Articles Feature

Frustration With Jean-Pierre at ‘Boiling Point’

by richard03048

Exasperation at Response on Biden Documents
Cecilia Vega Leaving ABC for ’60 Minutes’
Wes Moore Makes History, Oprah Adds Star Power
‘Slight Progress’ on Broadcast Media Ownership
Fla. Rejects AP Course on African American Studies
Mixing Sports and Comedy With a Political Bite
For Blacks, Fewer News Outlets Means More Disinformation

Short Takes: Juanita Ceballos, Jonathan Clasberry, Lora Moftah, Serginho Roosblad, Patty Talahongva and Xinyan Yu; Rachel Scott; Michelle Li and “Very Asian Day”; diversity among the 100 top grossing films; Tony McEwing; abuse journalists experience covering stories; Tracie Powell; Larry Starks; Courtis Fuller; Cuba’s subordination of press freedom; freed Tigray journalists; Brazilian reporter assaulted on air; Zambian soccer team assaults photographer.

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Exasperation at Response on Biden Documents

“Frustration among White House reporters with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is reaching a boiling point,” Oliver Darcy reported Wednesday in CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter.

“That is according to conversations I had on Wednesday with more than a half-dozen White House reporters who painted a picture of a White House press corps that has grown exasperated with Jean-Pierre and does not believe she is well equipped to handle their inquiries.

“The reporters, who asked not to be identified in order to speak freely, pointed to Jean-Pierre’s insistence on sticking to talking points and an episode last week where a key assertion she made from the podium ultimately did not hold up.”

Jean-Pierre, appointed White House press secretary last May, is the first Black and first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in the role.

Darcy continued, ” ‘She is arguably the least effective White House press secretary of the television era,’ one veteran White House reporter told me on Wednesday, adding that the comparison excluded the Trump White House.

“When asked for comment, a White House official, who declined to speak on the record, dismissed the complaints, telling me in a statement, ‘A lot of this sounds more like theater criticism than concern about ability to report facts for the American people’s benefit.’

“Concerns inside the press corps with Jean-Pierre are not new. She has openly struggled to field basic questions inside the briefing room, relying, in agonizing fashion at times, on her binder of talking points to respond to simple inquiries. But the tension has escalated in recent days as President Joe Biden is confronted with questions about his past handling of classified documents.

” ‘I think you can tell the temperature has gone up a lot in the last few days,’ one White House reporter remarked to me on Wednesday.

“In recent days, Jean-Pierre has faced a noticeably vexed White House press corps that is openly revolting against her. Many of the questions she has fielded have not been about the subject matter, but have centered on her very credibility and how she has performed in the job.

“On Tuesday, for instance, she was repeatedly pressed about why she did not disclose on Friday that more classified documents had been recovered Thursday evening, a significant development that came hours before she indicated to reporters that the search for additional material had concluded. . . .”

Cecilia Vega Leaving ABC for ’60 Minutes’

“Cecilia Vega, (pictured) a White House correspondent and weekend anchor for ABC News, is joining the CBS news magazine ’60 Minutes,” Stephen Battaglio reported Thursday for the Los Angeles Times.

“CBS News announced Thursday that Vega will be a correspondent on the venerable franchise, the most watched news program on television. Openings for full-time roles on ’60 Minutes’ are rare and remain the most coveted positions in the TV news business.

“ ‘This is a dream come true,’ Vega said in a statement .’I am beyond honored to join the ranks of this legendary show and to work alongside the best reporters in journalism.’

“ ’60 Minutes’ has ranked in the top 10 in the weekly Nielsen ratings 17 times in the 2022-23 TV season, with an average of 9.6 million viewers.

“Vega, 46, served as anchor of the Saturday edition of ‘ABC World News’ in addition to her duties covering the White House. She will remain based in Washington. . . .

“Vega will be the first Latina correspondent on the program in its 55-year history. . . .”

“A native of San Francisco, Vega was a reporter at KGO, the ABC station in that city. She got her start as a print reporter, working most recently at the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Vega will be an addition to ’60 Minutes’ joining the lineup of correspondents that includes Bill Whitaker, Scott Pelley, Lesley Stahl, Sharyn Alfonsi, L. Jon Wertheim and Anderson Cooper.”

Wes Moore Makes History, Oprah Adds Star Power

The swearing-in of Wes Moore as the nation’s third elected Black governor dominated local news coverage in Maryland and the neighboring District of Columbia Wednesday — and received national and international attention, too.

“Sun journalists reported live as Maryland inaugurated its 63rd chief executive and first Black governor,” the Baltimore Sun told digital readers. “View a recap of their coverage below from before, during and after the midday ceremony where Democrats Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, Maryland’s first immigrant and Asian American No. 2, were publicly sworn in.”

The “CBS Evening News” found an additional hook when “the so-called ‘queen of all media’ lent her star power” to the occasion,” as Jean Marbella put it in the Baltimore Sun. “First friend?” a Sun headline asked.

Winfrey was once at the Baltimore CBS affiliate, WJZ-TV.

“Oprah said eight years in Maryland at WJZ were ‘most significant years of my life’,” WJZ headlined on its website.

Winfrey recalled that the state launched her career. “I was just 22 years old when I first came to Maryland. I was starting a new job as a co-anchor of the 6 o’clock news on WJZ-TV. I left my home in Nashville, and I drove myself here in an Oldsmobile Cutlass, to Baltimore.

“I moved into the third floor at 10109 Windstream Drive, Columbia, Maryland — which at the time was considered this new model city. I was so excited, living away from home for the first time, from my family for the very first time.

“And as I walked around the city of Baltimore that first week, I saw the strangest thing. Their promo campaign was my face on billboards, and my face on the backs of buses. My face advertising the 6 o’clock news with Jerry Turner — remember Jerry Turner? And a question on the billboards and buses said, ‘What is an Oprah?’

“Honestly, I didn’t really know the answer to that myself. When I moved to Maryland, I had no idea really who I was, or what an Oprah was. But I will tell you something: Maryland is where I figured it out. . . .”

Winfrey’s Oprah Daily added, “Oprah and Moore met when Oprah interviewed him about his first book, The Other Wes Moore, which was published in 2011 and follows two Wes Moores from Baltimore — the one who would become Maryland governor, and one who is serving a life sentence in prison. ‘I was so impressed then by his integrity, his wisdom,’ Oprah said of that very first interview. ‘He knew who he was and had a vision for who he intended to be and how he wanted to serve.’ ”

Moore is the son of two media people. His father is the late Wes Moore Sr., a Washington and Baltimore broadcast journalist who died of a rare disease in 1982 at 32, and Joy Thomas Moore, who runs a consulting business. She is a former freelance writer and field producer in the New York area and served in editorial positions at WMAL-AM radio, the ABC-owned and operated station in Washington.

Moore paid tribute to his mother and that of his lieutenant governor in his inauguration speech.

“We are blocks away from the Annapolis docks, where so many enslaved people arrived in this country against their will. And we are standing in front of a capitol building built by their hands.

“We have made uneven and unimaginable progress since then. It is a history created by generations of people whose own history was lost, stolen, or never recorded. And it is a shared history — our history — made by people who, over the last two centuries, regardless of their origin story to Maryland, fought to build a state, and a country, that works for everybody.

“There are two people who embody that spirit sitting right here, in the front row. Two extraordinary women named Hema and Joy.

“Hema came to this country from India; Joy from Jamaica. They immigrated to America with hope in their hearts, not just for themselves, but for future generations.

“Today, they are sitting here at the inauguration of their children as the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state that helped to welcome them. . . .”

Former and current commissioners and chairs of the Federal Commission gathered for a virtual symposium last July 20, presented by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. Top row, from left, Geoffrey Starks, Deborah Taylor Tate, Jonathan Adelstein and Richard Wiley. Second row: Brendan Carr, William Kennard and Mignon Clyburn. Third row: Nathan Simington, MMTC Board Chair Ronald Johnson and MMTC CEO Robert Branson. (Credit: MMTC)

‘Slight Progress’ on Broadcast Media Ownership


“The Federal Communications Commission chose the Friday going into Martin Luther King Day weekend to release the latest media-ownership diversity numbers and the tale of the tape for broadcast TV — as well as radio — still reads majority white and male on both the commercial and noncommercial side, though there is slight progress,” John Eggerton reported Tuesday for Broadcasting & Cable.

“The sixth biennial report on ownership of broadcast stations covers commercial and noncommercial, full-power and low-power TV and radio stations and is based on data as of October 2021.

“Looking at full-power commercial TV stations, the report said men had a majority interest in 51% of those stations, down from 56% in 2019, while women held majority interests in 6% of those stations. Female ownership is up a tick from 5% in 2019 (for 39% of the stations, no single entity had a majority interest).

“Black/African Americans accounted for 3% of the majority interests in full-power TV stations in 2021, up from 1% in 2019, while Asian Americans had 1%, up from 0% in 2019.

“No Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander held a majority interest in 2021, as was also the case in 2019.

“On the noncommercial side, men held majority interests in 71% of full-power noncommercial TV stations, down slightly from 72% in 2019. Women accounted for 20% of the majority interests in those stations, up from 20% in 2019. Blacks/African Americans represented only 1% of majority owners, up from 0% in 2019. But no Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander held a majority interest.

“Across radio and TV, men had attributable interests in 61% of commercial broadcast stations while women held only 9% and Hispanics/Latinos 6%. White persons held 73% of majority interests while racial minorities only 4%. African Americans had majority interests in only 2% of stations while Asians held 1% majority interests. No American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander held a majority interest. . . .”

David Honig, who founded the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, which operates “the nation’s brokerage firm with a sole focus of working with minorities and women and new entrants,” said he was unsure whether the figures are affected by the rise of digital communications. As the FCC has asked in a different context, “Should the Commission adjust its analysis of the audio and video programming marketplace to account for fundamental changes in consumer behavior?” as well as by entrepreneurs of color?

” Some minority-focused linear channels are (or soon may be) picked up by forward-thinking cable, satellite, and phone/broadband platforms; but not all of the major carriers have been opening the doors of opportunity. The deal market for terrestrial radio and linear TV in local markets is slow, and COVID hasn’t helped at all. Nor have there been very many merger spinoffs in the past decade.”

As the Associated Press has recalled, “In 1978, the FCC created the minority tax-certificate program, which allowed broadcasters to receive a tax break if they sold their stations to people of color. But in 1995, the Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation that ended the program, which had increased broadcast ownership by people of color from less than 1% to 3%.”

[Pluria Marshall Jr., who founded Marshall Broadcasting Group, Inc., which owns three full power television stations, told Journal-isms Jan. 22 that the issue is that the FCC has “no desire to really fix the problem.”]

African American culture is “a huge part of American history that should not be lost in our education systems, that should not be lost or forgotten,” says Alexia McKay, president of Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists. (Credit: EdWeb).

Fla. Rejects AP Course on African American Studies

“Without a detailed explanation, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has rejected a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies for high school students, broadly claiming it violates state law and that it ‘lacks educational value,’ ” Ana Ceballos reported Thursday for the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay TImes.

“When asked for specifics on the content, the Florida Department of Education did not respond, making it unclear what items the state believes are unlawful or objectionable.

“ ‘In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion,’ the state wrote in a letter to the College Board, the company that administers the course as well as other interdisciplinary courses and the SAT exam.

“The Advanced Placement program is the first course in African American studies to be offered by the College Board. It would allow high school students to earn credits and advanced placement at many colleges across the country.

“The course has been in development for more than a decade, and it focuses not just in history, but explores the ‘vital contributions and experiences of African Americans’ in literature, the arts, political science, geography and science, according to the College Board. A syllabus is not yet publicly available. . . .”

Responding to an inquiry, Alexia McKay, (pictured), president of the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists, messaged Journal-isms that rejecting such a course would be a mistake.

“African American history was taught at my high school in Tampa. Although the education was limited, the access and resources to it was still there. To know the possiblity of Black kids in Florida being denied that access is tragic and unjust. African American culture is rich in resilience, accomplishments and achievements that stem beyond Black History Month. It’s also full of lessons and wisdom that people of all races can learn from. It’s a huge part of American history that should not be lost in our education systems, that should not be lost or forgotten.

“Additionally, as a journalist of color, part of our responsibility is to be the griot (storyteller) of our community. It will be more important than ever for Black journalists, especially in Florida, to use their platform to spread awareness and knowledge as book banning and CRT (critical race theory) become more and more frequent occurrences in our education system.” 

Bomani Jones, “who went to Clark Atlanta University, a historically Black college, said that while he wanted to appeal to all viewers, he paid particular attention to, as he put it, ‘never boxing Black people out.’ If only the white writers in his room laugh at a joke, he won’t use it. But if only the Black ones do, he’ll think about it” (Credit: YouTube)

Mixing Sports and Comedy With a Political Bite

“Bomani Jones has been arguing with sports journalists on ESPN shows like ‘Around the Horn’ and ‘Highly Questionable’ for nearly two decades,” Jason Zinoman reported Wednesday for The New York Times.

“ ‘Game Theory With Bomani Jones,’ entering its second season on HBO on Friday, is the first time he is sitting at his own desk alone. And while he’s got more than enough charisma and dynamism for the job, the real challenge is pulling off something that, he will be the first to tell you, almost never works: a comic show about sports.

“ ‘This is something that no one has really figured out,’ Jones said, adding that he included himself. Television is full of shows starring clever comedians doing topical jokes and sports journalists making smart points, but a happy marriage of these popular forms is rare.

“Comedy is hard, smart comedy even harder. But with sports, Jones explained, real fans won’t easily accept a comic with no credentials. ‘Bill Maher can be a comedian who happened to go to Cornell and be treated with the intellectual gravitas to do the show he does. Sports doesn’t work like that.’

“He continued, ‘Comedians love sports, but the ideas they have are typically the same as everybody else’s.’ With ‘Game Theory,’ his goal is to use sports to say something deeper, more probing and political. ‘We’re trying to make a funny show,’ Jones said, ‘but that still has the weight and make points that advance things.’ . . . ”

For Blacks, Fewer News Outlets Means More Disinformation

“With the further contraction of new media outlets and the rise of new technology, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, have increasingly become the place where people get their news. People find out what’s happening no longer from the work of trained journalists – who understand the ethics and principles of news reporting – but rather from their neighbor, friend, colleague or cousin,” Eric Ward wrote Saturday for NewsOne.

“This leaves Black communities even more susceptible to the disinformation and misinformation that is coursing through the internet. This crisis has grown to such a level that the digital civil rights coalition made up of over 230 organizations, the Disinfo Defense League has called on the U.S. Congress and the United Nations to investigate what it called intentionally misleading racially based propaganda costumed as journalism. . . .”

Short Takes

  • “FRONTLINE, the award-winning PBS investigative documentary series based at GBH in Boston, today announced the selection of filmmakers for the Investigative Journalist Equity Initiative (IJEI), a new effort aimed at increasing diversity in the documentary filmmaking landscape,” WGBH in Boston announced Wednesday. “The journalist-filmmakers in the IJEI’s first cohort will receive support for the full trajectory of the documentary filmmaking process from FRONTLINE’s senior editorial team – collaborating with the journalists from the earliest stages of research and development, through production, distribution, and promotion.” The recipients are Juanita Ceballos, who has had bylines in Latin America and Ukraine; Jonathan Clasberry, an Afro-Tejano filmmaker based in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Lora Moftah, whose work has appeared on ABC, Al Jazeera, CNN and most recently on The New York Times Presents; Serginho Roosblad, part of the Associated Press’ Global Investigations team; Patty Talahongva (pictured), a Hopi journalist, documentary producer and news executive; and Xinyan Yu, a video journalist and filmmaker based in Washington D.C.
  • “Rachel Scott (pictured) has been promoted to senior congressional correspondent,” ABC News President Kim Godwin announced. “Rachel has had a meteoric rise at ABC News, and with this promotion, she rightly takes her place as a senior member and leader of our unparalleled and formidable Washington team. In just two years covering Congress, Rachel has brought sharp, incisive reporting to a historically busy period at the Capitol. Rachel’s first day on the beat was Jan. 6, 2021, when she unexpectedly found herself providing live coverage of the unprecedented attack on the Capitol. . . .”

  • “The City of St. Louis declared Jan. 19, 2023, as ‘Very Asian Day,’ KDSK-TV announced Friday. “The honor recognizes the Very Asian Foundation and 5 On Your Side anchor Michelle Li’s work to advance opportunities and representation of Asian Americans. Michelle and a group of colleagues launched the Very Asian Foundation on Jan. 19, 2022. The declaration honors the one-year anniversary of Michelle’s appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, announcing the new foundation. The foundation’s mission is ‘to shine a light on Asian experiences through advocacy and celebration.’. . .” The idea was inspired by a woman who “left a voicemail with the station, criticizing Michelle for being ‘very Asian,’ and said she should ‘keep her Korean to herself.’ “

  • “Last year was not great for film — again. Women directed just 2.7% of the top 100 grossing films, according to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative,” Steve Chiotakis told listeners of KCRW in Southern California. “The racial justice uprisings of 2020 plus #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite movements seemed like they were going to usher in changes in the film and TV industry, but representation behind the camera actually went down in 2022.” He interviewed Stacy Smith, founder and director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC.

  • “Tony McEwing (pictured), anchor at KTTV Los Angeles, announced his retirement on Good Day LA January 18,” Michael Malone reported for Broadcasting & Cable. “He described the decision as ‘bittersweet.’ ‘I can’t begin to tell you how honored and blessed I feel to have the career I’ve had,’ he said. ‘McEwing has spent 43 years in television, and 30 years at KTTV. His last day at the Fox Television Stations-owned outlet is February 3.” Pete Wilgoren, acting news director, said, “Quite simply, he has been the heartbeat of this newsroom for so many years and a huge part of the fabric of this community.”

  • “Reporter Tarsilla Alvarindo, who is part of the Record team in Bahia, was assaulted live this Monday (Jan. 16). She and the team were harassed while covering the death of a motorcyclist on one of the city’s main avenues,” Brazil’s Noticias da TV reported Tuesday. “According to the professional, the victim’s relatives were reportedly annoyed by her presence at the scene. ‘One of them punched me in the face,’ she said. The journalist was reporting on the incident when she was interrupted by two men. . . .”

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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@groups.io

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