Poll Finds Blacks, Hispanics Strongly Opposed

Trump Is Called on Racial Hypocrisy

Connie Chung Breaks Five-Decade Silence on Abuse

L.A. Deputies Stop Thousands of Innocent Latinos

Columnist Credits Activists for Cop’s Conviction

Newsday Hires Hudson, Lawrence as Editors

McCarter Named Editor in Evansville, Ind.

How Much Americans Trust 38 News Organizations

Short Takes

Poll Finds Blacks, Hispanics Strongly Opposed

Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation for a Supreme Court seat, expected in the Senate this weekend, will come despite opposition from African American and Hispanic voters, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll released Monday.

Among the poll’s findings:

“White voters say 51-40 percent confirm Kavanaugh. Opposed are black voters 81-11 percent and Hispanic voters 65-30 percent.”

• “Which do you tend to believe most: the accusation of sexual assault made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or the denial made by Judge Brett Kavanaugh?”

Blacks believed Blasey Ford, 83 percent to 8 percent for “believe Kavanaugh.”

Hispanics believed Blasey Ford, 66 percent to 27 percent for Kavanaugh.

Whites believed Kavanaugh, 50 percent to 40 percent for Blasey Ford.

• “In general, would you say that — Brett Kavanaugh is honest, or not?”

Blacks said no, 77 percent to 7 percent.

Hispanics said no, 58 percent to 34 percent.

Whites said yes, 55 percent to 34 percent.

• “In general, would you say that — Christine Blasey Ford is honest, or not?

Blacks said yes, 80 percent to 11 percent.

Hispanics said yes, 69 percent to 20 percent.

Whites said yes, 54 percent to 28 percent.

• “Do you think that Judge Kavanaugh is the target of a politically motivated smear campaign, or don’t you think so?”

Blacks said no, 78 percent to 15 percent.

Hispanics said no, 59 percent to 34 percent.

Whites said yes, 58 percent to 37 percent.

The racial disparity was overlooked in media reports from CNN, the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Hill, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, some focusing instead on differences by gender.

Noting that omission for the Root, Anne Branigin wrote Thursday, “As we see with the Quinnipiac poll, an inability to look at racial dynamics, whether it be through benign ignorance or outright reluctance, affects the stories we tell. It also affects the credibility and accuracy of the stories we tell, which is to say, you simply can’t get quality coverage of American politics without it.

“White people are divided over Kavanaugh; black people aren’t. And not to acknowledge that fact or probe the reasons why is a journalistic disservice. . . .”

Quinnipiac’s random-digit dialing telephone survey was conducted from Sept. 27 to 30. Responses were reported for 1,111 self-identified registered voters with a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.7 percentage points, the survey authors said.

• Jarvis De Berry, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune: These times aren’t nearly as scary for men as they have been — and still are — for women
• Editorial, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.: [Charges] against former Congressman Mel Watt are troubling
• Renée Graham, Boston Globe: Brett Kavanaugh’s superiority complex
• Solomon Jones, philly.com: White women hold the keys to America’s future. Will they vote wisely?
• Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Boys Will Be Boys — and Sometimes Men
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: America: Land of the lying liars
• Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Cosby, Kavanaugh and #MeToo make a teachable week
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: So, tell me again how Brett Kavanaugh is the victim?
• Maya Rao, Star Tribune, Minneapolis: Allegation against Keith Ellison plays out against backdrop of Brett Kavanaugh controversy
• Albor Ruiz, Al Día, Philadelphia: Boys will be boys? The hell with them, women say

Trump Is Called on Racial Hypocrisy

The White House press corps might not have many journalists of color, but two who were present Wednesday called out Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on President Trump’s hypocrisy in claiming, “It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. … ”

“ ‘President Trump talked a lot yesterday about this issue of being concerned about men being being thought of [as] guilty before proven innocent and this idea of due process, but in the past with the Central Park Five, he put out an ad calling for the death penalty before they had been found convicted. And after they were exonerated he still basically said that they may be guilty,’ NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe said during a press briefing,” Addy Baird reported Wednesday for ThinkProgress. ” ‘[…] Is there a disconnect between when the president is interested in due process for some and not others?’

“Sanders responded by dancing around Rascoe’s question. . . .”

Baird also wrote, “Sanders then quickly tried to move on to a new question before another reporter, American Urban Radio Networks’ April Ryan, followed up, pressing her on the issue. ‘[The president] said the Central Park Five was guilty. Does he feel that now?’ she asked. ‘… Has he decided to change his mind on the Central Park Five? Because they have been exonerated.’

“Sanders said she would have to ‘look back,’ before changing subjects again. . . .”

Baird continued, “The White House’s refusal to directly address Trump’s stance on the Central Park Five is particularly troubling. In the spring of 1989, Trump, then a real estate magnate, took out full page advertisements in all four of New York City’s major newspapers calling for the death penalty for five Black and Latino young men accused of raping a jogger in Central Park.

“ ‘Muggers and murderers should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes,’ the ad read. ‘Mayor [Ed] Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer… How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!’ . . .

“Years later, the five boys originally accused of the rape were exonerated with DNA evidence, and the city settled with the defendants. Trump didn’t care. . . .”

As reported in this column in 2013, ” ‘Filmmakers Sarah and Ken Burns, not to mention the Central Park Five, think it’s time for someone to apologize,’ David Hinckley wrote  . . . in the Daily News in New York as the film made its PBS debut.

“The ‘someone’ might be news media members who abandoned their skepticism and went for what they believed the best storyline, helping to ruin lives as they convicted the suspects with their headlines, commentary and television scripts. . . .”

In 2016, Yusef Salaam wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, headlined, “I’m one of the Central Park Five. Donald Trump won’t leave me alone.”

It said, “Starting whenI was 15, my life was not my own. . . . I had no control over what happened to me. Being in the spotlight makes me wary and self-conscious again. I am overwhelmed with fear that an overzealous Trump supporter might take matters into his or her hands. . . .”

Filming on a four-part series on the Central Park Five, created, written and directed by Ava DuVernay, began in August in New York. It is to be released on Netflix in 2019.

• Briahna Gray, the Intercept: Presumption of Innocence is for Privileged Men Like Brett Kavanaugh, Not Laquan McDonald or the Central Park Five
• Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press: Some blacks see a racial double standard in Kavanaugh case
• Robert Mackey, the Intercept: “It’s a Very Scary Time for Young Men in America,” Donald Trump Says. Yes, That Donald Trump.
• Ayesha Rascoe, NPR: Trump Pushes Due Process For Some, ‘Lock’ Them Up For Others
• Rafi Schwartz, Splinter: Sarah Sanders Would Love to Pretend That Trump’s Infamous Central Park Five Comments Never Happened
• Ernie Suggs, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: What Kavanaugh drama says about due process and the Central Park 5

(Credit: Washington Post)

Connie Chung Breaks Five-Decade Silence on Abuse

“Dear Christine Blasey Ford,” veteran broadcast journalist Connie Chung began an op-ed piece Wednesday in the Washington Post.

“I, too, was sexually assaulted — not 36 years ago but about 50 years ago. I have kept my dirty little secret to myself. Silence for five decades. The molester was our trusted family doctor. What made this monster even more reprehensible was that he was the very doctor who delivered me on Aug. 20, 1946. I’m 72 now.

“It was the 1960s. I was in college. The sexual revolution was in full swing. The exact date and year are fuzzy. But details of the event are vivid — forever seared in my memory.

“Am I sure who did it? Oh yes, 100 percent.

“I was a cool college coed but not that cool. I was still a virgin in the ’60s. I did advance to the so-called heavy petting stage, short of intercourse. I assumed that would come next.

“I went to my family doctor to ask for birth-control pills, an IUD or a diaphragm. . . .”

Chung concluded, “I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you because I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant. We remember exactly what happened to us and who did it to us. We remember the truth forever.

“Bravo, Christine, for telling the truth.”

• Suzette Hackney, Indianapolis Star: The power of women must no longer be in question
• Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Boston Globe: One year in, #MeToo hasn’t brought the change we need

L.A. Deputies Stop Thousands of Innocent Latinos

“The team of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies cruises the 5 Freeway, stopping motorists on the Grapevine in search of cars carrying drugs,” Joel Rubin and Ben Poston reported Thursday for the Los Angeles Times.

“They’ve worked the mountain pass in Southern California since 2012 and boast a large haul: more than a ton of methamphetamine, 2 tons of marijuana, 600 pounds of cocaine, millions of dollars in suspected drug money and more than 1,000 arrests.

“But behind those impressive numbers are some troubling ones.

“More than two-thirds of the drivers pulled over by the Domestic Highway Enforcement Team were Latino. . . .

“The Times analyzed data from every traffic stop recorded by the team from 2012 through the end of last year — more than 9,000 stops in all — and reviewed records from hundreds of court cases.

Among its findings:

• “Latino drivers accounted for 69% of the deputies’ stops. Officers from the California Highway Patrol, mainly policing traffic violations on the same section of freeway, pulled over nearly 378,000 motorists during the same period; 40% of them were Latino.
• “Two-thirds of Latinos who were pulled over by the Sheriff’s Department team had their vehicles searched, while cars belonging to all other drivers were searched less than half the time.
• “Three-quarters of the team’s searches came after deputies asked motorists for consent rather than having evidence of criminal behavior. Several legal scholars said such a high rate of requests for consent is concerning because people typically feel pressured to allow a search or are unaware they can refuse.
• “Though Latinos were much more likely to be searched, deputies found drugs or other illegal items in their vehicles at a rate that was not significantly higher than that of black or white drivers. . . .”

Columnist Credits Activists for Cop’s Conviction

“In the end, it wasn’t the city’s most powerful politicians or the celebrated movers and shakers in the black community that won justice for Laquan McDonald,” Mary Mitchell wrote Friday for the Chicago Sun-Times.

“It was the persistence of a small band of young activists that ultimately led to Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke being ushered out of a courtroom on Friday with his hands behind his back.

“ ‘It was only because of God almighty that we got justice,’ proclaimed William Calloway, a police reform activist who was in the courtroom throughout the three-week trial. . . .”

Mitchell also wrote, “Four years ago, it didn’t seem possible that their activism over the police-involved shooting — one of many across the country involving a white police officer and a young black male — would result in the police officer being convicted of a crime.

“But their voices were heard — not only in Chicago, but across the nation.

“Because of them, Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder, and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one count for every bullet that struck the 17-year-old teen.

“For a half-century, no on-duty police officer had been convicted of killing a civilian.

“Mark Carter, founder of the Voice Of The Ex-Offender or ‘VOTE,’ said the next move is political.

“ ‘Now is time to come after the entire City Council who were part of the cover-up. Nothing could have happened without them,’ he said.

“In what could be described as a David vs. Goliath matchup, the young activists have scored a victory against established political and community leadership without throwing a single stone.

“ ‘We did a lot of praying. We did a lot of work. We were peaceful when we didn’t want to be peaceful. It was so many police shootings that happened after Laquan McDonald, and we remained peaceful,” Calloway told a crush of media during a news conference after the verdict.

“The grass-root activists hammered then-Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, accusing her of failing to bring charges against Van Dyke even though there was a video that showed the officer shooting McDonald 16 times.

“Alvarez ended up losing her re-election bid to Kim Foxx, a political newcomer.

“On Friday, the activists put police officers who were accused of wrongdoing in the McDonald shooting, and ranking black aldermen on notice. . . .”

• Editorial, Chicago Tribune: The Jason Van Dyke verdict is a step toward healing a broken Chicago
• John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-Times: Before and after Laquan, I stand at a Chicago crossroads of love and hate
• Erick Johnson, Chicago Crusader: GUILTY!

Newsday Hires Hudson, Lawrence as Editors

Don Hudson, executive editor of the Decatur (Ala.) Daily, and Calvin Lawrence, online news editor at ABC News, have been named assistant managing editors at Newsday, the Long Island, N.Y., newspaper, Deborah Henley, editor and vice president of the Newsday Media Group, confirmed to Journal-isms on Thursday.

For Lawrence, who will be AME for administration and staff development, it will be a return to familiar turf. “Newsday still feels like home to me,” he said by email. “The paper stretched and pushed me in ways that kept me there for 18 years. I know what I’m getting and they know what they’re getting.”

Henley and her team wrote to the staff, “Calvin joined Newsday as an assistant news editor in 1989. He then moved onto the Long Island desk as an assistant editor and during his career here worked as deputy city editor responsible for the Sunday NYC [edition], Sunday Queens Life and the daily neighborhood pages.

“He also was an editorial writer and was national editor before being named an assistant managing editor overseeing Washington and state bureaus, three foreign bureaus and health-science coverage. . . .”

They also wrote, “Calvin began his career as a business reporter at the Miami Herald. He subsequently worked as a business reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before joining Booth Newspapers in Michigan as a state capital bureau correspondent.” He also was an assistant metro editor at the Ann Arbor News in Michigan  and  a business reporter at USA Today.

Lawrence wrote Journal-isms, “Now I get to help make a room full of people better journalists, I hope, without the minute-to-minute tug and pull of the news to contend with. I worked the digital side at ABC so I never really became much of a broadcast journalist, which was never my intention anyway.

“I had pretty much exhausted the limited possibilities there after 10 years, though I’m grateful for the opportunity that now gives me new and ‘old’ media experience and, therefore, a good sense of the kinds of skills and traits we need to look for in the up-and-comers. And I think I can easily identify with veterans like me who’re eager to stay in the game.

” I’ve never felt better about starting a new adventure. And I’ve started a lot of them since that first gig in Miami 36 years ago.  I’m just sorry my man Les is not around to see it. I think he’d be pleased,” he said, referring to the late Les Payne. 

Hudson is joining Newsday as AME on the Long Island desk after almost eight years at the family-owned Decatur Daily. A native of Louisiana, he is in his 37th year in the newspaper/digital business. “We had a great eight years with Don,” Daily Publisher Clint Shelton said in that newspaper. “He’s a professional. He’s going to do very well with Newsday. He’s first class.”

For years, Hudson kept a tally of African American editors around the country for the National Association of Black Journalists. He was given the NABJ President’s Award in 2004, when he was managing editor of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. He joined the Decatur paper in 2010 after being caught in a wave of layoffs at the Gannett Co.

“Don started his career in 1981 as a sports reporter at the News-Star World at Monroe, La.,” according to a brief Gannett bio when he was named in 2003.

“After a two-year stint as assistant sports information director at Northeast Louisiana University, he joined The Daily Leader at Ruston, La., in 1985 as a sports reporter. Later that year, he joined The Clarion-Ledger as a sports reporter, and in 1988 he was named sports editor of The News-Star at Monroe.

“He joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as sports news editor in 1989 and a year later was named sports editor of the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock. In 1991, he was named Orange County Editor of The Orlando Sentinel. He rejoined Gannett in 1997 as managing editor at The Jackson Sun. He was named managing editor at Lansing [at the State Journal in Michigan] in 1999.”

Newsday, once part of Tribune Co., has experienced a series of ownership changes. Patrick Dolan, a member of the billionaire Dolan family, has become the sole owner, Claude Solnik reported Aug. 1 for Long Island Business News.

McCarter Named Editor in Evansville, Ind.

“An eye for dynamic visual storytelling and a passion for local news have been the cornerstones of Michael McCarter’s 20-plus year career in journalism, carrying him to some of the country’s most prestigious newspapers,” Michael Doyle reported Thursday for the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press.

“On Thursday, McCarter was named the Courier & Press’s new executive editor. He succeeds former editor George Spohr, who died in July from cancer at age 37.

“McCarter is a top-notch coach for journalists — someone who will push hard for compelling journalism, said Richard Green, Midwest Regional Editor for the USA TODAY Network.

“ ‘I had the good fortune to work with Michael in Cincinnati a few years ago, and I was impressed by his passion, skills and determination to deliver compelling journalism,’ Green said. ‘He knows that a great city like Evansville deserves a great media site. He will be a terrific addition to this community.’ . . . ‘

The paper reported its newsroom to be 95.8 percent white in the American Society of News Editors’ most recent diversity survey [PDF].

Doyle also wrote, “McCarter officially began his career as a photographer at The Shreveport (Louisiana) Times while pursuing his master’s in psychology at Louisiana State University-Shreveport.

“In 1998, he moved on to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution where he served as photo editor. At the AJC, he oversaw photo coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a 22-part series on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a special section commemorating the life and death of Coretta Scott King, according to his bio at the Southern Miss School of Mass Communications and Journalism website.

“McCarter joined the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2007 as director of photography and currently serves as the Enquirer’s senior news director. . . .”

McCarter was last in Journal-isms in 2016, after he made the sensitive decision not to use a booking photo of a victim:

“In Cincinnati last year, national news outlets juxtaposed an image of white murder suspect Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer, with his black shooting victim, Samuel DuBose. Tensing was in front of a flag, while DuBose was shown smiling in a police mugshot. . . .

“Michael McCarter, the interim editor then and a black journalist, told Journal-isms at the time, ‘A conversation did take place in our newsroom . . . I, along with a few of our editors, made the decision to NOT use a booking mug. It was irrelevant to this story and DuBose was the victim. You have to understand the power of images in situations like this.’ . . .”

How Much Americans Trust 38 News Organizations

“Simmons Research, the leading source of essential consumer intelligence, today released its News Media Trust Index, a trustworthiness ranking of 38 of the largest and well-known news sources,” the research company announced Monday.

“Among its many findings, the News Media Trust Index found that the average percentage of respondents who rated news sources as trustworthy or very trustworthy was just 40%, a clear sign the news media is in crisis.

“Topping the list across all news sources, and the only newspaper in the top five, was the Wall Street Journal with 57.7% of Americans trusting them. Also performing well were the major television network news organizations, with ABC (55.9%), CBS (55.4%), and NBC (54.1%) ranking as the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th most trusted sources. Forbes was the most trusted magazine and rounded out the top five, trusted by 54.2% of Americans. . . .”

The company also said, “The least trusted news sources were all Internet-first and hyper-partisan in nature (both liberal and conservative) representing brands that have been consistently rated as misleading and inaccurate by fact-checkers. The six organizations trusted least were split evenly between far-left and far-right news sources, and on average were trusted by only about one in four Americans. . . .”

• Jonathan Rothwell, New York Times: Biased News Media or Biased Readers? An Experiment on Trust (Sept. 26)

Short Takes

• 

  “Karen Lincoln Michel has been promoted to a dual role as publisher and editor of Madison Magazine, a city-regional magazine covering Wisconsin’s capital city and surrounding region for 40 years,” the magazine announced Tuesday. “Michel had been serving in this position on an interim basis since April, after the departure of former publisher Mike Kornemann. . . .” Most of her career has been in newspapers, where she held positions from reporter to top editor.” She is a past president of the Native American Journalists Association.

• This fall, Feet In 2 Worlds, along with Detroit’s WDET public radio, “will open its first bureau in Detroit. Four seasoned immigrant journalists will mentor four journalists of color — and by doing so, help create a pool of journalists competent in print and radio for the Detroit media market. . . .” Martina Guzman wrote for Nieman Reports.
• In New Jersey, “Senate President Steve Sweeney joined Senator Nellie Pou, Senator M. Teresa Ruiz and Senator Nilsa Cruz-Pérez to commend the contributions of Hispanic Journalists in New Jersey during an event at the State House that recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month,” the Senate announced Monday. A resolution designating Sept. 20 of each year ‘Hispanic Journalist Pride Day’ was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy.
• “Newsroom employees are more than twice as likely as other U.S. workers to be college graduates,” Elizabeth Grieco reported Thursday for the Pew Research Center. “But they tend to make less money than college-educated workers in other industries, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. . . .”

• “Romona Robinson has decided to part company with WOIO Channel 19, the Cleveland CBS affiliate she has called home for almost seven years,” Mark Dawidziak, reported Thursday, updated Friday, for the Plain Dealer. “Robinson, currently the station’s 4 and 6 p.m. co-anchor, announced Thursday, Oct. 4, that her last day on the air probably will be in late November or December. . . .”
• “Shannon Gee, an award-winning television producer and documentary filmmaker, has been appointed general manager of Seattle Channel,” the channel announced Sept. 18.

• 

  “A Houston Texas 7th grader is joining the ranks as a National reporter,” Houston’s KHOU-TV reported Sept. 28. “Houston’s Benjamin Who recently spoke to KHOU (CBS) about his interest in journalism, and how he became a Kid Reporter with Scholastic News. Scholastic News? The award-winning News Kids Press Corps is a group of talented Kid Reporters, ages 10-14, from across the country and around the world. . . .”

• “MSNBC is set to shuffle its weekend lineup, giving Rev. Al Sharpton a new hour on Saturday and debuting a new panel show hosted by anchor and correspondent David Gura,” Aidan McLaughlin reported Thursday for Mediaite. He also wrote, “Gura’s new show will replace Sharpton’s show Politics Nation on Sunday mornings, which is currently airing from 8-9 a.m. As part of the shuffle, Sharpton’s show will move to 5 p.m. for a live show Saturdays and Sundays. . . .”
• “A southern Minnesota television reporter who wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to a Trump rally that he was covering has been fired,” the Associated Press reported on Friday, updated Saturday. “James Bunner was a multimedia journalist for KTTC-TV in Austin. He wore the hat Thursday while covering President Donald Trump’s appearance in Rochester and images of him wearing the hat began circulating on Twitter
  and other social media. . . .”
• “Robert G. McGruder is not here today, but he’s handed me, handed us, a mandate,” according to Manny Garcia, ethics and standards editor for the USA Today Network. Garcia won the 16th annual Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership from the Associated Press Media Editors and the American Society of News Editors. The award is named for the late executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, managing editor of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland and a graduate of Kent State University. Winners were not permitted to deliver acceptance speeches Sept. 12 in Austin, Texas, so Garcia shared his with Journal-isms. It is in the “Comments” section. Garcia continued, “We live in a time of no excuses. The era of the predictable hire is over. There is a large pool of diverse and talented journalists — at all levels, from college students to rising leaders — waiting for an opportunity. Let’s celebrate Bob’s life, and honor his legacy, and lift others onto our shoulders. . . .”
• “Friends and relatives of Jamal Khashoggi, a veteran journalist from Saudi Arabia who has recently become a vocal critic of the kingdom’s leadership, said they were worried about his safety on Tuesday after losing contact with him while he was visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul,” Kareem Fahim reported Tuesday for the Washington Post. Fahim also wrote, “Khashoggi, a prominent commentator on Saudi affairs who writes for The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section, has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year, when he left Saudi Arabia over concerns that he would be arrested or prevented from traveling. . . .”
• “For two decades, the number of children behind bars in the U.S. has been on the decline — but the racial disparity has been dramatically worsening, with black youth several times more likely than their white counterparts to be incarcerated,” Eli Hager wrote Sept. 19 for the Marshall Project. “A little-known Justice Department agency is supposed to tackle this problem: the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention . . . But with an appointee of President Trump at the helm, the office has taken a quiet but decisive turn away from that mandate. . . .”
• “Earlier this week, the James Beard Foundation (JBF) announced that it is making a series of changes to its annual award selection process for 2019 in an attempt to make the so-called ‘Oscars of food’ more diverse and inclusive,” Sarah Baird wrote Thursday for Eater. “While some alterations are wholly positive, like eliminating the uber-insular Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, others seem like little more than lip service — particularly for food journalists. . . .”
• “OpenNews is an organization dedicated to supporting newsroom developers, designers, journalists and editors and helping them collaborate on open technologies and processes,” Rachel Schallom wrote Thursday for the Poynter Institute. “In an effort to extend these conversations, OpenNews is hosting SRCCON:POWER in December, a place to dig deep into power structures, how they affect our journalism and most importantly, what we can do to make them more equitable. The call for participation form opens Monday, where you’ll be able to request a ticket, pitch a session and apply for a scholarship. . . .” The conference takes place Dec. 13-14 in Philadelphia.
• “Day one of New York Advertising Week kicked off Monday with a plethora of sessions, workshops, industry leaders, and networking events centered on marketing, advertising, technology, and creative spaces,” Selena Hill wrote Tuesday for Black Enterprise. “One panel discussion, titled CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, focused on fostering D&I solutions within corporate culture. During the discussion, the panelists addressed a wide range of issues, including gender inequality, Charlottesville, LGBTQ rights, and implicit bias. The only problem, however, was the blatant lack of ethnic diversity among the all-white panel. . . .”

• 

  “When I was a kid, my dad used to pick me up from school and drive more than an hour to the Miami Airport,” Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of ozy.com recalled Wednesday on his site. “Rather than check in for a flight, he would hand me $10 and tell me to run inside and buy newspapers from around the world — all sorts of publications, some in languages we didn’t even speak. I would run back to our Chevy Nova with an armful of papers, and he’d smile like it was Christmas. When we got home, my dad would sit in his big armchair and read furiously for hours, underlining words and circling images, intermittently lifting his head to call our attention to a particular story or an interesting fact. He loved learning about the world and shared that passion with my sisters and me growing up. . . .”

• “A Sacramento television station crew was the victim of a brazen robbery early Thursday morning after delivering a live broadcast on a domestic violence awareness campaign,” Matthew Keys reported Thursday for the Desk. Keys also wrote, “Police did not name the news crew that was targeted by the alleged thieves, but sources confirmed to The Desk on Thursday that reporter Dina Kupfer and photojournalist Scott Zentner of KOVR (Channel 13) were involved. . . .”
• Members of the Online News Association elected two new members to its Board of Directors and re-elected four incumbents to a two-year term, Karolle Rabarison reported Thursday for ONA. “The newest directors joining the Board Jan. 1, 2019 are: Niketa Patel, News Partnership Manager, Twitter; Rubina Madan Fillion, Director of Audience Engagement, The Intercept . . . The re-elected members are: Benét Wilson, Associate Editor, MagnifyMoney.com and Vice-President, Online News Association; Celeste LeCompte, VP, Business Development, ProPublica; Imaeyen Ibanga, Senior Content Producer + Presenter, AJ+; Mandy Jenkins, Fellow, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships and President, Online News Association . . .”
• “In a report published on September 18, Citizen Lab said it had detected Pegasus, a spyware created for mobile devices, in over 45 countries,” the Committee to Protect Journalists warned Monday. “Pegasus, which transforms a cellphone into a mobile surveillance station, could have been deployed against a range of journalists and civil society actors in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, Togo, Israel, the U.S., and the United Arab Emirates, the report found.” CPJ also said, “The spyware’s presence in 45 countries raises significant implications for journalists, both in terms of their own security as well as the safety of their sources. . . .”
• Mira Lowe, director, Innovation News Center / WUFT, University of Florida, Gainesville, is running for president-elect of the Journalists and Women’s Symposium (JAWS), and Deborah Douglas, Pulliam professor of journalism at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana/Chicago, is seeking the treasurer’s post. Voting (all online) begins Saturday, Oct. 6, and ends Sunday, Oct. 14. Lowe faces Justine Griffin, health and medicine reporter, Tampa Bay Times. Douglas is vying with Megan Kamerick, host/independent journalist, KUNM and self-employment, Albuquerque N.M.
• “For anyone who has more than a passing familiarity with California’s history on matters of race and ethnicity, the arrests of four white supremacists Tuesday — three of them from the Los Angeles area — on riot charges stemming from last year’s violent neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., will sound neither unprecedented nor utterly shocking,” the Los Angeles Times editorialized on Thursday. “Racism has been part of California’s history since the arrival of the Spanish and Father Junipero Serra’s creation of the Catholic mission system that in effect enslaved Native Americans. Ancient history? No. More of a harbinger. But someone needs to tell that to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), who told supporters last week that the kind of historical racism that in many ways defined the South had no connection with California, or present times. . . .”
• “The Voice of America announced Thursday it has fired or proposed to terminate more than half the members of its Hausa language service following an investigation that found the individuals had accepted improper payments from a foreign official in West Africa,” David Jones and Dan Joseph reported for VOA. They also wrote, “The service reaches some 20 million people weekly, principally in Nigeria but also in Niger, Ghana, Chad and Cameroon. Remaining members of the Hausa staff said the 15 individuals, including the service chief (who is not suspected on personally accepting a payment) , were met at the front door of VOA headquarters on Thursday morning. They were stripped of their building passes and handed letters notifying them of the action. . . . “
• ” I put together 14 recommendations to help nonprofit investigative journalism in Africa thrive, defended and protected by both donor organizations and nonprofit organizations,” Botswana journalist Ntibinyane Ntibinyane, co-founder of the nonprofit INK Center for Investigative Journalism, wrote Wednesday for the Global Investigative Journalism Network. “This is essential to ensure that these vulnerable organizations continue to hold power to account and also to serve the public effectively. . . .”
• “State owned newspaper Times of Zambia has evoked the wrath of outraged citizens for publishing a story written in Mandarin,” Evelyne Musambi reported Wednesday for Nairobi News in Kenya. She also wrote, “Zambian Minister for Information Dora Siliya defended the move saying it was a business decision to attract the Chinese readership and advertising. But outraged Zambians responded by accusing her of defending the indefensible as the country plunges deeper into debt through Chinese loans. . . .”
• “The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) have classified as censorship and a restriction on journalism the decisions of Federal Supreme Court Ministers Luiz Fux and Dias Toffoli, which prohibit former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from granting a press interview from prison,” Carolina de Assis reported Wednesday for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
• “The Committee to Protect Journalists says a freelance journalist writing for the Guardian and Washington Post has been arrested and deported from Nicaragua after a ‘targeted online harassment campaign,’ ” Mark Di Stefano reported Tuesday for BuzzFeed, updated Wednesday. “Last week, Carl David Goette-Luciak’s reporting on anti-government protests in Nicaragua was attacked by US journalist Max Blumenthal in an article published on an American website called Mint Press and British left-wing site the Canary. The Mint Press article was titled ‘How an American Anthropologist Tied to US Regime-Change Proxies Became the MSM’s Man in Nicaragua’, while the Canary ran the headline, ‘Investigation slams Guardian cooperation with novice reporter linked to US regime-change machine.’ . . .”

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• 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)
• 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)Sept. 3)