Maynard Institute archives

Downsized Unity Shrinks Further: Conventions Out, Ending an Era

by richard0618

Updated Nov. 18

Executive Director Leaving as Part of “Restructuring”

Journalists Unimpeded by Ferguson State of Emergency

Cosby’s Lawyer Dismisses “Decade-Old, Discredited” Charges

Henri Cauvin Named City Editor at N.Y. Times

Police Attack Journalists Covering Mexico Protests

Mike Wise, White Writer, Joins Whitlock’s “Black Grantland”

3 Journalists of Color Hired for “Black Grantland” (Nov. 18)

Smith Says Player Will “Never Have the Last Word Over Us”

Ethnic Newspaper Reinvents Itself as Cultural Institution

Short Takes

Executive Director Leaving as Part of “Restructuring”

Citing “limited finances,” the remaining members of the Unity journalists coalition are eliminating the executive director’s job and all but declared that they are doing away with the convention they have held, since 2004, every four years.

David A. Steinberg of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, one of three member groups in what is now called Unity: Journalists for Diversity, told Journal-isms in a statement issued in response to an inquiry:

“UNITY: Journalists for Diversity is changing how it manages the organization. Much like our industry, UNITY has reviewed how it does business and is changing to reflect the current climate and its new transition. As UNITY moves away from being a conference-focused organization to an association focused on programming, the UNITY board recognizes that with limited finances, it is prudent to move to a leaner model of management.

“The decision to restructure was a mutual one between the board and UNITY Executive Director Roberto Quiñones. The change is intended to focus UNITY’s existing resources on providing resources that will better serve its member organizations and the industry as a whole.

“We look forward to building a stronger future for the organization. We remain committed to our mission of advocating for fair and accurate news coverage about diversity — especially race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation — and aggressively challenging the industry to staff its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity.”

Asked to clarify the move “away from being a conference-focused organization,” Steinberg said, “We are moving away from concentrating on a convention in favor of more broad-based and year-round programming.

“Roberto will stay with UNITY as we restructure and will help us transition to an association-management model.”

Quiñones was hired just six months ago.

Unity began as a convention-only partnership, staging its first joint gathering in Atlanta in 1994. Then it evolved into “Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc.,” moving beyond simply conventions. Partners were the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association.

But the two largest journalist of color organizations left Unity: Journalists of Color. NABJ departed in 2011 amid concerns about how Unity proceeds were split among the partner organizations, governance and transparency issues, and a feeling by some NABJ members that Unity had strayed too far from its origins as an umbrella organization that staged conventions and become a year-round fifth organization that competed with them for funds.

When NABJ left, the remaining Unity member groups invited the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association to join, andthe coalition’s name was changed from the race-based Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc., to Unity: Journalists for Diversity. In 2013, NAHJ left, citing many of the same reasons as NABJ.

Unity’s first convention without NABJ, staged in Las Vegas in 2012, was viewed as a disappointment, with the absence of the largest association of journalists of color a primary factor.

NABJ and NAHJ are planning their own joint convention for 2016. Their executive directors visited potential sites last week, NABJ President Bob Butler, on vacation in Ghana, told Journal-isms by email on Monday.

After a board meeting earlier this month, Unity issued a statement about its intentions for 2015, including convening “a 2015 follow-up to the spring 2014 Diversity Caucus with a focus on how technology and diversity can be best used to reach news consumers,” and selecting “a second UNITY Reporting Fellow, who will have a unique opportunity to attend multiple journalism conventions in the summer and learn from a variety of communities.”

But 2015 will also test Unity’s finances. The Ford Foundation gave the coalition a one-year $150,000 grant in 2013 to help it regroup. That grant has “been completed and closed,” Ford spokesman Joshua Cinelli said. A lease providing free office space in the McLean, Va., headquarters of the Gannett Co., expires in 2015, its future uncertain as Gannett splits into two companies — one for its publishing operation and the other, yet unnamed, for broadcast and digital products.

Asked whether Unity would remain in the space, Virgil Smith, Gannett’s vice president for diversity, told Journal-isms by telephone, “the bigger question is whether they’re going to exist. . . . We don’t know what their plans are,” he said by telephone. “That’s not been communicated [to me] as a sponsor.”

Unity also has a $200,000 grant specifically for NewU, which provides funds for media entrepreneurs. That money cannot be used for other purposes, however, and at the board meeting this month, concerns were raised that the proposed Unity budget would spend more than it had in revenue. No budget was adopted.

Journal-isms asked Paul Cheung, president of AAJA, and Mary Hudetz, president of NAJA, whether progress on media diversity had been set back by the absence of NABJ and NAHJ in Unity.

Cheung replied by email from an AAJA meeting in Detroit. “AAJA along with NAJA and NLGJA are in agreement that we want to move UNITY away from being a conference-focused organization. Instead, we want UNITY to focus on developing and coordinating industry-wide resources and training so that we can advance the mission of diversity,” he said.

“NABJ and NAHJ leaving UNITY is a reflection of the changing media landscape and business models. I don’t think this is the time to ask who is in UNITY or not in UNITY. This is the time to ask how we can be coordinating with each other to ensure a strong pipeline of journalists who are culturally intelligent to enter and succeed in our profession.”

Hudetz said by email, “For most of the past year, UNITY has been moving toward a new model for programming that would give the organization a stronger year-round presence in the industry. As a result, there’s been a reduced focus on the quadrennial convention.

“I am in support of UNITY’s new direction, and I don’t expect there will be a 2016 UNITY convention.

“The NAJA board has just started to explore ideas for 2016. We had our annual fall retreat this weekend at OU [the University of Oklahoma], where we reviewed some options for a conference two years from now. That’s a discussion that will continue into January. I like most that NAJA and our members could head into 2016 with a considerable amount of momentum, since our conference attendance numbers have been increasing in recent years.” NAJA is headquartered at the University of
Oklahoma in Norman.

“Your question as to whether news media diversity has been set back by the departures of NABJ and NAHJ from UNITY is nearly impossible to answer. That’s just not something I think has been measured. Still, I believe the case for diversity resonates more when there is a strong unified voice and now is the crucial time when the entire industry should place diversity front and center.

“It’s important that UNITY continue to exist for the benefit of all minority groups, whether they are members of UNITY or not. Other associations can and should make diversity a priority, but only an organization that places the issue at the heart of its mission will stick with the cause in the toughest of times.”

Quiñones, who said he is in his “early 50s,” told Journal-isms that he could not discuss his departure and that he was directed to refer all questions about it to Steinberg. Steinberg said he considered a letter Quiñones wrote to the board about his exit “a private personnel matter.”

As for the future, Quiñones, who had worked for AT&T, AARP and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, said, “I’m at the stage of my life when I’m looking to give back and advance stuff in the community.”

Journalists Unimpeded by Ferguson State of Emergency

Journalists covering events in Ferguson, Mo., should not interpret the state of emergency declared Monday by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) as a sign that their rights to gather news will be infringed, Gilbert Bailon, editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, told Journal-isms.

Nixon’s order “gives him a 30-day window to use the [National] guard to support local law enforcement if needed after the grand jury makes a decision. Nothing has changed,” Bailon said by email.

Mike Cavender, executive director of the Radio-Television Digital News Association, agreed.

“As far as we can tell, the Governor’s declaration is procedural and preparatory,” Cavender messaged. “Our understanding is that it has not impeded news media at this time.” RTNDA has established a hotline for journalists who need assistance at pressfreedom@rtdna.org.

However, Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel to the National Press Photographers Association, was cautious.

Osterreicher was in Ferguson in August to provide legal aid and support to NPPA members and other visual journalists covering protests that followed the fatal police shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. Osterreicher said then that police interfered with photographers’ First Amendment rights.

“I read the executive order,” Osterreicher said by telephone. “A state of emergency still doesn’t suspend the First Amendment.” After the confrontations in August, he said, “We would hope . . . that they have learned something about allowing the press” to do its job. “We offered to do training, and we’ve been back and forth. They haven’t said no, but it’s been taking a while to get back to say yes. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

Nixon on Monday “declared a state of emergency and prepared to send the Missouri National Guard to help maintain order in the St. Louis region when a grand jury decision is announced in the Michael Brown case,” Virginia Young reported for the Post-Dispatch.

“Nixon’s executive order puts the St. Louis County Police Department in charge of security in Ferguson “in areas of protests and acts of civil disobedience, should such activities occur.”

Young also wrote, ‘A grand jury has been hearing evidence in the shooting of Brown, 18, who was killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. The shooting sparked months of protests. . . . “

Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, discuss the art they have collected over four decades, displayed in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. (video)(Credit: Smithsonian National Museum of African Art)

Cosby’s Lawyer Dismisses “Decade-Old, Discredited” Charges

“Bill Cosby will not dignify ‘decade-old, discredited’ claims of sexual abuse with a response, his attorney said Sunday, the first comment from the famed comedian’s lawyer on an increasing uproar over allegations that he assaulted several women in the past,” Lynn Elber reported Sunday for the Associated Press.

“In a statement released to The Associated Press and posted online, lawyer John P. Schmitt said the fact that the allegations are being repeated ‘does not make them true.’

” ‘He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work,’ Schmitt said.

“The renewed attention to a dark chapter for Cosby began last month when a comedian, Hannibal Buress, assailed him during a stand-up performance in Philadelphia, Cosby’s hometown, calling him a ‘rapist.’ His remarks were captured on video and posted online, gaining wide exposure.. . .”

Elber also wrote, “Cosby, who was never criminally charged in any case, settled a civil suit in 2006 with another woman over an alleged incident two years before.

“He stonewalled National Public Radio host Scott Simon during an interview aired this weekend with Cosby and his wife, Camille, about their African-American art collection. Cosby fell silent when asked by Simon about ‘serious allegations raised about you in recent days,’ which prompted the host to say, ‘You’re shaking your head, no. … Do you have any response to those charges? Shaking your head, no.’

“Cosby also declined comment when asked by the AP about the allegations last week in Washington, where the Smithsonian Institution was opening an exhibit on the collection.

“Cosby postponed indefinitely an AP interview scheduled for this week. It had been intended to discuss an upcoming Netflix project. . . .”

Henri Cauvin Named City Editor at N.Y. Times

Henri Cauvin, who left the New York Times in 2003 and spent 10 years as a reporter and editor at the Washington Post before returning to the Times last year as an assistant metro editor, has been promoted to city editor at the New York paper.

“This is one of those cases where the new title matches the role already being played,” Metro Editor Wendell Jamieson wrote to staff members.

“Since arriving here in 2013 from The Washington Post, Henri has become a power to be reckoned with on the Metro desk. He has run big breaking cop and transit news such as last year’s Metro-North crash, ambitious enterprise and smart beat reporting, such as housing. He is a great teammate, fast on the web, ready with a joke or a smart thought on the story of the day, who has helped get the desk organized in ways both large and small. He runs towards trouble, not away from it…”

Cauvin is married to Rachel L. Swarns, who, with her husband, left Washington for New York in 2013 and was later named a Times metro columnist.

Police Attack Journalists Covering Mexico Protests

In Mexico, “Journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to cover the protests about the 43 missing trainee teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero, which have turned violent since the authorities announced on 7 November that gangsters probably murdered them,” Reporters Without Borders reported on Monday.

“At least seven journalists were attacked by police during clashes in the state capital of Chilpancingo on 11 November, when police drove back demonstrators who had just set fire to the local headquarters of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

“Carlos Navarrete Romero of the El Sur Acapulco newspaper told Reporters Without Borders that police threw stones at him and hit him although he had clearly identified himself as a journalist.

“Two other newspaper photographers, Sebastián Luna of Vértice and Anwar Delgado Peralta of El Universal, suffered the same fate when they tried to protect Navarrete. . . .”

Mike Wise, White Writer, Joins Whitlock’s “Black Grantland”

“Mike Wise, a Washington Post sports columnist for more than a decade, is leaving the paper to help ESPN launch a new site focused on the intersection of sports, culture and race,” Dan Steinberg reported Monday for the Post. “The Post announced the news in a staff memo Monday evening.

“The new site — the brainchild of Jason Whitlock, who will be its editor-in-chief — has been commonly referred to as ‘Black Grantland’ in recent months. Wise, it’s worth noting, is bald, middle-aged, and also white.

“Wise declined to comment on any potential career move earlier Monday. An ESPN spokesman said the network is at an advanced stage of negotiation with Wise to join Whitlock’s soon-to-launch site, and that a formal announcement likely would happen soon. . . .”

Steinberg also wrote, “Of course, in recent years, he likely became best-known locally for columns about issues that went beyond sports, from Jason Collins to Dave Kopay to the n-word to, yes, the Redskins name. Such issues likely will be a part of the mission at Whitlock’s site, which is expected to debut sometime in 2015. . . .”

When ESPN lured Whitlock from Fox Sports in 2013, Ed Sherman wrote in his Sherman Report, “Whitlock actually is embarking on a noble mission. He will be assisting in the launch and will be the featured columnist in a new ESPN website that will be aimed at minority sports fans. He referred to the site as ‘a Black Grantland,’ which generated some headlines. But there’s more at play here.

” ‘I want to try to engage all sports fans, particularly minority sports fans, in a conversation about sports,’ Whitlock said in the podcast.”

Sherman added, “Now here’s the kicker: the site will be looking to hire and develop young African-American sportswriters. It’s hardly news that the profession has a dramatic shortage there. . . .”

3 Journalists of Color Hired for “Black Grantland” 

Jesse Washington, race relations reporter for the Associated Press, Danielle Cadet, former editor of HuffPost BlackVoices, and Ryan Cortes, a freelance writer who has written for Broward New Times in Florida, are joining Jason Whitlock’s soon-to-launch site for ESPN that has been dubbed “Black Grantland,” ESPN announced on Tuesday.

The hiring of the three journalists of color comes a day after news of the expected hiring of Mike Wise, a white sports columnist for the Washington Post, caused concern among black sports writers that Whitlock was betraying the stated purpose of the site — to develop African American sports writing talent.

According to the news release, the site is to “provide in-depth coverage, commentary and insight on sports, race and culture directed [toward] the African-American audience.

“Jesse Washington, a veteran writer and editor, joins the project as a senior writer, based on the East Coast. Danielle Cadet, a former writer/editor for ‘The Huffington Post Black Voices,’ will be a senior editor for the site, based in Los Angeles, Calif. Ryan Cortes will be based in Los Angeles as a staff writer.

” ‘Jesse, Danielle and Ryan represent the diversity of perspective, experience and background it will take to cover the intersection of sports, race and culture in an impactful, thoughtful and fair way,’ said Whitlock, the site’s founder and editor-in-chief. ‘I’m honored they’ve joined us on this important journey.’

Danielle Cadet

“Washington joins ESPN from the Associated Press where he has been the national writer on race and ethnicity since July 2008. Previously, he held several positions as AP’s entertainment editor, editor in chief of Blaze magazine, and managing editor of Vibe magazine.

“A Yale University graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in English, Washington is author of [Black Will Shoot: A Novel] about the hip-hop culture.

“Cadet joins Whitlock’s ESPN project from ‘The Huffington Post Black Voices’ where she led the site’s breaking news coverage of several national stories, including the Trayvon Martin murder case in Florida and the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer and its resultant civil protests in Ferguson, Mo.

“Cadet holds bachelor and master’s degrees from the Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She was named on Ebony.com’’ list of ‘8 Dynamic Black Women Editors in New Media’ in March 2013.

“Cortes joins ESPN after contributing to several media outlets, including the ‘Broward New Times’ in South Florida, Lifestyle Magazine group, Life Publications and others. He is [a] multimedia journalism graduate of Florida Atlantic University and was named the Florida College Press Association’s 2012 College Journalist of the Year.”

Whitlock’s first hire was executive editor Amy DuBois Barnett, former editor in chief of Ebony magazine

Grantland is the sports and pop culture website founded by Bill Simmons, sports columnist, analyst, author and podcaster. It is known for its “longform” journalism. [Added Nov. 18]

Ethnic Newspaper Reinvents Itself as Cultural Institution

“While daily newspapers across the country battle for their lives, a scrappy little ethnic newspaper in San Francisco’s Japantown is discovering new ways to survive,” Jon Funabiki wrote Wednesday for New America Media. “It is the Nichi Bei Weekly, and it’s become my poster child for the special role that ethnic news media can play in their communities.

“The elements of success include the newspaper’s deep roots in the Japanese American community, a new nonprofit business model, and an expanded mission that includes a growing set of vibrant, intergenerational cultural programs. A recent example was the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage, which drew more than 600 people, young and old, to honor the 85,000 Japanese immigrants who passed through the ‘Ellis Island of the West.’

“All of these elements were evident when the newspaper recently held its fifth anniversary celebration in a cavernous basketball gymnasium in the heart of Japantown. The program featured traditional odori dancers, a UC Berkeley a cappella choir singing songs in Japanese and English, and gourmet food with your choice of pesto mashed potatoes or steamed gohan (rice). The event had a distinctly Japanese American and multigenerational flavor, with awards and honors given to numerous volunteers and organizations who have contributed to the Nichi Bei’s success. One award went to Renaissance Journalism — more on this later.

“The newspaper traces its history back to 1899 . . .”

Short Takes

  • “As rain poured onto the Capitol grounds Monday morning, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., joined Republican senators and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to plant a tree on the north side of the Capitol in honor of Emmett Till,” Bridget Bowman reported Monday for Roll Call. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lewis sponsored the effort to plant the American sycamore tree in honor of Till at the request of Janet Langhart Cohen, author of the play “Anne and Emmett,” which details an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank and Till. Cohen is married to ex-Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine., for whom Collins worked after graduating from college. She is a former television journalist.
  • “Sunday morning political talk shows on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox devoted just 30 seconds of coverage to net neutrality the week after President Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to require Internet service providers to treat all content equally,” Craig Harrington reported Monday for Media Matters for America. “Those same programs dedicated nearly 17 minutes to helping scandalize comments made by Jonathan Gruber, an economist who helped estimate the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). . . .”
  • “Sandra Long Weaver spent roughly 30 years climbing to the top of the newspaper industry, only to be abruptly fired in 2011,” Jenice Armstrong wrote Sunday for the Philadelphia Daily News. “Overnight, Weaver went from being one of the highest ranking people at Philadelphia Media Network, the former parent company of the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com, to not knowing if she would ever work again. . . .  She is back in Philadelphia, hoping to resurrect a concept she pioneered at the Inquirer and turn it into a money-making venture. It’s a women’s networking event called Tea and Conversations. . . . The goal is to bring together professional African-American women to forge relationships and brainstorm ways to improve their communities. . . .”
  • “Soledad O’Brien‘s new documentary ‘Black in America: Black & Blue’ premieres Tuesday, November 18 at 9 PM ET on CNN,” Brian Flood reported Saturday for TVNewser. “The new installment of her ‘Black in America’ series touches a hot button issue, in the wake of the Ferguson, MO shooting and riots. The documentary will portray the personal stories of the men affected by aggressive policing tactics, many of whom were able to document the confrontations in shocking videos. . . .”
  • At the Los Angeles Times, “Starting January 1, staffers will no longer be able to bank vacation — because they won’t automatically earn or be entitled to any vacation, sick days or floating holidays,” Kevin Roderick reported Monday for LAObserved. “To get any time off, a reporter or editor will have to go to a supervisor and make a case ‘subject to their professional judgment and to the performance expectations of their supervisor that apply to their job.’ In one stroke, vacation time and sick days become a management tool to monitor and reward or punish performance — or to favor the yes men that plague the Times’ organization — and crucially, a way to get that expensive banked vacation off the books. . . .”
  • Karen Mitchell, assistant professor of convergence journalism at the University of Missouri, announced on her blog Monday that she is leaving for the Tennessean in Nashville to become visual coach. “I’m not quitting the Missouri School of Journalism — I’m quitting Columbia. It’s been 11 years here and I have learned and grown a lot. But mostly at the professional level. My personal life has not progressed and it’s time for a little more balance in my life, balance I haven’t been able to find in Columbia,” she wrote.
  • “To borrow a This American Life-ism: What happens when a white journalist stomps around in a cold case involving people from two distinctly separate immigrant communities? Does she get it right?” Jay Caspian Kang wrote Wednesday for the Awl. He was discussing Serial, a hit crime podcast from public radio’s “This American Life.” Kang and Julia Carrie Wong, who wrote Sunday for BuzzFeed, say Serial did not get it right. Wong wrote, “For many people of color, I imagine listening to [host Sarah] Koenig talk about what it means to have ‘immigrant parents’ is akin to the experience of the Chinese students in the audience when Mark Zuckerberg spoke Mandarin for 30 minutes last month. It’s nice that you made the effort, but that doesn’t mean you’re making any sense. . . .”
  • “When you’re a Latino commentator, audiences made up of fellow Latinos can be a tough crowd,” columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. wrote Sunday for the Washington Post Writers Group. “A lot of people seem eager to lecture me on how to do my job. They’re also laying out their expectations, and explaining what they think my role should be.” Navarrette added, ” It’s not my job to persuade or petition or do public relations. I’m not a trial attorney arguing a case, a politician asking for votes, or an educator teaching a class. I’m an old school ‘journo’ who still clings to the quaint notion that we ought to cover the story but not become part of it, and that we’re not supposed to serve either political party because we’re busy serving up truth. I’m not here to tell you what to think; I’m just happy if you think at all. My job is to provoke you to challenge your beliefs and assumptions, even when doing so ticks you off. . . .”
  • “While I don’t know anyone who actually celebrates it, I’m sure someone somewhere does,” Jonathan Capehart wrote Wednesday for the Washington Post. Referring to Wisconsin State Sen. Glenn Grothman, a “Republican bomb-thrower” and incoming House freshman. Capehart continued, “But he’s got me pegged. I can’t stand Kwanzaa.” Capehart was denounced in the blogosphere. Yvette Carnell, for instance, wrote Thursday for the Breaking Brown blog under the headline, “Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart Openly Voices Contempt for Black People and Black Culture.”
  • “The Poynter Institute announced late Friday afternoon — when bad news is always released — that it lost $3.5 million in 2013, and expects to report another loss at the end of 2014,” Jim Romenesko reported Friday on his media blog.
  • “On Monday, radio and television presenter Bonang Matheba took to her Instagram account to announce that she will be on the cover of Glamour South Africa’s December issue, Pontsho Pilane reported Monday for the Daily Vox in Johannesburg. “While Queen B* gracing the cover of any magazine is not entirely big news, what makes this announcement special is that Matheba will be the first local black celebrity to be on the cover of Glamour SA. . . .”
  • “Oscar Castaño Valencia, a Colombian journalist, was beaten and threatened last week for investigating gang involvement in child prostitution, Reporters Without Borders reported on Friday,” Jackson Connor reported for Huffington Post. “Castaño, who is the director of ‘Oriéntese,’ a television program on the network Cosmovisión, had been working for three months on a report tying gangs — known locally as ‘combos’ — to child sexual exploitation in the city of Bello, near Medellin. He was supposed to be meeting a source when he was attacked by three masked men and forced to sign a confession stating that he had in fact been on his way to rape an under-age girl. The encounter was recorded by the assailants and Castaño was told his ‘life was at stake,’ according to RWB. . . .”
  • The use of the term “anchor babies” on CNN’s “New Day” drew the wrath of the Latino Rebels site. “This is what happens when you lack diversity in newsrooms — not just in front of the camera, but behind it as well,” according to a Saturday posting. “CNN should step up its game and admit that using such language brings us back to the Age of Lou Dobbs. Yet in the narrative that is immigration, always keep it sensational, right, CNN? . . .”
  • A survey by the Public Religion Research Institute “asked folks whether they agreed or disagreed with the notion that ‘Police officers generally treat blacks and other minorities the same as whites,’ Erik Wemple reported Wednesday for the Washington Post. “Those who named [Fox News’ Bill] O’Reilly and his colleagues as their most trusted TV source, found the survey, agreed to the tune of 71 percent to 25 percent. For CNN? Simply flip the numbers: Just 26 percent of those who named CNN their most trusted TV source agreed with that idea, as opposed to the 72 percent who disagreed with it. . . .”
  • Reporters Without Borders Monday called on Algerian authorities “to allow imprisoned journalist Abdessami’ Abdelhai to defend himself in fair and properly constituted legal proceedings. He began a hunger strike 12 days ago in protest against his detention without a trial in Tébessa (600 km east of Algiers) for the past 15 months. . . .”
  • “The Atlantic and the College Board are holding a new writing contest to recognize the best high school essayists, with the writer of the grand prize-winning essay receiving a cash prize and publication in the magazine,” the two organizations announced Monday. “For their essays, students this year will focus on important documents from American history. The annual contest seeks to identify promising young writers in the United States and around the world and to instill the analytical-writing skills critical to success in college and professional life. Sponsoring teachers can submit essays for students from January 1 to February 28, 2015. . . .” Details on this page.

 

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