Site icon journal-isms.com

Journal-ism July 10

richard

An editor told Darrin Bell, speaking of this strip, "I can’t let you do this." "It had all the urgency of an intervention," Bell wrote.

Quick Save From Editor on Michael Jackson Strip

"’Candorville’ cartoonist Darrin Bell has revaled on his blog¬†an alteration to his July 7 cartoon that was requested by the Washington Post Writers Group. The subject? Who else? Michael Jackson," Editor & Publisher reported¬†on Thursday.

"The strip was part of a running series in which the deceased King of Pop visits the dreams of the strip’s main character, Lemont Brown. As Lemont and Jackson wait to board a train, the subject of Jackson’s bizarre personal life, including the accusations of child molestation brought against the singer in 1993 and 2005 comes up.

"The original strip has Jackson saying to Lemont, after Lemont describes the effect Jackson’s music had on his life, ‘I sure did touch people, didn’t I?’ Lemont responds, ‘So you admit it?’ The final panel depicts Jackson and Lemont saying ‘What?’ to each other.

"’My editor [Amy Lago of the Washington Post Writers Group] sent me an e-mail a few days before [the] strip was going to press saying "I can’t let you do this,"’ Bell wrote on his blog, candorville.com. "It had all the urgency of an intervention. My editor was refusing to let me OD. She was pouring my vodka down the drain."

Bell rewrote the last two panels for publication. The third panel of the published version features Lemont saying, "What the heck. You entertained me so I’m willing to overlook your stupid decisions, your possible depravity, and your embarasing naivete. In the last panel Jackson responds, "Thanks," with Lemont saying "It’s the least I could do."

"I had to come up with something that would fit the existing art and I had about ten minutes in which to do that," Bell wrote on his blog. "It still works. In fact, all I did was replace the offending last two panels with an earlier draft of the strip, so this is still something I wanted to say."

Paris Jackson, left, Prince Michael Jackson I and Prince Michael Jackson II on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Tuesday, (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, Pool)

NABJ Leader Blasts Story on Jackson’s "White" Kids

"The writer of the story¬†on abc.com titled, ‘How Will Michael Jackson’s ‘White’ Kids Get Along With Black Family?’ is in dire need of a history lesson on African-Americans," Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a statement on Thursday. "

"Anyone with 20/20 vision can see the variety of shades that encompass African-American people. It’s a false issue considering the growing number of bi-racial and blended families here in the United States and it – by its title – suggests race somehow is more important than being surrounded by a loving and supportive family.

"The article includes this text: ‘But, living with their black relatives may require some adjustments.’ Are you serious? By all accounts these children have known no one else but their black relatives during their young lives.

"If this article is the result of the competition to get more Michael Jackson story angles – all the time – the editorial staff at abc.com need to take a step back and reconsider the message they are sending. Headlines create perception and perception can become reality, and the perception of NABJ is abc.com is out of touch and uninformed."

Filing From Ghana’s "Hotel Obama"

NBC digital correspondent Mara Schiavocampo filed this report on the new "Hotel Obama" in Accra, Ghana, in preparation for President Obama’s visit there. Other journalists of color on Obama’s trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana are writers Michael Fletcher and Robin Givhan of the Washington Post, Post photographer Marvin Joseph; correspondent Suzanne Malveaux of CNN and NBC producer Athena Jones. EbonyJet.com announced¬†that it will be live blogging the trip in association with The Africa Channel. CNN said¬†Anderson Cooper will interview Obama and join him on a visit to Cape Coast Castle, the site of a dungeon where slaves were held before they were shipped west, and Cooper’s coverage will be joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta from Haiti, where he’ll be reporting on the slave trade.

AP to Try Reader Feedback on Sotomayor Coverage

"As news organizations roll out their coverage plans for Sonia Sotomayor’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings next week, some interesting innovation is coming from a player some critics have labeled stodgy: the Associated Press," Ian Crouch wrote on Niemanlab.org

"AP is promising readers insider access to the toughest ticket in Washington with the Twitter feed AP_Courtside. Some tweets will respond to reader questions and suggestions, while others will link to AP blog coverage on Yahoo News or to the news agency’s traditional content.

"Perhaps most noteworthy, however, is AP‚Äôs promise that readers will ‘direct our coverage.’ Though the Yahoo blog won‚Äôt be up until hearings begin next Monday, the Twitter feed is already soliciting reader feedback . . ."

"This all stems back to a larger project that we‚Äôre working on to open up our coverage and engage users,‚Äù said Jim Kennedy, AP’s vice president and director of strategic planning. ‚ÄúWe are looking to do things beyond writing stories, taking pictures, and shooting video. This big question here is: can a news agency have these kind of interactions even as it supplies content to our customers?‚Äù

Paper Couldn’t Pull Section With McNair Interview

"It is every newspaper’s nightmare when it comes to pre-printed sections ‚Äî and ads. You print the section days ahead of time. But in between the production date and distribution date, something changes a story," Joe Strupp wrote¬†Thursday for Editor & Publisher.

"That happened with The Tennessean in Nashville. The paper’s weekly Wednesday zoned section ‚Äî "A.M." ‚Äî is printed on Fridays, with some of the copies for non-subscribers packaged with ads and shipped out Saturday.

"One of the zoned weeklies, ‘Davidson A.M.’ for the paper’s Davidson County area, carried a front-page story on former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair opening the first of several restaurants. The ‘Gridiron9’ eateries bear the number he used in his playing days. It even included an interview with McNair in which he said he hoped to open more of them.

"But when word spread of McNair’s tragic death in a murder-suicide Saturday, Tennessean officials had a dilemma. Some 134,000 copies for non-subscribers had already been package[d] with ads and shipped for distribution. . . ."

Meanwhile, columnists weighed in on the circumstances of McNair’s death and other recent publicized sex scandals. On July 4, the married McNair was shot to death in his sleep by his 20-year-old girlfriend, who then shot herself in the head, according to authorities.

Exit mobile version