Maynard Institute archives

Black Fox Staffers “Hold Their Noses”

by richard0482

Network Blasts Observation by Former NABJ President

Fox Story on Dearborn Prompts Calls to Bomb City

Is Editorial Cartoon on Gun Violence Too Crass?

Mizzou to Require Campus-Wide Diversity Training

2 Investigations Find Courts Used Unfairly Against Debtors

Body Cameras Capture Dramatic Footage of Undocumented

For Some, the Day Will Honor Indians, Not Columbus

Native Magazine Won’t Ask for Your “Colonized” Name

. . . White Teacher Has Empathy for Unique “Black” Names

Project to Report on Missing “Ghost Boat” of 243 Africans

Short Takes

Harris Faulkner, host of the Fox News Channel show “Outnumbered,” atop Charlie Gasparino of Fox Business Network, who said that he could do push-ups with Faulkner on his back. (Faulkner is not named in complaints about Fox News.) (video)

Network Blasts Observation by Former NABJ President

“African-American Fox News staffers find it ‘very difficult’ to work at the network, former president of the National Association of Black Journalists Bob Butler told TheWrap on Thursday,” Jordan Charlton reported for TheWrap.com.

” ‘I’ve talked to some folks who work there and it’s very difficult, especially when you have all the hit pieces that are done on Obama,’ Butler said.

“His comments come as Rupert Murdoch continues to face criticism over a controversial tweet on Wednesday that insinuated President Obama isn’t ‘a real black president.’ Murdoch apologized on Thursday.

“But those disillusioned staffers also told Butler, ‘Look, this is a job, I have to do it, and sometimes you have to just hold your nose and do what you have to do to collect a paycheck.’ Butler, who served as president of the NABJ from 2013-2015, said those employees are good producers who pride themselves on covering news.

“Regarding Murdoch’s comments suggesting the president isn’t an authentic black president, a dumbfounded Butler wondered ‘what does that even mean?’

“He’s not surprised Murdoch isn’t a fan of Obama judging by the editorial policies of his properties, but wouldn’t call him a racist.

” ‘I always stop short of saying someone is being blatantly racist,’ Butler continued before saying it’s troubling for Murdoch, who isn’t black, to be deciding who is ‘black enough. ‘. . .”

“Sarah Glover, current president of the National Association of Black Journalists, declined TheWrap’s request for comment.”

Bob Butler

Charlton followed up with an update: “A spokesperson for Fox News said in a statement to TheWrap, ‘We find it extremely suspect that Bob Butler, with whom we had nothing but a good relationship during his two-term tenure as President at the NABJ, would choose now to come out publicly with complaints of the network.

“He had ample opportunity to voice concerns as President, and now that his platform is gone, it seems these comments are nothing more than a bid for attention.’ “

Butler served one term as NABJ president after two terms as vice president/broadcast. 

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times wrote Thursday of the Murdoch flap, “The media mogul set off a firestorm on Wednesday night after Ben Carson, the Republican presidential candidate, appeared on Fox News. Praising the performance of the retired neurosurgeon, who is black, Mr. Murdoch wrote on Twitter that he might be better suited than the president to heal America’s racial divide.

“The backlash ensued quickly, with people accusing Mr. Murdoch of being racist and questioning his qualifications to pass judgment on someone’s ‘blackness.’

“Mr. Murdoch followed up by pointing to a recent New York magazine article that addressed the question of whether Mr. Obama, the country’s first black president, has done enough for the African-American community during his time in office. . . .

“Realizing the anger that he stirred, Mr. Murdoch said on Thursday that he was sorry and that he finds both Mr. Obama and Mr. Carson to be ‘charming.’ “

Fox Story on Dearborn Prompts Calls to Bomb City

“A woman was stoned in Dearborn last year, an unidentified man said on Fox News’ top rated show,” Ali Harb reported Wednesday for Arab American News, referring to the Detroit suburb. “If you did not hear about the incident, it is because it never happened. The claim was one of many false allegations in a Fox report on Arabs and Muslims in the city.

“The video segment aired on the O’Reilly Factor Monday night; a day later, close to a dozen calls for bombing Dearborn surfaced on Fox News’s Facebook page. City officials and community activists condemned the news network for its inaccurate portrayal of the city.

“Calling Dearborn the ‘Arabic [capital]’ of North America, Fox reporter Jesse Watters falsely alleges Muslims control the city council and the police chief is Muslim. Chief Ronald Haddad is Christian, and only two out of Dearborn’s seven-member city council identify as Muslim.

“In the report, Watters interviews several Arab American residents asking short, insolent questions with a broad smile, quickly moving the microphone, as to appear funny.

“His hard-hitting journalism included questions like:

” ‘Do you like Christmas?’

” ‘Which way is Mecca?’

” ‘Do you miss the desert?’ . . .”

Is Editorial Cartoon on Gun Violence Too Crass?

“I did not choose the editorial cartoon for Monday’s paper without some reflection,” Allen Johnson, editorial page editor of the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., wrote Tuesday.

“Was it crass or distasteful?

“Was its humor too dark with the wounds still fresh from yet another mass shooting?

“After some additional reflection, I chose to publish it, to the chagrin of some outraged readers.

” ‘Who is responsible for the disgusting weather cartoon?’ one reader seethed in a morning email.

” ‘So insensitive and disgraceful. Shame on the N&R !!! This is more reason to stop my subscription which I have been thinking about lately.’

“Only a few minutes later came an irate phone call.

“(What is it they say about rainy days on Mondays?)

“Here was my reasoning, I explained: I saw the cartoon as a commentary on how common mass shootings have become.

“The true insensitivity, as I see it, is the lack of any collective will in this country to address the problem. . . .”

There was more to come. On Friday, Jim Mitchell, editorial writer at the Dallas Morning News, blogged, “Now this Friday, more deaths from gun violence. The first at Northern Arizona; the second at Texas Southern University.

“I am not thrilled by the president going around Congress, but as a nation we have choices to make. Either do something about gun violence, be it on the streets of Chicago or against students or parishioners. Or we pretend that gun violence is just something, we are destined to live with, or more to the point, die from. . . .”

Mizzou to Require Campus-Wide Diversity Training

The University of Missouri, which houses one of the nation’s most prominent journalism schools, “will require all students, faculty and staff to take diversity and inclusion training,” Kasia Kovacs reported Thursday for the Missourian in Columbia, Mo., a community news organization managed by professional editors and staffed by Missouri School of Journalism students.

“For students starting at MU in the spring semester, the training will begin in January. For current students, faculty and staff, the timeline is uncertain.

“The training program is in response to instances of people using racist slurs on or near campus over the past month, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announced in a statement to the MU community Thursday morning.

“The program will teach students about racism concerns at MU, inform them of diverse organizations and resources on campus and emphasize the role of inclusion at the university, the chancellor’s message said.

“Students who do not successfully complete this training will not be eligible to enroll in classes. . . .”

Kovacs also wrote, “Loftin had at least two private meetings with students and faculty Wednesday morning, after he returned from an international trip. One was [with] the Rev. Carl Kenney, an adjunct journalism faculty member and a columnist for the Columbia Missourian, and Craig Roberts, a plant sciences professor at MU and a member of the Faculty Council committee on race relations. Another meeting was with student members of the Legion of Black Collegians (LBC), who were recently the targets of racist slurs. . . .”

2 Investigations Find Courts Used Unfairly Against Debtors

“On a recent Saturday afternoon, the mayor of Jennings, a St. Louis suburb of about 15,000, settled in before a computer in the empty city council chambers. Yolonda Fountain Henderson, 50, was elected last spring as the city’s first black mayor,” Paul Kiel and Annie Waldman reported Thursday for ProPublica.

“On the screen was a list of every debt collection lawsuit against a resident of her city, at least 4,500 in just five years. Henderson asked to see her own street. On her block of 16 modest ranch-style homes, lawsuits had been filed against the occupants of eight. ‘That’s my neighbor across the street,’ she said, pointing to one line on the screen.

“And then she saw her own suit. Henderson, a single mother, fell behind on her sewer bill after losing her job a few years ago, and the utility successfully sued her. . . . “

Kiel and Waldman also wrote, “The story is the same down the road in Normandy and in every other black community nearby. In fact, when ProPublica attempted to measure, for the first time, the prevalence of judgments stemming from these suits, a clear pattern emerged: they were massed in black neighborhoods.

“The disparity was not merely because black families earn less than white families. Our analysis of five years of court judgments from three metropolitan areas — St. Louis, Chicago and Newark — showed that even accounting for income, the rate of judgments was twice as high in mostly black neighborhoods as it was in mostly white ones.

“These findings could suggest racial bias by lenders or collectors. But we found that there is another explanation: That generations of discrimination have left black families with grossly fewer resources to draw on when they come under financial pressure.

“Over the past year, ProPublica has investigated a little-known but pervasive shift in the way debt is collected in America: Companies now routinely use the courts to pursue millions of people over even small consumer debts. With the power granted by a court judgment, collectors can seize a chunk of a debtor’s pay. The highest rates of garnishment are among workers who earn between $25,000 and $40,000, but the numbers are nearly as high for those who earn even less. . . .”

The story was co-published with Marketplace.

Meanwhile, Kendall Taggart and Alex Campbell reported Wednesday for BuzzFeed, “A BuzzFeed News investigation into Texas judicial practice found that with no public defenders present, traffic court judges routinely flout the law, locking up people for days, weeks, and sometimes even months because they did not pay fines they could not afford. The result is a modern-day version of debtors prison, an institution that was common two centuries ago but has been outlawed since the early ’70s.

“Unpaid fines are a vexing problem for municipalities across the country, and uninsured drivers can indeed be a hazard, but Texas law leaves no doubt as to how courts must handle someone who has been arrested for unpaid fines. And it provides an unambiguous, step-by-step process that includes an alternative punishment for those too poor to pay their fines. . . .”

Sheriff’s deputies found 39 undocumented immigrants packed in the back of a sweltering vehicle with no refrigeration. (Credit: KSAT-TV) (video)

Body Cameras Capture Dramatic Footage of Undocumented

“Last month’s dramatic rescue of nearly 40 undocumented immigrants in the back of a sweltering 18-wheeler was captured by the body cameras worn by Frio County sheriff’s deputies,” Jessie Degollado reported Wednesday for KSAT-TV in San Antonio. The footage made it onto network news programs on Friday.

“Deputy Aaron Ramirez and Sgt. Jerry Reyna were the first to arrive Sept. 18 at a truck stop north of Pearsall after a caller reported to 911 about seeing a driver allegedly telling the people to get out, only to tell them to get back in the trailer. They said it had no refrigeration, only a small door in the back.

” ‘I could only see arms sticking out of it,’ Ramirez said.

“Reyna went to speak to the driver who the witnesses had pointed out.

” ‘The driver was just standing there, not a care in the world,’ Reyna said.

“Yet on Wednesday, Drew Christopher Potter, 33, of Watuga, outside Fort Worth, was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of conspiracy to smuggle and transport 39 undocumented men and women, including four minors from Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. . . .”

Meanwhile, “news media that speak to the populist base of the Republican Party” are losing interest in front-runner Donald Trump, whose campaign “is focused almost entirely on stopping illegal immigration,” Ashley Parker and Amy Chozick reported Wednesday for the New York Times.

“Though many of the mainstream outlets favored by the Republican establishment — most notably the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal — have always greeted Mr. Trump’s candidacy with a critical, if not disdainful eye, that discomfort has spread to the news media that speak to the populist base of the Republican Party, whose anger at Washington has helped fuel Mr. Trump’s rise,” they wrote.

“Fox News opinion commentators no longer go on breathlessly about Mr. Trump’s antics, and conservative talk-radio programs have moved on to fawn over Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. . . .”

In a “Key and Peele” sketch on Comedy Central, a substitute teacher played by Keegan-Michael Key finds white students’ pronunciation of their names unusual. (video)

Native Magazine Won’t Ask for Your “Colonized” Name

“No one knows better than Indigenous people that names are important. Sacred even,” Taté Walker wrote for the September-October issue of Native Peoples magazine.

“Names, especially traditional ones, are given with careful thought and purpose. Sometimes, children wait years before receiving a traditional Native name from elders who want to ensure a proper fit. These names have value. They are real.

“We’ve experienced how destructive names can be, like those of certain sports teams or those forced upon our ancestors and our land by colonizers. We’ve also seen the pride associated with having traditional names recognized and honored, as with the recent federal name change of Alaska’s Mt. [McKinley] to Denali, and the 2008 federal decision to change Squaw Peak in Arizona to Piestawa Peak.

“I have gone my whole life fighting for the acceptance of my name, Taté, Lakota ‘wind’ (as in the weather). It is my legal middle name. More importantly, it’s the name my loved ones gave me and call me. For many, however, including past employers, doctors and teachers, the name is ‘weird,’ ‘hard to pronounce,’ or ‘different.’ In other words, it doesn’t fit their colonized mindset of how a name should look or sound and these people have often said they would call me by my first name (Jonnie, after my father, John), because it was easier. This is the definition of microaggression and cultural erasure.

“At Native Peoples magazine, we are fully aware of the importance of names and do our best to be fair and accurate to all our sources. We would never ask sources to identify themselves by their ‘English’ or ‘Christian’ or ‘colonized’ names. Ever. . . .”

. . . White Teacher Has Empathy for Unique “Black” Names

“What’s wrong with black names anyway? What about them is so unacceptable?” Steven Singer, a white teacher and education activist, asked last month on his gadflyonthewallblog blog.

“We act as if only European and Anglicized names are reasonable. But I don’t have to go far down my rosters to find white kids with names like Braelyn, Declyn, Jaydon, Jaxon, Gunner or Hunter. I’ve never heard white folks yucking it up over those names.

“I can’t imagine why white people even expect people of color to have the same sorts of names as we do. When you pick the label by which your child will be known, you often resort to a shared cultural history. My great-great-grandfather was David, so I’ll honor his memory by calling my firstborn son the same. Jennifer is a name that’s been in my family for generations so I’ll reconnect with that history by calling my daughter by the same name.

“Few black people in America share this same culture with white people. If a black man’s great-great-grandfather’s name was David, that might not be the name he was born with — it may have been chosen for him — forced upon him — by his slave master. It should be obvious why African Americans may be uncomfortable reconnecting with that history.

“Many modern black names are, in fact, an attempt to reconnect with the history that was stolen from them. . . .”

Project to Report on Missing “Ghost Boat” of 243 Africans

“The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014 set off a worldwide search for the missing plane,” Laura Hazard Owen reported Wednesday for NiemanLab. “How could a flight carrying 239 people just go missing? The mystery dominated news cycles for months. (In July 2015, a piece of the plane’s wing was found on an island in the Indian Ocean.)

“But just three months after Flight 370 went down, another group of passengers went missing — 243 men, women, and children. The passengers were refugees, mostly from the severely repressive African country of Eritrea, fleeing the country in the hopes of reaching Italy. The boat they took from Libya disappeared in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This time, nobody noticed, except for the families of those missing.

“Bobbie Johnson, a senior editor at Medium and cofounder of the Medium publication Matter, had been thinking for a while about the migration crisis and feeling powerless.

” ‘As a European, I have been watching the refugee crisis and wondering how people can really understand what’s going on and make a tangible difference,’ Johnson told me. ‘Finding out what happened here seems to be one way of doing that.’

“On Tuesday night, Medium launched Ghost Boat, a new series that aims to find out what happened to the boat and its passengers. Readers will be included in the investigative process. . . .”

Owen also wrote, “Over the next couple of months, Medium will run weekly posts exploring and following the case. The lead reporter, Eric Reidy, is an American journalist based in Tunisia. He’s working with Meron Estefanos, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist and human rights activist who publishes the radio show Voices of Eritrean Refugees.

“The first ‘episode’ is here. For at least eight weeks, Medium will run feature-length Ghost Boat stories along with running commentary of evidence and updates. . . .”

On NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” Reidy added, “For members of the general public, I would like for people to stay engaged in the story, first of all. I mean, one of the comparisons that came up from Yafet, who is the Eritrean man whose wife went missing on this boat who I’ve been communicating with in the first episode of the series about.

“One of the comparisons that he made when I spoke to him last January, shortly after the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, was that, you know, 14 people were killed in Paris and the whole world talked about it for two weeks.

“But 240 people go missing in the Mediterranean and there hasn’t been one news story about it. There’s nobody helping in the search. And he asked, why is that? Is it because we’re black? . . .”

Short Takes

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