Sharpton, Rights Leaders to Face Facebook

Fear Social Media Giant Aids Voter Suppression

How Hundreds Die in U.S. Marshals’ Custody

Deadspin Staff Quits After ‘Sports Only’ Directive

Story on Ogletree Illness ‘an Absolute Must-Read’

AP Adds Reports From Indian Country Today

Public Wants Better Coverage of Addiction, K-12

Journalists Make Essence’s ‘Woke 100’ List

Pittsburgh Black Reporters Say Racism Takes Toll

Cummings Praised as Champion of Transparency

Short Takes

Fear Social Media Giant Aids Voter Suppression

“Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will meet with civil rights leaders including Al Sharpton next week in California amid concerns about the company’s policy of letting politicians lie on its platform,” Ben Brody and Naomi Nix reported Thursday for Bloomberg.

“ ‘I have deep concerns that this policy is a misinformation vehicle that could aid voter suppression and voter misinformation efforts, and it should be stopped immediately,’ the long-time civil rights activist said. . . . ”

Meanwhile, “Facebook said on Wednesday it had suspended three networks of Russian accounts that attempted to interfere in the domestic politics of eight African countries, and were tied to a Russian businessman accused of meddling in past U.S. elections,” Jack Stubbs and Joseph Menn reported for Reuters.

“The campaigns used almost 200 fake and compromised accounts to target people in Madagascar, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya, Facebook said. Between them, the accounts amassed more than 1 million followers. . . .”

Sharpton said in a statement, “Last week, I sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, requesting a face-to-face meeting with me and other national civil rights leaders to discuss Facebook’s policy to decline to fact-check the accuracy of politicians’ content on Facebook. I have deep concerns that this policy is a misinformation vehicle that could aid voter suppression and voter misinformation efforts, and it should be stopped immediately.

“I received a letter back from Mr. Zuckerberg agreeing [to] my request and I will meet with him early next week in California to press our concerns. I expect to be joined in the meeting by Marc Morial of the National Urban League, Derrick Johnson of the NAACP, Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Vanita Gupta of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, among others.

“The fact that Twitter and even some Facebook employees have taken strong stands on this issue only furthers the need for Mr. Zuckerberg to reconsider his position. In an era of voter suppression, we must press with all we have to protect our civil rights and voting rights. This is not an issue of free speech; this is an issue of voter misinformation and voter suppression.”

Russian government-backed online interference in the 2016 election aggressively targeted African Americans more than any other group, according to a major report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, as Grace Panetta reported Oct. 8 for Business Insider.

“Research from the Senate Intel Committee and other investigations, including special counsel Robert Mueller’s massive 400-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, have previously found extensive evidence that Russia’s interference efforts stoked racial tensions in an effort to depress African-American voter turnout,” Panetta wrote.

Donie O’Sullivan added Oct. 24 for CNN Business, “Mark Zuckerberg last week invoked Black Lives Matter in explaining why he believes it’s so important to allow free expression on Facebook. But real black activists remember how Facebook (FB) allowed its platforms to be used to take advantage of BLM and African Americans, standing by as Russian trolls created fake pages and events and allowing for the biggest BLM page on the site to be a scam run out of Australia. They don’t trust Facebook to stop that from happening again and so they are taking the fight into their own hands. . . .”

Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, told the Journal-isms Roundtable in Washington last month the group had been in conversation with Internet platform providers about Russian disinformation targeting African Americans and began a largely unsuccessful “log-off Facebook” campaign (Facebook) last year.

• Editorial, Washington Post: Twitter is banning political ads. If Facebook won’t, it must at least moderate them.
• Hazel Trice Edney, Trice Edney Wire: Amazon’s Police Power Sounding Alarms Among Blacks and Communities of Color (Oct. 15)
• Andrew Marantz, New Yorker: Facebook and the “Free Speech” Excuse
• Donie O’Sullivan, CNN: A Facebook fact-checker will propose a possible solution to the company’s false ad debacle
• Craig Timberg, Washington Post: Civil rights leaders thought they’d figured out how to deal with Facebook. But now they are ‘livid.’ (Oct. 25)

How Hundreds Die in U.S. Marshals’ Custody

“In 2017, Isac Garcia-Wislar was living in Gardendale, Texas[,] on a plot of land he’d bought to live on with his children and grandchildren,” Seth Freed Wessler and Alissa Escarce reported Oct. 23 for Latino USA. “One spring morning, he was riding in his cousin’s car when they were pulled over for speeding.

“Garcia-Wislar, a 51-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was referred to Border Patrol and charged with illegal reentry. He had been deported once before to Mexico, 15 years earlier, which meant that he could be charged with a federal felony.

“As he waited to be sentenced, Garcia-Wislar became one of about 60,000 people detained each day by the U.S. Marshals Service, an arm of the Department of Justice responsible for holding people charged with federal crimes until they’re sentenced or set free.

“But the Marshals don’t operate their own detention centers. Instead, they have agreements to pay more than 1,000 local jails around the country to hold detainees for them.

“Garcia-Wislar was placed in a county jail in West Texas. A few months into his stay, he told the nurse he was having intense pain in his back and shoulder, and was having a hard time breathing.

“Over the next few days, Garcia-Wislar’s pain became unbearable, but the jail stalled on getting him serious medical care. By the time he was sent to the hospital, Garcia-Wislar could barely hold his body up. He died three days later of illnesses doctors say could likely have been treated if not for the delays in care.

“In a yearlong investigation with Mother Jones and Type Investigations, Latino USA brings you a first-ever look into the sprawling detention system run by the U.S. Marshals. The agency’s detention population has ballooned since the Trump Administration started criminally prosecuting nearly everyone caught crossing the border without papers.

“But the Marshals Service has repeatedly failed to make sure its detainees are held in safe conditions — even after hundreds of people have died on its watch. . . .”

Deadspin Staff Quits After ‘Sports Only’ Directive

“The entire staff of around 20 writers and editors at Deadspin have announced their resignations or otherwise left the publication in recent days, leaving the future of the popular sports website in question and signaling the end, at least in its current form, of a brash, iconoclastic and sometimes controversial blog that grew into one of the most influential voices in sports media,” Ben Strauss reported Friday for the Washington Post.

“The announcements, which started Wednesday and continued into Friday, arrived days after a new directive to publish only sports and sports-adjacent content was issued by chief executive Jim Spanfeller and editorial director Paul Maidment of G/O Media, Deadspin’s parent company. Interim editor in chief Barry Petchesky was fired Tuesday, and subsequently the entire staff quit, a stunning development that gutted one of the landmark online sports publications.

“On Friday, the accomplished Washington-based writer Dave McKenna confirmed he had quit, leaving the site without any of its editorial staff, according to its former editor. A spokesman for G/O Media said Deadspin intends to hire a new team of writers. . . .”

• Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab: A sad reading list about the end of Deadspin

Story on Ogletree Illness ‘an Absolute Must-Read’

“This Sunday Boston Globe story was an absolute must-read: ‘As his Alzheimer’s looms, Charles and Pam Ogletree take one last walk in love,’ Brian Stelter reported Wednesday for his “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “And it remains No. 1 on the Globe’s website two days later. . . .”

“The Globe is out with a followup about how Jenna Russell reported and wrote the sensitive story with care and compassion. Russell says Pam ‘was reserved at first, but she made time for me, in a series of meetings spanning about six weeks this fall, first with her alone and later including Charles. As we established a foundation of trust, our conversations quickly became very deep and rewarding. Her honesty and directness were stunning. I found myself contemplating marriage and commitment in ways I never had before.’ I did too, while reading the story. . . .”

AP Adds Reports From Indian Country Today

“On October 1, an Associated Press headline read, ‘Indigenous filmmaker strikes playful tone with showcase ad.‘ The story — one of the 2,000 the AP’s members could select from the wire service that day — was the first the AP picked up from Indian Country Today, the nation’s leading outlet for news from Native America,” Valerie Vande Panne reported Monday for Columbia Journalism Review.

“If the old adage — that good journalism is the first draft of history — is true, then October 1, 2019, marked the first time in mainstream US media that history was written by a Native publication about Indian Country. (Indian Country is the common and general reference to communities of Native Americans and all tribal governments in the United States.)

“ ‘In the whole history of media this hasn’t happened before,’ says Aliyah Chavez, Kewa Pueblo, the author of the story the AP picked up. ‘It’s super exciting.’ . . .”

In a separate development, the Native American Journalists Association announced Wednesday a partnership with Mathison, a Los Angeles firm “committed to bridging the gap between underrepresented communities and employers committed to equity and inclusion,” to expand job opportunities for NAJA members. “With support from the Knight Foundation, the project aims to increase career opportunities for underserved communities while helping employers build a more inclusive hiring process. . . .

“This project supports NAJA’s long term strategic goal of increasing the number of Indigenous journalists working in mainstream newsrooms from 0.2 to 2 percent within the next 10 years. . . .”

• Native American Journalists Association: NAJA calls for audit on New York Times story

Public Wants Better Coverage of Addiction, K-12

“African Americans have lower trust in most local institutions — especially local law enforcement and businesses — but they have slightly more confidence in local news than white and Hispanic respondents do,” the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation reported Tuesday.

“Still, less than half of African Americans express confidence in local news (44%). . . .”

The survey, conducted with the Gallup Organization, also found, “Almost twice as many respondents are dissatisfied with the amount — rather than quality —  of coverage of drug addiction, the local environment and K-12 education in their local area. Conversely, majorities of those unhappy with coverage of weather, politics, sports and crime are dissatisfied with the quality of the coverage of these topics, as opposed to the amount of coverage.

“Insufficient attention to drug addiction, the local environment and education may point to a mismatch between the importance Americans attach to these issues and the amount of coverage local media give them. Public dissatisfaction with the quality of local political coverage is consistent with Americans’ frustration with the job that local news is doing at holding local leaders accountable for their actions. . . .”

• Radio Television Digital News Association: What audiences say local news needs to do better

Journalists Make Essence’s ‘Woke 100’ List

Essence Magazine has created a 2019 “Woke 100” list that includes at least 10 current or former journalists or communicators “who exemplify the true meaning of being change agents and power players and are inspiring communities around the world,” the magazine announced Monday.

The emailed news release also said, “ESSENCE’s entire ‘Woke Issue’ is dedicated to stories reflecting activism, political reform, human rights and social justice. Articles include Free at Last, which features interviews with Cyntoia Brown and Alice Marie Johnson — both released from prison after public outcry and now on a mission to reform the criminal justice system.

“In addition, ESSENCE’s cover story Enchanting features Queen & Slim star Jodie Turner-Smith — who delivers a powerful performance in a timely tale about the community’s fraught interaction with law enforcement. . . .”

In a sign of the times, the list is liberally inclusive of transgender people.

Among the 94 people listed:

• 3. Raquel Willis, “executive editor of Out magazine. . . .”
• 24. Tananarive Due. “American Book Award winner Due is a leading voice in American Black speculative fiction. . . .” She was a Miami Herald reporter from 1988 to 1998.
• 26. Karen Horne. “As the senior vice-president of programming talent development and inclusion for NBC Entertainment and Universal Television Studios, Horne is working to make prime time more diverse. . . .”
• 37. Brittany Noble Jones. “When the Jackson, Mississippi, news anchor was told her natural hair was ‘unprofessional’ and was later fired, she refused to leave WJTV quietly. Instead she shared her story on social media and has joined the fight to end hair discrimination in the workplace.”
• 39. Karen Attiah. “When journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Attiah refused to remain silent. As the Global Opinions editor for The Washington Post, she issued blistering critiques of both the Saudi and U.S. governments, providing a powerful profile in courage.”
• 40. Nikole Hannah-Jones. “The award-winning New York Times reporter has written extensively about school segregation and racial injustice. Recently, she helmed the newspaper’s landmark 1619 Project, which commemorated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slaves in the U.S.”
• 41. Adrienne Banfield-Norris, Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow Smith. “This trio is breaking barriers on Red Table Talk, a weekly show on Facebook Watch that tackles controversial topics like sexual orientation and race, as well as marriage and the challenges of motherhood. . . .”
• 42. Gayle King. “There should be no question why the CBS This Morning lead anchor is worth every last penny of her new $11 million deal. Not only did she keep her calm in a contentious interview with R. Kelly but she continues to be the face of leadership, poise and dignity on morning network news.”
• 43. Ava DuVernay. “Her miniseries, When They See Us, chronicled the Exonerated Five. . . .”
• 71. Tiffany D. Cross, “a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, is the cofounder and managing editor of The Beat DC, a digital platform that covers the intersection of politics, policy and people of color. . . .”
• 84. dream hampton. “In January the activist and writer executive-produced Lifetime’s six-part series Surviving R. Kelly, which delved into the sexual misconduct allegations against the singer. A little over a month after it aired, Kelly was charged with criminal sexual abuse.”

Pittsburgh Black Reporters Say Racism Takes Toll

“Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a reputation as one of the most livable cities in the nation,” Letrell Deshan Crittenden, program director and assistant professor of communication at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, wrote Oct. 25 for Columbia Journalism Review. “This piece, however, argues that reporters of color working within the Pittsburgh media ecosystem have a much lesser quality of life both inside and outside of the newsroom.”

In a piece originating at Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Crittenden continued, “Previous studies related to diversity and inclusion within Pittsburgh’s media ecosystem highlighted two issues.

“First, Pittsburgh news media over-represents African Americans as a criminals. Additionally, newsrooms in the area are woefully underrepresented in terms of diversity.

“Based on a series of 20 interviews with journalists who are currently or have worked within the Pittsburgh news media — including 16 who identify as individuals of color — this goes beyond numbers, and gains insights on issues of diversity and inclusion directly from newsroom workers, and documents a number of concerns journalists of color have about their working conditions within the Pittsburgh media ecosystem. . . .”

Crittenden also wrote, “If newsrooms truly seek to increase diversity within newsrooms, and improve coverage of communities of color, newsrooms must do more than simply hire more people of color. They must find ways to make journalists of color feel they can thrive within their newsroom environments, and directly challenge institutional systems of racism within their organizations.

“Nevertheless, diversity and inclusion efforts could still remain a challenge, if the larger community remains unwelcoming to people of color. For that reason, developing ways to locate and train individuals of color with roots within the Pittsburgh region may be the best way to ensure journalists of color are retained, and that news about communities of color remains a focus point within the larger news media ecosystem. . . .”

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings accepts the 2019 Sunshine in Government Award. (Credit: C-SPAN)

Cummings Praised as Champion of Transparency

“News Media for Open Government, an alliance of press organisations of which RTDNA is a member, joins those who say goodbye to Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD-7) today, while remembering the popular Maryland leader and his tireless efforts to improve government transparency,” the alliance said Oct. 25 via the Radio Television Digital News Association.

Members of the alliance include the Associated Press, Association of Alternative Newsmedia, National Association of Broadcasters, National Newspaper Association, News Leaders Association, News Media Alliance, Online News Association, RTDNA, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Society of Professional Journalists.

“Representative Cummings, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, was presented NMOG’s 2019 Sunshine in Government Award in February for his unwavering efforts in pushing to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act in 2016,” the coalition continued. “He worked on a bipartisan and bicameral basis to write a clear presumption of openness into the law. He and his staff pushed agencies to do all they could to make FOIA work better. He also spent countless hours pushing back on overbroad and unnecessary proposals that would weaken FOIA.” Cummings died at 68 on Oct. 17.

Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University and author of the new book “How to Be an Antiracist,” offered another perspective that contemplated Cummings’ age.

“My father, God willing, will turn 72 in May, which is the average life span for black men in the United States,” Kendi wrote Oct. 24 in the Atlantic. “Black men have the nation’s lowest life expectancy, four years less than white men, seven years less than black women, nine years less than white women.

“It was no aberration for Cummings to die at 68 after a series of health problems. It was no hyperbole when, 25 years ago, a Brooklyn rapper nicknamed the Notorious B.I.G. titled his debut studio album Ready to Die. It is also no accident that black women are three to four times more likely to die during pregnancy than white women. Despite the mortality gap narrowing in recent decades, black life remains unexpected. . . .”

Kendi added, “mortality statistics on Asian and Native Americans are less available, and less accurate. But that does not take away from the need to recognize different forms of Latino deprivation, of Native deprivation, of Asian deprivation, and increasingly white deprivation, which is to say what white people are depriving themselves of by means of their own racism. . . .”

Cummings’ death was followed 10 days later by that of former Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., at 90.

“He was a man who took great risk on the issues and on the people he fought for, to upend the status quo for what he believed,” columnist Bankole Thompson wrote Oct. 27 in the Detroit News.

“He doggedly championed civil and human rights from 1965, when he was first elected to Congress, up to the final moments of a congressional career that abruptly ended in 2017 after he faced mounting allegations of sexual harassment. . . .

“Conyers’ body of work is a testament to his unrelenting commitment to fight for those who are disenfranchised in American society. Over the decades, he authored key legislation that had an indelible impact on our national life.

“He also introduced H.R. 40, the bill to establish a commission to study the impact of the cruel institution of slavery. Known as the reparations bill, H.R. 40, first introduced in 1989, continues to linger in the House Judiciary Committee, which Conyers himself once led as its first African American chairman. . . .”

Conyers addressed the National Association of Black Journalists when it met in Detroit in 1992.

“Mr. Conyers exhorted the journalists, many of whom have had to struggle to get their jobs, ‘not to fear endangering your careers or getting yourselves fired,’ ” Doron P. Levin reported then for the New York Times.

“Amplifying his remarks later, Mr. Conyers, who is black, said, ‘We need activists in journalism’ who will ‘challenge managerial practices.’ . . .”

• Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, Boston Herald: Elijah Cummings left rich legacy of lessons (Oct. 20)
• Frances (Toni) Murphy Draper, Afro-American: Elijah Eugene Cummings: A Friend Indeed (Oct. 24)
• Michael A. Fletcher, the Undefeated: Elijah Cummings built a legacy around helping others, supporting black community (Oct. 17)
• Roy S. Johnson, al.com: ‘Consummate legislator’ Rep. Elijah Cummings remembered by Birmingham native who worked for him (Oct. 19)
• Wesley Lowery, Washington Post: Which black Americans should get reparations? (Sept. 18)
• Michigan Chronicle digital edition: Rest in Power Congressman Conyers (Oct. 31)
• Donna Owens, BET.com: Congressman Elijah Cummings: A Baltimore Original (Oct. 19)
• Corey Williams and Noreen Nasir, Associated Press: AP-NORC poll: Most Americans oppose reparations for slavery

Short Takes

• “Somalia is the world’s worst country for the fifth year in a row when it comes to prosecuting murderers of journalists, CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index found,” the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Tuesday. “War and political instability have fostered a deadly cycle of violence and impunity, along with inaction by states worldwide. . . . During the 10-year index period ending August 31, 2019, 318 journalists were murdered for their work worldwide and in 86% of those cases no perpetrators have been successfully prosecuted. . . .”
• In the choking ash of the Getty fire in Los Angeles, “The streets were mostly empty throughout the neighborhood — except for the workers who tend the gardens, clean the hilltop homes and care for the children in one of the city’s most affluent communities,” Brittny Mejia reported Monday for the Los Angeles Times. “An officer from the Los Angeles Police Department, who asked that his name not be used, said he had told at least 10 determined workers in the neighborhood to leave. . . .”
• “As multiple deadly wildfires in California, stoked by dry weather and 65 MPH winds, threaten to destroy thousands of homes across the state, 2,150 prison inmates are battling on the front lines to tame the flames,” Nicole Goodkind wrote Friday for Fortune under the headline, “Prisoners Are Fighting California’s Wildfires on the Front Lines, But Getting Little in Return.” “The prisoners earn between $2.90 and $5.12 per day, plus an additional $1 per hour during active emergency for their potentially life-threatening efforts. The firefighters they work alongside earn an average of $91,000 each year before overtime pay and bonuses. . . .”
• While U.S. media are justifiably focusing attention on the California wildfires, “More than 1 million people in East Africa are affected by flooding after higher than normal rainfall, an aid group said Friday,” Sam Mednick and Tom Odula reported Friday for the Associated Press. “Parts of the region are bracing for a tropical storm, Kyarr, that could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation. The International Rescue Committee said many people had been reeling from an earlier period of severe drought. Now the rains in parts of Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya are expected for another four to six weeks. . . .”
• “Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his guest, conservative YouTube personality Dave Rubin, both insisted Tuesday night that the wildfires burning across California are due largely to progressive ideology, ‘woke’ culture, and diversity in hiring,” Justin Baragona wrote Tuesday for the Daily Beast.
• “A number of news organizations have published open apologies for their contributions to slavery, lynching and discrimination,” Robin Hoecker wrote Tuesday for the Poynter Institute under the headline, “Does your news organization owe African Americans an apology? Here’s how to do it the right way.” “Why issue an apology? When journalists make mistakes, newspapers are ethically bound to issue a correction. . . . An institutional apology is a correction on a much larger scale, much like truth commission is bigger than any individual court case. . . .”
• President Trump’s “unexpected assault on flavored e-cigarettes has resurrected a complicated, years-old debate over tobacco regulation, racial equity and health,” Hannah Knowles and Laurie McGinley reported Friday for the Washington Post. They also wrote, “Some black leaders say a ban on menthol cigarettes would be paternalistic, robbing African American smokers of their right to choose which products to use. Others, including many black health advocates, counter that it’s racist not to ban a dangerous product pushed for years by what they call predatory, racially targeted marketing. . . .”
• ” ‘The 1619 Project,’ by The New York Times Magazine, had an incredible impact when it was first published in August,” (scroll down) Brian Stelter reported Wednesday for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “More and more customers clamored for copies — and the issue is now listed as ‘sold out’ in the NYT store. “So it’s no surprise that publishers are clamoring to come out with a ‘1619 Project’ book. Numerous editors have been cycling through NYT HQ for meetings about potential books. A Times spokesman confirms the meetings but declines further comment. . . .”
• “Rod Hicks, the journalist on call for the Society of Professional Journalists, left his home in Sicklerville, N.J., earlier this year to make six different trips to Casper, Wyo.” Jenice Armstrong wrote Wednesday for the Philadelphia Inquirer. “His goal was to hold a series of sessions with local residents to discover why they don’t trust the press and what can be done about it.” Armstrong also wrote, “We could use his expertise here. This may not be Trump country, but there’s still a lot of distrust of the media and confusion about the news business. I’m frequently appalled by how many Facebook friends put as much stock in what they read in the New York Times as they do in a no-name gossip site. . . .” Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post.
• “U.S. racial and ethnic diversity is ever increasing, but the medical representation of minority groups is not,” the “PBS NewsHour” reported on Wednesday. “A recent review of government-funded cancer research studies found that participants were disproportionately white, and fewer than 2 percent of these clinical trials focused on minorities specifically. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports on the problem and efforts to correct it. . . .”
• “An algorithm commonly used by hospitals and other health systems to predict which patients are most likely to need follow-up care classified white patients overall as being more ill than black patients — even when they were just as sick, a new study finds,” Shraddha Chakradhar reported Oct. 26 for STAT. “Overall, only 18% of the patients identified by the algorithm as needing more care were black, compared to about 82% of white patients. If the algorithm were to reflect the true proportion of the sickest black and white patients, those figures should have been about 46% and 53%, respectively. The research was published Thursday in Science. . . .”
• In Philadelphia, “Charges against former NBC10 reporter and anchor Dray Clark in connection with an alleged domestic assault have been dismissed,” Nick Vadala reported Thursday for the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Chester District Court Judge Spencer B. Seaton Jr. dismissed 16 charges against Clark, 41, at a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, court documents indicate. Charges included simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, harassment, and disorderly conduct, among other offenses. . . . A station spokesperson confirmed to The Inquirer that Clark is no longer with the station but did not say when his contract was terminated. . . .”
• “The industrial stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, a region known as ‘Cancer Alley,’ is one of the most highly polluted areas in the country,” Lylla Younes, Al Shaw and Claire Perlman reported Wednesday for ProPublica. “A ProPublica analysis using a scientific model developed by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that some of the neighborhoods where new plants are being built already have very high concentrations of toxic chemicals. But Louisiana continues to approve the building of these new plants and the expansion of existing ones. . . .”

• “Student journalists at Diablo Valley College, a community college in Northern California, are still reeling from the unexpected departure of their newspaper adviser, Fernando Gallo, who they believe was not rehired in a retaliatory move by administrators,” Greta Anderson reported Oct. 22 for Inside Higher Ed. “Students and colleagues described Gallo, who advised the staff of the student newspaper, The Inquirer, as a beloved and respected instructor who helped guide young journalists through a turbulent semester that included reporting that criticized administrators for their response to multiple incidents of racism on campus. . . .”

• 

  Environmental justice reporter Yvette Cabrera, a board member and vice president for CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California, is joining Grist, a non-profit online magazine based in Seattle. She will be pursuing stories “from development to reporting to writing these important stories,” Grist operations manager Anne Lapora messaged Journal-isms on Friday. “She is also going to be helping train and mentor younger staff and participating in editorial staff projects.”

• “The new book ‘Unwanted Witnesses’ explores the experience of journalists who write long-form crónicas or books about victims of violence and the suffering of others, along with the emotional and psychological burden that the process entails,” Paola Nalvarte reported Oct. 23 for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Nalvarte wrote of Gabriela Polit, “In her book, in addition to analyzing this narrative process, she delves into the work of journalists Marcela Turati, Daniela Rea and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto from Mexico, Patricia Nieto from Colombia and María Eugenia Ludueña from Argentina. Polit also carried out various ethnographic interviews with journalists during her investigations. . . .”

• 

  “Archie Tse, one of our best journalists and creator of many of our strongest graphics efforts over decades, is being promoted to graphics director,” Executive Editor Dean Baquet wrote Monday to New York Times staffers. Baquet also wrote, “Archie started at The Times in 1995, and he has played a central role in shaping the identity of the department, especially because of his emphasis on vigorous original reporting. His own reporting efforts expanded in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, when he produced scores of standalone visual explanations, large and small. In 2003, he traveled to Iraq to cover the American invasion, and he reported on the capture of Saddam Hussein. . . .”

• “Democratic presidential candidates Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Tom Steyer faced criminal justice questions Monday that are seldom mentioned on the campaign trail, including sentencing reform for people convicted of violent crimes, civil rights for those coming out of prison and restorative justice, during the nation’s first candidate town hall organized by formerly incarcerated people . . .” Nicole Lewis of the Marshall Project reported.
• J.J. McCorvey, a former senior associate editor at Fast Company, has been hired as a reporter for multiple mediums at the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the newspaper confirms. “Looking forward to working with a stellar team of journalists and product gurus to expand the Journal’s audience and make business content more accessible for a wider breadth of communities,” McCorvey said on Twitter.
• ProPublica Thursday announced its five “Emerging Reporters” for the 2019-20 school year. The program provides a $9,000 stipend, visits to ProPublica’s New York City office and the NICAR conference, and mentorship from a ProPublica journalist. They are Troy Closson of Northwestern University; Juliana Kim of Barnard College; Luis Joel Méndez González of the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo; Patsy Montesinos of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Tiana Woodard of the University of Texas at Austin.
• “About one-in-ten Americans (8%) say there is at least some discrimination against whites, but little or no discrimination against blacks,” Bradley Jones reported Friday for the Pew Research Center. “The predominant view among Democrats — expressed by 73% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — is that there is a lot or some discrimination against blacks and little or no discrimination against whites. By contrast, only about a quarter of Republicans (23%) share these views. . . . “
• “Fox ‘hard news’ anchor Harris Faulkner hosted Stephanie Grisham,” White House press secretary, “on her show Thursday,” (scroll down) Oliver Darcy reported for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “And, instead of pressing her with any meaningful questions, Faulkner lobbed softballs about the White House’s messaging strategy. At one point, Faulkner even played a Trump ad and asked Grisham for her response. ‘I think that the ad was exactly right,’ Grisham said. Not exactly a hard-hitting interview.”
• “Employees of NBC’s digital news division announced on Wednesday that they intend to form a union representing about 150 workers, saying it would allow them to fight for better job protections as well as publicly criticize NBC News executives without fear of retaliation,” Noam Scheiber and John Koblin reported for the New York Times. They also wrote, “They said they hoped to win a number of concessions, including eliminating pay disparities between white men and women and minorities, an improved severance policy, better job protections and more guidance about the company’s long-term plans for the digital division. . . .”
• “A CNN executive on Tuesday defended new political commentator Sean Duffy after several of the network’s anchors and commentators criticized the former Republican congressman’s on-air remarks earlier that day as ‘anti-immigrant’ and ‘appalling,’ Michael Calderone reported for Politico.
• Fox News Channel has elevated network contributor Lawrence Jones to regular substitute host and co-host, effective immediately, the network announced Wednesday. “In this capacity, Jones will make appearances on a range of programs, including The Five (weekdays at 5PM/ET) and Outnumbered (weekdays at 12PM/ET). He will also continue to serve as host of FOX Nation’s Keeping up with Jones and Man on the Street. . . .”
• “The federal lawsuit between the National Rifle Association and the ad firm that created its now-defunct NRATV outlet has taken an uglier turn, with the pro-gun group now alleging its own leadership found the TV outlet’s messaging ‘distasteful and racist,’ ” Andrew Kirell reported Monday for the Daily Beast.
• “Akiba Solomon is joining The Marshall Project, the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit newsroom that covers the U.S. criminal justice system,” the project announced Tuesday. “She will work as a senior editor, responsible for overseeing much of The Marshall Project’s news coverage, its Life Inside series and a range of other reporting, including the intersection of criminal justice, race, gender and income inequality, in conjunction with editor-in-chief Susan Chira. . . .”

• “Christian musician Kirk Franklin has announced a boycott of the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards and the conservative Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network after his reflections on police violence against Black Americans were cut from the award show’s broadcast for the second time,” Carol Kuruvilla reported Tuesday for HuffPost.

(Credit: WLMT-TV) (video)

• In Memphis, Tenn., “[Y]ou know you’ve gotten somewhere in life when someone has a roast in your honor,” Richard Ransom wrote Oct. 24 for WLMT-TV. “Local 24 News was proud to be the media sponsor for a roast and toast on the U of M campus to honor our political commentator, Otis Sanford. Sanford was a columnist for the Commercial Appeal for 25 years and for the last eight has taught at the University of Memphis.
• At the Associated Press, “Kim Johnson Flodin, who has been the Central region’s interim photo editor since July, will become the region’s deputy news director/photos and newsgathering in a 14-state territory that stretches from the Upper Midwest to Texas,” the AP announced Wednesday.
• “NBC News Digital is expanding its staff by 20% over the next year, an addition of roughly 70 jobs across multiple departments — focused on growing its digital streaming service, Axios has learned,” Sara Fischer reported Tuesday for Axios.
• Entrepreneur Byron Allen; Channing Dungey, vice president, original series at Netflix and president of ABC Entertainment from 2016 to 2018; and Armando Nuñez, president and chief executive officer, CBS Global Distribution Group, and chief content licensing officer, CBS Corp., were among 13 inductees into the Broadcasting & Cable magazine Hall of Fame Tuesday. (scroll down)
• “Authorities should drop all charges against journalists Joe Ogbodu and Prince Amour Udemude, and reform Nigeria’s penal code to ensure that journalism is not criminalized, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. “On October 24, a magistrate court in Asaba, the capital of Nigeria’s southern Delta State, arraigned Ogbodu, an editor with the privately owned news website Big Pen Nigeria, and Udemude, a reporter with the privately owned National Mirror newspaper, on four counts of criminal defamation and one count of disturbing the peace, according to the journalists and a report by Big Pen Nigeria. . . .” International press freedom groups have campaigned against criminal defamation laws.
• Police in India have accused publisher Doddipalya Narasimha Murthy of treason, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, and extortion relating to allegations from 1994, when police allege Murthy was a member of a Maoist group, according to a report by Gauri Lankesh News, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Vasu HV, editor of Kannada-language weekly news tabloid Gauri Lankesh Nyayapatha “told CPJ he believed the Karnataka state government, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is targeting Murthy because he writes and publishes criticism of the party and of right-wing Hindu ideology. . . .”

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View previous columns (after Feb. 13, 2016).

• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2018 (Jan. 4, 2019)
• Book Notes: Is Taking a Knee Really All That? (Dec. 20, 2018)
• Book Notes: Challenging ’45’ and Proudly Telling the Story (Dec. 18, 2018)
• Book Notes: Get Down With the Legends! (Dec. 11, 2018)
• Journalist Richard Prince w/Joe Madison (Sirius XM, April 18, 2018) (podcast)
• Richard Prince (journalist) (Wikipedia entry)
• February 2018 Podcast: Richard “Dick” Prince on the need for newsroom diversity (Gabriel Greschler, Student Press Law Center, Feb. 26, 2018)
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2017 — Where Will They Take Us in the Year Ahead?
• Book Notes: Best Sellers, Uncovered Treasures, Overlooked History (Dec. 19, 2017)
• An advocate for diversity in the media is still pressing for representation, (Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2017)
• Morgan Global Journalism Review: Journal-isms Journeys On (Aug. 31, 2017)
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2016
• Book Notes: 16 Writers Dish About ‘Chelle,’ the First Lady
• Book Notes: From Coretta to Barack, and in Search of the Godfather
• Journal-isms’ Richard Prince Wants Your Ideas (FishbowlDC, Feb. 26, 2016)
• “JOURNAL-ISMS” IS LATEST TO BEAR BRUNT OF INDUSTRY’S ECONOMIC WOES (Feb. 19, 2016)
• Richard Prince with Charlayne Hunter-Gault,“PBS NewsHour,” “What stagnant diversity means for America’s newsrooms” (Dec. 15, 2015)
• Book Notes: Journalists Follow Their Passions
• Book Notes: Journalists Who Rocked Their World
• Book Notes: Hands Up! Read This!
• Book Notes: New Cosby Bio Looks Like a Best-Seller
• Journo-diversity advocate turns attention to Ezra Klein project (Erik Wemple, Washington Post, March 5, 2014)

Columns below from the Maynard Institute are not currently available but are scheduled to be restored soon on journal-isms.com.

• Book Notes: “Love, Peace and Soul!” And More
• Book Notes: Book Notes: Soothing the Senses, Shocking the Conscience
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2015
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2014
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2013
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2012
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2011
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2010
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2009
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2008
• Book Notes: Books to Ring In the New Year
• Book Notes: In-Your-Face Holiday Reads
• Fishbowl Interview With the Fresh Prince of D.C. (Oct. 26, 2012)
• NABJ to Honor Columnist Richard Prince With Ida B. Wells Award (Oct. 11, 2012)
• So What Do You Do, Richard Prince, Columnist for the Maynard Institute? (Richard Horgan, FishbowlLA, Aug. 22, 2012)
• Book Notes: Who Am I? What’s Race Got to Do With It?: Journalists Explore Identity
• Book Notes: Catching Up With Books for the Fall
• Richard Prince Helps Journalists Set High Bar (Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com, 2011)
• Book Notes: 10 Ways to Turn Pages This Summer
• Book Notes: 7 for Serious Spring Reading
• Book Notes: 7 Candidates for the Journalist’s Library
• Book Notes: 9 That Add Heft to the Bookshelf
• Five Minutes With Richard Prince (Newspaper Association of America, 2005)
• ‘Journal-isms’ That Engage and Inform Diverse Audiences (Q&A with Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute, 2008)