Articles Feature

Philly Buyouts Hit ‘Community Engagement’

by richard0666

8 Inquirer Newsroom Positions Axed
J-Association Presidents Emphasize Training
Rights Groups Rail Against Closing Education Dept.
N.J. Court Awards Ghana Journalist $18 Million
Compelling: A Quest to Address German Colonialism
Fake Journalists Spread Propaganda in Africa
25 Make E&P’s List of News-Media Rising Stars

Short Takes: Minnesota, Atlanta papers among “10 Most Innovative Companies in media and news”; Elon Musk and race; Voice of America and its siblings; N.Y. Times fellows; Americans’ desire to connect with people who are different; Wendi C. Thomas; imprisoned Cuban independent journalist; Cuban human rights group Cubalex; killing by bomb of Somali journalist; assaults on journalists in Nigeria, Uganda.

Homepage photo: Philadelphia Inquirer image accompanying a launch announcement of its Communities and Engagement Desk.

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The mission of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Communities and Engagement Desk was “to address the longtime neglect and misrepresentation of marginalized communities in Philadelphia by foregrounding editorial and experiential content that is community-centric and empowers people to take action.” (Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer)

8 Inquirer Newsroom Positions Axed

“The Philadelphia Inquirer is eliminating a news desk focused on covering the city’s marginalized communities” in its latest round of downsizing, “a reporter and a union official tell Axios,” Isaac Avilucea reported Friday for Axios Philadelphia.

In all, said Lisa Hughes, Inquirer president and CEO, “in January we identified 10 positions in the company for job elimination, including eight in the newsroom. After consulting with the NewsGuild, it was decided that staffers whose jobs were being impacted would be offered buyout packages to avoid layoffs. The result was separation packages that exceeded the terms required under the collective bargaining agreement.”

The Communities and Engagement desk was led by editor Sabrina Iglesias (pictured), with team members who included Lynette Hazelton and Valerie Russ.

“The desk, which was fully staffed and launched in 2022, is led by Senior Editor Sabrina Vourvoulias with a team of four reporters and a coverage editor,” an Inquirer website on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts said. “Their initial work included listening sessions with local community groups around Philly. The Communities & Engagement Desk also created the Soapbox salons — 35 community members and leaders who meet regularly and participate in a group texting pilot, serving as a think tank, temperature check, and advisory council.”

On Saturday, Vourvoulias, who left last July for the Opinion desk, wrote on LinkedIn, “Throughout its three-year tenure, those of us who were associated with the desk have heard directly about the impact the desk has had: ‘You made so many people feel heard for the first time,’ wrote one of the people who reached out to me after hearing the news. ‘I know the disability community you got together to just listen to us — that was amazing.’

“From short community tour videos to the community co-created Black Elders project, everything the desk produced had community at its heart.”

Another of those taking the buyout was Devi Lockwood, commentary and ideas editor, who wrote Friday to her newsroom colleagues, “In eliminating my role, The Inquirer is getting rid of the youngest Opinion editor and the only LGBTQ member of the Editorial Board.”

Axios continued, “The big picture: The union says the newspaper’s decision to nix the Communities and Engagement Desk reflects a rollback of its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

“Driving the news: Inquirer publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes (pictured) told staff in a Friday email obtained by Axios that the company in January identified 10 jobs to be eliminated, including eight in the newsroom.”

According to the 2020 Inquirer web page dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Communities and Engagement Desk was launched “to address the longtime neglect and misrepresentation of marginalized communities in Philadelphia by foregrounding editorial and experiential content that is community-centric and empowers people to take action.”

The page and accompanying initiatives were created following an uproar over a headline of an op-ed piece, “Buildings Matter, Too,” that prompted the resignation of the top editor. The newspaper apologized for what was considered an insensitive reference to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Hughes’ Friday memo did not mention the Communities and Engagement Desk. A spokesperson told Journal-isms, “That is the only statement we are sharing on this.”

The memo said, “As you know from our company quarterly updates, we are in a constant race to drive our digital business as legacy print and advertising revenue continues its industry-wide decline. This dynamic requires us to invest in critical areas of growth, which we have successfully done and will continue to do. Conversely, it also requires us to assess all aspects of our business and to find savings in select areas.

“To that end, in January we identified 10 positions in the company for job elimination, including eight in the newsroom. After consulting with the NewsGuild, it was decided that staffers whose jobs were being impacted would be offered buyout packages to avoid layoffs. The result was separation packages that exceeded the terms required under the collective bargaining agreement.

“It is important to emphasize that we are also investing in our present and our future. The newsroom is hiring to fill new critical jobs, and we are recruiting for new roles in our sales division to drive our revenue goals. And, companywide, we will continue to identify areas where we can reasonably and responsibly make cuts so we can fulfill our core mission. As an example, we are exploring subletting an underused portion of our office space to offset expenses.

“We will provide an update on our 2025 goals and progress at the next quarterly update, which will convene April 29 at 11 am.”

Gregory Lee holds the microphone as he poses questions to Dunia Elvir of NAHJ and Ken Lemon of NABJ, seated, and Nicole Dungca of AAJA, on screen remotely. (Credit: LinkedIn)

J-Association Presidents Emphasize Training

The presidents of the National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Asian American Journalists Association agreed Thursday that training their members, particularly for middle management jobs, was a key part of their strategies to fulfill their missions.

The slogan “More Latinos in News” for a time became “More Latinos in News Management,” said Dunia Elvir, president of NAHJ. Ken Lemon, president of NABJ, mentioned his meetings with industry leaders that included talks about training programs. “AAJA makes sure that the pipeline exists,” said Nicole Dungca, president of the Asian American group. “We have high school, college and mid-career programs that are for getting into leadership.”

The occasion was a sparsely attended livestreamed discussion titled “The State of Diversity in Journalism,” held at Loyola University New Orleans. Dunga appeared remotely. The session was hosted by Gregory Lee, visiting faculty member at the university and a former NABJ president. It “was a needed conversation at this moment,” Lee said on social media afterward. Those who missed it can view the video.

The Education Department’s loan forgiveness and payment programs “could be severely disrupted, which will disproportionately harm Black students, 90% of whom leave college with student loan debt,” the National Urban League said. (Credit: Washington Student Achievement Council)

Rights Groups Rail Against Closing Education Dept.

Civil rights leaders and politicians of color have joined the Democratic National Committee in denouncing President Trump’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education, saying it will harm students of color. Those students are key to increasing diversity in the nation’s newsrooms.

Congressional Black Caucus

“President Trump’s executive order will lessen the department’s resources and put pressure on already overburdened school systems. Reducing the scale and size of the department will have a disparate impact on the learning opportunities of Black and minority students, HBCUs, Pell Grant recipients, children with special needs, lower income communities, as well as English as a Second Language students, and limit the government’s ability to enforce Title VI and Title IX laws that prohibit discrimination in education programs and activities based on race and gender. . . .” (Pictured: Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Caucus chair)

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

“This decision could also have dire consequences for Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, which rely on federal funding to provide an affordable, quality education to many low-income Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students. (Pictured: Rep. Grace Ming, D-N.Y., Caucus chair)

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

“The Department of Education was created to advance civil rights and expand educational opportunities, particularly for Black students and other historically marginalized communities,” said Joint Center President Dedrick Asante-Muhammad (pictured). “Dismantling this 45-year-old institution could roll back decades of progress, severely weakening federal oversight that protects students from discrimination and strengthens access to resources that promote economic mobility. As federal departments can only be closed through acts of Congress, we encourage all members of Congress to uphold the Department of Education to ensure key federal programs are adequately preserved.

“This is not the first time in U.S. history that efforts have been made to dismantle federal education oversight. In 1868, when President Andrew Johnson was in office, Congress demoted the first U.S. Department of Education to an Office of Education under the Department of the Interior to prevent federal civil rights intervention in segregated public school systems. President Trump is now attempting to take similar action, again threatening federal safeguards to advance education for all. . . .”

National Urban League

“This is not about reducing bureaucracy — this is about eliminating the very safeguards that protect marginalized students from discrimination and educational neglect. Black and Brown children, students with disabilities, and those from low-income backgrounds in rural and urban communities will bear the brunt of this decision.” (Pictured: CEO Marc Marial)

Democratic National Committee

“ “The dismantling of the Department of Education will be particularly devastating for Black communities. Since being sworn into office, Trump’s decisions have already left Black students in the lurch: He ended White House programs focused on advancing educational equity and opportunities for Black students and signed an executive order taking aim at Biden-era efforts to increase higher education access for Black students.

  • “Federal funding for Title I schools, which play a key role in reducing educational disparities for students of color, including 5.4 million Black children, would be put at risk.
  • “More than half of the recipients of Pell Grants — which could be thrown into jeopardy — are Black students.
  • “The Department’s loan forgiveness and payment programs could be severely disrupted, which will disproportionately harm Black students, 90% of whom leave college with student loan debt.
  • “Trump has already begun gutting the Department’s Office of Civil Rights, ripping away crucial protections for Black students facing discrimination in educational settings.” (Pictured: DNC Chair Ken Martin)

 
 
 
 
 
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Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas often appears with his face covered with a beaded mask, at right. (If the image is not visible, please consider using another browser.)

N.J. Court Awards Ghana Journalist $18 Million

It took a few days for the U.S. media to catch up, but the BBC and African news outlets swiftly reported an $18 million award by an Essex County, N.J., court to Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.The court found that Anas had been defamed by a former MP in Ghana.

The politician, Kennedy Agyapong, owns property in West Orange, N.J.

“The case stems from comments Agyapong made about Anas after his BBC investigation in 2018 that exposed football corruption in Ghana and elsewhere,” Thomas Naadi and Natasha Booty reported Wednesday for the BBC.

“The court heard that Agyapong, among other accusations made on a podcast, had called the reporter a ‘criminal’ and alleged he was behind the murder of fellow journalist Ahmed Suale.

“Anas lost a similar legal action in Ghana seven years ago. But after the release of the podcast episode in 2021 Anas went to court in the US state of New Jersey where Agyapong has a property.

“The politician was in New Jersey when he was interviewed for the Daddy Fred Show podcast, according to court papers filed by his lawyers.

“Last week’s initial verdict was confirmed on Tuesday. The $18m in damages was the result of a unanimous decision by an eight-member jury in Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey, finding Agyapong liable for defamation.

“The figure included $8m in punitive damages.

” ‘Justice has prevailed. This victory is not just for me, but for truth, press freedom, and every journalist who risks everything to expose corruption and wrongdoing,’ Anas said in response.

” ‘No amount of intimidation or falsehood will silence the pursuit of accountability even in the face of assassination. Our work continues, undeterred and unafraid.’

“The journalist, who has won multiple international awards for his reporting, has vowed to continue fighting corruption and holding wrongdoers accountable. . . .”

A cartoon depiction of the 1884 Berlin Conference, in which the European colonial powers carved up Africa.

Compelling: A Quest to Address German Colonialism

Americans don’t often see stories about colonialism, but the Associated Press published one on Friday headlined, “A promise to an African grandmother: Shining a light on Germany’s colonial past,” by reporters Ciarán Fahey and Fanny Brodersen. That past is no doubt news to many.

“Mnyaka Sururu Mboro is still driven by the promise he gave his grandmother when he left Tanzania for Germany almost 50 years ago: to bring back for a proper burial the head of a local chieftain, killed in 1900 by German colonists for opposing their rule in Africa,” the story began.

Mboro (pictured, by Tahir Della via BBC), 73, “co-founded Berlin Postkolonial, a group pushing for a reevaluation of Germany’s colonial past and removal of surviving colonial structures and racism. “Mboro grew up with stories about the king whom the Germans hanged from a tree with 18 other leaders in March 1900. The head is believed to have been cut off by German soldiers and taken to Germany by the colonial administration, though authorities can not confirm that. It was never recovered.

“ ‘Up to today, still, I am searching for it,’ Mboro, who now lives in Berlin, told The Associated Press.
. . .

“Meli’s head may be among many thousands of human remains pilfered and sent to Germany, where even before the Nazis came to power, many of the remains were studied in an attempt to prove pseudoscientific notions of white supremacy.

“In 2011, the authority overseeing Berlin’s state museums, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, inherited a collection of some 7,700 human remains from the city’s Charité medical history museum. The foundation has been trying to determine their origins in order to return them but it’s proving difficult.

“Hermann Parzinger, the foundation’s president, told the AP that it now has between 5,500 and 6,000 remains from the colonial era. . . .”

The BBC did a similar story in 2018, but in the United States, particularly, the AP has a much wider reach.

Fahey (pictured), a Berlin-based sports reporter, explained to Journal-isms Saturday, “The story came to be after German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock gave a speech last June about Germany’s handling of its colonial past. It wasn’t the speech itself per se, but I thought it was interesting as it’s a subject that’s often overlooked. When it comes to German history and its dark past, it’s dominated by the Nazis and the Holocaust. They tend to overshadow everything else.

“Many Germans know little about their country’s colonialism as it’s not a compulsory subject in school. There is also reluctance to rename streets associated with its colonial past. It’s not seen as something terrible, but rather something positive or romantic — for some, colonizers were seen as adventurers, Germany was much bigger at the time, and its colonies stir feelings of pride. 


“I did a tour of Berlin’s African Quarter with Decolonial Tours, which addresses these issues. We then interviewed Justice Mvemba, the founder, at length. Through her we learned about the renaming of Petersallee, where we met Mnyaka Sururu Mboro. One thing led to another. Every person has their own story but that story involves so many others. I watched documentaries, read books, visited the Humboldt Forum where many colonial artifacts are on show.

“We interviewed the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for the museums, their colonial loot, and also human remains. We asked him about the Benin Bronzes and Germany’s efforts to atone for colonial crimes. It turns out it’s not simply a matter of handling everything back – you need to determine what came from where. And especially when it comes to human remains — these are the remains of people we’re talking about, people who have descendants who want to give them proper burials, people who deserve respect.

Mnyaka Sururu Mboro leads the memorial procession last August as a section of Petersallee, named for Carl Peters, a German colonial ruler, is renamed Maji-Maji-Allee to remember the Maji Maji Rebellion against colonial rule in German East Africa. A second section was named after Anna Mungunda, who fought against apartheid in Namibia, another former German colony known as German South West Africa. (Credit: Ciarán Fahey)

“Mboro is still pushing for the return of the head of Mangi Meli. He’s not going to stop. Though he hasn’t found it, he has been making great progress by making people aware, and many others are now also involved.

“In November I went to a discussion involving many participants from around the world to mark the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference that effectively carved up Africa among the colonial powers at the time. They discussed the legacy of colonialism and its continuing effect today.

“I think that’s the key issue — colonialism isn’t just something that happened in the past.”

The conference received little coverage in the United States, though Human Rights Watch produced, “Africans and People of African Descent Call on Europe to Reckon with Their Colonial Legacies.”

Fahey and Brodersen wrote that Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation “in 2023 connected research dots and linked 1,135 human skulls to present-day Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya but is still waiting for the countries to accept their return, Parzinger said.

“Germany has successfully returned human remains to Namibia, and colonial loot to elsewhere. In 2022, it agreed to return hundreds of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, historic bronze sculptures.”

Parzinger, the foundation’s president, told the AP, ““Everything has to be given back.”

(Credit: Al Jazeera/YouTube)

Fake Journalists Spread Propaganda in Africa

“In ‘Africa’s Ghost Reporters,’ Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit reveals a shadowy influence campaign that uses fake journalists and local media to spread political propaganda, mainly in the French-speaking countries of West and Central Africa,” Al Jazeera English reported Wednesday.

“The investigation uncovers how images of the dead have been used to create fake journalists, how middlemen peddle articles written by people that don’t exist, and how an intricate web of influence eventually leads to a man and organisation with an extensive history of manipulating the truth. . . . “

(Credit: Editor and Publisher)

25 Make E&P’s List of News-Media Rising Stars

“One of my favorite salutes has always been E&P’s 25 Under 35,” Editor-in-Chief Robin Blinder wrote Thursday for Editor and Publisher magazine.

“This year, we’re changing it up a bit and renamed it ‘Tomorrow’s News Trailblazers.’ It showcases our future — one that’s inspired, passionate and innovative — reinvigorated by fresh ideas and talent. This group of ‘Trailblazers’ are redefining the industry and transforming news media.

“We thank the supervisors and colleagues who thoughtfully nominated this year’s recipients. I am sure you’ll find their perspectives inspiring and give you renewed hope for the future of news media. Cheers to E&P’s 2025 ‘Tomorrow’s News Trailblazers!”

Here are some who add to the list’s diversity and respond in Blinder’s brief Q-and-A:

  • Shannon Chaffers, 24, gun violence reporter, New York Amsterdam News
  • Jonquilyn Hill, 34, podcast host, Vox, Washington, D.C.
  • Alex Ip, 24, publisher and editor, The Xylom, Atlanta
  • Phil Lewis, 34, deputy editor, HuffPost, New York (and president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists)
  • Alissa Zhu, 32, reporter, The Baltimore Banner

Short Takes

The Star Tribune underwent a name change and redesign last year. (Credit: Star Tribune.)

  • The Minnesota Star Tribune ranked No. 3 on Fast Company’s “2025 list of the “10 Most Innovative Companies in media and news,” published Tuesday, “for delivering local news to Minnesota’s underserved communities.” No. 7 was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “While many local newspapers are struggling, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is growing.” Under president and publisher Andrew Morse, the AJC “is implementing a plan to super-serve audiences in the Atlanta area and through the Southeast,” with special attention to the African American community and “and growing a stand-alone news product called UATL, which publishes content aimed specifically about Black culture and news.” Leroy Chapman (pictured) is the paper’s first Black top editor.
  • “Elon Musk, once a tacit backer of DEI, now focuses on anti-White bias,” read a headline in The Washington Post online Thursday. The subhead was,” “Elon Musk, who was raised during South African apartheid, used to steer clear of debate about race. Now, he frequently advocates for White people.” The story by Beth Reinhard, Faiz Siddiqui and Clara Ence Morse ran on the front page of Friday’s print edition.
  • The New York Times Wednesday introduced its 2025-26 fellows, the seventh cohort of a program for early career journalists. The Times’ Ted Kim and Carla Correa said, “The class will also include the newsroom’s first A.I. Initiatives fellow, who will work with journalists across departments to identify, develop and execute projects that use the power of artificial intelligence to address investigative reporting challenges.”
  • A two-year study involving more than 6,000 Americans found that “Most Americans value connecting across difference – and are most interested in activities where they can work together,” the More in Common organization reported Tuesday. “A majority (66%) of Americans across all demographic groups feel they can learn something valuable by connecting with others who are different — and seven in ten (70%) feel a responsibility to do so. Additionally, a majority are at least moderately interested in participating in ‘bridging activities’ across differences of race/ethnicity, political viewpoint, socioeconomic status, and religion. Specifically, Americans are most interested in connecting across difference to work together to achieve a shared goal and least interested in engaging in conversations about group tensions.”
  • Wendi C. Thomas (pictured), the founder of the award-winning nonprofit newsroom MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, will be rejoining ProPublica’s Distinguished Fellows program, ProPublica announced Thursday. “Thomas will pursue investigative projects, in partnership with ProPublica, through April 2027. . . . Thomas was a ProPublica Local Reporting Network partner from 2019 to 2021, during which time her series, ‘Profiting From the Poor,’ exposed the predatory debt collection practices of the largest health care system in Memphis and led the hospital to backtrack and eliminate patients’ debts.” It won several awards.

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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms+owner@groups.io

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