Maynard Institute archives

LeBron’s Feat Gives Sportscaster a Lift

by richard0561

Cleveland sportscaster Terry Brooks, right, says his "Cavs win! "Cavs win!" reaction was one of "a guy watching the game who just happened to be on TV." (Video)

Print Journalists Say TV Colleague Crossed Line

It was a heart-stopping moment in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, and it played out on the set of WEWS-TV in Cleveland.

The Orlando Magic were one second away from being 2-0 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday when Cavs superstar LeBron James made a three-pointer and tied the series.

The anchors on the set of WEWS-TV, an ABC affiliate, sorrowfully told viewers that the Magic appeared to have won, and moved on to the weather. But then sports reporter Terry Brooks suddenly jumped out of his chair and shouted, "Cavs win! Cavs win!"

It made for such great television that the station posted the segment on its Web site. Someone else put it on You Tube. It quickly circulated. But was it good journalism?

The mostly print-journalism members of the Sports Task Force of the National Association of Black Journalists, who discussed the incident on their e-mail list on Monday, overwhelmingly said no.

"I was at the game for NBCSports.com. I saw the shot, and I didn’t see one sportswriter jump up in excitement," Justice B. Hill said. "You cheer within, if you have to cheer at all. It’s called professionalism, which I hope hasn’t been lost on younger journalists.

"I know Terry Brooks, and he’s a good man. And I understand Terry’s excitement about the Cavs and their shocking win. But, heck, I grew up in Cleveland; I’ve suffered as a sports fan here longer than anybody else on this damn listserve. But I’m a journalist; I save my cheerleading for when I’m off the clock."

Brooks, of course, disagrees. A veteran of nine years in the business, approaching two years at WEWS, Brooks, 31, said of his reaction, "It was a guy watching the game who just happened to be on TV."

If the other team had won in the last second, "Oh, it would have been, ‘oh, the Cavs lose."

Cavs lose, not the other team wins? "What city am I in? That makes all the difference in the world." Most of the reaction he’s received has been positive, Brooks said.

On the NABJ listserve, Duane Rankin of the Erie (Pa.) Times-News said Brooks’ on-camera reaction to James’ shot was all relative. "Our business is not good right now. In fact, it’s downright depressing," he wrote.

"So to see someone have some emotion about something and not be all bitter and act like a prune as journalist tend to do was great. It wasn’t a professional move at that moment, but I’ve seen him ask Cleveland players tough questions after games. He’s not a bush league journalist, which is what I call people who cheer.

"When I covered Tennessee when Peyton Manning was there, there were journalists at the games who wore UT jackets. Remember the Starter jackets? This guy had the bright orange one on.

"Now that is someone who’s not professional. Terry isn’t walking around wearing a Witness t-shirt like this radio guy is doing at the Cavs home games. The radio guy is even matching it up with a sport coat. It’s clear he’s a cheerleader. Just give him some pom pom and a megaphone and let him start the chant, ‘Let’s go Cavs. Let’s go Cavs.’

"So let’s throw some darts at those who are open and blatant about who their allegiance is to instead of someone who just for a moment, got caught up in the moment."

Gary Estwick of the Nashville Tennessean wrote that getting caught up is just what happened Thursday night. "If the newscast is about to go off the air, stand up, yell out the score . . ‘CAVS WIN! CAVS WIN! LEBRON WINS IT AT THE BUZZER! GOOD NIGHT FOLKS!’ I think that’s appropriate. No different than ‘DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!’ or ‘A TREMENDOUS SHOT BY MICHAEL JORDAN!

"But don’t clap (especially after the middle anchor openly cheered, making him look just as bad, perhaps worse because he’s the sportscaster and anchors are allowed more leeway) and don’t say ‘YES!’

"Don’t get that caught up in the moment. Keep it under control."

At the station, Tom Misson, an executive producer who was in charge of the newsroom on Memorial Day, referred the question to General Manager Victoria Regan, who was off for the holiday.

But one print journalist who has done national television suggested that in the long run, the station’s views wouldn’t matter.

"This is all fine and good if you’re just happy to stay on the local level," he told his Sports Task Force colleagues.

"But if you want to go national or move to the biggest markets, you don’t want clips like this of you floating around the internet.

"More than ever, everything and anything is your clip file/resume reel."

Credit: Tim Jackson

 

Sotomayor’s Puerto Rican Parents Weren’t Immigrants

With Tuesday morning’s news that Sonia Sotomayor is President Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court came this Twitter "tweet" from Regina Medina of the Philadelphia Daily News, a board member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists:

"Henceforth PUERTO RICAN BORN PERSONS ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS."

As in this item Tuesday morning from New York magazine: 

"Born to Puerto Rican immigrant parents in a housing project in the South Bronx, Sotomayor worked her way through Princeton and Yale Law School, and was appointed to the U.S. District Court in New York’s Southern District by George H.W. Bush, and later to the Second Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton, where she met her first real Republican resistance."

As Media Matters noted in another context, "the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to all residents of Puerto Rico."

Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. (Added May 26)

[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-hsEIPgijU] Caption: Sharon Wilmore of the Detroit Free Press extols a program that placed her at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and Media Management Center.

Sharon Wilmore, Nate Trela Out at Detroit Free Press

Sharon Wilmore, an assistant managing editor at the Detroit Free Press and a black journalist, and Nate Trela, an assistant metro editor who is Asian American, are among five nonunion newsroom employees laid off at the Detroit Free Press, staff members told Journal-isms on Monday.

The paper also appears to be eliminating its news research staff.

"Sharon Wilmore is going into the holiday weekend as one of the newest members of the Free Press alumni club," she wrote on her Facebook page.

Wilmore, 50, has been an assistant managing editor at the paper since 2002, first AME for features, most recently AME for planning, the copy desk and Web news.

When the Free Press won a national Emmy Award last year for "40 Years of ‘Respect’," about Aretha Franklin’s classic recording, Wilmore was listed as article editor.

"Right now, I’m catching my breath and weighing my options," she told Journal-isms.

Trela, 32, told Journal-isms he is leaving June 14 "after a little over 6 years here, the last 3¬?
as an editor. I’m moving to Denver for family reasons, and will be looking for opportunities in newsrooms there. I’ve loved the experiences editing since I’ve been in Detroit, and I’m open to either down the road. I’ve been over education, religion and health coverage in recent years, but I’ve also dealt with courts, cops and local government. I’ve also had the pleasure of running our metro desk on some newsy days. But I wouldn’t turn down the chance to return to writing either," he wrote.

The Free Press said on Thursday that the Detroit Media Partnership, which operates the Free Press and the News, would lay off up to 150 employees "in the face of continuing severe economic conditions," and that the layoffs would include about 25 positions to be removed from the Free Press newsroom.

In a memo, Free Press Editor Paul Anger listed these positions as being eliminated: "Editorial Writers – 1; Part-time Reporters – 4; Artists – 2; Picture Editors – 1; Librarian – 1; News Archivist – 1; Designers – 1; Sports Agate Editors – 2; Editorial Research Assistants – 1; Part-time Editorial Research Assistant – 1; Copy Editors – 1; Part-Time Copy Editors – 2; Part-Time Web Editors – 2.

"Bargaining unit members in the affected classifications above will have 30 days to volunteer for severance, effective today. That period ends with the close of business on Friday, June 19. We expect to notify all staff members who are affected by the reductions by Monday, June 22, with departures effective Tuesday, June 23."

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vuavB00A28]

The documentary "Hollywood Chinese" is part of PBS’ "American Masters" series.

"Hollywood Chinese" Debuts Wednesday Night on PBS

For those who never thought deeply about the role of Chinese-Americans in Hollywood, from the silent film era to Bruce Lee kung fu movies and everything in between, including early films made by Chinese-Americans themselves, "Hollywood Chinese" pulls it together in a single package debuting Wednesday night on PBS.

Many of the statements by the actors, directors and producers will sound familiar to other people of color.

Actress Joan Chen, for example, says filmmaker Bernard Bertolucci was "just in love with the China that’s in his own fantasy."

Of an eager-to-please, compliant role, she says, "this is what America wants.

"I was written up very bad in the Chinese papers because I was a mistress of a white man and loving it. That was bad. It was politicized," Chen says after a discussion of her role in 1986’s "Tai-Pai."

Nancy Kwan, now 70, talks of "The World of Suzie Wong," from 1960. She was being interviewed by a Chinese woman who stopped the tape and said, "Since you played that Suzie Wong, you played that prostitute, because you played that prostitute, everybody thinks that all Chinese women are whores."

Kwan said she replied that as an actress she plays all kinds of roles. "If it’s a good role, I would play it, regardless if it’s Chinese or any other nationality. That was the time they had this politically correct or incorrectness or whatever," Kwan continued. "She actually said that to me."

Amy Tan, author of book-turned-movie "The Joy Luck Club," voices her frustration that Americans consistently confused Chinese with Japanese, given the brutality that Chinese withstood under Japanese occupation during World War II.

Multimedia actor B.D. Wong and other male thespians discuss their satisfaction from watching and playing Bruce Lee-type roles that enabled them to defy the stereotype of the "desexualized" Asian American male. "I hated myself partly because of how I was portrayed in the media," said Wong, known for Broadway’s "M. Butterfly" and a host of television roles, including one in "Law and Order."

The artists make it clear that they are Asian American, not Asian. "Asians who grew up in Asia don’t wrestle with identify questions as Asian Americans do," Director John Woo says.

In fact, director Justin Lin adds, those in Asia aren’t even interested in Chinese-American films, saying, "They want to see exotic white people in Asia."

The 90-minute "Hollywood Chinese" debuted in 2007 at various film festivals. This is its television premiere.

In a story by Alex Strachan of Canada’s Canwest News Service, 80-year-old actor James Hong "says he hopes that if ‘Hollywood Chinese’ does anything, it will be to shed light on what happened in the past, illuminate where Asian-Americans are today in TV and film, and hopefully shine a light on the way toward a better future.

‚Äú’I always draw a parallel to the situation when I started and a lot of the black actors,’ Hong explained. ‘There are so many series with black actors as leads. So why in heaven aren‚Äôt there some Chinese-American series on television? There are so many good stories and situations that would make a good sitcom or drama, but it‚Äôs just not being done.’‚Äù

Film Co-Written by Roxana Saberi Wins at Cannes

"A film co-scripted by U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi won a prize in one of the Cannes Film Festival competitions on Saturday," the Associated Press reported.

"’No One Knows About Persian Cats’ won a special jury prize in the festival’s Un Certain Regard competition.

"The film is a lively look at Tehran’s underground music scene and the risk of censorship and jail faced by Iranian musicians.

"Saberi shares a screenplay credit on the film, which was directed and-co-written by her romantic partner, Bahman Ghobadi."

"By singling out this film, the jury has deliberately sent a clear message to the Iranian authorities, who have banned it from being screened," Reporters Without Borders said.

"The award also sends a message of support for free expression to Iran’s independent musicians. There should be no restrictions on the screening of ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ in Iran."

Zimbabwean Tells of "Horrible" 5-Month Incarceration

"Freelance journalist Andrisson Manyere, who spent more than five months in detention with several MDC-T and human rights activists on banditry and terrorism charges, says he survived on a small portion of sadza and tree leaves for 10 days while incarcerated at the notorious Goromonzi Prison," Caiphas Chimhete wrote Saturday in the Zimbabwe Standard.

Sadza is a cooked pulverized grain meal, a staple in Zimbabwe. MDC-T, the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai, is an opposition party.

"The 34-year-old journalist, who was finally granted bail a fortnight ago on charges of banditry and terrorism, said his incarceration was ‘the most horrible experience’ in his three-year stint in journalism," the story continued.

"’They would once a day give me a small portion of sadza and some leaves from a tree I could not recognise.

"’I would quickly eat so I wouldn’t get the bad taste in my mouth,’ said Manyere who is accredited with the Media and Information Commission (MIC).

"He was given two litres of water a week.

"Manyere said he only had a proper meal after being transferred to Rhodesville Police Station where he would share food brought in by relatives of fellow prisoners.

"The country’s prisons are facing serious food shortages forcing some prisoners to survive on rats.

". . . Manyere was abducted by state security agents in December, held incommunicado for 10 days amid allegations of torture and was imprisoned until last month.

"He said he was assaulted, blindfolded and interrogated for hours.

"Manyere together with MDC director of security Chris Dhlamini and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s former personal assistant Ghandi Mudzingwa, who are all facing charges of banditry and terrorism, were granted US$1 000 bail each by the High Court two weeks ago.

". . . Earlier this month journalists boycotted a media conference organised by the government in Kariba in protest against Manyere’s detention. Its aim was to map the way forward for media reform."

Will It Be, "Thanks, but No Thanks?"

May 22, 2009

Days before Black Enterprise offered high-school senior Darryl Terrell an internship, he won a scholarship from Ford Motor Co. From left: Ron Recinto, Detroit Free Press assistant news editor; Paul Anger, publisher and editor; Terrell; Jim Graham, Ford Motor Co. Fund community relations manager; and Erin Hill, Free Press High School Journalism Program coordinator. (Credit: William Perry/Special to the Free Press)

Gift of Black Enterprise Internship May Be Lacking

Detroit high school senior Darryl Terrell received a nice surprise on Monday when, by chance, both he and Earl Graves Sr., founder of Black Enterprise magazine, found themselves together at a meeting of the Detroit City Council.

Terrell was being honored as the best student in the Ford Motor Co./ Detroit Free Press High School Journalism Program.

On the spot, Graves offered Terrell an internship at Black Enterprise after his freshman year.

"’One of these days, we’re going to be working for you,’ Graves told the student while taking a photo with the council," Darren A. Nichols reported Monday for the Detroit News.

There’s one thing Graves did not say, however.

When Journal-isms asked Black Enterprise spokesman Andrew P. Wadium whether the scholarship was paid, Wadium said:

"All of our internships have come with a stipend save this summer, 2009, due to the economic circumstances. This year we are working with the schools to provide credit whenever possible. We have a great program here, and I always enjoy having students. They remind me of how great the future can be with their enthusiasm.

Terrell told Journal-isms, "My mother thought it was paid. I thought it was college credit." Graves gave him the card of a Black Enterprise employee to call, but Terrell said Friday he hadn’t yet done so.

Would he be able to take an unpaid internship?

"I can’t tell you I would go," Terrell said. He said he doesn’t know anyone in New York. Where would he live? Who would pay the rent?

"Terrell, a 17-year-old senior, received a $24,000 scholarship to Oakland University to study journalism. He said he was overwhelmed by the offer to work in either the print or online divisions at ‘Black Enterprise,’" as the Detroit News reported.

"’I’m just so shocked. I’m really excited and happy about it,’ said Terrell, who also is getting a free subscription to the magazine."

As reported in March, Black Enterprise has told freelance writers it can no longer afford to pay them to write for the magazine.

The practice of offering unpaid internships has been criticized for favoring students who can survive on money from their parents, but penalizing others.

Wadium said Black Enterprise had not yet determined which colleges would agree to the course-credit arrangement. "We may not know this for all of 2009 and much of it is still to be determined for the summer," he said, adding, "I have had 1 intern for credit from Baruch College in 2009."

Terrell, who was getting ready for the Kettering High School prom Friday night, said he planned to start out in college studying print journalism. thinking of writing for "an urban magazine" such as Vibe. After studying print, he said he wanted then to transfer to radio and television and behind-the-scenes work, "like a producer or manager."

President Obama, speaking Thursday at the National Archives, shared the headlines with former vice president Dick Cheney. (Credit: Pete Souza/White House)

Obama: Too Many Journalists Were Silent on Bush

It was just a word in his litany, but President Obama Thursday implicated journalists as complicit in letting the Bush administration make decisions based on "fear rather than foresight."

The reference came in Obama’s speech at the National Archives on interrogation techniques, Guantanamo Bay and related national security issues.

"Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions," Obama said. "I believe that many of these decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that all too often our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight; that all too often our government trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions. Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, too often we set those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And during this season of fear, too many of us — Democrats and Republicans, politicians, journalists, and citizens — fell silent."

Later, he said, "It’s no secret there is a tendency in Washington to spend our time pointing fingers at one another. And it’s no secret that our media culture feeds the impulse that lead to a good fight and good copy. But nothing will contribute more than that than a extended relitigation of the last eight years."

Former vice president Dick Cheney challenged Obama in a long-planned speech that defended the Bush administration’s actions on interrogation techniques. Some debated whether it was wise for Obama to schedule his talk on the same day, and whether the news media should have given them near-equal, point-counterpoint coverage.

White House press aides did not respond to a request to elaborate on Obama’s remarks about journalists.

Columnist Urges Legalizing Seasonal Laborers

"In spring, whenever storm clouds gather heavy with hail capable of ripping fragile crops to shreds, my Kansas-born mother always offers the same reflection: ‘I‚Äôm sure glad I‚Äôm not a farmer anymore, depending on the weather, which is so undependable.’ In late summer, as the rains become scarce and harvests are endangered by horticultural thirst, there she is again: ‘I‚Äôm sure glad I‚Äôm not a farmer anymore, depending on the weather, which is so undependable,’‚Äù Mary Sanchez wrote Tuesday in the Kansas City Star.

"I‚Äôll add my own refrain on behalf of the less than 2 percent of the U.S. workforce still involved in agriculture: ‘I‚Äôm sure glad I‚Äôm not a farmer trying to hire immigrant agricultural help legally, depending on the whims of Congress, which is so undependable.’ Half a million U.S. farmers are in just that situation. They have more than 3 million agricultural jobs to fill every year, much of it seasonal labor. Many find few options other than hiring illegal immigrants.

"That’s why it’s critical that Congress passes the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, introduced May 14. The bill presents at least a partial solution to our immigration problem, because it seeks to legalize a group of longstanding seasonal laborers, as long as they meet certain conditions, and also temporarily and legally match new immigrant workers to unmet labor needs."

Meanwhile, a poll "confirmed for the umpteenth time that immigration is a defining issue for the 12 to 13 million Hispanics who are eligible to vote in the U.S.," Albor Ruiz wrote in the New York Daily News.

"’The anti-immigrant movement’s divisive tone and demagogic rhetoric keeps politicizing Hispanics and bringing them together in support of a new immigration policy,’ Sergio Bendixen, president of Bendixen and Associates, concluded about the survey results."

Roxana Saberi Returns to U.S. After 100-Day Ordeal

"Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi returned to the United States on Friday after enduring a 100-day ordeal in an Iranian jail," CNN reported.

"Landing at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on a flight from Vienna, Austria, a smiling Saberi said she was feeling ‘very good.’

"Saberi thanked those who campaigned for her release, including her supporters in Iran.

"’The one thing that kept me going when I was in prison was singing the national anthem to myself,’ said Saberi, flanked by her parents. ‘It may sound corny, but I am so glad to be home in the land of the free.’"

Tavis Smiley’s "Soul Patrol" visits the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

TV One Airing Tavis Smiley’s First Documentary

A year ago, when Tavis Smiley left radio’s syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show" amid complaints from some listeners that his criticism of candidate Barack Obama was a little too strident, the activist and broadcast personality insisted that "Contrary to what has been suggested, I have decided to clear some things off my plate so that I can devote my time and attention to some exciting and empowering projects that The Smiley Group, Inc. and other divisions of my company have underway this summer, this fall and beyond."

Now, on Sunday night, TV One debuts one of those projects. Smiley’s first film, the two-hour "Stand", records a bus visit to Tennessee by Smiley and 10 of his black male friends last summer. In a trip that might remind some of "Get on the Bus," Spike Lee’s 1996 film about a group on its way to the Million Man March the previous year, the crew discuss race relations, the meaning of the Obama campaign and the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Joining in the unscripted conversations are such celebrity scholars and activists as Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West and Dick Gregory and gospel singer Bebe Winans. The visitors include Memphis soul man Sam Moore of the ’60s duo Sam and Dave. The late Memphis musician and actor Isaac Hayes makes what is said to be his last filmed sit-down conversation.

They go to Fisk University in Nashville, to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was killed, and to Mason Temple, where King preached his famous, final "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop" sermon. Historic photographs are sprinkled throughout,

The extent to which one enjoys the film in large part depends on how much of the widely exposed Smiley, Dyson and West one wants to hear. A particularly moving portion shows the group watching last summer’s CNN documentary, "Black in America," in which Dyson and his incarcerated brother, Everett, discuss the choices each made in life.

Attempts at original programming should be commended, even if not always successful. TV One spokeswoman Lynn McReynolds told Journal-isms, "High quality documentary specials and public affairs programming have had a place in TV One‚Äôs original programming lineup since the network‚Äôs inception, beginning with TV One‚Äôs first original documentary, ‘Reparations,’ in 2004.

Pulitzer Winner Says Now’s the Time for Racial Talk

Douglas A. Blackmon, the Atlanta journalist and winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction books for ‚ÄúSlavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II," says the Obama era is the time for more, not less discussion of race.

Douglas A. Blackmon Blackmon, Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, said Friday on public radio’s "The Michael Eric Dyson Show" that the post-Civil War period he unveils in his book is little discussed because for whites, it challenges the idea that "Lincoln successfully freed the slaves," and because older blacks did not want to pass down a history they thought "humiliating and shameful" because their rights were taken away. Moreover, they knew "it was not a safe thing for young African American men to be walking around with a heartful of incredible anger." Blackmon is white.

"I just don’t get this whole conversation about a post-racial society, and certainly any claim that we have entered it simply by the election of our first African American president," Blackmon said. "I’m not sure what that would be, but it sounds like an incredibly boring thing to me. After all these years and years of conversation in America about the value of diversity and the importance of diversity and the way that different kinds of people bring different kinds of strengths to the table, how on earth and why on earth would suddenly overnight we declare that we want to be post-racial, that we want to ignore the fact that there are differences between all of us, because those differences are manifest in the vigor and strength of our society? So I’m puzzled by, particularly by very smart people like Juan Williams and others, both black and white, who have had a lot to say about a post-racial era and even crazier ideas of doing away with Black History Month and some of those very important gestures that I absolutely can’t see a reason to do away with.

"In terms of how we move to this next place, . . . and maybe this sounds Polyanna-ish somehow, but I believe that honest, candid conversation is an extraordinarily healing thing. And the starting point for constructive conversation and constructive visioning of that American destiny . . . is to acknowledge this past, study this past, if for no reason other than that we fully understand how our society was structured in the way that is today and so we can work on the structures that need to change.

"We can never fix things unless we understand how they were built in the first place, and I think there’s an opportunity now ‚Äî and the election of President Obama is a powerful demonstration of it ‚Äî there is an opportunity now to have a kind of conversation that we were never able to have before, not even 10 years ago."

  • "Michael Eric Dyson Show" audio

Death Penalty Foes Hurt by Smaller News Staffs

"Opponents of the death penalty looking to exonerate wrongly accused prisoners say their efforts have been hobbled by the dwindling size of America’s newsrooms, and particularly the disappearance of investigative reporting at many regional papers," Tim Arango wrote Wednesday in the New York Times.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Media Partnership, which operates the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, said Thursday that it would lay off up to 150 employees in the face of continuing severe economic conditions, John Gallagher reported. "The layoffs will be spread throughout the company, including about 25 positions to be eliminated in the Free Press newsroom."

The Times article continued, "In the past, lawyers opposed to the death penalty often provided the broad outlines of cases to reporters, who then pursued witnesses and unearthed evidence.

"Now, the lawyers complain, they have to do more of the work themselves and that means it often doesn’t get done. They say many fewer cases are being pursued by journalists, after a spate of exonerations several years ago based on the work of reporters."

Tuesday Deadline for Journalism-Educator Nominations

The National Conference of Editorial Writers annually grants a Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship ‚Äî actually an award ‚Äî "in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage minority students in the field of journalism." The educator should be at the college level.

Nominations, which are now open for the 2009 award, should consist of a statement about why you believe your nominee is deserving.

The final selection will be made by the NCEW Foundation board and will be announced in time for the Sept. 23-26 NCEW convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, when the presentation will be made.

Since 2000, an honorarium of $1,000 has been awarded the recipient, to be used to "further work in progress or begin a new project."

Past winners include: James Hawkins of Florida A&M University (1990); Larry Kaggwa of Howard University (1992); Ben Holman of the University of Maryland (1996); Linda Jones, Roosevelt University, Chicago (1998); Ramon Chavez, University of Colorado, Boulder (1999); Erna Smith of San Francisco State (2000); Joseph Selden of Penn State (2001); Cheryl Smith; Paul Quinn College (2002); Rose Richard, Marquette University (2003), Leara D. Rhodes of the University of Georgia (2004), Denny McAuliffe of the University of Montana (2005), Pearl Stewart of Black College Wire (2006), Valerie White of Florida A&M University (2007) and Phillip Dixon of Howard University (2008).

Nominations may be e-mailed to Richard Prince, NCEW Diversity Committee chair, richardprince (at) hotmail.com. The deadline is May 26.

Short Takes

  • Mark Alleyne Mark Alleyne, associate professor at Georgia State University, died in Guatemala on Wednesday, Kate Leslie reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was 47 and was overseeing a Spanish language immersion course for six Georgia State students in Guatemala City when he fell ill with symptoms of pneumonia. "Originally from Barbados, Alleyne was a Rhodes Scholar, received his master‚Äôs and doctorate degrees from Oxford University and had worked as a broadcaster for the BBC World Service in London, according to his biography on GSU‚Äôs Web site," Leslie reported.
  • Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said this Thursday about the departure of Bobbi Bowman as diversity director of the American Society of News Editors: "We’re disappointed that ASNE would demote diversity. We hope Bobbi’s departure doesn’t send the wrong message to the industry. We look forward to Bobbi’s continued participation with NABJ."
  • Black journalists, commentators or newsmakers are scheduled for Sunday talk shows on NBC, CBS and ABC, according to MediaBistro. National Public Radio’s Michele Norris and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson are due on NBC’s "Meet the Press," former secretary of state Colin Powell and Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint are scheduled for CBS’ "Face the Nation" as part of a "Children of the Recession" series; and Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazile is to be on the roundtable on ABC’s "This Week."
  • In Jackson, Miss., "For almost seven years, we’ve watched her co-Joyce Brewer anchor WAPT-Channel 16’s evening newscast," LaReeca Rucker wrote Friday in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "But this week, Joyce Brewer embarks on a new venture. She will marry former WAPT promotions producer Antoine Kendrick on May 30 in a private ceremony in Savannah, Ga., and move to Atlanta, where she plans to launch her own multimedia company and start a blog called entreprenews.biz offering business advice. "Brewer is vice president of the Jackson Association of Black Journalists."
  • "When I think of the city, I picture all the great Chicago monuments ‚Äî Soldier Field, the Sears Tower, the Art Institute and, of course, Warner Saunders," President Obama said in a clip that Chicago’s WMAQ-TV showed at the end of Wednesday’s 10 p.m. newscast. The station devoted more than 10 minutes to Saunders’ retirement, Phil Rosenthal reported in the Chicago Tribune. Saunders bid farewell after 29 years at WMAQ, the last dozen as its lead anchor, concluding a Chicago television career of more than 40 years.
  • New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin "would have to become a radically different mayor during his remaining 11 months in office to even have a shot at being remembered as a man of action," columnist Jarvis DeBerry wrote Friday in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The annual State of the City address "included claims from Nagin that are demonstrably false and promises that are likely to be proved false in the future."
  • In Atlanta, "according to newsblues.com, a subscription-based Web site that follows broadcast news, WGCL-TV‚Äôs Bill Gaines abruptly quit the TV station Wednesday, no explanation," Rodney Ho wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Gaines, who came from Raleigh, N.C., was at the CBS affiliate for two and a half years anchoring the 4, 6 and 11 p.m. shows."
  • "Bustos Media, which owns Spanish-language TV station Canal 23 (Channel 23) in Salt Lake City, is launching Noticias 23, a new half-hour newscast that will begin airing June 2. The station will broadcast programs at 5 and 9 p.m., and segments will include local news, weather and sports," Vince Horiuchi reported Friday in the Salt Lake Tribune.
  • Robert Hernandez Robert Hernandez is leaving his job as director of development for the seattletimes.com to be an assistant professor at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, where he will be "researching and developing the use of new media in the newsroom as well as in the classroom," Veronica Villafa?±e reported Wednesday on her Media Moves site. Hernandez is a board member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, representing online members.
  • MSNBC anchor Carlos Watson, who last week launched a news and opinion site called the Stimulist, has "found a high-profile lead investor to boot, Elevation Partner’s Roger McNamee. Yup, the same McNamee who recently stepped down from Forbes Media’s board," Leena Rao wrote Wednesday on the TechCrunch Web site. "The Stimulist‚Äôs competitors are the Huffington Post and Tina Brown‚Äôs The Daily Beast, which is a daily mashup of cultural and general news. Both, however, are aggregators of news from elsewhere and thus have much more daily content than The Stimulist."
  • Mudhafar al-Husseini, who worked at the New York Times in Baghdad for two years, reporting news stories and writing blog entries as well as acting as a fixer and translator for other reporters, describes his first weeks in America for Columbia Journalism Review. In Atlanta, "I learned my first lesson in America: how to fasten a seatbelt while you’re a passenger in a car. This is something we don’t ever do in Iraq. People sometimes say in Iraq that this seatbelt, which was designed for your safety, might kill you because you may get trapped inside your car during an explosion."
  • The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and Dispatch Fronteras "have won a national award from the Society of Professional Journalists for ‘American Divide: The Immigration Crackdown,’ a series about the effects of strict immigration laws," the Dispatch reported on Tuesday. The first-place award went to reporters Stephanie Czekalinski, Jill Riepenhoff and Todd Jones. "The ‘New America Award’ honors public-service journalism that exposes an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities in United States."
  • "Benita Fitzgerald Mosley will step down from her position as president-CEO of Women in Cable and Telecommunications on June 30," Vlada Gelman reported Thursday in TV Week. "Ms. Mosley, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, is departing the organization to join USA Track & Field as chief of sport performance. She has served at WITC for eight years."
  • "On the anniversary of the Republic of Cuba‚Äôs creation on 20 May 1902, Reporters Without Borders calls for continued diplomatic efforts that could help improve access to news and information on the island. When Ra??l Castro was installed as president on 24 February 2008, he said he wanted to do away with ‚Äúthe excess of prohibitions and regulations‚Äù but Cubans are still denied the Internet access enjoyed by foreign visitors and 24 journalists are still in prison," the press freedom group said on Tuesday.

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