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“Diversity . . . Takes Work”

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Networks Recruit, Pay Stipends to Attract Interns

NBC News, embarrassed by the disclosure that the summer internship class at “NBC Nightly News” had no students of color, as reported last week, says it plans to reach out to the journalist of color organizations to help fix the problem.

“Our News managers select our unpaid summer interns based on the strength of their resumes. They are interviewed by telephone prior to their selection. In previous years, our interns have better reflected American society,” “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams wrote Wednesday on his blog.

“I have always said that diversity makes us better, and it takes work.

“. . . Therefore, I have spoken to Steve Capus, the President of NBC News, and going forward, racial diversity will now also be a factor in our unpaid summer internship program, because our newsrooms have to better reflect our society,” Williams wrote then.

NBC spokeswoman Barbara Levin today told Journal-isms, “NBC News has attended and recruited interns at the minority journalists conventions for years and has provided the resumes from those conventions to the people who run the NBC internship program. (NBC News recruits for all sorts of jobs other than internships at the conventions as well.)

“What will be different this year, is that instead of just giving those resumes to those who run the NBC internship program, NBC NEWS will now do its own internship recruitment program with each minority journalist association.”

Judging from the efforts of some other media organizations, the key to having a diverse intern class is to dispense with NBC’s original notion of color-blindness – selecting solely by telephone interviews and resumes. Paying the interns helps, as students of color are less able to work for free.

“ABC News offers a number of paid and unpaid internships every semester,” ABC spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said today. “The paid internship program was instituted in 2000 for students of color who demonstrate a solid interest in journalism and network news.”

At ABC, she continued, “The semester-long internships are offered in ABC News bureaus in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. Additionally, ABC News has formed strategic partnerships with programs around the country to encourage students of color to pursue journalism as a career.”

At National Public Radio, the interns “are 30 percent minority,” as are 40 percent of the intern candidates, Emily Lenzner, an NPR spokeswoman, told Journal-isms. Summer interns are paid $7 per hour; fall and winter internships are unpaid, she said. “Paying interns means we get a broader economic/educational cross section of talent,” said Doug Mitchell, who oversees the newsmagazine that NPR interns produce three times a year, “Intern Edition.”

“Obviously, it’s very much a priority to NPR to have as diverse an intern program as possible,” Lenzner said, adding that the network recruits in the late fall and in early December in the African American and Asian American communities, and has started to do so among Latinos and Native Americans.

CBS has established a “News Apprenticeship Program” whose goals include “to attract a diverse pool of talented individuals who will contribute to our story selection and execution.” It is offered at CBS television stations in Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Green Bay, Wis.; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City and San Francisco.

The apprenticeships last for six months and candidates earn from $9 to $15 per hour, depending on market size.

However, the internships at CBS News headquarters are unpaid, according to CBS News publicist Janell George. She said diversity is achieved by recruiting at historically black colleges and at universities with large Hispanic populations. The National Association of Black Journalists provides two internships a year, she said. CBS does not disclose its diversity figures, she said, but George asserted, “CBS News considers having a diverse intern class a priority and we follow through on it.”

Fox News Channel proudly touts its paid apprenticeship program, created by CEO Roger Ailes and now in its third year. It is defined as an annual merit-based program, “part of a diversity initiative at FOX News designed to attract and develop minority employees.”

“The apprentices [were] trained in various departments at FOX News, ranging from production to technical operations to viewer services, and were each paired with a mentor who guided them on a daily basis,” a program description says.

Because of the program, a cleaning lady is now a makeup artist, a former Army officer now heads up the graphics department and a freelance desk assistant is now a booker, the network says.

Fouzia Bouanane, who was part of the Fox News cleaning and maintenance department, is now a makeup artist, applying makeup for the news anchors and on-air guests.

Francisco (Franky) Cortes discovered a talent for on-air graphics, and is now in charge of graphics for 32 Fox News Shows around the country. And Cory Howard, formerly a freelance desk assistant, answering phones and doing entry-level assignments at Fox News, today is the booker for “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” selecting guests, the network said.

Perhaps the most important criterion for developing an inclusive intern class is the corporate culture, according to George Benge, a news executive at Gannett Co., the nation’s largest newspaper company. Gannett reported in September that, “the percentage of interns of color at Gannett newspapers climbed from 48.1 percent in 2004 to 52.1 percent.”

[Added Aug. 16: “Broadcast’s message is good too….24% of interns are minorities, 65% are women. The goal is to reflect our communities and we do – by at least 150%,” Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said via e-mail.]

“If it’s part of the culture and people know it’s an important part of your culture, it’s something you don’t have to harp on or launch programs,” Benge told Journal-isms. “It’s just what we do.”

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Arizona Partnership Creates Broadcast Fellowships

The same day that NBC News Anchor Brian Williams acknowledged that achieving diversity will take work, the Meredith Corp. announced a nationwide fellowship program for 12 broadcast journalism students of color at KPHO-TV in Phoenix.

Participants are to spend a week in January working with instructors from the Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and KPHO reporters, producers, editors and videographers. At week’s end, students produce a 30-minute newscast.

“For a long period of time, I have felt our industry could do a much better job of attracting minorities,” Steve Hammel, KPHO general manager, told Journal-isms. Since Hammel is on the board of the Cronkite school, he said he raised the idea with its new dean, Chris Callahan, who agreed the idea was a good one. Hammel said Meredith Corp., which owns 14 television stations, also approved. The students are to receive a $2,000 stipend and a leg up on jobs at any of the Meredith stations, Hammel said.

Hammel cautioned that, “I’m not looking at this as an internship. We’re hoping they will already have had one internship. We’re looking for the best of the best.”

Those interested should send a cover letter, resume, three references and a tape, where applicable, to the Meredith Corporation-Cronkite Fellowship Selection Committee, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287. Application materials must be received by Oct. 1.

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Gordon’s NPR Show Loses 17 Percent of Audience

National Public Radio’s “News and Notes with Ed Gordon” “has lost 17 percent of its original weekly audience – about 185,000 listeners,” Eric Deggans wrote today in the St. Petersburg Times.

“Stations in major markets such as Chicago, New York and Cleveland have dropped or downgraded the show. Staffers have been told by NPR management that if they were working on a commercial radio program with comparable listener loss, they would have been canceled by now.

“But, considering that News & Notes is the second, black-focused show to find turbulent times at NPR, a sharper question emerges: Is the organization unable to sustain quality programming for black audiences?

“‘Sometimes, I feel this show is being allowed to die on the vine,’ said Gordon, who nevertheless resisted notions that NPR was failing to program to black people,” Deggans wrote.

“‘People say I haven’t connected with audiences. . . . That’s probably true because the show hasn’t connected with me,’ he added. ‘And part of the problem was not knowing what people wanted. Do you want a typical, NPR-type show, or do you try to bring some shade . . . some color to NPR?'”

Gordon is expected to announce Friday that he will host a new New York-based television show produced by Black Enterprise magazine, sources have told Journal-isms.

NPR spokeswoman Andi Sporkin said today, “It’s no secret that N&N has been experiencing a significant loss of audience for quite a while and several stations dropped it or downgraded its time period over the past year. While it’s very hard to launch a new daily show in public radio, once it’s on the air, it rarely sees such fall-off. So this audience rejection has been troubling to everyone. We’ve made a number of changes over the past months to try and stem the audience tide, and we continue to explore what else should be done,” she told Journal-isms.

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Fox Correspondent, Cameraman Kidnapped in Gaza

“A Fox News correspondent and his cameraman were kidnapped Monday in Gaza by Palestinian gunmen who ambushed their vehicle, a spokeswoman for the cable news network confirmed,” Matea Gold reported today for the Los Angeles Times.

“Washington-based correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig, a New Zealand native, were in a parked television transmission van in the center of Gaza City, about to head to their usual live spot location when two vehicles blocked them in.

“A masked man held a gun to their bodyguard, forcing him to the ground, and kidnapped Centanni and Wiig, as well as their translator, who was later released.”

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Les Payne Warns on Exploiting Terror-Plot Story

“Transatlantic suicide bombers were to mix cocktails of liquid explosives in flight and blast from the skies as many as a dozen airliners en route from England to the United States. There’s nothing like a foiled plot to swell the chests of the authorities – and whet the appetite of the politicians,” columnist Les Payne wrote Sunday in Newsday.

“. . . Such ‘terror plots’ call for the media to be ever vigilant against the excesses of the bureaucrat seeking promotion and the elected official seeking votes. Both power centers are capable of exploiting such emergencies. It is the role of the media to eschew propaganda while ferreting out the facts leading toward the truth. A healthy skepticism of authority and politician is in order.

“First, let’s deal with the authorities. . . .”

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What Would Miami Do Without Castro?

“He’s our tyrant, and we’re his mafia,” Ana Menendez wrote Sunday in the Miami Herald. “From the outside, it may look like one of the world’s most bitter rivalries. But the truth is that Castro and his Miami relatives have spent a half-century writing the greatest love story ever told: a classic tale of outsized egos, betrayal and obsession.”

She also wrote, “to a community that has long identified itself primarily in opposition to one man, the disappearance of Fidel Castro could prove paradoxically disastrous.

“For 47 years he’s been the black sun everything revolves around, Miami’s unofficial, all-powerful anti-deity.”

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Mike Kellogg Reelected as NAJA President

Mike Kellogg of Stillwater, Okla., a member of the Navajo nation and publisher of the Stillwater News Press, was reelected president of the Native American Journalists Association by the NAJA board of directors as the association’s convention ended in Tulsa, Okla., over the weekend.

Ron Washines was elected vice president; Cristina Azocar was named treasurer and Bryan Pollard was designated secretary. All are currently on the NAJA board.

Hispanics, Blacks Reconnecting with Roots

“Hispanic and African American consumers are reconnecting with their roots more so now than at any other time in the past, according to the Yankelovich MONITOR Multicultural Marketing Study 2006 released today from marketing consultancy Yankelovich Inc. For Hispanics, this strong reconnection means growing the bi-cultural segment of the marketplace; for African Americans, it means creating a new Black renaissance,” according to a news release Friday from Yankelovich.

“This year’s study also revealed that trust in government and other institutions declined over the past year for African Americans while it remained positive for Hispanics. Yet, both groups still have strong trust in brands.

“The study was developed in collaboration with Burrell Communications, the nation’s leading agency specializing in African American and urban markets, and Dr. Felipe Korzenny, professor and director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. Now in its third year, the study is the first of its kind to examine consumer behaviors and attitudes and offer comparative and contrasting views of the African American, U.S. Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White markets.”

In one finding, “85% of Hispanics say they ‘consider myself to be Hispanic first, American second or consider myself to be both American and Hispanic equally.'”

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