Maynard Institute archives

Times-Picayune to Return to New Orleans Plant

by richard0418

More Rebuilding Stories Focus on Racial Issues

The publisher of the New Orleans Times-Picayune announced that the paper expected to resume publication at its New Orleans plant as other media outlets explored the racial and ethnic anxieties involved in the post-Katrina rebuilding process.

Publisher Ashton Phelps Jr. wrote Tuesday in a memo posted on the paper’s Web site that the Times-Picayune expects “within the next two weeks to resume production of the newspaper at our plant on Howard Avenue in New Orleans.

“The evacuation of New Orleans and the disruption of essential city services as a result of Hurricane Katrina caused us to move our operations for several weeks to Baton Rouge, Mobile and Houma . . . . We look forward to being back at home and playing a part in the rebuilding of the New Orleans area.”

He did not give further details, and the condition of the presses, soaked by the Aug. 29 hurricane, was unclear. One staffer told Journal-isms that the news staff still was scattered, but that some were back in the city, working out of a hotel.

Meanwhile, other news outlets continued their reporting and commentary on the racial anxieties accompanying the calamity.

“Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, some local, state and federal officials have come to believe that exaggerations of mayhem by officials and rumors repeated uncritically in the news media helped slow the response to the disaster and tarnish the image of many of its victims,” Robert E. Pierre and Ann Gerhart reported today in the Washington Post.

“In Gretna, La., a suburb of 17,500 across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans, officials fired a warning shot to keep about 5,000 people from entering by walking across a bridge connecting the two communities. The crowd retreated.

“Gretna Mayor Ronnie Harris said his town has been unfairly labeled racist and defended the decision. His own residents, he said, did not have water, food or electricity after Katrina struck, and officials feared, partly because of what they had heard through word of mouth and from electronic news media, that its residents were in danger.”

Writing about the rebuilding in the Boston Globe Sunday, reporter Brian MacQuarrie asked, “Will officials oversee a process that yields a stunning model for 21st-century living, or will fighting among special interests produce a more homogeneous, tourist-centric New Orleans?”

He quoted Kalamu ya Salaam, a writer and black resident of the city’s Algiers section. “To his thinking, most black residents evacuated from New Orleans will have no chance to [a]ffect the planning process. ‘These people didn’t have the money to leave, so what makes you think they’ll have the money to come back?’ he asked. ‘They’re not going to put 150,000 poor black people back in one place. It’s not going to happen again.'”

In an essay Sunday in the Miami Herald, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Clarence Williams, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, described being in the city with relatives during the hurricane. He concluded, “What I believe in my gut is that there’s no way all the destroyed neighborhoods will be rebuilt, at least not for the poor. That New Orleans will be much whiter and wealthier. That only a few poor black folk, relative to the number who lived here before Katrina, will move back to their homes; tourist-based ‘New Orleans Land’ will need them to add that authentic feel.”

And Monday in the Christian Science Monitor, Monica Campbell reported that post-Katrina changes in labor laws “are stirring the immigration debate, especially between the U.S. and Mexico, which have been talking about the need for changes in immigration policy for years.

“Jorge Bustamante, a leading expert on Mexican migration, says the government’s temporary provisions only cement the inferior status of undocumented workers,” Campbell wrote.

“‘Katrina is producing a large demand for undocumented workers,’ says Bustamante, a professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana. ‘That’s why they’re bending the rules. But then once the job is done, it’s back in the shadows. The hypocrisy is astounding.'”

On public radio’s “On the Media” show over the weekend, Times-Picayune editor Jim Amoss cautioned against “the presumption that the victims will emerge as overwhelmingly of one ethnic group or another. . . . Yes, it’s true that resourceful people, by and large, had the means to flee the hurricane and — and did so in greater numbers than poor people did, and so to that extent maybe it’s unbalanced,” he said. “But there were many people of means who chose to stick it out, and to their peril.”

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Reviews Continue for August Wilson, Even in Death

Playwright August Wilson, who died Sunday at age 60, became a subject for appreciations and evaluations by newspaper theater critics, of editorials and even for editorial cartoons in the days since the initial Monday reporting of his death. Most comments were thoughtful raves.

“With Pittsburgh the original home of August Wilson and the setting for most of his plays, we have had wall-to-wall coverage of his illness and death,” Tom Waseleski, editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, told colleagues in the National Conference of Editorial Writers.

“Our drama critic, Christopher Rawson had a close relationship with the playwright and reported his illness on Aug. 26. We ran an editorial tribute on Aug. 29.

“This week we have given much space to his passing and his career, including an editorial today and an op-ed piece by Teresa Heinz Kerry,” heiress wife of the Democratic senator from Massachusetts. It is bylined simply “Teresa Heinz.”

On the Slate online magazine Tuesday, writer Rachel Shteir took the occasion to caution against overpraising Wilson. “I haven’t seen the most recent play in the Wilson cycle, Radio Golf. But I wonder if the shiny optimistic endings in Wilson’s plays explain why the cycle overall has received so much unadulterated praise. And yet it is that same optimism that makes the plays sometimes seem more like artifacts than living, breathing drama,” she wrote.

Kate Riley, editorial writer at the Seattle Times, said her paper, like Pittsburgh’s, thought ahead. “Our editorial writer Lynne Varner wrote a moving tribute to Wilson Sept. 9 when we learned that he was dying of liver cancer,” she said, referring to an editorial that spoke for the newspaper. “We wanted to pay tribute to this 15-year resident of Seattle while he lived and urged others to do the same.”

Meanwhile, it was reported today that the unveiling ceremony for the newly named August Wilson Theater in New York will take place on Oct. 16, a day earlier than expected.

Some of the commentary:

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Blacks Watch TV; Whites Have More Computers

“Black households have more televisions and larger sets compared to white and Hispanic households, according to a new study by Knowledge Networks. The study also shows that television plays ‘a more important social role’ among both black and Hispanic households than it does among white households,” John Consoli reported yesterday in Mediaweek.

“Conversely, the data shows that white households own more personal computers and more pay for high-speed Internet connectivity than do black or Hispanic households.

“The study also found that 70 percent of white homes have a computer, compared to 55 percent for black homes and 47 percent for Hispanics. Thirty percent of white homes have high-speed interconnectivity, compared to 19 percent for black homes and 16 percent for Hispanic homes.”

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Philly’s Wireless-Access Concept Pleases NAHJ

“Philadelphia yesterday announced a plan to build the biggest municipal wireless Internet system in the nation,” Arshad Mohammed reported today in the Washington Post, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is applauding the move as a boon to people of color.

“Philadelphia said Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc. will fund, build and manage the 135-square-mile network, which will offer low-income residents service for as little as about $10 a month and could threaten the profits of telephone and cable companies, Mohammed reported.

“We believe that local governments should have the right to build wireless broadband networks because it will allow more Latinos and people of color to afford paying for broadband services,” Joseph Torres, NAHJ’s deputy director for communications and media policy, told Journal-isms via e-mail.

“It is critical that our communities have access to information that will allow them to remain informed about the world they live in and having broadband access is critical to making this possible. More and more people go on-line to receive their news and read such items as Journal-isms. But households of color are less likely to have broadband access than White households. We believe that local governments are more likely to build wireless networks that will result in greater broadband access to our communities.”

The NAHJ board passed a resolution in June supporting “the right of state and local governments to develop wireless broadband networks to expand news and information access for underserved communities.”

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Fox Reporter Denies Trying to “Fix Up” Rice

Internet buzz hit print Tuesday when New York Daily News gossip columnists Rush & Malloy that “An interview with Condoleezza Rice turned bizarre last week, when Fox News correspondent James Rosen appeared to try to fix her up with ‘Fox & Friends’ anchor Lauren Green.

The Web site Radaronline reported, “Not surprisingly, the curious exchange left many wondering if the wry reporter was trying to set Rice up on a date. But when we called to ask if he was trying to play matchmaker, Rosen insisted ‘nothing could be further from the truth . . . What I meant to say is that the two of them have a lot in common.’ The veteran correspondent, who has frequently accompanied Rice on overseas trips, added, ‘I would never presume to deal at all with Secretary Rice’s personal life.'”

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Court Nominee Helped Reporters Fight Subpoenas

White House Counsel Harriet Miers, President Bush’s nominee to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, “might have a thin paper trail, but she has one media law credential that probably no other Supreme Court justice has: ‘She did do some defense work insofar as subpoenas served on reporters,’ according to a spokesman for her former law firm,” the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported today.

In Dallas, “Morning News columnist James Ragland,” past president of the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators, “said Miers was extremely approachable and friendly to reporters when he covered her City Council term as a reporter from 1989 to 1991.

“‘She’d always respond and was very open to the press. She’d talk about almost any public policy issue. The only area she wouldn’t [speak of] was if it was in client-attorney privilege,’ Ragland said. ‘She respected that relationship.’

“To Ragland’s knowledge, Miers had never tried to deny media access to any meetings or public records, saying that she would even ‘go the extra yard’ to make sure the media had sufficient background information on various issues she was involved in,” according to the Reporters Committee.

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Black Philly Radio Station Cancels Air America

“Al Franken and Randi Rhodes are getting the boot from Philadelphia airwaves, as WHAT-AM (1340) is pulling off programming from Air America, the liberal talk-radio network,” Michael Klein reported Thursday in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Friday will be the last day, and a new WHAT lineup will begin Monday, said general manager Kernie Anderson, adding that “things were not working out” with Air America after about a year.

“WHAT aired Air America’s programming from noon to 7 p.m. weekdays, sandwiched between the rest of its lineup. The juxtaposition of liberal talk and WHAT’s African America[n]-targeted talk programming seemed an odd fit from the start.

“Ratings were abysmal.

“WHAT, which bills itself as the voice of Philadelphia’s African American community, will add a 1-to-5 p.m. call-in show from Philadelphia Daily News columnist Elmer Smith.”

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Myriam Márquez Leaving Orlando for Miami Herald

After nearly two decades at the Orlando Sentinel, where she has been a columnist and more recently enterprise editor, Myriam Márquez is joining the Miami Herald’s Metro editing team. She starts in early November, overseeing “International Affairs and Multicultural coverage, directing stories on exile politics, Caribbean affairs, immigration and the black community,” Herald editors told the staff Tuesday.

“Myriam is also president of the Orlando-Central Florida Chapter of National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the first local chapter in the country,” they added.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Márquez told Journal-isms. “The beats I would be overseeing are a perfect fit with my skills and interests.” She praised her Sentinel editors, then added, “The Herald offers something at this time in my life that’s very precious — overseeing coverage of the vastly diverse and vibrant metropolitan area where I grew up, working with editors and reporters who are at the top of their game. I’ve known Tom Fiedler for a long time and after meeting ME Judy Miller and AME Manny Garcia, both Pulitzer Prize winners, I was convinced that I should follow my heart. When all is said and done, the bottom line is: Miami is one heck of a news town — and it’s home.”

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Short Takes

  • “In an increasingly diverse country, foreign language skills are obviously needed in America’s newsrooms. Unfortunately, these skills are not always nurtured, nor are they fully valued. Managers and reporters share the blame,” Mary Sanchez wrote Monday on the Poynter Institute Web site. “Ultimately, this is about identity and goals for both reporters and editors.”
  • Larry Ridley has joined WSVN-TV, the Fox station in Miami, as sports reporter and fill-in anchor. Riley, arriving from WAPT-TV in Jackson, Miss., apparently replaces sports reporter Rodney Burks, who is no longer at the station.
  • Terence Samuel, a correspondent at U.S. News & World Report, was one of nine editorial employees laid off in U.S. News’ Washington office, editor Brian Duffy confirmed today. The list includes Roger Simon, the magazine’s chief political correspondent. Samuel is the only journalist of color affected, Duffy told Journal-isms. He called Samuel “a great guy and a terrific reporter. In addition to a colleague, I consider him a good friend.” Duffy told reporters that the layoffs were part of a “strategic repositioning” to the newsweekly’s Web site from its print edition.
  • Pamela Thomas-Graham, who is joining Liz Claiborne Inc. as group president after leaving CNBC, where she was once chief executive, is the subject of a Business Week profile headlined, “Pamela Thomas-Graham brings plenty of buzz — and a spotty record at CNBC.” “At CNBC, a number of executives contacted by BusinessWeek speak of a leader more interested in speaking appearances and networking than delving into the minutiae of operations,” the story says. “Thomas-Graham disagrees strongly. She says that, as a high-profile black businesswoman, she’s often called on to speak and says it’s an important responsibility.”
  • Millete Birhanemaskel, Milbert O. Brown, Jr., Jacqueline Charles, Sia Nyorkor, Femi Oke and Marquita Smith are headed to Liberia to cover the upcoming presidential elections through a fellowship offered by the National Association of Black Journalists, the United Nations and the Knight Foundation, NABJ announced.
  • George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, has started a blog called “Currying Favor.” Its first posts, which went up tonight, are “The Sordid Side of Unnamed Sources” and a comment on former education secretary Bill Bennett’s now-infamous radio statement linking African Americans, crime and abortion.
  • “News anchors Cheryl Burton and Hosea Sanders host ‘John H. Johnson: The Man and His Vision,’ a special on the life of the late Ebony and Jet publisher, at 10:35 p.m. Sunday on Channel 7,” Robert Feder ‘reported Tuesday in the Chicago Sun-Times. “The founder of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Co. died in August of heart failure at age 87.” The special is produced by Deborah Gunn.
  • Ken Watts, morning and noon anchor at Atlanta’s WXIA-TV, left the Gannett-owned NBC affiliate last week after seven years on the job, and will be replaced by another journalist of color, Clarence Reynolds, who works in Indianapolis and most recently appeared on public television’s “Antiques Roadshow,” Bob Walker, general manager, told Journal-isms.
  • “WMAQ-Channel 5 news anchor Nesita Kwan is on indefinite leave from the NBC-owned station for what her bosses called a personal issue, Robert Feder wrote Tuesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.

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