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O.J. Interview a “Confession”

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Publisher Characterizes New Book, Fox Programs

The publisher of the new book in which O.J. Simpson hypothesizes about how he could have committed the 1994 murder of his ex-wife and her friend said on Thursday that she believed Simpson’s statements were, in fact, a confession, Edward Wyatt reported in the New York Times.

Commentators and citizens alike have been nearly unanimous in condemning “If I Did It” and publisher Judith Regan’s two-part television interview with Simpson, which is to be broadcast on Fox on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29.

“‘Ms. Regan defended her decision to publish the book, which she said was spurred in part because she, like Nicole Brown Simpson, was a victim of domestic abuse. She added that she was willing to help the victims’ families recover any money that flowed to Mr. Simpson from the book,” Wyatt wrote.

“Ms. Regan said that Mr. Simpson’s conduct during the interview convinced her of his guilt. A segment of the interview is on Fox’s Web site at www.fox.com/oj.

“‘When you see the interview, you’ll be stunned by his thought process,’ she said. ‘In my view, this is his confession.’

“. . . Unlike most news organizations that conduct interviews, Ms. Regan’s publishing company paid millions of dollars for the rights to Mr. Simpson’s story. The National Enquirer reported last month that ReganBooks is paying $3.5 million for the rights, but Ms. Regan said on Thursday that the amount was ‘far less,’ though she declined to specify by how much.”

So far, there seems to be no racial divide in the reaction, as there was over the not guilty verdict in Simpson’s 1995 murder trial. At least three African American columnists have joined in the denunciation.

“The saddest aspect of this travesty is that Regan knows the book will sell and Fox knows the Simpson ‘interview’ will score huge ratings,” Eugene Robinson wrote Friday in the Washington Post. “They have studied our weaknesses and calculated that sensation always trumps honor.”

On Thursday, sports columnist Stephen A. Smith wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “O.J. Simpson is a despicable human being, which is actually being kind because some would say he’s officially less than human. Any man who would attempt to profit off the double murder of his ex-wife (Nicole Brown Simpson) and her friend (Ronald Goldman) with such glee, such indifference to a brutal slaying practically everyone believes he committed, does not deserve anyone’s understanding or compassion.”

Veteran sports journalist Roy S. Johnson began his Thursday blog entry, “O.J.: Donâ??t Buy It, Read It, Watch It. Got It?” with, “Itâ??s difficult to find a low so low I was torn whether to even write about it. Doing so is just what they want. It is the very reason—that and the paper—they dove to the pits of pitdom. Judith Regan is the scum/book publisher and purveyer of depravity whoâ??s behind this junk. She knew weâ??d buy, read, watch. O.J.? Heâ??s, well, O.J.”

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Tennessee Weekly Names Blacks Who Did Not Vote

In an effort to get out the vote on Nov. 7, the Tennessee Tribune, an African American weekly in Nashville, published a 28-page section the previous Thursday listing those who were registered to vote in its predominantly black district but did not go to the polls in August.

The publisher, Rosetta Miller-Perry, told Journal-isms the strategy worked: The district had a 65 percent voter turnout, second-highest in the city, she said, up from the usual 30 to 35 percent.

But in the weekly Nashville Scene, Sekou Franklin, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University, condemned the action Thursday, saying:

“Although the Tribune’s action did not legally violate the letter and intent of existing civil rights laws, it did violate the spirit and ethos of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Because voting in American politics is a private right and not compulsory, disciplinary measures, such as exposing non-voters to public reprimand, are callous and unethical, and they help to legitimate a culture of intimidation in electoral politics that has historically been used to dilute the black vote.”

Miller-Perry, who said she got the idea from another black newspaper publisher in Texas, dismissed the criticism. “You’ve got to do something to get people to the polls,” she said, adding that white politicians used to woo blacks with barbecue and whisky. Moreover, “If you don’t pay your property taxes, they put it in the majority press. If they can put your name and address” in the paper over taxes, “What’s the difference?”

The Tribune, which claims a circulation of 45,000, plans a rebuttal to Franklin’s piece in its next issue, she said.

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Cleveland Stations File Live on Levert Funeral

“A sea of purple invaded downtown today, as fans dressed in Gerald Levert’s favorite color sang and danced under umbrellas waiting for today’s memorial service to begin,” Cleveland’s WOIO-TV reported Friday afternoon as the funeral of the R&B singer, who died last week at 40, got under way.

Mark Silberstein, WOIO managing editor, told Journal-isms the city’s television stations began broadcasting live during early-morning shows and continued on and off until the funeral ended at about 3 p.m. Television reporters were not allowed inside the Public Hall, where the services were conducted, so they broadcast from outside.

Silberstein said his station asked viewers to express their sentiments on its Web site during the 4 p.m. show, and about 500 did so.

“Gerald Levert’s death wasn’t big news in every neighborhood; he was a black R&B singer with little if any profile on white pop radio,” Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote Friday in his syndicated Miami Herald column. “But if you are black and of a certain age, it was the kind of bulletin that made you pull over the car.

“We live in an era where music is largely impersonal, a cut-and-paste, machine-tooled artifice. Moreover, we live in an era where black music in particular is often a police blotter or a sex act or a product placement, but, less frequently, a love song. Still, some of us remember when black music was about soul and soul was about truth—particularly the truth of How It Is between women and men.”

[On the e-mail list of the National Association of Black Journalists Saturday, Neil Foote, director of communications of Reach Media, said, “It’s unfortunate that mainstream national media hasn’t covered this story. If you haven’t seen any footage, I wanted to point you all to the video segments from the public memorial service available on BlackAmericaWeb.com. One of the truly powerful moments is Stevie Wonder singing ‘All I Do’ with Eddie Levert standing by his side …”]

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2 Latinos Among Layoffs in Phoenix Newsroom

Two Latinos were among about seven newsroom people laid off Monday at the Arizona Republic, which reduced staffing overall by 31 people.

Peter Madrid, an assistant sports editor with 27 years at the paper, told Journal-isms he had no idea what was coming when he was called to a room on Monday and saw about six or seven others. “It was quite a shock,” he said of the news. Madrid, 49, was on the original staff of USA Today, which launched in 1982. Both papers are owned by Gannett.

Madrid said he took particular note of the dismissals because he is active in Associated Press Sports Editors, which reported in June that 94.7 percent of the sports editors, 86.7 percent of the assistant sports editors, 89.9 percent of our columnists, 87.4 percent of our reporters and 89.7 percent of our copy editors/designers are white.

He said an editor from another Arizona paper, “a good friend of mine,” called him Wednesday night to discuss a copy editing position at his paper after hearing about his layoff through the grapevine.

The second Latino expressed similar surprise, but did not want his name used. “I do not want problems with anyone,” he said, fearing “this could give me a bad image with any possible future employer.”

Among other developments this week:

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Ellis Cose Report Pessimistic on Affirmative Action

“The number of minorities—particularly black Americans—winning government contracts and being admitted to public colleges and universities in California has dwindled since a ballot measure was passed 10 years ago outlawing preferential treatment for minorities in those areas, according to a study released yesterday,” Elizabeth Williamson and Valerie Strauss reported Friday in the Washington Post.

“The study of California’s Proposition 209 shows that it has had a major effect, according to Ellis Cose, who wrote the report for the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication.

The passage of an anti-affirmative-action proposal in Michigan this month shows that “there is a huge sense on the part of white voters that affirmative action needs to end,” said Cose, an author and contributing editor and columnist for Newsweek. Although the national implication remains uncertain, “if this thing is put before states where there is a significant white majority, it’s likely to pass,” he said in the story.

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Video Online of Black Columnists’ Panel on Midterms

A public discussion by African American columnists this week on the results of the midterm elections made plain what perspectives are missing from most airwaves.

A video of the Trotter Group panel was made available Friday on the Web site of the John S. Knight Fellowship Program at Stanford University. Hearing these columnists’ views all in one place seemed so unusual that the token representation of African Americans on political talk shows—when not missing completely—became obvious.

Below is a skeletal account of the session by Trotter member Wayne Dawkins of Hampton University:

Listen in on what six leading black newspaper columnists Monday night said was next for America after Nov. 7 congressional and gubernatorial elections that dramatically altered the nation’s political landscape:

“America took America back,” said Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press. “America begins in the cities and towns. Washington politicians thought they were supposed to play the game without us.”

Betty Winston Baye of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal said war with Iraq defined last week’s election that demoted Republicans in the House and Senate.

War was personal: “My nephew’s father, 27, was killed in Tikrit, Iraq, last December. People like my cousin are fighting this war and others talk about it,” she said, referring to policy makers. For me, Iraq is not a conversation.”

Lewis Diuguid of the Kansas City Star agreed: Black columnists “were crucified and marginalized for criticizing U.S. war policy. It is time for us to say ‘where is our piece of the pie?’

“It is [also] time for Democrats to rewrite the Bush administration’s blue skies b.s.

“It’s got to be on now.”

Les Payne of Newsday said, “The Republic held. In the 2000 and 2004 elections, America’s structure was in jeopardy. Last week, the message was not all good but mixed, not so rosy for Democrats. They face a huge mess.”

Askia Muhammad, who writes for the Final Call and the Washington Informer, said, “Last week was a pulling back from the brink. Three weeks ago I used the word ‘tsunami’ in the lead of my story and an editor took the word out. The next time, I wrote ‘tsunami’ into the headline.

“You don’t have a war against someone who doesn’t attack you,” Muhammad continued. “President Bush is Pharaoh and our country pulled back from the Red Sea.”

Baye said incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “great challenge is going to be overcoming the ‘liberal’ media.

“We see the same tired people on the Sunday talk shows as if there is no diversity.

“And don’t forget that a lot of the Democrats elected last week are nominal Democrats.”

Riley said, “We are facing the two most important years in modern American political history.” Pelosi, D-Calif. will need to draw from the experience of Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. and John Conyers, D-Mich., she said.

Both longtime Congressional Black Caucus members are poised to chair powerful congressional committees because of the power shift in Washington.

The commentators were drawn from 30 members of the William Monroe Trotter Group, a columnist society that was meeting at Stanford. About 50 people attended the public forum sponsored by the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists.

Trotter columnist Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe moderated the 90-minute session. Jackson noted last week’s history-making election in his state: African American Deval Patrick was elected governor of Massachusetts, the first of his race since Douglas L. Wilder of Virginia in 1989.

 

MORE FROM THE TROTTER GROUP

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BET Rebroadcasting CBS Tribute to Ed Bradley

Colleagues and admirers of CBS correspondent Ed Bradley continued to tell readers their stories this week, as Black Entertainment Television planned to rebroadcast last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” tribute to Bradley on Sunday at noon and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time.

In Newsday, magazine journalist Curtis Stephen wrote that a meeting with Bradley at a New York Association of Black Journalists event led to “a semi-regular series of meetings and conversations that continued until his death. We talked by phone and in person—initially every couple of months, later at longer stretches. We discussed everything from stories he was working on to my issues at school.”

In the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Neal Justin wrote about meeting Bradley at the J Camp program of the Asian American Journalists Association:

“Last Thursday I was in Miami, coincidentally preparing for next summer’s J Camp, when I heard the news of Bradley’s passing at age 65. I thought about how important it was for me, an Asian-American journalist, to see a minority presence on my TV screen for nearly three decades. I thought about our mutual love for the New Orleans Jazzfest, where Bradley was known to take the stage and sing an exuberant, if off-key, version of the old R&B hit ‘Sixty Minute Man.’ But most of all I thought of him surrounded by students at that J Camp reception, sharing his thoughts and lingering long after his prearranged time.”

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