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How Fox Came to Air Jackson’s Gaffe

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A compiliation by the Web site 23/6 shows cable news anchors struggling to describe Jesse Jackson’s remarks over what turned out to be a live microphone.

Staffer in Training Caught What Control Room Missed

“We now know why it took more than three days for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s comments to make it on to Fox News Channel,” Steve Krakauer reported Thursday on the TV Newser Web site. “Jackson made the crude comments about Barack Obama Sunday morning while he prepared to do an interview on ‘Fox & Friends.'”

Bill Shine, Fox’s senior vice president of programming, “tells TVNewser the comments ‘went unnoticed,’ on Sunday morning, and were only discovered Monday when a staff member, who was training in the process of converting to digital, logged the tape in to the system.

“The staffer than emailed the remarks to an ‘O’Reilly Factor’ producer, who was vacationing in France. That producer sent the mail on to his team in New York on Tuesday.”

In the Los Angeles Times, Matea Gold picked up what happened next:

“‘I looked at it and thought, “This is going to be news,” ‘ Shine said. But the cable network did not put the material on the air right away.

“‘We cautiously and patiently went forward with the story,’ he said, adding that producers reached out to Jackson and Obama to let them know about the material.

“Shine said the civil rights leader did not ask Fox News to hold back the tape. But before the network even aired his comments, Jackson went on CNN Wednesday afternoon to preemptively apologize.

“Shortly afterward, Fox News teased the news of Jackson’s remarks on ‘Special Report With Brit Hume.’ The network didn’t air the more vulgar part of Jackson’s comments for two more hours, when the clip ran on the top-rated show hosted by Bill O’Reilly.

“‘It was Bill’s staff who had been working on it, and we felt it would be appropriate to put it there,’ Shine said.

“O’Reilly told viewers that the network had decided to air only portions of what Jackson had said, saying there was ‘more damaging’ material.”

O’Reilly said on his show Thursday night “that the unaired material included ‘trash talk’ that was not ‘relevant to public policy,'” Gold reported separately. “The fact that we did hold back some of Jackson’s remarks has angered some viewers,” O’Reilly said.

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Bill O’Reilly broadcast Jesse Jackson’s remarks for the first time on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday, leaving out the “trash talk.”

Jackson Remarks Greeted by Mixture of Emotions

With both disgust and glee — and sometimes insight — journalists and pundits seized upon the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s crude remarks about what he’d like to do to Barack Obama Thursday, with some putting the remarks in the context of a generational shift among African Americans and others placing them in a debate over whether the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is shifting to the center.

According to the FishBowl DC Web site, the Jackson story was the most-viewed Thursday on the Internet outlets of USA Today, ABC News and CBS News.

In one of the sillier efforts, an early story from Chicago from the Associated Press reduced Jackson, civil rights leader for 40 years and two-time presidential candidate, to just another Chicago pastor. It said that “Barack Obama found himself amid yet another firestorm ignited by a Chicago pastor . . .”

The New York Post gleefully put the word “Nuts” on its front page, while the Chicago Sun-Times, another tabloid, went with “Below the Belt.”

More seriously, Eric Easter wrote on ebonyjet.com, “No one realistically expects that the first Black man with a real shot at President of the United States was going to be the reincarnation of Stokely Carmichael, but to the extent that some highly visible supporters are worried that Obama’s move to the center is a move away from urban issues and the community suffering from those issues, Senator Obama has reason to be concerned. Inelegantly, rudely and stupidly, that’s what Jesse Jackson was suggesting.”

Easter cited Obama’s Father’s Day speech at predominantly black Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. “By choosing that moment to castigate Black fathers, some worry that Obama gave public voice to what white people whisper about Blacks in their living rooms and cemented his image as a post-racial savior at the expense of Black men.”

Writing on the Washington Post Web site, reporter Dan Balz, who has been covering the campaign for the Post, suggested Easter might be right about the impact among whites — and that politically, that would be good for Obama.

“If Obama were looking for a way to endear himself more to those white, working class voters who were resistant to his appeals in the Democratic primaries, nothing is likely to help more than a condemnation from Jesse Jackson,” Balz said in a piece headlined, “Obama’s Accidental Sister Souljah Moment.”

“Sixteen years ago,” Balz explained, “Bill Clinton used a Jackson-sponsored forum to rebuke the rap singer for suggesting that black people ‘have a week and kill white people’ rather than each other. Jackson fumed as Clinton made the comments and denounced them later. Politically, Clinton came out such a winner that ‘Sister Souljah moment’ now has its own entry in Wikipedia.”

On theRoot.com, Jack White referenced “the self-inflicted wounds that bedevil segments of the black community” and said that “the prospect that one of us might soon be in charge of trying to fix this mess instead of simply complaining about it” has made blacks uncomfortable, including Jackson.

Obama “hasn’t said anything most of us haven’t heard or said at the dinner table. But now, because Obama is who he is, the whole world is listening in to the conversation,” White wrote.

Nick Denton, writing on the Gawker.com site, reported that Radar magazine, in which Jackson’s son Yusef holds an interest, did not touch the story.

Jackson’s comments made for conversation even at the Television Critics Association’s annual summer session in Beverly Hills, Calif. Filmmaker Spike Lee told EURWeb.com there, “In life, sometimes you have your moment. You have your window that lies upon you and then it leaves. This is not Jesse’s time right now. This is Barack Obama’s time, and I think he’s having a problem with that.”

Some journalists agreed — some of them angrily — that Jackson has had his day and that it is time for him to leave the stage gracefully.

“Twenty years ago, as a candidate himself, Jackson wasn’t a contender but could be a spoiler and every other Democratic presidential candidate wanted to know: What does Jesse want?” columnist Rochelle Riley wrote in her Detroit Free Press blog.

“It’s 20 years later, and I don’t care what Jesse wants. And neither should America.”

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Latino Bloggers Can’t Get Answers From Candidates

A group of Latino and Latina bloggers — CrossLeft, Culture Kitchen, Citizen Orange, Latino Politico, The Unapologetic Mexican, Migra Matters, Para Justicia y Libertad, Mamita Mala and Zuky — drafted a survey for the presidential candidates to fill out, Marisa Treviño wrote Thursday on her Latina Lista blog, including herself among the group.

“The survey would provide the substance lacking in the candidates’ speeches that Latino voters are looking for. Yet, it may reveal too much substance,” she wrote.

“To date, almost three weeks has passed, and neither candidate has acknowledged the survey,” let alone filled it out.

“So, the survey is being sent to both campaigns again — in the hopes that each candidate will show his sincerity in addressing issues pertinent to the Latino electorate and deliver substance with the rhetoric.”

Among the 38 questions: “Do you support the expansion and construction of a virtual border along the U.S./Mexico border?” “Do you support private companies profiting [from] immigrant detention?” “Do you support the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, the bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement?” “Do you support cancelling or renegotiating NAFTA?” “What are you going to do to take a more global approach to the issue of migration?” And it asks after each question, “How long have you held this position?”

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Army Fires Staffer Who Advocated for News Media

“Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tried to sweep out the symbols of his predecessor’s capricious reign, firing acolytes of Donald Rumsfeld and bringing glasnost to the Pentagon,” Dana Milbank reported reported Thursday in the Washington Post.

 

 

 

“But in one area, Rummy’s Rules still pertain: the attempt to hide from public view the returning war dead.

“When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead — even after the fallen warriors’ families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn’t call for such limitations.

“Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her.”

The case involved the burial of Lt. Col. William G. Hall, 38, of Seattle, one of the most senior officers to be killed in the Iraq war. His family “gave their permission for the media to cover his Arlington burial — a decision many grieving families make so that the nation will learn about their loved ones’ sacrifice. But the military had other ideas, and they arranged the Marine’s burial yesterday so that no sound, and few images, would make it into the public domain,” Milbank reported in April.
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Suspended Detroit Anchor Out Amid Investigation

Fanchon Stinger, a recently suspended morning anchorwoman for Fox 2 Detroit, is no longer employed there, the station said during its 10 p.m. newscast Thursday, the Detroit News reported on Friday.

The departure comes a day after The Detroit News revealed that Stinger’s company was hired as a media consultant by Synagro Technologies Inc. to place media advertisements in connection with a Detroit city sludge contract under federal investigation.

The station did not indicate if Stinger had resigned or been fired. She had been on paid suspension since last month.

Stinger, 37, “joined Fox 2 as an investigative reporter in 1997 and became an anchor in 2004. On Wednesday, a Fox spokeswoman had said the station was conducting an internal investigation following Synagro confirming a financial relationship with Stinger.

“The FBI is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of possible bribes paid to City Council members, council aides and city officials in connection with the Synagro contract, under which the city is to pay the Houston-based company close to $47 million a year to haul and treat its sewage sludge.”
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Anchor Michael Scott Sues Over “N-Word” Firing

Michael Scott, the Huntsville, Ala., anchor who said he was unfairly fired for allegedly calling another black journalist the “N-word,” is suing the station alleging breach of contract, David Holden reported Friday in the Huntsville Times.

 

 

“Scott, a broadcast journalist for 30 years, is trying to collect part of his more than $100,000-a-year salary and other benefits.

“The lawsuit he filed Wednesday in Madison County Circuit Court says he was fired without cause. It names Calkins Media Inc., WAAY’s owner, as the defendant. . . . The situation has been exaggerated, said Scott’s lawyer, John A. Wilmer of Huntsville.

“Under the contract, Calkins Media was to pay Scott $360,000 in salary between June 11, 2007, and June 10, 2010.

“In addition, Scott was to receive an incentive bonus of $5,000 per newscast when WAAY-TV became No. 1 in its demographic area in the 10 p.m. Monday through Friday newscasts for the February, May and November rating periods.”
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NABJ Offers “Improved” Training to Help Laid-Off

“As a result of the layoffs and buyouts that have occurred, African American journalists need resources to stay competitive due to the technological changes taking place,” Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a news release announcing a “newly developed” NABJ Media Institute.

Content for the “new and improved” Media Institute will premiere at the UNITY: Journalists of Color convention, which will be held July 23-27 in Chicago, the release said.

Media Institute workshops explore topics ranging from multimedia technology and political reporting to health care issues and management.

NABJ has joined with Belmont University/Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, Georgetown University, Morehouse College, Bloomberg, New York Times and the Poynter Institute to deliver classroom instruction and online training.
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Imus Boasts His Radio Show Still Gets VIP Guests

Once disgraced radio host Don Imus took out a full-page ad in the Washington-based Politico newspaper proclaiming, “IMUS IS BACK!” according to the FishbowlDC Web site. Imus, who returned to radio in December after being fired for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos,” is now based at New York’s WABC-AM and airs in Washington on WJZW-FM

 

Don Imus

“The ad boasts of Imus’ guest list, which ‘says it all,’ the Web site reports.

Listed are:

Mike Barnicle, Paul Begala, Carl Bernstein, Michael Beschloss, Dr. Douglas Blackmon, Jim Brady, Douglas Brinkley, Richard Brookhiser, Pat Buchanan, George Carlin.

James Carville, Dick Cavett, Neil Cavuto, Alan Colmes, Patricia Cornwell, Craig Crawford, Monica Crowley, Lanny Davis, Debra Dickerson, Lou Dobbs.

Sen. Chris Dodd, William Donahue, Maureen Dowd, Martin Fletcher, Thomas Friedman, Rudy Giuliani, the Rev. Peter Gomes, Michael Graham, Jeff Greenfield, Dick Gregory.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, Pete [Hamill], Sen. Orrin Hatch, Tony Hendra, Mary Higgins-Clark, Carol [Higgins Clark], Gov. Mike Huckabee, Brit Hume, Laura Ingraham, Ron Insana.

Walter Isaacson, Col. Jack Jacobs, Carl Jeffers, Dan Jenkins, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Megan Kelly, Sen. John Kerry, Don King, David Kirby, Jim Kramer.

Howard Kurtz, Sen. Joe Lieberman, Mike Lupica, Mary Matalin, Sen. John McCain, Lance Murrow, Jim Nantz, Pat O’Brien, Tom Oliphant, Billy Packer.

Sister Louise D. Patterson, Anna Quindlen, Sally Quinn, Frank Rich, Gov. Bill Richardson, Andy Rooney, Tom Rose, Tim Russert, Bob Schieffer, Steve Schirripa,

Jay Severin, Phil Simms, Tony Snow, George Stephanopoulos, Matt Taibbi, Stuart Taylor, Jeffrey Toobin, Chris Wallace, Sen. Jim Webb, Judy Woodruff.
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Journalism in China Said to Fall Victim to Payoffs

“Wasn’t the year of the Olympics supposed to herald a new era of integrity in Chinese journalism?” Gady A. Epstein asks on Forbes.com.

“It has and it hasn’t. The Sichuan earthquake inspired some courageous Chinese reporters to defy censors in pursuit of the ugly truth about building standards. But government interference isn’t the only thing getting in the way of truth telling. In China’s world of black journalism countless smaller tragedies routinely get shoved under the rug. Reporters race to the scene of coal mine accidents not to investigate them but to collect hush money. The more dead miners, the fatter the payoffs, especially for correspondents carrying the labels of leading national and provincial news outlets, say media experts and Chinese reporters.

“These bribes are part of a widespread culture of checkbook journalism in China, from reporters taking handouts at corporate press events to broadcasters selling precious airtime on the evening news to reporters blackmailing targets with the threat of exposure. Unlike government censorship, this corruption eats at one of China’s more beleaguered professions from within its ranks. The trading of favors for cash is so prevalent that, like the honest cop in a corrupt police unit, an ethical journalist risks the scorn of colleagues.”
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