Gonzalez Leaving Daily News After 29 Years

“Whatever I decide to do, however, I intend to continue my strong commitment to a free press and free expression. I’m incredibly proud of our work at the International Press Institute, where we just wrapped up our 65th World Congress in Doha, Qatar, and are considering meeting in the U.S. next year.”

“It’s been a great run that includes leading the landmark Afro-Latin American series, coverage of the Great Quake in Haiti and dramatic changes in Cuba, and initiating Herald scholarships to honor its first African-American reporter. Along the day, I helped galvanize Miami after the quake to save Ayikodans, Haiti’s brilliant modern dance company, a cultural institution.

According to Yearwood’s bio, “his department has won multiple awards under his leadership, including two McClatchy Company President’s Awards and the Arthur Ross Award for best coverage of Latin America.  . . .”

Yearwood has been treasurer of the National Association of Black Journalists and a board member of Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc.

In 2013, the French-American Foundation asked him whether his “foreign origins, and thus a personal connection to multiple cultures, enriched your ability to report on global issues and questions pertaining to immigration?”

Yearwood replied, “Absolutely. I could not do my job as effectively if I didn’t have a personal connection to the many cultures we cover. For example, I coordinated coverage of a breakthrough series several years ago about Afro-Latin Americans. Although it’s been four years, we still get requests to republish it or for me to speak about the series.

“In fact, the Library of Congress called last fall to ask if I would make a presentation to them about the series. A lesson plan was even developed from it for high school students. Our goal was to increase the visibility of Africans in Latin America.

“In the end, the series ended up being more complex that even I envisioned. It added tons of knowledge to what we knew about blacks in the Americas. It was a huge undertaking but, again, it’s something that we probably would not have done had I not had that regional cultural sensitivity.” [Added March 31]

$40 Million Suit Proceeds Against School, Ex-Prof

“A federal judge Tuesday allowed a $40 million lawsuit to proceed against Northwestern University, a former journalism professor and a private detective who are accused of conspiring to frame a man with a double murder,” Frank Main reported for the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Alstory Simon spent about 15 years behind bars for the slayings of Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green. But Simon’s conviction was reversed in 2014 after Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez conducted an investigation that concluded he was railroaded.

“Simon is now suing Northwestern as well as former journalism professor David Protess and private investigator Paul Ciolino.

“Protess and Ciolino allegedly fabricated evidence that led to Simon’s conviction and the release of Anthony Porter, who was originally convicted of the 1982 killings.

“Northwestern was aware that Protess and Ciolino were using unethical practices to conduct such wrongful conviction investigations, according to Simon’s lawsuit, filed last year.

“Simon’s conviction was hugely important — prompting then-Gov. George Ryan in 2000 to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, saying Illinois’ criminal justice system was broken. Capital punishment has since been abolished in Illinois.

As the Chicago Tribune wrote in 2010, “Protess and his student reporters have shifted the course of Illinois legal history.” Chicago magazine added in 2011, ” ‘Innocence projects,’ patterned on Protess’s own at Medill, sprang up across the country, filled with students and lawyers whose idealistic fervor was inspired by the Medill professor and what his class had accomplished. . . .”

Cary Spivak wrote a year ago for Columbia Journalism Review, “But Protess left Northwestern in 2011, after he was removed from the program by the administration. Investigations revealed how closely the program worked with defense lawyers — a relationship that prosecutors said cost the students protections provided to reporters by the Illinois shield law — and raised questions about the tactics used by Protess, his students, and a private investigator employed by the Innocence Project. A Northwestern investigation concluded that Protess had doctored an email before turning it over to investigators and also asserted he had lied to the university.”

He also wrote, “Even as the fallout continues, the renowned program has been remade under a different name, a different leader, and a whole different approach. . . ”

Corporations Nervous About GOP Convention

“Some of the country’s best-known corporations are nervously grappling with what role they should play at the Republican National Convention, given the likely nomination of Donald J. Trump, whose divisive candidacy has alienated many women, African-Americans and Hispanics,” Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman reported Wednesday for the New York Times.

“An array of activist groups is organizing a campaign to pressure the companies to refuse to sponsor the gathering, which many of the corporations have done for both the Republican and Democratic parties for decades.

“The pressure is emerging as some businesses and trade groups are already privately debating whether to scale back their participation, according to interviews with more than a dozen lobbyists, consultants and fund-raisers directly involved in the conversations.

“Apple, Google and Walmart are among the companies assessing their plans for the convention, which will be held in Cleveland from July 18 through July 21.

“In addition to Mr. Trump’s divisive politics, there is the possibility that protests, or even violence, will become a focus of attention at the convention. . . .”

• Jenice Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News: GOP candidates’ wives take center stage in presidential debate
• Esther J. Cepeda, Washington Post Writers Group: The ‘monolithic Latino voting bloc’ myth is cracking
• Nick Corasaniti, New York Times: Donald Trump vs. Ted Cruz Creates a Headache for Talk Radio Hosts
• Chuck Hobbs, theGrio.com: Confession of a former black Republican: The party I loved despises my people
• Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life: CNN revives, thanks to the Trump bump
• Hadas Gold, Politico: Female media figures call for Trump to fire Lewandowski
• Errol Louis, Daily News, New York: The media did not create Donald Trump: His rhetoric and rise are newsworthy and have demanded attention
• Media Matters for America: Fox Host: Donald Trump Has Created “Internal Strife” At Fox News 
• Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: A liberal Democrat is foiled in his trick to brings guns to GOP convention 
• Roshni Nedungadi and Cornell Belcher, Brilliant Corners: Hispanics in the U.S. are just as concerned about hateful political rhetoric as they are about extremist terrorism (Feb. 29)
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Birds for Bernie, bombast from GOP crew
• Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Speaker Ryan takes on You-Know-Who
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: Guns at the GOP convention? Seems like a good idea — and the NRA won’t mind 
• Rick Sanchez, Fox News Latino: #CruzSexScandal takes off as senator fails to forcefully deny allegations

Richburg, Ramsess, L.A. Times Turn a Page

The appointments of veteran journalist Keith B. Richburg to direct the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre and Akili-Casundria Ramsess as executive director of the National Press Photographers Association are among notable personnel changes of the last few days.

In addition, Davan Maharaj, editor of the Los Angeles Times, announced that the Times “is reimagining its books coverage with a panel of 10 distinguished and diverse writers who will expand the definition of the critic.”

Richburg’s “journalism career has spanned 40 years and four continents” and he “has lectured at some of the world’s most prestigious universities,” the University of Hong Kong announced Wednesday.

“As of 1 September, he will succeed Professor Yuen-Ying Chan, a noted educator, China expert and veteran journalist. Chan founded the JMSC in 1999 and has since built it into one of Asia’s premier journalism schools. . . .”

NPPA President Melissa Lyttle said of Ramsess, “She’s proven herself as a leader in the newsroom, a mentor to students through her work with the National Association of Black Journalists’ Visual Task Force, and has an understanding of the needs of both staffers and independent visual journalists.”

The announcement also said, “Ramsess was the Features Photo Editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and she spent eight years in a variety of roles at the San Jose Mercury News, including being their Deputy Director of Photography/Print. Then she served as a photography editor, multimedia producer, and the Director of Photography for the Orlando Sentinel from 2007 until the end of 2011.

“She started her own business in 2012, Eye of Ramsess Media, an independent photography and multimedia production company based in Atlanta. . . .”

In introducing the new critics at large at the Los Angeles Times, Books Editor Carolyn Kellogg wrote, “With these 10 writers, we will investigate our culture through the conversations that books anchor, in deep dives and in real time. We will explore the mysteries of reading and writing; consider the achievements, acknowledged and under-acknowledged, of the writers who have come before; question the roles of race, heritage, class and gender in what we read; take on the vagaries of the publishing industry, and more. . . .”

They are Marlon James, Laila Lalami, Susan Straight, Viet Thanh Nguyen, David Kipen, Alexander Chee, John Scalzi, Rigoberto González, Rebecca Carroll and Adriana Ramírez.

In other moves:

• “Anna Holmes is joining First Look Media in a senior editorial role, the company announced today,” Peter Sterne wrote Wednesday for Politico Media. “Holmes will create and run a new media property under the First Look umbrella that will focus on commissioning and curating visual work — including videos, photography and graphic storytelling — from independent creators. Holmes expects that the property will have a full-time staff of at least eight people, though most of its content will come from outside contributors. It is expected to launch in the fall. . . .”
• “CNN named Angela Rye as a CNN political commentator based in DC,” (scroll down) Lisa de Moraes reported Monday for Deadline Hollywood. “The former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus also served as senior advisor and counsel on the House Committee on Homeland Security for four years.”
• Lee Thomas is among three anchors or reporters on their way out at WJBK-TV in Detroit, known as Fox2, Julie Hinds reported Wednesday for the Detroit Free Press. Thomas joined the station in 1997 after a stint with WABC-TV in New York. In a Facebook posting on Tuesday that drew a flurry of comments, longtime anchor Huel Perkins said the staff was “shocked, confused, and angry” that the three — Jason Carr, Murray Feldman and Thomas — are leaving the station, Hinds reported.
• The National Association of Black Journalists announced Wednesday that Bamidele Idowu of Syracuse University is the recipient of the first Stuart Scott Internship. The internship is offered in memory of the longtime ESPN anchorwho died Jan. 4, 2015 after a long battle with cancer.
• “Reporter Alan Wang no longer works at San Francisco ABC-owned station KGO,” Kevin Eck reported Wednesday for TVSpy. Wang worked at WSB in Atlanta before joining KGO in 2005.

Story on Divided Family Wins Diversity Award

Perla Trevizo and Fernanda Echavarri of the Arizona Daily Star are the winners of the American Society of News Editors’ Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, which celebrates journalism that overcomes ignorance, stereotypes, intolerance, racism or hate, ASNE announced on Tuesday.

“They will receive $2,500 for winning the award, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in memory of Dori J. Maynard, who was an ASNE board member and a strong advocate for news and newsroom diversity.”

The judges said, “The Arizona Daily Star’s compelling story of the de la Rosa family, divided by the U.S.-Mexico border, is moving, powerful and beautifully told. At a time when the discussion about immigration is reduced to sound bites, this work puts it into perspective. It is about family, growing up and growing old. It is about a mother’s love and her children stepping in to take her place.

“The chaptering of the story brings the family into perspective one by one, and with the accompanying podcasts, provides a rare human look at the issues and impact of our nation’s border issues. In the end, it is beautiful storytelling and a worthy recipient of an award named for Dori Maynard.”

The staff of The Baltimore Sun won the Breaking News Writing Award for coverage of the death of Freddie Gray and ensuing unrest. The Sun’s Gray coverage also won ASNE’s Community Service Photojournalism Award, “which rewards photography that captures the sense of a community with powerful and meaningful images and provides an understanding of the community.”

In addition, “Randy Essex of the Glenwood Springs (Colorado) Post Independent will receive $2,500 for winning the Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership, which recognizes editorial writing that is excellent journalism and makes a difference in a community. The award is sponsored by The Dallas Morning News in memory of Burl Osborne, who died in 2012.”

The judges said, “In powerful and persuasive editorials, Randy Essex champions Latino immigrants, both legal and undocumented, in his own community and beyond.

“Decrying calls for the U.S. to deport undocumented immigrants or, in Colorado, to deprive them of basic services, such as driver’s licenses, Essex delineates their contributions, ‘making beds,’ ‘cooking food’ and ‘doing construction,’ and implores readers to value them and support a path to citizenship. He uses solid research and searing sentiment to reach readers’ minds and hearts.”

In another category, “Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times are the winners of the Frank A. Blethen Award for Local Accountability Reporting, which recognizes outstanding work done by a news organization that holds important local institutions accountable for their actions. They will receive $2,500 for winning the award, sponsored by The Seattle Times in honor of Frank A. Blethen, who has been The Times publisher and CEO since 1985.”

The judges said, “Journalists at the Tampa Bay Times exposed how public school leaders in Pinellas County, one of the state’s well-to-do districts, routinely failed black students. Whereas district leaders cited poverty and ‘just the way things are,’ Times journalist spent 18 months embedded with affected families, analyzed millions of rows of records and created comparisons versus other school districts that exposed how decisions by school administrators had created failed schools, a striking impeachment of the status quo.”

• Colin Campbell, Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Sun wins ASNE awards for breaking news, photography in Freddie Gray coverage
• Paul Greeley, TVNewsCheck: WDIV Investigation Honored With Journalism Award

Eyerolls Greet Obama’s Advice to Journalists

“President Barack Obama on Monday night delivered remarks on journalism that included some clear criticism directed at politicians like Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump — and a few barbs shot right at journalists,” Mark Joyella wrote Wednesday for TVNewser.

“ ‘A job well done is about more than just handing someone a microphone,’ [the] president said, suggesting billions of dollars in unearned media handed to Trump should come with a price tag: ‘serious accountability, especially when politicians issue unworkable plans or make promises they can’t keep.’

“Not everyone appreciated the nudge to get tough on politicians, including Jack Shafer, who writes in Politico Magazine, ‘the deeper you study Obama’s relationship with the press, the more you want to ask what business he has giving out a press award. Was Trump himself busy that night?’

“Obama, Shafer argues, ‘holds infrequent news conferences, and he wastes reporters’ time by refraining from answering questions with any candor. He claims to helm “the most transparent administration in history,” while bending government policies and practices toward secrecy.’

“The Associated Press’ David Bauder rounded up other journalistic eyerolls:

“Steve Capus, executive producer of the CBS Evening News and a former NBC News president, said Tuesday that he’s wary of politicians who become media critics. Lumping all of the media together is neither fair nor accurate, he said. . . .”

• Sarah Smith, ProPublica: Obama Isn’t Following Through on Pardons Promise, Says His Former Pardons Attorney

Short Takes

• “A German historian said in new research that The Associated Press, the international news organization based in New York, formally cooperated with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, including the employment of a photographer who worked for a Nazi propaganda division,” Daniel Victor reported Wednesday for the New York Times. However, ” ‘A.P. rejects the suggestion that it collaborated with the Nazi regime at any time,’ the company said. ‘Rather, The A.P. was subjected to pressure from the Nazi regime from the period of Hitler’s coming to power in 1932 until the A.P.’s expulsion from Germany in 1941. A.P. staff resisted the pressure while doing its best to gather accurate, vital and objective news for the world in a dark and dangerous time.’ . . .”
• “The New York Times will not retract a story about the National Football League’s research into player concussions that also suggested ties between the NFL and the tobacco industry,” Joe Pompeo reported Wednesday for Politico Media. “A lawyer for the league demanded a retraction in a letter sent to the  newspaper’s legal counsel Tuesday. But in a Wednesday response to NFL attorney Brad Karp, Times assistant general counsel Dave McCraw wrote that, while the Times has a policy of  promptly correcting factual errors, ‘nowhere does your letter identify any factual errors that we made in our reporting on the ties between the NFL and the tobacco industry.’ . . .”

• “The Thai government has withdrawn charges against Hong Kong-based photojournalist Hok Chun Anthony Kwan, who was arrested in 2015 for bringing body armor into Thailand while on assignment, according to the Associated Press and one of Kwan’s friends,” Chris Fuchs reported Tuesday for NBC News Asian America. Fuchs also wrote, “The news, confirmed to NBC News by Kwan’s friend Mark Vancleave, drew praise from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), of which Kwan was a member while attending college at the University of Minnesota. . . .”
• “We want to tell the stories that deserve to be told but in many cases get overlooked,” Aaron Dodson, an assistant editor at The Undefeated, said in an interview with Andy Bechtel published Monday at editdesk.wordpress.com. “For example, we will make an effort to highlight historically black colleges and universities — a sector, especially in the sports realm, that often goes uncovered. The site, however, will not be limited to the longform style of storytelling. Expect to see a unique mix of longform, shortform, commentary, audio and visual journalism and even your everyday lifestyle blogging. . . .”
• “The Poynter Institute and the National Association of Black Journalists will partner to create a transformational leadership program for journalists of color working in digital media,” the institute announced on Tuesday. “This intensive, tuition-free program will address the unique issues journalists of color face on the path to leadership in digital journalism and technology organizations. It combines the efforts of the global leader in journalism education. . . .”
• “In an effort to provide student journalists with a unique experience working in the Black Press, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), teamed with Chevrolet and the School of Communications at Howard University to launch an innovative journalism fellowship program,” Freddie Allen reported Tuesday for the NNPA. “The program titled, ‘Discover The Unexpected’ (DTU), will feature internships at four NNPA member publications for eight Howard University students. . . .”
• The rise of eyewitness video and audio means “means professionals must learn to respect quality citizen journalism,” NPR TV critic Eric Deggans, the author of 2012’s “Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation,” told Benjamin Mullin of the Poynter Institute Tuesday under the headline “Is the future of social justice journalism still bright?” Deggans said, “As we see with issues involving policing, criminal justice, equal housing and gender equality, often citizen journalists were the first to sound alarms. So the question arises: When the next citizen journalist reveals rampant drug deaths in poor communities of color, overpolicing of communities to reap revenue from fines or the payment of overly high rent amounts to slumlords who house homeless citizens through a municipal program, will the professional pay attention? . . .”

 

Follow Richard Prince on Twitter @princeeditor

Facebook users: “Like” “Richard Prince’s Journal-isms” on Facebook.

• Journal-isms’ Richard Prince Wants Your Ideas (FishbowlDC, Feb. 26, 2016)
• “JOURNAL-ISMS” IS LATEST TO BEAR BRUNT OF INDUSTRY’S ECONOMIC WOES (Feb. 19, 2016)
• Richard Prince with Charlayne Hunter-Gault,“PBS NewsHour,” “What stagnant diversity means for America’s newsrooms” (Dec. 15, 2015)
• Book Notes: Journalists Follow Their Passions
• Book Notes: Journalists Who Rocked Their World
• Book Notes: Hands Up! Read This!
• Book Notes: New Cosby Bio Looks Like a Best-Seller
• Journo-diversity advocate turns attention to Ezra Klein project (Erik Wemple, Washington Post, March 5, 2014)
• Book Notes: “Love, Peace and Soul!” And More
• Book Notes: Book Notes: Soothing the Senses, Shocking the Conscience
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2015
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2014
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2013
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2012
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2011
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2010
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2009
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2008
• Book Notes: Books to Ring In the New Year
• Book Notes: In-Your-Face Holiday Reads
• Fishbowl Interview With the Fresh Prince of D.C. (Oct. 26, 2012)
• NABJ to Honor Columnist Richard Prince With Ida B. Wells Award (Oct. 11, 2012)
• So What Do You Do, Richard Prince, Columnist for the Maynard Institute? (Richard Horgan, FishbowlLA, Aug. 22, 2012)
• Book Notes: Who Am I? What’s Race Got to Do With It?: Journalists Explore Identity
• Book Notes: Catching Up With Books for the Fall
• Richard Prince Helps Journalists Set High Bar (Jackie Jones,BlackAmericaWeb.com, 2011)
• Book Notes: 10 Ways to Turn Pages This Summer
• Book Notes: 7 for Serious Spring Reading
• Book Notes: 7 Candidates for the Journalist’s Library
• Book Notes: 9 That Add Heft to the Bookshelf
• Five Minutes With Richard Prince (Newspaper Association of America,2005)
• ‘Journal-isms’ That Engage and Inform Diverse Audiences (Q&A with Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute, 2008)