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Editor Quits Miami Herald for Book Publishing

by richard04231

Marqués to Join Canedy at Simon & Schuster

Homepage photo: Auge Internacional Media

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Marqués to Join Canedy at Simon & Schuster

“Aminda Marqués González, who has led the newsrooms at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald to multiple honors during challenging times in the news industry, told her staff Thursday that she is leaving the organization to become vice president and executive editor at book publisher Simon & Schuster,” the Herald reported.

The announcement comes after Marqués (pictured) and the Herald weathered an uproar over distribution of what the company called “deeply offensive and racist content” in Libre, an independently produced weekly newspaper focused on Cuban exiles that for about eight months had been inserted each Friday into El Nuevo Herald.

Nancy San Martin,  managing editor of El Nuevo Herald, resigned from the newspaper last month and Marqués, executive editor of the Herald, lost her additional position as president.

Before that, the National Association of Black Journalists and others complained about “An observed continued pattern of racially insensitive remarks/tweets by sportswriter Armando Salguero” and demanded a meeting, which took place.

In July, Simon & Schuster named Dana Canedy (pictured), formerly of The New York Times and administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, as executive vice president and publisher, one of the biggest jobs in book publishing. Canedy became the first Black person to hold the position. Hiring Marqués is sure to help Canedy in her quest for diversity there and elsewhere in the industry.

Canedy messaged Journal-isms, “I approached Mindy soon after I arrived as publisher at Simon and Schuster and she is my first hire. I am thrilled about all she will bring to the role.”

Despite the recent uproars, “In her decade as the Herald’s top news executive, the newsroom has won multiple honors for its reporting, including two Pulitzer Prizes and an array of other awards for investigative work on topics ranging from the abuse of children and juveniles to illegal gold mining in Latin [America] and the sweetheart plea deal of sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein,” the Herald said Thursday.

Marques and investigative reporter Julie K. Brown are credited with forcing the story of Epstein, a financier charged with trafficking underage victims for sex, onto the national agenda in 2018. Epstein killed himself in his jail cell.

“In a letter to the staff, which has been working remotely since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marqués thanked them for their ‘fierce dedication to our audience’ and called her years at the Herald ‘the pinnacle of my career.’ “

Separately, Justin Kroll wrote Friday for Deadline that “Following a lengthy search, Roxanne, Roxanne star Chante Adams (pictured) has landed the female lead opposite Michael B. Jordan in Sony’s A Journal For Jordan, directed by Denzel Washington. Written by Academy Award nominee Virgil Williams, the film is based on Dana Canedy’s best-selling memoir, which was published in 2008.” Adams is to play Canedy. The author was at the Times when she wrote the memoir about her fiance, First Sgt. Charles M. King, who died in Iraq, and their son, Jordan.

Black Producer to Succeed Fired ABC Exec

October 28, 2020

Galen Gordon Named to Key Role in Hiring Talent
Medina, Bugg, Thomas-Fulton Promoted
Carolyn Ryan, Ted Kim Advance at N.Y. Times
2 at Chicago Tribune Named to Masthead
New Berkeley J-Dean Wants to End Tuition
Latin American Media Have Own Diversity Issues
Inquirer Wants Footage Public in Police Killing
PEN America to Honor Teen Who Shot Floyd Video
Debate Attendees From Fox Advised to Quarantine
Quibi Streaming Service to Close After 6 Months

Short Takes: “To truly reflect diversity, PBS must end its overreliance on Ken Burns as ‘America’s Storyteller’”

‘Skee-Wees,’ Screeches and Nuance:
Castro Saw Difference While a Candidate


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Galen Gordon’s jiob is to “attract, develop and retain a workforce that mirrors our audience.” (Credit: ABC News)

Galen Gordon Named to Key Role in Hiring Talent

ABC News has chosen Galen Gordon, a former ESPN coordinating producer and an African American, to succeed the disgraced Barbara Fedida, a white executive who left her position in July after an investigation confirmed that she had made unacceptable racially insensitive comments, the network announced Wednesday.

“Fedida, an award-winning producer, joined ABC News in 2011 as senior vice president for talent and business,” Brian Steinberg wrote in July for Variety. “As part of that role, she had a strong influence in determining who ABC News hired and the career paths of many of the news operation’s journalists and correspondents.”

Gordon is joining ABC News as senior vice president for talent strategy and development, ABC News President James Goldston said in Wednesday’s announcement. “He starts Monday, November 30 and will report to me.

“Galen will lead our talent team to identify emerging talent and development opportunities for our on-air and editorial team and the next generation of talent. He’ll work closely with Tonya Dobine to strengthen our pipeline across ABC News to attract, develop and retain a workforce that mirrors our audience and help us build a truly representative and inclusive culture where everyone has the opportunity to be heard, contribute and grow.  . . .

J. Gabriel Ware, an alumnus of Western Michigan University, works on the assignment desk at ABC News. His alma mater says internships and other experiential learning opportunities helped set him up for career success after graduation. (Credit: Western Michigan University)

“A former ESPN coordinating producer and WABC producer, Galen is returning to the company after nearly three years as Vice President for the National Football League Media Group leading their talent management division.

“At the NFL Galen was responsible for creating a talent coaching and performance development program, fostering the relationship between the NFL,” the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists, “recruiting all on-air talent and overseeing more than 60 on-air personnel for the NFL Network. He hired many notable anchors, hosts, reporters and analysts, including Jim Trotter, Joe Thomas, Michael Yam and MJ Acosta-Ruiz, who became the network’s first female host of color and the first female host of color to anchor a daily NFL show.

“Galen spent 11 years at ESPN, where he had an impressive track record for programming success and increasing his programs’ reach with multicultural audiences. . . .”

Peter Rice, chairman of Walt Disney Television, said in July that the investigation of Fedida (pictured) “substantiated that Ms. Fedida did make some of the unacceptable racially insensitive comments attributed to her. It also substantiated that Ms. Fedida managed in a rough manner and, on occasion, used crass and inappropriate language.”

Steinberg reported then for Variety, “Disney intends to restructure Fedida’s role, he added, with ABC News business affairs being managed separately from talent relations and recruitment. He also said ABC News needed to ‘enhance the culture of inclusion and make further progress on our goal of attracting, fostering and retaining diverse talent.’ “

Upon Fedida’s departure, the National Association of Black Journalists urged:

  • “Immediate redress for those who were wronged by Barbara Fedida
  • “An African American should be put in charge of the network’s diversity-in-hiring program
  • “ABC News/Disney should hire an outside consultant to assess the culture and work environment and policies at ABC News.”

[NABJ gave the appointment of Gordon “major applause” in an Oct. 29 statement.]

Medina, Bugg, Thomas-Fulton Promoted

“ABC News announced Friday that Derek Medina (pictured) has been promoted to executive vice president within the company,” Lindsey Ellefson reported Friday for The Wrap.

“Medina has served as ABC News’ senior vice president for business affairs, rights & clearances, archives and video sales since 2008. He’s been with the company itself for 22 years, having started in 1998 as a director for business affairs.

“He will now oversee the operations, business affairs, marketing, news practices, news administration, audio, insights and NewsOne teams.”

In public television, “PBS has promoted programming executive Sylvia Bugg (pictured) to chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming,” Reid Nakamura reported Oct. 20 for The Wrap.

“In her new position, Bugg will oversee all non-children’s content and lead programming strategy across all broadcast and digital platforms. She will also be responsible for the acquisition and development of programming for PBS and its member stations, ‘with a particular focus on sharing important stories that reflect the diversity of our country,’ according to PBS.”

At NPR, the network announced Oct. 14 that “Sharahn Thomas-Fulton (pictured), currently Senior Director of News Operations, has been promoted to Vice President of Content Operations. Thomas-Fulton has been at NPR for 21 years, she started as an assistant producer and she has now been overseeing the newsroom’s operations for over 15 years.”

Carolyn Ryan, Ted Kim Advance at N.Y. Times

Carolyn Ryan (pictured), a leader of The New York Times’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative who “has driven some of our most important initiatives, including spotting and recruiting talent, helping shape our long-term strategy and culture, and overseeing high-impact journalism,” is being promoted to deputy managing editor.

Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Managing Editor Joseph Kahn made the announcement Tuesday.

​That followed Ryan’s announcement Monday that “Ted Kim (pictured), who has made our journalism fellowship the gold standard in the industry, is being promoted to a new position of director of Early Career Journalism Strategy and Recruiting.

“In this role, Ted will oversee all of our early career programs, build a more seamless pathway for students and up-and-coming journalists at The Times, and assist me in broader strategic efforts to build a more diverse newsroom staff.”

Kim is a former secretary of the Asian American Journalists Association, which coincidentally announced Wednesday “the launch of AAJA Studio, a curated list of 100+ AAPI journalists and media-ready subject matter experts who have been influential in their respective fields and issue areas, including but not limited to race relations, political campaigns, Asia-Pacific and international relations, civil rights and voting rights, health policy, immigration, and technology.”

Baquet and Kahn said of Ryan, “Diversity has been a core value to Carolyn throughout her career. Beginning in 2017, she oversaw a recruitment blitz for the newsroom, rethinking our approach to hiring and recruiting more than 400 new staff members in the newsroom, nearly 40 percent of them people of color.

“She helped Ted Kim establish our yearlong newsroom fellowship for early career journalists, which has become a key pipeline for us to bring diverse talent to The Times. (Almost two-thirds of this year’s fellows are journalists of color.)”

Rochell Sleets, left, Chicago Tribune Life + Culture deputy editor, talks with the Tribune’s Heidi Stevens last year about the college admissions scandal. Fifty people were charged in a scam that involved school administrators, college athletic coaches, and wealthy parents accused of shelling out bribes. (Credit: YouTube)

2 at Chicago Tribune Named to Masthead

“For the second time in a month the Chicago Tribune has added a woman to its masthead,” Robert Feder reported Friday for his Chicago media website.

“On Thursday Michelle Lopez (pictured) , manager of editorial operations for Tribune Publishing, was named director of content for the Chicago Tribune. In a role equivalent to associate managing editor, she will report to editor-in-chief Colin McMahon.”

Feder also wrote, “Lopez’s appointment follows the announcement in September that Rochell Bishop Sleets, deputy editor of Life+Culture at the Chicago Tribune, had been promoted to a director of content.

“Women now outnumber men on the Tribune’s masthead, including managing editor Chrissy Taylor, editorial page editor Kristen McQueary, standards editor Margaret Holt, and content directors Amy Carr, Amanda Kaschube, Mary Ellen Podmolik, Sleets and, as of Monday, Lopez.”

In a note to the staff, McMahon and Taylor wrote, “Rochell will expand the content areas she oversees, working closely with the other directors and senior editors as we break down silos and align our local coverage with the topics important to our community right now.

“Under Rochell’s guidance the last five years, the Lifestyles team has helped reach new readers and retain our growing digital subscriber base by delivering relevant, insightful stories that provide perspective on social issues, education, health, parenting and more. With a combination of news judgment, collaborative brainstorming, and audience data insight, Rochell has refined the team’s approach to coverage. The result is a differentiated, timely report that helps readers navigate their daily lives.

“In addition to being an innovative editor, Rochell has been a leader in advocating for newsroom diversity and inclusion. She has worked tirelessly on steering committees, building resume databases, attending conferences, and serving as a mentor to ensure that all voices are heard and respected and that everyone is provided equal access to opportunity. She is an important voice whose presence on the masthead is well earned.”

New Berkeley J-Dean Wants to End Tuition

“I am thrilled to be the first woman of color — indeed, the first woman — to serve as dean of Berkeley Journalism,” Geeta Anand (pictured), an India-born veteran journalist who had been interim dean, wrote Wednesday. 

“After working for nearly 30 years as an investigative reporter, a foreign correspondent and a political reporter — in beats dominated by white men, I know how hard it is to have your work recognized, to be offered equal opportunities for advancement when perceived as other. I know how hard it is to rise within a system that makes it harder for you and your talents to be truly seen. . . .

“But the faculty and I want to do much, much more. The fact that so many Americans were shocked that a Black man could be killed in broad daylight, as was the case with George Floyd, illustrates how journalism has failed to tell all stories. Certainly, prior to the video of his death being broadcast across the world, people of color had known the pervasiveness of the brutality he suffered at the hands of law enforcement sworn to protect and serve. The fact that journalism missed the deep support Donald Trump had in 2016 also reflects that failure of journalism to truly see, understand and empathize with the suffering of alienated white Americans.

“The fact that it is mostly a privileged class of white men directing our news coverage means that journalism has missed critically important stories—or failed to recognize their significance, their pervasiveness, their consequence on the whole. Diversifying the race and gender and class of journalists is essential to making sure all stories get told to give this country a chance to see the many grave injustices that remain —- and address them.

“Berkeley Journalism intends to be a leader in diversifying journalism by raising a $100 million endowment to make the school tuition free. Journalism is an essential public service, vital for a democracy to thrive. We must reduce the barriers of entry in our profession to ensure first generation students, BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] students, the children of immigrants, and gay and nonbinary students can become journalists.

“If our financial model is to graduate students with $70,000 in debt into a profession that is low paying, we will deter the very people whose voices need to be heard from even considering joining our school and our industry. Understanding this problem deeply, our faculty voted two years ago to work toward making our school tuition free. Today I am committing our school to this mission, the first I know of in journalism graduate education.”

In Colombia, the collective burial of five Afro-descended teenagers found brutally tortured and murdered was carried out in August in the middle of a caravan guarded by police. Many in Colombia did not think of the killings as a hate crime, as with George Floyd in the United States, said Afro-Colombian writer Alejandra Pretel. (Credit: Juan Pablo Rueda Bustamante/El Tiempo, Colombia)

Latin American Media Have Own Diversity Issues

“In recent months, news headlines from Cuba to Brazil highlight the murders of Black and Indigenous men and youth, placing them in the context of a notorious case that had global repercussions,” Perla Arellano wrote Oct. 5, beginning a two-part series for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

“The similarities and differences between their murders and the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in the U.S. sparked conversations regarding the lack of diversity in Latin American newsrooms and how crimes committed against Black and Indigenous peoples are covered in the region,” Arellano continued in the LatAm Journalism Review.

“According to some media professionals, coverage does not address racism as a structural and institutional problem, but an individual one. They even explained that the state-driven ideology that everyone is ‘mestizo’ contributes to the way journalists cover their region and racialized communities.”

Marco Avilés, journalist and doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, was among those interviewed.

“A very strong idea that prevents people from being horrified, the reflection of diversity and the lack of representation in newsrooms, explained Avilés, is the myth promoted by the republics that everyone is mestizo, a mixture of European, Indigenous and Black. This myth leads to the conclusion that everyone is the same and that what happens is not racism, but classism.

“And, although in the United States there are campaigns to diversify newsrooms, in Latin America the ideology of mestizaje means that ‘there is no need to diversify something that is already diversified,’ thus denying that racism exists in a certain country, he said.

” ‘Talking about diversity in the media is still a taboo subject, he added. When the journalist considers himself mestizo, he explained, it leads to the invisibility of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities that are considered ‘like a sphere of alien reality.’  “

“Again a Black man is killed by police — this time 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. from West Philadelphia,” began the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial. (Credit: Jessica Griffin/Philadelphia Inquirer).

Inquirer Wants Footage Public in Police Killing

“If the police officers who shot Walter Wallace Jr. 10 times indeed did nothing wrong according to [Philadelphia Police Department] use-of-force protocol — which has been revised in recent years and is again under review — then the state of policing in Philadelphia is even more dire than we thought,” the Philadelphia Inquirer editorialized Tuesday.

“It also makes it more urgent to explore non-policing responses to behavior and mental health crises, as other evolved nations and cities do.

“Both of the police officers who shot Walter Wallace Jr. wore body cameras.” Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw “should release the footage. In too many incidents, including the original excuse for the use of force on I-676, official footage contradicted the official account given to the public. The lack of trust in police also extends to its investigations of their own. Residents must see the evidence for themselves.

“After a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, Kenney released strong statements condemning police brutality and Outlaw applauded the Minneapolis police chief for his ‘swift and certain response to this tragedy.’ Now when the tragedy hits closer to home, their action should match their rhetoric — and release the footage.”

Darnella Frazier, left, is “humbled to receive this award and very grateful,” said Kelley Bass Jackson, a public relations specialist who is assisting the teen’s family in navigating her presence in the public spotlight. “And she’s grateful for PEN America for thinking of her.”

PEN America to Honor Teen Who Shot Floyd Video

“A leading literary and human rights organization said Tuesday that it is bestowing its annual Courage Award to the Minneapolis teenager whose video of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police was viewed by millions and inspired global outrage,” Paul Walsh reported Wednesday for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

“Darnella Frazier will receive the Benenson Courage Award from PEN America during a virtual gala celebration on Dec. 8.

” ‘With nothing more than a cellphone and sheer guts, Darnella changed the course of history in this country, sparking a bold movement demanding an end to systemic anti-Black racism and violence at the hands of police,’ PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement announcing Frazier’s selection.

Debate Attendees From Fox Advised to Quarantine

The president of Fox News and several of the network’s top anchors, including Juan Williams (pictured), a host of “The Five,” “have been advised to quarantine after being exposed to someone on a private flight who later tested positive for the coronavirus, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Sunday,” Jeremy W. Peters reported Monday for The New York Times.

“The infected person was on a charter flight to New York from Nashville with a group of network executives, personalities and other staff members who attended the presidential debate on Thursday, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal network matters.

“Everyone on board the plane has been told to get tested and quarantine. It was unclear whether more than one person had tested positive.

“Those who were exposed include Jay Wallace, the president of Fox News Media; Bret Baier, the chief political anchor; Martha MacCallum, the anchor of Fox’s 7 p.m. show, ‘The Story’; and Dana Perino and Juan Williams, two hosts of ‘The Five.’

“A network representative would not confirm any details of the exposure, citing the need to keep private health information confidential.”

Williams did not respond to a request for comment.

Quibi Streaming Service to Close After 6 Months

“Quibi Holdings LLC is shutting down a mere six months after launching its streaming service, a crash landing for a once highly touted startup that attracted some of the biggest names in Hollywood and had looked to revolutionize how people consume entertainment,” Benjamin Mullin, Joe Flint and Maureen Farrell reported Oct. 22 for the Wall Street Journal. (paywall)

However, Wesley Lowery (pictured), the former Washington Post reporter who was one of Quibi’s most prominent recruits, told Journal-isms that “our show will likely get sold elsewhere.” He added, “Nothing imminent for me in the short term, but certainly a shakeup.” Lowery is a correspondent for “60 in 6,” a new “60 Minutes” program for Quibi.

Lowery was also named to a part-time position at the University of California at Berkeley, joining Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program as special projects editor this semester, the school announced Oct. 20. Lowery is leading a team of graduate students investigating police misconduct in the United States and is offering advice and guidance on other IRP investigations.

The Journal story continued, “The streaming service, which served up shows in 5- to 10-minute ‘chapters’ formatted to fit a smartphone screen, has been plagued with problems since its April debut, facing lower-than-expected viewership and a lawsuit from a well-capitalized foe.

“ ‘Our failure was not for lack of trying,’ founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in an open letter to employees and investors. ‘We’ve considered and exhausted every option available to us.’

“Mr. Katzenberg and Ms. Whitman decided to shut down the company in an effort to return as much capital to investors as possible instead of trying to prolong the life of the company and risk losing more money, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Employees will be laid off and will be paid a severance, the people said, and Quibi will explore selling the rights to some of its content to other media and technology companies.”

Short Takes

The production crew for public television’s “Asian Americans” at a 2019 rally outside the detention center in Crystal City, Texas, where Americans of Japanese descent were imprisoned during World War II. Grace Lee produced two episodes of the documentary series, which aired on PBS last May.

Barbara Blake Hannah, right, arrived in the UK with a wealth of writing experience from Jamaica. (Credit: Sky News)

  • “When British TV got its first black reporter in 1968 some viewers strongly objected and she was sacked in less than a year,” Simi Jolaoso wrote Friday for the BBC. “Now, half a century later, a British Journalism Award has been named in her honour. Looking back, how does Barbara Blake Hannah feel about the way the country treated her? ‘Too many times you buy a sandwich that you later realise had been spat in, or you’re walking down the street and are spat at yourself, or best case scenario, are told “[N-word] go home.” But when I roamed the streets as a reporter with a camera, no-one cared that I was black. They just cared about being on TV, that’s one reason why I loved the job.’ “

  • “Vogue’s September issue celebrated Black culture and contributors. But some employees say the magazine’s powerful editor fostered a workplace that sidelined women of color,” reads a headline in The New York Times over a weekend story by Edmund Lee. Referring to Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor in chief since 1988 and Condé Nast’s artistic director since 2013, Lee wrote, “Many Black people who worked for her said they felt so out of place in Ms. Wintour’s domain that they created white alter egos — two used the term ‘doppelgänger’ — just to get through the workday, reconditioning their presentation and dress in a way that was mentally draining.”

  • “There has been a lot of progress for women and people of color in front of the camera,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of the division of social sciences in the UCLA College and a co-author of the 2020 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, released Oct. 22. “Unfortunately, there has not been the same level of progress behind the camera. Most notably in the executive suite, there has been very little change since we began compiling data five years ago. That’s very telling, particularly in light of our current racial reckoning.”

  • Jesus Ortiz (pictured), former St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist who spent 15 years as an Astros beat writer and national baseball and soccer writer at the Houston Chronicle, is previewing Our Esquina, a website focusing on telling the Latino story in sports and culture to an English-preferred audience. “Our Esquina will launch on Jan. 22 with a website, podcast network and a production company,” Ortiz writes. He is also a former national president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

  • Michael Cottman, most recently editorial manager for NBCBLK, is joining the NBCU News Group Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team as a program editor “managing academic and on-campus learning partnerships supporting the growth and expansion of our online learning platform,” Yvette Miley, senior vice president, diversity and inclusion for NBC News and MSNBC, wrote to staff members Oct. 22.

  • “Prism’s journalism is about a number of different themes: gender, elections, criminal justice, immigration, race, and worker’s rights,” Hanaa’ Tameez reported for Nieman Reports. “But those issues often intersect. ‘As we built our reporting team and our relationships with freelance folks, we started to see the degree to which all of these issues are interconnected,’ ” editor-in-chief Ashton Lattimore (pictured) said. “ ‘A lot of our workers’ rights stories are also gender justice stories, and a lot of our immigration stories are also racial justice stories.” The report is headlined, “Prism, a news site led by women of color, centers the voices of marginalized people in its reporting.”

 Hispanic Media Initiative.students at.the University of Central Florida with Javier Ortiz, vice president of human resources, Telemundo Station Group (Credit: Knightly Latino)

Studs Terkel and Laura Washington at Chicago’s 2004 Community Media Awards

  • “Carolina A. Miranda (pictured) has been appointed arts and urban design columnist for The Times,” Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine announced to the staff on Oct. 22. “In her new role, Carolina will cover art, architecture, urban development and design, with a particular focus on equity, access, and the lived experience of Los Angeles for all of its residents. Carolina will approach this work with a columnist’s voice and critic’s viewpoint in addition to her unending reporter’s curiosity. Along with regular reported columns and perspective pieces, Carolina will continue to write occasional features and interviews, keeping an eye throughout on who gets arts and architecture commissions and what gets made. She will also continue to seek out new artists and subcultures. Carolina’s debut column, “Are Art Museums Still Racist?,” is an examination of how museums have responded to the COVID crisis and the questions about systemic racism raised this summer in the wake of George Floyd’s killing; it looks at whether 2020 has worsened inequities or could prompt change.”

Clockwise, from left, Svetlana Prokopyeva, Dapo Olorunyomi, Shahidul Alam, Mohammad Mosaed

  • “Men wearing military uniforms abducted and mistreated a Sudanese journalist in downtown Khartoum on Thursday. Another journalist was refused access to a press conference,” Radio Dabanga reported Monday from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. “Mohamed Jadin, working for El Sayha newspaper, was going home on Thursday evening, when a group of armed men wearing military uniforms abducted him in their Land Cruiser. The men beat him, stole his cell phone, and finally let him go at the White Nile near Acacia forest in central Khartoum.” The Sudanese Journalists Network called the incident “a dangerous indicator, which shows that walking in the streets of Khartoum is no longer safe for citizens.”

‘Skee-Wees,’ Screeches and Nuance

October 27, 2020

Julian Castro competed with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and others for the Democratic presidential nomination. (Credit: Julian Castro campaign)

Castro Saw Difference While a Candidate

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Castro Saw Difference While a Candidate

“I could see in my own campaign on the trail,” Julián Castro (pictured) was saying, “that journalists of color often got the nuance.” They covered the campaign “much more solidly and were willing to put that [nuance] in the stories more. 

“We know that in newsrooms around the country, from the most prestigious papers to local newspapers, that are covering important community issues, the mainstream media have done a terrible job, just like Hollywood and much of corporate America, especially Silicon Valley, with diversity.”

Castro is the former Obama housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio who competed with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and others this campaign season for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Sunday he spoke, Oct. 18, he was in Arizona campaigning for the Biden-Harris ticket and dialing into the Journal-isms Roundtable’s Zoom call (video) (narrative and photos) (column). He predicted that Latinos could be prime players in determining every general election, with states such as Texas (38 electoral votes), Arizona (11) and Georgia (16) added to Florida (29) as places where Latinos could determine the outcome. He was elated by the “massive interest, tremendous interest” evidenced in the early turnout in Texas.

Castro also said the news media had learned lessons from the 2016 race, when networks gave Donald Trump too much free airtime, but said he would “be fascinated” to see the figures comparing the time allotment Biden and Trump each received. He believes Trump got more. (At least regarding CNN, Castro was right).

Castro also said the news media had become somewhat more responsible after having given Hillary Clinton emails outsized coverage in 2016, but was critical of Facebook and Twitter for transmitting disinformation.

Journal-isms took the question of campaign press corps diversity Saturday to a Zoom meeting of the Baltimore Association of Black Journalists. It wasn’t hard to find examples of faux pas — remember  Chelsea Janes, the Washington Post’s former sports reporter who didn’t get the trademark “skee-wee” call that sorors of Alpha Kappa Alpha sounded during a Kamala Harris event”?  She called it a “screech.”

Yet there are also new Black voices on the campaign trail this year, such as Astead Herndon of The New York Times and Errin Haines of the female-focused site The 19th. However, a pandemic-caused change of deployment makes it more difficult to compare this year’s press corps with that of 2016. 

Courtland Cox, chairman of the SNCC Legacy Project, left, Dan Lewerenz of the Native American Rights Fund, top, right, and Yvette Walker. assistant dean at Gaylord College, University of Oklahoma and board member of the Society of Professional Journalists. (Photos by Sharon Farmer/sfphotoworks)

Generational markers were also apparent among African American voters, Courtland Cox, chair of the Legacy Committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, told the 51 people on the call and the hundreds watching via Facebook. Cox is working with the NAACP’s registration efforts this year.

Cox, 79, considers himself part of the “Emmett Till group,” influenced by the 1955 lynching of the 14-year-old Till in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Then there is the “Trayvon Martin group,” affected most by the 2012 Florida killing of the 17-year-old by self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Finally, there is the George Floyd group, driven to action by the Memorial Day killing of Floyd this year by Minneapolis police. All those slain were Black. 

The Till generation faced a stronger “police state” in the Deep South and demonstrators realized they might be killed, Cox said. The Floyd and Martin generations started out thinking “that at the end of the day that the battle is in the streets, and that they need to be in the streets,” but Cox said “they become more and more sophisticated as the time goes on.” They will realize that real change requires political power. 

“One thing that the Trump administration has done is clarified for many of the young activists the need to vote,” Cox said. “There are no more discussions any more with them about what the need is.”
On Oct. 13, the NAACP’s “civic engagement campaign” began reaching out to high-propensity African American voters in the 10 battleground states and charged them with reaching out to 7.5 million low-propensity voters in those jurisdictions to get them to the polls. 

When Mary C. Curtis of CQ/Roll Call called Texas “Ground Zero” for voter suppression, Castro agreed. Such tactics as cutting the number of polling places are well known, less so are the measures used against Native Americans and Asian Americans. With both groups, failure to provide information in non-English languages can be problematic.

Christine Chen, executive director, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, at right, says, “We never see environmentalists and gun control advocates reaching out to Asian American voters.”

Dan Lewerenz, a staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund and former president of the Native American Journalists Association, discussed court challenges to curtailing early voting initiatives in Indian Country, requiring more than one signature on ballots, or a Montana law that tried to prevent one person from handling another’s ballot.

In Indian Country, many homes do not receive daily mail service, which means some must rent post office boxes. Families share them and carry each other’s mail in doing so.

For Asian Americans, sometimes simply being in the conversation is the issue.

Who knew, for example, that among Asian Americans, Vietnamese Americans are more likely to be Republican (38 percent of those polled), believing that the GOP is more anticommunist?

“It’s not being reported out that Asian Americans are contracting COVID at higher rates, and it’s not necessarily being seen and heard, especially the Pacific Islander communities,” said Christine Chen, executive director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote). Chen held up her group’s 2020 Asian American Voter Survey as a resource.

“Even after the election, this data can be used when you’re covering different issues. Because as we all know, after this is over, it’s all about holding the elected officials accountable. . . . For instance, gun control is a huge issue; as far as environmental issues, at the same time, we never see environmentalists and gun control advocates reaching out to Asian American voters, or being talked about in the coverage, so we have data points that can be included in your stories as well.”

This was the first Roundtable for Maudlyne Ihejirika, reporter and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. “Loved the family gathering feel . . . and got a lot of insight I can use going into the election,” she wrote afterward.

The “family” offered congratulations and toasts to Calvin Sims, CNN’s new executive vice president of standards and practices, and Mei-Ling Hopgood of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, winner of the Barry Bingham Sr. fellowship. The award is given to an educator who has championed diversity. Hopgood was introduced by her dean, Charles Whitaker.

Charles Whitaker, dean of the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, top, left, and Rebecca Aguilar, president-elect of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Rebecca Aguilar was toasted on becoming president-elect of the Society of Professional Journalists, the first Latina and woman of color in that role, along with Ivette Davila-Richards, who was elected secretary-treasurer.

Of the nine-member SPJ board, four are people of color, Aguilar noted “That says a lot. . . . SPJ is sending a clear message, that we’re not just going to talk the talk; we’re going to walk the walk.”

Sims, who has worked at The New York Times, the Ford Foundation and International House, said, “I’ve been wanting to return to journalism for some time, and I can’t think of a more momentous time to be doing it than right now.”

Mei-Ling Hopgood, center, says her students “have higher expectations for our industry.”

Hopgood, responding to a question, found it “pretty amazing that enrollment in journalism schools [is] up despite the turbulence, and I think you know that these young people are just inspirational in t]hat they really do want to make a difference, and they still believe that journalism can still be a vehicle for that.”

Hopgood also said, “They come from a different spot where they have different expectations of diversity, equity and inclusion work. They come in, many of them, not all, with a different formation of how the world should work and how it should treat people. . . . They have higher expectations of our industry.”

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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms-owner@yahoogroups.com

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