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Radio Host Pulls Smiley’s Chain

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Returning Dec. 24 except for breaking news

Story on “Cease-and-Desist” Demand Circulates

Unity Groups Choose “Diversity,” Not “of Color”

Thorny Issues Collide in Newtown Shooting Tragedy

Cathy Hughes, Tarantino Say They Like Movie Killings

Blacks’ Weaker Job Networks a Factor in Joblessness

Writers Call ESPN’s “First Take” Part of the Problem

Rhonda Gillespie Named M.E. of Chicago Defender

Lawyer Says Meteorologist Has Weak Case on Firing

Black Critics Pick “Zero Dark Thirty” as Top Picture

Short Takes

Story on “Cease-and-Desist” Demand Circulates

Media personality Tavis Smiley, a harsh Obama critic whose “poverty tour” champions the cause of people in poverty, is having his chain pulled by a Los Angeles radio talk-show host who formerly worked for Smiley.

In escalating language between the two men, Morris W. O’Kelly, whose on-air name is Mo’Kelly, has called Smiley’s campaign “more about ego and constant pushing of his name.”

A story in the Los Angeles Wave newspapers last week asserted that Smiley sent O’Kelly “a ‘cease and desist’ letter demanding that he stop talking and writing bad about him!” It made the Obama critic seem as though he could not take criticism when he was the object.

Smiley publicly remained silent, but the story by Betty Pleasant gained steam as its message was repeated on at least two black-oriented websites,  the black entertainment outlet EUR Web and radio host Tom Joyner’s Black America Web.

Then, on Sunday, EUR Web published an “open letter” to Smiley from Najee Ali, director of Los Angeles-based Project Islamic HOPE (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere), siding with O’Kelly.

Ali said of Smiley, “. . . It’s time that you cease and desist with this foolishness! “Tavis the White establishment has been propping you up for years. . . .”

Moreover, O’Kelly appeared Tuesday to discuss the dispute on a national platform: Roland Martin‘s segment on radio’s  syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show” , on which Smiley was once was a regular.

On the Tuesday program, Martin referred to the dispute as the “Tavis-Mo’Kelly throwdown.” O’Kelly said he was all for eradicating poverty, “but I am not going to support foolishness.” The poverty tour “is not substantive change,” he said.

The drama is part of a narrative that began in the 2008 presidential campaign after Obama did not appear at Smiley’s annual “State of the Black Union” symposium. Smiley became increasingly critical of the future president and was later joined by Princeton professor Cornel West. West recently called Obama “a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.”

In the process, Smiley left Joyner, who is ardently pro-Obama. Joyner told listeners in April 2008, “He can’t take the hate he’s taking over this whole Barack Obama thing,” a charge Smiley denied.

The Oct. 30 “cease and desist” letter cited by the Wave newspapers does not in fact demand that O’Kelly “stop talking and writing bad about him!”

Sent by the law firm of Browning & Browning, the letter cites the “Confidentiality and Non[-]­Disclosure Agreement” that O’Kelly signed when he left Smiley’s company. “While we acknowledge your First Amendment rights to comment on Smiley’s views and opinions, we will not tolerate blatant violations of the Agreement, statements that constitute defamation against Smiley and the Smiley Enterprises, or statements that are intentionally tortious in nature,” it says.

Verboten are “the use, dissemination, or publication of any Confidential Information” and “disseminating or publishing any false, misleading, or otherwise defamatory statements pertaining to Smiley and/ or Smiley Enterprises.”

At issue is whether the observations O’Kelly has told his listeners about Smiley’s actions while O’Kelly worked for him violate the confidentiality agreement. O’Kelly says no; Smiley says yes.

Asked by Journal-isms Monday for an on-the-record statement, Smiley said through his spokeswoman Leshelle Sargent, “The document from Ken Browning‘s office speaks for itself. As the letter indicates, Mr. O’Kelly was fired but has every right to speak on Mr. Smiley’s political views — which he had done repeatedly over radio and social media without interference from our company. He cannot, however, speak on Mr. Smiley’s confidential and privileged business affairs. You must know that this is common practice in our business. Mr. O’Kelly surely did which is why he signed the confidentiality agreement.

“To go on the radio airwaves suggesting anything other than what is clearly stated in the letter is pure gossip. And we don’t deal in gossip. To THEN spread lies in a newspaper article is ridiculously beyond the pale. . . . “

O’Kelly denies he was fired. “I was given an end date to my employment of Jan. 1 2011, due to ‘funding’ I decided to leave early,” he told Journal-isms.

Journal-isms asked O’Kelly Monday whether the disagreement is simply a case of a former disgruntled employee striking back. O’Kelly messaged:

“When Tom Joyner said that Dr. West was his ‘sidepiece’…I said nothing publicly. When Steve Harvey called him and Dr. West ‘Uncle Toms’ I had no public comment. When Najee Ali picketed and protested Smiley’s building (both times) I had no public comment, either time. Even more recently (yesterday) when MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry likened him to the Black nurse during the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, I neither commented nor highlighted it.

“All of the aforementioned were low-hanging fruit. I said nothing. I could have easily [piggybacked] on any or all of those if the goal were to simply snipe at him. I have never engaged in any name-calling and I’ve never wavered from the issues. This is far from personal on my part. But I am absolutely clear that his litigation threats have been reserved for me and me only. So if there is animosity, it’s not from me.

“Let the record be clear on these inarguable truths.

“He’s released a number of books on poverty, and his story about ‘Failing Up’ I’ve said nothing. I haven’t engaged in tearing down anything and all things ‘Tavis.’ There is no such history.

“In the time between me leaving The Smiley Group (11.24.2010) and now, I have only made three public commentaries in relation to him.

“In June of 2011, I published a commentary on EURWEB.com regarding the coming release of R. Kelly‘s memoir and how Smiley was publishing it. Given Smiley’s public statements and stances regarding the mistreatment of women in this country, it was highly odd and an obvious contradiction that someone supposedly so in support of women and touting a ‘youth foundation’ would also be trumpeting publishing R. Kelly’s memoir. I highlighted the glaring contradiction. . . . “

“Blog version of story below:

“http://mrmokelly.com/2011/06/the-lies-of-r-kelly-and-his-truth-for-25-95/

” To which, Tavis called Lee Bailey and demanded that my story be removed. . . . He is the disgruntled employer, let’s be clear. . . .” [Updated Dec. 18]

Unity Groups Choose “Diversity,” Not “of Color”

Members of the four journalism associations that make up the Unity Journalists coalition each voted for “UNITY: Journalists for Diversity” as the new name to succeed “Unity: Journalists of Color,” the groups announced on Monday.

“Unity: Journalists for Diversity” won out over “UNITY: Journalists of Color” and “UNITY: Journalists of Color and Diversity.”

The full Unity board is to discuss the results of the membership vote on Friday, with each board member save the president, who votes only when there is a tie, weighing in on the new name. “UNITY board members are expected to vote how their organizations voted and respect the wishes of their members,” a Unity announcement said on Dec. 4.

Voting among the associations was light. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists tally was UNITY: Journalists for Diversity, 116 votes, or 66 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color & Diversity, 34 votes, 19 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color, 25 votes, 14 percent. NAHJ has nearly 2,000 members, President Hugo Balta said.

The Asian American Journalists Association vote was UNITY: Journalists for Diversity, 217 votes, or 70.7 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color & Diversity, 58 votes, or 18.9 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color, 32 votes, or 10.4 percent. AAJA has more than 1,700 members, Doris Truong, national president, said.

The Native American Journalists Association vote was UNITY: Journalists for Diversity, 49, or 67 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color and Diversity, 14, or 19 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color, 10, or 13.7 percent. NAJA has 232 members, Rhonda LeValdo, president, said.

The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association vote was UNITY: Journalists for Diversity, 132 votes, or 81.4 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color and Diversity, 29, or 17.9 percent; and UNITY: Journalists of Color, 1, 0.6 percent. NLGJA has 584 members, Michael Triplett, NLGJA president, said.

Although the National Association of Black Journalists withdrew from Unity last year, 84 members voted in an unofficial Survey Monkey poll, according to Benet Wilson, an NABJ representative to the Unity Name Task Force. NABJ had 3,035 members at the end of November, Executive Director Maurice Foster said.

UNITY: Journalists of Color & Diversity Inc. received 35 NABJ votes, or 50 percent; UNITY: Journalists of Color Inc., 28, or 40 percent; and UNITY: Journalists of Color & for Diversity Inc., 9 votes, or 12.9 percent. The “UNITY: Journalists of Color & for Diversity Inc.” option was later changed to “Unity: Journalists for Diversity.” There were 12 write-ins.

The Unity coalition renamed itself “Unity Journalists” in April after it admitted NLGJA, which warned that its members might boycott Unity’s summer convention if the words “Journalists of Color” were not dropped from the coalition’s name.

The name change prompted a backlash from many who said Unity was veering from its history and purpose. Among them were NABJ members, who left the coalition last year over governance and financial issues, and who Unity is trying to woo back.

The ballot sent to members of the associations in the coalition explained, “The UNITY Board created the UNITY Name Task Force to address our members’ concerns about how our previous name, ‘UNITY: Journalists of Color Inc.’ was changed to ‘UNITY: Journalists Inc.’ without their input at our April Board meeting. The Board unanimously agreed to find a name that better reflected our expanded coalition.”

Thorny Issues Collide in Newtown Shooting Tragedy

“There’s been a lot of talk about media in the wake of the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., as the world struggles to understand something that may be beyond rational thought,” media critic Eric Deggans wrote Monday in the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times.

“Big picture-wise, I think America is experiencing the brutal intersection of many thorny issues: a runaway gun culture we have indulged for too long; a culture of violence which too-often glorifies those who end problems with a fist or gun; a chronically underfunded mental health system woefully unable to help average people struggling with mental illness; and a media culture which can make outsize villains of those who commit the most horrific acts.

“It would be nice if the tragedy of 20 children killed in their own elementary school was a big enough shock to prompt some movement at least on the curbing of assault weapons ownership and boosting of mental health resources in America. But at a time when politicians can’t even agree on a plan to avoid raising every voter’s taxes by the start of 2013, I’m not holding my breath. . . . “

Cathy Hughes, Tarantino Say They Like Movie Killings

With perhaps unfortunate timing, a weekend airing of “Django Unchained: The TV One Special,” showed TV One founder Cathy Hughes and director Quentin Tarantino talking about how much they liked Westerns because people are allowed to kill each other so much.

In the one-hour “profound and revealing look at the making of Quentin Tarantino’s blockbuster film Django Unchained,” Tarantino added that he likes “extreme violence.”

The interview was filmed before Friday’s horrific violence in Connecticut, in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders, his mother, six school employees and himself. In the wake of the shooting, the Weinstein Co. is canceling the Hollywood premiere, Amy Kaufman reported Monday for the Los Angeles Times.

In an interview Saturday, Jamie Foxx, a star of the film, told the Associated Press that actors can’t ignore the fact that movie violence can influence people.

Foxx told the AP’s Nicole Evatt Saturday, “We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence. It does.”

Evatt wrote, “In true Tarantino form, buckets of blood explode from characters as they are shot or shredded to pieces by rabid dogs,” describing the film as “Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming ultra-violent spaghetti Western-style film about slavery.

“Tarantino, whose credits include ‘Pulp Fiction’ and the ‘Kill Bill’ volumes, said he was tired of defending his films each time the nation is shocked by gun violence,” Evatt continued. “He said ‘tragedies happen’ and blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.”

Journal-isms asked a TVOne spokeswoman if she wished to clarify her remarks. “. . . Ms. Hughes has no comment at this time,” Monica Neal replied by email.

Blacks’ Weaker Job Networks a Factor in Joblessness

The African American jobless rate is about twice that of whites, a disparity that has barely budged since the government began tracking the data in 1972, Michael A. Fletcher noted Saturday in the Washington Post.

Discrimination has long been seen as the primary reason for this disparity, which is evident among workers from engineers to laborers. “But fresh research has led scholars to conclude that African Americans also suffer in the labor market from having weaker social networks than other groups,” Fletcher continued.

“Having friends and relatives who can introduce you to bosses or tell you about ripe opportunities has proved to be one of the most critical factors in getting work. Such connections can also help people hold onto their jobs, researchers say.

” ‘It is surprising to many people how important job networks are to finding work,’ said Deirdre A. Royster, a New York University sociologist. ‘The information they provide help people make a good first impression, get through screening and get hired.’ “

Gregory H. Lee Jr., president of the National Association of Black Journalists and a former chairman of its Sports Task Force, told Journal-isms that the observation holds true in journalism.

“Networking is key to our industry, the problem is in sports journalism not many of the decision makers know any of our members nor other minorities,” Lee said by email. “Journalism is still about who you know, especially in sports journalism. There [has] been some progress, but not enough has been made to make a larger impact.”

Writers Call ESPN’s “First Take”  Part of the Problem

ESPN is being criticized for creating an environment in which ESPN commentator Rob Parker would question on the air whether Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was a “real” black man. Parker was suspended on Friday, a day after he made the comments on ESPN’s “First Take.”

“ESPN should not be congratulated for suspending Parker, though that’s undoubtedly the desired reaction in Bristol,” Doug Farrar of Yahoo Sports wrote Saturday.

“Instead, those within the network who have decided to abdicate any sense of journalistic responsibility in favor of a craven desire for ratings and ‘buzz’ should probably take a few minutes and consider that they created and nourished an environment by which Rob Parker, who had made multiple professional missteps before, could thrive by saying stupid stuff and getting away with it.”

In announcing Parker’s suspension on Friday, ESPN said a “further review” of the Parker situation would take place. 

That review “. . . should include not just Parker, but also everything about the show on which Parker made his comments on Thursday morning, ESPN First Take,” Michael David Smith wrote Friday for NBC Sports.

“It’s telling that when ESPN aired Best of First Take on Thursday afternoon, it included Parker’s comments. That’s because First Take thrives on provoking controversies with its panelists making outrageous claims, and it wasn’t until Parker’s comments were the subject of widespread criticism later in the day that ESPN felt the need to acknowledge the comments were inappropriate,” Smith wrote.

Two months ago, viewers watching “First Take” accused Stephen A. Smith of saying “N**** please” to another commentator while the two debated a topic. Smith denied using the word.

Asked to comment on the criticism, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said by email, “Our thoughts are with our neighbors in connecticut and we will come back to this issue in due time.”

Deron Snyder of the Washington Times wrote that he spoke with Parker just before he went on the fateful show. Snyder told Journal-isms by email, “my regret is that i didn’t caution rob about his angle or attempt to flat-out dissuade him from pursuing it.” He wrote in his column, “. . . I imagine this is what it feels [like] when you’re the last person to speak to someone before he or she harms themself.”

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