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Insights Gleaned After 40 Years

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Newark Revisits Upheaval That Left 26 Dead

In March, Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley wrote that when a radio executive at an panel discussion asked for ideas on covering the 40th anniversary of Detroit’s 1967 riot, “I said my greatest hope was that there would be no coverage.

“Detroit’s problem isn’t that it hasn’t learned the lessons. It is that it rejects the lessons. The city has been permanently stuck in July 1967 and permanently defined by the riot,” Riley wrote.

Newark, the other prominent city to experience a major, defining racial disturbance 40 years ago this month, is having none of that. This week, the city’s major paper, the Star-Ledger, has been running a four-day series on the social tsunami, in which 26 died and the five-day damage toll reached $10 million. The paper set up a Web site with original documents and PDFs of newspapers from the era, along with video reflections from those who were there and those who came afterward.

“In the case of Newark, you always have to look back to look forward,” Steve Liebman, the assistant managing editor in charge of the project and a graduate of the Maynard Institute’s management program, told Journal-isms. He was 3 years old in 1967, and said it was important to retell the history because memories get tricky and witnesses die off.

Moreover, Liebman said, historians and academics have, over time, come up with “a lot of crystallization of ideas” that challenge the conventional wisdom about what led to the uprising.

The first installment, which ran Sunday, presented some of them. Brad Parks’ story said, “Today and for the next three days, more than 50 years of the area’s history will be revisited — from gilded commercial strip to riot-shredded shell, then from vacated inner-city wasteland to urban-redevelopment success story.

“Drawing on thousands of pages of documents recently discovered in State Police headquarters, four decades of scholarly research, and the living memory of dozens who crossed through the neighborhood, this four-part series will debunk some popular myths. Among them:

“The series also will reveal some never-before-reported details about the disorders. Among them:

Among the surprises from reading the contemporary stories, Liebman said, was the period language. As a college student, this columnist was one of a “three-man team of Star-Ledger Negro reporters” who were taking the temperature of the city’s black community when the riot erupted. The team’s reporting became a Sunday story, “Prelude to riot: Unruly youths running wild.”

In Detroit, “We know we’ll recognize the anniversary with some substantial coverage,” Caesar Andrews, executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, told Journal-isms on Wednesday. It will note the events of 40 years ago, with emphasis on where things stand now and where the community is headed. Coverage will be spread across several days, with special commentary on editorial pages.”

The competing Detroit News has published this message:

“Were you alive during the summer of 1967? Do remember when you learned that there was rioting in Detroit? Please share your memories. Comments will be published online in a future special report on the 1967 riots, and also may be published in our newspaper.”

That was followed by a reminder. “After five days of violence, federal troops helped restore order to the city. The toll: 43 dead, hundreds injured, thousands arrested, more than 2,500 stores looted or burned, and 1,000 families homeless. Plus, a national reputation for racial tension that lingers today.”

A similar note from the Free Press was posted Wednesday.

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Eddie Pinder, Beloved Producer at ABC, Dies at 36

Eddie Pinder, a producer at ABC News described as “a large man with a personality to match,” died Thursday morning after complications he suffered while recovering from heart bypass surgery. He would have turned 37 on Aug. 19.

 

 

 

“Everyone who knew Eddie loved him, and just about all of us knew him,” ABC News President David L. Westin said in a message to ABC employees. “We each have our own special memories. He was truly larger than life. He was intelligent, passionate, and engaging. He was an avid fan of music and had a beautiful singing voice that he used for a time in his own acapella gospel music group. But most of all, he had a rare spirit that filled a room and made a lasting impression on anyone he touched. We are better for having had Eddie in our midst, which makes our loss all the greater.”

ABC News Correspondent Steve Osunsami wrote on an ABC News Web site:

“Anyone who knew Eddie understood he was not a fan of mourning or misery. Before his first surgery to remove the brain tumor, he threw a party. He was a large man with a personality to match. He had a booming voice, and to the delight and surprise of his colleagues in the newsroom he loved to sing. Whenever he visited a city, and had the time, he made a point of finding the local karaoke bar, where he would sing his heart out. Life taught Eddie to sing and dance as if no one was watching.”

Westin said in his note, “Eddie started his career at ABC News in January of 1997 as an off-air reporter. He was promoted to New York Bureau Producer in 1999 and then to Producer for ‘World News Tonight’ in 2002. Eddie distinguished himself and all of ABC News by his work, including his ‘Master Teacher’ series for ‘Nightline’ on the experiences of a first-year public school teacher dealing with at-risk fourth-graders in Red Hook, Brooklyn; his reporting on linguistic profiling for ’20/20,’ ‘World News Tonight,’ and ABCNews.com; and his work on the ‘America in Black & White’ series for ‘Nightline,’ telling the story of a man who discovers for the first time that he is the son of an African-American.”

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NAACP Stages Its Funeral for the “N-word”

“A horse-drawn carriage pulled a pine casket topped with black roses through the streets of Detroit on Monday,” Suzette Hackney wrote Tuesday in the Detroit Free Press.

“The coffin was cheap, and the flowers were fake— a fitting send-off for something despised by so many.

“This was no celebration-of-life funeral. The thousands who gathered in Hart Plaza on the city’s riverfront were more than happy to rejoice in this passing, the hoped-for demise of the N-word and its slang derivative.

“A gospel choir rocked out, and speaker after speaker jovially bid good riddance to the words historically associated with the racist degradation of African Americans, but now often casually used to greet friends or get a point across in a song’s lyric or stand-up comic’s routine.

“‘Realizing that it was inappropriate to blatantly continue his past messages of white supremacy, nigger changed his name to nigga,’ said Victoria Lanier, an NAACP youth field director, reading an obituary prepared for the event. ‘Nigga, now disguised as an ally to black youth, could go undercover and position himself as a link to black unity.'”

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Ducis Rodgers Named Sports Director at WCBS-TV

 

 

Ducis Rodgers has been promoted to sports director and anchor at WCBS-TV, the CBS flagship in the nation’s No. 1 television market. He is one of the few African Americans to hold the sports director’s position.

Rodgers fills a slot left vacant last fall when Chris Wragge was converted from a sports anchor into a news anchor, Richard Huff reported Tuesday in the New York Daily News.

According to his bio, “Rodgers joined WCBS-TV in 2003 from WSVN-TV Miami, where he served as the station’s lead sports anchor (1995-2003). During his tenure at the station, he covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the Stanley Cup Finals. In 2003, he was named Best Sportscaster by the Miami New Times. Prior to WSVN, Rodgers was the weekend sports anchor for WDEF-TV in Chattanooga, TN.

“While at WCBS, Rodgers has covered both the Mets and Yankees during spring training and the playoffs, as well as the playoffs for the Knicks and Nets. He was awarded with a NY State Broadcasters Association Award for his sports reporting and anchoring in 2007.” He “has scored exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in sports including George Steinbrenner in 2004. In 2006, Rodgers had a cameo appearance on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman.'”

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2 Sponsors Want None of BET’s “Hot Ghetto Mess”

No sooner had that the New York Times written about Black Entertainment Television’s attempt to upgrade its image than news came that at least two companies have pulled ads from one of the network’s new entries, “Hot Ghetto Mess.”

 

 

“Sources said Monday that such companies as State Farm Insurance Cos. and the Home Depot requested that their advertisements be yanked from the new comedy series ‘Hot Ghetto Mess’ as well as from a Web page on BET.com touting the program,” Andrew Wallenstein reported on Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter.

“‘Mess’ is a compilation of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street segments that exhibit blacks in unflattering situations that typically illustrate the excesses of so-called hip-hop culture. Also drawing some fire is ‘Mess’ ‘ 10 p.m. lead-in, the new hidden-camera series ‘S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior),’ as well as the logo for ‘Mess,’ which appears to be an animated blackface character depicted with a red slash through the image.

“Ever since word of the series’ development spread in January, ‘Mess’ has been a lightning rod for debate online largely because of the Web site on which the series is based, hotghettomess.com. The 3-year-old site, which also has spawned a DVD documentary, features hundreds of photographs of mostly black men and women with hairstyles and clothing associated with inner-city fashion.

“The network and Jam Donaldson, creator of the Web site and an executive producer of the series, maintain that the images are presented in a context meant to spur black America to question its community standards. But others contend that ‘Mess’ is only perpetuating the stereotypes it seeks to curb.”

On Monday, a New York Times feature by Felicia R. Lee said of BET: “The oldest and largest cable network aimed at African-Americans, it has long depended on reruns, movies and music videos, developing few hits of its own. But now, in an increasingly competitive cable market, BET hopes to freshen its profile.” It noted that BET was introducing 16 shows through 2008, the biggest lineup of debuts in its 27-year history, and quoted Hudlin: “This is the largest aggregation of black programming in television history. We’re developing a class of creators that will develop the next generation of stars who will transform the game.”

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Mark Trahant to Moderate “Prez on the Rez” Debate

 

 

 

Mark Trahant, editor of the editorial page at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and board chairman of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, has been selected to moderate “Prez on the Rez,” an Aug. 23 Democratic presidential candidates debate billed as the first such assemblage ever on Indian land.

However, only New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, have confirmed that they will appear. The word “refused” appears below the name of front-runner Hillary Clinton on the sponsoring group’s Web site.

“Prez on the Rez” is not the only planned debate still lacking the marquee names.

Josephine Hearn of Politico.com reported on Saturday, “The Democratic debate hosted by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute threatens to be 90 minutes of bad TV, a planned presidential forum without the big-name candidates, a political event with few politicians.

“Only three candidates, mostly lesser-knowns at that, have agreed to show up. The Big Three — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) — said several months ago that they would not debate on the network that many Democrats believe tilts far to the right.

“But organizers, including prominent members of the black caucus, are not ready to admit defeat. They still hope to entice (or shame) the front-runners into attending and, failing that, to devise an alternate format to add zest to the show beyond the lengthy discourses of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and former Sen. Mike Gravel (Alaska).”

Questioned about the Native gathering, Clinton campaign spokesman Jin Chon told Journal-isms on Wednesday, “Hillary Clinton will not be in California on the day of Prez on the Rez. Hillary Clinton has an extensive record supporting issues important to the Native Americans. She spearheaded efforts to train Native American teachers, set up the first-ever Native American forum in the Senate and co-sponsored Indian health care legislation. The campaign looks forward to continuing its outreach to Native Americans and as president, Hillary Clinton will work closely with tribal leaders to address the concerns of Indian Country.”

He attached a news release in which Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians in Minnesota announces her support of Clinton.

The Aug. 23 event is sponsored by the INDN List Education Fund, which selected the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Cabazon, Calif., to host the debate.

Trahant, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe of Idaho, said in a statement, “Like the staff and supporters of the INDN’s List Education Fund, I believe that we can only begin to change the conditions in Indian Country by holding our leaders accountable to us as citizens and as voters.”

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Readers Weighing in on Villaraigosa Scandal

The first stories last week after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed his affair with Telemundo anchor Mirthala Salinas said the public was inured to such behavior by politicians. But the responses on the Los Angeles Times Web site seem to indicate otherwise.

As of 8 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, readers had filled 166 pages — 10 responses to a page — answering the question: “What do you think of the mayor’s announcement about his relationship with a TV newscaster? Do you think Telemundo made the right move by placing Mirthala Salinas on leave during an investigation?”

Most were unsympathetic, such as this reader, who wrote: “Let’s play everything out for the next few months. Antonio’s divorce becomes final, an engagement announcement with Mirthala. Is her new last name, Villasalinas? Maybe the mayor will dump Mirthala and change his name to the person he loves most, himself. How does Antonio Villavilla sound?”

Meanwhile, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists issued a statement on Tuesday saying it “finds it unacceptable for journalists to get involved with sources. . . .

“While details of the relationship, and what Salinas’ managers knew about it, are unclear, NAHJ maintains that a journalist cannot remain unbiased if he or she becomes romantically involved with a source. Once the relationship becomes personal, professionalism is compromised. A personal relationship between a source and reporter ruins the credibility of not just the people involved and their employers, but of all journalists in general.”

La Opinión, Los Angeles’ largest Spanish-language newspaper, questioned “whether it is appropriate to hold press conferences to discuss one’s private life,” New American Media reported on Friday. “The private lives of elected officials are no longer secret, notes the editorial. The public has a right to know what public officials are doing behind closed doors, editors write, although what matters is how this affects their ability to do their jobs. The recent revelations about the mayor’s divorce and extramarital affair are personal matters that have not impacted his role as mayor, the editorial contends.”

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Michael Savage Says Let ‘Em Starve to Death

“On the July 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage discussed a recent hunger strike organized by five students in the San Francisco area to show their support for The DREAM Act, a provision of the 2007 Comprehensive Immigration bill,” the Web site Media Matters reported on Friday.

“The DREAM (or Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act would provide a pathway to citizenship and other benefits for certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 16 if they graduate from high school and enroll in either college or the military.

“In discussing the students, Savage stated: ‘I would say, let them fast until they starve to death; then that solves the problem. Because then we won’t have a problem about giving them green cards; because they’re illegal aliens, they don’t belong here to begin with.'”

On her Latina Lista Web site, Marisa Treviño countered, “Obviously, Savage doesn’t know what he’s talking about — but that’s how these so-called conservative radio talk show hosts earn their living.

“Otherwise, he would know that of the 65,000 children who are undocumented and attend US schools, a good number of them only know life in this country.”

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Blogosphere Buzzes Over Moore vs. Gupta

The blogosphere is buzzing about filmmaker Michael Moore’s impassioned appearance Monday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” in which he complained about a piece preceding his interview claiming that in his new film “Sicko,” Moore shaded some minor facts about patient wait times and treatment satisfaction, media critic Eric Deggans wrote Tuesday on his St. Petersburg Times blog.

 

 

“After a set-up piece by Sanjay Gupta which raised questions about some issues presented in his film, Moore confronted anchor Wolf Blitzer about the allegations in Gupta’s piece, CNN’s reporting in the beginning of the Iraq War and CNN’s reporting on his previous documentary, Fahrenheit 911. ‘We are in the 5th year of this war because you and CNN, Dr. Gupta, you didn’t do your jobs back then. And now here we are again in this mess . . . I just wonder when the American people are going to turn off their TV sets and stop listening to this mess.'”

Deggans updated on Wednesday: “Huffington Post has some interesting material on the back and forth between Sanjay Gupta and Michael Moore on CNN last night, including the note that Moore’s people did provide rebuttals to Gupta’s story some time before his story fact checking Sicko ran. Which makes Gupta look even worse in this incident, now looking increasingly like the CNN correspondent fudged facts of his own to make a case against the filmmaker.”

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