Articles Feature

Harris Rises, Trump Falls Among Black Men

by richard01413

NAACP: Social Media Is Top Source of Bad Info
Co-Owner: Baltimore Sun Features Dept. Is Intact
CNN Bans Commentator Over Insult to Mehdi Hasan
3 Lebanese Journalists Killed in Israeli Strike
Where Are These Gangs Terrorizing My Hometown?
Grant to St. Louis Paper Paused Over Ethics Issue

Homepage photo credit: Huge Heart Gifts

Updated Oct. 29 with additional items

Addressing men of all races Saturday in Kalamazoo, Mich., former first lady Michelle Obama said, “to the men who love us, let me just try to paint a picture of what it will feel like if America, the wealthiest nation on Earth, keeps revoking basic care from its women, and how it will affect every single woman in your life. . . . This will not just affect women. It will affect you and your sons. . . (Credit: PBS/YouTube)

NAACP: Social Media Is Top Source of Bad Info

Vice President Kamala Harris is gaining among Black male voters and Donald Trump’s appeal is declining, the NAACP said Monday, unveiling fresh survey information.

The nation’s oldest civil rights organization attributed whatever success the Republican former president has had with Black men to misinformation and disinformation on social media, which has usurped both broadcast and cable television as media of choice for younger Black voters, as well as a decline in civics education in the nation’s schools.

Those who favored Trump were also the least likely to vote, they said.  

At a midday press briefing, NAACP President Derrick Johnson also faulted the news media for focusing too much on “side issues, when there is a clear and present danger that should be addressed head on.” Trump supporters are seeking to create a “Jan. 6 reality,” he said.

The organization found that from August to October, Black men under 50 decreased their likelihood to vote for Trump (27-21%) and increased their likelihood to vote for Harris (51-59%).

The number of Black people who are certain to vote for Trump has declined by 11 percent since a September survey, while support for Harris has risen by 6 percent, the survey found.

“Black men are the least Trumpy male voters in America,” said Joshua Doss, senior pollster and political strategist at HIT Strategies, which conducted the polling for the NAACP, yet media coverage has been “a little misleading,” with the exaggerations “popping up in focus groups.”

NAACP officers and HIT pollsters also said they were heartened by results showing that discussion of health issues was resonating with Black men and that more than half said they planned to vote in down-ballot races, indicating that their perception of the value of “community power” was on the rise.

The Democratic National Committee said it will continue its “first-ever seven-figure ‘I Will Vote’ ad campaign targeting Black voters through ads in 55 Black publications and on 48 Black radio stations.” (Credit: YouTube)

“The concept of voter apathy is declining” among those surveyed, said Phaedra Jackson, vice president of unit advocacy and effectiveness at the NAACP, perhaps a natural consequence of the truism that more people pay attention to the election after Labor Day.

Johnson called the misinformation and disinformation on social media the biggest obstacle to getting African Americans to cast ballots, saying media consumption habits were generational. The median age for African Americans is 32.

The difference between the broadcast media and cable, favored by previous generations, said Johnson, is that “you have social media without any guard rails.” And “you have a whole generation who never had civics making bad choices, including not to vote.” 

The NAACP is meeting the change in media habits by “meeting people where they are” — through digital media — but Johnson also said “the biggest hurdle now is an education hurdle.”  

The get-out-the-vote drive is operating on many fronts, including the courts. The officials pointed to a victory this month in Nebraska, where a state Supreme Court ruled that state election officials must comply with a law allowing former felons to vote immediately after they complete their sentences instead of waiting two years.

“To date, NAACP’s $20 million civic engagement program has reached over 60 million Americans through canvassing, digital outreach, community outreach, and digital, print & radio ads,” the organization added.

“The NAACP has successfully ended Georgia’s Hand Count rule, prevented the disenfranchisement of thousands of WA voters, and halted Alabama’s ‘Purge Program’ through coordinated litigation.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee Monday announced “a first-ever seven-figure ‘I Will Vote’ ad campaign targeting Black voters through ads in 55 Black publications and on 48 Black radio stations across the country. The historic ad campaign will feature radio spots from Kerry Washington, LeToya Luckett-Coles, John Legend, and Stevie Wonder,” it said. 

“This strategic investment comes on the heels of several paid ad campaigns launched by the DNC and the Harris-Walz campaign aimed at turning out and mobilizing Black voters – a critical voting bloc this election. The DNC’s ‘I Will Vote’ campaign directs voters to the DNC’s most complete, accurate, and up-to-date national coverage of polling places and voter education information all in one place to empower Black communities with the information they need to exercise their right to vote in this critical election cycle.” 

In another development, BET Media Group announced Monday it “will premiere the ‘BET Black Men’s Summit,’ hosted by comedian, actor, and radio host D.L. Hughley. Airing on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at 10 PM ET/9 PM CT and streaming on BET+, BET.com, and across the BET social media platforms.”

Co-Owner: Baltimore Sun Features Dept. Is Intact

Armstrong Williams, co-owner of the Baltimore Sun, is denying reports that the Sun is reassigning members of its Features Department.

“The Baltimore Sun today scrapped its features department, reassigning its remaining writers to the news department,” Norman Lebrecht reported Monday for Slipped Disc. The Baltimore Guild issued a statement of protest.

Williams said the story “is a blatant lie. The Features Department is still the Features Department.”

He also said the newspaper is holding a grand opening Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at its new headquarters, 590 Fleet St, at Exeter.

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At 11:30 on the video of “CNN Newsnight,” Ryan Girdusky says to Mehdi Hasan, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.” (Credit: YouTube)

CNN Bans Commentator Over Insult to Mehdi Hasan

“CNN has banned a conservative commentator from appearing on the network again after he told a Muslim journalist ‘I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,’ an apparent reference to the spate of exploding pagers in Lebanon that killed members of the Hezbollah militant group last month,” Patrick Smith reported Tuesday for NBC News.

“Ryan Girdusky made the comment during a heated debate with Mehdi Hasan, a prominent British-American broadcaster and an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, on ‘CNN Newsnight’ with host Abby Phillip.

“The guests were discussing the racist jokes made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, which overshadowed former President Donald Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday and continued to make headlines two days later.

“As the debate turned fractious, Girdusky and Hasan sparred over whether the latter had been labeled an anti-Semite. ‘I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, I’m used to it,’ Hasan said.

“Girdusky replied: ‘Well I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.’

“Hasan responded: ‘Did you just say I should die? You just said I should be killed.’

“When Phillip called out the comment, Girdusky apologized, claiming he heard Hasan say he supported Hamas. After a commercial break both Girdusky and Hasan had left the roundtable discussion.

” ‘There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,’ the network said in a statement shared by Phillip on social media. ‘We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding,’ it said.

” ‘But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed. Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.’ . . .”

Ghassan Najjar is laid to rest Saturday in a southern suburb of Beirut. (Credit: Al Mayadeen)

3 Lebanese Journalists Killed in Israeli Strike

“Three Lebanese journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a building known to be housing reporters in south-eastern Lebanon, witnesses have told the BBC,” Riam El Dalati and Adam Durbin reported Friday for the BBC.

“The attack was carried out on a guesthouse in a compound in Hasbaya being used by more than a dozen journalists from at least seven media organisations — with a courtyard containing cars clearly marked with ‘press’.

“The men worked for broadcasters Al-Manar TV and Al Mayadeen TV, which issued statements paying tribute to their killed employees. Lebanon’s information minister said the attack was deliberate and described it as a ‘war crime’.

“The Israeli military says it targeted a Hezbollah structure, but is reviewing the incident.

“Those killed were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda from pro-Iranian news channel Al Mayadeen, as well as camera operator Wissam Qassem from the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar.

“The Lebanese ministry of health said three others were injured in the blast. . . .”

Former president Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora, Colo., on Oct. 11. The Republican presidential nominee spoke at a hotel convention center to about 10,000 on the outskirts of Aurora, which he has labeled a “war zone.” (Credit: RJ Sangosti/Denver Post)

Where Are These Gangs Terrorizing My Hometown?

“Evidently, Venezuelan gangsters are good at blending in. I looked all over for them. At the apartment building where they supposedly terrorize the residents — no sign. Just a couple of little kids playing on a piece of exercise equipment and two neighbors walking their big, friendly dog,” columnist David Von Drehle (pictured, below) wrote Oct 22 for The Washington Post.

“At the nearby Fox movie theater, now the Aurora Fox Arts Center, where my sisters and I watched double features and ate Milk Duds on hot summer days because it had the best air conditioning in town — nada. At the blood plasma donation center that used to be our bowling alley — not a single armed thug in sight.

“It caught my attention, believe me, when once and would-be president Donald Trump visited my hometown and pronounced it ‘a war zone’ occupied by ‘the most violent people on Earth.’ He told a crowd of supporters that his opponent deliberately placed hardened killers in this Denver suburb for the express purpose of victimizing Aurorans.

“ ‘Kamala [Harris] has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World,’ said Trump. ‘And she has had them resettled, beautifully, into your community to prey upon innocent American citizens, that’s what they’re doing. And no place is it more evident than right here.’ His mass deportation plan now has a name: ‘Operation Aurora.’

“When I learned that the supposed epicenter of the ‘war zone’ was right across the street from the largest research hospital complex in the Rocky Mountain West, I hurried over. Some 1.5 million patient visits per year take place in those gleaming Aurora buildings. I could only imagine all the preying that must go on.

“Yet, though I saw plenty of people coming and going along unguarded sidewalks, not one of them acted even a little bit scared.

“Evidently, when Trump said the menace was ‘evident,’ he didn’t exactly know — or much care — what he was talking about. According to the Aurora Police Department, in this city of some 400,000 people, there are 10 known or suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua accused of crimes. Ten. And six of them are in custody. . . .”

Grant to St. Louis Paper Paused Over Ethics Issue

“The national initiative that awarded $100,000 to the St. Louis Argus says it has ‘paused payment’ on the grant while it looks into allegations that the newspaper has helped itself to the work of numerous other media outlets,” Sarah Fenske reported Thursday for St. Louis Magazine.

“The Press Forward project is devoting $500 million to shore up local journalism, and its first-ever open call for applicants focused on ‘uplifting local outlets that bridge longstanding coverage gaps — whether in rural or urban communities, amongst people of color, or linguistically diverse people.’ That resulted in a tidal wave of 931 applications; Press Forward ultimately funded 205, with an average grant of $100,000.

“But the inclusion of the Argus surprised St. Louis journalists. Even some newshounds didn’t realize the storied Black newspaper was still publishing. The staff has no full-time journalists, little presence on social media, and no print distribution.

“It has been emailing PDF newsletters, but much of that content — like much of what was on the Argus’ website — has come from other local news outlets, who confirmed to SLM that the Argus didn’t ask permission, which could be a violation of not just industry norms but also copyright laws. That included work from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Public Radio, Fox-2 Now (KTVI), St. Louis Magazine, and STL-Made, the Greater St. Louis Inc.-funded initiative to spread good news about the region. . . . “

WaPo Columnists Denounce Non-Endorsement

Oct, 26, 2024

Attiah, Robinson, Bacon Among Signatories

Norris Quits as Post Columnist Over Non-Endorsement (Oct. 27 update)
Gun Makers Gave Customers’ Info to Politicians
Asian American With ‘Stubborn Pride’ Says ‘Enough’

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Ann Telnaes drew this cartoon for The Washington Post, which has adopted the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” She messaged Journal-isms, “I’ll let the cartoon speak for itself.”

Attiah, Robinson, Bacon Among Signatories

Sixteen columnists (and counting) for The Washington Post — including three Black journalists — have denounced the decision by Post owner Jeff Bezos to no longer endorse presidential candidates, calling it “a terrible mistake” that “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”

A fourth — Colbert I. King (pictured), a former deputy editorial page editor — messaged Journal-isms Saturday, “I don’t disagree with their position, having personally participated in the drafting of several Post presidential endorsements. Guess I was overlooked or ignored. Tends to happen when you’re 85 and in the corner.”

Post publisher Will Lewis announced the decision Friday, prompting a firestorm that included the resignation of at least one editor and the cancellation of as many as 2,000 subscriptions, according to news reports.

“Angry readers and sources flooded the email inboxes of numerous staffers with complaints,” Manuel Roig-Franzia and Laura Wagner reported for the news organization.

Oliver Darcy reported for his Status newsletter Friday, “David Shipley, who heads The Post’s opinion section, said in a note to his enraged staff, which I obtained, that he will schedule a town hall to discuss the matter with them. Executive Editor Matt Murray, confronted during a meeting by his own furious news staff, told his troops that he was not consulted on the decision and only learned about it Thursday night, people familiar with the matter said.”

Bezos’ action followed a similar decision last week by fellow billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong (pictured) to forgo a presidential endorsement at the Los Angeles Times, leading some commentators to paint the two decisions as kowtowing to business interests that might be harmed if they backed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat, should former president Donald Trump, the Republican, be elected.

“Ian Bassin, a democracy expert, calls these moves ‘anticipatory obedience’: fear by owners that if Trump wins he could take vengeance on companies that cross him,” Sewell Chan wrote for Columbia Journalism Review. “They noted that the leadership at CNN and the Post changed after the Trump administration tried to block the takeover of CNN’s parent company and tried to deny a cloud computing contract for Amazon, Bezos’s company.”

David Folkenflik reported for NPR, “Post owner Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the world’s richest people, has major contracts before the federal government in his other business operations, with billion-dollar implications affecting Amazon’s shipping business and cloud computing services as well as his Blue Origin space company.”

Just three weeks ago, the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University, led by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, held an all-day conference for journalists to “gain insights and skills necessary to navigate and report on oligarchy and its influence in contemporary American society.”

Jeffrey A. Winters, Northwestern University professor and author of the 2011 book “Oligarchy,” said at that event, “an oligarch is simply someone who is empowered by wealth and they deploy their wealth to influence politics, and one of the most important things that oligarchs do is they engage in something called wealth defense . . . it’s something that if you happen to be tremendously wealthy you focus on; it becomes an obsession.”

The columnists’ statement, posted on the Post website but not included in Saturday’s print edition, reads:

“The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake. It represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love. This is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat that Donald Trump poses to them — the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020.

“There is no contradiction between The Post’s important role as an independent newspaper and its practice of making political endorsements, both as a matter of guidance to readers and as a statement of core beliefs. That has never been more true than in the current campaign. An independent newspaper might someday choose to back away from making presidential endorsements. But this isn’t the right moment, when one candidate is advocating positions that directly threaten freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution.”

Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan resigns over Jeff Bezos’ decision. He explains why to CNN’s Erin Burnett. (Credit: CNN/YouTube)

Black journalists Karen Attiah, Perry Bacon Jr. and Eugene Robinson were among those who signed, along with Matt Bai, Max Boot, E.J. Dionne Jr., Lee Hockstader, David Ignatius, Heather Long, Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank, Alexandra Petri, Catherine Rampell, Jennifer Rubin, Karen Tumulty and Erik Wemple. In addition, Tumulty and Petri wrote separate pieces.

In his own op-ed, Publisher William Lewis wrote, “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates. . . . Our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds.”

Lewis referenced the paper’s policy in the decades prior to 1976, when it endorsed Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter. The last time the Post did not endorse a presidential candidate in the general election was 1988.

Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson reported for The New York Times, “Mr. Bezos has told others involved with The Post that he is interested in expanding The Post’s audience among conservatives, according to a person familiar with the matter. He has appointed Mr. Lewis — a chief executive who previously worked at the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal — and has informed Mr. Lewis that he wants more conservative writers on the opinion section, the person said.”

On social media, celebrities such as author Stephen King and actor Jeffrey Wright — who is from Washington — said they were canceling their subscriptions, the Post reported.

Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser under President Barack Obama and is a former domestic policy adviser to the Biden White House, wrote on X, “As a DC native and lifelong subscriber to the Post, I’m disgusted. You have lost us.”

Robert Kagan, a longtime Post columnist and editor-at-large in the opinion department, resigned in protest. Many called the non-endorsement especially galling for the newspaper that uncovered the Watergate scandal.

“Washington Post legends Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein issued a statement saying: ‘We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 12 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy.

“Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.’ ” the Post’s Manuel Roig-Franzia and Laura Wagner reported.

Donald Graham, whose company sold the newspaper to Bezos in a $250 million deal in 2013, messaged Journal-isms Saturday, “I’m not commenting. That’s been my policy on anything related to the Post since 2013.”

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, “Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said that his decision not to offer readers a recommendation would be less divisive in a tumultuous election year,” James Rainey reported Friday for the Times.

“ ‘I have no regrets whatsoever. In fact, I think it was exactly the right decision,’ he said in an interview with The Times on Friday afternoon. ‘The process was [to decide]: how do we actually best inform our readers? And there could be nobody better than us who try to sift the facts from fiction’ while leaving it to readers to make their own final decision.

“He said he feared that picking one candidate would only exacerbate the already deep divisions in the country.

“Members of the editorial board protested that the non-endorsement was out of step with recent precedent at the newspaper, which has picked a presidential candidate in every election since 2008, and with The Times’ previous editorial position, which has been ardently opposed to former President Trump.

“Editorials Editor Mariel Garza resigned Wednesday as a result of the decision. Editorial board members Robert Greene and Karin Klein tendered their resignations from The Times the following day. Greene won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2021 for his writing about criminal justice reform. . . .”

In January, Audible published “Our Hidden Conversations,” calling it “the culmination of an unprecedented project 14 years in the making. The result: an audiobook that feels like eavesdropping on America.” (Credit: Audible)

Norris Quits as Post Columnist Over Non-Endorsement

Michele Norris, a Washington Post Opinions contributor and consultant who founded “The Race Project” and has worked at the Post, NPR and ABC News, tweeted Sunday that she had resigned as a Post columnist over management’s decision not to endorse in the presidential race.

“The Washington Post’s decision to withhold an endorsement that had been written & approved in an election where core democratic principles are at stake was a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard of regularly endorsing candidates since 1976,” Norris wrote on X.

“The reason given in no way justifies why the newspaper would abdicate its role in informing and guiding voters as it has done in making endorsements in other key races this year, and as it has done in endorsing the candidates who were running against Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

“To be clear, a newspaper does not forfeit its independence in making endorsements,” Norris continued in the thread. “An endorsement provides guidance based on muscular and independent analysis. And it provides a window into an institution’s core values.”

Jonathan Capehart, an associate editor of The Washington Post who was a 15-year member of its editorial board, expresses his alarm over the “abominable” Post non-endorsement on his MSNBC show. (Credit: YouTube)

Norris joined the Post opinions section in 2019, hired by the late editorial page editor Fred Hiatt.

In 2022, she won the 2022 Goldsmith Career Award and was described as one “whose career in print, television, and radio has made her a leading voice on race, identity, and the nature of modern American democracy.”

“The music of Michele’s writing is matched by its moral power,’” Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs said in the announcement. “She picks up the hard questions and examines them fearlessly, in a way that has made her one of the great, wise voices of this generation.”

In 2009, Norris was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists, and she was a 2015 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. She is a judge for the Chancellor Awards and a board member for the Peabody Awards. She is also a board member of the President Obama oral history project at Columbia University and the storytelling committee for the Obama Presidential Center under construction in the South Side of Chicago, among other roles and honors.

As the Goldsmith announcement also noted, ” Norris is also the Founding Director of The Race Card Project, a Peabody Award-Winning narrative archive where people around the world share their experiences, questions, hopes, dreams, laments, and observations about identity – in just six words –as the starting point for conversations about race. Norris is also a National Geographic Storytelling Fellow.

“She is the author of The Grace of Silence, A Memoir where Norris turns her formidable interviewing and investigative skills on her own background to unearth long-hidden family secrets that raise questions about her cultural legacy and shed new light on America’s complicated racial history. . . .”

Norris’ most recent Post column ran Aug. 21 and was about Michelle Obama‘ ‘s appearance at the Democratic National Convention, writing that “Her speech will be studied for years because it works on many levels.”

Norris said she considered Obama a friend.

Norris responded to comments about her post on X with, “Thanks for all your kind words. Not yet sure what’s next for my writing. Considering Substack, but for now I’ll keep busy with other projects. The podcast (Your Mama’s Kitchen) and http://theracecardproject.com where I regularly engage w/ all kinds of people- even those I disagree with.”

Separately, Ross A. Lincoln reported for The Wrap on Friday that the web publication had learned that “Alongside its endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Los Angeles Times editorial board had also planned a multi-part series against Donald Trump before the whole thing was quashed by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong.

“According to internal memos viewed by TheWrap, the series, tentatively called ‘The Case Against Trump,’ would have [run] throughout this week. The endorsement of Kamala Harris would then have been published on Sunday. . . . ” (Added Oct. 27)

Illustration by Joan Wong for ProPublica

Gun Makers Gave Customers’ Info to Politicians

“For years, America’s most iconic gun-makers turned over sensitive personal information on hundreds of thousands of customers to political operatives,” Corey G. Johnson (pictured, below) reported Thursday for ProPublica.

“Those operatives, in turn, secretly employed the details to rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians running for Congress and the White House, a ProPublica investigation has found.

“The clandestine sharing of gun buyers’ identities — without their knowledge and consent — marked a significant departure for an industry that has long prided itself on thwarting efforts to track who owns firearms in America.

“At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Marlin and Mossberg, handed over names, addresses and other private data to the gun industry’s chief lobbying group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The NSSF then entered the gun owners’ details into what would become a massive database.

“The data initially came from decades of warranty cards filled out by customers and returned to gun manufacturers for rebates and repair or replacement programs.

“A ProPublica review of dozens of warranty cards from the 1970s through today found that some promised customers their information would be kept strictly confidential. Others said some information could be shared with third parties for marketing and sales. None of the cards informed buyers their details would be used by lobbyists and consultants to win elections. . . .”

Asian American With ‘Stubborn Pride’ Says ‘Enough’

“Recently I accepted a buyout and left my job as a columnist at the Los Angeles Times after 13 years reporting on Southern California,” Frank Shyong (pictured) wrote Tuesday on Substack. “I’ve spent the last month or so struggling to explain why, both to myself and others.

“There are all too many reasons to leave after 13 years of watching the paper be devastated by cuts and bad leadership. The trouble is deciding which to share, because I have no desire to bring harm to my former newsroom.

“I don’t mind sharing that I struggled as a columnist. I knew early on that I would probably fail to live up to people’s expectations of what a columnist was, but I thought my failure could be instructive or at least interesting. A clash of values was inevitable. I was the first Asian American columnist in newsroom history, and at the time I also became the youngest columnist on staff.

“Some coworkers went out of their way to let me know what they thought of my promotion. A few months after my job was announced, I was on a Festival of Books panel moderated by a fellow columnist so unfamiliar with my work that he described it with the following: ‘when he writes about ethnic food, you can just smell the Chinese food cooking.’ I have never been a food writer, and cannot recall an instance in which I described the smell of any kind of food cooking. His first question was more of an accusation. ‘You know you’re too young to be doing this, right?’ He said, to chuckles from the audience, who like him, were mostly old and white.

“A manager once told me that a columnist is supposed to be a representative of the newsroom. But the newsroom never agreed to be represented by me, and I never agreed to represent any other values but my own. And from the beginning, mine were always different.

“I began to write about Asian American communities in Southern California at a time when journalism about identity and race was seen as a backwater beat. I [persisted] in doing so even though an older colleague I respected told me to ‘drop the race stuff.’ I took a stubborn pride in forcing people to acknowledge the relevance and importance of the communities I was writing about. I quickly learned that I wasn’t always allowed to decide what was interesting and newsworthy about these communities. I, and most other reporters who were not white, were considered biased by default because we sometimes shared a broad demographic category with the people we wrote about. . . .”

The Times’ owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, and its top editor, Terry Tang, are Asian American.

(More to come)

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e Non-Endorsement

Oct. 26, 2024

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