Pain Eased by Ads from McDonald’s, Auto Companies
Smiley Denies He’s in "Ego Contest" Over Obama
600 at Honolulu Advertiser Given Layoff Notices
Univision Realigns, Names a President of News
Black Inmates Make Guest Appearance in News Story
Bay State Banner Ready to Offer Plan to Investors
Nigerian Says Other Journalists Were Attacked
Prize-Winning Photo Illustrates Unrest in Honduras
Oscars Renew Debate Over "Precious"
The two-hour finale of Univision’s telenovela "En Nombre del Amor" ("In the Name of Love") drew 5 million viewers Sunday to become the most highly rated Spanish-language show of the week. Univision says advertisers are switching dollars to Spanish-language television.
Pain Eased by Ads from McDonald’s, Auto Companies
While Spanish-language and African American media are feeling the sting of the recession just as all media are, the declines in advertising in those media outlets are proportionately not as deep as in the media overall, the Nielsen Co. reported on Friday.
The finding seems to contradict conventional wisdom. But advertisers such as fast-food restaurants, the ailing automobile industry, motion pictures, credit services, insurance companies – and in the case of Spanish-language media, satellite communication and legal services – are sticking with African American and Spanish-language media outlets. In most cases, those categories increased their advertising.
"Thirty to 40 percent of what we had last year goes away," Jerry Lopes, president, program operations and affiliations at American Urban Radio Networks, told Journal-isms. "You have to replace them." Advertising at his network last year was down just 4 percent over 2008, he said.
Nielsen reported that, "Spending [on] Spanish Language and African-American media declined 4.7% and 7.3%, respectively, in 2009, according to figures released today by The Nielsen Company. The declines are consistent with the trend in overall advertising, although the drops aren’t as deep. Last month, Nielsen reported that ad spending fell nine percent in 2009, despite significant increases in Cable TV."
Among Spanish-language media, exceptions were magazines and local newspapers. But "The decreases in print media were offset by a 32% increase in Spanish Language Cable advertising. Nielsen found that 19 of the top 20 advertisers in the medium increased their ad spends year over year," the company said.
"Spending on African-American media saw a similar decline of 7.3% in 2009. The decline was paced by decreased spending in Network TV (-72%) and National Magazines (-33%)."
"Network TV" was defined as "programs with an African-American audience composition of 50% or greater." The decline could reflect a decrease in the number of such programs. In December 2008, an NAACP report partly attributed "the serious shortage of minority faces on primetime television" to "the virtual disappearance of black programming since the merger of UPN and WB networks into The CW network."
On advertising in black-oriented media, Nielsen said "Increased spending on Cable TV helped balance out the losses. Advertisers spent 35% more on African-American Cable in 2009, thanks to added spending by each one of the top 20 advertisers in the category." African American cable includes BET, TV One and cable shows where viewership is more than 50 percent African American.
"The top spending product category for both Spanish Language and African-American media was Quick Service Restaurants. Advertisers within the category spent $335 million on Spanish Language media and $87 million on African-American media. McDonald’s was the top fast food advertiser in both media segments."
The decline of ad dollars in the magazine industry has been well documented. In January, the Publishers Information Bureau reported that Essence ad dollars dropped by 10 percent in 2009, while they declined 26 percent for Black Enterprise, 38.9 percent for Ebony and 35.5 percent for Jet.
Ad dollars for People en Espa?±ol slid by 22.6 percent, compared with 30.0 percent for Latina and 62.7 percent for Readers’ Digest Selecciones. Both Essence and People en Espa?±ol are owned by Time Inc.
The largest black-owned radio chain, Radio One, with more than 50 stations, ended a six-quarter losing streak last summer, the Washington Post noted in December. It "reported a $7.2 million profit for the April-through-June period. For the third quarter, Radio
One said it earned $14.2 million, compared with a loss of $266.1 million a year earlier."
African American and Hispanic media outlets were reluctant to discuss the significance of the Nielsen figures Friday. "We’ll have to pass . . . on this one, but thanks," said Sheila Harris, a spokeswoman for Essence. Others simply did not respond.
Ruth Gaviria of the Meredith Corp., home of Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal and other mainstream magazines, said via e-mail:
"I remain very optimistic about the multi-cultural market, specifically the Hispanic segment. This news is not surprising. Some mediums, such as print, that were hit harder, are showing renewed vitality. Conversations with top advertisers give us confidence that commitment to the Hispanic market will only grow. We also see a greater level of cooperation between clients, agencies, media and content developers to provide engagement and brand solutions. It has never been better to be in this space!"
Gaviria is vice president of Meredith Hispanic Ventures, which calls itself "the leading marketing and communications company reaching Spanish-dominant, Hispanic women in the United States at every life stage." In 2005, it launched Siempre Mujer (Always a Woman), one of the few magazines to show circulation gains in the last six months of 2009.
Monica Talan, a spokeswoman for Univision, also saw a bright spot. "This report demonstrates that Spanish-language media was not immune to the economic challenges facing the country and the industry," she told Journal-isms via e-mail.
"However, as you can see we were not hit as hard. We are optimistic about 2010 because brands across every Category are reaping significant results from targeting Hispanics in Spanish. In fact, numerous marketers increased their investment against this growing segment over the past year including telecom, CPG, QSR . . . most shifting from English to Spanish since overall budgets were not growing."
- Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com:¬†Ad Pioneer Examines Blacks’ Inferiority Complex
Smiley Denies He’s in "Ego Contest" Over Obama
Activist and broadcast personality Tavis Smiley, who is convening African American leaders to discuss a "black agenda" on March 20, said Thursday that his challenge to President Obama "has never been about my ego."
But syndicated radio host Tom Joyner, a longtime friend and colleague of Smiley, wrote an "open letter to black America" in which he said, "I hope that somehow, someway, Tavis will realize that if he is ever to gain the love and respect he once received from black America, he will have to find it in his heart to show love and respect for the president. It’s just that simple. . . . I believe the beef Tavis has with President Obama is personal, and only the two of them know what it’s really about."
Smiley appeared on National Public Radio’s "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, who told Smiley that some say of his recent efforts, "that this is in part an ego contest. That this is in part about your seeking relevance in leadership in an age when the president is the leading African American figure in the country, and that this has caused a bit of an existentialist crisis, if you want to call that . . . among the people who are used to speaking for the black community, and they have to find a new place in that hierarchy."
Smiley called that argument "a bunch of silliness," and said Obama needs to be pressed on a black agenda. "Nobody is expecting this president, or any other president for that matter, to stand up on the top of the White House and start yelling out some black agenda to the masses," Smiley said. "That’s not what we’re asking for.
"What we are asking for is a unique focus on the specific challenges that are crushing black America. The reason why ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is being addressed right now is because gays and lesbians correctly and courageously pushed the president on that issue. So the point is that the people who are heard are the people who get addressed."
Meanwhile, Joyner, on whose show Smiley last month challenged the Rev. Al Sharpton for agreeing too much with the president, wrote in his open letter that, "Mainstream media has been hounding me for a quote regarding the Tavis/Rev. Al situation, and I haven’t agreed to respond publicly because I don’t discuss family business outside of the family."
Nevertheless, Joyner said, "When I hear and read about the hate people have for Tavis right now, it makes me sad. Because I know that if Tavis knew how to get out of this situation, he would. But it’s not in him to do what needs to be done, to recognize he has gone down a wrong path, and his only real option is to turn around."
- Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Next Time, Tavis, Take the High Road
  - Ben Evans, Associated Press: Poll Finds Blacks Motivated to Vote in November
- Hamil R. Harris, Washington Post: Rev. Jeremiah Wright discusses Obama controversy, history of his church
  - Michael Leahy, Washington Post: A frustrated caucus keeps complaints quiet
¬† - Marisa Trevi?±o, Latina Lista blog: Immigration grassroots activists who met with Obama reveal what went down at the White House
600 at Honolulu Advertiser Given Layoff Notices
"Layoff notices have gone out to 600 employees of The Honolulu Advertiser," the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
"The notices say the workers will lose their jobs when owner Gannett Co. sells the newspaper and related assets to Oahu Publications Inc., owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
"The sale is expected to be completed between April 12 and April 30.
"The majority owner of the Star-Bulletin, David Black, has put his newspaper up for sale. However, he has said if a buyer isn’t found, the two newspapers will merge and layoffs will occur.
"It isn’t known how many Advertiser employees would be rehired under a merged operation."
- Rick Daysog, Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii car dealer McKenna interested in buying Star-Bulletin 
Univision Realigns, Names a President of News
Alina Falc??n has been named to the newly created position of president of news for Univision Communications, Univision announced on Thursday, saying the company was "realigning news and entertainment with a new management structure, organizing its news operations on a company-wide basis and coordinating more closely the current and future entertainment programming for the Univision Network.
"As the head of a new company-wide news division, Falc??n will guide the company’s elevated focus on its news operations and have strategic and operational oversight of news programming and production across Univision Networks, Univision Television Group and Univision Interactive Media, as well as all sports programming and production.
"Falc??n, who was previously executive vice president and operating manager of the Univision Network, will continue to be based in Miami and report to the president of the Univision Networks."
Rafael Olmeda of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel said of this ABC story, "Every time we think maybe the media finally get it, some ignorant editor pulls a gaffe like this." (Video)
Black Inmates Make Guest Appearance in News Story
ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" aired a story¬†on Saturday about a Rochester Hills, Mich., mother who was held in contempt of court when she could not find child care and brought her young kids to court. The mother, Carmela Khury, is white, the jurist, Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman, is black.
To illustrate what Khury would face if she were to go to jail, the piece showed, in slow-motion, handcuffed black men in orange jumpsuits.
"Are we supposed to believe that this black judge sent this poor white mother to jail with a bunch of black convicts?" Rafael A. Olmeda of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and of Unity: Journalists of Color, asked Journal-isms. "Every time we think maybe the media finally get it, some ignorant editor pulls a gaffe like this."
Shown Olmeda’s statement (without a name attached) and asked for a response, "Good Morning America" spokeswoman Alyssa Apple replied, "It was four seconds of file footage showing prisoners from the waist down with the purpose of being non-specific. If your reader saw some larger message in this four-seconds of non-specific video, it was not intended.‚Äù
Olmeda was not placated. "I was surprised to see it and wanted to see whether others noticed the same thing," he said of the image of black male inmates. "ABC should learn a lesson from this. Stock footage is part of the problem."
Bay State Banner Ready to Offer Plan to Investors
Boston’s Bay State Banner, the black-owned weekly that accepted a $200,000 loan from the city¬†last year to stay afloat, is ready to present a business plan to potential investors of color for a second loan, Ronald L. Walker, an African American banker who is working with the Banner, told Forbes magazine.
"Is this second loan — also about $200,000 — a hard sell for investors?" reporter Dirk Smillie asked Walker in a story published Wednesday.
"No," Walker replied, "because most of the executives of color who we’ve been talking to have a connection to the Banner. They know how vital it is to this community. The new business model has been accepted, and there’s consensus that the Banner needs to continue. I think they like the fact that they can be part of something unique ‚Äî a community newspaper sustained by public and private sources, and the community. So far, it’s been a success. I’d like to see this kind of model duplicated around the country."
"What does that business plan promise to deliver?" Smillie asked.
"First, we want to increase advertising rates by 13%. We’ll reduce print costs by more cost-efficient layouts and use of color. That alone has already amounted to $150,000 in savings. We hired a new director of sales in September. We also want to grow our special sections into advertorials. The Banner has a number of publications in the works, like ‘Be Healthy,’ a magazine which looks at health disparities among minorities, in particular diseases like sickle-cell anemia and diabetes. Another is ‘Banner Biz,’ which will focus on small business in the minority community. ‘Exhale’ is focused on women’s lifestyle, and ‘Inclusion’ is geared toward college students and young professionals. We also plan to enhance digital strategy."
Walker built his Next Street bank "not around corporate clients — the typical core customer — but high-performing small businesses in the inner city," the story said.
Nigerian Says Other Journalists Were Attacked
The Muslim Nigerian journalist who was attacked Monday by a mob of Christian mourners in Dogo Na Huwa, Nigeria, has described his ordeal from his hospital bed and said he was not the only journalist attacked.
State Commissioner of Information Gregory Yenlong met state radio reporter Murtala Sani after the incident and pledged to cover his medical expenses, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported. It quoted Yenlong saying Sani "is a responsible, committed journalist. But he must take precautions in these tense times; he should ask for security coverage when covering these events.”
Sani "was inches from losing his life," Wall Street Journal reporter Will Connors, who also covered the funeral, told the Committee. "They wanted to kill him and throw his body in the mass grave with the others."
"The crowd at the funeral also accosted Agence France-Presse reporter Aminu Abdulla and demanded that he prove ‘that he was a Christian’ by reciting the Lord‚Äôs Prayer, the journalist told CPJ. Abdulla managed to escape with the help of other journalists but lost equipment that he had kept in Sani‚Äôs car, he said."
Sani told Nigeria’s Daily Trust from his hospital bed that he was with reporters from CNN, Radio France Internationale and the Associated Press, following a truck loaded with corpses to Dogo Na Hawa, the venue for the mass burial, Mahmud Lalo and Ahmed Mohammed reported on Tuesday. They wrote that Murtala Hashim Sani, a reporter for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, was also attacked and hospitalized.
"Sani said, ‘Immediately after the burial, some journalists interviewed youths and community leaders while I sat near my car because I could not stand what I saw. After they finished, I went to my car then I saw two people coming towards me. When they came closer, I saw the Special Adviser to the Plateau State Governor on Religious Affairs and one other person, he called me and asked me to identify myself and collected my identification card. While we were talking, the other one that accompanied him slapped me then other hoodlums rushed and started beating me, stabbing me, and throwing stones at me.
"He added, ‘I fell on the ground until a policeman took me and put me in a car while the youths continued following us trying to block [the] road but the policeman escaped through another route but they continued to pursue us . . .
"Sani said the hoodlums also started beating CNN reporters, thinking they were Aljazeera reporters, alleging that they were not being fair in their reportage until they were also saved by security operatives."
  
Prize-Winning Photo Illustrates Unrest in Honduras
Rodrigo Abd of the Associated Press won a Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for photo essays that shed light on the funeral business in Guatemala and political unrest in Honduras, the Scripps Howard Foundation announced Friday.
In Abd’s photo above, a supporter of Honduras’ ousted President Manuel Zelaya sits on a rock in a road block during a protest in Tegucigalpa on Sept. 22.
The award comes with $10,000 and a trophy.
Oscars Renew Debate Over "Precious"
While best supporting actress Mo’Nique was applauded for her Oscar-winning performance in "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire," columnists and bloggers debated whether movies such as "Precious," which portrays a teenager withstanding her mother’s cruelty, are the best African Americans can hope for.
- Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: Mo’Nique’s unique
- Rick Blalock, thedailyvoice.com: Academy Awards Take Two: After 82 years show biz still mostly one color
- Carl Chancellor, Change.org: Why "Precious" Didn’t Win Best Picture
- George E. Hardin, Tri-State Defender, Memphis: Do Oscars ‘reward’ blacks for playing negative roles?
- Gregory P. Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Hollywood Likes Dysfunctional Black Characters
- Julianne Malveaux, National Newspaper Publishers Association: Mo’nique’s Oscar ‚Äî Victory and Setback ¬† ¬†
- Matthew Milam, BlogCritics.org: Enough of The Sad Black Films
- Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: When do black women get positive roles? Good for Mo’Nique, but let’s see strong mothers on film
- Jeff Winbush blog: Is This As Good As It Gets for Mo’Nique and Gabourey?
Short Takes
- "Haiti’s oldest newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, is reviving gradually. The publication was out of action for more than a month after a devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean nation on January 12," Betwa Sharma and Mohammad Al-Kassim reported Friday for the Columbia Journalism Review. Meanwhile, Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times blogged for the Committee to Protect Journalists on the challenges facing Haitian media.
Rochelle Riley, columnist for the Detroit Free Press, will receive the Distinguished Leadership Award for Diversity in the Media, Kent State University announced. A student, as yet unnamed, will also be honored, the school said. Richard Prince is to receive the 2010 Robert G. McGruder Award and deliver the McGruder Lecture at the April 6 ceremony. The award recognizes the accomplishments of media professionals who encourage diversity in the field of journalism. - Excerpts from "Living the Ebony Life: E-Mails from the Plantation," a "tell-all" from Zondra Hughes, who worked at Ebony magazine from 1999 to 2006, began in Chicago’s South Suburban News on Monday. The paper "wanted to give readers a unique look at this storied institution ‚Äî not to praise or disparage, but to help readers understand sometimes there a stubborn tarnish beneath the patina," editor Glenn Reedus told Journal-isms. Hughes said that the character of "The Man," who appears throughout the book, is not one person, but "middle management that served 1999-2006."
- "Tuesday’s Omblog noted that The Post had taken heat from readers upset by the March 4 photo taken outside D.C. Court as the District began accepting license applications for same-sex marriages," Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote on Thursday. The photo showed two men kissing. "But the Omblog item prompted a backlash. It was picked up by bloggers, wire services and broadcast outlets, prompting hundreds of e-mails, calls and online comments praising The Post. Those I‚Äôve received are running more than 10-to-1 in support of the decision to run the photo. They‚Äôre coming from around the globe."
- "The 24 hour telethon ‘Chile Ayuda a Chile’ hosted by Univision’s Don Francisco and held last Fri-Sat raised double its target: $60 million," Veronica Villafa?±e reported Wednesday on her Media Moves site. "That money will be used to build 30,000 temporary homes. More than 2 million people were left homeless after the 8.8 quake. It’s estimated that reconstruction of the affected areas will cost Chile $12 billion."
- ¬†"Romesh Ratnesar, whom many thought was being groomed for Time’s top spot," is leaving
as deputy managing editor,¬†Keith J. Kelly wrote in the New York Post. "Ratnesar, who authored ‘Tear Down This Wall’ about Ronald Reagan and the fall of the Berlin Wall, is leaving to pursue outside writing projects. He will be a special contributing editor." Ratnesar is an American born to Sri Lankan parents. Managing Editor Rick Stengel said, "It’s a win, win, win, situation. I’m getting the talent of Romesh as a writer and promoting two people, one of whom could be the face of the magazine in the future," Kelly reported. - "As individuals, South Africa’s journalists express themselves in media platforms around the clock. But for the past five years, they’ve lacked a collective professional voice," Guy Berger wrote Thursday in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian. "This may be about to change, with the launch this coming weekend of the Professional Journalists’ Association (PJA). The South African Union of Journalists (SAUJ) closed down five years ago."
- NBC, scolded by black members of Congress about NBC’s insufficient diversity, has included Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., House majority whip and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, on Sunday’s "Meet the Press." NBC is seeking government approval for a merger with Comcast. Last week, former congressman Harold Ford was on the program.<
- The International Federation of Journalists Thursday accused Yemeni authorities of ‘brutal inhumanity’¬†in their treatment of editor Mohammed al Maqaleh, "who has been subject to kidnapping, detention and denial of access to basic medical treatment for six months." Meanwhile, on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it "condemns Yemeni authorities‚Äô seizure of equipment enabling the pan-Arab satellite news channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera to broadcast live from the country."
- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe  met with members of the media, the government newspaper the Herald reported on Sunday. "It had been 10 years since the President played host to such a large number of local journalists."
- Zhang Hong, "a top editor of a weekly newspaper who recently called for the reform of China’s onerous household registration system, which restricts where people can live, has been forced out of his job in a fresh warning that journalists who boldly challenge government policy face retribution," Sharon Lafraniere and Jonathan Ansfield reported Tuesday for the New York Times.
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