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Journal-isms May 13

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Baltimore Sun Says Mayor Hasn’t Been Up to the Job

Native Americans Have a Stake in “Black Lives Matter”

Some in Media Missed Point of Michelle Obama Speech

ASNE to Meet Public in Newark to Discuss Urban Coverage

Low-Income News Consumers Need to Know More About “Systems”

Nominate a J-Educator Who Has Helped Diversity

Short Takes

Baltimore Sun Says Mayor Hasn’t Been Up to the Job

The Baltimore Sun editorial board maintained again Wednesday that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had not risen to the occasion in dealing with the problems of the city highlighted by the death in police custody of Freddie Gray and the resulting unrest:

” ‘Nobody died during the riots,’ Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake observed Tuesday,” the editorial began, “in defending her administration’s response to the widespread violence and looting in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death, mayhem that left scores of police officers and civilians injured, buildings burned, businesses looted and a city reeling to recover. “Out of the two weeks of demonstrations, we only had a few hours of unrest, and then we were able to restore peace and calm” — a few hours in which she as leader of the city was mostly invisible but images of Baltimore descending into chaos were broadcast around the world.

“In trying times, leaders need to step up. That’s more than a matter of making the right decisions behind the scenes — and it’s certainly debatable whether Mayor Rawlings-Blake did even that. It’s also a matter of projecting calm and authority. Not only did she fail at that on the fateful Monday night of the riots, but the defensiveness with which she has discussed her role and that of Gov. Larry Hogan has only diminished her stature as the city has descended into a new and horrific round of violence.

“Nobody may have died on that Monday night, but at least 18 people have been killed since then and more than 50 shot. At any other time, that would constitute a full- blown municipal crisis, but what has the mayor had to say about it? What has Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said, other than a pledge to redistribute patrols? The only voices the public hears are from some police officers who blame the crime spike on the angst and ennui of their fellow patrolmen in the wake of State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s decision to charge the six officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death. . . .”

“The editorial concluded, ‘We acknowledge that there’s more to being mayor than going out in public and rallying the city, and that Ms. Rawlings-Blake has brought real skill and determination to problems for which she will never get much credit, like reforming municipal pensions and reducing employee health care costs. But the city was in crisis when rioters took to the streets on April 27, and it has been in crisis during the spate of violence that has followed. We need the mayor to rise to the occasion, not to lament the ‘tremendous personal sacrifice’ that the job entails. If it is too much for her, there are plenty of others who would be willing to take on that responsibility. The way things are going, we suspect we’ll be hearing quite a lot from them before next year’s election.”

 

Native Americans Have a Stake in “Black Lives Matter”

How does the “Black Lives Matter” movement affect American Indians “and why should we get involved in this movement? There are a few reasons why this should be a wake-up call for the disparate treatment of all peoples of color‘, ” Monique Vondall-Rieke, a tribal attorney who generally practices in the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court Jurisdiction in North Dakota, wrote Wednesday for the Indian Country Today Media Network.

Vondfall-Rieke also wrote, “There is no doubt that unsolved murders in Indian Country has been an issue since before Anna Mae Pictou Aquash’s hands were severed from her deceased body and mailed to Washington, D.C. for fingerprint identification by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in 1976. Aquash’s murder was not brought to justice until the new millennium and finalized with the last prosecution taking place in 2008.

“In 2001 on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Reservation near the Canadian border in Belcourt, North Dakota, George Jeanotte, a Native American male Vietnam Veteran was murdered and to this day, no one has been charged with his murder despite the family of Jeanotte’s pleas to find his killer. . . .

“Now is the time for American Indian officials to approach the DOJ and be a visible part of the changes coming from yet another chapter in the Civil Rights chapter of American History.”

Some in Media Missed Point of Michelle Obama Speech

“I hope people who attended Tuskegee University’s commencement on Saturday got Michelle Obama’s message,” DeWayne Wickham wrote Tuesday for USA Today. “I hope they paid more attention to what she said than how some news media organizations portrayed the first lady’s speech to graduates of the historically black Alabama school.

“I don’t want them to think People magazine got it right when it ran as the headline her dismay over being pictured as a fist-pumping Black Panther on a cover of The New Yorker in 2008. It didn’t. And neither did CNN, which put this headline on its report of that speech: ‘Michelle Obama says she was held to different standard in ’08 campaign due to her race.’

“What she told Tuskegee’s graduates was much more profound.

“Obama’s message was about overcoming obstacles — it was about the ‘double duty’ blacks have to our country and our race. She talked of the obstacles overcome by members of the Tuskegee Airmen, black combat pilots who served with great distinction during World War II. They trained at Tuskegee and suffered the indignities of Jim Crow racism while fighting for America. . . .”

 

ASNE to Meet Public in Newark to Discuss Urban Coverage

The American Society of News Editors is planning a free, two-day conference in Newark, N.J., next month that intends to bring journalists, civic leaders and the public together to discuss such questions as “Is one man’s economic renaissance another man’s gentrification?”

The event is part of ASNE’s National Community and News Literacy Roundtables Project, presented by Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media , ASNE announced last week. .

“On Monday, June 15, journalists, civic leaders and the public will gather at [New Jersey Performing Arts Center] in downtown Newark to discuss a question raised by the very venue: Is one man’s economic renaissance another man’s gentrification? The 7-9 p.m. town hall will feature a cross-section of community leaders and media members engaging the public in a discussion about what happens when money comes into an economically depleted city and how Newark’s experience is reported and debated in the community,” the announcement said.

“Day Two of the conference, Tuesday, June 16, will take place across the street at the historic Robert Treat Hotel and open with a conversation between Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, and Merrill Brown, director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University.

“At a special breakout session on Day Two, we will pick up the thread from the Monday night roundtable and continue the conversation in a smaller setting. This will give participants in both events a chance to see how scale affects the conversation.

“Engage Local offers a jam-packed schedule with nationally noted speakers who will rev up your engagement game as they discuss:

While there is no charge to participate, ASNE is asking those interested to register.

Low-Income News Consumers Need to Know More About “Systems”

“So how do the needs and, more importantly, wants, of low-income news consumers differ from those of people who are more well-off?” Joe Pinkser of the Atlantic asked Sarah Alvarez of Michigan public radio, a senior producer for State of Opportunity, a grant-funded reporting project that focuses on how poverty shapes the lives of local families.

“I wish I knew more,” Alvarez replied. “There’s just not enough people working on this, so most of what I know, I’m looking at proxy studies that are close but not exactly right. We know that people want more information about local news. They want better information on how they can make decisions. I also know from my reporting that people need more information on how to navigate certain systems because that information is put out by groups or government offices that are bad at filling information gaps.

Pinsker: “When you say ‘systems,’ what do you mean?

Alvarez: “Healthcare, education, benefits — but it’s not only stuff like that. It’s just that systems are involved. Low-income people have a lot more interactions with systems, and there is not a lot of reporting on where those systems truly break down. There are a lot of stories like, ‘Oh! We’re cutting off benefits for these people.’ But there’s not a lot of information on how to navigate those systems. The thing that totally got me interested in this was what James Hamilton said about how when information gaps exist, accountability is what suffers. And that’s when I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what I want to do.’ There’s also not a lot of stories about, ‘Who do you hold accountable?’ There are a lot of stories about, ‘Business is totally messed up,’ but there are not stories that say, ‘And this is whose doorstep that lies at.’ . . . “

 

Short Takes

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