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“End of the Clinton Era”

richard

Media, Racism Remain Challenges for Obama

The results of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on Tuesday spelled the end of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president, media commentators told viewers and readers Tuesday night. They shied away from assessing their own role in the campaign, but showed a greater willingness to discuss the impact of class race, though not racism.

“I think this race is over,” Bob Schieffer of CBS said.

“Hil Needs a Miracle,” proclaimed the New York Daily News.

Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said on CNN that if it was “not the end of the Clinton era, it’s the beginning of the end of the Clinton era.”

With six contests left to go in the calendar, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., “earned a decisive, double-digit victory in North Carolina, where 115 delegates were at stake. Winning in the Tar Heel State appeared to be a strong sign that he was back on track after his campaign appeared nearly derailed by the controversy regarding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright,” as Carla Marinucci wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Clinton, pounding populist themes like a gas-tax holiday and underscoring her connections with working-class voters, delivered another back-to-the-wall victory in Indiana on Tuesday, squeaking out a 51-49 percent win, a 12,000-vote margin over Obama in a state with 72 delegates up for grabs.”

 

 

The media-driven controversy over Wright’s divisive comments “was a looming factor in the voting, with half in each state saying he was important in choosing a candidate,” Alan Fram wrote for the Associated Press, citing exit polls. “Of that group, seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina backed Clinton, including eight in 10 whites. Those discounting him as a factor heavily favored Obama.”

During the MSNBC primary-night commentary, Chris Matthews said of the news media, “the more we focus on Wright, the less we focus” on Clinton and the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain.

His colleague, Tim Russert, replied, “we get the e-mails,” saying viewers had pointed out McCain’s gaffe in confusing Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and that the anti-Catholic remarks of white televangelist the Rev. John Hagee, whose support McCain sought, were not receiving enough attention.

“All that in time,” Russert said, adding there will be a fall campaign.

Exit polls conducted during the April 22 Pennsylvania primary pointed out the unwillingness of some whites to vote for a black candidate, reporting that “16 percent of white voters said race mattered in deciding who they voted for, and just 54 percent of those voters said they would support Mr. Obama in a general election; 27 percent of them said they would vote for Mr. McCain if Mr. Obama was the Democratic nominee, and 16 percent said they would not vote at all.”

Since then, reporters and commentators have paid more attention to the racial and ethnic breakdown of each candidate’s supporters, but few noted Tuesday night that the exit-poll results in Indiana and North Carolina also showed a significant number in those states refused to vote for a black candidate.

“In Indiana, 10 percent of the voters said that race mattered to them, and they went for Clinton by a margin of 79 percent to 20 percent. In North Carolina, the racial divide appeared more pronounced. Seventeen percent of all voters said race was important. Among the blacks, 92 percent voted for Obama, while among whites who said race was key, 62 percent voted for Clinton,” Richard S. Dunham reported for the Houston Chronicle.

Dunham continued, speaking of Obama: “Resistance to his candidacy from many Clinton supporters could prove costly in a general election contest against John McCain. According to CNN exit polls, only 48 percent of Clinton supporters in Tuesday’s Indiana primary and 45 percent of her North Carolina backers said they’d vote for Obama in November. About one-third of Clinton voters said they’d switch to McCain, while the rest said they’d stay home rather than vote for Obama.

“‘He’s got a real, serious problem with white voters,’ said Texas Republican activist Richard H. Collins. ‘He’s been damaged badly, and we can thank the Clintons for that.'”

“On a conference call today, Clinton strategist Geoff Garin bragged about their victories among the ‘white electorate,’ as if to prove that Obama is — gasp, black, and thus ‘unelectable,’ ” Ari Berman wrote Wednesday on the Nation Web site.

[Reporting on an interview with Clinton, Kathy Kiely and Jill Lawrence of USA Today wrote Thursday: “‘I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,’ she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article ‘that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.’

[“‘There’s a pattern emerging here,’ she said.

[“Clinton’s blunt remarks about race came a day after primaries in Indiana and North Carolina dealt symbolic and mathematical blows to her White House ambitions.”]

Obama addressed the issue indirectly in his victory speech.

Of divisive tactics, he said, “Yes, we know what’s coming. I’m not naive. We’ve already seen it, the same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn’t agree with all their ideas, the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives, by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy, in the hopes that the media will play along.

“The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences, to turn us against each other for political gain, to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states, blue collar and white collar, white, black, brown, young, old, rich, poor . . . this is the race we expect, no matter whether it’s myself or Senator Clinton who is the nominee.”

 

Friction over the racial and class makeup of each candidate’s supporters was evident in a discussion on CNN between Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and Clinton supporter and Democratic strategist Paul Begala, hosted by CNN’s Campbell Brown. Begala’s first reference is to Alex Castellanos, the Republican strategist:

BEGALA: Well, I think Alex makes an interesting allegation—put it this way—or point. He said that Obama is closing the door on those white, working-class voters. I don’t think that’s the case at all, although some of the commentary tonight kind of bothers me.

When people say things — I love Donna and we go back 22 years. We’ve never been on different sides of an argument in our entire lives. But if her point is that there’s a new Democratic Party that somehow doesn’t need or want white working-class people and Latinos, well, count me out.

BRAZILE: Paul, baby, I did not say that.

BEGALA: We cannot win with eggheads.

Let me finish my point.

We cannot win with eggheads and African Americans. OK, that is the Dukakis coalition, which carried 10 states and gave us four years of the first George Bush.

President Clinton reached across to get a whole lot of Republicans and Independents to come. I think Senator Obama and Senator Clinton both have that capacity. They both have a unique ability — well it’s not unique if they both have it. They both have a remarkable ability to reach out to those working-class white folks and Latinos. Senator Clinton has proven it; Barack has not yet, but he can. And I certainly hope he is not shutting the door on expanding the party.

 

 

BROWN: OK. Let —eggheads and African Americans? That’s the new coalition?

BRAZILE: First of all, Paul, you didn’t hear me right. Maybe I should come and cook you something because you’ve got a little hearing problem.

I was one of the first Democrats who were going to the white working-class neighborhoods, encouraging white Democrats not to forget their roots. I have drank more beers with Joe Six Pack, Jane Six Pack and everybody else than most white Democrats that you’re talking about.

In terms of Hispanics, you know, Paul, I know the math. I know Colorado; I know Nevada; I know New Mexico. So that’s not the issue. I’m saying that we need to not divide and polarize the Democratic Party as if the Democratic Party will rely simply on white, blue-collar male — you insult every black blue-collar Democrat by saying that.

So stop the divisions. Stop trying to split us into these groups, Paul, because you and I know, both know, we have been in more campaigns. We know how Democrats win and to simply suggest that Hillary’s coalition is better than Obama’s, Obama’s is better than Hillary’s — no. We have a big party, Paul.

BEGALA: That’s right.

BRAZILE: Just don’t divide me and tell me I cannot stand in Hillary’s camp because I’m black, and I can’t stand in Obama’s camp because I’m female. Because I’m both.

BEGALA: That’s — Donna —

BRAZILE: And I’m wealthy so I might go with McCain and sit with Bill Bennett, Paul.

BILL BENNETT: That’s funny.

BRAZILE: Don’t start with me, baby.

BEGALA: We’re having a vigorous agreement then, Donna.

BRAZILE: A gentle —

BEGALA: Agreement then —

BRAZILE: Because we’re not doing — both —

BEGALA: My point is —

BROWN: Go ahead, Paul.

BEGALA: What worries me is this notion that somehow there’s a — and I hear this sometimes from some of my friends that are for Senator Obama — that there is a new Democratic Party and we don’t really need all those folks. And we’re — Donna is exactly right. The only way to win this in my party — we’re not the monochromatic Republican Party.

In the Democratic Party, the only way we win is to stitch together white folks and African Americans and Latinos and Asians. And that’s what President Clinton did twice. That’s how he won two national elections. And I’m —

BRAZILE: And Paul, I was there with you. I was there.

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Rev. Jeremiah Wright Was Week’s Big Newsmaker

“In a number of recent presidential campaigns, someone or something has emerged from obscurity to become a household word and an integral part of the media narrative. In the 1988 race it was a Massachusetts criminal named Willie Horton, and four years later, it was a former television reporter turned singer named Gennifer Flowers,” Mark Jurkowitz wrote on Tuesday for the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

“In 2004, the name in the headlines was a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. This year, at least so far, the newsmaker from nowhere is Chicago minister Jeremiah Wright.

“Last week — as Wright re-emerged into full public view to speak to PBS’ Bill Moyers, the NAACP and the National Press Club — the controversy he generated made more news than both Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Clinton was a significant or dominant factor in 41% of the campaign stories and McCain registered in 14% of them.

“Meanwhile the relationship between Wright and his former parishioner [Barack] Obama accounted for 42% of the week’s campaign coverage. Obama, who moved to decisively denounce Wright last week, was the significant or dominant newsmaker in 69% of the stories, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index for April 28-May 4.”

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Christine Chin Resigns as Publisher in Colorado

Christine Chin, who became president and publisher of the Coloradan in Fort Collins, Colo., after the abrupt resignation of publisher Dorothy Bland and executive editor Michael Limon in 2005, resigned herself

 

on Tuesday, “citing family and personal reasons,” the Gannett-owned newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“‘I’ve achieved the professional goals I set for myself 20 years ago and decided it was time to work on my work-life balance,’ said Chin, who is married and has a 9-year-old daughter,” the story said.

“A search for a successor is underway, said Michelle Krans, Pacific Group regional vice president for Gannett Co. Inc., which owns the Coloradoan.”

Chin is one of the few Asian American publishers of a mainstream daily newspaper.

She had been president and publisher of the Bellingham Herald in Washington before coming to Fort Collins.

Bland is now director of the Journalism Division at Florida A&M University; Limon is business editor of the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah.

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TV Copter Tapes Beating; 15 Cops Taken Off Street

“Fifteen Philadelphia police officers have been taken off the street as authorities investigate a video showing the suspects being kicked and beaten by city police,” WTXF-TV, the Fox station in Philadelphia, reported on Wednesday.

“Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, says the mayor stands behind the police department, but that ‘at a glance it does appear to be beyond the pale.’

“‘We are not going to prejudge the situation based on the video,’ he said. ‘We all saw the video, but none of us was there.’

“The beating happened two days after the fatal shooting of a Philadelphia policeman, the third city officer slain on duty in two years.

“Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says he’s disappointed in the actions of the police officers involved in a videotaped beating of three suspects.

“Appearing on ‘Good Day Philadelphia,’ Ramsey watched the tape again and said it speaks for itself.

“‘When they first got him out of the car [it was being handled well],” said Ramsey. ‘But once they’re down . . . that level of force is only necessary to affect an arrest. I’m disappointed in what I’m looking at.’

“The commissioner says he spoke with his command staff immediately after seeing the tape on television. He encouraged them to give relief to officers who may be stressed out or tired.

“Only Fox 29 cameras caught a violent confrontation Monday night between police and three men who fled a shooting that has triggered a firestorm of controversy. The scene played out in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia shortly after a triple shooting at the intersection of Second and Cayuga.

“On Tuesday, Fox 29 received a warrant for the videotape of the beating from the Internal Affairs division of the police department, and we complied with that request.”

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NABJ Cuts Unity Costs for Laid-Off Members

In response to the large numbers of journalists of color cut from the nation’s newsrooms in 2008, the National Association of Black Journalists has established professional scholarships for members affected by the job cuts to attend the quadrennial Unity: Journalists of Color convention, July 23-27 in Chicago, the organization announced Tuesday.

“It’s our responsibility to ensure these talented journalists receive the best available opportunity for networking, professional development and recruitment,” said NABJ President Barbara Ciara in a statement.

Each scholarship will cover registration cost to the Unity convention. The application deadline is June 1. Applications can be found online at www.NABJ.org.

The Asian American Journalists Association announced in March it would offer its laid-off members a reduced membership fee and complimentary registration at Unity and career counseling.

Rene Astudillo, AAJA executive director, told Journal-isms that as of Wednesday, one person had applied for reduced member dues and eight applied for complimentary convention registration.

He said it was possible that AAJA might receive more applications before the June 13 Unity pre-registration deadline, and that, “We may get more applications since we decided that we will extend the benefits to those who may potentially lose their jobs between now and convention time.”

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Burma Deports Reporter Seeking to Cover Cyclone

“Myanmar has deported a BBC journalist who tried to enter the country to report on a cyclone that has killed 22,000 people, saying he had violated visa regulations, a state newspaper said Wednesday,” Agence France-Presse reported, referring to the country also known as Burma.

“Andrew Harding flew into Yangon from Bangkok on Monday, but was deported shortly after his arrival, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

“‘A journalist who is working for BBC was deported as he broke visa rules and regulations,’ the paper said, saying Harding had tried to enter the country on a tourist visa instead of an official journalist visa.

“‘Journalists from news agencies in Western countries illegally entered the country very often and made fabricated news with the help of anti-government groups,’ it said.”

On Tuesday, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association called on the military government to grant visas to foreign journalists who want to cover the aftermath of the cyclone that has devastated the south of the country and Rangoon. They also called for the lifting of prior censorship for the Burmese news media.

Major Western news organizations such as the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times have filed stories with datelines from the capital, Rangoon.

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N.Y. Judge Files $10 Million Defamation Suit

“A Brooklyn judge has filed an unusual $10 million defamation suit against attorney Ravi Batra and the New York Daily News,” Noeleen G. Walder wrote Monday in the New York Law Journal.

 

Errol Louis

“The suit, Martin v. Daily News, 100053/08, filed earlier this year in Manhattan Supreme Court by Justice Larry D. Martin, alleges that Batra was the source of two Daily News columns and related blog postings falsely accusing the judge of improperly presiding over a case involving a lawyer who had defended him before the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“Martin maintains that Batra ‘requested and urged’ Daily News columnist Errol Louis to publish ‘defamatory statements’ about him. He claims the articles were ‘outrageous, grossly irresponsible, malicious and evinced a complete and utter indifference’ to his ‘rights and reputation.’

“Both Batra and the Daily News have filed motions to dismiss.”

“Libel suits brought by judges are always a serious concern for journalists because of the deferential treatment judges are often given in the legal system, as two recent cases have taught us,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

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Short Takes

 

Rene Syler

 

Leonardo Blair

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Feedback: Lead Headline Doesn’t Need Comma

In my humble opinion, the headline atop your lead story would be just as accurate if you removed the comma following the first word and adjusted the tenses in the remainder of the headline. As justification, I offer just one word: Buchanan!

John H. Britton
Nashville
May 8, 2008

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Feedback: Juan Williams Now a Fox Lackey

How could Juan Williams sit on the Bill O’Reilly show (May 5) and say that Barack Obama lacked judgment and character? When the host of the show settled a reported million-dollar sexual harassment suit? They also paired him with Kinky Friedman, which itself is an embarrassment. Juan is a great journalist and used to be a great spokesperson for the underdog, disenfranchised and the rest of us victims. Now he’s a lackey for FOX. It’s a shame to see this happen. Thank God we have Roland Martin.

Archie McCoy
Honolulu
May 7, 2008

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