Sept. 11

N.Y. Times Concedes It Lagged on Van Jones Story

Jill Abramson, managing editor of the New York Times, conceded¬†this week that the paper was "a beat behind" on the story of the attack on Van Jones, the White House "Green Jobs Czar" who was forced to resign Saturday after an assault by Fox News’ Glenn Beck and radio talk-show hosts.

"The Times was, in fact, a beat behind on this story," Abramson said in an online chat with readers.

"Why? One reason was that our Washington bureau was somewhat short-staffed during the height of the pre-Labor Day vacation period. This is not an excuse. Another is that despite being a so-called ‘czar,’ Mr. Jones was not a high-ranking official. Nevertheless, we should have been paying closer attention.

"We did cover Mr. Jones’s resignation on Page One on Sept. 7."

Meanwhile, Gabriel Voiles of Fairness & Accuracy in Media last week called attention to a letter¬†to the Times by Leila McDowell, vice president for communications of the NAACP, that said the Times missed the story in reporting President Obama’s speech commemorating the NAACP’s 100th anniversary.

"The New York Times distinguished itself from most major media by virtually ignoring the 100th anniversary of the N.A.A.C.P. . . ." she wrote.

"When The Times finally did send a reporter to cover the speech by President Obama, the resulting article (‘Obama Gives Fiery Address at N.A.A.C.P.,’ July 17) focused on personal responsibility. But that was the least prominent part of Mr. Obama’s speech.

"What was noteworthy was his discussion of racial disparities, the barriers facing African-Americans and the policies to redress social gaps."

Obama himself had complained that some in the media ignored his remarks on government responsibility.

The Times had summarized the speech as, "Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure" in a story¬†by the Washington bureau’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg.

• Saeed Ahmed, CNN: Two words make Joe Wilson an Internet sensation
• Amy L. Alexander, thedefendersonline: Minority Angst Simmers in Silence While White Fear Makes Headlines: The True Social Powder Keg
• Chris Ariens, TV Newser:¬† FNC Passes on Obama at Memorial: ‘Cronkite Would Have Wanted the News Covered’
• Betty Winston Baye’, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal:¬†Fifty years later, we’re in the ‘Twilight Zone’ again
• Richard Benjamin, Salon:¬†Inside the mind of Joe Wilson
• Dena Bunis blog, Orange County (Calif.) Register:¬†Obama: Don’t sacrifice good journalism for profits
• Esther J. Cepeda blog: Who’s the liar? In search of the million dollar illegal immigrant to end all health care reform¬†
• Ta-Nihisi Coates blog, Atlantic: Again, With The Racism
• Stanley Crouch, New York Daily News: Health care haters seem to forget that the truth wins out
• Mary C. Curtis, Politics Daily:
• Joe Wilson: South Carolina’s Latest Headline Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.,) Herald-Leader:¬†He’s president, he’s black – get over it
• Eric Easter, ebonyjet.com:¬†The Politics of Patriotism
• Justin Elliott, Talking Points Memo:¬†Flashback: Rep. Wilson Also Had To Apologize After Attacking Strom Thurmond’s Illegitimate Daughter
• Free Press:¬†Glenn Beck’s smear campaign: who’s next? (video)
• Megan Garber, Columbia Journalism Review: Dear news networks: ignore Joe Wilson. Please.
• Florida News Center:¬†FL Fox affiliates dump Obama for dancing fools,
• Vetalle Fusilier, ebonyjet.com: Love the Haters, They Teach Us Strength
• Emil Guillermo blog:¬†Health-care Rx:Obama’s Speech Therapy
• Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times: Immigrants and the uninsured
• Bob Herbert, New York Times:¬†It’s Time to Get Help
• Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com:¬†Reaction to President’s Pep Talk Mostly Positive
• Allen Johnson, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record:¬†How dare the president speak to school kids!
• Alex Koppelman, Salon: Joe Wilson wasn’t the only disrespectful Republican
• Jason Linkins, Huffington Post: World Net Daily Targets Valerie Jarrett
• Alec MacGillis, Washington Post:¬†Shout Draws Focus to Illegal-Immigrant Issue
• Roland S. Martin, Creators Syndicate:¬†Only Obama Can Carry the Health Care Ball Over the Finish Line
• Courtland Milloy, Washington Post:¬†For Some of Us, Health-Care Reform Begins at Home
• Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times:¬†Beck’s goal in Jones case: Scare whites
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:¬†Rush rages, for all the wrong reasons
• Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune:¬†Slinging mud
• Les Payne blog:¬†Obama Puts Down His Marker On Health Care
• Alberta Phillips, Austin American-Statesman: As the president said, your failures can teach you
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: What are we saving the children from?
• James Ragland, Dallas Morning News: Apologies due for ado over Obama talk
• Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press:¬†Joe Wilson owes America an apology, too
• Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: No Way to Treat a President
• Brian Stelter, New York Times:¬†The Speech Through the Lens of Fox News
• Wendi C. Thomas, Memphis Commercial Appeal:¬†President’s speech to schools offers lesson in courtesy
• Mark Trahant blog:¬†Will ‘Poor old grandma’ redefine this debate?
• Marisa Trevino, Latina Lista blog: TX school district sets bad example to students by bussing them to hear former Pres. Bush but banned Obama from classrooms
• Del Walters, ebonyjet.com:¬†A National Disgrace
• Ron Walters, National Newspaper Publishers Association:¬†Teddy Was a Champion: Who’s Left?
• Erica Werner, Associated Press: Fact Check: Health coverage for illegal immigrants

Batten Led Va. Paper Against "Massive Resistance"

Frank Batten Sr., who rose "from errand boy he rose to publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and its afternoon sister, then parlayed his newspapers into an adventuresome media company with global reach," led a paper that was alone among major Virginia papers in opposing the pro-segregation "Massive Resistance" doctrine of the 1950s, Earl Swift wrote in his obituary of Batten on Friday in the Norfolk, Va., paper.

Batten died at 82 on Thursday. "He helped lead the fight for integrated schools in Norfolk, midwifed Old Dominion University into being, commanded The Associated Press and its far-flung correspondents, and defied a legion of doubters to create The Weather Channel," Swift wrote.

"He also lavished endowments on schools and universities and co-founded a scholarship program that guaranteed college educations to inner-city children."

The Virginian-Pilot and its editor, Lenoir Chambers, showed up the Massive Resistance policy "as incoherent in an unflinching series of editorials.

"Those were pretty rough days," Batten recalled in a 1987 interview. "We got a lot of bitter letters. We would have racist things spray-painted on the building rather frequently and occasionally had bomb threats."

Gene Roberts, a Virginian-Pilot reporter who went on to become a dean of American journalism in Philadelphia and New York, recalled that Batten initially "seemed to take pride that the two papers could go their different ways.

"But ultimately," he said, "he felt that the Ledger’s position was reinforcing the closing of the schools." When the Ledger’s editorial staff proved unable to effectively change the paper’s position, Batten did it himself.

"I would never ask an editor to write something he didn’t believe in, but also, if I thought the paper was being irresponsible, I was going to either write it myself or get someone else to write it," Batten said. "I think it’s the only time I’ve ever had to… make a radical reversal on the editorial page."

"He also helped organize a full-page advertisement, signed by dozens of Norfolk’s social leaders, calling for the schools to reopen.

"Norfolk’s schools reopened peacefully in February 1959. Chambers’ editorials won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize."

Laid Off, and Her Investigative Work Gets No Byline

Mc Nelly Torres, a consumer investigative reporter and board member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, was laid off from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in May with 29 other newsroom staffers. She says one question went through her mind, Bob Norman wrote on his blog  for the Broward-Palm Beach Post: What was going to happen to her supermarket food inspection story?

"She told me she spent several weeks on the project, finding evidence of unsafe food handling and other health violations at local stores. . . .

"Flash-forward to Sunday. The story was published on the newspaper’s front page, but there was no byline on the story at all, which is highly unusual for an investigative piece. At the bottom of the text, it was noted that the article was written by another staff writer (and it had been rewritten, with essentially the same content). Torres was given only a contributing line on the story she’d birthed. Adding insult, the newspaper got her name wrong, leaving out the space between Mc and Nelly. After Torres wrote for the newspaper for four years, you might think they’d remember how her name goes.

"She was disappointed but sent what she said was a respectful email asking about the decision to Sentinel Executive Editor Earl Maucker, Managing Editor Phil Ward, and Metzger. She didn’t hear back from any of them but did talk with Metzger on the phone. Torres, who is now working freelance, says that Metzger, who didn’t answer questions submitted from the Pulp, apologized but offered no explanation.

"’That story was a labor of love. What happened to giving credit where credit’s due?’ Torres asks rhetorically."

Afghan Journalists Blame West in Colleague’s Death

"A group of Afghan journalists blamed the international coalition Thursday for the death of a kidnapped colleague during the British commando rescue of a New York Times reporter and accused the troops of having a ‘double standard’ for Western and Afghan lives.

"The accusation came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office said that troops had carried out the raid Wednesday in an attempt to recover both British-Irish reporter Stephen Farrell and his Afghan translator Sultan Munadi and that the mission was authorized as the ‘best chance of protecting life.’

"The newly formed Media Club of Afghanistan — set up by Afghan reporters who work with international news outlets — also condemned the Taliban for abducting both journalists last week in northern Afghanistan as they investigated reports of civilian deaths in a German-ordered airstrike.

More than 50 Afghan reporters, wearing cameras and carrying notebooks, laid flowers Thursday at the Kabul cemetery grave of Munadi, 34, who died in gunfire as British commandos launched the rescue operation in northern Kunduz province. Farrell survived and was taken away in a helicopter. One British commando was also killed in the raid."

• Stephen Farrell, New York Times:¬†The Reporter‚Äôs Account: 4 Days With the Taliban
• The Independent, London: Freedom for Pervez, but a sobering reminder of tyranny
• International Federation of Journalists: IFJ Calls for Safety Review after Media Tragedy in Afghanistan
• Sherry Ricchiardi, American Journalism Review:¬†Assignment AfPak
• Ron Walters, National Newspaper Publishers Association:¬†An Opportunity: Get out of Afghanistan
• DeWayne Wickham, USA Today:¬†Get bin Laden, rout al-Qaeda and then leave Afghanistan

Short Takes

• The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has selected Denver as the site of its 28th Annual Multimedia Convention and Career Expo, June 23-26, 2010, at the Colorado Convention Center.
• Thomas George, a senior columnist at NFL.com, has been hired as a news columnist at AOL Sports, becoming the 10th African American at the AOL division. George, a pro football writer for nearly 27 years, worked at the New York Times from 1988 to 2004 and the Denver Post from 2004 to 2006. At the NFL, he was at first managing editor of the NFL Network. AOL Sports last week said it had hired two other African Americans, boxing writer Lem Satterfield, formerly at the Baltimore Sun, and David Steele, former Sun sports columnist, as enterprise/takeout writer and reporter.
• "When Lisa Snell left her job as a graphic artist in 2007, she didn’t expect that a year later she would become the managing editor and owner of a Native American paper," the Native American Times, Fanua J. Borodzicz wrote Wednesday for the Poynter Institute. "In addition to writing articles herself, Snell publishes stories from the Associated Press and from three freelance writers. She collaborates with other small-town newspapers and tribal publications by sharing the stories she publishes in the Times and republishing theirs. And she uses community writers ‚Äî people who are gifted in telling a good yarn and willing to do it for free. She is also the online editor/publisher of the paper’s Web site, which was included in the purchase."
• "El Dia, Houston‚Äôs Spanish-language daily newspaper, quietly folded last week, leaving thousands of Spanish-speaking residents without a daily voice," Alex Sanz wrote Monday for KHOU-TV. "Its absence, in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, has been felt widely." (Video)
• "Former CBS ‘Early Show’ personality Mark McEwen is moving on with his life after a massive stroke nearly four years ago that abruptly ended his TV career. He’s written a book about his experiences and is trying to raise awareness about stroke warning signs and recovery," the Associated Press reported this week. "But McEwen, 54, is now dealing with a fresh setback ‚Äî the abrupt end to a court battle against the doctor who told him he had the stomach flu when he showed up at a Maryland hospital emergency room with stroke-like symptoms." McEwen said he did not know whether he would appeal, the Orlando Sentinel said.
• The Washington Times is running a week-long expose, "The Lost Story of the Lost Continent: How Rape Is Used as a Tool of War in Congo," Matt Dornic wrote for MediaBistro. "The Times dispatched its U.N. correspondent Betsy Pisik and award-winning photojournalist Mary Calvert for six weeks . . . Their work was funded in part by a grant Calvert obtained from the White House News Photographers Association."
• The Viet Herald Daily News is the newest paper to hit the stands in an ethnic enclave of Orange County, Calif., My-Thuan Tran wrote Tuesday for the Los Angeles Times. "At a time when most U.S. newspapers are struggling to survive, Vietnamese-language news media here are flourishing."
• Lama Hasan, who was based in London and anchored "World View" on ABC News Now, has been named an ABC News correspondent based in Cairo, Kevin Allocca reported for MediaBistro.
• Does Matt Drudge still have juice? "As Mr. Drudge retreats to sunny landscapes like Tel Aviv, Geneva and Las Vegas, some reporters that spoke to The Observer wondered if he would soon leave behind the dark world of Washington for good," Gillian Reagan wrote Tuesday for the New York Observer. "Several reporters and editors who previously touted Mr. Drudge‚Äôs influence in profiles and books replied that they had ‘no comment’ or did not return several phone calls by deadline."
• "Tyra Banks has produced a reality TV show about a fashion magazine, and now she‚Äôs launching a fashion title of her own. The former model-turned-media personality is taking her brand into the online publishing world with the Web-only magazine Tyra: Beauty Inside & Out," Nadja Auermann wrote Tuesday for Women’s Wear Daily.
• In Buffalo, "Channel 4 anchor-reporter Mylous Hairston will be returning to work on Sept. 14, which is about a month after he originally said he would be back after suffering a heart attack on June 30," Alan Pergament reported last week in the Buffalo News. "Hairston also will be returning to the negotiating table as the president of the Buffalo chapter of the union that represents the station’s on-air talent, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)."
• "Reporters Without Borders notes the rapid progress apparently being made in the investigation into the 3 September murder of Franco-Spanish filmmaker Christian Poveda," the press-freedom group said on Thursday. "The Salvadorean police announced yesterday that three gang members and a police officer suspected of being a gang ally have just been arrested for his murder."