GOP Front-Runners Bypass Smiley

Host Wants Giuliani, Romney, McCain at Debate

Tavis Smiley, faced with the absence of three of the top Republican presidential candidates for his planned debate at Morgan State University in two weeks, said on Friday he would proceed with the event regardless: “I don’t care if it’s just me and Mike Huckabee,” the long-shot former governor of Arkansas.

In a conversation with Journal-isms, one of a series he was having with representatives of the news media, the activist television and radio talk-show host castigated the missing Republicans for their “missed opportunity” in declining an invitation to the Republican edition of the “All-American Presidential Forums on PBS,” scheduled for Sept. 27 at the historically black campus in Baltimore.

The campaigns of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have cited scheduling conflicts.

Their absence will follow a decision by the Spanish-language Univision network to postpone its Sept. 16 forum for Republican contenders after only one candidate — McCain — said he would attend.

Likewise, while Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama addressed the National Association of Black Journalists convention last month in Las Vegas, Republicans McCain, Romney and Giuliani declined, citing the Iowa straw poll taking place on the Saturday of the convention.

Rather than postpone his forum, Smiley said he would display empty chairs for the missing candidates, saying, “I want America to see what these candidates think of their issues.” He said he hoped the three would reconsider and that candidates who don’t take advantage of his and Univision’s opportunities to talk with people of color don’t deserve to be considered for the presidency.

Smiley also voiced his concerns in an article Friday in USA Today and was scheduled to appear Friday on NBC’s “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

Smiley was asked about a complaint by San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Ruben Navarrette, a Latino who is not black, that Latino issues were overlooked in Smiley’s June 28 Democratic candidates forum at Howard University. Navarrette, a panelist there, wrote that the Howard forum “was marketed to viewers at home as a forum for ‘people of color,’ but those who tuned in — and listened to the questions — only caught a glimpse of one color.”

Smiley told Journal-isms it was he who invited Navarrette to be a panelist at the forum, which was billed as discussing the issues raised in the “Covenant for Black America” book Smiley edited.

“Did you see a black person asking questions on Univision?” Smiley replied. “It was important to me to reach across to our brown brothers and sisters. I didn’t tell Navarrette what questions to ask.” In fact, from the way the questions were proceeding, Smiley said, he believed Navarrette’s next question would have been about immigration had not time run out.

Ray Suarez of “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS, Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Juan Williams of National Public Radio and Fox News are to be the questioners at the Republican forum. It was important to include Suarez, a Hispanic journalist, Smiley said. “Black folks and brown folks are in this together.”

Smiley added that with the cancellation of the Univision event, he has provided the only opportunity for a Latino journalist to ask a question of the Republican front-runners.

Confirmed GOP participants are Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Huckabee, and Reps. Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of California.

Smiley is hopeful that newly declared GOP candidate Fred Thompson will be present. Paul West reported a week ago in the Baltimore Sun, “A campaign source said that Thompsonâ??s ‘current plan’ is still to be at the debate — but that whether he will be there was subject to ‘events.'” Thompson’s campaign office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

If Smiley’s media campaign succeeds in getting the front-runners to change their minds, it won’t be the first time a candidate has responded to the media glare.

Sam Fulwood III, then of the Los Angeles Times, wrote this from Seattle in 1999:

“Presidential contenders appeared Thursday at the Unity ’99 convention of minority journalists— including George W. Bush, who hastily rearranged his schedule for an impromptu walk-through.

“The Republican governor of Texas ordered his staff to rearrange his schedule after a Times story Thursday reported that even though he was campaigning here he couldn’t fit an appearance before the 6,000 journalists into his schedule. His rebuff provoked criticism from some at the conference, who noted that Bush has made racial and ethnic inclusion a key theme of his campaign.”

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Court Overturns Conviction in “Jena Six” Case

“The aggravated battery conviction that could send a black teenager from Jena to prison for 15 years in the beating of a white classmate has been overturned by a state appeal court,” the Associated Press reported from Jena, La., on Friday. The state Third Circuit Court of Appeal “says Mychal Bell should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge.”

The “Jena Six” case has attracted growing media attention, prompted by a grass-roots movement from activists and campus organizations.

“Bell is one of a group of black teenagers charged in the beating of Justin Barker last December amid racial tensions at Jena High School. He was due to be sentenced on Thursday in a case that has drawn international attention,” AP said.

“Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, and four others were originally [charged] with attempted second-degree murder. Those charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites following racial altercations involving Jena High.”

“We are ecstatic,” Bell’s attorney, Bob Noel, said, according to the Alexandria, La., Town Talk.

“This decision doesn’t mean Bell, now 17, will be automatically released. The ball, Noel said, is now in LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters’  court. Noel said Walters can appeal the decision; he can accept the decision and charge Bell as an adult with attempted murder; or Bell can be charged with aggravated second-degree battery as a juvenile,” the Town Talk story said.

“On Sept. 4, 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. said the adult court system should never have had jurisdiction for the charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery but said he thought he retained jurisdiction of the battery charge. That charge was vacated and returned to juvenile court. The appellate court didn’t agree, and ruled in favor of Bell’s attorneys.

“We’re extremely happy,” Noel said. “Now we see where to go from here.”

The NAACP, one of the organizations collecting petitions and leading a protest in the town on Sept. 20, issued a statement late Friday calling the decision “a good start toward correcting the excessive prosecution of six African American students who were originally charged with an array of offenses including second degree murder.”

“NAACP officials will still present petitions to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen B. Blanco at Noon on Sept. 19 at the State Capitol. The more than 60,000 signatures are a symbol of those concerned with the unequal treatment of the defendants and the disturbing climate that led to an escalation of racial tensions in the southern town.”

• Michel Martin, “Tell Me More,” National Public Radio: Public Outcry Intensifies as Jena Sentencing Draws Near

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Plain Dealer Editor Apologizes for Cartoon

“Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg apologized Thursday to the parents of 12-year-old shooting victim Asteve’ ‘Cookie’ Thomas because they considered a cartoon offensive and insensitive,” Jesse Tinsley reported Friday in the Plain Dealer.

“The cartoon by Plain Dealer editorial cartoonist Jeff Darcy was published in the newspaper on Sept. 5, four days after Asteve’ was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout in her East Side neighborhood.

“The girl’s parents, Karen Elliott and Steven Thomas, along with several community activist groups, accepted the editor’s apology during a meeting at The Plain Dealer.

“Members of the anti-crime group Black on Black Crime Inc., NAACP, New Black Panther Party and other organizations called off a protest in front of The Plain Dealer, and instead met privately with Goldberg and Editorial Page Editor Brent Larkin.

“‘She graciously apologized to them [Asteve’s family] for what happened. It was a productive meeting,’ said Art McKoy, head of Black on Black Crime. ‘We decided not to picket The Plain Dealer because Editor Susan Goldberg was receptive to asking us to come in and talk and not picket.’

“McKoy said he and others plan to meet with the editor at a later date to discuss diversity in the newsroom and news coverage of the black community.

“About 10 percent of The Plain Dealer’s professional editorial staff is black, and about 14 percent are people of color, including African-Americans, Latinos and Asians, Goldberg said.”

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AP Story Examines Racism in W.Va. Town

“Some residents say the news of a black woman’s brutal weeklong ordeal at the hands of white captors was shocking but came as no surprise,” Shaya Tayee Mohajer wrote for the Associated Press, in a story that moved only on the West Virginia state and local wires.

“About 20 locals, mostly blacks, gathered at the library here Thursday to comfort one another while recalling their own experiences with discrimination, at times through tears and shaking voices.

“They vowed to find a way to help Megan Williams, the 20-year-old Charleston woman who was held captive for more than a week at a ramshackle trailer in Logan County, where authorities say she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat animal droppings.

“‘I truly think that Logan County has a long-standing, pervasive problem with race in our community,’ said Reggie Jones, a board member of the Logan County Improvement League.

“Jones, who is black, said he has been racially profiled before and distrusts local authorities.

“The meeting was held by members of Jones’ group and New Empowerment for Women Plus, both of which help women, minorities and low-income people.

“‘Racism, sexism and classism are so prevalent here,’ said Joan Hairston, area director for New Empowerment for Women Plus. ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.’

“Jones and others said they would support hate crime charges in the case.

“Several black churches called upon prosecutors Thursday to reconsider their decision not to pursue civil rights violations in the Williams case.”

“. . . The NAACP said in a news release that it was monitoring the case, while the group’s local chapter plans to hold a rally in Cora on Saturday.”

AP Managing Editor Mike Silverman told Journal-isms, “This particular story didn’t move nationally. As you know, we’ve been giving virtually daily coverage to the case. We’ll continue to look at all angles, including race.”

• Editorial, Charleston (W.Va) Gazette: Racism: Still dangerous
• Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Why the Feds Won’t Prosecute West Virginia Torture Case as a Hate Crime

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Murdoch Critic Leaves Wall Street Journal

“While at the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, Tunku Varadarajan was one of Rupert Murdoch’s toughest critics â?? especially regarding News Corp.’s relationship with the Chinese government,” Michael Calderone wrote Friday in the New York Observer.

“Here’s how one anti-Murdoch screed began: ‘Rupert Murdoch, a master practitioner of the corporate kowtow, has instructed his son James perfectly in the craft of craven submission to the communist regime in China.’

“So it’s strange that when the New York Post reported today that Mr. Varadarajan is leaving the Journal for academia, his criticism of Mr. Murdoch â?? who also happens to own the Post â?? wasn’t mentioned.

“Last spring, Mr. Varadarajan made the unusual leap from the editorial to the news side of the Journal, as reported in The Observer. At the time, many reporters had qualms about a member of the staunchly conservative editorial page overseeing news coverage. But as Mr. Murdoch’s pursuit of the Journal progressed, several of the same reporters began to champion Mr. Varadarajan for his views; his pieces on Mr. Murdoch were circulated widely.”

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Clarence Thomas Doing TV to Promote New Book

“The usually reticent Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will appear on CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’ later this month to kick off promotion of his new autobiography, set for publication Oct. 1,” Tony Mauro reported Thursday on law.com.

“Knowledgeable sources say that CBS correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed Thomas at the Court and elsewhere recently for the ’60 Minutes’ segment. Thomas overcame an initial reluctance about doing publicity for the book, and the report is scheduled to air on the top-rated news magazine show on Sunday, Sept. 30.

“Thomas’ long-awaited book, titled, ‘My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir’ will be published by HarperCollins. The book has been closely guarded by the publisher, with few copies in circulation, even for book reviewers. It reportedly focuses on Thomas’ upbringing in Georgia, continuing through his college days and into his early career, culminating with his contentious Senate confirmation hearing in 1991. Some who are familiar with the book say it contains explosive new details about the confirmation battle, while others knock down that characterization. ‘Itâ??s really about his childhood, not gossip about the Court,’ said one person who has read the book.

“HarperCollins paid Thomas a $1.5 million advance on royalties for the book five years ago. Thomas’ agent, Lynn Chu, said this week that when Thomas signed the contract with the publisher, he insisted that the standard clause obliging him to do publicity for the book be removed. ‘He could have said no’ to the CBS interview, said Chu, co-founder of Writers’ Representatives in New York City. ‘He was very reluctant.” But Chu said she was ‘really glad’ that Thomas had finally agreed to do ’60 Minutes’ and make other appearances, including a conversation with ABC News correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in October.”

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Filmmaker Helps Save Life of One Who Saved Others

Two years ago, Ghufran Haider threw himself on a suicide bomber in a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, saving hundreds of lives while being badly injured, Sree Sreenivasan wrote Sunday on the Web site of the South Asian Journalists Association. “Thanks to his testimony, two of the bomber’s accomplices were given the death penalty, but because Haider got no police protection, he had to flee to Dubai. As of May, he faced a deportation deadline that would send him back to Pakistan, where he’d surely be killed.

“In April and May 2007, documentary maker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy sent out alerts to her contacts to find asylum for Haider, who was about to be forced to return to Pakistan, where he faced certain death. . . . Many SAJA members and SAJAforum readers around the world sent . . . good wishes, ideas and concrete suggestions to Obaid Chinoy, as did all sorts of other folks.

“A few days ago, Obaid Chinoy sent around this e-mail:

“Dear All,

“I am writing to share some good news with you. With your help, Ghufran is now a free man, he has been granted asylum and is en route to North America.”

In a brief interview published in the SAJA Forum, Chinoy said, “Ghufran’s life and his journey had an enormous impact on me . . . For the time first time in my life, I was actually responsible for someone else’s life. . . . I was his only contact in the outside world and he reached out to me sometimes as often as every two hours. . . . Emotionally, it was a ride, because I didn’t know how I, a journalist, also a fellow Pakistani, with no background in asylum cases could help him. . . . But I reached out to people, sent out e-mails, gave radio and television interviews and spread the word and sure enough, people responded and it restored my faith in humanity.”

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Joseph Walker, Muhammad Speaks Reporter, Was 73

“Joseph Walker, a Buffalo born, award-winning journalist and rights advocate, died Aug. 14 in New York City. He was 73,” the Buffalo News reported on Sept. 5.

He launched his journalism career in 1957 after serving in the Army, first as a reporter and then as an editor for the Empire Star, a black-owned weekly newspaper.

“He wrote several stories exposing segregation and bias in Buffalo that caught the attention of other civil rights supporters, including Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X. When the Empire Star ceased operation in the 1960s, Mr. Walker accepted a job in New York City as a reporter and correspondent for Muhammad Speaks, a weekly newspaper put out by the Nation of Islam. At the time, it was the largest black-owned newspaper in the country.

“Initially, Mr. Walker cover[ed] domestic events, including the Attica prison uprising and the trial of Angela Davis, then an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was linked to the 1970 murder of a Marin County judge during an attempted Black Panther prison break.

“During that time, Mr. Walker collaborated with his photographer, Joe Crawford, on three anthologies showcasing outstanding African-American photographers that included [forewords] and introductions written by photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks Jr. and celebrated authors James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.

“Mr. Walker went on to become New York City bureau chief and then United Nations bureau chief of Muhammad Speaks and its successor, Bialian News. He traveled to more than 60 countries in his capacity as a journalist.”

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Short Takes

• “Zhao Yan, a Chinese research assistant for The New York Times, walked out of a prison here at 8 a.m.” and was greeted with hugs by a gathering of family and friends, Jim Yardley wrote from Beijing in a story datelined Sept. 15. “He looked relieved, noticeably thinner and a little shaken” after serving three years in prison on a fraud conviction that prompted international outrage and criticism of China’s legal system.
• “Tribune Co.’s Chicago Spanish-language daily Hoy is pumping up its free-distribution by 40 percent and expanding into the suburbs starting Monday,” Mark Fitzgerald reported Friday for Editor & Publisher. “Ultimately, the paper, which now delivers 211,000 to heavily Hispanic Zip Codes mostly in the city limits of Chicago, will reach 290,000 households through address-specific distribution, said Hoy Chicago General Manager Julian Posada.”
• “The state Supreme Court rejected the Novato school district’s challenge Wednesday to a ruling that upheld a high school journalist’s right to write an anti-immigrant editorial and affirmed California’s strong legal protections for students’ free speech,” Bob Egelko reported Thursday in the San Francisco Chronicle. “The court relied on a 1971 California statute, the nation’s first state law to protect free speech in public schools. . . . The ruling said the California law is a stronger shield for student expression than the constitutional protections recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
• “The campus newspaper at Central Connecticut State University, which came under fire earlier this year for printing a satirical article extolling the virtues of rape, is the target of angry protests again after it printed a comic strip this week that made reference to locking a teenage Hispanic girl in a closet and urinating on her,” Matt Burgard wrote Friday in the Hartford Courant. “Francisco Donis, a professor at the university and president of its Latin American Association, said the group plans to submit a letter today calling for the ouster of Mark Rowan, the editor of The Recorder.”
• “Hosted by Ann Curry, Hoda Kotb and Natalie Morales, the premiere of ‘FHOTS’ flopped on the deck like a flatulent flounder — full of gas, babble, blather, and bubbleheaded banter,” wrote critic Verne Gay on Monday on his Newsday blog, discussing the new fourth hour of the “Today” show. “This show? Man, it’s stupid. Where to begin?”
• A study this week on the popularity of newspaper columnists by the watchdog group Media Matters for America shows “that newspapers, even those that publish mainly progressive columnists, aren’t giving voice to the Latino perspective. And if this is the case, it’s no wonder that the anti-Hispanic, undocumented immigrant rhetoric is as rampant as it is across this country,” Marisa Trevino wrote on her Latina Lista blog.
• Jesus Del Toro, managing editor, RUMBO/Meximerica Media Inc. in San Antonio, is among 23 critics, editors and reporters chosen to participate as fellows in the fourth annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism announced on Thursday.
• “Authorities today decided not to file charges against WOFL-Channel 35 News Director Bob Clinkingbeard for a run-in with sportscaster Thomas Forester” of the Orlando Fox station, Rene Stutzman wrote Thursday for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Web site. “Forester called police to the station a week ago after Clinkingbeard bumped him during an argument. He told police he wanted to press charges.”
• Philadelphia’s “WURD has reverted to small time narrowly focused black radio complete with home remodeling companies as advertisers, the mainstay of black radio stations when they were nothing more than a platform for selling shoddy products to black consumers,” U-Savior Washington wrote in a commentary in Black Star News. Previously, “Bob Law had slowly begun to reinvent black talk radio, and at the same time, infuse the community with the pride that comes with hearing a positive reflection of self over the airwaves.” WURD is Philadelphia’s only remaining black-owned station.
• “It’s been a month since Advertising Age launched ‘The Big Tent,’ an eclectic blog series that takes its mission quite seriously and aims to make a dent in diversity issues across advertising, marketing, and related industries,” Jonathon Feit wrote Thursday in Advertising Age. “‘The Big Tent’ isn’t about trying to make anyone look good or bad; it’s about getting the issues — and their proposed solutions — on record.”
• On Sept. 11, 2003, the Supreme Court in Zimbabwe issued a judgment that led to the closing of the Daily News and Daily News on Sunday newspapers, the Media Institute of Southern Africa recalled on Wednesday. “Police armed with automatic rifles burst into the newspapers’ offices in central Harare at about 5:00 p.m. (local time) and ordered all staff to leave. “Four years later, the matter is still pending before the courts as the ANZ,” the publishing company, “continues its fight to be duly registered and licensed to resume publication.”
• Reporters Without Borders hailed a Morocco appeal court’s decision on Tuesday to grant a request for the provisional release of reporter Mostapha Hurmatallah pending the outcome of his appeal against an eight-month prison sentence for publishing a leaked internal security memo.

Chris Cramer, former head of international channels for CNN, will take a leading role in the launch of the multimedia, all-news pan-African channel, A24, it was announced on Tuesday, Biz-Community reported from Cape Town, South Africa. “A24, due to be launched next year, will encourage intra-African dialogue by presenting relevant stories, told by African journalists, going beyond the norm of disease, poverty, and corruption. A24 will explore investment, development, and trade, among other subjects — areas frequently ignored by the world’s media.”