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Paterson Wants N.Y. Times to Quell Rumors

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Paper Says It’s Not to Blame for Media Frenzy

Ventura, Calif., Paper Moving Copy Desk to Texas

Only White People Think About the Future of Print

White Nationalists Latch Onto Vanity Fair Cover

Layoffs at Haitian Papers; Journalists’ Death Toll at 26

Photog Carl Juste Finds "Surreal" Moments at "Home"

Black Press Must "Own" Haiti Story, Publisher Says

Student Journalist-Activist Denied Entry Into Canada

Reuters Photog Freed After 17 Months in U.S. Custody

Short Takes

 

New York Gov. David A. Paterson and Denise O’Donnell, deputy secretary for public safety, brief reporters on snow preparations on Tuesday. Paterson then turned his attention to "a well-orchestrated attempt" to discredit him in the media. (Credit: New York governor’s office)

Paper Says It’s Not to Blame for Media Frenzy

"Gov. David Paterson used the occasion of a rather mundane news conference on snowstorm preparedness to once again lash out against the blizzard of rumors¬†that grew from reports that The New York Times is completing an article about him," Casey Seiler wrote Wednesday for the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union. Paterson asked the Times’ public editor to investigate the newspaper’s conduct.

"At any point, the Times’ editors could have easily issued a public statement¬†clarifying that the profile neither contained nor supported the salacious stories being sourced to it," the letter said, according to New York’s North Country Gazette. "Doing so would not have compromised the legitimate reporting being undertaken, the exclusive content being developed, nor the paper’s right to produce such a profile. A public clarification would, however, have spared the public the misleading spectacle of the last week. Common decency, if not journalistic ethics, demanded as much.

"We ask that in your role as Public Editor you undertake an inquiry of the propriety of the paper’s actions and decisions that allowed this sorry set of events to unfold. Unfortunately, it is not in your power nor the New York Times’ to undo the damage that has been already been done in this case."

Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty told David Folkenflik of National Public Radio, "Obviously, we are not responsible for what other news organizations are reporting. It’s not coming from the Times."

"In January, the New York Post suggestively reported Paterson had been seen lunching with a woman not his wife in New Jersey. But no real scandal ensued," the NPR story said.

"A subsequent item in the Post about the governor being found in a utility closet with yet another woman sparked the interest of the New York Daily News."

Asked what obligation the paper had to address the rumors about its story, Hoyt replied:

"Don’t you think it’s strange that something that doesn’t exist can cause this kind of tumult, and that suddenly it’s on the paper to somehow atone/explain?" Folkenflik reported.

Yet Rex Smith, editor of the Albany Times-Union, said "the story should have been published several days ago because the speculation is causing such harm.

" ‘It seems to me that this is one of those circumstances where the news medium is itself feeding into the story, and I think The Times ought to publish,’ Smith said," according to the NPR story.

Referring to his critics, Paterson told host Don Imus on Fox Business Network, "What I think is that I have been depicted in a way that has been racialized, sexualized, hyper-sexualized and dissolute," Jordan Fabian wrote Wednesday in the Hill.

"I’m black, I’m blind, and I’m still alive," Paterson said. "Now how much better do they want me to be?"

The Ventura County Star newsroom, a partner in the Parity Project of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, went from 95 to 63 employees in six years.

Ventura, Calif., Paper Moving Copy Desk to Texas

The Ventura County (Calif.) Star is transferring the work of its copy desks to a sister E.W. Scripps Co. newspaper in Corpus Christi, Texas, leaving 15 copy editors and designers with the choice of moving to Texas if they want to keep their jobs, Editor Joe Howry told the staff on Tuesday.

In June 2003, the Star became one of the first newspapers to participate in the Parity Project, a partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to boost the number of journalists of color and its outreach to the Hispanic community.

Neither of the two copy editors Howry identified as Hispanic said they had decided to make the move. "It’s such a shocking news they’re still processing it," Howry said of his staff.

But the Parity Project, which early on increased the percentage of minority reporters and editors from 11.8 percent to 17.2 percent — a jump of 46 percent, is on life support at the paper.

"It’s not even on the back burner, it’s off the stove," Howry said of the project. "It’s been one sort of blow after the other as the industry has reeled in the last 18 months. I’m not focused on it as I should be or would like to be."

When Howry became editor in July 2004, the paper had about 95 newsroom employees; now it has about 63, he said. A reduction in force in November 2008 claimed 17 people.

The idea of moving the copy-desk work to the Caller-Times came from Scripps corporate offices, Howry said, after a similar scheme involving Scripps papers in Abilene, Wichita Falls and San Angelo, Texas, "had already proved to be quite successful." Stories for those news outlets are edited at the Caller-Times.

Designer Liz Galvan and copy editor Giselle Velazquez told Journal-isms they had no idea what they were going to do. Neither was part of the Parity Project. The copy desk also includes Tony Sin, who is Asian American, and Trinity Powells, an African American.

"They’re all going to be encouraged to apply for the jobs in Corpus Christi and they will get preference," Howry said.

No sages of color were asked, but Katharine Weymouth, left, Jimmy Wales, Steven Brill, Marc Andreessen, Jeff Jarvis and Jeannette Walls were among those who were.  

Only White People Think About the Future of Print

Fortune magazine unveiled a story Wednesday in which "10 sages read the future of print."

"What becomes of the printed word? What’s the fate of companies that produce periodicals and books? Here’s what 10 media and tech luminaries think," it said. All the "media and tech luminaries" are white.

"Why do white people think we have no thoughts about this?" a reader of color asked Journal-isms.

Piersten Gaines, a spokeswoman for Fortune, did not respond to a request for comment.

White Nationalists Latch Onto Vanity Fair Cover

"What would seem to be a fairly routine post about a chronic shortcoming of the magazine industry got people into feelings¬†‚Äî big time," David Carr wrote Tuesday in the New York Times. Carr was speaking of "Vanity Fair’s ‘New Hollywood’ issue completely lacks diversity," a piece by Joanna Douglas on the Yahoo Shine site, an online community aimed at women, about Vanity Fair’s March issue. It features nine starlets, all of them white.

"As of this morning, there were over 18,000 comments about the issue," Carr wrote, "much of it careful and reasoned, but some it built on rhetoric that brings to mind a very different, more sinister era in American race relations.

"Update: In fact, Joanna Douglas, the writer of the piece, received a number of the threatening e-mail messages after the post was picked up by white supremacist sites and sources at the site say that the police have been contacted and an arrest is pending. Brandon Holley, editor in chief of Shine, declined to be specific out of concern for the safety of the writer, but said, ‘We were thrilled that there was so much interest in the issue, but at some point, the comments turned threatening toward our writer and we felt that we had to take steps to ensure her safety.’ ‚Äù

Carl Juste of the Miami Herald said he felt compelled to help unpack food for famished Haitians in the land of his birth. (Credit: Carl Juste/Miami Herald)

Layoffs at Haitian Papers; Journalists’ Death Toll at 26

"A month after the January 12 earthquake, the death toll for journalists has risen to 26, with two others injured, according to a new provisional tally released by media groups in Haiti," Jean Roland Chery reported Wednesday for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Separately, Chery reported, "In the face of economic and financial difficulties, the heads of the two Haitian dailies, Max Chauvet at Le Nouvelliste and Reginald Boulos at Le Matin, have already announced layoffs. Some reporters with these outlets are already out of work." Jacques Desrosiers, editor of Le Matin, "said that the salaries of remaining journalists have been cut by 60 percent. For his part, Manigat declared that the situation for journalists is so disastrous that any more layoffs would be inhumane."

He also wrote, that according to press groups, "of about 50 radio stations that used to broadcast in the capital before the earthquake, only about a dozen are now on the air. In Leogane, only four radio stations are currently able to operate, while six others have been completely destroyed. The situation is also grave in Petit Goave and Grand Goave.

"Most of the television stations based in the capital, about a dozen, are still off the air. Yet some‚ÄîT?©l?© M?©tropole and T?©l?© Cara?Øbe, among others‚Äîare broadcasting programs from U.S, French, or Latin American television stations."

An editor’s note added, "If you have any information on journalists and media outlets in Haiti please post a comment below or notify us via e-mail msalazar (at) cpj.org, or Twitter: @HelpJournalists"

Photog Carl Juste Finds "Surreal" Moments at "Home"

Carl Juste prefers to call Haitians who took clothing from stores "scavengers," not "looters." "You can tell by the desperation in their eyes," he said. Haitians went into the buildings while tremors were shaking the earth, calculating the odds on being trapped if the building collapsed.

Juste, a Haitian American, returned from Haiti after two weeks in the devastated country as a photographer for the Miami Herald. He was interviewed for a half-hour Tuesday broadcast of American Public Media’s "The Story." He spoke with a rasp, the same voice he developed in Afghanistan and Iraq, caused by dust and stress. He called it "the Haiti hack."

Juste found himself helping to distribute protein bars to a famished crowd. He and another photographer were capturing a World Food Program delivery when Juste decided to get on the truck for close-in shots. The crowd grew "twofold, fivefold, then tenfold . . . it was desperate," he said. "I started opening up boxes. I said, ‘I am not going to hand these out,’¬† that is not my capacity, not my role, but I’ll assist you in any way I can." He dissuaded the World Food Program worker from tossing the box of food into the crowd; "it would be the equivalent of tossing a million dollars into the street."

In the end, a U.N. worker drove an SUV through the crowd to divide it. "I was able to speak Creole and another woman working for an NGO was able to calm the crowd," he said.

Juste also described seeing family members who bought a coffin to bury their child, only to discover the body was missing. Simultaneously, another family was trying to bury its 14-year-old girl, but had no coffin. The first family sold its coffin to the second. "It was neighbor helping another neighbor. To see that unfold the way it did, was really surreal," Juste said.

Asked how he felt watching such a moment, he replied, "I’m working with metaphors and visual cues, I’m looking at body language, I’m so engaged in trying to tell the story visually that I wasn’t really totally aware of the ramifications of this experience until myself and the other photographers walked away, and we sat in our car and we’re taking it all in. I don’t think journalists have a callous heart, i don’t think we can do our job with a callous heart. But I think because we flex that emotional muscle, day in and day out, we built a certain resistance, but there are times where in your quiet space, you allow yourselves to relive those moments."

Juste, the son of a Haitian ?©migr?©, also described growing up in New York as a Haitian American and the greeting he received when he returned to Haiti for the Herald.

"Haiti has now been accepted by the international community," he said, adding that the earthquake was responsible. "For the first time, at least that I can remember, the plight of Haiti became the plight of the world. . . . This disaster tells us a lot about us, as a nation . . .¬† Haiti will help redefine what this nation is about. . . . What have we learned? The United States has been through 9/11 and now this country is more polarized than ever. I don’t think Haiti can afford that, to be polarized any more."

Black Press Must "Own" Haiti Story, Publisher Says

"The Black Press of America must take charge of the story of Haiti, own it and not allow it to be distorted, says Black Publisher Karl Rodney, chair of the new National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation Haitian Project board of directors and publisher of The New York Carib News," Hazel Trice Edney reported for the NNPA News Service.

"Appointed by NNPA Chair Danny Bakewell, Rodney — vice chair of the NNPA Foundation . . .  says the noble history of Haiti has long been overlooked and Black media must seize the opportunity to lift up its legacy as it rebuilds after the earthquake that killed 150,000.

‚Äú ‘Haiti is the epitome of Black History, Black Struggle and Black Success. And the story of Haiti is the story that the Black Press must own and the Black Press must tell because Haiti is the first Democratic country in the Western Hemisphere, the first Black republic for over 200 years,’ says Rodney in an interview with the NNPA News Service. ‘It has had a history of innovation, culture, technical development. That story has been underdeveloped, underreported and as a result misunderstood.’ ‚Äù

Student Journalist-Activist Denied Entry Into Canada

"Canada is rarely mentioned as an oppressive country that limits freedom of expression and press," Matt Bartosik wrote Wednesday for WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

"Yet that’s exactly what Martin Macias says happened to him when he arrived at the Vancouver airport in Canada Saturday afternoon.

"The 20-year-old student, a Chicago-based independent journalist and outspoken activist who was heavily involved with No Games Chicago, a group that opposed the city’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and his friend Bob Quellos traveled to Vancouver to report on and attend the protests leading up to the Games this week.

"But Macias never left the Vancouver airport.

"He was detained upon arrival and ‘questioned aggressively for two hours,’ Macias told the Huffington Post.

" ‘They wanted to know what I was going to do in Vancouver, who I was meeting with, who organized the conference, and what they looked like,’ he said. ‘They took all my contact information and business cards of journalists and other people I was to connect with while in Vancouver.’

"The story grows even more strange and disturbing. . . ."

Reuters Photog Freed After 17 Months in U.S. Custody

"The U.S. military freed a Reuters photographer in Iraq on Wednesday, almost a year and a half after snatching him from his home in the middle of the night and placing him in military detention without charge," Reuters reported Wednesday from Baghdad.

"The U.S. military has never said exactly why it detained Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed — who worked for Reuters as a freelance TV cameraman and photographer — and locked him away for so long, saying the evidence against him was classified.

" ‘How can I describe my feelings? This is like being born again,’ Jassam told Reuters by telephone as he was greeted emotionally by his family.

"U.S. and Iraqi forces smashed in the doors of Jassam’s house in Mahmudiya town, south of Baghdad, in September 2008 and whisked him away, first to Camp Bucca, a desert prison on the Iraq-Kuwait border, then the smaller Camp Cropper detention center near Baghdad airport.

"Jassam is one of several Iraqi journalists working for foreign news organizations who have been detained by the U.S. military, often for months at a time, since the 2003 U.S. invasion. None has ever been charged, triggering criticism from international journalism rights groups."

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