Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told senators that her judicial philosophy is guided by ‘fidelity to the law.’ Anchor Russ Mitchell introduces the CBS News story.
Live Coverage, Live Blogs and Plenty of Good Seats
Senate confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor opened on Monday, with some Web, broadcast and cable outlets providing live coverage and live blogging.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee drew battle lines as they and the first Hispanic nominee for the Supreme Court made their opening statements, with race a not-always-unspoken subtext.
"A quick review of seating arrangements at today’s confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor shows who’s the most important constituency here today – the media, not the public," Paul Kane wrote¬†on the Washington Post Web site.
"We’ve got 6 super-long tables in the middle of the room seating almost 110 journalists. Then, not at the tables, are another two rows of seats for press, an additional 50 or so seats.
"The big loser in the set up of the hearing room inside Hart 216 – the general public.
"Just two rows of seats, all the way in the very back, are reserved for the Average Joes and Average Joses who’ve made the trek to come to see this historic confirmation of the first Latina ever nominated for the Supreme Court. In all, less than 50 seats are reserved for the public, who will be shuttled in and out of the room throughout the day to try to allow as many people as possible to view the hearing."
Kane’s news organization, the Post, promised live video coverage and commentary by Post political reporters. "Jerry Markon and Ben Pershing kick off coverage at 10am and Perry Bacon picks up at 11am. The Fix will also look at the five Senators to watch during the hearings," FishBowl DC reported.
PBS announced an agreement with impreMedia, the nation’s leading Hispanic newspaper and online news company, to live stream PBS’ "NewsHour" feed of the hearings, translated to Spanish, on impreMedia’s Web site.
ImpreMedia planned to provide analysis by Pedro Rojas, La Opini??n’s editor in chief, and its political analyst, Pilar Marrero.
On the opening day, as Neil A. Lewis reported¬†for the New York Times, "Democrats initially sought simply to throw a protective blanket over Judge Sotomayor, but soon matched the testiness of the Republicans, as each side lobbed their grievances across the divide. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is committee chairman, opened the hearing with an effort to set the table to the Democrats’ liking, emphasizing Judge Sotomayor’s compelling personal story and her achievements, both academic and professional.
". . . But the tone on both sides quickly became angrier. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican, lashed into Judge Sotomayor’s record, saying, ‘I believe our legal system is at a dangerous crossroads.’
"He suggested that Judge Sotomayor should be disqualified because she seems to represent a rejection of the concept of a wise and impartial judge and, rather, comes from ‘a brave new world where words have no true meaning and judges are free to decide what facts they choose to see,’ and push their own political agenda."
"Never have I wanted more to throw a brick through the screen of my television," media critic Eric Deggans wrote on his St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times blog.
"Watching Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sit stoically through a succession of white men, perched at the head of the whitest, malest, most powerful political institution in the country – the U.S. Senate – telling a Latina from a New York housing project that her Hispanic heritage should mean nothing in her work as a judge, was heartbreaking."
When it was her turn to speak, Sotomayor told of "how her journey from public housing in the Bronx to the federal bench has shaped her philosophy and made her a jurist whose philosophy is guided by ‘fidelity to the law,’" as Lewis wrote.
In assessing television coverage, Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik wrote that "I singled out PBS and CNN, the two TV sites most committed to fact based news and information, as places to turn . . .
"By the end of the morning session, a clear pattern in the coverage had emerged: PBS was doing an outstanding job, while CNN was offering some of the worst and most distracting coverage anywhere on TV or online. Talk about overproduced and misguided as to where the focus should be, CNN seemed to think its talking-head analysts mattered more than what was happening in the Senate hearing room."
Pacifica Radio’s live coverage included audio from Anita Hill at Clarence Thomas’ 1991 confirmation hearing alleging that Thomas, in the workplace, boasted of his sexual prowess, and similarly played audio of Thomas retorting that he was being subject to "a high-tech lynching."
National Public Radio did not air live coverage, instead opting for a one-hour special on the hearing at 7 p.m. Eastern. Correspondents pointed out the ethnic dynamics at play, noting that Republicans tried to be careful to say they were not attacking Sotomayor because she is Hispanic.
"All Things Considered" co-host Robert Siegel confronted Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s statement during his own confirmation hearing: "When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who
suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account." 
Grassley acknowledged that he voted for Alito’s confirmation despite believing it wrong for Sotomayor to express such sentiments about her own Latina heritage.
Underscoring that Sotomayor would be only the third woman on the court, the Women’s Media Center assembled a video of the "sexist and racist attacks" lobbed in the media against Sotomayor, urging viewers to "Hold the media to a higher standard."
At least two senators promised to raise media-related issues during the hearings.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., mentioned the array of cameras and said he planned to ask Sotomayor where she stood on the issue of allowing television cameras in the Supreme Court.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., sworn in only last week, told lawyers in his home state that he planned to ask Sotomayor’s view on "network neutrality," KARE-TV in Minneapolis reported.
"The Obama administration is on the record in support of the principle of content and access nondiscrimination and of supporting a legislative approach to that principle if necessary," John Eggerton reported in Broadcasting & Cable, noting the development.
The hearings resume Tuesday at 10 a.m. and are to be webcast live online on the Web site of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as on various networks.
- Sherrilyn A. Ifill, theRoot.com:¬†Sotomayor’s Judgment Day
- Jackandjillpolitics.com: Opening day of the Sotomayor hearings.
- latinopoliticsblog.com: Judge Sotomayor’s Confirmation Hearings Start, while Latino advocacy pushes back against the attacks
- Kate Phillips, New York Times: Live Blogging the Sotomayor Hearings
- Monica Youn, Latina Lista blog:¬†Sonia Sotomayor’s record defies charges of judicial activism
Despite Finances, Vibe, Ebony Didn’t Want to Go There
"A partnership with an online gossip website serving African-American readers, might have given it room to keep producing, according to the site’s founder and editor.
"Fred Mwangaguhunga, who runs Mediatakeout.com, told us that in the year before Vibe’s collapse, it offered the magazine a revenue-share deal, but Vibe refused."
Vibe, the best-known and most mainstream of the magazines aimed at the hip-hop generation, folded suddenly on June 30 after 16 years, citing "the collapse of the capital markets" and of print advertising. 
". . . Incidentally, Ebony apparently isn’t interested in working with
Mediatakeout either," Sutton continued, quoting Mwangaguhunga.
‘We made the same proposal to Ebony [magazine] which is facing pressure now,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure why they’re saying no.’
Mwangaguhunga, whose Web site trafficks in lurid headlines about celebrities, supermarket-tabloid-style,¬† told Journal-isms on Monday that Sutton’s account was essentially accurate, but said, "I should be clear though – I am not suggesting that any deal with
MediaTakeOut.com would have saved Vibe Рor that it could save Ebony." 
He added:
"We met with a senior member of Vibe’s team last fall and this spring we reached out to senior members over at Ebony.
"I was hoping to make a broader point about the future of urban/multicultural media companies. With offline ad revenues declining, traditional old media companies can not afford to ignore online media companies – in particular MediaTakeOut.com. Given our daily traffic numbers – we have as large or larger (depending on what measure you use) a daily audience than either BET.com or AOL Blackvoices.
"Vibe is a tragic loss to the urban/multicultural media world. It would be a shame to see any other high-profile companies suffer the same fate."
- Eric Easter, ebonyjet.com: Bringing Back the VIBE: Can Quincy Jones Make a Go Online?
JazzTimes Finds an Owner, Will Resume Publication
JazzTimes, which calls itself the world’s leading jazz publication, is resuming publication under a new owner, according to a notice¬†posted Monday on its Web site.¬† It announced in June it furloughed the bulk of its staff and was selling its assets,¬†
"Effective 7/10/09, the JazzTimes brand has been acquired by Madavor Media LLC, a market-leading enthusiast publishing and trade-show group based in Boston. We are very optimistic about the magazine’s long-term future given the resources and vision of Madavor and its staff," the notice said.
"Madavor will resume publishing of JazzTimes immediately with an August issue featuring a cover story on Joe Lovano, an article by investigative reporter Marc Hopkins on the effect of the economy on jazz festivals, and a photo essay celebrating Blue Note, with photos from Francis Wolff and Jimmy Katz and an introduction by Ashley Kahn."
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF6N2v7aZaQ]Fox anchor spoke "the basest of white supremacist ideologies," Unity statement says.
Unity Blasts Fox Anchor on Marriage Among "Species"
"On the July 8, 2009 episode of the morning show ‘Fox and Friends,’ co-anchor Brian Kilmeade made a crude and bafflingly ignorant attempt to dismiss a study on marriage and Alzheimer’s that was conducted in Sweden and Finland," Unity: Journalists of Color, representing black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American journalists, said on Monday.
It began circulating a petition to Fox News urging "an immediate apology for Mr. Kilmeade’s offensive comments" and "a serious discussion on the program regarding intermarriage and the value of diversity in our society."
Unity’s statement said, "Mr. Kilmeade stated: ‘we [Americans] keep marrying other species and other ethnics . . . Swedes have pure genes . . . in America we marry everybody . . .’
"We don’t know where to begin. Did the study not apply to Americans because of racial intermarriage? Are racially integrated couples more likely to exacerbate the symptoms of dementia?
"Mr. Kilmeade’s outlandish comments were more than silly and worthy of ridicule. They validate, under the guise of light-hearted humor, the basest of white supremacist ideologies, the notion that white people and non-white people are of different species, with the white race as ‘pure.’ Without question, the comments should have been denounced immediately as racist, ignorant and bigoted.
"Instead, a baffled co-host Gretchen Carlson rightly questioned Kilmeade’s mental state, and someone off-camera whistled ‘If I Only Had a Brain.’ The song was well-chosen, seeing as the comments lacked intelligence, heart and courage, and should not have a home on anything resembling a news program."
Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.
Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said separately last week, "Perhaps the idea that we are all a part of the human race is a foreign concept to him ‚Äî but by virtue of his position he should have known better. Kilmeade suggests that so-called ‘pure genes’ belong to the Swedes ‚Äî the whitest among the white. If that isn’t a racist and bigoted point of view with a national platform we need a new definition.
"When will it end? When will the leadership of Fox News end the race-baiting language that has become a part of its current culture."
Broadcasters of Color Ask U.S. for Financial Aid
"Fourteen minority broadcasters have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for help for their industry, which they argue is in danger of extinction," John Eggerton reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable.
"That direct appeal for help followed a letter to the secretary from some key legislators including Majority Whip (and father of FCC commission nominee Mignon Clyburn Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), and Democratic Reps. Barney Frank (MA) and Charlie Rangel (NY) asking Geithner to ‘pay attention’ to the plight of minority broadcasters. That includes considering help to free up credit and financing government-backed bridge loans, similar to steps taken to help the ailing auto industry.
"In the letter adding their voices to that of the legislators, representatives of Entravision, Inner City Broadcasting, and a dozen others, including National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters James Winston, outlined a stark scenario.
"’Unlike the auto business, broadcasting has been healthy for many years and, upon a recovery, could shortly be restored to a path of growth with some temporary assistance,’ they wrote. ‘Given the global credit crisis, plummeting ad revenues, no-minority dictates by advertisers, and changes in Arbitron audience measurement, which have further deflated ad pricing, the short-term financial outlook for our broadcasting companies is not good. Many of us are now, or will soon be, weathering significant defaults of our credit facilities. Ironically, the loss of automobile advertising revenues, a substantial source of revenue for broadcast stations, is also weighing heavily on our businesses.’
"Without that help, they warned, minority ownership, already only in the low single digits as a percentage of all owners could sink even lower. ‘What will happen to the communities we serve,’ they asked, ‘if this once in a lifetime financial crisis completely severs our access to capital and we lose our stations?’"
"Candorville" cartoonist Darrin Bell has raised enough money to create 11×17 posters of his "Last Goodbye" series on Michael Jackson. Money goes to a Jackson-favored charity.
Michael Jackson Death Prompts Look at "Colorism"
"Colorism is the crazy aunt in the attic of racism," DeNeen L. Brown wrote  Sunday in a 2,100-word Washington Post piece, broaching a subject not often discussed in newspapers.
"It’s best not to mention her in polite company. Or if you find it necessary to talk about her at all, do it in whispers among relatives and people who already know about her.
"On June 25, when Michael Jackson died, there she was again: colorism, that sub-category of racism and prejudice based on skin color, staring us right in the face.
"By the time Jackson died, he was perhaps whiter than any white man that you know. Those who looked at the constant stream of replayed televised interviews, at the pale skin, the thin lips painted red, the straight hair, saw in his face the psychological wound that has scarred so many in the black community.
". . . Jackson has insisted that his skin faded as the result of vitiligo, a condition that damages the skin’s pigment. But experts say that condition leaves the skin spotted and blotchy. To the outer world, Jackson’s skin appeared consistently white. And before-and-after photos of Jackson tell a deeper story about color discrimination, also known as colorism ‚Äî an intra-racial discrimination among African Americans."
. . . Cartoonist Raises Enough for Poster of His MJ Work
"Candorville" comic strip artist Darrin Bell has raised enough to cover the cost of printing 50 posters of his "Pretty Young Things" sequence last week about Michael Jackson, he told Journal-isms on Monday. Bell said he raised about $150, and that profits from any orders will be donated to one of Jackson’s favorite charities, AIDS Project Los Angeles.
Bell, whose strip runs in about 75 newspapers, explained on his blog:
"I decided, instead of a simple tribute, to take a week to work out the conflicted feelings so many have about Michael Jackson, and that so many don’t want to acknowledge.
"It was important, I felt, that it be Lemont who’s conflicted about this, because contrary to what Al Sharpton’s been saying, being conflicted about Michael is not a racial matter. And it was important to me to finally get to the heart of the matter, that I don’t believe Michael ever meant anyone any harm. In the end, as happens to us all in our final moment, we’re reduced to the essence of what we are. In his case, that would be a little boy who never really grew up."
- Barry Michael Cooper, Huffington Post:¬†Michael Jackson Agonistes: Act II of an American Pop’era
- Lisa de Moraes, Washington Post: A&E’s Well-Timed Jackson Special, Er, Pilot
- Jason Fell, Folio:¬†Michael Jackson’s Death Spurs ‘Biggest Newsstand Push’ Since Election
- Maria Elena Fernandez, Los Angeles Times: ABC denies paying for Joe Jackson exclusive interview
- Patricia J. Williams, the Nation: Mirror Man
"Reuters Stories Should Be Free of . . . Racism"
"For the first time ever, Reuters is making its ‘Handbook of Journalism’ available to the public. So, if you’re looking for some interesting weekend reading or a peek into the international newswire’s journalistic ethics and rules, it’s worth a read," Amanda Ernst wrote¬†Friday for MediaBistro’s FishbowlNY.
For example, here’s what the handbook of the British-based news organization says¬†about race:
"Reuters stories should be free of conscious or unconscious racism. Avoid racial stereotyping and describe membership of a group, ethnicity or race precisely. For further guidance, go to the sections on value judgments and religious, cultural and national differences under Specialised Guidance.
"Mention race or ethnicity only when relevant to the understanding of a story. For example, if someone is facing deportation, it is appropriate to give his or her nationality. Similarly, the ethnic origin of a person who receives racial threats or is the target of a racist attack is essential context.
"Take care when reporting crimes and court cases. The race of an accused person is not usually relevant.
"Clearly, race is an important factor in stories about racial controversy or immigration, or where an issue cuts across racial lines. For example, if European-born people join Tibetan exiles in demonstrations against China’s Tibet policy, this is a point worth mentioning.
"Race is pertinent in reporting a feat or appointment unusual for a person of a particular ethnic group, for example someone born in China who becomes an international cricket umpire.
"In the United States, the terms black and African-American are both acceptable. Black is fine as an adjective, eg ‘Obama will be the first black U.S. president’. As a noun, the plural is acceptable where it might contrast with another group, eg doctors found differences between the treatment offered to whites and blacks. Do not use black as a singular noun ‚Äî it is both awkward and offensive. ‘Barack Obama would be the first black to become U.S. president’ is unacceptable. Better to say ‘Barack Obama will become the first black U.S. president’.
"Native Spanish speakers in the United States may be referred to as Latino or Hispanic, but it is better to be specific (Colombian, Mexican). Also, some people from Latin America are not Hispanic, eg Brazilians. As a general rule, use the term by which the people of a particular ethnic group describe themselves: Inuit (not Eskimo), Roma (not Gypsy), Sami (not Lapp), Native American (not Indian).
"Capitalise the names of races and peoples: Asian, Jew, Hispanic. Note that black and white are lower case.
"If a racially derogatory expression is used in a direct quote, this should be flagged at the top of the story: (Note racial slur in paragraph 12)"
Short Takes
- Nearly 500 people attended the 15th anniversary convention of the South Asian Journalists Association in New York on Saturday, "which keeps [us] at the same level as previous years," SAJA President Sandeep Junnarkar told Journal-isms. The number was "amazing given journalism conventions are seeing plummeting attendance this year ‚Äî leading some to even cancel their events," he said. "We focused all our panels and workshops on giving convention attendees skills in new media and an understanding on the changing journalism landscape. Our opening keynote speaker, Jeff Jarvis, the author of ‘What Would Google Do?’ set the tone by discussing new trends in journalism business models."
- The first three months of 2009 were a disaster in the business magazine sector, "as no publication reported an increase in advertising revenue or an increase in ad pages," Chris Roush reported Sunday for his Talking Biz News site. However, Black Enterprise was the second best performer in ad revenue, behind Forbes Small Business. "Its ads brought in $7.6 million for the quarter, down 16.6 percent. Its ad pages fell 23 percent to 163.22," Roush wrote.
- "Nonprofit business models are the talk of the newspaper industry on the U.S. mainland. But in Puerto Rico, 85 press workers, salespeople and journalists who lost their jobs when the San Juan Star folded last summer aren’t just talking about the nonprofit model ‚Äî they’ve formed a cooperative that publishes the island’s only English-language daily," Mark Fitzgerald wrote¬†Monday for Editor & Publisher. "The Puerto Rico Daily Sun launched in October, with each member of the new Cooperativa Prensa Unida kicking in $800. The Puerto Rican Department of Labor and Human Resources pledged $1 million for payroll expenses, but had paid just $250,000 when spending was frozen by a new administration."
- "The Washington Post’s ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record ‘salons’ was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions," ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote¬†in Sunday’s Washington Post. Among those interviewed about their roles in the affair were Publisher Katharine Weymouth, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, co-managing editors Raju Narisetti and Liz Spayd and deputy managing editor Milton Coleman.
- "Radio One, the largest U.S. minority-owned media company, came under fire from the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday for refusing to testify at a hearing billed as a forum to examine plummeting advertising revenues, increased media consolidation and pending legislation that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for over-the-air radio, which broadcasters oppose," the National Journal reported. "Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and others scolded Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son, CEO Alfred Liggins, for being no-shows. Other critics of the bill who Conyers said snubbed him include National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton; Rainbow Push Coalition President Rev. Jesse Jackson; syndicated radio host Tom Joyner; and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council’s David Honig."
- Will Bunch, blogger for the Philadelphia Daily News, is again questioning why the Philadelphia Inquirer employs former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo as a columnist. "Now John Yoo is in the news yet again, and it also speaks yet again to why a major American newspaper should not award a contract to a man who stands accused of unethical legal practices at the Justice Department, who’s now being sued for torture and who in the minds of many readers gave the green light to war crimes that sullied the reputation of the United States," Bunch wrote on Monday.
- Grace Aaron, the interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, told a listener to Washington’s WPFW-FM that she could not discuss why general manager Ron Pinchback has become the second Pacifica general manager to be ousted¬†in recent months. "We are constrained from discussing this or any kind of personal information to protect our employees," Aaron said on the air on Thursday. "That’s all I can say legally."
- In Kenya, "Journalists who witnessed the horror and mayhem sparked by the disputed 2007 election results are still faced with trauma, many months after a political pact ended the worst violence since independence," Kenya’s Daily Nation reported¬†on Friday. "Their heart-rending stories are contained in a newly-published booklet, Healing the Messenger, which came out of trauma counselling sessions in five different localities across the country. . . . In one case, a journalist came back from duty and found his wife badly beaten. Other journalists’ houses were burnt down or property looted or destroyed. One [journalist] and his family had to raise money and pay his would-be killers to escape death."
- In Pakistan, the home of Voice of America correspondent Rahman Bunairee was leveled by a bomb on Thursday in what was believed to be a retaliatory attack by the Taliban, according to news reports quoted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
