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Political Writer Declares for Romney

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Most Journalistic Reaction: “Disapproving”

Study Finds Romney Quoted More Often Than Obama

Obama Grants Fewer Pardons Than Predecessors

MSNBC More Negative on Romney Than Fox Is on Obama

Hispanics Have Higher Percentage of Nonvoters

Some Fault Storm Coverage of Poor People of Color

Blacks “Telling the Stories That Need to Be Told”

2 Chicago Stations Pick Up “Smiley & West”

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Robert Vickers, chief political writer for the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., left, and Assistant City Editor Ron Southwick talk presidential politics in March. (Video)(Credit: Patriot-News)

Most Journalistic Reaction: “Disapproving”

Robert Vickers, a black journalist and the political writer at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., gave some readers at least two reasons to disagree with him Friday. He told them his choice for president, and said that person is Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate.

“Given that my role here is to explain politics to readers, it felt appropriate to divulge my choice and explain how I came to that choice,” Vickers told Journal-isms by email.

“It was not a decision that I came to easily, and even now the traditionalist in me is still uneasy. But the walls between straight news and opinion were blown down long before I wrote my column. And rather than leave readers to guess about my preference and speculate on my motivation, I felt my transparency in explaining how I came to my decision would serve the readers.”

Vickers, 44, joins what the Pew Research Center found were just 2 percent of African Americans who intend to vote for Romney. Earlier this week, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader disclosed that Rufus M. Friday, its president and publisher, was another. The percentage of newspaper political writers who disclose publicly their polling-place choices — or are even allowed to — might be just as small.

“There’s been two kinds of reaction: that to my voting choice and that to my decision to share it,” Vickers said by email. “Most of the journalistic reaction has been disapproving, and I can understand that. Though reporters have flogged their opinions on television and radio for years, they’re still uncomfortable doing it in the old gray lady.”

Vickers said in his column, “. . . No party consideration, ideology, race or religion factor into my choice — I’ve never even been a member of the Democratic or Republican parties. It’s a pragmatic decision made more about the incumbent than about the challenger. And it’s predicated on the hardships the nation must address in 2013.

“It wasn’t an easy decision. In his attempt to win the office, Romney has taken such a slew of conflicting positions that Barack Obama has dubbed the tactic ‘Romnesia.’

“Americans should legitimately wonder whether Romney even knows what he believes in.

“But I can’t vote for President Obama, who was a first-term senator when he was elected president, because he has proved to be out of his depth wading into Washington’s shark-infested waters. . . .”

Vickers later participated in an online chat with readers. “A political writer penning an opinion piece is … unusual,” someone identified as “JJ” wrote. “Columnists are supposed to take sides and spout opinions; aren’t you supposed to remain neutral? I don’t think you would have done this three, five or 10 years ago. Why now?”

Patriot-News Managing Editor Michael Feeley provided one answer in an email exchange with Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute,

Beaujon reported, ” ‘Robert’s immediate editor supported his decision but told Robert he knew it would be a hard sell,’ Feeley writes. ‘Together, they discussed and worked on the column over several weeks. Robert himself went back and forth.’ ” Beaujon quoted Feeley’s email: “Our initial response was no. Our opinion remained that way for some time. Eventually, we supported his decision.

” ‘We demand transparency on how public officials do their job and spend taxpayer money. And I like the idea of reflecting that same kind of transparency and accountability in such an important national debate.

“Vickers is ‘primarily a columnist,’ Feeley writes, and the paper’s management doesn’t ‘anticipate problems’ from his disclosure in terms of how he’ll be deployed in the future. ‘If conflicts come up, we will weigh them case by case,’ Feeley writes.”

Vickers added for Journal-isms, “Most of the ‘positive’ reaction to my choice has come from conservatives and I don’t think their rationale for supporting Romney matches mine. But I think they — like too many Americans of all political stripes — just want to hear voices that reflect their own positions.

“The negative reaction from many liberals has been harsh and it seems to come because I differ with their position.

“Friends and folks from the black community have sounded disappointed, but seem oblivious to my rationale. Again, I take this as their reaction to me supposedly going off farm and expressing an opinion they don’t share.

“My decision was largely down to my disbelief that President Obama was up to the job of overcoming an obstinate Congress. For whatever reason few people have paid attention to and addressed that rationale.”

Vickers said he is both the political writer and a columnist and that his column should not be considered an endorsement. “I say that my opinion was not intended to affect anyone’s decision,” he told Journal-isms.

Vickers arrived at the Patriot-News in 2011 after having been a reporter at the Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He taught public relations, media, sport management and globalization courses at Syracuse University and is a former board member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Study Finds Romney Quoted More Often Than Obama

“Mitt Romney has been quoted by the media about 50 percent more often than Barack Obama this election, a new analysis shows,” Elizabeth Flock reported Tuesday for U.S. News & World Report.

“The data from the 4th Estate Project, which creates visualizations of data relating to the media, shows that Romney was quoted more often than Obama in print, TV and radio, from June 2012 to present. The project used a sample of TV broadcast shows, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox, as well as major print papers, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, and radio data from NPR.

“Nearly 62 percent of quotes from the two presidential candidates in these media outlets during that time period came from Romney, while less than 40 percent came from Obama. The data [do] not reveal how many of those quotes were used in negative stories versus positive ones. . . .”

Obama Grants Fewer Pardons Than  Predecessors

“A former brothel manager who helped the FBI bust a national prostitution ring. A retired sheriff who inadvertently helped a money launderer buy land. A young woman who mailed ecstasy tablets for a drug-dealing boyfriend, then worked with investigators to bring him down,” Dafna Linzer began Friday for ProPublica.

“All of them and hundreds more were denied pardons by President Obama, who has granted clemency at a lower rate than any modern president, a ProPublica review of pardons data shows.

“. . . Obama last granted pardons in November 2011, weeks before ProPublica and the [Washington] Post published a series of stories that found that between 2001 and 2008, white applicants were nearly four times as likely to be pardoned as minorities. African American applicants fared the worst, almost never receiving the pardons office’s recommendation. The Justice Department has commissioned an independent study to examine ProPublica’s findings. . . .”

MSNBC More Negative on Romney Than Fox Is on Obama

“From the conventions to the eve of the final presidential debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have both received more negative than positive coverage from the news media, though overall Obama has had an edge, according to a new study,” the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism reported on Friday.

“. . . The study also reveals the degree to which the two cable channels that have built themselves around ideological programming, MSNBC and Fox, stand out from other mainstream media outlets. And MSNBC stands out the most. On that channel, 71% of the segments studied about Romney were negative in nature, compared with just 3% that were positive — a ratio of roughly 23-to-1. On Fox, 46% of the segments about Obama were negative, compared with 6% that were positive — a ratio of about 8-to-1 negative. These made them unusual among channels or outlets that identified themselves as news organizations.

“The study also found a difference between the three network evening newscasts and the morning shows. Obama also fared better in the evening, Romney in the morning. . . . “

Hispanics Have Higher Percentage of Nonvoters

“In the final days before Tuesday’s election, most of the focus will be on those likely to cast votes,” the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported Thursday. “But a sizable minority of adults choose not to vote or are unable to vote. By their absence, they also will affect the outcome. Nonvoters are numerous; in 2008, they constituted about 43% of the voting age population.

“Nonvoters favor Barack Obama over Mitt Romney by a wide margin (59% to 24%). While most nonvoters (64%) have a favorable view of Obama, just half as many (32%) view Romney favorably.

“. . . Nonvoters also are much more likely than voters to be Hispanic: 21% of nonvoters are Hispanic, which is three times the percentage of Hispanics among likely voters (7%). About six-in-ten (59%) nonvoters are white non-Hispanics. By contrast, white non-Hispanics make up about three quarters (74%) of likely voters. . . . “

Some Fault Storm Coverage of Poor People of Color

Kevin Powell, a New York writer and activist, sent this S.O.S. on Friday. “Greetings to all of you. APOLOGIES for the joint email, but deeply involved in Hurricane relief efforts on the ground, and just need to get this out in one shot.

“Respectfully asking you all to pay particular attention to the plight of working-class people in New York City, especially poor people and poor people of color, in areas like Far Rockaway, Staten Island, and the Lower Eastside. My office has been bombarded with complaints of neglect, suffering, etc. and this is just not right. I am willing to funnel information to you all as needed, and hoping you all will provide the media coverage that is not otherwise happening.

“Because I did Hurricane Katrina relief work for over a year in the Gulf Coast, I have seen this before. Asking you to do the right thing by all New Yorkers, and not just the ones who live in certain areas or with certain incomes. And if your particular media outlet cannot do it, or refuses to do so, asking you to encourage your colleagues who can. . . .”

Asked whether his note meant that the news media have not been covering poor people of color, Powell said by email, “The coverage has been AWFUL and barely exists.”

A few hours later, April R. Silver, who describes herself as social entrepreneur, activist and writer/editor, posted an essay on Facebook [sign-in required], writing, “. . . This morning, I spoke to my cousin, a proud life-long resident of Far Rockaway. ‘April, FEMA, the National Guards, the police, the media…they are all here. We see them. We see them driving right pass us…headed straight to Breezy Point, a gated, wealthy white community out here.‘ Her family, my other cousins, aunts, and uncles (and their neighbors) do not have heat, water, or power. In some cases, they have been told by officials in their buildings that utilities will not be restored for another four to six weeks, if they’ve been told anything at all. And what’s more insulting to them is how, suddenly, Breezy Point has become all that matters in The Rockaways. The residents know better. The media does not. . . .”

Saturday’s New York Times caught up some with the complaints. It featured, above the fold, “In New York’s Public Housing, Fear Creeps in With the Dark” by Cara Buckley and Michael Wilson.

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