Articles Feature

‘Foreign’ Virus? Say What?

by richard03966

Media Give Trump Blowback for ‘Jingoism’
. . . NABJ, NAHJ Postpone Local Events
Byron Allen Bids for 52-Station Tegna
‘Salem Witch Hunt’ Over Jason Johnson?
FAMU Abruptly Removes Ferrier as J-Dean
Susan Watson of Detroit ‘Freep’ Dies at 76
Polgreen Leaves HuffPost for Podcast Company
Russian Trolls Operating from Africa, CNN Finds
Survey of 8,000 Inmates Shows Whites for Trump
Group Wants 4 Stations for Ownership Training
Short Takes

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CNN’s Don Lemon interrupts former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, saying his praise of President Trump’s coronavirus speech was unjustified.

Media Give Trump Blowback for ‘Jingoism’

President Trump is receiving blowback from some in the media for labeling the coronavirus as a “foreign virus” in his Wednesday night speech on the pandemic, delivered two days after Media Matters for America reported that “Some right-wing media personalities are stigmatizing Chinese people by attempting to rebrand coronavirus with terms like ‘the Wuhan virus’ or even ‘the yellow peril,’ even though the World Health Organization named it COVID-19 in part specifically to avoid anti-Chinese stigmatization.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden picked up on the reference as well, saying in a speech Thursday, “Labeling COVID-19 a ‘foreign virus’ does not displace accountability for the misjudgments that have been taken thus far by the Trump administration.”

The label should be offensive not just to the Chinese, the Jewish publication the Forward noted.

“The President’s disturbing phrasing echoed centuries of dangerous anti-Semitic rhetoric blaming Jews for widespread disease . . .,” Forward language columnist Aviya Kushner wrote Thursday. “The idea that outsiders or foreigners are both dangerous — and dangerous to health — is straight out of the Nazi playbook.”

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta reacted immediately after the speech when Chris Cuomo turned to him for analysis on “Chris Cuomo Primetime.”

” ‘Now, why the president would go as far as to describe it as a foreign virus? That is something we’ll also be asking questions about,’ Acosta said,” the Hill recounted.

“He suggested that White House adviser Stephen Miller might have had a hand in the language.

” ‘But it should be pointed out that Stephen Miller, who is an immigration hard-liner, who advises the president, is one of his top domestic policy advisers and speechwriters, was a driving force in writing this speech,’ Acosta continued. ‘And I think it is going to come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia to use that kind of term in this speech. . . .’ “

Bobby Lewis reported Tuesday for Media Matters, “On March 6, Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth helped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempt to replace the name ‘coronavirus’ with ‘the Wuhan virus,’ referencing the Chinese city that first experienced a major outbreak. Hegseth defended the term as ‘an accurate way to depict where it’s coming from’ and suggested it demonstrates ‘the vulnerabilities the president has talked about for a long time in an interconnected world where we’re dependent on a geopolitical adversary.’ He also said we should be ‘rejecting the globalists who say that’s the way it has to be. . . .’ ”

Justin Wise added Tuesday for the Hill, “Trump on Tuesday shared a tweet from a conservative activist saying that the ‘China virus’ was reason for the U.S. to build a wall along the southern border. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) have also referenced the ‘Chinese coronavirus’ in statements providing information about the disease’s impact. . . .”

Writing for the Atlantic Thursday, Ben Zimmer explained that identifying diseases with others has a long history. He referenced the late public intellectual Susan Sontag.

“Syphilis, which ravaged Europe beginning in the late 15th century, is a famous case of what Sontag calls ‘the need to make a dreaded disease foreign.‘ ‘It was the ‘French pox’ to the English, morbus Germanicus to the Parisians, the Naples sickness to the Florentines, the Chinese disease to the Japanese,’ she wrote. . . .”

Zimmer added, “Cognizant of how geographic labels have been unfairly used in the past, the WHO introduced a new set of best practices for naming infectious diseases, in 2015. Geographic names are to be avoided in order to ‘avoid causing offense,’ though the WHO did not insist that already established names like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, should be retroactively changed.

“When the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced last month that the new coronavirus disease would be called COVID-19, he referred to the 2015 guidelines to explain why the name did not refer to Wuhan, the city in central China where the virus is thought to have originated. ‘Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,’ he said, adding, ‘It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.’

Zimmer concluded, “The coronavirus, of course, doesn’t care what it’s called and, like all contagions, will continue to spread regardless of any jingoistic posturing.”

. . . NABJ, NAHJ Postpone Local Events

The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists canceled or postponed imminent local events this week in light of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.

“We are also monitoring this situation as it relates to our national convention but as of now, it is our hope our plans for the joint convention continue,” Alberto B. Mendoza, NAHJ executive director,” wrote Thursday.

“We, unfortunately, must postpone ALL regional conferences, including Region II occurring this weekend,” wrote NABJ President Dorothy Tucker.

NABJ had regional conferences scheduled for St. Louis, Las Vegas, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., starting this weekend in St. Louis.

At least one person in attendance at the annual conference of the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, held this year in New Orleans, has tested presumptively positive for the novel coronavirus, organizers said, Gordon Russell reported Tuesday for the Times-Picayune. NICAR is part of Investigative Reporters and Editors. More than 1,000 attended.

As Sara Fischer reported Thursday for Axios, “Media companies are going all-in on coronavirus coverage, launching dozens of pop-up podcasts, newsletters and special reports. But much of that coverage has shifted to accommodate journalists working from home.”

On Monday, USA Today’s Gabe Lacques, Bob Nightengale and Jeff Zillgitt reported that “Major League Baseball – along with the NBA, NHL and MLS – will close locker rooms and clubhouses to the news media and any non-essential personnel. . . .”

“Additionally, Univision’s Jorge Ramos was possibly exposed to coronavirus,” CNN reported Thursday. “While he is not exhibiting any symptoms, he has . . . stepped down from his role as one of the moderators for the debate, the [Democratic National Committee] said. The network’s Ilia Calderón (pictured) will take his place, alongside CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. The debate is still set to take place 8 to 10 p.m. ET Sunday.”

Late Friday, Essence magazine issued a statement about its popular Essence Festival.

“Based on the latest information, including increasing public health interventions and measures being implemented domestically and internationally, and the considerable amount of time to assess and respond to developments between now and July, we are planning to proceed with the 2020 ESSENCE Festival of Culture as currently scheduled, July 1-5 in New Orleans.

“Still, as a precautionary and proactive measure and with health as the foremost consideration, we are also identifying and securing alternate dates to ensure that we can adjust as quickly and seamlessly as possible in the event that circumstances require.  Should that happen, we will honor all tickets sold for prior scheduled dates.  . . .”

Byron Allen Bids for 52-Station Tegna

“Media entrepreneur Byron Allen (pictured) has made an all-cash bid for Tegna and is said to be one of three potential buyers circling the Tysons, Va.-based broadcaster, according to a source familiar with the situation,” Jill Goldsmith reported Wednesday for Deadline.

“Allen’s Allen Media Group offered $20 a share, or about $8.5 billion, the source said. It is going up against Gray Television, which last week made [an] offer, also for $20 a share but in a combination of cash and stock. . . .”

Goldsmith also wrote, “Tegna is the name given to Gannett’s broadcast and digital business when it was spun off from the publishing assets. It owns 52 stations in 61 markets, including a preponderance of big-four network affiliates in many of the largest. It covers 39% of the country. . . .

“Allen Media currently owns 15 television stations in 11 markets. It acquired most of them last month from USA TV for $305 million and said then that it planned to invest some $10 billion to acquire ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox television stations over the next three years to become of the largest broadcast television groups in America.

“The company owns a handful of cable networks, including the Weather Channel, digital news site The Grio, and film and television production under Entertainment Studios. . . .”

Jason Johnson remains a contributor to Sirius XM radio. (Screen shot)

‘Salem Witch Hunt’ Over Jason Johnson?

After five years with The Root, political editor Jason Johnson has left the website, although none of the principals will go on the record to say why.

The Daily Beast and other outlets following its lead have been linking Johnson’s departure and what the Beast calls his “temporary” benching as an MSNBC analyst to comments Johnson made on “The Karen Hunter Show” on Sirius XM last month. He said that “racist white liberals” support Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ presidential campaign and that Sanders has done “nothing for intersectionality.”

Johnson added then, “I don’t care how many people from the island of misfit black girls you throw out there to defend you,” apparently a reference to the “Island of Misfit Toys” in the 2001 computer-animated film “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The island is where unloved or unwanted toys live with their ruler.

MSNBC, which also is not commenting on the record about Johnson’s status, has been under fire from Sanders supporters, their leader “suspicious of its wealthy hosts and corporate owners,” in the words of the New York Times.

Interestingly, while Hunter agrees that Johnson was right to apologize for the comment — she asked the producer to punch in the show’s standard disclaimer language at the time — Hunter told listeners that his remarks have been taken out of context and that at the time, she found them clever.

“I see how the Salem Witch Hunt happened and it’s dangerous,” Hunter said on her Feb. 25 show. (video)

Danielle Belton, editor-in-chief of The Root, was with Karen Hunter Feb. 25 as Hunter discussed Jason Johnson’s remarks on Hunter’s program. (Credit: YouTube)

Danielle Belton, editor-in-chief of The Root, was with Hunter on the program. While the Daily Beast headlined about Johnson’s “Misogynistic Anti-Bernie Screed,” Hunter said Johnson was “talking about one black woman, maybe two. So the notion that this man is a misogynist — y’all were doing too much.” As rendered on Twitter, she said, the remarks were unfairly edited.

Johnson remains under contract with MSNBC and continues as a tenured associate professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University. He is still a contributor to Sirius XM.

Professor Bettye Grable was named acting dean of FAMU’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communication on March 6. (Credit: D.A. Robin/Tallahassee Democrat, D.A. Robin)

FAMU Abruptly Removes Ferrier as J-Dean

“Michelle Ferrier (pictured, below) has been removed as dean of Florida A&M University’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication, Byron Dobson reported March 6 for the Tallahassee Democrat, updated Monday.

Dobson also reported, “FAMU Provost Maurice Edington was to meet with faculty Monday to announce that Bettye Grable, a professor and former Faculty Senate president, would be named the acting dean of the school. . . .”

FAMU’s journalism program is considered among the best at historically black colleges and universities.

“Coincidentally, the move comes roughly a month after the Tallahassee Democrat reported Ferrier had filed a small claims lawsuit against a former subordinate for failure to repay a personal loan,” Dobson continued.

Ralph Cantave reported Sunday for the Famuan, the student newspaper, that many students were stunned and that “Students and alumni did not take this news lightly.“

He added, “The common concern for students is whether this will affect the school’s accreditation. In January of this year, a site team recommended re-accreditation for the journalism division. The two-person team said it would recommend full accreditation to the governing council. However, final determination for the accreditation won’t be announced until April.

“Grable will be the fourth dean SJGC has had in four years. . . .”

The 2018 announcement of Ferrier’s appointment added that Ferrier had been associate professor at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, “where she was named one of the top 20 journalism innovation educators for 2018. She is also founder of TrollBusters.com, ‘a just-in-time rescue service for writers and journalists experiencing online harassment.’ . . .”

Ferrier was granted tenure upon hire at FAMU and will remain a tenured professor at the university, Dobson reported.”

Susan Watson of Detroit ‘Freep’ Dies at 76

“Susan Watson, a reporter, editor and columnist for the Detroit Free Press, who was a powerful voice in the Detroit community, died on Saturday at age 76,” Allan Lengel reported for Deadline Detroit.

“She was hospitalized recently for complications from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that affected her lungs.

“Watson (pictured) worked at the Freep for decades before going on strike in July 1995. She never returned to the paper, instead turning to work as editor of The Detroit Teacher, a biweekly publication of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

“In 1965, Watson graduated from the University of Michigan. Two months later, she went to work at the Free Press.

“She was one of the first women columnists and the first female editor at the Detroit Free Press. In three decades at the paper, she became a leader in gender and race issues in journalism, serving as a role model to women in a male-dominated industry, according to a biography at the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, where she was inducted in 2000. . . .”

Polgreen Leaves HuffPost for Podcast Company

“HuffPost Editor in Chief Lydia Polgreen (pictured) is leaving the news outlet to join podcasting company Gimlet Media as the head of content, The Daily Beast has confirmed,” Maxwell Tani reported for the Daily Beast March 6.

“Polgreen departed The New York Times to join the left-leaning news outlet in 2016, becoming the site’s second editor-in-chief following the departure of founding editor Ariana Huffington.

“Under Polgreen’s tenure, the site relaunched with a new mission to “to tell the stories of people who have been left out of the conversation,” but also faced financial challenges, shedding a significant number of staff in company-wide layoffs. According to staff present on Friday’s call, Polgreen did not announce a successor for the top job. . . .”

Russian Trolls Operating from Africa, CNN Finds

“The Russian trolls are back — and once again trying to poison the political atmosphere in the United States ahead of this year’s elections,” Clarissa Ward, Katie Polglase, Sebastian Shukla, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Tim Lister reported Thursday, updated Friday, for CNN.

“But this time they are better disguised and more targeted, harder to identify and track. And they have found an unlikely home, far from Russia itself.

“In 2016, much of the trolling aimed at the US election operated from an office block in St. Petersburg, Russia. A months-long CNN investigation has discovered that, in this election cycle, at least part of the campaign has been outsourced — to trolls in the west African nations of Ghana and Nigeria.

“They have focused almost exclusively on racial issues in the US, promoting black empowerment and often displaying anger towards white Americans. The goal, according to experts who follow Russian disinformation campaigns, is to inflame divisions among Americans and provoke social unrest. . . .”

Quoting the CNN story, Edwin Appiah wrote Friday for the Ghana Report, “The link to that foreign body Russia is Seth Wiredu (pictured) whom the workers said spoke Russian. He told the CNN he did a lot of translation services for Russian organisations but denied receiving funding from Russia to set up a small nonprofit group that called itself Eliminating Barriers for the Liberation of Africa (EBLA). . . .”

Jacob Nolan, front left, Bryon Brown and Edward Brown, students in the Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison program, fill out the Slate/Marshall Project political opinion survey at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.

Survey of 8,000 Inmates Shows Whites for Trump

“Slate partnered with the Marshall Project to conduct a first-of-its-kind political survey inside prisons and jails across the country,” Nicole Lewis, Aviva Shen and Anna Flagg reported Wednesday.

“Now that criminal justice is a campaign issue and many states are restoring voting rights to those convicted of felonies, we asked thousands of incarcerated people across the country for their opinions on criminal justice reform, which political party they identify with, and which presidential candidate they’d support. We heard from more than 8,000 people. Here’s what they said:

  • “A plurality of white respondents back President Donald Trump, undercutting claims that people in prison would overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
  • “Long stretches in prison appear to be politicizing: The more time respondents spend in prison, the more motivated they are to vote, the more they discuss politics, and the more likely their opinions are to evolve.
  • “Perspectives change inside prison. Republicans behind bars back policies like legalizing marijuana that are less popular with GOP voters on the outside; Democrats inside prison are less enthusiastic about an assault weapons ban than Democrats at large.
  • “Political views diverged by race. Black respondents are the only group pointing to reducing racial bias in criminal justice as a top concern; almost every other group picked reducing the prison population as a top criminal justice priority.

“Many respondents’ answers reflected the crucible of their own experiences — offering new insights into issues often discussed from a distance on a debate stage.

“ ‘I once believed in gun ownership,’ wrote Helen Gately, who is incarcerated at Arkansas’ J. Aaron Hawkins Sr. Center for Women. ‘But when I killed my abuser with a gun, I knew had there not been a gun in our house I would have never killed him. I would have never had the heart to stab him. But a gun made it impersonal, easy and quick. Now he’s dead and I’m here.’

“This country is still a long way from granting incarcerated people the right to vote, and polls show the idea is unpopular. But the thinking on who deserves these rights is changing. In the past two years alone, more than a dozen states reconsidered their felony disenfranchisement laws, often restoring voting rights to people on probation and parole or clarifying the rights restoration process. . . .”

KZQZ is one of four stations that the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council want to purchase and use to train potential owners of color, rather than let the stations disappear.

Group Wants 4 Stations for Ownership Training

“The ‘imminent loss’ of four St. Louis-area AM radio stations has the MMTC concerned — and they are asking the FCC to do something about it,” Susan Ashworth reported March 3 for Radio World.

“The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) asked the Federal [Communications] Commission to provide emergency interim relief to preserve four radio stations and a construction permit by giving its subsidiary, MMTC Broadcasting, ownership and operating responsibility for the stations. The stations have been tangled up in the Bob Romanik imbroglio. . . .”

As John Garziglia reported Feb. 25 for Radio Ink, “almost two years of hearing proceedings . . . sought to determine whether Robert S. Romanik, the self-identified Grim Reaper and a convicted felon, was actually in control of the radio stations rather than the named licensee.

“No one ultimately appeared at the hearing on behalf of the purported licensee. The judge used the licensee’s non-appearance as the stated cause of dismissal” of license renewal requests for KFTK-AM, 1490 kHz, East St. Louis, Ill.; WQQW-AM, 1510 kHz, Highland, Ill., operating daytime only; KZQZ-AM, 1430 kHz, St. Louis; and KQQZ-AM, 1190 kHz, Fairview Heights, Ill. 

Ashworth continued, “According to David Honig, who is [founding] president of MMTC as well as vice president of MMTC Broadcasting, the goal of the organization’s nonprofit subsidiary is to facilitate diverse ownership of broadcast stations. It has taken ownership of nine AM radio stations since 2008 and incubated new entrants at these stations by training them to become owners.

“In this case, the MMTC Broadcasting group told the FCC that it would like to volunteer to assume ownership and operating responsibility for the stations.

“ ‘Our plan is to operate them as radio incubators, generally along the lines of the incubator plan approved by the commission in 2018,’ the group said. ‘To execute this plan, MMTC Broadcasting would LMA [local marketing agreement] the stations to Roberts Radio Broadcasting LLC, a minority-owned and family-owned company based in St. Louis,’ which currently owns and operates an FM station in Jackson, Miss. . . .”

Short Takes

  • “Today we are making a clarification to a passage in an essay from The 1619 Project that has sparked a great deal of online debate,” Jake Silverstein, editor of the New York Times Magazine, wrote Wednesday. “The passage in question states that one primary reason the colonists fought the American Revolution was to protect the institution of slavery. This assertion has elicited criticism from some historians and support from others. . . . We recognize that our original language could be read to suggest that protecting slavery was a primary motivation for all of the colonists. The passage has been changed to make clear that this was a primary motivation for some of the colonists. . . . ”
  • The Associated Press has promoted acclaimed reporter, editor and data journalist Ron Nixon (pictured) to be its global investigations editor, overseeing teams of reporters around the world and helping to infuse the AP’s global news report with accountability reporting and a strong investigative ethos,” The AP announced on Thursday. It also said, “Nixon joined the AP in early 2019 as international investigations editor, managing a team of investigative reporters in the U.S. and abroad. In that role, he has guided the AP’s ongoing coverage of the war in Yemen, including investigations that found the United Nations was investigating corruption in its own agencies, and uncovering efforts by Houthi rebels to block aid efforts. . . .”
  • “Report for America has grown rapidly,” Steven Waldman, its co-founder and president, wrote Tuesday for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. “The program — which places emerging journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities — went from 13 corps members in 2018-19, to 59 in 2019-20 to 250 in 2020-21 (starting in June). . . . We had more than 1,800 applicants for about 200 open slots. Another indicator: About 90 percent of the current corps members renewed for a second year. And about half our current group of newsrooms have also requested additional reporters. . . .”
Los Angeles Times reporters Jen Yamato, from left, and Frank Shyong, center, with celebrity chef and restaurateur Jet Tilakamonkul, known as Jet Tila. (Credit: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
  • Whoops! On the night of Tuesday’s Democratic primary, online readers of the Michigan Chronicle might have been surprised by the disappearance of Bernie Sanders. “After a close race against Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden has won the Democratic Primary in Michigan,” the primary story began. The brief account concluded, “Completed totals aren’t expected to be in until tomorrow afternoon. Biden will now face off against President Donald Trump until the November 2020 election.” The story was still up on Saturday afternoon, March 14.

  • Christopher John Farley, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now executive editor at Audible, Inc., objects to the treatment the Daily News gave to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order to place part of Westchester County in a mile-wide containment zone. “This tasteless tabloid headline doesn’t tell the real tale of what’s happening in New Rochelle,” Farley wrote Wednesday on Facebook. “Just yesterday one of my terrific neighbors texted me ‘Our families r here for each other.’ People aren’t turning on each other in New Ro, they’re turning to each other, and it’s been great to see. If anything, the [coronavirus] crisis has been more evidence, if any is needed, of our interconnectedness, and why we all need to make sure our community services and institutions, from our healthcare system to our schools  —work for everyone, especially the most vulnerable. As a recovering journalist, I hope that story gets told!”
  • For the first 25 years of her career, Soledad O’Brien, 53, “was a high-profile broadcast journalist, winning Peabodys for her coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, and gracing the pages of People’s 50 Most Beautiful list,” EJ Dickson wrote in a March 3 profile for Rolling Stone. “Yet over the past few years, she has become one of establishment media’s most fiery critics. On Twitter, where she has more than a million followers, O’Brien regularly blasts outlets for coverage that minimizes the threats posed by Trump’s administration. . . .”
Rahsaan Harris, flanked by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Kevin Frazier and CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux, accepts the 2017 “Best Practices” Award from the National Association of Black Journalists on behalf of the Emma Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media. “I will take the helm of The Citizens Committee for New York City, a grantmaking organization founded to help New Yorkers — especially those in low-income areas— come together and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods,” Harris has announced. (Credit: NABJ)

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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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