Fatimah Ali, Philadelphia Columnist, Dies at 56
Somali Pirates Still Holding U.S. Journalist for Ransom
Obama’s Message Well-Received, but Fewer Watched
Romney, Gingrich Keep Appointments on Univision, but Not Santorum
“Where Are The Women And Non-White Media Critics?”
Fatimah Ali, Philadelphia Columnist, Dies at 56
“Fatimah Ali, 56, a fierce advocate for social justice who broadcast her 
“One of her daughters, Khadija Ahmaddiya, said the cause of death was not known.
“. . . Ms. Ali was best known locally for her Daily News column and her two-hour daily broadcasts on WURD-AM (900), where she hosted The Real Deal With Fatimah Ali.
“It began in March 2011, and her last broadcast was a report on the activities of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
“Ms. Ali described herself as a ‘God-loving mother of five and grandmother. I’m a journalist, a radiohead, who loves her family, her roots, people, art, food, news and information, and culture.[
” ‘The beauty of Fatimah Ali’s career is that despite career changes, she seized new opportunities for her vibrant voice to be heard,’ said Sarah J. Glover, president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and a Daily News photographer.
” ‘She’s a Philly gal who kept it real, produced thoughtful commentary in written and spoken words, and gave back to the community.’ “
Somali Pirates Still Holding U.S. Journalist for Ransom
“It’s also not clear if President Obama’s vow on Tuesday to protect U.S. citizens would extend to a rescue operation on his behalf.
“Michael Scott Moore, an American writer who started his career tracking the surfing world and who was in Somalia to report about piracy, was kidnapped on Saturday.
“In a statement released by the White House after the overnight rescue of American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted of Denmark, Obama on Wednesday vowed: ‘The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice.’ “
“Asked Wednesday about Moore at a press briefing, a State Department spokeswoman said she had ?no information but would get back to reporters.”
“. . . Moore had been reporting for the German magazine Der Spiegel when he was abducted on a road as he was heading to an airport.
Obama’s Message Well-Received, but Fewer Watched
“An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the overall message in President Obama’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News poll of speech watchers,” Lucy Madison reported for CBS News.
However, Bill Carter reported for the New York Times, “There were an estimated 37.8 million television viewers of President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the lowest total in his presidency. The State of the Union address Tuesday night was seen by 37.8 million television viewers, according to figures released by the Nielsen company, by far the fewest who have watched President Obama give the address.”
According to the CBS poll, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the president’s address, “91 percent of those who watched the speech approved of the proposals Mr. Obama put forth during his remarks. Only nine percent disapproved,” Madison reported.
“Last year, 83 percent of viewers approved of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union remarks.
“This year, 82 percent of those who watched the speech said they approve of the president’s plans for the economy, up from 53 percent who approved before the speech. Eighty percent said they approved of Mr. Obama’s plans for the deficit — in contrast to 45 percent before the speech. Eighty-three percent approved of Mr. Obama’s proposals regarding Afghanistan, which received only a 57 percent approval rating beforehand.”
An online survey by theRoot.com released before the address found that Obama “has reason to be cautiously optimistic about the support he will get from his base for his re-election bid. However, to cement their support, he will need to focus on the issues that are most important to them in the 2012 campaign season: job creation and unemployment.”
- Jonathan Alter, Washington Post: Five myths about Barack Obama
- Eric Boehlert, Media Matters: Washington Post Ombudsman Flip Flops On Anti-Obama Hate Rhetoric
- Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: State Of The Union 2012: News Anchors Lunch With Obama
- Cora Currier, ProPublica: Obama’s Unfulfilled State of the Union Goals
- Elise Foley, Huffington Post: Barack Obama On Immigration In 2012: Not So Different From 2011
- Sam Fulwood III, theGrio.com: How racial demographics could reshape American politics
- dream hampton EBONY.com: VAN JONES: Former Obama “Green” Advisor Talks OWS, Jobs and Why He Really Left the White House
- Andrea Morabito, Broadcasting & Cable: Fox News Tops Cable SOTU Coverage
- Jorge Rivas, ColorLines: First Lady’s Box at State of the Union Address and the Model Immigrant Narrative
- Raul Rodriguez, New America Media: Obama’s State of the Union: Eleven Sentences Too Short
- Lauren Schutte, Hollywood Reporter: President Obama’s State of the Union Address: What the Media Is Saying
- Steve Taylor and Raul de la Cruz, Rio Grande Guardian: TBC: Where Was Obama’s Focus on Border Security?
- Mark Trahant, indianz.com: It’s time to invest in young people of America
Romney, Gingrich Keep Appointments on Univision, but Not Santorum
Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich appeared Wednesday on Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish-language television network, although last fall all GOP candidates except Ron Paul announced they wouldn’t participate in a proposed Univision debate over the network’s handling of a story related to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
As the Associated Press noted on Monday, “It’s not a debate since the candidates will appear separately.”
Gingrich, former House speaker, “told Univision’s Jorge Ramos on Wednesday that he wants at least 50 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election, and denied that his criticisms of President Clinton for having an affair were hypocritical,” Hispanic Business reported.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., was scheduled to appear, but attended private fundraisers instead.
” ‘We had a change in schedule a few days ago and asked (Univision) if they could move it and they said they couldn’t,’ Santorum said to reporters Wednesday after a large rally at First Baptist Church in Naples,” Andrew Abramson reported for the Palm Beach Post. “ ‘We tried to change out schedule so we could do it, and they said they weren’t willing to change the schedule. It’s unfortunate. We were able and wanted to do it, but they couldn’t. And it’s not their fault, they just said they couldn’t reorganize. ‘ ”
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, accused Gingrich “of pandering to Florida’s Latino voters by mocking Romney’s stance on immigration,” Roz Helderman reported for the Washington Post.
Fla. Hispanics Favor Romney Over Gingrich, Poll Finds
“Among Hispanic Floridians planning to vote in next Tuesday’s GOP primary, Mitt Romney holds a 15 point advantage over Newt Gingrich (35-20), with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum polling at 6% and 7% respectively and 21% undecided,” Univision said.
“In a head-to-head match-up, President Obama continues to hold a strong advantage over his most likely GOP rivals: 67–25 over Romney; 70–22 over Gingrich.”
A “mixed picture of a Hispanic electorate not yet enthusiastically committed to President Obama and the Democrats, yet wary about supporting a Republican party that has taken such a tough stance on the issue of immigration was evident throughout the survey’s findings.”
“Where Are The Women And Non-White Media Critics?”
“With all of the changes happening in journalism, it seems to be a good time to opine and report about the media. Plenty of blogs and bloggers do so brilliantly, but so do a few hearty souls in traditional outlets. A quick brainstorm session brought forth a list of high-profile names: Romenesko and Beaujon, yes. But also, The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, NYU’s Jay Rosen, the Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince, plus four more City Paper alumni: Reuter’s Jack Shafer, the New York Times’ David Carr, former New York Observer media beatster Tom Scocca (now at Deadspin) and the Post’s Erik Wemple.
“Aside from Prince, all of these people are white men. It’s generally accepted that diversity (geographical, economic, gender and race) bring differing perspectives to the newsroom and can enhance coverage. That’s why journalism has been fighting (and some could say, losing) a battle for greater diversity for decades.
“Beaujon has a theory for why white men are so prevalent in the field: “Media criticism, which is a fly-in-the-soup job, is fundamentally an alt-weekly pursuit, and alt-weeklies’ DNA is heavily white and male. In turn, I have a couple theories about that, but my working one is that it’s because working at such places gives white males such as myself a chance to feel like an underdog for once in our lives.”
“. . . maybe more importantly, the ability to criticize probably comes a bit easier for folks who don’t ever have the question, ‘Should I even be here?” hanging over their heads as they look around a room and don’t see anyone who looks like them’.”
Are they right?
- Jim Romenesko blog: Is this why so many media critics are white men?
- At N.Y. Media Ceremony, a Mirror Doesn’t Show It All (2009)
Short Takes
- “The targeting of journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street movement has caused the United States to drop precipitously in a leading survey of press freedom,” Jack Mirkinson wrote Wednesday for the Huffington Post. “. . . Reporters Without Borders was explicit in its summary of its report, saying that ‘the United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.’ ”
- “Many Muslim students at Ohio State University have been outraged by an ad in the student newspaper that ties former Muslim student leaders in the U.S. to terrorist groups,” Encarnacion Pyle wrote Wednesday for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. “The advertisement, which ran on the second page of The Lantern on Monday, lists 10 terror suspects under the headline: Former Leaders of the Muslim Student Association (MSA): Where Are They Now?”
- “The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed the recommendations of an international conference on the protection of journalists which took place in Doha, Qatar on 22 – 23 January, saying they will boost the campaign to press governments on their responsibility to protect journalists,” the federation said on Wednesday. “The conference agreed to submit to the UN General Assembly a set of recommendations which emphasize the need to vigorously enforce the existing legal instruments, binding national authorities to prevent and punish violence against journalists.”
- Hernán López, president and CEO of Fox International Channels, sat down with Veronica Villafañe for her Media Moves column in light of plans for Fox International Channels (FIC) and Colombia’s RCN Television Group (RCN) to launch MundoFox, a new Spanish-language network targeting U.S. Hispanics. “We expect to become a network that viewers go to as a destination, like they go to the Fox network today,” he said. “We don’t want to be a network viewers casually find themselves watching. We believe with innovative content and the power of the Fox and RCN brands, we will be a great challenger to the other networks and increase the size of the advertising pie.”
- “The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today set aside the conviction of Ernie Lopez, an Amarillo man found guilty in 2003 of sexually assaulting six-month-old Isis Vas. The baby died shortly after the purported attack,” A.C. Thompson wrote Wednesday for ProPublica. “Lopez has been serving a term of 60 years in Texas prison for the crime. But a joint reporting effort by ProPublica, NPR, and PBS ‘Frontline’ last year explored the possibility that Lopez might be innocent.”
- “Romona Robinson, who left Cleveland’s WKYC in December after negotiations to extend her contract failed, is joining rival WOIO-WUAB,” Merrill Knox reported Wednesday for TVSpy. “Robinson spent 15 years at WKYC, which is the market’s NBC-affiliate.”
- “On Wednesday, CNN’s Jason Carroll confronted the controversial mayor of East Haven, Connecticut Joseph Maturo Jr. who was under fire for saying that he would help Latinos in his town by eating tacos,” James Crugnale reported Wednesday for Mediaite.
- In Dallas, television writer Ed Bark wrote, “The longstanding $35,000 slander judgement against WFAA8 anchor/reporter Shon Gables took another turn late last week when a Michigan circuit court judge ordered the seizure and selling of any personal property remaining in the Southfield, MI condo where she once resided.”
- “Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that police need a warrant before placing tracking devices on criminal suspects’ cars is likely to boost murderer Yusuf Bey IV’s appeals, but significant hurdles remain before he would get a new trial, lawyers said,” Thomas Peele reported Tuesday for the Chauncey Bailey Project. “Allowing data from a global positioning system placed on Bey IV’s car without a warrant to be used against him is likely a ‘harmless error’ because of a wealth of other evidence that Bey IV ordered the August 2007 murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey, Golden Gate University law professor Peter Keane said.”
- In the Dominican Republic, Jhonny Alberto Salazar could be the first journalist to go to jail in the Dominican Republic for defamation, Nisha Thanki wrote for the International Press Institute. Salazar, a journalist for Vida FM and vidadominicana.com, has been found guilty of libelling lawyer, Pedro Baldera Gomez. Salazar made comments on his radio station about a number of murders in the area and said that a lawyer who works for the Human Rights Commission of Nagua had defended a number of thieves in the area, Thanki wrote.
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