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Journalists Give Nikki Giovanni Her Due

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Death of ‘Revolutionary’ Poet Makes Front Pages
$14 Million Unites Tulsa Newsrooms for Better Coverage
. . . MacArthur Foundation Adds $20 Million to Aid Local News
Efforts to Diversify Stall for Some Publishers

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“There’s a clip of Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin that keeps popping up on TikTok,” Veronica Chambers wrote in The New York Times. “The year was 1971. . . . In the clip, Baldwin begins by saying, ‘If I love you, I can’t lie to you. Giovanni blinks playfully and says, boldly, ‘Of course you can lie to me.’ Then she adds something surprising. ‘What the hell do I care about the truth?’ she says. ‘I care if you’re there. Like Billie Holiday said, “Hush now, don’t explain.” ‘ ” (Credit: YouTube; Original video from “SOUL!”)

Death of ‘Revolutionary’ Poet Makes Front Pages

The passing of Nikki Giovanni struck a chord with journalists in and out of the mainstream media, with her death from cancer Monday at 81 documented on the front pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, the Tennessean, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, according to the Freedom Forum’s “Today’s Front Pages” compilation.

It was also part of Tuesday’s nightly newscasts.

The New York Times ran a photo essay,- “Nikki Giovanni: A Life in Pictures“; the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk., in the state where Giovanni had been living and teaching, wrote an editorial, “Virginia Tech’s Iconic Nikki Giovanni Gave Voice to Generations.”

Individual journalists recalled meetings with the activist and poet, now a confirmed legend, and others simply wrote about her effect on their lives.

The timing of her death — so soon after the re-election of Donald Trump as president — did not go unnoticed.

“Regardless of how we personally feel about Kamala Harris, the fact that a highly educated Black woman with the clear qualifications to serve as POTUS lost to a twice impeached, convicted felon who was credibly accused of sexual assault, speaks to how soluble the promises of America truly are. Giovanni gave us the language to express the disillusionment we were left with,” Shanita Hubbard wrote Wednesday for HuffPost.

“ ‘Her life is the life of Black people,’ said L. Lamar Wilson (pictured), who was mentored by Giovanni,” Astrid Kayembe and Nardine Saad wrote Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times.

“ ‘She documented it in every art form: film, television … from the 1940s to the present.’ Wilson is now a published poet and professor at Florida State University.

“Wilson was a reporter and copy editor working at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when he made the case to report on Giovanni’s appearance in the city in 2007. During their interview, she stopped him and invited him to apply to the creative writing master’s program at Virginia Tech.

“ ‘Nikki changed the trajectory of my life. And I’m one of at least 25 people I could name to you who are very famous, prominent writers who have the same story,’ he said. ‘She has mentored us, she has been our friend, she has been our surrogate mother when we needed it. She has been our disciplinarian when we needed it, cautioning us about the pitfalls and the pratfalls of the publishing industry and of academia.’

“As an educator, Giovanni is credited with helping usher in a younger generation of Black writers. . . .”

To be sure, many newspapers took a pass on placing Giovanni on their front pages: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Sacramento Bee, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Omaha World Herald, Tulsa World, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star, Seattle Times, Oregonian, Arizona Republic, Arizona Daily Star, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Baltimore Sun and New Orleans Times-Picayune among them.

Giovanni was missing even on the news site of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the trade association of the Black press.

But those who “went there” did so with intention. Phil Morris (pictured), a Black journalist who is Opinion editor of the Minnesota Star Tribune in Minneapolis, wrote a signed column, “Nikki Giovanni was a walking revolution.”

Morris wrote,”The first time I saw her as a college freshman in 1984, I instantly fell in love. Her poem ‘Revolutionary Dreams’ captivated me. It spoke about self-change and revolution — actual and metaphysical. But it was the audacity of ‘Ego Tripping,’ perhaps her most famous poem, that sealed the deal for a teenager. . . .

“Giovanni is the artistic and soulful predecessor of so many artists and intellectuals who now populate the contemporary pantheon of creatives and activist artists. She was and will continue to be a bridge. If you listen closely, you can hear her voice in the work of people as varied as Kendrick Lamar, Janelle Monáe, Amanda Gorman and others.”

Preach Jacobs told of meeting her in his column for the Free Times in Charleston, S.C.: “Nikki Giovanni taught me at a young age that you could make a living with words to uplift people who look like me.”

In the Cincinnati Enquirer, Amber Hunt delivered the local angle. “Cincinnati upbringing shaped ‘princess of Black poetry’ Nikki Giovanni, who died Monday,” the headline read.

Geoff Bennett reports on “Remembering the fierce and lyrical voice of poet Nikki Giovanni” on the “PBS News Hour.” (Credit: PBS/YouTube)

The Root told readers what Black Twitter was saying; the Advocate, which reports on the LGBTQ+ community, proclaimed, “Nikki Giovanni, acclaimed poet and queer Black icon, has died at 81.”

Some outside of the United States also weighed in.”Nikki Giovanni was the epitome of what we Jamaicans call Talawa, small but mighty. I told her so when we spoke in February,” wrote Colin Grant in Britain’s the Guardian.

The heavyweights among magazines had their say as well. “Giovanni understood that Black American cultural history was, in part, the inevitable result of centuries-long oppression — but that it was also the product of constant evolution. Through her prolific writing, activism, and engagement with younger generations, she cultivated a sense of limitless possibility about language and social movements,” Hannah Giorgis wrote in the Atlantic.

“Her often lowercase, barely punctuated lines weren’t afraid to brag, as in her popular ‘ego trippin’ — which tapped into the tradition of the Black boast that stretches from Bo Diddley to Kendrick Lamar — or to speak to revolutionary uncertainty, which she made funny and fierce as few others did,” Kevin Young wrote Wednesday for the New Yorker.

In The New York Times, Veronica Chambers (pictured), editor of Narrative Projects, a team dedicated to starting up multi-layered series and packages at the Times, concluded:

“Giovanni was awarded 31 honorary degrees and performed at thousands of sold-out venues — including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in 1972, the same stage that was such a home to Leonard Bernstein — and participated in an HBO documentary about her life and work in 2023. In the end, although much of the work amazingly holds up, it was about more than the poetry. In word after word, crafted on the page and then lovingly read out loud, Nikki Giovanni had herself a revolution.”

“We’re building a robust newsroom to provide well-reported, contextual and explanatory coverage that will help Tulsans understand what’s happening in their neighborhoods and local governments and to ensure everyone is equipped with the information they need to navigate daily life, get needs met and engage in their communities,” said Gary Lee, who will be executive editor of the Tulsa Local News Initiative. (Credit: YouTube)

$14 Million Unites Tulsa Newsrooms for Better Coverage

“A coalition of Oklahoma media and philanthropy leaders has raised $14 million to address the challenges of diminished local information by launching the Tulsa Local News Initiative,” the project announced Thursday.

“Their efforts will expand the historic Oklahoma Eagle newspaper, bolster three other Tulsa newsrooms, and launch a new newsroom informed by input from hundreds of Tulsans to serve the city’s diverse information needs. The new nonprofit news organization will add over two dozen jobs to the local news sector and launch in 2025.

Incorporated into the coverage area will be underserved populations of Latinos and Native American tribal members in the surrounding county, Tom McGeveran told Journal-isms. McGeveran is partner and co-founder of Old Town Media, a New York-based strategy firm serving journalism organizations, publishers and startups.

The announcement continued, “The Tulsa Local News Initiative will be governed by a board of local and national industry and civic leaders, including James (Jim) Osby Goodwin (pictured), an accomplished attorney, healthcare advocate, and owner of The Oklahoma Eagle; journalist and educator M. David Goodwin; journalist and philanthropist Emily Kaiser; Michael Ouimette, chief investment officer of the American Journalism Project; Mayor Rodger Randle, former Mayor of Tulsa; Ashli Sims, Managing Director of Build in Tulsa; and Marcia Bruno-Todd, Executive Director of Leadership Tulsa; and Sam Combs, managing partner and CEO, COMSTAR Advisors.

“The initiative and Jim Goodwin have reached an agreement for the new nonprofit organization to become publisher of The Oklahoma Eagle, an award-winning Black-owned newspaper, and invest in an expansion of its staff, quadrupling its newsgathering capacity and honoring the newspaper’s important legacy in Tulsa.

” ‘This is a historic moment for the Eagle and for Tulsa,’ Jim Goodwin said. ‘For over 100 years, the Eagle has held true in its mission to uplift the voices and perspectives of communities traditionally underserved by mainstream media. Joining this nonprofit movement to grow and sustain public service journalism in our communities will ensure the continued longevity of our work, and ensure that Tulsa and Oklahoma have a strong, independent local press that works for the people above all else.’

“Additionally, the initiative will launch a new newsroom dedicated to ensuring all residents of Tulsa have access to the local news they need, and led by Gary Lee, a decorated journalist and former Washington Post Moscow bureau chief. Lee is currently The Oklahoma Eagle’s managing editor and will be executive editor of the Tulsa

Local News Initiative, overseeing both the new newsroom and the Eagle. . . .”

Dec. 13 update: Kelly Tidwell (pictured), who identifies himself as “Proud citizen of Muscogee Creek Nation and Cherokee descendant. Owner of VNN and MineAll Inc,.” said on LinkedIn Thursday that “as a Native-owned news company, local newsroom, and proud contributor to the local news media landscape, we are deeply disheartened by our exclusion from the conversations and local news ecosystem report that led to [the initiative’s] creation.

“Personally, I’m disgusted.”

The American Journalism Project responded Friday, “The Tulsa Local News Initiative is a collaborative effort that is only just getting started, and in the coming months we will continue to reach out to our colleagues with an aim to grow the coalition and include as many journalism organizations as we can. We believe all local news is vital, and have tremendous respect for the hard working journalists in our communities. We want to see the ecosystem in Tulsa flourish.”

Lee added for Journal-isms, “We are keenly aware of the need to amplify Indigenous voices in the media. As we move forward with the Tulsa Local News Iniatave we look forward to working with Indigenous media in Tulsa to acheive that goal.”

. . . MacArthur Foundation Adds $20 Million to Aid Local News

“The MacArthur Foundation today announced $20 million to support newsrooms and provide journalism infrastructure as part of its commitment to revitalize local news,” the foundation announced Thursday.

“MacArthur launched the Local News Program last year with a commitment of at least $150 million in new grantmaking to local news over five years, and the potential of $25 million in additional impact investments. This latest round of grants brings the total committed to date to more than $90 million.

“The Local News Program provides pooled and aligned grantmaking to support Press Forward, a national initiative led by MacArthur to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information. . . .”

Among the recipients: Amsterdam News Educational Foundation; El Tecolote, a project of Acción Latina; The Oklahoma Eagle; Reader Institute for Community Journalism‘; Resolve Philadelphia; and Signal Ohio.    

(Credit: Ivy Liu/Digiday)

Efforts to Diversify Stall for Some Publishers

“A third of the nine publishers that released workforce demographic reports in the past year haven’t moved the needle on the overall diversity of their companies, according to the annual reports that are tracked by Digiday,” Sara Guaglione reported Thursday for Digiday.

“Condé Nast, Gannett and The Washington Post’s overall staff were more diverse this year compared to the previous year. Business Insider, The Los Angeles Times and NPR were less diverse year over year. And the diversity of Hearst, The New York Times and Vox Media stayed the same.

“That’s compared to last year’s analysis, in which almost all of the 10 media companies tracked improved their overall workforce diversity year over year — other than one company whose diversity stayed the same and one whose worsened.”

“Here are the changes in overall diversity at the nine publishers that released their employee demographic data this year:

This columnist, quoted partially in the article, said, “Given the assault on diversity, equity and inclusion endorsed by the incoming Trump administration, and the toadying up to Donald Trump by such media owners as Jeff Bezos of the Washington Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times, any improvement in DEI figures is welcome.

“In 2023, the Hollywood Reporter documented the anti-DEI trend in the related and overlapping field of entertainment with a piece headlined, “After a Mass Exodus of Diversity Execs, What’s Next?“

“In this year, 2024, the News Leaders Association, the result of a merger of the American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Managing Editors, dissolved, and with it the annual newsroom diversity survey. That survey might or might not be revived.

“It’s hoped that media companies will not only stand up to the anti-DEI pressure in-house, but bring to the table more who can reach diverse audiences, who are leaving mainstream media for social media, ‘social influencers’ and others. Remember, the nation is projected to become “majority minority” by 2044.”

Banned: Books in U.S. and Human Rights in Cuba

Dec. 9, 2024

As Visitors Score U.S., Dictatorship Reverts to Form
Kristen Welker Gets Kudos for Trump Interview
Martin, Winfrey Push Back on Pay-to-Play Claims
Thank USA Today: A Revisit by Descendant of First Enslaved

Now It Will Be Easier to Animate Afro-Textured Hair
L.A. Times to Put ‘Bias Meter’ on News Stories
Israeli Strike Killing 3 Journalists Likely ‘Deliberate’
Robin Ayers, Entertainment Journalist, Dies at 44i

Short Takes: How next Trump administration might treat the press; Jenice Armstrong; Carlos Watson and Ozy; freed inmate/podcaster Earlonne Woods; Derek Medina; Byron Allen; Howard University; City Limits internships in N.Y.; Hannah Allam; Sports Journalism Institute and NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” campaign; Washington’s WUSA-TV; Hollywood Reporter;

Sheila Poole; NBC News and Latin America; Liberia’s Young Journalist Award 2024; Nigerian journalist detained; Mali’s army cuts broadcast signal.

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As Visitors Score U.S., Dictatorship Reverts to Form

For an “Extraordinary history-making visit to Havana, Cuba,” a delegation from historically Black Morgan State University and guests such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones staged a “first-ever Morgan State University School of Global Journalism and Communication Symposium: ‘Banning Black Books, Silencing Black Voices: America’s Apartheid.’ ”

How’s this for irony: Three days before the symposium, Cuban activist Yoan Ricardo Llerena was arrested after State Security searched his home and found copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which apparently is considered subversive in the communist country.

Dec. 10 is International Human Rights Day, commemorating that declaration.

“According to his wife, Disnelbys Vidal, a forensic expert, State Security agents, the local sector chief, and two witnesses arrived at their home with a search warrant,” Alberto de la Cruz wrote Thursday for the Babalú Blog, 21-year old brainchild of Cuban-American Valentín Prieto and one of at least three independent outlets, including Cuba Decide and ADN Cuba, reporting the news about Llerena.

“Her husband is accused of the alleged crimes of enemy propaganda and assault.

“ ‘They seized books from the independent library, a memory stick, and his cellphone,’ Vidal added.

“The activist was transferred to the Penal Investigation Center in Las Tunas, and his wife was told she needed to hire a lawyer for him. . . .”

Roberto Jesus Quiñones Haces wrote for CubaNet in 2017, “The Havana International Book fair and its provincial offshoots would be more important events if there were debates where all Cuban intellectuals could participate without exclusions. But they are walled prosceniums where there is only room for writers who never raise their voices against any internal injustices. The discriminated and persecuted find solidarity in other parts of the world; here, no.”

“Where Are Books Banned? All Across the Globe,” ran a headline from 2019 in Publisher’s Weekly.

Michael Cottman, assistant to Dean Jackie Jones at Morgan State, wrote Saturday on Facebook, “Extraordinary history-making visit to Havana, Cuba with an outstanding group of folks including Dean Jackie Jones, Dean Emeritus DeWayne Wickham and Alison LaVigne for a first-ever Morgan State University School of Global Journalism and Communication Symposium: ‘Banning Black Books, Silencing Black Voices: America’s Apartheid.’

“I was interviewed by Morgan State University’s Randall Pinkston and discussed my book, ‘The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie: An African American’s Spiritual Journey to Uncover A Sunken Slave Ship’s Past,’ which has been rejected by libraries in about 10 states across the country and Canada.

“Illuminating presentations by author [Nikole] Hannah-Jones (1619) and noted historians Dr. Molefi Asante, Dr. Lisa Brock, brilliant Cuban poet [Nancy Morejon] and discussion leader Dr. Jason Johnson from Morgan State University and MSNBC. Plenty of enlightening discussions. Telling our stories and having some fun, too…..(Many thanks to DeWayne for planning and facilitating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our entire US delegation.)”

Cuban State Security agents arrested Yoan Ricardo Llerena after they found copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during a search of his home. The human rights activist was arrested on charges of possession of “enemy propaganda” and “assault.” (Credit: ADN Cuba)

Jones and Wickham , still in Cuba, could not be reached for comment. Wickham, who has led delegations to the island for more than 20 years, met last year with the country’s Vice President of the Republic Salvador Valdés Mesa, bringing along others from the United States. “Valdés Mesa praised the variety of social, civil and racial issues that Mr. Wickham addresses and actively acts upon on a permanent basis and thanked him for his work in favor of Cuba-U.S. relations and against the blockade, ‘the most serious obstacle to Cuban can-do nowaday,’ he stressed,” according to a Cuban government news release.

Wickham was conferred the status of Guest Professor by the University of Havana.

Julio Antonio Rojas (pictured), an independent journalist in Havana, messaged Sunday, “all visits by delegations from the United States are good. Some come with blinders on and when they interact with the population they see the reality of the Cuban people and some of them lose their blinders.

“I think the journalism school symposium is a good idea. The question is who will be invited. If it is with the regime, they will bring their journalists and maybe some opposition journalists will participate, but from the group of those who are less critical of the system.”

However, Rojas said of the visits by Americans with Cuban government leaders, “First of all, it does not benefit the Cuban people, the opposition, or independent journalists in any way. There is a great truth that was said by Salvador Valdés Mesa, the Cuban vice president. The dean of that university has been a critical voice of the lack of some rights that have been denied to the African-American community. Salvador Valdés praises that because in the United States there is freedom of expression and publication.

“However, the subject of independent journalists and human rights activists who are in prison for exercising their freedom of expression and publication was not touched on. I see Salvador Valdes Mesa as a hypocrite and a cynic. He praises the good work of the Americans, but in conversations he does not allow the subject of political prisoners and independent journalists to be touched upon.

“We are increasingly being persecuted, threatened, and imprisoned. I think, sir, and I believe that these organizations come to the island already conditioned and with a governmental agenda that must be followed to the letter. When they leave Cuba and arrive back in their country, they speak wonders of what they have seen, because they are shown around the best places; they never see the reality of the people.

“Another issue, Fidel Castro, since the very triumph of his revolution, knew how to gain the support of the Black community in the United States and in a very subtle and charming way turn them against the administrations in power. Remember when he stayed in Harlem, his charm and spiritual aura has blinded many who gave their support to him and his revolution. Despite all the human rights violations that are committed daily on the island, very few who come on these visits have the courage to tell the truth to the regime’s face.”

Kristen Welker performed well in her interview with Donald Trump that aired Sunday, “pressing Trump when needed and getting Trump to reveal a lot of his plans for when he becomes president again,” Tom Jones wrote for the Poynter Institute. (Credit: NBC News/YouTube)

Kristen Welker Gets Kudos for Trump Interview

“President-elect Donald Trump’s first network TV interview contained a tremendous amount of news – which is partly a testament to moderator Kristen Welker’s persistence. The NYT even gave the broadcast the live-blog treatment,” Brian Stelter, referring to The New York Times, wrote Monday for his “Reliable Sources” newsletter for CNN. “And CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checked Trump’s ‘numerous false claims.’

[“Meet the Press” brought in more than 2.9 million viewers, Zachary Leeman reported Tuesday for Mediaite. The Dec. 8 episode was the number one “public affairs show” on Sunday and it earned its largest audience in over a year, as well as its biggest win in the key 25-54 demo in more than two years. . . .” The full interview also nabbed more than 2.3 million views on YouTube.]

“Because NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ did not have time to televise the entire interview, I want to use this space to pull out a few nuggets from the full transcript:

‘”Welker asked, ‘Will you favor Elon Musk over other leaders of’ competitor companies, and Trump said ‘no.’

“When Welker mentioned Jeff Bezos as an example, Trump added: ‘Jeff Bezos called me. We’re having dinner.’

“Trump only resorted to media-bashing at the end of the interview, when Welker asked about Melania Trump’s role as First Lady. Instead of answering, he pivoted to ‘unfair’ treatment. ‘Based on the press I should’ve gotten no votes, none,’ he said. ‘And yet I got the highest number ever.’ Then he called Welker ‘hostile’ and said her questions had been ‘pretty nasty.’ “

Tom Jones quoted Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact for the Poynter Institute:

“Among some of the false statements Trump made include tariffs ‘cost Americans nothing‘; the U.S. is ‘the only country that has’ birthright citizenship; the U.S. let in 13,099 murderers ‘within the three-year period. It’s during the Biden term’; ‘crime is at an all-time high.’

“About Trump’s crime claim, Jacobson wrote it was ‘far off base,’ adding, ‘The violent crime rate, as measured by the FBI, is about half as high as it was in the early 1990s.’ ”

Welker had a lot to squeeze into her allotted time. There were no questions about diversity, equity and inclusion, about which Trump and his acolytes are promising a crackdown.

“Welker performed well, pressing Trump when needed and getting Trump to reveal a lot of his plans for when he becomes president again,” Jones wrote.

Roland Martin questions why white-owned stations who received advertising money from the Kamala Harris campaign were not questioned in the same way the Black outlets were, and why the Black outlets did not receive more. (Credit: YouTube)

Martin, Winfrey Push Back on Pay-to-Play Claims

Roland Martin and Oprah Winfrey are pushing back over media suggestions that Vice President Kamala Harris‘ unsuccessful presidential campaign paid them as well as Al Sharpton for their support.

“Kamala Harris interviewers received large campaign donations to their groups ahead of sit-downs,” read a headline on the Fox News website on Nov. 18.

“Harris’ campaign reportedly gave large amounts of money to organizations run by media figures in the weeks before sitting down for interviews with them,” Fox’s Kristine Parks wrote.

“FEC filings, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, show the Harris campaign gave two $250,000 donations to Rev. Al Sharpton’s nonprofit organization in September and October.

“Harris sat down for a friendly interview with the MSNBC host on October 20, in which he asked her what she wanted her legacy to be, 50 years from now. . . . “

The Fox story followed one Nov. 17 by Shane Goldmacher in The New York Times headlined, “How Kamala Harris Burned Through $1.5 Billion in 15 Weeks.”

“Roland Martin, who hosts his own streaming programming and runs a media company called Nu Vision Media, received $350,000 in September for a ‘media buy’ that he said was for advertising.

“ ‘It should have been a hell of a lot more,’ Mr. Martin said in a brief interview. ‘More should have been spent on Black-owned media.’ Mr. Martin interviewed Ms. Harris in October.

“Ms. Harris’s campaign also made two $250,000 donations to National Action Network, the organization led by the Rev. Al Sharpton. Mr. Sharpton interviewed Ms. Harris on MSNBC in October.

“As Ms. Harris faced questions about relative weakness among Black voters, her campaign gave $2 million in late September to the National Urban League. . . .”

On Saturday, Karissa Waddick reported for USA Today, “As Democrats reel over how Vice President Kamala Harris’ losing campaign spent more than $1 billion, a new campaign finance report confirms that the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign paid Oprah Winfrey’s production company $1 million.

“The records put an end to a monthslong controversy over whether Winfrey was paid for endorsing the former Democratic presidential nominee.”

However, Waddick added, “The company, Winfrey said, was asked to provide set design, lights, cameras, microphones, crew and producers, among other items for the event.  Winfrey added that she did not receive a cut of the money.”

Martin took to his own digital show to point out that the money his company received was indeed for advertising, and showed excerpts from the 16 ads to prove it. Then he asked, “Where did the other $10 billion go?” and said Black-owned operations such as his should have received much more of that ad spending.

Fox News called the money given Sharpton a “growing scandal” and added, ” ‘MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,’ an MSNBC spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon, which first broke the story.”

MSNBC told Journal-isms it had no further comment, and Sharpton’s National Action Network did not respond to an inquiry. The network has reportedly indicated the donations were made to organizations for nonpartisan, get-out-the-vote efforts.

Deborah Barfield Berry in Angola for USA Today in 2019. While in Angola reporting on the family who believe they are descendants of the first Africans brought to the English colonies in 1619, she learned that she held roots there — and with the Tucker family (Credit: Jarrad Henderson/USA Today)

Thank USA Today: A Revisit by Descendant of First Enslaved

“Angola was barely mentioned in the history of the slave trade. USA TODAY invited Wanda Tucker there to search for her roots,” Jarrad Henderson wrote in 2019 for USA Today.

Last week, Tucker (pictured, by William Tucker 1624 Society) was part of President Biden’s delegation to Angola. “Here with us today are three Americans who are direct descendants of Anthony and Isabella, those first enslaved Americans — Afri- — Africans in America,” Biden said Tuesday. “Wanda Tucker of [Hampton], Virginia. Wanda, are you there? There you are, Wanda. God love you. (Applause.) Her brother Vincent and Carolita as well. Thank you for being here. We’re going to write history, not erase history.

“The Tuckers learned their family history around the dinner table. That history led Wanda here in Angola a few years ago. She did not know how to speak the language, but that didn’t matter. When she arrived, Wanda said she felt something profound, like she’d come home. That was her comment to me. She called it the ‘connection without words.’ ”

“Without our work, it would not have happened,” said Nichelle Smith, who went to Angola in 2019 as then-editor of USA Today’s Black History Month publication. She added that Berry also returned to Angola with the Biden entourage to report for the news organization. Tucker capped off the experience with an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”

The researchers’ new algorithm can digitally generate a variety of Black hair textures and looks. (Credit: Yale Daily News, courtesy Haomiao Wu, Alvin Shi, A.M. Darke, and Theodore Kim)

Now It Will Be Easier to Animate Afro-Textured Hair

“Researchers developed new algorithms for animating coiled hair, enabling more realistic and diverse depictions of Afro-textured hair that could greatly advance the animation of Black characters in film,” Lizette Ortega reported Nov. 30 for The Washington Post.

“ ‘If you do a deep dive into the technical literature … you see that all of the supposedly foundational papers on this topic … feature just straight hair,’ said Theodore Kim, an author on the study and professor of computer science at Yale University. Kim previously worked for Pixar Research and has received screen credits in several animated films, including ‘Coco,’ ‘Incredibles 2’ and ‘Toy Story 4.’ . . .”

Last year, Kim (pictured) told Yale President Peter Salovey, “I turn on a video game and there are Black characters in video games, so obviously the algorithms don’t fall down entirely. Yes, who looks the most realistic? It is the Caucasian characters [PDF]. And also just from a representation perspective, who is the easiest to make if you’re just starting out with these packages for how to generate virtual humans, the example is always a white person and the algorithms are geared towards generating a European person. So this directly influences who will then appear in the movies and in the video games because it comes down to money.

“What is easy to actually generate? It is what the algorithms actually support. And this extends not just to skin but to hair.

“So extremely straight hair is sort of a signifier of status. So the algorithms, they followed suit. Everything is designed for very, very straight hair. In fact, a bunch of the mathematical formulations, they start from [the assumption] that hair is an infinitely straight rod, whereas there are lots of types of hair, right? And we have never seen a paper dealing with How do you depict a human with extremely curly hair? Again, you can do it. The algorithms don’t entirely fall down when you try to depict a human this way. But it takes a lot of skill because it’s just not designed to do that.”

The Post’s Ortega also quoted Vegalia Jean-Pierre, an artist who created digital brushes to help artists quickly draw various Black hair textures and hairstyles on platforms such as Procreate and Photoshop.

“She saw the need for tools that make it easier for artists to draw Black characters. Jean-Pierre said these tools encourage illustrators to depict more people of color in their work by removing the time-consuming task of drawing hair from scratch. Similar tools have long existed for straight and wavy hair.

“ ‘Media can influence culture as a whole, and if you have a lot of positive representation, a lot of diverse characters, you can see the world in a new way and … combat biases you might have,’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘It’s more than just hair.’ ”

Kim messaged Journal-isms Friday, “I agree with Ms. Jean-Pierre’s sentiment.

“What we’re doing is just a start of course. Diversity & inclusion is only a success if it drives people to actively work towards a more equitable world. I’m sure this is not news to you.”

L.A. Times to Put ‘Bias Meter’ on News Stories

“Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong (pictured), who blocked the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and plans to overhaul its editorial board, says he will implement an artificial intelligence-powered ‘bias meter’ on the paper’s news articles to provide readers with ‘both sides” of a story,’ ” Liam Reilly and Jon Passantino reported Thursday for CNN.

“Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who acquired the Times in 2018, told CNN political commentator Scott Jennings — who will join the Times’ editorial board — that he’s been ‘quietly building’ an AI meter ‘behind the scenes.’ The meter, slated to be released in January, is powered by the same augmented intelligence technology that he’s been building since 2010 for health care purposes, Soon-Shiong said.

The CNN report also said, “Soon-Shiong said major publishers have so far failed to adequately separate news and opinion, which he suggested ‘could be the downfall of what now people call mainstream media.’

“The comments prompted a rebuke from the union representing hundreds of the Times’ newsroom staffers, which said Soon-Shiong had ‘publicly suggested his staff harbors bias, without offering evidence or examples.’

“ ‘Our members — and all Times staffers — abide by a strict set of ethics guidelines, which call for fairness, precision, transparency, vigilance against bias, and an earnest search to understand all sides of an issue,’ the Los Angeles Times Guild said in a statement Thursday. ‘Those longstanding principles will continue guiding our work.’

“The contentious moves from the paper’s owner also led to the resignation of Harry Litman (pictured), a senior legal affairs columnist for the Times’ Opinion page.

“ ‘My resignation is a protest and visceral reaction against the conduct of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Soon-Shiong has made several moves to force the paper, over the forceful objections of his staff, into a posture more sympathetic to Donald Trump,’ Litman wrote Thursday. “Given the existential stakes for our democracy that I believe Trump’s second term poses, and the evidence that Soon-Shiong is currying favor with the President-elect, they are repugnant and dangerous.’

“Litman’s resignation comes days after Kerry Cavanaugh, the Times’ assistant editorial page editor, also announced her exit, Status first reported. . . .”

Cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda, both of Al Mayadeen, were killed Oct. 25 when Israeli forces carried out an aerial attack on the place of residence of press crews in Hasbayya, southern Lebanon. (Credit: Al Mayadeen)

Israeli Strike Killing 3 Journalists Likely ‘Deliberate’

“An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on October 25, 2024, that killed three journalists and injured four others was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime,” Human Rights Watch said Nov. 25.

“Human Rights Watch determined that Israeli forces carried out the attack using an air-dropped bomb equipped with a United States-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit. The US government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military’s repeated, unlawful attacks on civilians, for which US officials may be complicit in war crimes. . . .”

A munition struck the single-story building where the journalists were staying “and detonated upon hitting the floor,” the rights group said. “The blast killed Ghassan Najjar, a journalist and cameraman, and Mohammad Reda, a satellite broadcast engineer, both from Al Mayadeen TV, and Wissam Kassem, a cameraman from the Hezbollah-owned outlet Al Manar TV. Al Mayadeen is a Lebanon-based pan-Arab television station politically allied with Hezbollah and the Syrian government.”

Robin Ayers, Entertainment Journalist, Dies at 44

“Robin Ayers, a respected entertainment news journalist, author and host at KBLA 1580 radio, died Thursday, Dec. 5,” Stephanie Kaloi reported Sunday for The Wrap. “She was 44.”

Caitlin McCormack added for the New York Post, “Though her cause of death wasn’t revealed, Ayers last year said she was battling leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that affects soft tissues, typically in the abdomen or uterus.

“Her listeners have flocked to social media to pour out their grief and support for Ayers’ family, including her husband and twin daughters who had just celebrated their 18th birthday over the Thanksgiving break.

“Ayers’ death was confirmed by Tavis Smiley, a talk show host on the same radio program. . . . ‘Robin was a bright light. You could see her radiant smile through the radio,’ he wrote on X.”

The family also issued a statement.

“Ayers joined KBLA in 2022 as the host of ‘The RA Report with Robin Ayers.’ Prior to joining the station, she worked as a reporter and entertainment news correspondent for EURweb. The outlet’s founder and publisher, Lee Bailey, said in a statement, “Along with the EURweb staff/family, I am deeply saddened by the passing of Robin Ayers. Her passion for storytelling and unwavering commitment to truth brought depth and authenticity to her work.”

Short Takes

(Credit: Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States/ YouTube)

The USAID Liberia Mission Director Jim Wright congratulated Rachelle Kanneh her story and reiterated the mission’s commitment to supporting Liberia’s media development at all levels, Front Page Africa reported.


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