First Journalist of Color, Fourth African American
Non-Newsroom Layoffs Begin at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer
Mexican Journalist, His Family Slain, Wins Asylum in U.S.
Iran, Somalia Again Top List of Nations Journalists Flee
AP Leader Says Justice Dept. Seizure Scared Off Sources
N.Y. Muslims Sue NYPD Over Surveillance
Judge’s Ruling Deals Another Blow to Unpaid Internships
N.Y. Times Calls Marijuana Laws “Tool of Racial Oppression”
Documenting the Lives of New York Latinos
First Journalist of Color, Fourth African American
The first journalist of color to be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol was celebrated Wednesday when the likeness of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, publisher of the North Star and Frederick Douglass’ Paper, was unveiled amid pomp and ceremony.
Douglass was much more than a journalist, of course. The statue of the former slave who became an orator and the 19th century’s leading advocate for human rights was in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall representing the District of Columbia.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on his website that the speaker “honored Frederick Douglass as a ‘man for all generations’ at a statue dedication ceremony in Emancipation Hall of the United States Capitol. More than 600 guests representing a broad cross-section of Douglass’s life and legacy were on hand for the event, which was live-streamed on speaker.gov/frederickdouglass.”
Ben Pershing of the Washington Post began his story:
“The combined weight is 1,700 pounds, but the symbolic heft of the Frederick Douglass statue is much greater, as became clear Wednesday when the carving of the famed abolitionist and District advocate found its place inside the halls of Congress after years of delay and debate.
“Before an audience that included Douglass’s descendants, national and local leaders, and representatives of the many places he called home, the first statue chosen to represent the District was unveiled at a ceremony filled with pageantry in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall.
“Of all the notable figures who have come to live in Washington, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said, ‘none before or since Douglass . . . has so joined his national prominence and philosophy with the aspirations of the people of the District of Columbia. . . . He refused to separate his life in the District with the equality theme of his courageous life.’
“The statue’s arrival marked the culmination of a fight by Norton and others that has stretched over a decade. . . . “
Emancipation Hall also features statues of Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King Jr. Douglass becomes the fourth African American.
Nettie Washington Douglass, Douglass’ great-great-granddaughter, said her forebear “gave his spirit as a birthright to all of us.” Kenneth Morris, Douglass’ great-great-great-grandson, also spoke.
Sidmel Estes, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists who serves pro bono as media manager for the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, said the family continues to fight for awareness of modern-day slavery and is urging President Obama to award Douglass the Medal of Freedom.
NABJ’s highest award bears a likeness of Douglass.
The “CBS Evening News” presented a story about Morris Wednesday, noting not only that he is a descendant of Douglass, but also that his grandmother, Nettie Hancock Washington, was Booker T. Washington’s granddaughter. The PBS “NewsHour” closed its show with excerpts from the Douglass ceremony. C-SPAN expects to air the ceremony on July 4, a spokeswoman said.
Obama paid tribute to Douglass on a 2011 trip to Ireland. “He greatly admires Douglass, who like him was 6ft 4in tall. [Obama is generally believed to be 6 foot 1.] Both had one black parent, one white, and both were abandoned by their fathers. Both revolutionised the way the US views African Americans,” Laura Marlowe wrote then for Ireland’s Irish Times.
- Breanna Edwards, Politico: What would Frederick Douglass think of politics in 2013?
- Amy Roberts, CNN: By the Numbers: Juneteenth
- U.S. Capitol tweet: Frederick Douglass statue dedication today; his son one of 1st African-Americans to join US Capitol Police, c. 1870 (photo)
Non-Newsroom Layoffs Begin at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer
By 8 p.m. Wednesday, employees in several non-newsroom departments of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland were to know whether they would have a job on Thursday, Cleveland journalist Afi-Odelia Scruggs reported on her blog. “All employees received notice of the layoffs, and were told other departments will go through a similar procedure,” she wrote.
“The Plain Dealer layoffs will . . . reduce its newsroom about one-third. Because of the newsroom union’s ‘Save the Plain Dealer’ campaign, those cuts received most of the national attention. However, other departments were at risk for reductions. . . .”
The Plain Dealer’s owner, Advance Publications, announced in April that it would trim home delivery to three days a week and create a new digital company. The paper is also expected to cut more than a third of its newsroom staff, Christine Haughney of the New York Times reported then.
The Save the Plain Dealer campaign wrote on its Facebook page, “The Save The Plain Dealer campaign has said it before, and will keep repeating: These changes, which are devastating to the paper’s loyal workforce and will diminish the journalism that readers depend on, ARE NOT NECESSARY. Other newspapers are adopting innovative and far less disruptive strategies that allow them to continue to serve their readers and maintain journalistic excellence while confronting the challenges of the digital era. . . .”
Mexican Journalist, His Family Slain, Wins Asylum in U.S.
“A fellow newspaper photographer phoned him and said he had to get right over to his parents’ home because something very bad had happened,” Mike O’Connor reported Wednesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “[What] Miguel Angel López remembers seeing when he got there was ‘just blood. You can’t understand that much hatred.’ He was talking about the murders of his mother, his father — a senior editor at the state’s most important newspaper — and his brother, a photographer at the paper. The killings turned out to be the beginning of a war on journalists. . . .”
O’Connor continued, “He fled to the United States, and last week he was given political asylum, according to his attorney. The attorney, Carlos Spector, of El Paso, Texas, told CPJ that he was able to show López had a well-founded fear of being murdered and that the Mexican government could not protect him. Spector said that another client, Alejandro Hernández, was given asylum by the U.S. in 2012. Hernández had been a Mexican news cameraman. The owner of a website in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Jorge Luis Aguirre, got asylum in 2010.
“Spector said he thinks as many as 14 additional Mexican journalists have gotten asylum, but the information is anecdotal. According to Spector, Miguel Angel López will now be a legal resident of the U.S. and eventually could become a citizen. CPJ helped López financially and put him in contact with Spector. But, López had a very rough time beginning the day he found his family murdered. . . .”
- Melissa del Bosque, Texas Observer: Veracruz Journalist Asks for Asylum, Gives Urgent Plea for Help for Colleagues in Mexico
Iran, Somalia Again Top List of Nations Journalists Flee
The Committee to Protect Journalists assisted 55 journalists in fleeing their homes over the past 12 months, down slightly from the previous year, the press freedom organization said Wednesday in advance of June 20, World Refugee Day.
“The top countries for exodus were Iran and Somalia, with nine and eight journalists fleeing respectively; Iran and Somalia have topped CPJ’s exile tables for the past five years,” continued the report by Nicole Schilit. “These countries were followed by Ethiopia, Syria, Eritrea, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and 13 others. . . . most of the journalists fled into exile only as a last resort, leaving behind careers, livelihoods, and family to escape forms of intimidation including violence, imprisonment, and threat of death.”
Schilit continued, “This report counts only journalists who fled due to work-related persecution, who remained in exile for at least three months, and whose current whereabouts and activities are known to CPJ. The survey is based solely on cases CPJ has supported, from which it derives global trends. CPJ’s survey does not include the many journalists and media workers who leave their countries for professional opportunities, or to flee general violence, or those who were targeted for activities other than journalism, such as political activism. . . . “
- Andy Plesser, Beet.tv: Mariane Pearl to Launch Global News Site for Women, Next Week
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| Gary Pruitt, CEO of the Associated Press, said at the National Press Club that the Justice Department had broken its own rules. (Video) |
AP Leader Says Justice Dept. Seizure Scared Off Sources
“Associated Press president Gary Pruitt on Wednesday slammed the Department of Justice for acting as ‘judge, jury and executioner’ in the seizure of the news organization’s phone records and he said some of the wire service’s longtime sources have clammed up in fear,” Mackenzie Weinger reported for Politico.
“Pruitt said the department broke its own rules with the seizure, which he said was too broad, and by failing to give the AP notice of the subpoena. Pruitt questioned the DoJ’s actions concerning the subpoena — had the DoJ come to the news organization in advance, ‘we could have helped them narrow the scope of the subpoena’ or a court could have decided, he said.
” ‘There was never that opportunity,’ Pruitt said during a speech at the National Press Club in D.C. ‘Instead the DoJ acted as judge, jury and executioner in private, in secret.’ . . .”
- C-SPAN: National Press Club | Luncheon Speech: Gary Pruitt outlined ways to protect news agencies from government interference
- Ted Diadiun, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: What should the media watchdogs watch, and on whose behalf?
- Editorial, Daily News, New York: Holder lets down Justice
- Seeta Pena Gangadharan, New America Media: From COINTELPRO to Prism, Spying on Comm. of Color
- Margaret Sullivan, New York Times: Sources With Secrets Find New Outlets for Sharing
N.Y. Muslims Sue NYPD Over Surveillance
“New York Muslims have filed a federal lawsuit against the New York Police Department over the department’s surveillance of Muslims, which they called invasive and unconstitutional,” Matt Pearce reported Wednesday for the Los Angeles Times.
“The public debate over government surveillance has crescendoed over the last two weeks after a leaker revealed that the federal government had secretly collected detailed phone records, on a massive scale, for years.
“The lawsuit filed Tuesday emerged from a narrower but similar channel of criticism over the growth of surveillance on citizens since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The suit also illustrated the power of the press to bring secret programs not just to light, but also to court.
“Over a series of stories in 2011 and 2012, Associated Press reporters exposed a secret, long-running NYPD program to monitor Muslims across the Northeast using informants and databases in the hopes of spotting radicals.
“Once made aware of the program, Muslim groups and civil liberties advocates were outraged, though a Pulitzer for the AP’s stories notwithstanding, city and police officials persisted in defending the spying as necessary to combat terrorism. . . .”
Short Takes
- “Alphonso Van Marsh has been named a Correspondent for News Services at CBS News, the Network’s 24-hour television newsgathering service for CBS stations and broadcasters around the world,” CBS announced on Wednesday. “He will be based in London, and his appointment is effective immediately. Previously, Marsh spent a decade reporting for CNN, where his assignments took him around the globe. . . .” Van Marsh told Journal-isms that he filed his first two stories on Wednesday.
- Joshua Brian Randolph, who is accused of luring journalists to work for a fake newspaper as part of a con game, chose a newspaper as the vehicle for his scheme because of the access it would provide to other businesses, Investigator Danny Sridej of the Oakwood, Ga., Police Department told Journal-isms by telephone. Randolph registered the newspaper with the state of Georgia so the business would appear legitimate, Sridej said. Sridej expected further charges as the investigation continued and said Randolph could be extradited to Kearny County, Kan., to face similar charges of credit card fraud.
- In New York, “Channel 5 has a new news director: Byron Harmon, who was promoted from senior executive producer. The veteran newsman was also promoted to vice president,” David Hinckley reported for the Daily News in New York. “Dianne Doctor, previous news director at WNYW/Ch. 5, has been promoted to vice president and station manager of sister station WWOR/Ch. 9. Harmon is a Desert Storm veteran, film director and the author of four published books. His previous stops in broadcast journalism include CNN and WNBC-TV. . . .”
- “In the five years that Cynné Simpson has been part of the ABC7 family, she’s done it all,” Washington’s WJLA-TV said as Simpson left the station on June 7. “She’s interviewed members of your family and her family. And she’s taken us live to the royal wedding, the Oscars and ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ And who could forget the exclusive, behind-the-scenes reports from the set of ‘Scandal’. . .” Asked what she’d like to do next, Simpson messaged Journal-isms, “After my career as an anchor/reporter?? I’d like to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, study capoeira in Brazil, and do a walkabout in Australia.”
- The American Society of News Editors is conducting “Minority Leadership Institutes” for a small group of middle managers who aspire to more senior roles. They are being held Aug. 1-2 at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Orlando, Fla., and Aug. 23-24 at the Excellence in Journalism 2013 convention in Anaheim, Calif., conducted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. The first Institute takes place next week before the annual ASNE convention in Washington. Friday is the deadline for the NABJ institute, officially “The NABJ Executive Suite featuring the ASNE Minority Leadership Institute sponsored by Scripps Howard and CQ/Roll Call.” Contact Jannice Hodge at JHodge (at) NABJ.ORG.
- The Miami Heat forced a decisive game seven by topping the San Antonio Spurs 103-100 Tuesday night in the NBA Finals, in a game many called one of the best in finals history, Tony Fitzgerald reported for medialifemagazine.com. “It sent ABC’s ratings soaring, and it should result in huge numbers for Thursday night’s winner-take-all final game at Miami. . . .”
- “Andre Brooks has joined KSNV in Las Vegas as dayside executive producer, overseeing the 4, 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts. He comes from KGTV in San Diego, where he was the morning executive producer,” Merrill Knox reported Tuesday for TVSpy.
- “CNN introduced its new morning program, ‘New Day,’ with a bit of fanfare Monday, and won mostly positive reviews for the revamping of the format and the new cast of anchors,” Bill Carter reported for the New York Times. “But the new show went little noticed by the viewing public. In fact, CNN fared worse on Monday that it has in recent months with the programming the new show replaced. . . .”
- Brandon Holley, editor in chief of Lucky magazine, was moved out Tuesday and replaced by a newcomer to the editor in chief ranks, Eva Chen, a former senior editor at Teen Vogue who was first listed on Lucky’s masthead as a consulting editor in the combined June/July issue that hit newsstands last month, Erik Maza reported for wwd.com.
- Veteran journalist Terri Stewart has been named national editor at CBS News, the National Association of Black Journalists announced. “Stewart had been the network’s Northeast Bureau Chief overseeing news coverage in the multi-state region which stretched from Maine to Delaware. Additionally she was responsible for coordinating coverage from the Midwest. . . .”
- “Maria Elena Salinas, the award-winning network news co-anchor for Univision’s Noticiero Univision and co-host of the highly rated news magazine program Aqui y Ahora, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2013 Award for Achievement in Hispanic Television. The award is presented by the publishers and editors of leading television industry publications Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News,” the publications announced on Monday.
- “For the first time, South Florida viewers will be able to see Spanish-language programming produced by the Cable News Network (CNN) delivered for free via a broadcast signal,” Daniel Shoer Roth reported Monday for the Miami Herald. “Come August, CNN Latino Miami will be broadcast on TV’s Channel 11 and also on basic cable. . . .”
- In the Democratic Republic of Congo, “Reporters Without Borders hails last weekend’s decision by the mayor of Butembo, a city in the troubled eastern province of Nord-Kivu, to rename one of the city’s streets ‘Media Freedom Street,’ ” the press freedom group said on Tuesday.
- In Niger, Reporters Without Borders said it was “relieved to learn that three Al-Jazeera journalists and their driver were released yesterday, two days after being arrested near the eastern city of Zinder for ‘travelling without accreditation. . . ‘ ”
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