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Why Obama Liked “The Wire”

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President: Emulate “Humanizing” of Drug Criminals

Ex-N.Y. Times “Race Beat” Reporter Leaves for CNN

Dori Maynard Service Scheduled May 4 in D.C.

“60 Minutes,” Critic of Africa Coverage in Standoff

Chicago Radio Hosts Apologize for Tweets About Breasts

John Shurr Dies, A.P. Bureau Chief, FOI Hero, Cherokee

Gail Woolley Dies, Helped Finance Newhouse Students

Blackout on Child Sex Abuse by U.S. Troops in Colombia?

Newspaper Offices Sacked, Employees Kidnapped in Yemen

Nigeria Holding Two Al Jazeera Journalists

Short Takes

President Obama tells David Simon, “I’m a huge fan of ‘The Wire.’ I think it’s one of the greatest not just television shows, but pieces of art, in the last couple of decades.” (video)

President: Emulate “Humanizing” of Drug Criminals

President Obama told the creator of the legendary HBO drama “The Wire” on Thursday that efforts to reform the criminal justice system should include local newscasts showing the humanity of those charged with nonviolent drug crimes.

“Part of the challenge is going to be making sure, number one, we humanize what so often on the local news is just a bunch of shadowy characters, and tell their stories,” Obama told David Simon in a conversation that the White House distributed as a video. “That’s why the work you’ve done is so important.” Their talk was shown at the #Cut50 Bipartisan Criminal Justice Summit in Washington.

Obama also told Simon that his favorite character on “The Wire” was Omar Little, described by the Huffington Post as “a gay, shotgun-toting stick-up man who robbed from drugdealers to give to the poor” and by Bloomberg News as “the magical realist Robin Hood played by Michael K. Williams.”

Simon, a onetime Baltimore Sun reporter, told the president, “The guy who was the model for the character Omar in ‘The Wire’ was a real guy named Donny Anders. I never thought I’d be saying his name in the White House. He’s a guy who lived the life on the street; he spent years robbing drug dealers, he lived hard. And he eventually caught a 17-year bid and he deserved it. But he wasn’t caught, he actually went in on conscience, cause it finally got to him. And he did everything that the prosecutors wanted him to do.

“He came out 17 years later and all he wanted to do was give back to West Baltimore; he’d taken so much, he’d been in for 17 years, he just wanted to address himself to the disaster. And on paper that man — who is an extraordinary man, he’s one of the most extraordinary men I’ve met in my life — on paper he was a convicted felon and a convicted murderer. There was nothing that could get him from that extremity. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of lives that have been disconnected and have no way to channel back in.”

Obama: “And part of what — Omar’s, by the way, my favorite character.”

Simon: “I was worried about that when you said it.”

Obama isn’t the first to call for the humanization of men of color who have been incarcerated. Nearly a year ago, for example, Sherrilyn A. Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., appealed to the Journalists Roundtable, an informal dinner group of Washington journalists, to present people of color, especially those caught up in the criminal justice system, as three-dimensional figures. She pointed to such fictional white criminals as those in “The Godfather” movies or television’s “The Sopranos” as examples of  multidimensional representations.

“Too often race and class block that recognition,” Ifill said.

Obama also told Simon that “in the same way you’ve got to be able to humanize those involved in the drug trade, we have to remind ourselves that the police, they’ve got a scary, tough, difficult job. And if the rest of society is saying ‘just go deal with this, we don’t want to hear about it,’ and you’re just on the front lines, and ‘just keep it out of our sight lines and it’s not our problem,’ we’re betraying them as well. And ultimately you’re going to have to address some of the environmental issues.

“And I know that’s not fashionable because the notion is, ‘oh, you don’t want to make excuses for criminals,’ but what we understand, and what perhaps one of the most moving sections of ‘The Wire’ was, that whole depiction of the schools in Baltimore and public schools, was if kids are left so far behind that they don’t have recourse, they’re going to see what else is available to survive. . . .”

Tanzina Vega, a media reporter, reports on the scene outside the NBC Upfront presentation in 2011.

Ex-N.Y. Times “Race Beat” Reporter Leaves for CNN

Two months after being reassigned from the national race beat at the New York Times in favor of opening the Times’ first fulltime Bronx courthouse beat, Tanzina Vega is leaving the newspaper to join CNN Politics as a digital correspondent.

The abandonment of the race beat prompted commentary on the pros and cons of such an assignment, and the slot has remained unfilled. Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet said in January that Vega’s transfer was “not a cosmic decision about how we cover race.” He told Public Editor Margaret Sullivan “that he would be having discussions with masthead editors, as well as editors on the national and metro desks, about how to broaden the coverage of race beyond a single beat.”

A CNN spokeswoman told Journal-isms Friday that the network had approached Vega. She “will focus on the intersection of technology and politics,” Rachel Smolkin, executive editor of CNN Politics, wrote to staff members in a memo. “She’ll look at innovative ways the 2016 campaigns are using technology, the evolution of micro targeting and new twists in voter registration. She’ll also mine the blending of technology and politics beyond the beltway, from grassroots movements to civil rights to hashtag activism on social media.

“She’ll build on the work that she has done so well at the Times, including her smart coverage of race and ethnicity. This is an important area where we will distinguish ourselves going into 2016. As previously announced, Nia-Malika Henderson joins us April 6 as a national political reporter focusing on identity politics, and we’re excited for the collaboration between these rock-star reporters.

“Tanzina will be based in our New York office — along with the fabulous duo of Ashley Codianni and MJ Lee — and will be looking for opportunities to partner with our friends in CNNMoney as well. . . .”

Vega wrote on Facebook, “Working at The New York Times has been an honor and I consider myself blessed to have been able to cover subjects including digital media and advertising from Madison Avenue to Washington D.C., race and ethnicity in the United States including the events in Ferguson, Mo., and, most recently, the New York City court system.

“I started at The Times as a news clerk and freelance reporter for the Metro section and rose through the ranks to become a producer and staff reporter. I am extremely grateful to the editors, producers and fellow reporters who have supported me along the way.”

Times Metro Editor Wendell Jamieson told staffers, “Tanzina, clearly struggling with her decision, said it was an ‘offer she couldn’t refuse.’

“It’s bitter because I’m sorry to lose her, but sweet because I’m happy for her.

“After her much talked-about race beat in National, Tanzina embraced the Bronx courts beat with both hands and her sleeves rolled up. She made a lot of fast friends in Metro, which, of course, is where she started as a clerk 8 years ago. . . .”

Ellen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, told Journal-isms there were no new developments on the future of the race beat.

Dori Maynard Service Scheduled May 4 in D.C.

Over the last five years, Dori J. Maynard worked closely with the Center for Black Male Achievement to change the narratives around black men and boys.

The East Coast memorial service for Dori J. Maynard, the president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education who died on Feb. 24 after battling lung cancer, is scheduled for May 4 at the Newseum in Washington, the institute announced on Thursday.

The service is planned for 6:30 p.m. at the Newseum’s Knight Conference Center on what would have been Maynard’s 57th birthday. Those who plan to attend are urged to RSVP on the Institute’s website.

A standing-room-only service was held March 1 in Oakland, Calif., in a chapel holding about 200 people. The Knight conference center holds about 250, according to Pam Galloway-Tabb, senior vice president/conferences & special services at the Newseum.

Evelyn Hsu, acting executive director of the institute, said the list of speakers is being developed. Hsu is part of a planning committee that includes Dorothy Gilliam, a member of the Maynard board; this columnist; Jeanne Fox-Alston, a Maynard alumna and retired media association executive; and Sonya Ross, a news editor at the Associated Press Washington bureau.

The institute is seeking media sponsors for the commemoration. Those interested may contact Hsu at ehsu (at) mije.org.

“60 Minutes,” Critic of Africa Coverage in Standoff

The executive editor of CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes” responded Friday to Howard W. French, who produced the signatures of 150 journalists and academics on an “open letter” critical of the program’s Africa coverage, by seconding an invitation forwarded by a “60 Minutes” spokesman Wednesday.

“Historically, 60 Minutes has taken great pride in our coverage of the African continent,” Bill Owens wrote, adding that Executive Producer Jeff Fager, to whom French addressed his letter, was out of the country on assignment. “That being said, we would be very happy to invite you to our offices to discuss your concerns,” Owens wrote. “Please let me know if you are interested and some dates that might be convenient. I look forward to hearing from you.”

French, who teaches journalism at Columbia University and has covered Africa for the New York Times, replied by message that “the appropriate way forward, indeed the only gauge of sincerity, would be for you, or for the program, to address the specific issues raised in my letter. Saying merely that you have great pride in your Africa coverage frankly does not do so.”

Journal-isms asked Owens for his response to the way French defined the appropriate way to deal with his concerns. Owens messaged, “We have very high standards here at 60 Minutes and work to make each story, in every week’s broadcast, as good as it can be. We are very proud of all of our international reporting, including the decades of work we have done in Africa. I have never met Mr. French but I know of his work and asked if he would like to come here to discuss the stories that he highlights in his ‘open letter’ to our Executive Producer Jeff Fager. That invitation remains open.”

French and the other signatories to his letter complained that “In a series of recent segments from the continent, 60 Minutes has managed, quite extraordinarily, to render people of black African ancestry voiceless and all but invisible. . . .”

French told Journal-isms on Friday, “the very language of Owen’s letter confirms a lack of importance attached to the subject of Africa. Had it been something they really cared about, such a dull and almost insultingly pro forma reply would never have been issued. I’ve not heard back from them, by the way. And I’m willing to wait for Fager’s return, if they really want to talk.”

He added, “I think finding a way to get African American journalists more involved in African coverage and foreign correspondence generally is critically important to all of this.”

Chicago Radio Hosts Apologize for Tweets About Breasts

“A pair of Chicago radio hosts from 670 AM The Score, Dan Bernstein and Matt Spiegel, showed off some impressive sexism and unprofessionalism on Twitter Wednesday night, turning a conversation about CSN Chicago reporter Aiyana Cristal’s work into one about her breasts,” Andrew Bucholtz wrote Thursday for awfulannouncing.com

Bucholtz also wrote, “Both have since apologized, with Spiegel doing so on Twitter and on the air and Bernstein talking about it on the air. However, they’ve taken a lot of criticism for this, and deservedly so. . . .”

The National Association of Black Journalists issued a statement. “NABJ President Bob Butler said he hopes CBS takes appropriate action and uses this as a teaching moment of how not to use social media.

” ‘I’ve known Cristal since she graduated from college and I know she has paid a lot of dues to get where she is today,’ Butler said. ‘She does not deserve this, nor does any other woman who works in our industry.’ . . .”

John Shurr Dies, A.P. Bureau Chief, FOI Hero, Cherokee

John C. Shurr, a champion of the public’s right to know, former longtime South Carolina Associated Press bureau chief and an enrolled Oklahoma Cherokee who advised the Cherokee Phoenix, newspaper of the Cherokee nation, was buried March 20 in Beaufort, S.C., a spokesman for Beaufort National Cemetery told Journal-isms on Friday.

Shurr died on March 1 at 67. “He died at his home in the Columbia area, and his death was released by his family through the S.C. Press Association,” John Monk reported March 2 for the State in Columbia, S.C., in an obituary later updated by the Island Packet in Hilton Head, S.C.

During the Vietnam War, “he was exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical used by the U.S. military to destroy vegetation where the Viet Cong were hiding but that also led to numerous debilitating health issues for Americans exposed to it. In his final years, Shurr was classified as disabled by the chemical. . . .”

Monk also wrote, ” ‘If it weren’t for John Shurr, we might not have cameras in courtrooms today,’ said Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, who praised Shurr’s years-long crusade to bring more transparency to criminal and civil legal proceedings.

The obituary also said, ” ‘I’m an enrolled Oklahoma Cherokee and a student of native history. My mother, her parents and her brother were on the Dawes Commission rolls, a census of Cherokees taken before Oklahoma statehood,’ Shurr wrote in a 1992 op-ed piece in The State newspaper.

“Shurr had written the op-ed to take issue what he said were numerous factual errors in a State editorial praising Christopher Columbus as well as, Shurr believed, ignoring and misrepresenting Native American history. In his piece, Shurr pointed out that Native Americans were in America at least 12,000 years before Columbus and that European diseases and massacres had led to the deaths of millions of Native Americans. . . .”

When he retired in 2009, Shurr told Journal-isms, “I’m staying involved in things that have always been important to me: I remain chairman of the South Carolina Press Association’s FOI Committee, a pro-bono role I’ve had now for 22 years, and I’m continuing to serve the Cherokee Nation as a member of the Editorial Board for The Cherokee Phoenix.

“In those roles, I’ve been able to improve and ward off attacks on open government statutes in South Carolina and help the Cherokees with that mainstream experience by taking the SC FOI law and reworking it to fit an Indian tribe.

“Several of my bureau chief friends and others set up a scholarship fund with the tribe in my name and we now have our first recipient who’s now working for The Phoenix this summer. I’m also planning to sponsor a scholarship for a Cherokee combat veteran from any branch of service who wants to get a college degree in his or her choice of areas. . . .”

Blackout on Child Sex Abuse by U.S. Troops in Colombia?

“An 800-page independent report commissioned by the US-friendly Colombian government and the radical left rebel group FARC found that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007 and, in all cases, the rapists were never punished — either in Colombia or stateside — due to American military personnel being immune from prosecution under diplomatic immunity agreements between the two countries,” Adam Johnson reported Thursday for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting.

Johnson also wrote, “Yet here we are, over 72 hours since the Colombian and foreign press first reported on the allegations, and there’s a virtual media blackout in America over the case. Nothing on CNN, nothing on MSNBC, nothing in the New York Times or Miami Herald. Nothing in Huffington Post. Nothing in Fusion or Vice. Why? . . .”

Newspaper Offices Sacked, Employees Kidnapped in Yemen

“I just got off the phone with Sameer Jubran, editor and co-founder of the independent Yemeni newspaper and website, Al Masdar. According to Jubran, the news organization’s headquarters was just sacked by Houthi militants,” Andy Carvin reported Thursday for medium.com.

” ‘Minutes ago, dozens of militants stormed the building that had the newspaper’s headquarters,’ he said. ‘They kidnapped practically everyone who was there and took away all of our equipment.’

” ‘For the past weeks, the staff at the paper has been harassed,’ Jubran continued. ‘I’ve been harassed and followed to my home.’ Because of the threat, Jubran is currently outside of Yemen.”

Carvin also wrote, “Al Masdar was not the only news organization targeted. According to Jubran, Houthi militants also sacked independent satellite channel Yemen Shabab, which is located in the same building as Al Masdar. ‘The same thing happened to them,’ he said. Meanwhile, there are reports that other independent news outlets have been raided, but at the time of this writing, their status cannot be confirmed. . . .”

Nigeria Holding Two Al Jazeera Journalists

“Nigeria’s military has detained two Al Jazeera journalists in the northeast city of Maiduguri since Tuesday, the television broadcaster said on Thursday, days ahead of the country’s general elections,” Julia Payne reported Thursday for Reuters.

“Al Jazeera said the journalists, Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa, were being kept in their hotel rooms until further notice. Their camera equipment has been confiscated.

“It added that the two journalists had been accredited by the electoral authorities with ‘clearance to report from anywhere’.

“Northeastern Nigeria was effectively declared off limits to journalists in 2013 after the government imposed emergency rule in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno, the three states worst affected by Islamist jihadists Boko Haram. Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency. . . .”

Short Takes

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