Diaz-Balart Gets Turn in GOP Candidates Debate
Jose Diaz-Balart, a host for Telemundo, appeared in Wednesday night’s Republican presidential candidates debate in Simi Valley, Calif., to ask about immigration reform, and co-moderator Brian Williams raised issues of the poor and the wealth gap among ethnic groups.
Writing for Time, Michael Scherer said the immigration topic “tends to be a dud in these debates since all the candidates have the same answer: Secure the borders first. Sure enough, that’s what the candidates say, resisting Diaz-Balart’s efforts to get specific about how the illegal immigrants in this country would be dealt with if the borders are first secured.”
Some Latino journalists posting on social networks questioned whether Diaz-Balart wasn’t raising a stereotypical subject.
Co-host Brian Williams asked “Where do the poor come in?”, asking former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania to describe how his Catholic faith informs his desire to help the poor. Santorium talked about his role in welfare reform in the 1990s.
Williams also raised a recent study from the Pew Research Center that showed the median wealth of white households to be nearly 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. Texas Gov. Rick Perry quoted John F. Kennedy in asserting that the “most powerful welfare reform program is a job.”
The debate, cosponsored by NBC News and Politico, featured a diverse post-event panel that included Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, Melissa Harris-Perry of the Nation and the Rev. Al Sharpton, newly named MSNBC host.
Campaign Urges End of “Illegal” as Noun
“The media industry organization UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is lending itself to a campaign that urges media outlets to stop using ‘illegal’ as a way of referring to immigrants, Leslie Berestein Rojas wrote Wednesday for Multi-American, a website of KPCC, Southern California Public Radio.
“The group has partnered with ColorLines, the social advocacy magazine that last year launched its ‘Drop the I-Word’ campaign, and its parent company for a press briefing next week on covering immigration in the post-9/11 era and ‘the rise of the i-word slur in public discourse.’ The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, one of the three minority media industry groups which comprise UNITY, has long urged media outlets to refrain from the use of ‘illegals’ and ‘illegal immigrants’ in favor of ‘undocumented.’
“Are these efforts having any sway? For what it’s worth, the debate has made mainstream media in Southern California twice this week, with the Los Angeles Times publishing two pieces on the debate during the past week in response to readers’ questions.”
Yahoo Abruptly Fires CEO Carol Bartz
“Yahoo’s board abruptly fired pugnacious chief executive Carol Bartz on Tuesday, ousting the most prominent female CEO in Silicon Valley after growing impatient with her struggle to turn around the pioneering but troubled Internet company,” Brandon Bailey wrote Wednesday for the San Jose Mercury News.
“In a statement released late in the day, Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said Chief Financial Officer Timothy Morse would serve as interim CEO. But the board gave little indication of its plans for the future, despite recurring speculation about a sale or restructuring.”
Last year, when the American Society of News Editors decided to add “online-only newspapers” to its annual diversity census of print newspapers, Yahoo was one of the 21 that did not respond, ASNE said.
“We do not release our diversity statistics,” spokeswoman Carrie Davis told Journal-isms then. “We are a major public company and have strict regulations about what we do/do not disclose.”
Later, it was learned that Yahoo, Google and three other Silicon Valley companies felt so strongly about not disclosing the information that they persuaded federal officials two years ago to block public disclosure — and that the Labor Department agreed that to be forthcoming would be revealing “trade secrets.”
Essence Study Finds Black Youth Pressured to Have Sex
“Black youth report considerable pressure to have sex, according to a new survey of 1,500 Black youth ages 13-21″ released by Essence magazine and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy,” Essence announced on Wednesday.
“Of those who have had sex, 47% of those 13-21 (including 21% of those 13-15) say they have been pressured to go further sexually than they wanted to.” The results are featured in the October issue of Essence, on newsstands Sept. 12. “In the article, Our Teens’ Secret Sex Lives, ESSENCE senior writer Jeannine Amber interviewed dozens of kids to uncover the truth about teens and sex.
“Overall, the survey found that almost half of Black teens ages 13 to 21 reported that they have lied to get out of a sexual situation, and 54% of Black males said they feel pressure from their friends to have sex. . . .”
TV One Series Lets Survivors Tell of Real-Life Ordeals
TV One is premiering a series that “presents the incredible, odds-defying real stories of those who have faced life-threatening and life-changing ordeals as told by the people who survived them,” the network announced on Tuesday.
“Will to Live” debuts Sunday, Sept. 18, at 8 p.m. ET.
“Relying on a mix of in-depth interviews with survivors and dramatic recreations, ‘Will To Live’ offers firsthand accounts of stories ripped from the headlines. Forensic explorations of evidence and/or details of medical treatments and legal proceedings shed light on fascinating aspects underlying each case. Seven half-hour episodes and three hour-long episodes will air Sunday nights this fall at 8 PM ET, repeating at 11 PM.”
Toni Judkins, executive vice president of original programming, said in the announcement, “These compelling, real-life dramas are filled with unpredictable twists and startling revelations that might feel like fiction if they weren’t based entirely on fact.”
The series was in the pipeline before CEO Johnathan Rodgers retired July 31 and was succeeded by Wonya Lucas.
One of the first night’s efforts, “Living Witness,” is described thus:
“In December 2008 Gladys Wade was knocked unconscious by Anthony Sowell, awoke in his house, fought off his attempts to stab and strangle her, then escaped. Prosecutors, however, found Gladys to be an unreliable witness because of her prior arrest record, and determined that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute Sowell, despite the fact he had previously done 15 years on a rape charge.
“On September 22, 2009, Cleveland police, prompted by another woman’s report of assault and rape, arrived at Anthony Sowell’s home with an arrest warrant, and discovered 11 women’s bodies, six of whom might still be alive today had police heeded the warning of Gladys Wade. Gladys is still haunted by her near scrape with death wondering why she alone survived. ‘I keep thinking, why me? . . . Maybe it’s so I could speak for the victims.’ Sowell pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 85 charges of murder, rape and kidnapping. He was convicted and sentenced to death in August 2011, and the execution is scheduled to take place in fall 2012.”
El Paso Editor Christopher Lopez Leaving Newspapers
El Paso Times Editor Christopher V. Lopez has announced that he will end his newspaper career at the end of September, the newspaper reported.
“I want you guys to know this is a very personal decision for me to hang up my newspaper career,” Lopez told newsroom staff on Aug. 9, his voice breaking. ‘I am intent on building a second career.’
“Lopez, 50, did not say what career he intends to pursue. He said the decision came after ‘a lot of thought and input from my family.’
“. . . In 2000, Lopez joined the Contra Costa Times in California as regional editor and was promoted to managing editor and eventually its editor and vice president of news. He left the Contra Costa Times at the end of 2006 after the newspaper was sold, and joined The Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs.
“. . . In 2009, which was Lopez’s first full year in El Paso, the Times was named Newspaper of the Year by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.”
Limbaugh’s Interest in Obama’s Rear End Draws Attention
First, MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe wondered aloud whether the opposition to President Obama’s request to address a Joint Session of Congress Wednesday night — rejected by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio — had racial overtones.
“The interesting question is: What is it about this president that has stripped away the veneer of respect that normally accompanies the Office of the President? Why do Republicans think this president is unpresidential and should dare to request this kind of thing? It strikes me that it could be the economic times, it could be that he won so big in 2008 or it could be, let’s face it, the color of his skin. This is an extraordinary reaction to a normal sequence of events,” Wolffe said on MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Real Clear Politics reported last week. Wolffe has written two books on Obama.
Now, Betsy Rothstein of FishbowlDC reported Tuesday, Wolffe “is oddly grateful for right wing radio host Rush Limbaugh‘s colonoscopy slur that has Wolffe’s head lodged in an orifice of President Obama.”
“. . . The comment came on the heels of Wolffe saying that opposition to Obama giving a jobs speech before Congress on Sept. 7 was racially tinged. Limbaugh ripped Wolffe a new one, saying on his radio program this week that if Obama ever has the above procedure ‘they’re going to find Richard Wolffe’s head there.’ . . .
“When asked for comment on Limbaugh’s off-color remarks late Friday, Wolffe told FishbowlDC, ‘I’m deeply indebted to Mr. Limbaugh for proving my point about the connection between racism, disrespect for the President, and in his bizarre brain, homophobia. He first insisted that the Speaker reject the President’s speech in order to ‘put this guy in his place.’ Then he took an unusual interest in the President’s rear end.’ “
Fox Sports Cancels Show That Mocked Asian Students
“Fox Sports said Wednesday it canceled a show that aired a segment that mocked Asian students who were filmed on the Southern California campus,” the Associated Press reported.
“Fox Sports Network spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said in a statement that last week’s segment was ‘clearly offensive and inconsistent with the standards FOX Sports believes in, and we sincerely regret that it appeared.’ He said the show that aired the video, ‘The College Experiment,’ would be cancelled effective immediately.
“The Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, Colo. reported about the video and the network issued an apology. The video shows a comedian approaching Asian students at USC and asking them to welcome the universities of Colorado and Utah to the Pac-12 Conference. The comedian tells the students to give the new Pac-12 members an ‘all-American welcome’ and then mocks students’ accents.”
Short Takes
- “Debra Juarez, who headed the news operation at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 for 12 years, is returning to Chicago to become news director of NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5,” Robert Feder reported Wednesday for Time Out Chicago. “Juarez is expected to join the station early next month from New England Cable News, a 24-hour news channel in Boston, where she’s been news director since June 2010. The move can be seen as a transfer for Juarez, since both NBC and New England Cable News are owned by Comcast Corp.”
- “Journalism students at the University of Kansas have a new course available to help them prepare for trauma they might witness on the job,” John Milburn reported Saturday for the Associated Press. “The course will focus on how reporters are affected by covering traumatic events, from combat overseas to a domestic terrorist attack.” Teresa Trumbly Lamsam, a veteran journalist and visiting professor from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, “said Kansas decided to expose new journalism students to the course to see how it is received by students and faculty. Eighty-five students meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, with more students asking to enroll.”
- “To fill the gap created by the summer departure of Tina Dupuy for a managing editor position with political blog CrooksandLiars.com, FishbowlLA would like to officially welcome Marcus Vanderberg as its newest co-editor,” Richard Horgan wrote Wednesday for FishbowlLA. “Vanderberg currently contributes to video-centric African-American community news site TheGrio.com and freelances for BET.com. The LA native was also a member for the past year of Mediabistro’s Sports Newser blog, which was recently shuttered.”
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