Maynard Institute archives

Oprah’s Big Adventure

by richard0524

Can Media Queen Live Her "Best Life" as Cable Exec?

Inquirer Retaliating Against Stephen A. Smith, Guild Charges

NABJ Asks AP for an Accounting of Its Downsizing

AAJA Borrows From Endowment to Meet Its Deficit

"Mallard Fillmore" Artist Defends Hate-Crimes Strip

N.Y. Anchor Dominic Carter Guilty of Attempted Assault

Howard French Says Media Misinterpreted China Trip

One Mexican Reporter Missing, Another Honored

David McClendon, Editor With Rare Disease, Dies at 44

"This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye," Oprah Winfrey told viewers on Friday. The show closes at the end of the 2011 season. (Video)¬†

Can Media Queen Live Her "Best Life" as Cable Exec?

"Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, announced Friday that her iconic daytime talk show will wrap at the end of its 25th season," as Lisa de Moraes reported for the Washington Post.

"But don’t panic – her final appearance as host of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ is nearly two years away. And it’s possible she’ll move the whole shebang to the cable network she’s setting up, called, naturally, the Oprah Winfrey Network."

Others discount that possibility. Still, Winfrey’s decision is historic – the show has dominated daytime television for nearly 25 years – and media writers were assessing its impact Thursday, even before the billionaire talk-show queen delivered the news to viewers.

"Oprah has outlasted Ricki Lake, Sally Jessy Raphael, Rolonda Watts and other female and male talk shows," Kathy Times, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told Journal-isms. "She’s the epitome of reinvention and an inspiration for all journalists as we face challenge after challenge."

(She added, "If you should read this Oprah, the National Association of Black Journalists would like for you to stop by our national convention in San Diego next year for a grand sendoff during our empowerment convention. Take a break from the summer hiatus.")

Lest anyone forget, Winfrey was the year’s No. 1 celebrity earner, at $275 million, according to Forbes magazine. And with a net worth of $2.7 billion, Winfrey this year topped the inaugural Forbes list of the wealthiest black Americans.

"She is the only billionaire on the list of 20 tycoons, all of whom are self-made," Matthew Miller wrote for Forbes in May.

"Twenty five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit," Winfrey told viewers on Friday, Stefano Esposito and Kara Spak reported in the Chicago Sun-Times. "It’s the perfect number, the exact right time."

Her decision has implications for daytime television, for cable, for the news shows that follow hers, for her home base of Chicago, for Winfrey herself and for those for whom she is a role model.

" ‘NBC Nightly News’ might be the leader among all viewers for the last 12 years, but African Americans and Hispanics continue to prefer ABC’s ‘World News with Charles Gibson’ among the three major broadcast networks, according to Nielsen ratings provided to Journal-isms by ABC," this column reported last year.

"Paul S. Mason, senior vice president of ABC News, said ABC’s owned-and-operated stations, which are in major markets, tend to do very well. Those markets have higher concentrations of African Americans and Latinos. It’s also true that the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ serves as a strong lead-in for those stations’ evening news shows in many cities, he said."

Mason has since stepped down, but other news executives have anticipated the possibility of life without Oprah.

"The fact is, Oprah is extremely expensive – WABC pays $270,000 per week in license fees for the show; KABC pays around $240,000 per week and WLS Chicago pays about $225,000 per week, according to station sources," Paige Albiniak wrote for Broadcasting & Cable. "If ABC replaced the show with news, it could easily produce newscasts for much less than what it’s paying for Oprah. Even if the ABC stations’ ratings dropped in the Oprah time slots, the cost savings would likely make up for those declines.

"In the past year, the entire industry has recognized that CBS Television Distribution (CTD), Oprah’s distributor, would not be able to renew its contracts with stations at such high prices."

But local news cannot duplicate Winfrey’s cultural impact.

"From the talk show’s success," Phil Rosenthal noted in the Chicago Tribune, "Winfrey has been able to give millions to charity and build a media empire that has included O magazine, Oprah.com and a Sirius XM satellite pay radio channel, as well as movies and television shows. She also starred in films such as ‘Beloved,’ which got made only because she deemed it important, and Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Color Purple,’ which she later shepherded onto Broadway.

"I am a symbol of what is possible when you dream in your own life," Winfrey told Howard University graduates in 2007, reminding them that when she began her career, in television news, she refused her bosses’ request that she change her name to "Susie" to appeal to a wider audience.

Writing of the Winfrey show, which regularly draws 7 million viewers, Brian Stelter and Bill Carter wrote for the New York Times that Winfrey "made clear to her staff members that she will not transfer the show to cable. She is expected to produce new programs for OWN, and will appear occasionally on some of them." The channel intends to celebrate her ethos, "Living your best life."

"Her departure will surely be interpreted as an endorsement of the cable TV business, and a blow to the fortunes of broadcast television," the Times story continued. "Discovery Communications, which will co-own the new channel, announced the creation of OWN 20 months ago. Now Discovery will parlay Ms. Winfrey’s anticipated exit from broadcast into higher per-subscriber fees and will also seek more lucrative commitments from advertisers.

"For Ms. Winfrey herself, the move represents an enormous bet – that her popularity and golden touch with programming can sustain an entire cable channel and that she’ll remain a central cultural figure even without the mass exposure of broadcast television every day," Stelter and Carter wrote.

Inquirer Retaliating Against Smith, Guild Charges

Stephen A. Smith, left, and William K. MarimowThe Newspaper Guild has filed a grievance alleging that the Philadelphia Inquirer is retaliating against sports columnist Stephen A. Smith by erecting obstacles to his return to print, even though the paper reluctantly complied with an arbitrator’s decision to reinstate him.

Editor William K. Marimow and Managing Editor Mike Leary’s "vindictive behavior is unconscionable, and will be vigorously challenged by the Guild using whatever legal and political means necessary," Bill Ross, executive director of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers Association of America Local 38010, told Journal-isms on Friday.

Smith returned to his sports columnist job on Nov. 12, some 27 months after the newspaper demoted him and subsequently resisted an arbitrator’s ruling that the paper was in the wrong.

"I am anxious and ready to be a voice in — and for — the City of Philadelphia once again," Smith said in statement that day.

But Smith’s column has not yet returned.

"As you are aware Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow has fought Arbitrator Richard Kasher’s award since he ruled in the Newspaper Guild’s favor reinstating Stephen to his general columnist position, and awarding him a six figure back pay award in July," Ross told Journal-isms.

"After Marimow stalled 60 days to comply with the award, Kasher issued a clarification and ordered the employer to return Smith within 15 days. After the 15 days, the employer complied with the award to reinstate Smith, but on his first day back, was told in order to publish his columns, Smith would have to pledge to agree to an Inquirer code of ethics, and wanted to prohibit Smith’s outside work.

"Both violate our collective bargaining agreement, and no other employee has been forced or required to this pledge. The Guild has filed a grievance over this violation.

"Marimow has pledged not to back down, and his maladroit management style and disparate treatment of Mr. Smith will not be tolerated by the Newspaper Guild. This unethical behavior is clear retaliation for losing the arbitration, and has now caused this bankrupt estate thousands of dollars in additional legal fees, and will bring no doubt unwanted bad publicity to the local owners, fighting to keep control of Philadelphia Newspapers."

The owners of Philadelphia Newspapers, the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News are in bankruptcy, trying to shed $400 million in debt.

Marimow told Journal-isms, "As I think you know, I can’t discuss personnel matters," and referred questions to Scott Baker, the company’s general counsel, who was not available.

NABJ Asks AP for an Accounting of Its Downsizing

Victor VaughanThe National Association of Black Journalists Friday asked the Associated Press for an accounting of how its layoffs are affecting journalists of color.

NABJ leaders said they knew that fewer than 100 employees were likely to be laid off, "but the absence of news about these reductions on AP’s own wire where other industry downsizing has been chronicled, leaves us with many questions. How many black journalists are being affected by the cuts? What percentage of your staff is Black, Asian and Hispanic?" NABJ President Kathy Times and Deirdre Childress, vice president/print, asked in a letter to CEO Tom Curley.

The AP laid off 90 news employees worldwide this week to reach its goal of cutting annual payroll costs by 10 percent, the news cooperative reported on Thursday.

"The AP set the target in October 2008 and said it achieved most of the reductions through attrition and buyouts. To complete the effort this week, the company resorted to its largest newsroom layoffs in memory — cutting roughly 2 percent of the work force."

Among those laid off was Victor Vaughan, a former NABJ board member who as national photo editor was one of AP’s highest-ranking journalists of color. Also said to be cut was photographer Chitose Suzuki, who was posted in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP did not confirm any names, but e-mails to Suzuki’s AP e-mail account were returned as undeliverable. Suzuki, who arrived at the AP from the Boston Globe, won honorable mention this year in the National Press Photographers Association’s "Best of Photojournalism" contest.

The NABJ leaders said, "We fully understand that AP announced earlier this year that it was working hard to make reductions that had the smallest impact — including a hiring freeze and a voluntary early retirement plan. But we are seeking more information on the methods of these layoffs and in particular, how they affect the small numbers of minority managers.

". . . NABJ also has serious concerns after the recent loss of our great friend Mike McQueen in New Orleans. Can you provide us information on how bureau chiefs are being promoted from inside and pulled in from outside your news organization? How many black bureau chiefs and deputies are currently among your ranks? Do they have the ability to hire and fire other staff members?"

McQueen, who died on Oct. 25, was the AP’s only African American bureau chief, although Kia Breaux is acting bureau chief in Kansas City. The South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists this month announced a new Michael Anthony McQueen scholarship fund.

Paul D. Colford, director of media relations, told Journal-isms this week that in implementing any staff reductions, "We are always in conformity with the News Media Guild contract with the AP."

Tony Winton, president of the News Media Guild, said that in general, the contract calls for layoffs to be implemented by seniority, although skills and qualifications can be taken into account. He said the layoffs had not yet been analyzed by race, age or gender, but "We will look at every single termination."

 

AAJA Borrows From Endowment to Meet Its Deficit

Sharon ChanThe Asian American Journalists Association expects to borrow $167,000 from its endowment and is suspending most sharing of dues with local chapters in order to meet a $177,000 deficit.

"AAJA has a long history of fiscal prudence, balanced budgets and spending only what we have," national president Sharon Chan said in a message to members posted Friday on the AAJA Web site.

"We have cut $200,000 in expenses since Jan. 1, renegotiated both our 2009 and 2010 national convention contracts, and reduced our small staff by 2.5 positions through attrition. But we have reached a point at which we cannot cut more deeply and maintain our commitments to our funders, scholarships, internships, and programs that serve you.

"At the end of 2009 we expect to face a $177,000 deficit. As a result, the Governing Board has taken two emergency steps:

  • "We are suspending the chapters’ share of membership dues for 2009. In 2010, chapters will receive member dues shares only if a member is new or is upgrading, such as from a Full to a Gold or Platinum membership.
  • "We have passed an aggressive budget to place AAJA on strong footing in 2010. To cover our cash shortfall this year, we have borrowed from our national endowment principal. By the end of 2009, we expect to borrow $167,000. This is not how AAJA envisioned the endowment would be used. The endowment was established to be invested so AAJA could use the investment proceeds to fund programs, scholarships and internships. We have set up a fundraising plan to pay the $167,000 back in 2010."

Chan also asked members to give to its "Power of One" campaign, which has helped it raise $35,000 this year.

AAJA had expected to face a budget deficit of up to $275,000 for the year, officials said in August at its Boston convention.

It cited a drop-off in membership dues, losses associated with a lower-than-expected turnout at the convention, sponsors who pulled or reduced their support and a buyout of a hotel contract with the Westin Boston Waterfront.

"AAJA had originally booked the Westin as an overflow hotel for the convention. AAJA officials negotiated a buyout of the contract to avoid paying a $57,000 fee ‚Äî and ‘saved ourselves $27,000 from that,’ " the AAJA student newspaper reported at the time, quoting Glenn Sugihara, accountant for the national office.

Demonstrators protesting the "Mallard Fillmore" comic strip in front of the Newsday building Wednesday display Newsday articles they say showed ‘biased coverage’ and an ‘insulting attitude’ toward the immigrant community on Long Island. (Credit: Long Island Wins)

"Mallard Fillmore" Artist Defends Hate-Crimes Strip

Bruce Tinsley, who drew the "Mallard Fillmore" comic strip on hate crimes that Newsday this week said should not have run, protested to the newspaper that the strip "takes all violent crime seriously."

The nationally syndicated cartoon was titled ‘Liberals: The Early Years.’ "It depicted a larger dinosaur chasing a small one. The bigger one says, ‘I’m not chasing you because you’re a pachycephalosaurus. . . . I’m chasing you because you’re delicious.’ The smaller dinosaur responds, ‘Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that this might be a hate crime,’" as reporter Keith Herbert explained in Newsday’s story.

The Long Island, N.Y., newspaper was picketed by angry residents aggrieved over the beating death a year ago of an Ecuadoran immigrant, and said they did not view hate crimes as a joking matter. They also complained about immigration coverage in the newspaper, and demanded the resignation of Editor John Mancini.

In a letter to Newsday made available to Journal-isms Friday by King Features, which syndicates the strip, Tinsley said, "Mallard Fillmore takes all violent crime seriously.

"The point my cartoon made was that the animus behind a crime matters far less (or sometimes, not at all) than does the real violence done to a real person or people, and that a ‘hate-crime’ mindset often trivializes that very violence by subordinating it to a political agenda.

"Even the ACLU has expressed concern over some versions of the recent hate crimes legislation introduced in Congress. Most 1st Amendment advocates, especially journalists, are often concerned about punishing the thought, not the action.

"I take your newspaper’s concerns seriously, and your readers’ perceptions even more seriously. But at the same time, as a cartoonist and former reporter, I don’t steer away from controversy ‚Äî I think debate and rigorous discussion of important issues is the role of the newspaper in a community."

N.Y. Anchor Dominic Carter Guilty of Attempted Assault

"Dominic Carter, the NY1 political reporter and program host accused of beating his wife in their home during an argument last year, was convicted on Friday of attempted assault, the Rockland County district attorney announced," Anahad O’Connor reported for the New York Times.¬†

"Mr. Carter was cleared of a more serious charge of third-degree
assault. But his conviction on the attempted assault charge — a misdemeanor— leaves him facing the prospect of up to three months in jail and a year on probation when he is sentenced on Jan. 14.

"During the trial in Ramapo Town Justice Court, the station announced that Mr. Carter was taking an indefinite leave of absence. But his status at the station was in question on Friday night. A spokeswoman for NY1 said Mr. Carter was still on leave, adding, ‘We are in the process of reviewing the court‚Äôs decision.’

"Mr. Carter, who grew up in the Bronx, had long been a star on NY1, the all-news cable channel where he was the host of the popular political talk shows ‘Road to City Hall’ and ‘Inside City Hall.’ He was also a frequent moderator of high-profile state and city electoral debates, including one between William C. Thompson Jr. and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last month. Mr. Carter‚Äôs leave of absence was announced on Oct. 29."

  

Howard French Says Media Misinterpreted China Trip

Howard W. FrenchHoward W. French, a former Shanghai correspondent for the New York Times who now teaches at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, told the Columbia Journalism Review Friday that the U.S. media were so obsessed with "instant punditry" and the public’s "hysterical anxiety" that they misinterpreted President Obama’s trip to China this week.

“I don’t think that [the press] have gotten it right, to put things very simply," French told Alexandra Fenwick. "I think that part of the problem is not especially China-related but strikes me as a reflection of something that’s happening in the culture, particularly in the news culture, partially in response to the habits of television coverage and the increased pressures that come from digital media. There’s a growing reflex of instant punditry and reflexive reaction that works counter to more meaningful analysis. We’re in a state where we’re very often privileging the gut or the knee, as in knee-jerk, rather than thinking more meaningfully about things.

“The piece that really relates directly to China, I think, and the signals I get from this coverage are equally distressing. The unstated element for me in all of this coverage of Obama’s visit is a kind of hysterical insecurity in the American mind about the possibility — or reality, depending on how you look at it — of American decline, China being the most obvious and immediate symbol of American vulnerability and decline. You put these two things together, the hysterical insta-pundit on the one hand and the hysterical anxiety on the other hand, you end up with this kind of coverage that says essentially that Obama goes to China and doesn’t get instant, public, overt gratification on issues A through Zed and therefore it was a failed trip, or we’re losing ground to China or we have no more standing or we have no more clout or the Chinese moment is upon us — any number of variations on this decline-related theme.

“A great irony of this, and I’m making generalizations about the coverage, but one great irony is that the fact the Chinese had to pack an audience in Shanghai with Communist party youth and people who were trained to ask very anodyne questions or to ask very obvious political questions. You can look at this on the one hand as a sign of American lack of influence with China, as many people were quick to do, or you can look at it on the other hand as a sign of, ‘Hey we’re talking about China like the next great thing and they’re so insecure they can’t even allow a Q and A with the president?’ That to me is a more interesting interpretation."

French teaches a seminar on reporting on China.

One Mexican Reporter Missing, Another Honored

"A Mexican reporter who had recently covered corruption and organized crime was reported missing this week in the western state of Michoac?°n, according to local news reports," the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Friday.

In Canada, meanwhile, the writers organization PEN Canada honored Lydia Cacho, a Mexican author, journalist and women’s rights activist who PEN said was illegally arrested, detained and ill-treated before being subjected to a yearlong criminal defamation lawsuit after she published a book on child pornography in Mexico.

The missing journalist, Mar??a Esther Aguilar Cansimbe, "a reporter with 10 years of experience who has worked with several regional outlets, had recently broken a series of stories on local corruption and organized crime for El Cambio de Michoac?°n, according to the paper," CPJ said.

"On October 22, she reported on a military operation near Zamora where at least three individuals, including the son of a local politician, were arrested on suspicion of participating with organized crime groups.

"On October 27, she published a story on local police abuse, after which a high-ranking official was forced to resign. Three days later, she reported on the arrest of an alleged boss of the Michoac?°n-based dug cartel La Familia Michoacana. According to a colleague at the daily, Aguilar did not use her byline on any of the stories for fear of reprisal."

  • Interview with Lydia Cacho, "As It Happens," Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (audio)

David McClendon, Editor With Rare Disease, Dies at 44

"When the news hit our office at the Register Tuesday morning that David McClendon had died, it sent a chilling shock through all of us who had worked alongside him, shared laughs with the guy, shared our lives with his life," Randall Beach wrote Friday in the New Haven (Conn.) Register.

David McClendon

"How could he be gone? How could that big, burly, energetic force of nature be suddenly silenced at the age of 44?

"Unfortunately, many of us had lost touch with him since October 2006, when he left the Register and his city editor’s position to take a job at a newspaper in Lansing, Mich.

"And so not everyone knew he had been very sick since last March when he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. In August, he moved back to his parents’ home in New Jersey to rest and try to get better.

"Until Tuesday morning, when we received that unfathomable news, I had never heard of sarcoidosis. But then I went to his blog and he told me all about it."

McClendon explained on the blog, "Sarcoidosis is an autoimmune disease and the cause is unknown. It gets the body’s defenses to attack vital organs, including lungs, kidneys, heart, etc."

A former city editor at the Register, McClendon was deputy news and information editor at the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal. More recently, he was at the Chi-town Daily News, an investigative Web site where he was associate editor.

The Web site folded in September, but while there he worked with an intern, Megan Cottrell, who wrote a tribute on Monday, "Everything I know about journalism, I learned from David."

Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Judkins Colonial Home, 428 W. Fourth St., Plainfield, N.J. 07060, with a repast after the service at the Southern Smokehouse, 611 West Edgar Road, Aviator Plaza, Linden, N.J. 07036.

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