of the cable newschannel’s most prominent anchors didn’t include a single black person.

“‘Not one black (person) leads a show on CNN, or Fox News or MSNBC,’ he said, voice rising in a preacherly cadence. ‘Doesn’t that offend you?'”

http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2005/0819/p01s02-ussc.html

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BET’s Reginald Hudlin Pledges “New News Thrust”

Black Entertainment Television used the Atlanta convention of the National Association of Black Journalists “to introduce Reginald Hudlin, an accomplished and veteran film producer and the cable net’s new president of programming and entertainment as of just four months ago,” Hal Lamar writes in the Atlanta Voice.

“Hudlin, no stranger apparently to past criticism of BET as little more than a place where rap videos go to die, pleaded for patience from the assembled media.

“Give us time to get our house in order. By 2006, BET will be what you want it to be,” he promised.

“A major highlight of Friday’s reception was the announcement of BET’s plan to strengthen and enhance its news coverage. Hudlin then introduced Nina Moore, who will head the channel’s news division. She said that their new news thrust will kick off October 3. In the meantime, she indicated that the department would be hiring more anchors and reporters.

“‘Get those resumes to me,’ she said. (Tel. no. 212-975-1084 for details.) ‘We want news that you won’t get on CNN,’ said Hudlin. ‘We’ll be going into black neighborhoods and putting issues on the air that seldom get on the air.'”

“Hudlin called his appointment to BET ‘a logical extension of everything I have done in my career.’ ‘I care about black people and our future welfare. BET is the cornerstone of our lives. Blacks are to entertainment what Arabs are to oil. We as a nation can conquer the world and BET is our vehicle.'”

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Avoiding Indian Names Called Not So Difficult

It’s easy to for reporters to avoid using Indian nicknames that many find offensive, Poynter Institute Dean Keith M. Woods argued Tuesday on the institute’s Web site.

“Practically speaking, making a change is easy. English is a generous language for anyone interested in thinking a little. How does it look in practice? Well, the Orlando Sentinel, which apparently doesn’t mind using Native nicknames, recently wrote a whole article about Florida State’s football team without using ‘Seminoles’ once—at least not in the story,” he wrote.

“The harm here is not that all Indian nicknames are insults on the order of Washington’s Redskins. Newspapers in Lincoln, Neb., and Portland, Ore., somehow manage to cover sports thoroughly, though by policy they avoid using Indian nicknames. The Star Tribune of Minnesota once stood against these stereotypes until a new editor decided that by leaving the names out, the paper was being inaccurate.

“The problem with that argument is that it presents accuracy versus sensitivity as a zero-sum game, a journalistic absolute, and it is neither. It never has been.”

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Dele Olojede to Speak to African Journalists

Dele Olojede, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year for his follow-up coverage on the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, is to be the keynote speaker at the national convention of the year-old National Association of African Journalists.

Olojede, a Nigerian native and former Newsday foreign editor, is the first African-born journalist to win the Pulitzer. The conference takes place Sept. 8-10 at Howard University in Washington.

The group plans to honor several African leaders, including a press freedom award to Alpha Oumar Konare, a former president of Mali and chairman of the Commission of the African Union.

Americans John and Loie Quinn, founders of the Freedom Forum’s Chips Quinn program for college journalism students of color, are to be honored with the Advancement of Minority Journalists Award.

Also on the agenda is a meeting with members of the African diplomatic corps to explore ways to strengthen relationships between African embassies and the African media. Founder and interim president is Eyobong Ita of the Kansas City Star.

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Philly Journalists Join Teenagers in Reading

As a demonstration of commitment to encouraging teen students to read more often and improve writing skills, three members of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists partnered with the Southwest Philadelphia Community Enrichment Center to host a summer reading club, the association reports.

“Each week, professional journalists including reporters, producers, and national news managers held book club meetings with teens at local cafés’ & restaurants, not only encouraging students to finish & discuss multiple titles during their summer free time, but turn their ideas and reactions into critical essays about their readings,” the group said.

“The book club has been more successful than PABJ could have ever imagined, with students already selecting their third reading titles in only seven summer meetings completed.”

Fourteen students participated, Manuel McDonnell-Smith, an assignment editor on the national desk of Fox News Channel, told Journal-isms. The journalists were McDonnell-Smith; Sia Nyorkor, associate producer for NJN Public Television; and Pharoah Cranston, operations manager at NJN Public Radio.

Author Walter Dean Myers is to meet with the book club on Saturday, Aug. 20.

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Hoy’s Rey Flores Compared to Mike Royko

“Chicago has nurtured some of America’s most renowned newspaper columnists, from George Ade during the late 19th century to Mike Royko in the second half of the 20th century. But the most interesting columnist writing right now is a man unknown to the vast majority of Chicago readers,” Mark Fitzgerald wrote Wednesday in Editor & Publisher.

“If Rey Flores were writing in English, his column would be turning heads and no doubt touching off a deluge of e-mails across Chicagoland. But Flores is a freelance columnist for the Chicago edition of Tribune Co.’s Spanish-language tabloid Hoy, and so his eclectic topics and utterly unpredictable viewpoint reach only the español hablantes who pick up some 40,000 copies of the free paper on a typical weekday.

“Anglos don’t know what they’re missing. Flores’ work is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.”

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J. Freedom du Lac Scores Points in Name Game

In hiring the Sacremento Bee’s J. Freedom du Lac as its pop-music critic, the Washington Post has scored points in the competition with the New York Times for the most interesting bylines, writes Harry Jaffe in the Washingtonian.

“I kick Jenn 8. Lee’s ass,” du Lac said in the story.

“The J is for Josh. ‘Freedom,’ he says, ‘as in “just another word for nothing left to lose.” ‘ Janis Joplin‘s take on the Kris Kristofferson song was an anthem for his parents, who were San Francisco hippies. Says du Lac: ‘I was born on Haight Street.’ As in Haight-Ashbury,” Jaffe wrote.

Du Lac’s mother is Chinese, his father French.

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Short Takes

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