Articles Feature

ICE Puts Journalist in Its ‘Nest of Abuse’

by richard05161

2nd Reporter Has Spent a Decade in Limbo
. . . Lawyer: ‘System as a Whole Is the Problem’
. . . Hopeful That Dems Will End ‘Vindictiveness’
Harris Wants Context; Media Emphasize Border
Mom Sees Daughter’s Photo on TV, Reunites

Tulsa Massacre Recalls Other Overlooked Killings
UNC’s Pioneer Black Alumni Back Hannah-Jones
Naomi Osaka Story Lays Bare Deeper Tensions
Obama Urges More Listening to Others’ Struggles
‘Asian American History and Journalism’ to Debut
Israel Says It Would Help AP Rebuild in Gaza

Short Takes

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Thirzia Galeas, investigative journalist from Honduras, primarily reports stories on human rights, women’s rights and environmental rights.

2nd Reporter Has Spent a Decade in Limbo

“Thirzia Galeas, an investigative journalist from Honduras, was taken into ICE custody last Sunday, May 24, after requesting asylum in the United States,” Dashiell Allen reported Tuesday for latinarepublic.com. “She is currently being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where, according to the digital Honduran publication Reportar Sin Miedo, she is in close quarters with people who are Covid-19-positive.

“Galeas is a former reporter for the Committee For Free Expression in Honduras (C-Libre) and does freelance reporting for digital newspapers such as Conexihon.hn. She’s a grant recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation and primarily reports stories on Human Rights, women’s rights, and environmental rights.

“Before fleeing Honduras, Galeas had reported on environmental activists fighting against the extraction of resources by multinational corporations for the independent media organization Reporteros de Investigación.

“According to C-Libre, a man identified as Lester Obando, an alleged public prosecutor, threatened Galea’s life at a closed event in December 2020. But as reported by C-Libre, that wasn’t the first time she received threats – ‘The hostilities faced by journalist Thirzia Galeas date back to December 13, 2011, when a group of women journalists were violently repressed by members of the Presidential Honor Guard when they arrived at a protest condemning the murders of members of the press in Honduras.’ “

Allen also wrote, “Stewart Detention Center is known as one of the most dangerous ICE detention centers in the country -– a recent report described it as a ‘nest of negligence and abuse,’ and the ACLU considers it to be one of the deadliest.”

The International Women’s Media Foundation is remaining publicly silent. “Because her case is ongoing, we are unable to comment at this time,” spokesperson Madison Forker messaged Journal-isms Thursday.

In 2011, Angela Kocherga of Belo TV, left, and Mexican journalists Emilio Gutierrez Soto, Ricardo Chavez Aldana and Alejandro Hernandez Pacheco appeared during the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Credit:National Association of Hispanic Journalists)

. . . Lawyer: ‘System as a Whole Is the Problem’

“This isn’t the first time ICE has detained a Latin American journalist seeking asylum – in 2008 Mexican journalist Emilio Gutierrez fled to the US with his 15-year old son, after his reporting on Mexican drug cartels put his life in danger,” Dashiell Allen continued Tuesday for latinarepublic.com.

“After nearly a decade in limbo, a judge ruled against his asylum case in 2017 and he was almost deported to Mexico; during that time he and his son were in ICE custody for at least 8 months. But The National Press Club and 18 other journalist organizations intervened on his behalf, appealing the ruling. Now, with a new administration in Washington, Gutierrez and The National Press Club are hopeful that his case will be given a second look.

“ ‘I have to believe that as the Biden administration works to correct the asylum system, political leaders will now finally take an honest look at my case and grant me and my son the chance to truly live without fear,’ Gutierrez said in a short video, adding ‘I still believe that justice is possible.’ . . .

“The US Citizenship Act of 2021 – President Biden’s promised legislation on immigration and addressing ‘root causes’ in Central America – only mentions journalists to say that it will support, ‘government protection programs that provide physical protection and security to human rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, whistleblowers, and civil society activists who are at risk’ – but it doesn’t provide assurance that asylum cases like Galeas’s – whose life was allegedly threatened by members of her own country’s government – would be accepted or given priority.”

Eduardo Beckett, attorney for Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, says, “There is no border crisis, the only crisis is the one created by the Department of Justice and the broken immigration system that is hostile against asylum seekers as Emilio.” (Credit: Michaela Roman/Borderzine)

Gutiérrez has been in this space on and off for 10 years, since he was honored at a National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention in June 2011. His was one of three cases National Press Club highlighted May 3 on World Press Freedom Day.

His lawyer, Eduardo Beckett, messaged Journal-isms on Thursday:

“Emilio is in [Ann Arbor,] Michigan awaiting for the Board of Immigration Appeals to send us a briefing schedule. As you know, 13 years of fighting for asylum is extreme and a waste of judicial resources and shows how broken the system is.

“Hopefully, during this administration, he will finally win his case. Emilio has been through the following administrations: the end of Bush, Obama (twice), Trump, and now the Biden administration. I have copied a local article that highlights how the judges in El Paso adjudicate cases. They are hostile and treat asylum seekers as if they have committed a crime for applying for asylum.

“There is no border crisis, the only crisis is the one created by the Department of Justice and the broken immigration system that is hostile against asylum seekers as Emilio. Of course, there are good immigration judges too, but they have mandates dictated by the [attorneys general] of each administration.

“I am proud that he has picked up more English and is hanging tough during one of the toughest times in the United States. . . . I would tell journalists that the focus should be where these mandates come from, Washington. I would question why every bad ICE director from El Paso goes on to get promoted as Corey A. Price who is now number four at ICE.

“Why does ICE continue to detain asylum seekers for prolonged periods during the pandemic? Question how ICE is resisting the Biden administration from the inside as is CBP and Border Patrol. They were the biggest supporters of Trump. Question why even under the Biden administration some immigration judges are resisting the Biden administration by continuing to violate due process. Thus, the system as a whole is the problem. The system created a crisis then blames the asylum seekers for political gain. That is the border crisis.”

Beckett attached a link to a Mother Jones article from July 2020, “Defended Anti-Gay and Anti-Muslim Causes. Now He’s an Immigration Judge.” Beckett noted, “This is the new Chief Immigration Judge for the El Paso Court.”

Emilio Gutiérrez Soto at Wallace House, headquarters of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. (Credit: Jesse David Green)

. . . Hopeful That Dems Will End ‘Vindictiveness’

“It’s a classic case of justice delayed/justice denied and a classic tip of the iceberg story,” messaged Kathy Kiely, (pictured below) Lee Hills Chair in Free Press Studies, Missouri School of Journalism, and a Press Freedom Fellow at the National Press Club Journalism Institute, on the case of Emilio Gutiérrez Soto.

“As all of us involved in Emilio’s case have observed on numerous occasions, if it’s this hard for a journalist who has such a well-connected team of advocates, you can only imagine how bad things are for the average asylum seeker.”

Lynette Clemetson (pictured below), who directs the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan, added Thursday that she and Kiely “have been partners in working toward justice for Emilio for the past three years.

“There have been numerous FOIAs filed to obtain ICE records on Emilio. Kathy continues to receive FIOA responses in dumps of hundreds of pages at a time, with significant redactions. Still, in recent dumps there is evidence of what we have suspected all along: that ICE officials were targeting Emilio because he spoke at the National Press Club in October 2017 against Trump administration immigration and asylum policies and tactics.

“Emilio was taken into custody in December 2017, two months after his Press Club remarks. He was held for nearly 8 months and was released in late July 2018 when the Press Club and other advocates won [a] skirmish in the larger battle. A judge ordered the court to turn over the documents tied to his arrest. Instead of turning them over, Emilio and his adult son were released in late July 2018. They came to Ann Arbor where Emilio joined the 2018-19 Knight-Wallace Fellowship class. You can read all the details here.

” He was finishing the fellowship when the judge in El Paso ruled against his case. Eduardo Beckett successfully filed an appeal. Emilio, 58 next week, and Oscar, 28, remain in Ann Arbor, very much in limbo, while they await word on their fates. “

The National Press Club “is working now with Reporters Committee to index the FIOA findings so we can make a case for getting some redacted material unredacted.”

Kiely continued, “As Lynette noted, documents obtained through our FOIA suggest that authorities got very interested in Emilio’s appearance before the National Press Club. At his first check in after that appearance, he was detained and narrowly missed being deported (Ed [Beckett] got the Board of Immigration Appeals to delay the order in the nick of time).

Emilio GutiŽrrez Soto with his then-teenage son, Oscar, after receiving a President’s Award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in 2011. (Credit: Julian Esquer/Latino Reporter Digital)

“In what appeared to be an act of pure vindictiveness, ICE then put Emilio and his son Oscar in detention, providing no good reason for this. They ignored appeals from many press organizations, a number of members of Congress and the bishop of El Paso.

“ICE only released Emilio days before they were going to have to comply with a federal judge’s order to release all of their communications about him on discovery (ie faster and less redacted than what we are getting via FOIA). By releasing Emilo, they mooted the requirement that they release their records. If you hold a guy eight months despite appeals from prominent citizens and then release him only to avoid having to cough up records, doesn’t that suggest you have something to hide? Ergo, our FOIA effort.

“But the FOIA is just one effort to keep the pressure on the government to do the right thing. Now that Democrats – or, more to the point, people who are not as xenophobic as our last president — control Congress and the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, we are hoping that someone will decide to STOP WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY persecuting a good guy.”

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Harris Wants Context; Media Emphasize Border

Vice President Kamala Harris‘ first foreign trip received polarizing responses in the news media: Right-wing and many mainstream outlets seized upon her decision not to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, while left-wing ones took her to task for emphasizing to Guatemalans, “Don’t come.”

Some said it was simply that Harris handled the media poorly when asked about the border, particularly in an exchange with NBC’s Lester Holt.

“In an interview with Holt that aired Tuesday, Harris was pressed about the fact that she hasn’t yet visited the US-Mexico border,” Nikki Carvajal, Kate Sullivan, Dana Bash, Phil Mattingly and Jeremy Diamond reported for CNN.

” ‘At some point, you know, we are going to the border,’ Harris said in the interview. ‘We’ve been to the border. So this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.’

“Holt responded: ‘You haven’t been to the border.’

” ‘I, and I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t — I don’t understand the point that you’re making,’ Harris said with a laugh. She added: ‘I’m not discounting the importance of the border.’

“The vice president’s team, for their part, were frustrated by what they perceive to be questioning driven by Republican attacks falsely painting her as the administration’s border czar, rather than focused on the root causes of migration.”

Harris emphasized later that the issue must be taken in context and that those root causes must be dealt with; focusing only on the border is short-sighted.

On MSNBC, Joy Reid said on “The ReidOut” Tuesday, “What we got mostly from the Guatemala trip was: Don’t come. And that was sort of what it was boiled down to.” Reid turned to Maria Hinojosa, executive producer of public radio’s “Latino USA,” for her thoughts: “I think that’s probably because there was extraordinary blowback by hearing the vice president, daughter of immigrants, say to refugees: Don`t come,” Hinojosa said.

“So I think there was a pause and just like, OK, wait a second, legally, refugees can come and should come, because, I don’t know, that’s basically the Statue of Liberty, stone’s throw from where I am, that’s kind of what she’s saying. That’s what we advertise.”

Reid argued for more context. “The United States` Southern border with Mexico is not the only important issue that matters to the world. Those seven countries have a long history with the United States, much of it troubling. The United States used much of Central America as essentially a giant plantation.

“Google the United Fruit Company. We have a long, sordid, torrid history with this region. The history does not begin at the border, where people are showing up. That is not the only important thing that matters.

“There`s a whole history that long precedes people arriving at the border between Mexico and the United States. And to reduce what we just heard, 10 minutes of that, to, are you going to the border, to me, strikes me, personally, as missing a huge opportunity. We have this huge opportunity to understand the reasons why the things that preceded that happening.”

Emely, right, is reunited with her mother, Glenda Valdez at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Sunday in Texas. (Credit: Eric Gay/Associated Press)

Mom Sees Daughter’s Photo on TV, Reunites

“Six years had passed since Glenda Valdez kissed her toddler goodbye and left for the United States — six years since she held Emely in her arms,” Acacia Coronado reported for the Associated Press.

“But here she was, at Texas’ Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, tearfully embracing the little girl she left behind. And it happened only because she had glimpsed a televised photo of Emely, part of an Associated Press story on young people crossing the Mexican border alone. . . .”

Former President Barack Obama directed his Twitter followers to a Washington Post story on the 1921 Tulsa Massacre by Deneen L. Brown, who has become the go-to reporter on the atrocity. A PBS film, “Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten,” aired May 31 and focused on Brown’s search for mass graves. Another documentary, “Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer,” airs on Nat Geo TV on June 18 at 9 p.m. Eastern. It focuses on Brown as she travels the country, investigating massacres that occurred during the reign of terror known as Red Summer, which affected more than 26 Black communities.

Tulsa Massacre Recalls Other Overlooked Killings

“The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was neither the first nor the only mass killing of black Americans in that period,” the Associated Press wrote Jul 23, 2019, nearly two years before the current centennial of the tragedy.

“It flowed in small towns like Elaine, Arkansas, in medium-size places such as Annapolis, Maryland, and Syracuse, New York, and in big cities like Washington and Chicago. Hundreds of African American men, women and children were burned alive, shot, lynched or beaten to death by white mobs. Thousands saw their homes and businesses burned to the ground and were driven out, many never to return.

“It was branded ‘Red Summer’ because of the bloodshed and amounted to some of the worst white-on-black violence in U.S. history.

“Beyond the lives and family fortunes lost, it had far-reaching repercussions, contributing to generations of black distrust of white authority. But it also galvanized blacks to defend themselves and their neighborhoods with fists and guns; reinvigorated civil rights organizations like the NAACP and led to a new era of activism; gave rise to courageous reporting by black journalists; and influenced the generation of leaders who would take up the fight for racial equality decades later. . . .”

The story also said, “Researchers believe that in a span of 10 months, more than 250 African Americans were killed in at least 25 riots across the U.S. by white mobs that never faced punishment. Historian John Hope Franklin called it ‘the greatest period of interracial strife the nation has ever witnessed.’ . . .

“Black journalists like [Ida B.] Wells played an important role in getting the story out.

” ‘Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender were instrumental in providing an alternate voice that represented why African Americans deserved to be here, deserved equal rights and were, in some cases, justified in fighting,’ said Kevin Strait, a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. . . .”

Some of the University of North Carolina’s Black Pioneers and their spouses meet for lunch at Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill last year. (Courtesy Walter A. Jackson via the Daily Tar Heel)

UNC’s Pioneer Black Alumni Back Hannah-Jones

“Twenty-one members of the UNC Black Pioneers — an organization of Black alumni who graduated between 1952 and 1972 — released a statement on Wednesday calling on the Board of Trustees to take action in granting Nikole Hannah-Jones a tenured position at the University,” Lauren McCarthy reported Thursday for the Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper.

“Black Pioneer James Cofield said the organization was created to help Black alumni from those years share their unique experiences and to lend their voices on important issues in the larger community.

“ ‘The undersigned members of the UNC Black Pioneers fully support the joint statement of support for tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones issued by the Carolina Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists at UNC,’ the statement read.

“In their statement, the CABJ and the NAHJ wrote that the two previous Knight Chairs at UNC arrived with tenure, and Hannah-Jones would be the first to not receive the same treatment — despite overwhelming support from Hussman faculty.

“After the state-sanctioned anti-Black violence and police brutality during summer 2020, the University committed to prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion through emails and miscellaneous committees,” the statement read.

“But when Black community members called for action on Hannah-Jones’ tenure, the CABJ and NAHJ said, UNC didn’t live up to these promises. . . .”

During a recent episode of ESPN’’s “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith opened up about how he is still learning to cope with the passing of his mother.  “I do not want to be here, but I have a job,” Smith said. “I signed up and the NBA Playoffs are going on and people expect to hear from me.”

Naomi Osaka Story Lays Bare Deeper Tensions

“Congratulations, tennis. you’ve won neither the battle nor the war with Naomi Osaka, but you have just bullied one of the biggest stars in your sport into quitting a major tournament that could use the publicity she would have brought to it,” Jemele Hill wrote June 2 for The Atlantic.

“Osaka, the second-ranked woman in international tennis and the highest-paid female athlete in the world, withdrew from the French Open after a power struggle with tournament officials over whether she would attend obligatory press conferences. Osaka has had trouble in that tournament in the past, having never advanced out of the third round.

“Last week, Osaka announced on social media that she was skipping all news conferences during the event to protect her mental health. ‘I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,’ she wrote last week. ‘We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds, and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.’

“Critics quickly portrayed Osaka as shirking one of her fundamental duties: communicating with the public. In reality, the episode laid bare some of the deeper tensions in big-money athletics. Who controls a sport — the leagues that organize the competition, or the athletes who actually play? When athletes have direct access to fans via social-media platforms, what role should traditional sports media play? And when athletes, particularly athletes of color, feel mistreated by tournaments, sports leagues, and media outlets alike, what recourse do they have? . . . .”​

Barack Obama tells Anderson Cooper on CNN, “there are certain right wing media venues . . . that monetize and capitalize on stoking the fear and resentment of a White population that is witnessing a change in America.”

Obama Urges More Listening to Others’ Struggles

“We have more economic stratification and segregation. You combine that with racial stratification and the siloing of the media, so you don’t have just Walter Cronkite delivering the news, but you have 1,000 different venues,” former president Barack Obama told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday.

“All that has contributed to that sense that we don’t have anything in common.” The solution, Obama said, is more face-to-face meetings where people are hearing each other’s struggles and stories, Dan Merica reported for CNN. ” ‘The question now becomes how do we create those venues, those meeting places for people to do that,’ he said. ‘Because right now, we don’t have them and we’re seeing the consequences of that.’

“At the heart of some of these divisions, Obama argued, is race — a through line that defined Obama’s rise in politics and his election as the first Black president.

“The former President said during the interview that it remains ‘hard for the majority… of White Americans to recognize you can be proud of this country and its traditions and its history and our forefathers and yet, it is also true that this terrible stuff happened.’

” ‘The vestiges of that linger and continue,’ Obama said. ‘And the truth is that when I tried to tell that story, oftentimes my political opponents would deliberately not only block out that story but try to exploit it for their own political gain.’ . . . “

The lead story at the Casa Grande (Ariz.) Dispatch on April 24, 1942, was about how much business Japanese internment camps would bring.

‘Asian American History and Journalism’ to Debut

“In the days and weeks following the Atlanta shooting that killed eight women, six of whom were Asian American, May Lee noticed a stark difference in the media coverage of the event,” Emmett Fuchs reported Wednesday for the Daily Trojan at USC Annenberg. “The coverage, Lee said, by mainstream, predominantly white media outlets, versus that of Korean and other Asian outlets was ‘very different.’ ”

“Lee (pictured), a journalist and adjunct professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said that mainstream outlets, unaware of cultural sensitivities and what Asian Americans were going through ‘skew[ed] the narrative,’ dehumanized the victims through hypersexualization and ‘show[ed] more sympathy toward the shooter than the actual victims,’ as in the case with the sheriff spokesman. On the other hand, Asian and Korean media outlets told a more complete and accurate story, Lee said, because of their awareness of cultural sensitivities.

“While the Atlanta shootings are a recent example, Lee said media bias against Asian Americans has persisted throughout American history, citing the media’s pro-government stance during Japanese internment. With the knowledge of those biases in media and the anxiety and fear from the past year, in which hate crimes against Asians rose 114% in Los Angeles from 2019 to 2020 according to the Los Angeles Times, Lee pitched a class that would tackle these issues to Gordon Stables, the director of the School of Journalism.

“Over the course of just a couple of months, Stables fast-tracked the course, and Lee wrote the curriculum in a few weeks. The class, titled ‘Asian American History and Journalism,’ will be open to students for the upcoming fall semester.

“The class ‘combines the idea of [Asian American and Pacific Islander] history and how journalism played a role in perpetuating stereotypes, misleading the public into thinking certain ways, covering stories in a very biased way just because of the area, and then also because of the lack of knowledge when it came to different Asian cultures in America,’ Lee said. . . .”

Israel Says It Would Help AP Rebuild in Gaza

“Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that Hamas militants tried to disrupt Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense system from a Gaza building housing The Associated Press and other news outlets, prompting the Israeli air force to destroy the high rise last month. The AP said it has not seen evidence to support the claim,”  Josef Federman reported Tuesday for the AP.

“Ambassador Gilad Erdan issued his statement a day after meeting the AP’s president and chief executive, Gary Pruitt, and Ian Phillips, vice president for international news, at the AP’s New York headquarters.”

In addition, “The AP renewed its call to see evidence backing Israel’s claim that Hamas militants were operating in the building.”

Federman also reported, ” ‘AP is one of the most important news agencies in the world and Israel does not suspect its employees were aware a covert Hamas unit was using the building in this way,’ he said.

“ ‘I reaffirmed that Israel upholds the importance of press freedom and strives to ensure the safety of journalists wherever they are reporting. Israel is willing to assist AP in rebuilding its offices and operations in Gaza,’ he added.

Short Takes

The American Society of Magazine Editors also honored a series of two articles from ProPublica, by Lizzie Presser, which highlighted racial disparities in diabetic amputations and kidney care. It won for public interest.

  • Julianne Malveaux (pictured), economist, columnist and president of the historically Black Bennett College for women from 2007 to 2012, has been appointed dean of the new College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA, the school announced Tuesday. It is the first such college to be established in the United States in 50 years, the school said. “Malveaux will take the helm of this unique college, which focuses on an interdisciplinary analysis of the histories, cultures and social experiences of people of color, as debates over racial injustices and pedagogy make headlines.”
  • Myriam Márquez (pictured) has become interim executive director of the News Leaders Association, the result of the merger of the American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Managing Editors. “She has served as executive editor of El Nuevo Herald; editorial board editor of the Miami Herald; enterprise editor of the Orlando Sentinel, as well as metro editor, columnist and news reporter. She has been senior adviser and communications director for the office of the mayor in Miami-Dade County overseeing the PIOs [public information officers] in 24 departments and helping reporters get the information they need to inform the public,” a May 17 announcement said. She succeeds Fran Reilly, who was named executive director in May 2020.
  • “Major Kudos to NABJ Atlanta @aabjorg chapter,” Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, tweeted Saturday. “When leaders discovered $$$$ missing from the chapter’s account, they filed a police report and a claim with their insurance. Under #NABJ’s audit rules, chapters must have insurance. Insurance covered the loss,  $22,988.87.”
“Teyana Taylor, whom Maxim recently dubbed the ‘sexiest woman alive,’ topped the publication’s 2021 ‘Hot 100’ list, becoming the first Black woman to do so,” Kimberley Richards reported Tuesday for HuffPost. “The singer, actor and dancer celebrated the honor on Instagram on Monday, writing, ‘Somebody pinch me!!!!’ . . . .”
  • STAT, the Boston-based website that “delivers trusted and authoritative journalism about health, medicine, and the life sciences,” on June 1 opened applications for a new early-career science journalism fellowship named in memory of the late reporter Sharon Begley. “The annual nine-month fellowship, offered jointly with MIT’s Knight Science Journalism program, aims to help improve the diversity of science journalism.”
Benjamin Crump, civil rights and personal injury attorney, center, and co-counselors announce the filing of a lawsuit against Gopher Resource on behalf of Colin Brown, in headphones. Brown’s parents Ko Brown, third from right, and Tomika Brown, second from right, are suing the lead factory. (Credit: Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times)
  • Amber Payne (pictured) joined the Boston Globe June 1 as editor-in-chief of The Emancipator, the new collaboration between antiracism leader Ibram Kendi and the Globe, Editorial Page Editor Bina Venkataraman wrote Globe staff members. “Until recently, Amber was an executive producer at BET Digital, where she oversaw daily editorial and long form video content for BET.com. Previously, she served as executive producer of Teen Vogue and them., a vertical focused on LGBTQ+ stories. Payne also founded and launched NBCNews.com’s NBCBLK, a media vertical on Black identity, and worked on breaking news and features as an award-winning producer for ‘NBC Nightly News.’ Amber is fresh out of the Nieman fellowship where she has spent the past year deeply studying the history and present of race in America. . . . .”
  • “Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker (pictured) has been promoted to associate editor, according to an email sent to the staff by editor Brian McGrory, managing editor Jennifer Peter and managing editor for digital Jason Tuohey,” Dan Kennedy reported Friday for his Media Nation site. . . . Walker, a longtime state and local government reporter and editor, has been a columnist since 1998, when the Globe’s star metro columnists, Mike Barnicle and Patricia Smith, were forced out after they were caught fabricating and, in Barnicle’s case, plagiarizing as well. . . . As one of the more prominent Black journalists at the Globe, Walker’s increased clout should help with ongoing efforts to diversify the newsroom. . . .”
  • “Rob Capriccioso (pictured) starts today as the new senior editor for Tribal Business News,” the publication reported May 17. “Based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Capriccioso will help the publication expand its policy coverage and report on the unique tribal-federal relationship. An enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Capriccioso formerly served as the D.C. bureau chief for Indian Country Today from 2011 to 2017, and started at the publication in 2008 as a general assignment reporter.”
  • “The Byline Project is open-source software that publishers can install into their WordPress platform,” Rachel Hislop, editor in chief of Okayplayer, wrote Tuesday for the Google News Initiative. “It will streamline the reporting process, starting with receiving pitches from writers, photographers and creators, and take editors all the way through to the moment a story goes live. It will also integrate with industry-standard collaboration Google products — like Google Docs. And once stories are published, the online community can financially support content creators directly by tipping writers.”
  • The HBO adaptation of Ta’Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me,” CBS News’ “Breonna Taylor: Her Life, Death and Legacy” from “CBS This Morning” and CBS News Radio’s Allison Keyes, who reports the “Weekend Roundup,” are among the winners of the 46th Annual Gracie Awards, which “recognize exemplary programming created by, for and about women in radio, television, cable and interactive media,” TVNewsCheck reported Wednesday. List of winners [PDF]

  • Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights announced the winners of its 2021 RFK Book and Journalism Awards on June 3. “The newsrooms of the USA TODAY Network in the South won this year’s Domestic Print Award and were also named the Grand Prize winner for their collaborative project, The Confederate Reckoning, which critically examined the legacy of the Confederacy and its influence on systemic racism today, “Reuters’ Dying Inside won the Criminal Justice Reform Prize, a new category honoring exemplary reporting on the impacts of mass incarceration. The multimedia project included the most exhaustive database of jail deaths ever published, pinpointing where suicide, botched healthcare, and bad jailkeeping are claiming lives in a system with scant oversight. The Manual RedEye, the student news website of duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, won this year’s New Voices for Justice Award for their investigation, “Bigoted Badges: How Hate and Violence are Embedded in Kentucky Law Enforcement Training.”
  • “Specifically, 156,000 African American children under 18 are missing and unaccounted,” Stacy M. Brown wrote June 3 for the National Newspaper Publishers Association. “Other than by their families, neighbors and friends, it can appear that most of these young people are forgotten — even by law enforcement officials charged with solving the ever-growing body of cold cases. The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) continues its series on the plight of missing African American girls and boys who have disappeared. . . . “

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