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Los Angeles Times Stakes Out Politician’s Digs

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Burke Accused of Not Living in Her Poor District

For three weeks, reporters from the Los Angeles Times watched the comings and goings of prominent Los Angeles politician Yvonne Braithwaite Burke — a county supervisor and onetime congresswoman and member of the Congressional Black Caucus — and concluded, as their story said on Friday, that Burke, “who was elected to represent some of the county’s poorest neighborhoods, is living in a gated Brentwood home, despite laws requiring her to reside in the predominantly South Los Angeles district she serves.”

 

 

 

“In an interview with The Times two weeks ago, Burke said it was only on weekends and special occasions that she used her Brentwood home — a 4,000-square-foot residence with a swimming pool and tennis court that she and her husband have long owned. She said she lived at a 1,200-square-foot townhouse in Mar Vista, on a busy street just inside the border of her district,” Jack Leonard and Matt Lait wrote.

“But over a three-week period in which she was observed by Times reporters, Burke spent every weekday evening at her Brentwood house, in the district of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. When confronted by reporters Wednesday, Burke changed her story and acknowledged that she has rarely slept in the Mar Vista townhouse, which she has declared as her primary residence since she purchased it more than a year ago.”

The story noted that, “In recent years, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has successfully prosecuted several politicians for living outside their districts — in Huntington Park, South Gate and West Covina.

“Last month, prosecutors in San Francisco leveled criminal and civil charges against a county supervisor who they contend lives outside his constituency.”

On Thursday, before the Times story appeared, Burke’s office issued this statement:

“In an effort to clarify an issue in today’s L.A. Times’ article regarding my residency in the Second District, I want to assure everyone that I have always maintained my primary district residence and I intend to remain a resident of the Second District.

“On Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at approximately 4:40 p.m., I was accosted at my Centinela Ave. residence by two L.A. Times’ reporters, demanding to know why I had not been spending the evenings there and why did I meet my staff person there and allow him to park his car in my garage and drive me to work?

“I invited them inside, where I indicated that I had been remodeling and had a partial wall removed and installed a new kitchen.

“There is a lock box containing a key to the front door, which has been there for several months to allow the workmen to have access to the house. I suspect as the workmen left the property and returned the key to the lock box, the reporters saw them leave the property. I later found out that the reporters had spoke[n] to the contractor, who confirmed that the remodeling was taking place.

“I have also owned a house in Mandeville Canyon since 1981, which I rented out for a number of years and then spent a couple of years remodeling. I often spend weekends there and have been staying there during the termite work and remodeling of my Centinela Ave. town home. I had hoped that the remodeling would have been complete at my Centinela Ave. residence by now.

“For most of the 15 years that I have served as Supervisor, I resided in Marina Del Rey and the media had full knowledge and access to me at that address. In view of media interest, I welcome media outlets to review the premises in the near future and will make available all orders for appliances, contracts, and cancelled checks from my bank statements that I have received to date.”

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“Ghetto Mess” Loses Viewers From Lead-In Show

The Black Entertainment Television premiere of “Hot Ghetto Mess” — retitled “We Got to Do Better” — lost viewers from its lead-in show, “Socially Offensive Behavior,” according to Nielsen figures that BET touted in a news release on Friday.

“BET’s latest wave of original programming scored record numbers on Wednesday night, with viewers tuning in to see the premieres of S.O.B.: SOCIALLY OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT and WE GOT TO DO BETTER at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT,” the release said. “The first episode of S.O.B posted a 1.05 rating (899,555 households), according to Nielsen Media Research. Additionally, WE GOT TO DO BETTER premiered to a .88 rating (750,836 households), according to Nielsen Media Research.

 

 

“S.O.B and WE GOT TO DO BETTER enjoyed double-digit ratings percentage increases, up 50% and 11% respectively, versus the same time period a year ago. These noteworthy debuts are also the top two BET primetime series telecasts among adults during the third quarter 2007.”

“Hot Ghetto Mess/We Got to Do Better” was the target of a boycott led by Gina McCauley, a lawyer from Austin, Texas ,and creator of the protest blog What About Our Daughters?

“S.O.B.” continually promoted the show to follow with, “You’ve heard the controversy— now, decide for yourself.”

The show also failed to attract advertisers, with commercials for a new movie from a studio created by BET founder Bob Johnson predominating. As Jackie Jones reported on BlackAmericaWeb.com, “McCauley noted that nearly all of the commercials on the show were promos for other BET programs.

“‘We had one or two local commercials,’ she said. ‘One for Time Warner and a car commercial.'”

McCauley wrote on her Web site, “What Happens When you Plan a Boycott and No Sponsors Show Up? :)”

BET spokeswomen did not respond to requests for comment.

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Column on Clinton Cleavage a Campaign Issue

 

 

“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has sent out a fundraising letter calling a Washington Post fashion writer’s column on Clinton’s cleavage ‘grossly inappropriate’ and asking donors ‘to take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American culture,'” Howard Kurtz and Anne E. Kornblut reported Friday on washingtonpost.com.

“One week after the piece, by fashion writer Robin Givhan, took note of the Democratic candidate’s low neckline during a speech on the Senate floor, senior Clinton adviser Ann Lewis urged donors to help

 

 

 

fight treatment she termed ‘insulting.’

“Givhan, who won a Pulitzer Prize last year, said she disagreed “that there was anything in the column that was coarse, insulting or belittling. It was a piece about a public person’s appearance on the Senate floor that was surprising because of the location and because of the person. It’s disingenuous to think that revealing cleavage, any amount of it, in that kind of situation is a non-issue.

“It’s obviously not the most important thing in the campaign. It’s obviously not the most important thing Hillary Clinton has ever done by any means.”

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Mayor’s Affair Complicates NBC Universal’s Plans

“The extramarital affair between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a newscaster for Telemundo has created a new set of complications for the broadcaster’s corporate parent, NBC Universal — and possibly the mayor himself,” David Zahniser reported on Thursday in the Los Angeles Times.

“Even as its Spanish-language subsidiary is poised to decide the future of Mirthala Salinas, the now-suspended reporter who embarked on a romantic relationship with Villaraigosa while she reported on him, NBC Universal is proceeding with a massive $3-billion development plan that city officials must ultimately approve.

“Although Telemundo executives hold the key to the career of Salinas, now the subject of an internal investigation into whether she compromised the company’s journalistic mission, Villaraigosa holds his own considerable power over NBC Universal. The entertainment conglomerate will very likely need Villaraigosa’s help to navigate the city’s approval process as it spends the next year pushing its Universal City Vision Plan, a concept the mayor embraced seven months ago.”

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Nike, Reebok Suspend Ties to Michael Vick

“One week after suspending the launch of a shoe tied to indicted football star Michael Vick, Nike today said it is suspending Mr. Vick without pay from its roster of endorsers,” Jeremy Mullman reported on Friday for AdAge.com.

“Nike also said it is pulling all Vick-related items from its retail stores.

“The decision comes one day after the Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded not guilty to charges that he ran an interstate dog-fighting ring.

“Separately, the NFL today pulled Vick-related items from its NFLShop.com online apparel store, and Reebok, which doesn’t count Mr. Vick as an endorser but is the leading manufacturer of NFL jerseys, also said it would suspend sales of Vick-related items.”

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Imus Return to CBS Said to Have “Evaporated”

 

 

“Boomer Esiason’s agent confirmed Tuesday he has been in discussions with CBS Radio about Esiason filling the morning slot on WFAN, where it now appears any chance of Don Imus returning to his old job has evaporated,” according to Neil Best, writing Friday in Newsday.

“‘It’s our policy not to talk about specifics of discussions, but yes, we are having them,’ said the agent, Steve Rosner.

“Asked if he has been given any indication whether Imus remains in the mix, Rosner said only, ‘That’s not for me to answer.’

“Several other radio industry sources, though, said this week Imus would not be back. That is consistent with what CBS CEO [Les] Moonves said in June, but Imus supporters had hoped for a change of heart.

“It now appears more likely Imus will emerge elsewhere on the radio dial, presumably after securing a contract settlement with CBS.”

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Ebony, Diverse Look at Media Diversity

Ebony magazine and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education look at media diversity in their latest issues.

In “The Big Newscasts and the Black Anchors Who Deliver Them,” Kevin Chappell writes in the August issue of Ebony:

“In an industry that seems to recognize the importance of diversity — having hired and promoted several high-profile African Americans in recent years — Blacks continue to rarely get the big stories, the prime-time slots, or headline their own shows.

“While the raw numbers of Black anchors may have increased with the proliferation of 24-hour news outlets and the explosion of prime-time news shows, the percentage of Black anchors has been stagnant, and the presence of African-Americans in TV newsrooms has declined.”

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education features CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux on the cover of its annual media issue.

“In our annual journalism editions we try to report on current trends in the industry or journalism education,” Editor Hilary Hurd told Journal-isms.

“We have a group of diverse journalists reflecting on the current and future state of journalism; Pearl Stewart wrote a piece on the demand for multimedia skills, both from the industry and j-school perspective; and we report on Cal State Northridge’s minor in Spanish-language journalism, which supposedly is the first in the nation. Just to name a few topics! . . . And besides the Q&A with Suzanne Malveaux, we report on whether the demographics of sports newsrooms contributes to the sometimes negative coverage of Black athletes, pretty timely considering the current situation with Michael Vick.”

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EbonyJet.com Online With “Soft” Launch

As reported in November, Eric Easter, who for the previous three years had been director of communications of Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive, joined Johnson Publishing Co. as chief of digital strategies. The fruits of his labors at Johnson are now online in a revamped EbonyJet.com.

“We turned on the switch Monday the 23rd,” Easter told Journal-isms on Friday.

“It’s a ‘soft’ launch. We’re moving from the strategy and building phase to operational mode of a daily site and that takes a little adjustment — making sure the tech all works, gradually launching functionalities and features as we have a better sense of how the site’s being used, etc.

“It’s a daily online magazine that uses the strength of both brands to create an online presence that seeks to create new audiences for the brands and to JPC while also giving our core audience yet another way to experience Ebony-branded journalism. It’s a different medium, so it calls for a new way of communicating.

“So rather than simply put Ebony and Jet online, we’ve taken a different approach, which is really a new publication with a majority of the content developed for the web only, and with its own voice, but that captures the spirit of the brands for a digital generation. Still elevating the beauty of the Black experience, but in a way that sparks dialogue, creates a conversation and becomes viral— all the things essential for building an audience on the web.

“It’s timely, lively, opinionated and unique, I think. More importantly, it gives us a way of really mining and putting into modern context the treasure trove of content that JPC has in its vaults. Today’s photo essay on Sammy” — Sammy Davis Jr. — “with design commentary by Sheila Bridges is a perfect example of that. You’ll see it more fully realized as we launch full sections and some very different and innovative features over the next few months.”

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AP Ending Youth-Oriented “asap” Service

“The Associated Press will be ending its highly-touted ‘asap’ service in October, E&P has learned,” Editor & Publisher reported on Friday.

“Staffers were notified this morning about its October 31 demise as a stand alone. It’s not known if any layoffs will come. About 200 newspapers subscribed to the service.

“It was launched in 2005 as a response to the growth of blogs and so-called youth tabs, and had 24 staff members. It offers a variety of packages and reports (including a lot of video and photo galleries) targeting a younger and/or quirkier audience than the standard AP report.”

As reported in October 2005, when Megan Scott joined asap from the St. Petersburg Times, Ted Anthony, editor of the service, said his staff included African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans and that he worked with AP staffers around the world to appeal to people with different life experiences.

He told Journal-isms on Friday, “Staff decisions are still to be made; remember, we have three more months of producing asap for customers. After that, we want to integrate this style of content more broadly into the AP news report. We think it’s really important to extend the mindset and journalistic style of asap’s multimedia storytelling that our staff has developed into other key AP desks.”

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Short Takes

 

 

 

 

“A UC-Berkeley professor was shot in the hand in Nigeria on Wednesday when gunmen stormed a newspaper office where he was attending an awards ceremony, according to the university, Scott Marshall of the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times reported on Thursday. “Michael Watts, 56, was at the National Point newspaper in Port Harcourt, in southeast Nigeria in the Niger Delta, when at least six gunmen shot him and a security guard, ransacked the offices and shot windows, National Point reporter Ibiba Donpedro told the Associated Press.”

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