Honolulu Star-Bulletin Buys Rival Advertiser
Sports Editor Leon Carter Leaving N.Y. News for ESPN
Blacks Not Feeling Olympics, Latinos Savor Choices
College, Paper Partner to Report on Liberty City
Middle Class Narrowing Overall Digital Divide
Dick Bogle, Oregon’s First Black Television Journalist, Dies
 
Employees from most of The Advertiser’s departments crowded into the newsroom to hear Thursday’s announcement. (Credit: Deborah Booker/Honolulu Advertiser)
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Buys Rival Advertiser
" The parent company of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on Thursday announced it was purchasing longtime rival The Honolulu Advertiser, the largest newspaper in Hawaii," James Song reported Friday for the Associated Press.
"Oahu Publications Inc. said it will acquire the Advertiser, its Web site, non-daily publications and an interest in Hawaii.com from Gannett Co. The Advertiser, one of Gannett’s larger newspapers with a daily circulation of 130,000, was founded in 1856 and purchased by Gannett in 1993.
". . . Under antitrust laws, the Star-Bulletin will be put up for sale. If no one buys the paper, it will be consolidated with the Advertiser, Star-Bulletin publisher Dennis Francis said.
"It hasn’t been decided what the name of the combined paper would have. Francis said there would be some layoffs if the papers were combined. The company hasn’t decided on how many would be laid off or where the layoffs would come from, he said.
"’We cannot keep both staffs intact as they are, but we haven’t determined what that number is yet,’ " Francis said.
"Employees of both newspapers were notified in separate staff meetings. Both newsrooms were stunned the announcement.
" ‘I think people were surprised and still waiting for the shock to wear off,’ Advertiser Editor Mark Platte said.
"Advertiser reporter Suzanne Roig, president of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild, said it was ‘a very sad day to be a journalist in Hawaii.’
"’There are many unknowns right now. We are still in shock,’ Roig said in a story on the paper’s Web site. ‘I am sure that many Advertiser employees will be going home tonight and taking stock of their finances and looking at what their options are.’"
Sports Editor Leon Carter Leaving N.Y. News for ESPN
Leon Carter, sports editor at the New York Daily News for the last 10 years, is leaving the paper "for a job at a new ESPN Web site," the Daily News reported Friday.
His departure leaves Garry Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this year’s president of the Associated Press Sports Editor, as the only African American sports editor at a major U.S. newspaper, Carter said.
"Teri Thompson, who headed the paper’s sports I-team, was promoted yesterday to managing editor for sports," the News announced. It called Thompson one of the nation’s first female sportswriters.
Carter told Journal-isms that ESPN would have to announce his new job, but that he would remain in New York. Friday would be his last day. "It’s been the best 16 years of my life. It’s been great working for Martin Dunn," the News editor, who was "a big supporter of the Sports Department."
The sports site thebiglead.com wrote, "ESPNNewYork.com: We hear that sports editor Leon Carter has left the New York Daily News to take the top job at the impending ESPNNewyork.com. Now here’s where it gets interesting ‚Äî apparently Carter will be overseeing the New York branch and the Philadelphia and Washington DC versions, and his title will be something along the lines of ‘VP of East Coast Operations.’"
Carolyn Braff, managing editor of the Web site Sports Video Group, wrote in July, "In three short months, ESPN has received enough positive feedback from its hyper-local ESPNChicago.com initiative to launch three more city-specific sports sites. ESPNDallas.com will roll out this fall, followed by ESPNNewYork.com and ESPN LosAngeles.com in the first half of 2010."
Last summer, Carter and ESPN editor Sandy Rosenbush received the annual Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for their work with the Sports Journalism Institute, an intensive nine-week training and internship program held every summer since 1993, as the News reported.
Blacks Not Feeling Olympics, Latinos Savor Choices
"A number of shows fell to series lows against the Olympics last week, including ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘American Idol.’ But Spanish-language programs have done pretty well against the Games," Toni Fitzgerald reported Wednesday for medialifemagazine.com.
But while Hispanic viewers collectively placed all seven nights of the Winter Olympics among their top 10 shows for the week ending for the week ending Feb. 21, according to the Nielsen Co. Only one of those nights ‚Äî Wednesday’s ‚Äî made African Americans’ top 25, according to Nielsen’s People Meters.
The "Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Wednesday” 29.42 million; 2. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Saturday” 26.67 million; 3. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Monday” 25.22 million; 4. NBC’s “Winter Olympics Thursday” 24.78 million; 5. Fox’s “American Idol – Tuesday” 23.92 million," medialifemagazine.com reported.
Among African Americans, the top 10 were "American Idol" (Tuesday) on Fox; 2. "American Idol" (Wednesday) (Fox); 3. "NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS); 4. "The Good Wife" (CBS); 5. "CSI: Miami" (CBS); 6. "Grey’s Anatomy" (Thurs.) (ABC); 7. "NCIS: CBS: 8. "Undercover Boss" (CBS) 9. "Cold Case" (CBS) and 10. "60 Minutes" (CBS). The Winter Olympics on Tuesday ranked No. 18.
Among Hispanics, the top 10 were "American Idol" (Tuesday) on Fox; 2. Winter Olympics (Wed.); 3. "American Idol (Wed.) on Fox; followed by the Winter Olympics on Thursday, Monday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday; and 10. "Desperate Housewives."
"Univision had two big nights last week in which it placed second and third among all broadcasters in adults 18-34, while Telemundo aired the second-most-watched show in network history in the 8 p.m. hour," Fitzgerald wrote.
"Quite simply, Univision and Telemundo scheduled smartly, taking chances on event programming opposite the Olympics that would have drawn good numbers no matter when they aired."
- Michel Martin, "Tell Me More," National Public Radio: Shani Davis Talks Olympic Victory, Blackness
College, Paper Partner to Report on Liberty City
"News accounts about the Liberty City community, one of South Florida’s largest historically black communities, have long zeroed in on its most negative aspects, spotlighting it as a notoriously dangerous section in the shadows of the glitz of Miami Beach," Juliana Accioly wrote Friday for the South Florida Times.
"But the colorful murals of black heroes on Liberty City’s buildings stand for the spirit of what is, in fact, a thriving community.
"To improve the scope of media coverage of the area, the South Florida Times has partnered with Florida International University’s School of Journalism in a project called Liberty City Link.
"… Led by Neil Reisner, a veteran journalist and FIU professor, student reporters are working on stories that shed light on basic facts and what highlights the area‚Äôs development.
‚Äú ‘Liberty City is no different than any other neighborhoods in that its residents are doing the best they can to get by,’ said Reisner, a nationally known journalism trainer who has 30 years of experience at newspapers, including stints at The Miami Herald and the Daily Business Review, as well as other newspapers. ‚ÄúWe want to give Liberty City a new voice.‚Äù
"To extend its reach in the community, the South Florida Times will dedicate at least one new page of its print version to the content, and the link will have a special section on the newspaper’s website. The project will be unveiled in the March 12 edition of the newspaper and its website, SFLTimes.com, as well as FIU’s website.
"Reisner’s group of 17 student reporters, of whom only one is African-American, said they are thrilled about the real-world experience."
Middle Class Narrowing Overall Digital Divide
"Middle and upper class African Americans and Hispanics are rapidly adopting broadband and are greatly narrowing the overall digital divide  [PDF], according to a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research and policy institution that focuses on minority concerns and issues," the Joint Center announced on Thursday.
"The study found that 94 percent of African Americans and 98 percent of Hispanics who have college degrees are now online, and that college-educated minority Americans who make over $50,000 are adopting broadband at the fastest rate of any group in the country.
"Across all education and income brackets, the report says that 69 percent of African Americans and 58 percent of Hispanics now regularly use the Internet, compared with 79 percent of whites, and that the rate of broadband adoption in African American homes has risen to 59 percent from the 46 percent reported by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project just last year."
Dick Bogle, Oregon’s First Black Television Journalist, Dies
 Dick Bogle, left, Oregon’s first black TV journalist, died Thursday at 79. (Credit: File/Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian)
Short Takes
"Veteran Chicago newsman Derrick Blakley is being treated for bone marrow cancer, but hopes to be back on the job at WBBM-Channel 2 while he awaits a stem cell transplant," Chicago television writer Robert Feder reported Thursday on his blog. "Blakley, 56, had surgery earlier this month to repair damage in his right leg bone and currently is undergoing rehabilitation. He previously had been seen around the CBS-owned station using a cane, which he explained was to guard against falls that could break the bone."
- "The health reporter for WDBJ (Channel 7) is leaving the station to become a spokeswoman for HCA Southwest Virginia," Sarah Bruyn Jones wrote for the Roanoke (Va.) Times. "Joy Sutton began her career 11 years ago at CBS affiliate WDBJ as an intern. She will begin her new role as the marketing and communications manager for the health care system, which includes Lewis-Gale Medical Center, March 29. Her last day on the television news station will be March 13."
- "Rod Carter is leaving Birmingham’s NBC-13 (WVTM-TV) for the second time and returning to Tampa to be the morning anchor at the NBC affiliate where he worked before. Carter’s last day on the air here will be Friday, March 5." Bob Carlton reported Friday for the Birmingham (Ala.) News.
- "Dick Bogle, Oregon’s first black TV journalist, former Portland City Commissioner and Clark County resident, died Thursday morning of congestive heart failure," Marissa Harshman reported Thursday in the Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian. "In 1968, Bogle launched a 15-year career as a reporter and news anchor at KATU News. He then went on to become Portland’s second black city commissioner, serving from 1985 to 1993. He also worked as a policeman for the Portland Police Bureau prior to his career in TV news."
- Rashod D. Ollison, pop music writer at the Baltimore Sun who was among 61 newsroom employees laid off there last April, has landed at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., as an entertainment writer. "I’ll still maintain my music column in the relaunched Jet magazine. (The debut column comes out March 8)," Ollison told Journal-isms on Friday.
- The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the National Endowment for the Arts are accepting applications for the sixth annual Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater, which takes place May 17-27. The Institute is an 11-day intensive workshop in theater and musical theater for critics, reporters, editors, and broadcast and online producers from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The application deadline is March 11 [PDF], the school said.
