Maynard Institute archives

Indy Photog, 34, Collapses in Newsroom

by richard0635

Mpozi Tolbert — Tall, Genial, Dreadlocked — Mourned

“Mpozi Mshale Tolbert, 6 feet 6 inches tall with dreadlocks down to his waist, never blended in. You had to notice him. He stuck out — almost always grinning, forever seeing the possibilities in life, chuckling at its foibles,” Diana Penner wrote Tuesday in the Indianapolis Star.

“Monday, The Indianapolis Star photographer collapsed at work, at the photo desk where he was selecting the images to appear in today’s newspaper. He was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. An award-winning photographer who came to The Star in November 1998, Tolbert, 34, was equally at ease at news and sporting events as he was in classrooms of schoolchildren who looked up in awe and curiosity as he towered over them, an assortment of cameras and lenses around his neck.”

The story listed no cause of death. Editor Dennis R. Ryerson told Journal-isms today he had not been told whether there would be an autopsy, but understood that “when there is somebody this age who dies without a known cause, the coroner does an investigation” that would include an autopsy. The story was accompanied by a photo gallery featuring Tolbert’s photographs.

By Wednesday morning, six pages of tributes from readers and co-workers were on the Indianapolis Star Web site. They recalled his disc jockeying, his hanging out at reggae clubs or playing tennis, covering the World Trade Center bombing on Sept. 11, 2001, and working tornadoes and crime scenes. They uniformly commented on his geniality, his kindness and the steps he took to make others feel comfortable in his presence. “Mpozi” means “healing” in Swahili, Ryerson noted.

“He educated me a bit on the topic of roots reggae and he shared the pros and cons of old-school turntables vs. CD set-ups. He was fiercely proud [of] the Roots, the hip-hop band he first knew as the ‘Square Roots’ in his hometown of Philadelphia,” wrote popular-music writer David Lindquist.

“Mpozi and I covered the World Trade Center disaster on Sept. 11, sharing a piece of dusty blue carpet as a bed for a week while camping out together inside a New York convention center,” wrote reporter Tom Spalding.

“But many don’t remember that his photos from that experience were part of an exhibit at the Indiana State Historical Society a year later, on Sept. 11, 2002. Nor do they remember Mpozi’s lovely writing about his views of 9/11 that accompanied the display of his pictures.”

“His physical stature and head full of dreads commanded attention most places he went in Naptown. But what I loved even more was watching how deftly he put people at ease as he worked, with his kindness and humor. He had a goofy laugh that was infectious and seemed so out of place when I first heard it. It will never make sense to me that a human being with such talent, compassion, humor and vitality simply doesn’t exist in this world anymore,” wrote Dawn Fable Lindquist, a former Star features department staffer.

“It’s a wrench to my heart that Mpozi had to die in that Aeron chair at the photo desk. He hated sitting there. He would always rather have been out roaming the city for great photographs than stuck at a desk job for the night,” wrote Star designer Cori Faklaris.

“What a great soul. What a passion for social justice and for humanity — for the weak, the small, the disenfranchised.”

Ryerson said there would be services in Philadelphia and Indianapolis, and in his city he would like to “get the communities together” — those of music and journalism — to foster unity.

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Reporter: “They’ll Kill Me and That Will Be It”

Kenyan journalist Peter Makori, returning to the Kansas City Star after testifying in his country about his imprisonment and torture by government agents, said today he will not return to Kenya because he fears for his life.

“At this rate, the issue of my personal security has become my immediate concern,” Makori told Journal-isms today. “They’ll kill me and that will be it. I was thoroughly scared and I could not stay in the same place. I was operating like a fugitive,” Makori said. He said stayed in the country a few days after testifying, hoping to see his mother, but she had left her home for her own safety.

As reported last week, Makori, 33, who is at the Star on an Alfred Friendly journalism program fellowship, returned to Kenya to testify before a human-rights tribunal hearing its inaugural case. He described his own imprisonment after reporting on government corruption.

“Allegedly beaten with long clubs, allowed mere scraps of food, he managed to outlive a good number of the rodents in his cell. He regained his freedom in 2004, ending 10 months of confinement on a trumped-up murder rap,” as reported in an account by Rick Montgomery in the Star.

While in Kenya, two of his witnesses were reportedly murdered, and the tribunal suspended its review of his imprisonment.

He said he would not be back to continue his testimony: “For now, I have to give it a break so that I can look for a different approach,” he told Journal-isms. Under Kenyan common law, Makori said, he must be available for cross-examination by those he had named. “A way has to be found so that I can appear by satellite link,” if the commission can afford it, he said.

Makori said he and Franklin Bayen, a Friendly fellow from Cameroon who is at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “gave graphic evidence” of the corruption in their countries at a Washington meeting with officials of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. “The entire African continent is on fire,” Makori said of the corruption. He also took his message to the annual conference of the Investigative Reporters and Editors in Dallas. The Kenyan government is charging those in the independent media with engaging in subversive activities to prevent their reporting on cabinet ministers’ involvement in drug trafficking, he told Journal-isms.

“The United States, being the only world superpower, has a wider responsibility to check the excesses of countries abroad where accountability is being swept under the carpet by those in power,” Makori said. Speaking of American tax dollars, he told Journal-isms, “Your money is being stolen by people you don’t even know.”

Makori said he was heartened by the “tremendous job” of the U.S. media in covering his case, and was touched by the moral support from those who sent e-mails and said they were praying for him.

At the Star, he said he planned to resume his column on African affairs, writing about the impact on the Horn of Africa of the presence of al-Qaeda in Somalia and the ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in northern Uganda.

As if to underscore some of Makori’s words, Ochiengâ?? Oreyo reported today in the Standard of Nairobi: “Kenyaâ??s fight against corruption has stagnated, the World Bank has said.

“Whatever efforts have been put [in] place to tame the hydra-headed vice are painstakingly slow, the bankâ??s country director, Colin Bruce, says.

“Bruce said yesterday that his organisation had a right to be unhappy with the state of things after the Government admitted that what had been done amounted to a scratch on the surface.”

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Vibe Sold; Danyel Smith Returns as Editor

“Urban culture magazine Vibe has been acquired by the Wicks Group of Companies, a private-equity firm,” Stephanie D. Smith reported today for Mediaweek. “Eric Gertler and Ari Horowitz will oversee the property as CEO and president, respectively. The executives are principals of Keith Glen Media Corp.; the two most recently oversaw BlackBook Media.

“Vibe staffers were told of the sale at a morning meeting, where Vibe president Kenard Gibbs also announced he would be leaving the company. Editor in chief Mimi Valdés will also leave the magazine, to be replaced by former Vibe editor Danyel Smith. Smith, who has also served as a Time Inc. editor at large, had been editor of Vibe from 1997 to 1999, when she was replaced by Emil Wilbekin. Valdés succeeded Wilbekin as editor in 2003.

“Vibe publisher Len Burnett will be staying with the company.”

Smith is also a former editor at large for Time Inc. and has written for the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Spin, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the New York Times. Smith is on the part-time faculty at the New School University and is author of the novels “More Like Wrestling,” about sisterhood and family ties, and “Bliss,” set inside the music industry. In 2004, she married Elliott Wilson, editor in chief of XXL magazine.

Smith reported June 12, “Vibe has struggled as of late with its ad pages. Through July, pages fell 8.2 percent to 624, reports the Mediaweek Monitor. Vibe’s paid circulation fell 2.8 percent to 836,611 through the second half of 2005, missing its 850,000 rate base, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Newsstand sales grew 8.1 percent.” Burnett, Vibe’s group publisher, said total circulation declined in part to Hurricane Katrina, Smith wrote then.

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Asian Journalists Vote to Leave Accrediting Council

The Asian American Journalists Association has voted to withdraw from the primary council that accredits college journalism programs, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association might be next.

“It was a difficult vote, and a close one at that,” Esther Wu, national president of AAJA, told Journal-isms, speaking of her board’s decision to withdraw from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

“The vote was based solely on finances.

“Annual dues to join ACEJMC are $5,000. At the last ACEJMC board meeting, the issue of lowering the dues for non-profit journalism groups was raised, but no vote has been taken on this issue yet. Should there be a change in the dues; AAJA may reconsider its vote.

“Council president Saundra Keyes graciously came to address the AAJA board during our annual meeting in Honolulu last month,” Wu continued. “Our board members understand the importance of ACEJMC’s work, and the need to call attention to diversity issues in the accreditation processes. Ms. Keyes has our moral support.

“However it has been a tough year for all non-profit organizations — particularly media-related groups. For this reason, the board voted against renewing its membership at this time. But this does not mean we cannot revisit the situation at a later date.”

AAJA, NAHJ, NLGJA and the National Association of Black Journalists sit on the accrediting council as one way to ensure that diversity remains a priority in college journalism programs, both in staffing and curriculum.

At the group’s May 5 meeting at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., the council approved a recommendation of its Finance Committee to increase the annual dues for accredited schools from $650 to $1,000.

Robert Dodge, who represents the lesbian and gay journalists, said, “I asked if the finance committee has considered lowering dues for the minority journalism schools in its realignment of dues.

“I was told no.

“To get a discussion going, I made a motion that the dues for the Unity groups plus NLGJA be no higher than the schools. (I think that would have lowered our dues from $5,000 to $1,000 yearly.)” Dodge said he withdrew his motion after receiving a pledge from Keyes that the organization “would look at this issue and report back in the fall.

“I am fearing that NLGJA also will discontinue participation,” Dodge, a former NLGJA president, said. “My organization has had some unexpected expenses associated with the recruitment process for a new executive director. Making up $5,000 of that with one cut makes the ACEJMC membership an attractive target.”

Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte, a journalism professor who represents the Hispanic journalists association, said, “for these organizations to pay five times the amount of UC-Berkeley, it seemed not appropriate. We’ve never had Native Americans because of the prohibitive price,” she told Journal-isms.

It was de Uriarte who, at the council’s May 5 meeting, questioned nearly every school about its efforts to reach out to Latinos.

“As people drop out, it’s like a rolling stone,” de Uriarte said of AAJA’s action. “Others get pushed in the same direction. It’s a lot of money. It could go to scholarships.” Moreover, she said she was not impressed by the accrediting council’s diversity efforts.

[Added July 7: Joseph Torres, deputy NAHJ director, said the organization was not considering withdrawing from the council.]

Jackie Jones, who represents NABJ on the council, agreed that the fee was steep, but said “NABJ has made a commitment to staying with the Accrediting Council.

“I, personally, believe NABJ has had influence. I’ve served on some committees and have been invited to speak, contribute information for diversity guides, etc., by some of the accredited programs. Could those schools have found some person of color elsewhere to do those things? Sure. However, being a Council member and NABJ’s rep to the Council lends a gravitas to my perspective,” she told Journal-isms.

Jones said NABJ had tried to organize a committee to look at the impact of accreditation on historically black colleges and universities, “and how NABJ can assist those programs that want/need our help, as well as reaching out to majority programs that need help in recruiting and diversifying their curricula.” However, she said, “The hurricane season last year changed priorities for a lot of people.”

Neither Keyes nor Executive Director Susanne Shaw could be reached for comment. Keyes, who had been editor of the Honolulu Advertiser since December 2000, was moving to Nevada to begin a new job as journalism professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Independence Day a Multicultural Celebration

National Public Radio’s “News and Notes With Ed Gordon” told the story of the African American slaves who jumped at the British promise of freedom and worked for the British during the Revolutionary War, and in return, were given difficult land in Nova Scotia and in Sierra Leone after the war.

The Daily Press in Newport News, Va., included an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech “What to a Slave Is the Fourth of July?” on its op-ed page, along with excerpts from speeches by white historical figures.

In the San Diego Union-Tribune, columnist Ruben Navarrette listed reasons why he is an American — “a brown-skinned, Spanish-surnamed Yankee Doodle Dandy,” including “because I believe that immigrants are our most valuable import and that we should welcome as many as possible â?? as long as they come legally.”

In the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird wrote, “It is hard to stomach some of the things done to Native people in the name of that ‘get out of our way, we’re coming through’ philosophy.” However, she wrote, “Tribes have taken their place in the nation. We are in a tug of war with many churches over the culture and religion, but I can see, at least in this part of the country, the values of the culture and Native spirituality . . . taking hold.”

An Associated Press story reminded readers that 40 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson, with deep reservations, signed the Freedom of Information Act, a law that “still creates tension between the government and citizens, corporations, researchers and journalists.”

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“View” Exposes Telling Truth as Radical Concept

“One of the shockwaves still rippling from Star Jones Reynolds’ abrupt departure from ABC’s ‘The View’ is just how radical it is to not put a smiley face on one’s ouster,” Phil Rosenthal wrote Sunday in the Chicago Tribune.

“Reynolds, as those who keep tabs of TV daytime dramas and catfights will tell you, ruffled ‘View’ mother hen Barbara Walters’ feathers last week by refusing to avail herself of the standard-issue make-nice corporate press release normally embraced by those shown the door.

“Rather than toe the scripted storyline to which Walters and ABC thought Reynolds had agreed — something, perhaps, about seeking new challenges, being ready for a change, blah, blah, blah — Reynolds actually told the truth.”

The “Larry King Show” post-“View” interview with Jones Reynolds averaged almost 3 million viewers Wednesday night, giving CNN a rare win over Fox News in both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic, Brian Stelter reported Thursday on his MediaBistro blog.

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Ex-Columnist Sued Over Site That Warns Women

“A Pittsburgh lawyer is suing the creator of a Web site and several people who posted messages there claiming he has a sexually transmitted disease, complains about paying his child support and is unfaithful,” Moustafa Ayad reported Friday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The site is owned and operated by Tasha C. Joseph, 33, of Miami, who wrote “Class Action,” a Miami Herald column, for more than seven years. *quot;Class Action” was “aimed at helping parents and students answer questions and solve problems they may encounter with the Miami-Dade or Broward school systems.” Joseph says on the dating site she was inspired to create it “after watching her girlfriends go through the pain of infidelity uncovered.”

Todd J. Hollis filed the lawsuit Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court because two local women and other anonymous subscribers to the site posted statements about him that he claims are defamatory, Ayad wrote.

“Ms. Joseph said her small office in Miami receives hundreds of phone calls from angry men wanting to get themselves removed from her site.

“Some of the men take advantage of the rebuttal policy and others do not.

“There is even a Web site created to counter Ms. Joseph’s: www.classaction-dontdatehimgirl.com provides a forum for disgruntled subjects of dontdatehimgirl.com.”

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Gates, Buffett Linked to Black Charity Tradition

“Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are widely described as two of the smartest beings on the planet. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they know about Thomas Cannon,” Jabari Asim wrote Monday on Washingtonpost.com.

“On the other hand, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t. Still, when I read news reports of Buffett’s and Gates’ charitable-giving project, I saw it as a timely tribute to Cannon, who died last year at age 79. The longtime resident of Richmond, Va., was no titan of industry, but for many he embodied the spirit of giving more than any megabillionaire could.

“Although he was a postal worker who seldom earned as much as $30,000 a year, Cannon routinely gave away much of what he earned, usually in increments of $1,000. His generosity was celebrated in such national forums as Ebony Magazine and on the Oprah Winfrey and ‘Nightline’ TV shows.

“It would be easy to point to Cannon, a black man, as a role model for African-Americans everywhere. But, in this regard, African-American communities are qualified to serve as role models for the country at large. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, blacks donate 25 percent more of their discretionary income than whites. On average, Black Enterprise magazine notes, black households give $1,614 to their favorite causes. That figure doesn’t take into account tithing — contributing 10 percent of household income — to churches, a widespread practice among black families.”

“Gates and Buffett, whether they know it or not, are carrying on in the tradition of Thomas Cannon.”

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Short Takes

  • Barry Saunders, columnist at the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, weighed in Saturday on the policy at Black Enterprise magazine barring wearing the hair in dreadlocks. “As a former employer, I’d prefer an employee who — when told to cut his locks — would rather quit than cut. The prospective employee who rushes out and cuts his hair without a peep of protest — as Mashaun Simon admittedly did — would strike me as an overly solicitous kow-tower lacking the courage of his convictions.”
  • When asked “what writing a column is like,” 26 percent of salaried columnists called it a job and 17 percent likened it to sex, Dave Astor reported Sunday in Editor & Publisher, describing a survey by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists that drew 154 responses. But the University of San Francisco’s J. Michael Robertson “explained that this wasn’t necessarily a positive thing; he said some columnists feel like they’re ‘married to a nymphomaniac’ because they have to start working on another column as soon as they’re finished with the previous one.” The columnists, meeting in Boston, also heard from Derrick Z. Jackson of the Boston Globe and Myra MacPherson, who has written a book about the legendary muckraker I.F. Stone.
  • Elizabeth Vargas said she “will do everything in my power” to anchor a nightly news program again, at ABC or elsewhere, Lorrie Lynch reported in the July 2 issue of USA Weekend. Vargas, former co-anchor of “World News Tonight,” is to return to ABC-TV’s “20/20” after her pregnancy.
  • Sidmel Estes-Sumpter, executive producer of â??Good Day Atlantaâ?? on Atlanta’s WAGA-TV, known as Fox5, is leaving the station to focus on her own media relations consulting company. Estes-Sumpter, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, has been with the station for 27 years.
  • Sandy Bailey Rosenbush, a co-founder of the Sports Journalism Institute, longtime newspaper editor and former assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated, said of the study released two weeks ago by the Associated Press Sports Editors showing newspaper sports departments to be overwhelmingly white and male, “Think how bad the numbers would be without SJI.” The institute prepares people of color and women to become sports journalists. It “has trained more than 150 journalists, with more than 100 still in the business, since 1993,” David Squires noted Friday in the Daily Press of Newport News, Va. In his syndicated “Norman Chad’s Couch Slouch,” Chad wrote Monday that the study shows, “We’re whiter than Newt Gingrich’s Fourth of July barbecue.”
  • “Channel 7 on Friday disclosed how much it pays evening anchorman Frank Turner in a court filing related to a legal dispute between the TV station and Turner. And Turner is unhappy about it,” Paul Egan wrote Monday in the Detroit News. “Turner, who is near the end of a five-year contract signed in 2001, is paid $285,000 a year, station vice president and general manager Grace Gilchrist said in an affidavit. Including benefits, the total package is worth about $1.75 million, she said.”
  • “Zimbabwe is jamming medium wave news broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) in English and local languages in the capital Harare. The U.S.-government funded broadcaster said its Studio 7 service, which is on the air for 90 minutes each weekday, was being blocked,” the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Friday.

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