L.A. Times Urges Team to Drop “Redskins”

The editorial also came on the day President Obama declared "Native American Heritage Day," which fell after the holiday Indianz.com called "You’re Welcome Day."

["Actually, the timing of the editorial was coincidental – I wrote it immediately after the Supreme Court declined to review the case against the Redskins, but it was held for a couple of weeks," editorial writer Dan Turner told Journal-isms on Monday.]

"Rush Limbaugh, who on his radio show has referred to Native Americans as ‘Injuns,’ was rejected as a pro football team owner because of his racial insensitivity. Yet the National Football League doesn’t seem bothered that one of its franchises uses an ethnic slur as a team name, one so foul that even Limbaugh would hesitate to utter it," the editorial said.

"The Washington franchise’s name is an embarrassment to the nation’s capital and a blight on the NFL."

Rob Capriccioso noted Wednesday in Indian Country Today that "The appeal to the high court centered on a 2003 decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly who found that the plaintiffs waited too long to challenge the trademark for the team, which was first issued in 1967.

"The judge later clarified her decision, writing that the youngest plaintiff turned 18 in 1984 and therefore waited almost eight years after coming of age to join the lawsuit.

"Kollar-Kotelly indicated that if the name was truly disparaging, the suit should have been filed earlier – implying that someone needed to file a suit as soon as they were legally able.

"Now, a legal team is prepping to try to meet the perimeters of Kollar-Kotelly’s judgment.

"Six younger Indian plaintiffs who range in age from 18 to 24 have already been assembled and have filed a similar suit, Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, to challenge the offensive team name and logo.

"Tribal elders, psychologists, historians and others have said the name is harmful, noting that it is a derogatory reference to American Indians, and has been historically used in a similar way that the word ‘nigger’ has been wrongly used toward blacks. Historically, too, the word ‘redskins’ was used by the U.S. government as a way to refer to bounties placed on scalped Indian heads," Capriccioso wrote.

The Native American Journalists Association was one of several Native groups joining¬†in a friend of the court brief calling on the Supreme Court to review the case, which contended that the name is so odious that it should be denied its trademark status.

The brief noted that "At least five newspapers have adopted policies forbidding the use of ‘Redskins’ to identify sports teams: the Oregonian (Portland, Ore.); the Portland (Maine) Press Herald; The St. Cloud (Minn.) Times; the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, and the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star."

In Washington, the two major daily papers have split on the use of the name.

The Washington Post wrote in 2006, "We take team owner Daniel M. Snyder at his word that he sees the nickname as an honor, and we appreciate how hard it is to abandon well-loved traditions. By the same token, it really is not up to the offender to characterize the nature of the offense. We can’t imagine Mr. Snyder, or anyone else for that matter, sitting in a room of Native Americans and referring to them as Redskins."

The conservative Washington Times, editorializing in 1999, saw it differently.

"The Irish in this country must find it horrible to be caricatured either as ‘Fighting Irish’ or as leprechauns by Notre Dame," it wrote. "Professional football’s Raiders certainly give pirates everywhere a bad name. The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t given Indians much to cheer about lately. Here’s betting that ticket scalpers don’t appreciate being depicted as the financial equivalent of, well, redskins. And how do you suppose hogs feel when they see the Hogettes at Redskins’ games? There’s no end to the affronted."

Coincidentally, funeral services were held in Washington Friday for Abe Pollin, the National Basketball Association’s longest-tenured owner. After 34 seasons, he changed the name of the Washington Bullets to the Washington Wizards in the mid-1990s when he became concerned about the name’s violent connotation and Washington’s murder rate.

Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader:¬†Human rights for Native Americans should be a priority
John Kelly, Washington Post: Fans have plenty of names for the Redskins. Plenty.

Stephen A. Smith Breaks 2nd Story Outside of Inquirer

A day after breaking the news that Allen Iverson planned to retire from the National Basketball Association, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith reported early Saturday that talks are under way about bringing Iverson back to his old team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

As with the first story, Smith did not write his exclusive for the Inquirer, which is refusing to run his material.

"Numerous team sources confirmed on Friday that the 76ers’ brass has already talked – and talks will only escalate this weekend – about bringing Iverson back to Philadelphia. Possibly as early as next week," Smith wrote in a story for FoxSports.com. The story also appeared on Smith’s Web site.

After the first story appeared, Dan Gross, president of the Newspaper Guild of Philadelphia, told Journal-isms that "Inquirer Editors Bill Marimow and Mike Leary should be embarrassed at having forced Stephen A. Smith to break such big news on his own Web site rather than philly.com," the Inquirer Web site. Marimow is editor and Leary is managing editor.

"The Inquirer continues to refuse to publish any work by Stephen until he agrees to policies and regulations that management has not subjected other members to."

Smith returned to his sports columnist job at the Inquirer 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. An arbitrator found that Marimow thought Smith was being paid too much.

The Guild has filed a grievance alleging that the Inquirer is retaliating against Smith by erecting obstacles to his return to print.

¬†

Lebrew Jones leaves the Queensboro Correctional Facility in New York last week. An investigation by the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record helped lead to his parole. (Credit: Chet Gordon/Times Herald-Record)

Paper’s Stories Help Free Inmate After 22 Years

Lebrew Jones spent Thanksgiving a free man for the first time in 22 years after an investigation by the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record "exposed huge holes in the murder investigation and prosecution, including a complete lack of physical evidence," as the newspaper wrote last week.

Its Nov. 20 story began:

"After more than 22 years behind bars for a murder that he, the victim’s mother and a growing number of experts insist he didn’t commit, Lebrew Jones stepped out of a blue steel prison door and into freedom Thursday.

"In a decision that one legal expert called ‘basically unheard of,’ the state granted him parole after his first interview.

"The slight man his fellow prisoners call ‘humble’ and ‘sweet’ is 53 years old. He was 30 when he was sentenced to 22 years to life for the bloody murder of a New York City prostitute he swears he never met.

"Jones owes his freedom to former Times Herald-Record reporter Christine Young . . .

"Even the mother of the blond-haired, blue-eyed prostitute, [Michaelanne] Hall, who was brutally killed on a November night in 1987, feels Jones was wronged.

"Lois Hall believes in him so much, she wanted to fly from her home in Buffalo for his release. She couldn’t afford the air fare."

The Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins interviewed¬†Young, who left the paper in August and is on a Knight-Bagehot journalism fellowship at Columbia University until May.

"The case nagged at me because I had a sickening feeling an innocent man was in prison. There was never any evidence Lebrew Jones killed Micki Hall, just a nonsensical statement by a frightened, intimidated, meek little man who had tried to help the police and just wanted to go home," she said.

The paper compiled its evidence and its stories into a multimedia presentation.

Michael J. Feeney, left, and his twin brother, Anthony, with their mom, Reba Willis, in their restored Bergen County, N.J., home. (Credit: Courtesy New York Daily News)

Journalists Thankful for Home, New Baby, Best Friend

"Losing your home the day before Thanksgiving gives you lots of reasons to be thankful," Michael J. Feeney wrote Thursday in the New York Daily News.

"I know. It happened to me.

"One year later, my family is spending our first day back in our Bergen County, N.J., home, which was destroyed in a freak electrical fire on Nov. 26, 2008.

"At the time, we were devastated. I was working as a reporter for The Record of Hackensack and got a breaking news alert of a fire nearby. . . ."

Feeney’s was one of several personal Thanksgiving pieces in the last few days. In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, columnist Cynthia Tucker told of the tension leading up to her adoption of a baby girl¬†last year.

"I had heard too many stories about broken promises and broken hearts," Tucker wrote.

National Public Radio declared Friday a National Day of Listening ‚Äî "a chance to sit down with a loved one, turn on a tape recorder; and ask that person about their life."

On "Morning Edition," Juan Williams had a conversation with his daughter, Regan Williams Herald, who is expecting Williams’ first grandchild.

On "Tell Me More," host Michel Martin spoke with Athelia Knight, her best friend and godmother to her children. They spoke about their meeting when Martin arrived at the Washington Post, where Knight was already a reporter.

The Huffington Post interviewed several journalists, very few of color, about what they were thankful for.

"I‚Äôm especially thankful for the safety of those of our friends who are serving with the British forces in Afghanistan. We pray for their continued protection ‚Äî for the sustaining of their families at home ‚Äî and safety for all military personnel in the many places of conflict. We are thankful that two of our children are happily settled at University ‚Äî making friends, hopefully studying amidst the partying! And I appreciate America like never before . . . thank you to ABC for the opportunity to pursue journalism across this remarkable country," said Martin Bashir, co-anchor of ABC’s "Nightline" and a British journalist of South Asian descent.

Emil Guillermo, Philippine News: Giving thanks to Dad, Lincecum and Pacquiao

Mexican Radio Director Found Dead in His Home

"Work colleagues concerned by the disappearance of radio journalist Jos?© Emilio Galindo Robles¬†found his body yesterday at his Ciudad Guzm?°n home, according to local media reports. Investigators have since confirmed that a skull fracture was the cause of death in a presumed murder," Colin Peters wrote Thursday for the International Press Institute.

"Galindo Robles, the director of Guadalajara University Radio, specialised in investigating and covering environmental issues. In 2004 he was awarded first prize in the prestigious Bienal Nacional de Radio (Biennial Radio National) for his reporting on private firms dumping toxic waste in the Santiago River."

Reporters Without Borders:¬†Radio station director murdered in Jalisco state

Voice of America Expands Latin American Audience

"Facing a group of presidents loudly critical of Washington, the U.S. government’s Voice of America broadcast is expanding its audience in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, VOA officials say," Juan O. Tamayo wrote last week in the Miami Herald.

"VOA’s Spanish-language division also will step up its use of Radio/TV Mart??’s production facilities in Miami because of budget pressures on both broadcasters, the officials added.

"The VOA effort to grow its Latin American audience comes as the Obama administration tries to counter the attacks on U.S. policies by several presidents in the region: Hugo Ch?°vez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua."

VOA spokeswoman Joan Mower told Journal-isms she was not sure whether the development meant VOA would be hiring more journalists, but that all jobs were posted at usajobs.com.

Radio Ink:¬†Senator Targets Radio Marti In ‘Spotlight On Spending’

Has Your Laptop Been Searched at the Border?

"Journalists entering or leaving the United States are subject to the same rules as anyone else. Their electronic devices may be searched and the contents copied by the U.S. government¬†even if they‚Äôre not suspected of wrongdoing. The policy has been in effect for more than a year but now the ACLU is challenging it in court and asking journalism groups to weigh in," Deborah Potter, founder and executive director of NewsLab, wrote last week.

The National Press Photographers Association "wants to know the impact of the policy on its members, who all received an email . . . asking them to answer these questions:

"Have you ever had your laptop, cell phone or camera searched when entering or exiting the U.S.?
"Have you ever had the contents of your laptop, cell phone or camera copied when entering or exiting the U.S.?
"Have you ever had your laptop, cell phone or camera seized when entering or exiting the U.S.?
"If someone else employs you, does your employer have a policy about traveling internationally with laptops, cell phones or cameras?
"Do you avoid carrying confidential business or personal information on your laptop, cell phone or camera due to the suspicionless search policy?

"Are other journalism groups asking the same questions? Shouldn‚Äôt they?"

Columnists Take Sides on "Precious" Movie

The movie "Precious" ‚Äî about an abused, obese black Harlem teenager ‚Äî continues to be debated, with syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald weighing in on Wednesday, taking on fellow columnists¬†Courtland Milloy, Jack White and Armond White.

"Though it is ‚Äî maybe because it is ‚Äî among the most critically-acclaimed movies of the year, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, has inspired a fierce backlash," Pitts wrote. "Jack White¬†on The Root.com (full disclosure: Jack and I worked together a few years ago at Hampton University) slammed it, unseen, as over-hyped and a waste of time.

"Courtland Milloy¬†of The Washington Post called it ‘a film of prurient interest that has about as much redeeming social value as a porn flick.’

"Armond White of nypress.com said it was more demeaning to black people than any film since D.W. Griffith’s crudely racist Birth of a Nation in 1915."

Pitts concluded, "If Jack White doesn’t see it, that’s fine. But one hopes the invisible children will. They’ll find in it a rare reminder that they do, indeed, exist."

In the Philadelphia Daily News, Jenice Armstrong joined the naysayers. "I resent having my head poked into a sewer to watch humans behave like straight-up animals without there being a substantial payoff for my patience," she wrote on Wednesday.

But Allen Johnson, editorial page editor at the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record, said on Monday, "It is as powerful as advertised, a potent blend of horror and uplift."

Mary C. Curtis, Politics Daily: ‘Precious’: Truth, Hidden in a Horror Show

¬†

Italian-American group says MTV’s "Jersey Shore" promotes stereotypes. (Credit: MTV)

Italians, Italian-Americans: Offense and Defense

A national Italian-American organization says an MTV reality show that depicts Italian-American beachgoers as the "hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos" is offensive and should be scrapped before it airs¬†Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

But in Italy, some are asking whether Italian media are fanning hatred of foreigners.

"Robert Elliot, a British media observer based in Italy showed me a list of headlines that had appeared recently in Italian media," Sandip Roy wrote¬†for New America Media. "Headline writers have no problem putting the race and ethnicity of alleged perpetrators of crimes in their copy, no matter if the crime had anything to do with their race.

"For example:

" ‘Argues with girlfriend ‚Äî Sets fire to divan ‚Äî Handcuffs for an Egyptian

"Albanians ‚ÄòLords‚Äô of the drugs

"or

"Nine immigrants in abandoned farmhouses ‚Äî only one was illegal"

Back in the States, the New Jersey-based Italian-American organization, UNICO National, "said Tuesday that ‘Jersey Shore’ relies on crude stereotypes and highlights cursing, bad behavior and violence in depicting renters at a New Jersey beach house," the AP story said.

"MTV spokeswoman Emily Yeomans says the show continues the channel’s history of documenting various subcultures and young people’s rites of passage. She says the Italian-American cast ‘takes pride in their ethnicity.’ "

Male-Run Media Blamed in Violence Against Women

Worldwide, the media carry their share of responsibility for violence against women, according to participants in a Rome conference organized by the Inter Press Service news agency, Miren Gutierrez and Oriana Boselli wrote Thursday for the IPS.

"Media Monitoring Africa ‚Äî a watchdog organisation that promotes fair journalism ‚Äî denounces the scarcity of women working in the media and the marginalised way in which they are portrayed, often limited to victims or someone‚Äôs relative," they wrote.

" ‘The influence of women in journalism is one of the most central problem areas in feminist media research,’ acknowledges a report entitled ‘The Gender of Journalism,’ authored by Monika Djerf-Pierre.

"Djerf-Pierre’s study shows that even in a female-friendly nation such as Sweden, ‘journalism as a field has remained male-dominated.’ (Sweden ranks number four in the Global Gender Gap [GGG] published by the World Economic Forum.) Today, almost half of Swedish journalists are women, the study shows. However, three out of four leaders in the media industry are men. In other countries the situation is worse."

The conference was supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the city of Rome.

Jolly Kamunt, Institute for War & Peace Reporting, London:¬†Congo-Kinshasa: Journalist Recalls Phone Threat Ordeal; Reporter Speaks of Harrowing Messages Threatening to Kill Her And Two Colleagues.

Africans in U.S. Creating Online News Sites

"African immigrant entrepreneurs are increasingly taking advantage of the low cost of starting online media to launch Web sites facilitating discussions between the Diaspora and the continent. Although the Internet has been a bridge between other immigrants and their home countries, connecting African immigrants to the continent¬†has been slow because of underdeveloped infrastructure," Edwin Okong’o wrote Friday for New America Media.

". . . While sites like KenyaImagine focus heavily on issues of the continent rather than of African communities in the United States, others are increasingly doing both.

". . Still others like Paul Waithaka are not giving up on print media. Waithaka recently published the first print issue of the Kenya Monitor, a Boston-based monthly newspaper for Kenyans in the United States. Waithaka distributed 7,000 copies, most of them through churches attended by Kenyan Americans. The 24-page paper carries stories ranging from politics back home to information from the community‚Äôs experts on such topics as health, real estate and business.

"Waithaka acknowledged the power of the Internet in bringing communities together. He has a digital copy of the paper online and plans to launch a Web site that would be updated more frequently."

Short Takes

"Detroit’s third daily newspaper has suspended operations, less than a week after its first edition hit the streets," Nathan Hurst reported on Friday for the Detroit News. "The Detroit Daily Press had trouble getting paid advertisers, as well as operations problems, according to a statement posted on the newspaper’s Facebook page."
"The Philadelphia Tribune, the country’s oldest continually published newspaper serving the African American community, celebrated its 125th anniversary at a gala Saturday at the Convention Center," Caroline Stewart reported Thursday for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among the 1,200 business, civic and political leaders who attended were Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. In the Tribune last week, Linn Washington Jr. noted some of the paper’s alumni: Lorraine Branham, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Communication at Syracuse University; Orrin C. Evans of the old Philadelphia Record, who in the 1930s and 1940s became the first black reporter to cover general assignment for a large metro newspaper; and Art Peters, who in 1971 became the first African American columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, among other alums.
In Chicago, "Harry Porterfield’s recent exit from WLS-Channel 7 was, according to WLS executives, the impetus for the ABC outlet to develop a new show called ‘Heart & Soul’ that will debut Dec. 19 at 6 p.m.," Lewis Lazare reported Friday in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Subsequent editions of show will air on a quarterly basis. Station executives describe ‘Heart & Soul’ as a ‘fresh, fast-paced series that captures the essence of the African-American culture as it relates to the great city of Chicago.’ The series will showcase a rotating team of Channel 7 on-air talent, including Cheryl Burton and Hosea Sanders, who will host the debut program."
In Dallas-Fort Worth, "Fox4 anchor Baron James, who co-anchors the station’s 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts with Clarice Tinsley, is being let go after roughly a decade in the D-FW market," Ed Bark reported Wednesday on his Web site.
Eric James, a reporter at KRTK-TV in Houston who was carjacked¬†near his home in July, no longer works at the station, Ken Hoffman reported last week in the Houston Chronicle.
The Asian American Journalists Association joined in mourning the journalists slain in the Philippines this week. On Thursday, Reporters Without Borders, citing reports from local journalists, said the toll of journalists killed in the Maguindanao province massacre had risen to 29. AAJA said, "To the Filipino journalism community at large, we express solidarity and offer our encouragement. We look to them to help reveal what happened in Maguindanao this week, and to continue the important journalistic role of pursuing truth and reporting without fear. We at AAJA stand with them on these shared principles."
"If there was ever a time we should be talking candidly about race¬†it is now," Clarence Page wrote Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune. Among his reasons: "Since almost all of [President] Obama’s decline has come from white voters, while his numbers among blacks and Hispanics have stayed virtually the same, many still ask how much the difference results from the issue of race."
Freed journalists Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, and Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, reached the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after being kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008 and released on Wednesday, Shabelle Media Network reported Thursday. They were released Wednesday after their kidnappers took $700,000 as ransom payment, according to government officials in Mogadishu, the story said. In Australia, "The Government was slammed yesterday for failing to immediately put the Brennan family in contact with an agency that could handle negotiations with the Somalian criminals torturing their son," the Australian Web site News.au said on Saturday.
"One of the poorest countries on earth is slowly dying because it‚Äôs one of the wealthiest in valuable minerals. The Democratic Republic of Congo can barely pay its own army, yet more than 5 million people have died there in a long war paid for by gold and other valuable minerals, contestation over which is often the cause of the deadly battles," CBS News said. Scott Pelley reports from Congo for CBS-TV’s "60 Minutes" in a story to be broadcast Sunday. [Promo.]

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