Articles Feature

U.S. Marshals Nab Live-Shot Intruder in Ohio

by richard02923

Booked, Charged Over Encounter With Reporter
Kim Godwin’s Moves Said to Infuriate Bosses
Pundit Denied COVID Test Over Her Misinformation
Is Black Presence in Magazines Here to Stay?
BuzzFeed, HuffPost to Host Afghan Journalists
Tebow, Irvin to Challenge Smith on ‘First Take’

Short Take: David Hawpe tribute

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It was “definitely the wildest moment I’ve had on air.” reporter Shaquille Brewster said.

Booked, Charged Over Encounter With Reporter

The intruder accused of interrupting a live TV segment to accost MSNBC reporter Shaquille Brewster in Mississippi was arrested Thursday in a Dayton, Ohio, shopping plaza, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott and Wayne County Sheriff Travis Hutchinson announce the arrest of wanted fugitive Benjamin Dagley, 54. Dagley was wanted by the Gulfport Police Department for assault and the Cuyahoga County [Ohio] Sheriff’s Department for a probation violation. . . .

“This afternoon, members of the US Marshals violent fugitive task force arrested Dagley in a shopping plaza on Greene Boulevard in Dayton, Ohio. Task force members received information that Dagley was still driving in his white truck bearing an Ohio license plate. Task force members located the truck in the parking lot and subsequently arrested him after watching him exit a store in the shopping plaza. . . .”

“U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott stated, ‘Due to assistance provided by the Wayne County [Ohio] Sheriff’s Office, our task force members were able to track this fugitive from Mississippi to his arrest location in Dayton. This violent fugitive was attempting to flee from his charges in Gulfport but the swift work of our task force members resulted in a timely arrest.’ ”

The Dayton Daily News added, “Dagley was booked just after 1 p.m. into the Montgomery County Jail after members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force learned that Dagley was still driving his white pickup truck, which they spotted in the parking lot at The Greene. They arrested him after watching him leave a store at the shopping center, the release stated. . . .”

On Tuesday, Gulfport police issued a warrant charging Dagley with two counts of simple assault, one count of disturbing the peace and one count of violating an emergency curfew. Dagley will not be extradited to Mississippi, Sgt. Jason DuCre of the Gulfport police told Journal-isms Friday, as the department does not extradite for misdemeanors.

Brewster posted on Instagram Tuesday, “Overwhelmed by the love and support today after what was definitely the wildest moment I’ve had on air.

“Our team joked about it afterwards, but it was without a doubt as scary for us as it was for you all watching.

“While that one report was interrupted, we were right back up in the next hour and will continue reporting as we’ll continue to do.” He concluded with an emoji of a raised brown fist.

Kim Godwin’s Moves Said to Infuriate Bosses

“ABC News President Kim Godwin (pictured) hasn’t even been on the job for six months, but she has already infuriated her bosses over at Disney,” Oliver Darcy reported Thursday for CNN.

“When Godwin called for an independent, third-party probe into how allegations of sexual assault against former ‘GMA’ boss Michael Corn were handled (allegations Corn denies), Disney General Entertainment Content Chairman Peter Rice was angered. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to me on Wednesday. Also upset with Godwin: Disney General Counsel and Executive Vice President Alan Braverman, according to one of those sources.

“Worth noting: They’re not upset over how she handled the allegations when they first surfaced, because she wasn’t even at ABC when that happened. When you do the math, and look at who was in charge when a formal complaint was made, you start understanding why they’re not happy. . . .”

Meanwhile, Godwin announced a “new senior leadership structure”:

​
Pundit Denied COVID Test Over Her Misinformation

“Conservative personality Candace Owens (pictured) was trending on Twitter Wednesday after a private COVID-19 testing service denied her service for spreading misinformation,” Biba Adams reported Thursday for The Grio.

“ ‘Holy crap!! I just received an e-mail from a Covid testing facility that they are REFUSING to administer a test to me because they don’t like my politics,’ Owens tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

” ‘INSANE,’ she continued. ‘I’m banned from making sure I don’t accidentally spread Covid? Going live with the e-mail on Instagram in 10 mins!’

“The response Owens got was different than she expected: Social media users declared their support for Suzanna Lee, the owner of Aspen Lab, for her amazing takedown of the conservative pundit.

“Lee wrote that she had heard of Owens’ appointment and said she was ‘going to refuse this booking and deny service,’ adding, ‘We cannot support anyone who has pro-actively worked to make this pandemic worse by spreading misinformation, politicizing and DISCOURAGING the wearing of masks and actively dissuading people from receiving life-saving vaccinations.’ . . .”

Is Black Presence in Magazines Here to Stay?

  “When it comes to magazines, will the change . . . accelerated in 2020 by the murder of George Floyd and the social unrest that followed, be lasting?” Jessica Testa asked Thursday in The New York Times. “Will fashion, with its history of bias and exclusion, fall back into old patterns of treating racial progress as a trend, or will it truly embrace systemic reinvention?” (Pictured: British Vogue)

Testa also wrote, “The top echelons of magazine mastheads — the titles with ‘chief,’ ‘executive’ or ‘director’ attached — have remained predominantly white, with a few powerful exceptions. For example, under Edward Enninful, the editor in chief of British Vogue, more than half of the last 17 cover models were Black; under his predecessor, Alexandra Shulman, only two Black women were given solo covers in 25 years.

“But there have been major appointments of Black editors outside of these mainstream fashion titles. The influential British indie magazine Dazed hired Ib Kamara as editor in chief in January. The beauty magazine Allure named Jessica Cruel to its top position in August.

“This year has also seen the major ascent of Black models. Over the last 12 months of covers, one of the most in-demand models of any racial background was Precious Lee, who appeared on the all-important September issue of American Vogue. . . .”

BuzzFeed, HuffPost to Host Afghan Journalists

“BuzzFeed News and HuffPost announced today that they launched a one-year fellowship for two Afghan journalists who have recently fled the country in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan,” the media outlets said Thursday.

They also wrote, “Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the uncertainty facing international journalists, three BuzzFeed team members, Nilla Ali, BuzzFeed SVP of Commerce, Akbar Shahid Ahmed (pictured), HuffPost Senior Foreign Affairs Reporter, and Jessica Schulberg, HuffPost Senior Reporter, came up with the idea to create a fellowship program for displaced Afghan journalists. . . .”

Separately, as if to underscore observations in this space that African American journalists and others of color might have perceived the war in Afghanistan differently from white journalists, Jeremy Barr reported in The Washington Post that a “convoy of military experts have been invited onto cable TV shows to critique the calamitous end of the Afghanistan War, notwithstanding the central roles many of them played in the 20-year conflict, which was supposed to result in a democratic Afghan government that could withstand Taliban attacks.”

All of the “experts” in the story were white.

​Tebow, Irvin to Challenge Smith on ‘First Take’

“Tim Tebow is headed to ‘First Take,’ “ Ryan Young reported Thursday for Yahoo.

“Tebow, after being cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars last month, will make regular appearances every Friday on the iconic ESPN show alongside Stephen A. Smith (pictured), the network announced on Thursday.

“Tebow is one of several big names joining Smith on the show, and one of two people who get a dedicated day each week. Former Dallas Cowboys star and current NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin will join Smith and co-host Molly Qerim Rose on the show on Mondays.

“ ‘This new format will pair Smith with new voices and perspectives every day of the week who will challenge him on their specific area of expertise in a completely new way,’ senior coordinating producer Antoine Lewis said in a statement.

“Tebow and Irvin are among the crew of people who will replace Max Kellerman on ‘First Take.’ ”

The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reported last week that Smith pushed ESPN executives to remove Kellerman from the program because he felt they didn’t work well together.

Short Take

Live-Shot Intruder Identified, Warrant Issued

Sept. 2, 2021

Ohio Man at Large, Is Violating Parole
Right Wing Targets MSNBC Analyst Malcolm Nance
USA Today Newsroom Now 51% Female
Columbia J-Review Apologizes for Record on Race

U.S. Vows to Evacuate Its Stranded Journalists
When Players Die of Overexertion, Who’s at Fault?
Bloomberg Visualizes Injustice of U.S. Highways
Larry Elder, ‘Black Face of White Supremacy?’
‘If Elijah McClain Isn’t Safe, Who Is?’
Latin American Media Boost English Translations

Short Takes: Evord Cassimy; Mary C. Curtis; Black News Channel; PGA Tour and National Newspaper Publishers Association; California Chicano News Media Association; Sarah Bartlett; Azmat Khan ; Jessica Cruel; “The New Jersey Diverse Sources Database”; student publication at Haskell Indian Nations University; Art Holliday; Emmett Till; “Stacy-Marie Ishmael; Gilbert Baez; “Southlake: Racial Reckoning in a Texas Suburb,” Hawaii’s Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp; Tina Pamintuan; Marie Shanahan; Jammu and Kashmir; Journal-isms position open.

Support Journal-isms

Ohio Man at Large, Is Violating Parole

With the public’s help, Mississippi authorities have identified the man accused of accosting NBC News reporter Shaquille Brewster as he was conducting a live shot during the Hurricane Ida aftermath in Gulfport, Miss., on Monday, according to Gulfport police.

Police issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Dagley, 54, of Wooster, Ohio, near Cleveland, charging him with two counts of simple assault, one count of disturbance of the peace and one count of violation of emergency curfew.

Olivia Mitchell reported Tuesday for cleveland.com, “Dagley has a criminal history in Cuyahoga County stemming from a 2017 incident in which he broke into an electroplating company and drilled holes in tanks of dangerous chemicals. The incident sent an employee to the hospital.

“Dagley pleaded guilty in 2018 to attempted felonious assault, inducing panic, and vandalism in the case. He was sentenced to five years on probation and 30 days in jail; instructed to undergo anger management; and ordered to pay $15,370 in restitution and a $5,000 fine.”

Mitchell also wrote, “Dagley got out of his white Ford F-150 truck and aggressively approached Brewster during a live broadcast, police said. Video of the encounter showed a man, who authorities identified as Dagley, get into Brewster’s face and shout at him.”

As Ted Johnson reported Monday for Deadline, “Brewster (pictured) tried to reorient the crew away from the intrusion, telling host Craig Melvin, ‘I am going to turn this way, because we deal with some people every once in while.’ He then went on with his live shot, but then said he would throw it back to Melvin as the man continued shouting. The man then got back into the frame and confronted Brewster face to face.

“ ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey,’ Melvin responded, telling viewers, ‘We’re going to check back in with Shaq Brewster just to make sure all is well. There’s a lot of crazy out there. A lot of crazy.’

“Melvin went on to another segment but later said that Brewster was OK.

“ ‘Appreciate the concern guys. The team and I are all good!’ Brewster later wrote on Twitter.”

Sgt. Jason DuCre of the Gulfport police told Journal-isms by telephone Wednesday that after police issued an appeal for help in locating the intruder, “We got a call from a few people saying we saw this truck.” It was last seen in Mobile, Ala., about 6 p.m. Monday, DuCre said.

One of the charges against Dagley is that he violated the emergency curfew resulting from the hurricane. Working journalists who registered with the city, such as Brewster, were exempt from the curfew.

An MSNBC spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether NBC News was assisting in the search for the aggressor. MSNBC President Rashida Jones, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Radio Television News Directors Association issued statements Monday supporting Brewster.

Dan Shelley, executive director and COO of the RTNDA, additionally used the occasion to promote the proposed Journalist Protection Act.

“The Journalist Protection Act was reintroduced in July by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ),” Shelley messaged on Wednesday.

“It would make it a federal crime to assault a journalist during the course of his/her/their performance of their duties as a journalist, e.g., while newsgathering or reporting. As we did in 2018, RTDNA strongly supports this legislation -– not because journalists deserve ‘special treatment,’ as some critics may say, but because whenever a journalist is impeded from doing his/her/their job, the ultimate victim is the public that journalist serves by seeking and reporting the truth.”

Malcom Nance with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Sept 23, 2020. In “The Plot to Betray America,” Jeff Stein of The Washington Post wrote, Nance has “gathered up scraps of evidence to make a persuasive, if circumstantial, case that the president is indeed Moscow’s man in Washington,” referring to Donald Trump.

Right Wing Targets MSNBC Analyst Malcolm Nance

Malcolm Nance, the African American former Naval counterintelligence agent who is chief terrorism analyst on MSNBC, is under attack by Fox News and other right-wing outlets. MSNBC declined comment when asked for a response.

The latest broadside, from Brian Flood of Fox News, appeared Thursday. “Left-wing MSNBC intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance initially downplayed Thursday’s suicide bombing outside of Kabul’s airport, which reportedly killed at least 12 U.S. service members, telling his nearly one million Twitter followers to ‘deal with it’ before eventually deleting the tweet after widespread backlash,” Flood wrote under the headline, “MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance on Kabul suicide bombing that killed US Marines: ‘#DealWithIt,’” and the subheadline, “MSNBC analyst deleted the tweet, apologized after widespread backlash.”

Chris Sampson, Nance’s chief of research, messaged Journal-isms Saturday, “Malcolm’s tweet on 20 years of suicide bombings went out before any announcement of American casualties of any kind. Not one outlet feeding the attack on him has either considered that fact NOR taken into account his service. They just don’t like him and used this as an excuse to attack. Malcolm has first hand experience in three attacks in Iraq and was deployed to the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing in October 1983. It is an outrageous offense that anyone would say this about Nance and obscures any concern for the dead service members.

“But I think it is important to see what has happened as a result. Hundreds of comments on Facebook, via our website, through Twitter and now several right wing articles have all attacked Nance based on a gross lie from FoxNews, Breitbart and others LYING saying he ‘downplayed’ the death of service members. NEVER has he EVER downplayed the death of service members as a 20 year Navy Chief.

“Instead, FoxNews, Breitbart etc have weaponized outrage that generated overt racist comments I’ve filed, threats on his life, and declarations that he should kill himself. This is the same crowd that gets fired up over [former president Donald] Trump. Some rants are filled with nonsensical ramblings about [President] Biden, affirmative action, global climate change, white supremacy and all the other FoxNews jargon.

“No journalist from FoxNews (Brian Flood for instance) or Breitbart etc have written or called for comment. They ran it as they spun it.”

Lorie Aceo, spokesperson for MSNBC, messaged Tuesday, “declining comment.”

Fox also published “MSNBC analyst compares Republican party to multiple terrorist organizations: ‘Vanilla ISIS’,” on Aug. 12, and “NBC analyst with history of pushing conspiracy theories testifies at Dem-led hearing on domestic terrorism: Nance suggested Joy Reid blog was hacked more than a year after theory debunked,” on Feb. 24.

Sampson told Journal-isms, “historically, yes, there are people who have cited a slew of mischaracterized comments over time including when he predicted ISIS would target the Turkish building with Trump’s name on it. They tried to frame it as a call to action vs a predictive analysis comment.

“There’s been a long history of Tucker Carlson, FoxNews, Mediaite, Breitbart, spinning his comment to make it as loony as possible.”

According to Nance’s bio [PDF], distributed in February when he testified on terrorism before a House Judiciary subcommittee, “Mr. Nance is author of several professional counterterrorism intelligence books and textbooks including The Terrorist Recognition Handbook; The Terrorists of Iraq; An End to al-Qaeda; the New York Times Bestseller Defeating ISIS and Hacking ISIS: Inside the War Against the Cyber Jihad.”

From top left, USA Today’s Caren Bohan, managing editor politics and world; Nicole Carroll, editor in chief; Kristen DelGuzzi, opinion editor; Kristen Go, executive editor for news and initiatives; Michelle Maltais, managing editor for consumer, tech and travel. Second row: Patty Michalski, executive editor for audience; Holly Moore, network planning editor; Roxanna Scott, managing editor for sports; Laura Trujillo, managing editor for life and entertainment; and Maribel Perez Wadsworth, publisher of USA Today and president of news for the USA Today network. (Credit: USA Today.)

USA Today Newsroom Now 51% Female

“Women now make up the majority of the newsroom at USA TODAY,” Editor in Chief Nicole Carroll reported Wednesday, as Gannett Co. newspapers around the country reported to readers their progress on diversity.

“In our latest survey on staff diversity, released today, women were 51.7% of all journalists,” Carroll reported. “We also made strides in the percentage of Black (13.6%), Hispanic (10.1%) and Asian American (7%) journalists. Overall, the newsroom was 34% journalists of color.

“We compare ourselves to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data, the most recent available at the time of our survey, in which the population was 12.5% Black, 18.5% Hispanic and 5.8% Asian American. Overall, the nation was 39.9% people of color. . . .”‘​

At the Coloradan in Fort Collins, Colo., Editor Eric Larsen wrote,” This week, newsrooms across the USA TODAY Network are releasing updated diversity census information, making good on a pledge made to the communities we serve a year ago.”

Gannett then announced “a broad initiative . . . to make its workforce as diverse as the country by 2025 and to expand the number of journalists focused on covering issues related to race and identity, social justice and equality,” as USA Today reported then.

Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of news at Gannett Media and publisher of USA Today, provided this update for readers Wednesday:

  • “USA TODAY increased the proportion of BIPOC journalists. Female representation also increased year-over-year.
  • “Similar gains among BIPOC journalists were recorded in local newsrooms including Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Rochester and West Palm Beach.
  • “Gannett hired or promoted more than a dozen journalists of color to senior leadership roles and top newsroom positions since the 2020 survey was conducted. . . .”

Other statements came from:

Columbia J-Review Apologizes for Record on Race

“News outlets across the country are beginning to turn their attention inward, to their own pages, to confront their complicity in a long-standing truth: that journalism — as a practice, as an industry, as a business — is one of white supremacy’s oldest coconspirators,” Alexandria Neason, a staff writer for Columbia Journalism Review from 2017 to 2021, wrote for “Beyond Atonement,” CJR’s examination of its coverage of race over six decades.

Neason (pictured) also wrote, “I proposed a deep dive into CJR’s archives. I wanted to understand how the outlet — staffed and run by different publishers and editors over six decades — had historically approached coverage of oppressed communities in the United States. Feven Merid, Shinhee Kang, and Ian Karbal — CJR’s fellows for 2020–21— pored through stories, looking for patterns, analyzing language choices, and putting together an image not just of CJR, but of its participation in or resistance to the industry writ large.

“What they found was illuminating, if not always a surprise. Importantly, their archival analysis offered a correction to the media’s own self-mythology. While the press is often credited with ushering in widespread shifts in public sentiment during the 1960s, the tour through CJR’s archives confirmed that racism was rife not just in southern newspapers, but across the North and in every other corner of the US, and eradicating bias was actively debated and discussed among journalists.”

CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope added, “It is at times a dispiriting read. Over the past six decades, CJR has too often been deficient at covering institutional racism in the country and in media; the failures have continued under my tenure. This project is an important and necessary first step toward addressing those faults. It is also an opportunity to apologize to our readers for falling short in our capacity as journalism’s caretakers and critics. . . .”

The International Women’s Media Foundation says it has raised more than $118,000 to help women journalists in Afghanistan.

U.S. Vows to Evacuate Its Stranded Journalists

“The United States Department of State has vowed to get U.S.-backed journalists out of Afghanistan safely. Over 100 journalists employed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media are stranded in the country, according to reports,” Lindsey Ellefson reported Wednesday for The Wrap. “American forces left Afghanistan this week.

“Fox News obtained a statement from the State Department that said, ‘We did not forget about USAGM employees and their families, nor will we. These employees have served the United States…..We remain keenly focused on getting them out, safely.’

“USAGM includes outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Voice of America has been covering the ongoing issue, reporting on Tuesday that GOP Rep. Michael McCaul called the situation ‘disgraceful.’

“ ‘It is absolutely disgraceful the U.S. State Department claimed they evacuated their local employees when in reality they abandoned hundreds of USAGM journalists and their families,’ he said.

“RFE/FL president Jamie Fly also told the Washington Post that USAGM employees were previously told by the State Department that they would be evacuated with government employees, but they were ultimately left behind. . . .”

Separately, the International Women’s Media Foundation is among those aiding women journalists. “Our amazing community jumped into action, raising more than $118,000 to help women journalists in Afghanistan. Through your incredible generosity, we are able to support safe shelter for women who remain in Afghanistan, as well as aid to those who are resettling in other countries,” it said in its August/September newsletter.

“

Story allows readers to click on each player’s photo to read his story. (Credit: Capital News Service)

When Players Die of Overexertion, Who’s at Fault?

“Twenty-two Division I college football players have died since 2000 from exertion-related illnesses suffered during a workout or practice, according to an analysis by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland,” Dan Novak reports for the Capital News Service Maryland.

“Yet football programs and coaches face few repercussions from institutions or the NCAA, even when they violate recommended safety precautions that might have prevented death.

“The causes of death include collapse from sickle cell trait, heatstroke and sudden cardiac arrest — all largely preventable, medical experts say.

“The NCAA has taken steps in the past two decades to address these deaths, and although that includes several rules changes, the association also has issued recommendations that do not carry penalties and sometimes are not followed by athletics programs.

“There have been no fatalities in Division I since 2018, but earlier this week a Division II player died during a preseason practice. The cause remains under investigation. Regardless, experts say the risk to football players remains, and that coaches need to be held accountable for dangerous workouts and training sessions.

“NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline said he recognizes there is a ‘gap’ when it comes to holding coaches and programs responsible.

“ ‘That’s sort of the next step. … How do we actually legislate health and safety?’ Hainline said. . . .”

“This map shows the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the first half of the 20th century it was home to most of St. Paul’s African American residents. Bounded by University Avenue in the north and Selby Avenue in the south, the neighborhood’s center was Rondo Avenue, a thriving corridor for Black-owned business and wealth.

“Grocery stores, barber shops, drug stores, tailors, carpenters and car shops lined Rondo Avenue, providing spaces to do business, meet, shop and socialize during segregation and the Jim Crow era.

“By the 1960s, the neighborhood’s business core was gone, replaced by newly constructed Interstate 94. Homes that had been a short walk to the shops now overlooked a six-lane highway shuttling commuters between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Homes and businesses were seized and destroyed under eminent domain. The neighborhood was split in two.
“Now, ReConnect Rondo, a nonprofit, has proposed plans to build a cap over the freeway. The land bridge would re-knit part of the neighborhood and create up to 22 acres of land for the community to use as commercial, residential and park space.”

Bloomberg Visualizes Injustice of U.S. Highways

“Many regular CityLab readers may already be familiar with at least some stories of highways that demolished or tore apart neighborhoods and divided cities,” graphics journalist Rachael Dottle wrote Aug. 25 for Bloomberg.

“We’ve covered the topic from many angles. But it’s hard to capture the full scope of just how urban highways upended Black enclaves. With national attention on the subject and new proposals to try to redress their injustice, we saw an opportunity to tell a more comprehensive visual story about the legacy and future of these highways.

“The building blocks of this project would be a collage of photographs, historic maps and demographic data that showed neighborhoods before and after highways were built, and renderings of future proposals to reconnect these communities.

“Using this blend of formats, I hoped to make more tangible the reality of these homes, businesses and stories that may now only exist in memory and old maps — and to explore what the future may hold for national highways. . . .”

Larry Elder, ‘Black Face of White Supremacy?’

“Conservative talk show host Larry Elder has emerged as the Republican front-runner in the race to replace Gavin Newsom if California voters recall the governor,” the Los Angeles Times wrote Monday.

“Elder has been a fixture on conservative media for decades, appearing on KABC radio and, more recently, Fox News.

“He grew up in South Los Angeles, a challenging childhood he has recounted in books. A graduate of Brown University and the University of Michigan Law School, Elder loves to debate issues. But his extreme views and what critics say is an embrace of misinformation have made him a highly controversial candidate, and he’s come under attack by Democrats as well as some Republicans. . . .”

“Here is what you need to know about Elder from the pages of The Times,” the newspaper continued, linking to some of its coverage, including pieces by Erica D. Smith (pictured), an African American columnist whose essays include, “Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy. You’ve been warned,” and “Larry Elder says he’s not a face of white supremacy. His fans make it hard to believe.”

On the following day, the Times’ Robin Abcarian wrote that “Former state Sen. Gloria Romero, a Democrat, she is so disillusioned with Newsom and other California Democrats who have blocked efforts to reform public education that she has become an enthusiastic Elder supporter and has starred in commercials in English and Spanish endorsing his quest for governor.”

Separately, the Black-owned Los Angeles Sentinel wrote on Aug. 19:

“The Republican far right is counting on California’s and particularly African Americans who most of the time vote Democratic as well as progressive-leaning independent voters to stay home, lulled by a false sense that there is no way a small Republican minority will unseat Newsom.

“We cannot and must not get lulled to sleep by these tactics. When you receive your ballot, VOTE NO, JUST VOTE NO. Don’t vote for any of the recall candidates, because you are against the recall. When you have your ballot and voting by mail, fill it out and mail it in right away. There are also in-person drop off sites throughout Los Angeles. Make sure your entire family and your friends also VOTE NO, JUST VOTE NO.

“We cannot afford for the governor to be recalled and to potentially have Larry Elder or some other right-wing candidate unseat the Governor and lead our state and our community to our own demise. . . .”

‘If Elijah McClain Isn’t Safe, Who Is?’

‘”NBC News correspondent Geoff Bennett got emotional while reading the ‘haunting and tragic’ final words of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man killed by Colorado police and paramedics in 2019,“ Alex Noble reported Wednesday for The Wrap.

“On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted three police officers and two paramedics in McClain’s death, charging all five with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Later that day, Bennett discussed the tragedy of the case with his guests, Georgetown University law professor Paul Butler and civil rights attorney David Henderson.

“ ‘Based on everything we know about it, there’s no reason for Elijah McClain to be stopped in the first place,’ Bennett said. ‘Somebody saw him walking at night, he had a ski mask on, he said he was cold. It was Colorado, and he said he was anemic and that’s why he had a ski mask on and then he was set upon by police and was drugged by paramedics.’ . . .”

In Honduras, the organization Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective volunteered to translate some of the content of the digital publication Contracorriente, especially those that had a greater interest in the United States’ political agenda related to the human rights crisis in Honduras.

Latin American Media Boost English Translations

“Although more than 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, English is the global communication language par excellence in the areas of entertainment, information and business,” Katherine Pennacchio reported Aug. 25 for LatAm Journalism Review.

“In recent years, various digital media in Latin America, from Mexico to Chile, have decided to translate and create content in English as a way to reach new audiences and thus increase their profits. Although, sometimes that’s easier said than done.

“LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) spoke with representatives of three Latin American media that have experimented with publishing in multiple languages: El Faro (El Salvador), Contracorriente (Honduras) and Agência Pública (Brazil). Since 2019, these digital media have slowly built a U.S. audience through versions of their work in English, as well as through newsletters and other news products distributed in that language, as well.

“With some years to reflect on their progress, all agree on the urgency of influencing public conversations and debates in other languages, leaving the need for profitability in the background. . . .”

Short Takes

  • Evord Cassimy, an anchor at WDIV-TV in Detroit, opened for Boyz II Men and En Vogue Aug. 26 at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre. “The station aired a clip from the performance at the Michigan [Amphitheatre.] Cassimy was dressed in a sequin coat, sunglasses and did a Bruno Mars cover,” NewsBlues reported. “Cassimy has a band … a 13 year old drummer and a music director, who were also on the stage.” The anchor posted a clip from his performance on Instagram and invited followers to hear a recap of what it was like.
  • Mary C. Curtis (pictured), Charlotte, N.C.-based columnist for CQ Roll Call, host of the Roll Call podcast “Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis,” television commentator and a senior leader with The OpEd Project, is winner of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ 2022 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. “Mary C. – who covered the 2020, 2016, 2012, and 2008 presidential campaigns – has worked at The New York Times, Charlotte Observer, Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, and other media outlets. She has also taught at various universities, and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard,” Dave Astor, president of the group, wrote in the organization’s newsletter, The Columnist.
The California Chicano News Media Association’s fundraising goal is $5,000. (Credit: GoFundMe)
  • Joe Rodriguez, current treasurer and former president of the California Chicano News Media Association, is organizing a fundraiser for the group on GoFundMe. “As CCNMA’s 50th anniversary approaches next year, we are donating our archives to a prominent, university research library in Los Angeles. Scholars and journalists far into the future will be able to study our group’s role in opening the doors of American newsrooms to minority journalists, improving coverage of communities of color, and boosting the careers of thousands of Latino journalists. Our fundraising goal of $5,000 will cover the cost of temporary storage and sorting through five decades of printed and digital records, correspondence, photos and videos. . . .”
  • “Sarah Bartlett (pictured), dean of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, announced today that after two decades at CUNY, she will retire next June following the end of the academic year,” the school announced Monday. “By that time, she will have served nearly nine years as dean of the journalism school. Under Bartlett’s leadership, the J-School expanded its innovative programs and attained record enrollment while increasing the diversity of its student body and faculty. The school also received a transformational gift from Craig Newmark, the craigslist founder and philanthropist. . . .”
  • “Today the Center for Cooperative Media and NJ Advance Media, which produces content for NJ.com, are excited to announce the launch of The New Jersey Diverse Sources Database: an online resource that reporters and editors can search to find experts by specialty or county on a wide variety of topics across the Garden State,” the center, based at Montclair State University, announced last week. “We live in one of the nation’s most diverse states, and our newsrooms need to do a better job of representing that diversity in the stories they write and the sources they call. Despite their knowledge and credentials, experts who identify as persons of color and individuals who hail from marginalized communities are not cited in the news as often as their white peers. The goal of this initiative is to amplify those voices and help news outlets make their coverage more reflective of the diverse communities across our state. . . .”
Art Holliday photographs a new high-rise apartment building during a walk in his Central West End neighborhood in St. Louis. Photography is a longtime hobby of Holliday’s, who recently became the news director at KSDK. (Credit: Christian Gooden/ St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  • On March 4, “Art Holliday, KSDK’s longest-serving journalist, became the first Black news director in the station’s 75-year history,” Aisha Sultan wrote Monday for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In fact, he’s the first Black news director in St. Louis — the 23rd largest TV market in the country. It’s an unlikely denouement considering Holliday’s original plan was to cover sports for as long as possible.” Sultan also wrote, “For years, he had thought about how to make their coverage more representative of the diversity in the region. Now, he was being asked to create a culture in the newsroom where everyone felt like they were heard and felt invested — a culture that attracted the best people and made them want to stay. He wanted to build that. . . .”
  • “Books, documentaries and an FBI investigation detail the abduction, torture and murder of Emmett Till (pictured) 66 years ago, but one person who should have been charged in the case has never been identified,” Jill Collen Jefferson, civil rights and international human rights attorney, wrote Friday for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. Saturday was the 66th anniversary of the brutal murder of 14-year-old Till, an African American from Chicago, for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. Jefferson says most of us believe a lie created by the late journalist William Bradford Huie. “As Dave Tell points out in his book, Remembering Emmett Till, Huie needed releases from the murderers to indemnify Look magazine from litigation. But he couldn’t get four. He could only get two. So, he made his story fit his resources. He shrank the kidnapping and murder party to two and moved the murder scene as a consequence. . . .”
  • “Stacy-Marie Ishmael is joining Bloomberg as the managing editor for crypto,“ Chris Collins, Bloomberg’s head of breaking news, told staff members on Wednesday. “At the risk of stating the obvious, crypto is a story that touches everything from markets to economics, technology, politics and beyond, and it presents the newsroom with a remarkable opportunity for exceptional journalism and collaboration across teams. The breaking news comes thick and fast, and the appetite for analysis is enormous. Stacy was the Editorial Director of the Texas Tribune from March 2020 until this past April, leading coverage of the pandemic, the deadly winter storm in Texas, the state’s economy, and the Black Lives Matter protests. . . .”
“The Delta variant does not care,” Gilbert Baez said, Kevin Eck reported Monday for TV Newser. ‘” ‘We took every precaution. The Delta variant does not care.’ Baez said his doctor told him being vaccinated did help him fight off the virus.”
  • “WRAL reporter Gilbert Baez is hospitalized with COVID-19,” Brooke Cain reported Monday for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. “The Fayetteville-based reporter shared a video Saturday from his hospital bed at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Baez, who is fully vaccinated, said in the video that he was admitted to the hospital Thursday night and is in an isolated COVID-19 ward. Baez said he is the only patient on the COVID-19 floor who is vaccinated, and the only patient who is not on oxygen or on a ventilator. . . .”
  • “NBC News Digital’s award-winning original video team is releasing a new documentary, Southlake: Racial Reckoning in a Texas Suburb,” the network announces “The doc tells the story of a Southlake father running for a school board seat on a shoe-string budget, a 56-year old Black mom of three fighting to keep her kids and others safe in school and a Black senior reconciling her years at the school while using her voice as the school board decides the fate of its racial diversity plan. Watch the trailer now. “The documentary will be released on Friday, Sept. 3 at 7pm ET on NBCNews.com and MSNBC.com and will air on NBC News NOW on Monday, Sept. 6 at 7:30pm, 9:30pm and 12:30am ET and on Monday, Sept.13 at 8pm and 11pm ET. It will also be available on Telemundo.com on Sept. 13 and will be available on demand on Peacock, NBC’s streaming network, beginning Sept. 7.”
A portion of the Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp, the largest incarceration center on the Hawaiian islands during World War II. President Barack Obama proclaimed it a National Monument in 2015 and it was redesignated Honouliuli National Historic Site in 2019. (Courtesy of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii)
  • As part of a “Race in America” project, Rachel Ng wrote from Hawaii for National Geographic Aug. 13 about “a hot, muggy part of ‘Hell Valley’ on former sugarcane and pineapple farmland” that “once held 4,000 prisoners of war and 400 innocent civilian internees, most of them Japanese Americans, in prefabricated barracks and tents. After the camp’s last occupants were released in 1946, nature, negligence, and a willful disregard for a dark era in United States history buried it for decades. . . . Efforts to tell the world about Honouliuli are still in progress. . . . The effort to tell the story of the camp and its residents began in 1998, when a local TV news reporter contacted the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, asking about the location of Honouliuli. Volunteers were stumped.” Jane Kurahara, a staff associate at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii said, “Most didn’t know there was an internment camp in Hawaii.”
  • “Tina Pamintuan (pictured) was appointed CEO of St. Louis Public Radio,” Julian Wyllie reported Monday for Current. “Pamintuan starts in the position Dec. 1. The University of Missouri–St. Louis, St. Louis Public Radio’s licensee, announced the hire. Pamintuan succeeds Tim Eby, who left the station last year amid staff complaints about diversity and equity issues within the station.”
  • As the Indian government revoked autonomy and special status for Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, thousands of troops were deployed in the region, Ipsita Chakravarty wrote Aug. 24 for the Reuters Institute. “All communication lines were snapped and the region was placed under complete lockdown to quell dissent against the legislative changes. While the press was being silenced, almost all of the political leadership in Kashmir was rounded up and arrested or detained. Activists, lawyers and any individuals identified as a threat to peace were also swept into preventive detention. The crackdown on the Kashmiri press . . . was part of a more ambitious project to remake the Kashmiri public sphere: from its politics to its information economy.” Chakravarty’s account was headlined, “Killing the story: How the Kashmiri press was silenced after the region lost autonomy.”​
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