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Diverse Executives Group on Life Support

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Ron Nixon Shares Computer-Assisted Skills in Africa

 

 

Columnist Dinah Eng, left, founder of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Executive Leadership Program, is honored¬†at the 2006 awards dinner of the National Association of Minority Media Executives, as it was known then. Mei-Mei Chan, vice president of circulation for the Seattle Times Co., presents the award. (Credit: NAMME)

NAMME Hits Rough Patch; NAHJ Lagging in Fund Drive

The National Association of Multicultural Media Executives, “the only organization of managers and executives of color working in both news and business operations, across all media-related fields, uniting diverse leaders across departments and across cultures,” is on life support.

NAMME canceled its annual diversity awards dinner, which was to have taken place in August at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Tampa, and its executive director, Toni F. Laws, has gone. Membership, which peaked about five years ago at about 500, is now 100 to 150, the chairman, Neil Foote, told Journal-isms on Monday.

The organization is suffering from the same economic circumstances as the other journalist-of-color organizations, Foote said. And though it is in debt – he wouldn’t say by how much – “fortunately, the board is composed of people who deal with this in their everyday companies.”

NAMME, founded in 1990 as the National Association of Minority Media Executives, subsists on membership dollars, foundation grants and events that produce revenue. “If all three of those . . . are down,” Foote said, there are problems.

Clark Bell, journalism program director at the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which has partnered with NAMME to provide leadership training, fellowships and financial support, called it sad that NAMME is in such straits when there is “a need and a demand” for an organization that serves media executives of color.” But, he told Journal-isms, because of the turmoil in the news business, people who could be members are leaving or starting their own companies.

At a recent gathering at Northwestern University of the McCormick Fellowship Program, described as “an innovative executive development program for high-performing multicultural senior managers and executives in the news media,” the 55 to 60 fellows were challenged to “renew themselves” and figure out “in what direction the diversity movement should be going,” Bell said.

Foote said the role of the individual journalist organizations of color in relation to the umbrella Unity: Journalists of Color must be discussed if media companies “are not going to fund our individual conventions” and would prefer more bang for the buck at Unity.

The idea of increasing the frequency of the Unity conventions from every four years to two has been floated but found little support, O. Ricardo Pimentel, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, told Journal-isms.

Like NAMME, NAHJ is in financial straits. The NAHJ board met in Houston last week and heard that the organization had raised only $87,000 of the $300,000 it said it needed by Dec. 15 to resolve its own crisis.

“We still value the service we provide directly to our members and the specific training and culture-specific training we can provide for our members,” Pimentel said in explaining why the groups want to keep their separate identities.

To raise money, NAHJ plans to “step up our individual giving and our quest for corporate and foundation giving. We’ve got to diversify our fundraising,” he said.

Pimentel sent a message¬†to NAHJ members on Oct. 9 saying, “if we do not raise more funds now, NAHJ will have to cease operations and stop all programs for the rest of the year.” But on Monday he told Journal-isms, “we’re not going to telegraph anything. We’re not going to predict the future” and instead NAHJ would focus on its goals.

Meanwhile, NAMME plans to review its assets and debts, develop a course of action to pay off or negotiate its liabilities and figure out its best business plan, Foote said.

“We hope NAMME restores itself,” Bell said. McCormick would seriously entertain making another grant, but first NAMME must “take care of their current liabilities.”

Philly Sports Columnist John Smallwood Out of Coma

John Smallwood, a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, spent a month in an induced coma but is being released from a Delaware hospital this week to begin rehabilitation, a sister told Journal-isms.

Smallwood, who turns 44 next month, could not believe he had been in a coma that long, the sister, Pam Candelaria, said. Smallwood previously had Hodgkin’s disease, which causes enlargement of the lymph nodes, and returned to the hospital Sept. 24 to have two heart valves replaced.

Opening his chest exacerbated lung problems that could have resulted from previous radiation therapy, Candelaria said, so doctors attached him to a heart-lung machine and induced the coma.

Sports Editor Josh Barnett said the paper had not told readers of Smallwood’s condition. Candelaria said Smallwood would welcome messages through his Facebook account or at jnsjr (at) aol.com.

1,000 Mourn Chicago TV Host’s Slain Parents

“Mourners crowded St. Paul Episcopal Church this morning in Munster, Ind., for the funeral of CLTV host Garrard McClendon‚Äôs parents, Ruby and Milton McClendon, an elderly Hammond, Ind., couple found gunned down Oct. 19 in a Calumet City forest preserve after an apparent home invasion at their home,” Joe Puchek of the Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune and Stefano Esposito of the Chicago Sun-Times reported¬†on Monday.

The Chicago Tribune said more than a thousand family, friends and neighbors mourned the couple.

“Though two teens have been charged in connection with the deaths of Milton and Ruby McClendon, officials said today the investigation continues and they are seeking people seen with the pair in the days following the killings,” read the story by Joel Hood, Matthew Walberg, John Byrne, Andrew L. Wang and William Lee.

“The suspects have each been charged with two counts of robbery, auto theft, two counts of burglary and four counts of confinement. They have not been charged with first-degree homicide in the murders of the McClendons.”

Smiley’s Name Stripped From School at Texas Southern

"A long-simmering disagreement between broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Texas Southern University ended Friday when the university’s governing board agreed to strip Smiley’s name from its communication school," Jeannie Kever reported¬†Saturday for the Houston Chronicle.

"Smiley promised in 2004 to donate $1 million and to raise another $1 million for TSU. The school later created the Tavis Smiley School of Communication in his honor.

"TSU President John Rudley said the dispute had been going on since he arrived on campus in early 2008. Talks broke down last month after more than a year of negotiations, and Rudley informed Smiley the deal was off.

"Smiley promptly responded in an e-mail to Rudley. ‘I understand your letter to say that you don’t want that gift,’ he wrote. ‘I . . . will continue with my benevolence where it’s appreciated.’

He said he stopped the payments out of concern about mismanagement under former university president Priscilla Slade, the story said.

Slade was accused of using school money for personal expenses and fired in 2006. She eventually was sentenced to 10 years probation after a grand jury indicted her.

"TSU’s well-publicized problems made it impossible to raise money from corporate donors, Smiley said Friday. ‘And obviously, not unlike most Americans, my personal income has been impacted by this recession.’

"Still, he said, he intended to honor his commitment, even if it would take a decade to do so. Now, he said he will donate that money elsewhere," according to the story.

On Monday, Indiana University announced that its School of Public and Environmental Affairs will name the atrium of its IU Bloomington building for Smiley, an alumnus.

"John D. Graham, the dean of SPEA, contacted Smiley to request his approval for the renaming of the atrium, and Smiley consented. A renaming and dedication ceremony will take place Oct. 30," a news release said.

Daily Newspaper Circulation Plunges in Latest Figures

"Circulation at newspapers shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales," Michael Liedtke reported Monday for the Associated Press.

"Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

"It’s the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade’s steady decline in paid readership ‚Äî a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don’t charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales."

A handful of newspapers increased circulation, such as the Oakland (Mich.) Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal, New Haven (Conn.) Register and Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press, Joe Strupp reported in Editor & Publisher.

 

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Geraldo Rivera rips Lou Dobbs at an El Diario luncheon on Friday.

CNN’s "Latino in America" Trails Black Counterpart

"CNN’s ‘Latino in America’ was heavily promoted, but ratings wise, the two-day debut failed to live up to the major success of the previous ‘In America’ documentaries. The first ‘Black in America’ won the demo both nights it premiered and drew 2.1 and 2.6 million Total Viewers," Kevin Allocca reported¬†Friday for MediaBistro.

"The 2-part series starts with a story on the anti-immigrant sentiment in Arizona and how a sheriff in that state has become an immigration enforcer," Veronica Villafa?±e, a past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, noted¬†Friday on her Media Moves site.

"That story seems to set the tone for the series as if the Latino experience in America is mostly one of illegal immigration, desperation, poverty and bad choices. With the exception of 2 success stories — one of a chef and the other of a Cuban-American senator, Latino in America seems to give the impression the majority of Latinos are unwilling to learn English, assimilate and effectively improve their lives."

"The front page of the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario featured an image of the CNN anchor Lou Dobbs last Thursday with a red line slashed through his face under the headline ‘Hipocresia,’ the ShopTalk newsletter said on Monday. "Speaking at a luncheon on Friday sponsored by El Diario, Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera held the newspaper in front of the crowd as he launched into a critique of the embattled personality at the center of CNN’s primetime lineup." Latino critics have accused CNN of hypocrisy for reaching out to Latinos with "Latino in America" yet keeping Dobbs.

Ron Nixon Shares Computer-Assisted Skills in Africa

Ron Nixon, a reporter at the New York Times and an expert in computer-assisted reporting, “is concerned about the future of the news business, and more pointedly, about opportunities within the evolving media eco-system for journalists of color,” media critic Amy Alexander wrote Sunday in her online column.

“Can I tell you how refreshing it is to know someone who is not just thinking about how journalists of color are faring in this new landscape but who is actually doing something to improve conditions for journalists here and abroad?

“Take a look at Ujima Project, an investigative reporting and research initiative for African journalists and others who cover the continent. It is the brainchild of Ron and colleagues at the non-profit Great Lakes Media Institute, in Kigali, Rwanda.

“Based on a newly-minted principle that Ron calls ‘reverse transparency,’ Ujima is an online database of information on the spending and workings of African governments, non-governmental agencies and businesses operating on the continent.

“Ron coined the phrase ‘reverse transparency’ after he’d spent years covering development and emerging technology in Africa ‚Äî and kept running into major hurdles whenever he sought to obtain relevant data and statistics from officials in the countries where he was reporting, including Nigeria and Rwanda.

“‘There’s no such thing as ‘open records’ laws, or open access to government data in many African nations, not even in Botswana, which is a darling of US development efforts,’ Ron told me recently. But what can be obtained is information from the US and the European Union, and many other nations that do business with African countries.”

Diversity in Retreat from Hollywood to Minnesota Bar

“Fifty-six million Americans ‚Äî 20% of the U.S. population ‚Äî have a disability. Despite being the largest minority group in the country, people with disabilities remain virtually invisible in entertainment media,” the Screen Actors Guild reported¬†on Friday.

Its report also said, “The latest statistics indicate there were slight employment increases of non-Caucasian performers, with a high-watermark in 2007. However, this rise in employment is mostly represented in supporting roles, while the employment and representation of women and senior performers have remained relatively unchanged.”

Meanwhile, a report Thursday in Minnesota Lawyer reads as though it could be about the news business.

“A drop in the number of employers in a pipeline program designed to promote diversity in the Minnesota bar has some concerned that the economic downturn is now taking a toll on diversity initiatives,” begins a story by Barbara L. Jones.

“The Minnesota State Bar Association founded the Minority Clerkship Program four years ago to match selected students of color from Minnesota law schools with participating Minnesota legal employers. It has been successful by all accounts. Last year it placed 19 students.

“But this year has been rough, with the number of participating employers dropping from 20 to 14, according to Bloomington attorney Danielle Shelton, the chair of the program.”

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