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Joy Reid to Host Own Show on MSNBC

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The Grio to Stay, Despite Fate of NBC Latino

Morrie Turner, Pioneer Comic Strip Creator, Dies at 90

Hate Crimes Unit Investigates Beating of Arts Journalist

Individual Racism, Not Systemic, Gets Media’s Attention

Fusion Network Covering State of Union With Puppets

Imprisoned Journalist Says Egypt Wants to Stifle Dissent

Reporter Barely Escapes Alive After Posing as Sex Worker

Short Takes

The Grio to Stay, Despite Fate of NBC Latino

Joy Reid, managing editor of the Grio and an MSNBC contributor since 2011, will host her own show on MSNBC, the network announced on Monday.

David Wilson, co-founder of the Grio, told Journal-isms that he is returning to the site as managing editor when Reid departs and maintained that NBC has no plans to drop the site, as it did this month with NBC Latino.

“NBC has a long-term interest in the ongoing success of the Grio,” Wilson said by telephone. “We are partners with MSNBC, and we see that going forward.”

The future of the English-language NBC Latino and the Grio were said to be the subject of internal discussions at NBCUniversal, which has seen new executives at the top of its news operations.

Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, met Friday with NBCUniversal executives over the absorption of NBC Latino into NBCNews.com, Balta wrote in a message posted on the NAHJ website.

“While many have and will continue to be (rightfully so) critical of NBCU’s decision, I can assure you the motivating factor was purely business. No one I spoke to disagrees that the Latino community is an important voice at NBCU (coverage, content, employees). Still the realities of business models, corporate priorities and strategies have an effect on any operation,” Balta wrote.

Referring to English-dominant Latinos, he added, “I agree and support the absorption of NBC Latino [into] a new website that includes and exposes their unique voice to all audiences.” 

Monday’s announcement about its new daytime schedule also places “News Nation” with Tamron Hall at 11 a.m. ET and “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at noon ET. The network is adding an as-yet unnamed show with Ronan Farrow, 26-year-old media personality and son of actress Mia Farrow, at 1 p.m.

“One of the highlights of this job is finding new talent,” Phil Griffin, MSNBC president, said in a news release. “Ronan and Joy are two of the most thoughtful and impressive journalists out there and I’m excited for what they will bring to the afternoon.”

The news release also said, “Joy Reid has been the managing editor of TheGrio.com and MSNBC contributor since July 2011. She’s also been a frequent substitute host on MSNBC during all dayparts. Reid is a political columnist for ‘The Miami Herald’ and editor of the politics blog The Reid Report. Reid has worked in television and radio news since 1998 and her columns have appeared in a variety of outlets including Salon.com.”

Reid’s new 2 p.m. hour-long show, as yet unnamed, gives MSNBC six African American hosts, though all outside of prime time: Reid, Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Sharpton , Karen Finney, Craig Melvin and Hall. In addition, Touré is one of four hosts of “The Cycle.”

The network said in December that 2013 was the fourth consecutive year that MSNBC prime time was first with African American viewers among cable news networks. From 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., 30 percent of MSNBC’s sought-after 25-54 audience was African American, and 7 percent was Hispanic.

NBCU’s commitment to programming targeting people of color was a factor in government approval of the company’s bid to be absorbed by Comcast in 2011. Comcast made a series of promises regarding diversity. NAHJ was among groups opposing the merger, saying that “this massive media consolidation will lead to fewer journalism jobs, less coverage of the Latino community, less diversity of voices, and excessive control for one company over the country’s media.”

More recently, top executives at NBC have changed, with Patricia Fili-Krushel, a television executive with scant news background, becoming NBCU News Group chairman and Deborah Turness, a British news executive, joining NBC News as president. Steve Capus, the previous NBC News president, left the network, as did Antoine Sanfuentes, a Latino who was senior vice president at NBC News.

Last May, the Grio was placed under MSNBC, and Grio co-founders Wilson and Dan Woolsey, who helped to launch the site in 2009 with NBC, departed from active involvement. However, Wilson stayed on as an adviser as he pursued entrepreneurial projects.

Management questioned the viability of NBC Latino and the Grio, and NBC Latino, which remained under NBC News on the organizational chart, did not survive as a separate entity.

Balta said he met Friday with Craig Robinson, executive vice president and chief diversity officer; Greg Gittrich, vice president of news and product and executive editor of NBC News Digital; Yvette Miley, MSNBC vice president and executive editor; and others from the network’s diversity and human resources team.

“I shared with them my criticism and they agreed that NBCU is not nearly where they should be in regards to best serving the Latino community; especially given the fact they have a wealth of experience in Telemundo (a company that was acquired by NBCU in 2002),” Balta wrote.

He also said, “Here’s what needs to happen. Sandra Lilley, Managing Editor and Suzanne Gamboa, Senior Writer will be responsible for the content of the Latino section. It is on them (to begin with) to ensure that the stories are robust and faithful to Latinos’ interests and concerns. It is on us (NAHJ) to assist them and keep them to that promise. . . .”

The NBC Latino section has remained static for several days.

Morrie Turner, Pioneer Comic Strip Creator, Dies at 90

“Morris ‘Morrie’ Turner, the creator of the Wee Pals comic strip and the first African American artist to have a column syndicated nationally, has died,” KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif., reported Sunday. “He was 90.

“A spokesman for Turner said the Oakland-born artist died peacefully at a hospital in Sacramento on Saturday.

“Turner developed the ethnically diverse comic strip in 1965 at the urging of his mentor Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip.

“He was recognized in 2003 by the National Cartoonist Society for his work with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. . . .”

Turner’s “Wee Pals” did not achieve national syndication until after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Three strips about black children — adults were deemed too threatening — found national audiences then: “Wee Pals,” Brumsic Brandon Jr.’s “Luther” and Ted Shearer’s “Quincy.” “Wee Pals” was the last to survive.

Joseph Hughes wrote for the Comics Alliance, “Turner never retired from cartooning, illustrating new Wee Pals strips even as his health declined, while also regularly visiting schools to offer art lessons to children. This bio page of Turner sums up his goal with Wee Pals rather succinctly: ‘It was Morrie’s intention to portray a world without prejudice, a world in which people’s differences — race, religion, gender, and physical and mental ability — are cherished, not scorned.’ Wee Pals was a charming strip with a diverse cast, but it didn’t go out of its way to point out its diversity. Turner created a strip that treated cultural diversity exactly how it should be treated: like it is a perfectly normal thing. . . .”

Hate Crimes Unit Investigates Beating of Arts Journalist

“Police are investigating the beating of an openly gay journalist in Midtown Manhattan last week as a possible bias attack,” Carolina Leidreported Monday for WABC-TV in New York.

“Now, a sketch has been released of the person police are looking for. . . .”

Leid added, “The hate crimes task force is investigating the attack on Randy Gener, a Filipino-American editor, writer, and artist. ‘Please Lord Jesus, heal my friend, heal my husband, heal my partner, and bring him back to all of us,’ said Stephen Nisbet, the victim’s husband.

“On January 17, he was attacked in Midtown, a block away from his apartment. He had just left a party around 4 a.m. and was on his way home near 54th and 7th Avenue — that is where he crossed paths with his attackers who beat him and left him for dead in the street.

“Gener’s family and friends also held a vigil Sunday at 7th Avenue and 53rd Street, and they are asking for the public’s help in finding his attacker.

“After the attack, police were called, and Gener was found unconscious in a pool of his own blood with his head bashed in.

“Gener suffered severe head trauma and is currently in intensive care recovering from brain surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital. He’s listed in serious but stable condition. . . .

” ‘He can’t answer the questions of what happened that night, he doesn’t really exactly know who we are or where he’s at sometimes,’ said Gener’s sister, Jessica Blair Driessler, ‘and it’s really painful to see him here the way that he is because he’s the most articulate person.’ . . .”

Gener, a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, has reported for the New York Times, the Daily News in New York and other major publications. He was NLGJA’s 2010 Journalist of the Year.

Family and friends have set up a website (http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/for-randy-gener/130589) to help cover Gener’s medical expenses.


Jay Smooth explains the “Moving the Race Conversation Forward” report. Smooth founded New York’s longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI’s “Underground Railroad.” (video)

Individual Racism, Not Systemic, Gets Media’s Attention

“Two-thirds of race-focused media coverage fails to consider how systemic racism factors into the story, instead typically focusing upon racial slurs and other types of personal prejudice and individual-level racism,” according to Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation.

The center Wednesday named “Seven harmful racial discourse practices, which reinforce the common misconception that racism is simply a problem of rare, isolated, individual attitudes and actions: Individualizing Racism, Falsely Equating Incomparable Acts, Diverting From Race, Portraying Government as Overreaching, Prioritizing (Policy) Intent over Impact, Condemning Through Coded Language, and Silencing History . . . “

Race Forward publishes the Colorlines website. Researchers analyzed nearly 1,200 newspaper articles and transcripts from cable TV outlets.

Fusion Network Covering State of Union With Puppets

“When President Obama delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, NBC News will trot out Brian Williams to anchor its coverage,” Brian Steinberg reported Monday for Variety. “Fox News Channel will rely on Bret Baier. PBS will feature Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill. But Fusion, the upstart news-and-lifestyle cable outlet, will make use of two bickering crabs and a talking hot dog.

“In a maneuver sure to raise eyebrows, Fusion, a joint venture of Univision and ABC News that launched in October, will veer from the traditional when offering coverage of the President’s annual agenda-setting speech. Rather than give the spotlight to Jorge Ramos or Leon Krauze, two veteran news anchors who occupy important slots in its primetime schedule, Fusion will instead count on the talents of a group of puppets, and the comedic minds who fill their mouths with speech. . . .”

Imprisoned Journalist Says Egypt Wants to Stifle Dissent

“Australian-born Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who has been imprisoned in Egypt for four weeks, says his arrest is designed to send a message to all journalists covering Egypt that dissent will not be tolerated,” Anne Davies reported Sunday for Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald.

“In an emotional letter which he sent from Tora jail, on the outskirts of Cairo, where he is being held, Mr Greste said he had decided to speak out in defence of the fundamental right of freedom of the press, having realised that his arrest was not due to a mistake but a deliberate campaign by the government.

“Greste and two producers, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, are accused of collaborating with a terrorist organisation [the Muslim Brotherhood], of hosting Muslim Brotherhood meetings in their hotel rooms, of using unlicensed equipments to deliberately broadcast false information to further their aims of defaming and discrediting the Egyptian state.

“Mr Greste said the Egyptian Government had presented no evidence to support the allegations and he had not been formally charged with any crime. . . .”

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