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Roy Hobbs, Anchor Who Battled Demons, Dies at 64

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‘Been Through SO Much, Yet . . . Still Here Fighting’

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‘Been Through SO Much, Yet . . . Still Here Fighting’

Roy Hobbs, a retired television reporter and anchor who cited his own experiences in advocating for greater media attention to mental health, was found dead in his West Palm Beach, Fla., apartment, his daughter, Taylor Hobbs, wrote on Facebook Sunday.

He turned 64 on Jan. 30.

The cause of death was not disclosed. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office was closed on Sunday and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said it had no record of any calls to Hobbs’ apartment. [The office said on Feb. 20 that the case was pending and that a determination of the cause of death awaited the results of toxicology tests.]

For the longest time my dad had been very sick,” Taylor Hobbs wrote Sunday from Bangkok, Thailand. “Literally and figuratively his heart was sad and tired. He had been through SO much, yet he was still here fighting. He was truly strong, yet ready to go. He was a great man who would do anything for the people he cared about. His purpose was to help others, sometimes due to his depression he wouldn’t think that he was fulfilling that purpose. When I see the love and respect that people have for him, I know otherwise. . . .”

On his LinkedIn profile, Hobbs listed himself as “Advocate and Public Speaker on the issue of Depression/Addiction, also issues [that] impact the Black Community nationwide.”

Hobbs worked as a reporter or anchor in Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Boston; Nashville; Jackson, Miss.; Beaumont, Texas; Houston and Delaware’s Delmarva Peninsula.

Roy Hobbs and the late Amanda Davis in 1997 on Atlanta's WAGA-TV. (Credit: YouTube)
Roy Hobbs and the late Amanda Davis in 1997 on Atlanta’s WAGA-TV. (Credit: YouTube)

The Chicagoan was also active in the National Association of Black Journalists, becoming president of its Atlanta chapter, vice president of  Nashville’s and founder of Houston’s.

In 2001, he joined a group of black journalists on a mission to Kenya to discuss freedom of the press at the invitation of east African black journalists and the Kenyan government.

Roy was a good anchor with an ebullient personality off-camera,” Buz Veazey, assistant news director at Atlanta’s WAGA-TV, told Rodney Ho of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

On Aug. 5, 2013, the struggling Soul of the South network debuted its “Evening News” program with Hobbs as co-anchor.

Hobbs’ involvement represented a personal milestone, Journal-isms reported at the time.

Hobbs was busted on drug charges in April 2010, his name splashed across local news media. “I was trying to commit suicide,” Hobbs told Journal-isms later. He entered a recovery program and hoped he would not be blacklisted in the television industry.

“I haven’t worked in two years,” Hobbs said then by telephone. “I was mopping floors for $8 an hour with no benefits, just so I could buy food and keep the lights on. But my faith is strong and I know that if I keep doing the right thing, the universe has a way of balancing things out.

“If I was a white guy, I’d be working,” Hobbs continued, pointing to the case of veteran Chicago anchorman Mark Suppelsa. In May of that year, Suppelsa surprised friends and colleagues with the announcement that he was entering an alcohol recovery program, and was to return to the 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts he anchored for WGN-TV, Robert Feder reported then for his Time Out blog.

“The great thing is, finally we can look out for ourselves,” Hobbs said. “There’s so much I can do for communities across the country because I have been there,” he said. “I can give back.”

In February 2012, Hobbs wrote about his mental health issues for Journal-isms after entertainer Whitney Houston was found underwater and apparently unconscious in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel, where she was pronounced dead.

As journalists, we need to use this terrible loss to bring the issue of depression and addiction out of the darkness,” (scroll down) Hobbs wrote. “By shining a light, we have the chance to defeat it. Those of us in recovery need to tell our stories and educate people about addiction.

“We know all too well about pressures. Deadline pressures, often several times a day. Many times when the long day is done, we throw down a few. Imagine the pressure superstars like Whitney face. . . .”

Hobbs concluded, “I hope we as journalists write stories that give people hope that they can recover their lives. Show us people who are doing just that.”

In April of that year, Hobbs elaborated for the Radio Television Digital News Association.

“For me, the first tipping point came as I was trying to deal with a bad marriage and a tough work schedule,” he wrote under the headline, “Depression and Addiction in the Newsroom.”

“I had no one to share my troubles with. I thought I needed to do what I had always done — suck it up and keep smiling and keep the ratings high.

“When things got harder, I believed I suffered from a lack of will. I didn’t understand that I suffered from a disease that cannot be fixed, only treated every day for the rest of my life.

“I learned that lesson the hard way. The bottom fell completely out was and I was arrested.

“Interestingly enough, I called my company Employee Assistance Program for help before my arrest on drug possession charges. This was a Friday evening and I was told I could talk to a volunteer. Professional help, which is what I needed, would not be available until Monday. Unfortunately, that was too late for me.

“After the arrest and after an attempted suicide I was taken to the hospital, locked up, and for the first time in over 25 years diagnosed with depression and addiction. Upon getting the right mix of anti-depressant medications to balance my brain chemistry, I was able to get out of denial and began tackling my addiction.

“For the past two years I have been in recovery. I’ve realized the importance of telling my story — maybe someone out there might see these problems in themselves and seek help. Even further, perhaps a friend, family member or newsroom colleague might learn about the true nature of depression and addiction and offer help to someone in need. A newsroom environment can be very difficult, but it can also be supportive if people are equipped with the right information. . . .”

Fla. Killer Not in White Power Group After All

February 17, 2018
How Supremacist Trolls Spread Rumor to Media

Modern-Day Redlining Found in 61 Metro Areas

AP’s Holland Shares in ‘Black Panther’ Phenomenon

FCC Watchdog Investigates Chairman’s Sinclair Ties

NBC Insists on Own Pronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang’

UNC’s Invitation to Tucker Carlson Draws Scorn

Laura Ingraham to LeBron: ‘Shut Up and Dribble’

Columnist Says Black History Month Has Failed

Lerone Bennett Jr. Services Scheduled Feb. 24

Short Takes

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Florida school shooting victims are identified as families, community grieve (Credit: ABC News)

How Supremacist Trolls Spread Rumor to Media

Following misrepresentations by a white nationalist leader and coordinated efforts by internet trolls, numerous researchers and media outlets spread a seemingly false claim that the man charged with killing more than a dozen people at a Florida high school belonged to an extremist group,” Shawn Musgrave reported Friday for Politico.

“Law enforcement agencies say they have no evidence so far to support this claim, and the rumor appears to have been perpetrated by white nationalist trolls themselves.

“On Thursday afternoon, the Anti-Defamation League reported that a white supremacist group claimed ties with Nikolas Cruz, who confessed to the shooting spree that killed at least 17 people, including many high-school students, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Nikolas Cruz was taken into custody. (Credit: SunSentinel)
Nikolas Cruz was taken into custody. (Credit: SunSentinel)

“ ‘A spokesperson for the white supremacist group Republic of Florida (ROF) told the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, February 15, that Nikolas Cruz [….] was associated with his group,’ the ADL reported. The ADL quoted a man named Jordan Jereb, who runs the small group, which is based in Tallahassee.

“ ‘Jereb added that ROF had not ordered or wanted Cruz to do anything like the school shooting,’ the ADL wrote in a blog post that was quickly picked up by ABC News and The Associated Press, and later percolated through dozens of other media outlets. Even The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, picked up the claim.

“Some outlets reported they had their own conversations with Jereb or classmates of Cruz who allegedly corroborated the association of Cruz with ROF.

“But a few hours later, after law enforcement agencies said they had no evidence linking Cruz to ROF, Jereb said his identification of Cruz was a ‘misunderstanding’ and that he, too, had been the subject of a ‘prank.’ On online forums and Twitter, trolls and white nationalists gloated at the disinformation they had sowed.

“ ‘All of our evidence seems to point to the ADL getting this wrong,’ said Joan Donovan, a researcher who tracks online misinformation campaigns for Data & Society, a think tank in New York City.

“The ADL subsequently revised its report, as did many news outlets. . . .”

 

"Millions of mortgage records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting show that the legacy of redlining persists 50 years later: In dozens of cities across the country, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans remain more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than whites."
“Millions of mortgage records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting show that the legacy of redlining persists 50 years later: In dozens of cities across the country, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans remain more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than whites.”

Modern-Day Redlining Found in 61 Metro Areas

Fifty years after the federal Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in lending, African Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts,” Aaron Glantz and Emmanuel Martinez reported Thursday for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

“This modern-day redlining persisted in 61 metro areas even when controlling for applicants’ income, loan amount and neighborhood, according to a mountain of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

“The yearlong analysis, based on 31 million records, relied on techniques used by leading academics, the Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to identify lending disparities.

“It found a pattern of troubling denials for people of color across the country, including in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Antonio. African Americans faced the most resistance in Southern cities – Mobile, Alabama; Greenville, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida – and Latinos in Iowa City, Iowa. . . .”

Glantz and Martinez also wrote, The analysis – independently reviewed and confirmed by The Associated Press – showed black applicants were turned away at significantly higher rates than whites in 48 cities, Latinos in 25, Asians in nine and Native Americans in three. In Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, Reveal found all four groups were significantly more likely to be denied a home loan than whites. . . .”

In Washington, D.C., Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson discuss the Black Panther story as part of the increasingly popular all-boys book club at the Truesdell Education Campus. (Credit: Tyrone Turner/WAMU-FM) At the Truesdell Education Campus in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Northwest D.C., student members of the 5th grade reading club, moderated by teacher Michael Redmond, are reading and discussing the Black Panther graphic novel (comic book?) in preparation for going to the movie next week. Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson look at and discuss the Black Panther story.
In Washington, D.C., fifth graders Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson discuss the Black Panther story as part of an increasingly popular all-boys book club at the Truesdell Education Campus. (Credit: Tyrone Turner/WAMU-FM)

AP’s Holland Shares in ‘Black Panther’ Phenomenon

Jesse J. Holland, author of ‘Black Panther: Who Is The Black Panther?,’ has a lot in common with the titular meta-human of the Marvel Comics universe he chronicled in the book,” Karu F. Daniels reported Thursday for NBCBLK.

“Like T’Challa Udaku, the character who rules the futuristic African nation of Wakanda and also fights evil villains as a superhero, the Holly Springs, Mississippi, native does double duty as a journalist for an international newswire service.

“Based on the 2005 comic run by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., Holland’s take on the story is a richly layered, fleshed out prose adaptation of the story of warrior king T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther, who finds himself in a battle against an army led by the man who killed his father. . . .”

Jesse Holland, left, with 'Black Panther' lead actor Chadwick Boseman. (Credit: Twitter)
Jesse Holland, left, with lead actor Chadwick Boseman. (Credit: Twitter)

Daniels quoted Holland, “ ‘One of the things that I have learned throughout this process is that the world has such rich stories that haven’t been told yet,’ he said. ‘One of the things that writing these books does for me is it reminds me when I go to work every day that what we do as journalists is that we tell stories. We bring the hidden to light.

“Just like the ‘Black Panther’ movie and this novel does, they’re bringing the character to light that some people knew about, and some people appreciated, but now through this novel and the movie, the entire world gets to know about it.’

“ ‘. . . So, it just reminds me of how important our jobs are and how lucky we are as journalists to be able to do it.’ ”

Tom DiChristopher reported Friday for cnbc.com, “Boxoffice.com is currently forecasting the movie will haul in $190 million to $215 million over the long weekend. The website projects it will earn $178 million over three days.

“That would be enough to put it in the upper range of the top 10 highest grossing openings for a superhero movie. At that level, Black Panther would top heavyweights such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man and take aim at the best-ever debut for a superhero movie focused on a solo character.

“Strong reviews, outstanding pre-sales and a holiday weekend release underpin the bullish forecast, but it might be the revolutionary nature of the film that pushes it beyond consensus estimates, said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at boxoffice.com. . . .”

FCC Watchdog Investigates Chairman’s Sinclair Ties

Last April, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, led the charge for his agency to approve rules allowing television broadcasters to greatly increase the number of stations they own,” Cecilia Kang reported Thursday for the New York Times.

“A few weeks later, Sinclair Broadcasting announced a blockbuster $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Media — a deal those new rules made possible.

“By the end of the year, in a previously undisclosed move, the top internal watchdog for the F.C.C. opened an investigation into whether Mr. Pai and his aides had improperly pushed for the rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair, according to Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey and two congressional aides. . . .”



(Credit: HuffPost)

NBC Insists on Own Pronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang’

NBC doesn’t seem to be budging from its mispronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang,’ ” Kimberly Yam reported Thursday for HuffPost.

“Despite guidance from the Asian American Journalists Association, among others, that confirms the Olympic host city is pronounced ‘Pyeong-ch-ah-ng'(like the ‘ah’ sound you make at the doctor’s, according to the video), NBC is sticking with the incorrect pronunciation ‘Pyeong-ch-ay-ng’ (rhymes with slang).

“The outlet reportedly discussed the pronunciation internally, settling on the mispronunciation because ‘it’s cleaner,’ Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports, told Sports Business Journal in November. A network spokesperson did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.

“NBC’s deliberate mispronunciation isn’t sitting right with the Asian community and journalists on social media, who have criticized the network for disrespecting the host city. . . . ”

UNC’s Invitation to Tucker Carlson Draws Scorn

Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson

Fox News TV commentator Tucker Carlson will be the featured speaker in a distinguished lecture series at the UNC School of Media and Journalism in April — a choice that has drawn scorn on social media,” Jane Stancill reported Thursday for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

“Alumni and others bombarded the school’s Twitter account with reaction to the announcement that the conservative Carlson, who hosts the primetime show ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ on Fox News, would deliver the Roy H. Park Lecture on April 12.

“ ‘With so many journalists doing admirable work to discover and disseminate truth, you select an unabashed propagandist?’ tweeted alumna Anna Hester. ‘This J-School alum is disappointed and ashamed. You can do better @UNCMJschool’

“ ‘This makes me want to turn my diploma around to face the wall,’ Leslie Cohig Gura chimed in. . . .”

Stancill also wrote, “Critics contend Carlson has become a favorite of white nationalist groups, praised, for example, by [a] former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

“The outcry this week prompted UNC journalism faculty member John Robinson to write a blog post entitled, ‘Tucker Carlson will speak at UNC-Chapel Hill, and everything will be all right.’ . . .”

Laura Ingraham to LeBron: ‘Shut Up and Dribble’

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham has responded in a statement after she came under serious criticism for her remarks last night on LeBron James,” Josh Feldman reported Friday for Mediaite.

“Ingraham, to recap, mocked James for recent comments he made about politics and President Trump.

“She said, ‘Millions elected Trump to be their coach. Keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.’

“Ingraham got a lot of blowback over this, including from Dwyane Wade and Chris Long. . . .”

Columnist Says Black History Month Has Failed

Black History Month wasn’t created for white people, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that it has colossally failed to foster a broader understanding and appreciation among whites for how African Americans helped make this nation great,” Harold Jackson, editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote in a column Friday.

Harold Jackson
Harold Jackson

“But that doesn’t make it less disappointing.

“Historian Carter G. Woodson came up with the idea of Negro History Week in 1926. He chose the week that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, Feb. 12, and Frederick Douglass, Feb. 14.

“Initially, only North Carolina, Delaware, West Virginia, Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C., signed on to the idea — and only for their black schools, which is exactly what Woodson wanted.

“Segregation, by law or tradition, was prevalent in the 1920s. Woodson never envisioned white students learning black history. His concern was that black students, deprived of a thorough education about their ancestors, would grow up accepting the yoke of inferiority that white people insisted they wear. . . .”

Jackson also wrote, “Negro History Week was ours alone, but Black History Month became something else. Inspired by the black power movement, black students at Kent State University organized the first Black History Month in 1970. The idea caught on and in 1976 President Gerald Ford included Black History Month as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.

“With segregation gone, more schools reserved time each February to study the contributions of prominent African Americans in history — from Denmark Vesey to Thurgood Marshall to Barack Obama. But unfortunately, learning names, dates, and events was typically as far as their studies went. Too often the necessary attention to context and relevancy was missing from the lessons.

“That lack of historical context was evident in the results of a study released in January by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which showed only 8 percent of high school seniors knew slavery was the main cause of the Civil War. Two-thirds didn’t know it took a constitutional amendment to end slavery. That’s a sorry testament to how history is being taught in America’s schools.

“Instead of going beyond Woodson’s original idea to focus on the positive contributions of individual African Americans, too many schools use Black History Month as a vehicle to teach a catalog of events and people without making tangible connections to the status of black Americans today.

“One result is white Americans who don’t believe slavery has anything to do with today’s United States. Neither their regular history classes nor any additional study they may have done during Black History Month helped them connect the dots among slavery, segregation, and the poverty found in too many black communities today. . . .”

Lerone Bennett Jr. Services Scheduled Feb. 24

Lerone Bennett Jr. (Credit: Washington Interdependence Council)
Lerone Bennett Jr. (Credit: Washington Interdependence Council)

Services for historian and Ebony magazine editor Lerone Bennett Jr., who died Wednesday at age 89, will be held in the same church where he and his late wife, Johnson Publishing Co. journalist Gloria Sylvester, were married in 1965, their daughter, Joy Bennett, said Friday.

The funeral is scheduled for Feb. 24 at St. Columbanus Catholic Church, 331 E 71st St., Chicago, Ill. 60619.

A visitation is to take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St., Chicago. Visitation is to continue at the church at 10 a.m., with the service at 11 a.m.

Short Takes

Elizabeth Warren addresses Native group Wednesday (Credit: indianz/com)
Elizabeth Warren addresses National Congress of American Indians (Credit: indianz/com)

 

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1 comment

richard February 21, 2018 at 6:56 am

From Meta J. Mereday
New York

Roy Hobbs was a journalist, a gentleman and a fine human being and for those who did not know him, I would hope that the headline about him is not the image they should have.

He was another big brother to me and I will miss him and I am still reeling from the news. Even though I got a call earlier today and I did not get the right information (or my head just could not process it earlier), I am still in shock about this loss.

Roy gave his all to his family, his friends and his craft and too often, he did not get back the love and support that he needed when the chips were down. His pain and suffering is now over.

He loved NABJ and I am grateful for the good times that we had together and that he did know that some of us still loved him no matter what. We still have a chance to think about the other members of NABJ who are suffering in silence. You know those members that worked those committees, raised those funds and used to be able to be all things to all people, but fell on hard times. Once they lose the titles and the connections, they are lost to this group. We don’t even look each other in the eye anymore, let alone look out for each other like we used to do.

At first, i wasn’t going to say anything, just mourn in silence but I remember Roy in my ear saying to me “Keep telling it like it is my sister, I just love it.” Don’t worry Roy, I will keep telling it… until I can’t anymore and I just wonder, what the headline will be for me… if any.

Rest in peace… my brother, my friend..

Feb. 18, 2018

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