Articles Feature

3rd Strikeout in Fingering Reporter’s Killer

by richard01920

Renewed Call for Funding Witness Protection
Yale Paper’s M.E. Quits, Citing ‘Diversity Crisis’
Military Vets in Journalism to Counter Extremism
New Vice Editor Aiming at ‘Gen Z Zoomers’
King Day Was Also One to Debate New Sculpture

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Sierra Jenkins was an education reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area.

Renewed Call for Funding Witness Protection

The killer of up-and-coming reporter Sierra Jenkins and two other nightspot patrons in Norfolk, Va., last year is apparently going free.

For the third time, suspected witnesses failed to show up in court Tuesday, leading Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi (pictured, below) to conclude, “at this point the case is over.” He urged the public, including journalists, to advocate for a state-funded witness protection program.

“Once again, two individuals, one an eyewitness and the other a surviving victim, failed to appear in court despite the efforts of multiple law-enforcement agencies,” Fatehi messaged Journal-isms.

He continued, “I am convinced that witness fear played a part in these failures to appear. I urge the General Assembly to pass the witness-protection funding request that the Governor has submitted to this year’s budget. We cannot have justice if people fear coming to court and I will continue to advocate for efforts to protect witnesses and victims.”

Journalists on the editorial board at the Virginian-Pilot have agreed. “Fatehi has made clear that both Republican and Democratic majorities in Richmond have failed to follow through and stressed that making the program effective and available must be a bipartisan effort,” they editorialized in November, referring to Virginia’s state capital.

“This case may be personal to these families and, of course, our news organization, but it is only one of numerous examples where a fully funded witness protection program could help improve public safety in communities across Virginia.

“No more excuses. If lawmakers want to strike a real blow against dangerous criminals, protecting good citizens who stand up when it counts is an easy way to do so.”

Jenkins’ grandmother, Pamela Jenkins, echoed the plea on Dec. 22 with a letter to the editor in the Virginian-Pilot. “We need to flood the e-mails of General Assembly members. This program needs funding,” she wrote.

Sierra Jenkins, an education reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, was one of three people killed in a March 19, 2022, shooting outside a popular nightspot in downtown Norfolk. The others were Devon Harris, also 25, and Marquel Andrews, 24. The shooting followed an argument over a spilled drink, police said.

When an editor learned early that Saturday that several people had been shot in downtown Norfolk, he called Jenkins repeatedly to ask her to cover it. But she couldn’t be reached. She had been killed there, days after her 25th birthday.

Twice before, the two men believed to be witnesses failed to show up in Norfolk District Court. The sheriff was unable to locate the two in order to serve them the court papers. On Nov. 30, Judge Michael Rosenblum set a new court date for Jan. 17, giving authorities another chance to locate the men and persuade them to appear.

They had not been apprehended that March because the suspect fled the scene, and it took police time to identify a suspect, Fatehi said.

In May, Norfolk police said Antoine M. Legrande Jr. was arrested without incident by the U.S. Marshals Task Force and the Norfolk Police Department’s Special Operations Team. He had a gun on him at the time of the arrest, police said. But charges against Legrande, the only person arrested in the case, were dismissed in November after the witnesses did not show up for a preliminary hearing and a judge declined to reschedule it.

Legrande’s attorney, Eric Korslund, has told Journal-isms that his client told police he was not at the scene the night of the shooting.

At the time of the killing, Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a statement, “The NABJ family is wrapping our arms around Sierra’s family, friends and colleagues. This is a tragic loss of a blossoming reporter with a beautiful spirit who had already begun to make her mark in the industry. We are saddened that such a horrific act ended her life and career too soon.”

In her memory, the Virginia Press Foundation and the Hampton Roads Community Foundation established the Sierra Jenkins Scholarship Fund, providing scholarships to Virginia residents pursuing a degree in journalism or communications. “As of today, we have collected $45,930,” Betsy Edwards, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, told Journal-isms Tuesday.

Those who wish to contribute to the Sierra Jenkins Scholarship Fund can do so here: bit.ly/SierraJenkinsScholarshipFund

Separately, the slaying of a journalist nearly eight years ago in the District of Columbia (scroll down) remains unsolved, police told Journal-isms Tuesday.

Charnice Milton (pictured), a 27-year-old reporter for the Capital Community News, was gunned down on May 27, 2015, as she was waiting for a bus as she returned home from reporting on a community meeting.

A Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson messaged, “The below still stands true:

“This case remains open and is under active investigation. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call us at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411. The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for each homicide committed in the District of Columbia.”

Yale Paper’s M.E. Quits, Citing ‘Diversity Crisis’

Isaac Yu (pictured), managing editor of the Yale Daily News, has resigned from the publication. Yu told readers Tuesday, “I was the third managing editor of color to resign from the organization in two years. I write to say what I have left unsaid for too long: the Oldest College Daily is experiencing a diversity crisis.”

Yu said he announced his resignation internally on Dec. 1. He continued, “It is no secret that the News platforms certain students while leaving others out. The problem is particularly acute for Black, Latinx and Indigenous students, who are severely underrepresented among reporters, editors, and staffers compared to the student body.

“Asian representation at the News is broader, though significant challenges remain. Geographic and income representation beyond the wealthy students from the East Coast is frighteningly low. Despite efforts to recruit my fellow first-generation, low-income students through various initiatives, including the stipend program, the perception of the News as a place for those in the highest income brackets continues to pervade.

“The News has weathered a series of content controversies over the last two years; rarely has public criticism garnered any response or internal review. The newsroom has lost the trust of many students and student groups on campus, particularly those from marginalized communities.

“Of 145 editors-in-chief elected in the paper’s history, 143 have been white, including 11 of the last 12. Seven of the 10 most recent presidents of the Harvard Crimson, by contrast, have been people of color. The News’ editorships at other levels also remain whiter and wealthier than the student body. . . .”

Editors did not respond to a request for comment.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard troops deployed at the U.S. Capitol and its perimeter on Jan. 29, 2021. (Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/pool)

Military Vets in Journalism to Counter Extremism

Military Veterans in Journalism is launching a new program “designed to combat the spread of disinformation and extremism in veteran and military communities, thanks to support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies,” the group said in an email message Tuesday.

“Military Times, a trusted, independent source for news for the military and veteran communities, will serve as a key partner in managing the project.

“This new project launches two years after the January 6 Capitol riot, in which about 13% of insurrectionists charged for their role in the siege had a military background, and after research has found that veterans and active-duty military members may make up at least 25% of militia rosters.

“With its new ‘Fighting Disinformation in Military & Veteran Communities’ program, MVJ will build and support a reporting team at Military Times to independently conduct investigative reporting on anti-democratic extremist groups that are targeting veterans and active-duty service members with disinformation. . . .’ “

In February 2021, soon after the Jan. 6 insurrection, “Lloyd Austin, the first Black secretary of defense . . . ordered each branch of the military to stand-down [PDF] at some point over the next 60 days to discuss the threat posed by white supremacy and similar extremism, said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby,” Dan De Luce and Mosheh Gains wrote at the time for NBC News.

However, “House Republicans plan to open a new front in the culture wars: attacking the Pentagon for its ‘woke’ social policies,“ Rachel Looker and Tom Vanden Brook wrote Jan. 2, updated Jan. 3, for USA Today.

They also wrote, “There are more than 2 million active-duty and reserve troops in the military. The Pentagon’s review found 211 allegations of extremist behavior that resulted in 183 referrals, investigations, and inquiries, according to the Pentagon inspector-general. Of those, there were 48 instances in which troops were subject to some type of action, and 46 cases resulted in no action. There were 112 referrals to civilian law enforcement agencies.”

[Asked how racism fits into the picture, Zack Baddorf, executive director and founder of the 700-member organization, messaged Wednesday:

[“We know that white supremacists and anti-democratic extremists are targeting the military and veteran community to exploit their service and the trust that our nation has in our armed forces. We have also seen how extremism, including racialized extremism, has continued to be a problem within our active-duty ranks, though it’s difficult to track.  (See Secretary Austin’s December 2021 “Report on Countering Extremist Activity Within the Department of Defense” [PDF])

[“However, these challenges are not simply something that the government alone can fix. They require a whole-of-society approach, involving civil society, tech companies, academia, philanthropy and media. Military Veterans in Journalism is proud to be partnering with a range of partners to counter the disinformation in military and veteran communities. This is just one small piece of what needs to be done at a broader scale across the United States to effectively counter extremism and especially violent extremism.

[“I’ve studied extremism and worked on the issue, primarily jihadism in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. On the homefront, I am still learning. It’s clear that racism is a big piece of right-wing extremist groups’ ideology. Our project will assuredly be targeting white supremacist groups that espouse racism and that target the military and veteran communities.”] 

New Vice Editor Aiming at ‘Gen Z Zoomers’


Zing Tsjeng (Marisa Sarnoff, Law & Crime: ‘I’m Waiting for the Boogaloo’: Three Active-Duty Marines Charged With Breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6 (Jan. 20)pictured) has been named editor in chief of Vice News, leading the Vice culture and lifestyle team in the United States and Britain, Charlotte Tobitt reported Tuesday for Britain’s Press Gazette.


Tobitt wrote, “Tsjeng has worked at Vice for about seven years including as editor of the female-focused Broadly which was folded into the main Vice brand along with other previous standalone names such as health vertical Tonic and gaming-focused Waypoint in 2019.”

Tobitt added, “Vice is a digital global media brand primarily aimed at young people aged 18 to 35 – in other words, the millennials and Gen Z that many other media brands are keen to attract. But Tsjeng told Press Gazette it is not ‘rocket science’.


“She said: ‘I don’t view it as rocket science and I think a lot of publications try and reverse engineer and knock their heads against the wall trying to be like “these Gen Z Zoomers. What do they want? What do they actually want?” But I think it’s really simple – just, you know, hire them, commission them, give them the resources they need to report the stories they want to report on. And then the rest kind of falls in place.’ . . .


“According to Vice, its content reaches around 170 million people per month in the UK and US, including on social media. . . .


“Vice reaches young people using topics they naturally ‘zero in on’ like sex, dating, relationships, housing, drugs, health, internet cultures, Tsjeng said. On the day she spoke to Press Gazette, she was editing articles ranging from ethical porn and the rise of research chemical drugs to Drag Race star RuPaul’s DragCon in London.


“Asked what makes a Vice story, Tsjeng recalled advice she received from one of her early editors at the brand who told her: ‘We take the serious things lightly and the light things seriously.’


“Tsjeng added: ‘We’ve always been interested in stories from the margins. We’re always interested in stories about sub-cultures about things that many mainstream or conventional publications wouldn’t be interested in or would consider maybe too niche or not interesting for a broad audience. . . .”

Marie St. Fleur, former executive director of King Boston, said on the “PBS NewsHour,” “Dr. King and Coretta Scott King were global citizens. Whoever walks into our city tomorrow will be able to see themselves, see their struggle, see their joy, see their love right there in the middle of America’s most famous square, the Boston Common.” (Credit: PBS/YouTube)

King Day Was Also One to Debate New Sculpture

While some celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by discussing unfulfilled promises, nonviolence and the tragedy wreaked by guns, others focused on the unveiling of a sculpture in Boston that, as The Washington Post said in a headline, “draws online mockery, disdain.”

“The city’s ‘elite’ gathered in a gated event for only invited guests on Friday for the revealing of ‘The Embrace’ statue. The statue that was supposed to symbolize an embrace between Dr. King and Mrs.[Coretta Scott] King was nothing more than two arms detached from a body,” wrote Rasheed N. Walters, a contributing columnist at the Boston Herald and self-described “serial entrepreneur” and Black conservative.

“Depending on the angle, the statue appeared to be feces, sexual innuendo, or a ‘woke penis,’ as described by the New York Post. The ‘Embrace Statue’ is an utter insult to the honor and legacy of the Kings, an embarrassment to the city of Boston, and an aesthetically unpleasant addition to the country’s oldest park.”

Hank Willis Thomas, the African American who designed the sculpture, “to his credit, tried to produce art in honor of the Kings based on his creative perspective, but he would have been better off presenting it to the Institute of Contemporary Art, where it would have been more well-received.

Neil Lamber touches the ball of the Bill Russell statue at City Hall Plaza to pay his respects to Bill Russell. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

“Thomas would have been wise to take a cue from Ann Hirsch’s statue of Bill Russell on display at City Hall Plaza, which does an excellent job of capturing Russell in his basketball element.

“This spectacular failure has been the subject of countless jokes around the country. However, Black Bostonians are not laughing; we are outraged, dissatisfied, and upset that this opportunity was squandered.

“We don’t see any statues depicting the severed arm of General George Washington brandishing a sword. So, why should we see statues of our African American heroes mutilated?”

Meanwhile, on the “PBS NewsHour,” Thomas and Marie St. Fleur, the former head of Embrace Boston, the nonprofit group that spearheaded the memorial, offered a contrasting perspective.

St. Fleur said, “I have to tell you, it’s complex, right? What I want [people] to understand is that Boston belongs to all of us. And I think, for me, that is — it’s The Embrace, as well as Freedom Plaza. It’s a recognition, again, it’s uplifting, in that it talks about joy, it talks about togetherness, and it talks about our ability to overcome.”

Thomas said, “I think too much burden is placed on Dr. and Mrs. King and people that we see like them to do the work that’s important to changing society. And I wanted to make a piece that both acknowledged and highlighted them, but also was a call to action, a call to love for everyone to embrace someone else and to kind of honor them by stepping into their power, their beauty and their message.

“And so The Embrace is as much about the potential that exists in each and every one of us as it is about Dr. and Mrs. King.”

‘Microaggressions’ Over Black Male Anchor’s Curls

Jan. 15, 2023

‘Including, but Not Limited to, Comparing Me to a Chia Pet’
Reshuffling of Roles at NBC, CNN
Adriana Diaz Broke Story on Biden Documents
2 of 3 Kidnapped Mexican Journalists Freed

Sharpton Film Called ‘Self-Serving Spin’
New Details on Acquittal of Emmett Till’s Killers
Randy Hagihara Dies, L.A. Times Editor, Recruiter
Gregory Yee, L.A. Times Reporter, Dies at 33

Charles Taylor, Va. Reporter, Classical Music Host

Short Takes: RTNDF honorees; Robert Samuels; media industry job cuts; Gov. Ron Desantis and Florida colleges; Elizabeth Vargas; Mará Rose Williams; “missing white woman syndrome,” looted Native American remains; Laura Mayer and Eric Ortega; Jayson Blair; racist Torrence, Calif., police; NAHJ, Arizona Republic and Pedro Gomez; KYW Philadelphia-Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists scholarship; Hispanics and Federal Communications Commission;

Byron Allen and Black-targeted media leaders; Sahan Journal; Veralyn Williams; KRON San Francisco and HBCU basketball; “Chicago Tonight”; Black real estate agents and brokers; Black dads; aggressions against journalists in Peru; attacks on journalists in Ghana; erosion of press freedom in Senegal; detention of South Sudan journalists over footage of president appearing to wet himself.

Homepage photo: Royce Jones and fellow anchor-reporter Erika Stanish of KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.

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‘Including, but Not Limited to, Comparing Me to a Chia Pet’

The way Black women wear their hair for news broadcasts has been an issue for decades, but Royce Jones, a Black male freelance anchor/reporter at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, wrote this week that it’s been an issue for him, too.

“Some fireworks are probably going to go off for what I’m about to say,” Jones wrote Monday on Facebook. His post was approaching 1,000 comments by Sunday.

“But this[is] a topic that needs to be addressed.

“So, here it goes.

“I get a lot of comments about my hair.

“Many people (most notably those who look like me) often thank me for the representation and for not being afraid to rock my super fab head of curls, on TV.

“This is not a movement I can take credit for. People have been advocating and making space for natural hair in TV and media for eons.

“Other not so cool people (who typically tend NOT to look like me) have had some pretty interesting critiques and comments including but not limited to comparing me to a chia pet. (See photo . . . that someone sent me)

“They’ll make jokes or ask questions like ‘What is going on with your hair?’ or ‘What are you going to do with it?’

“Comments such as these have caused a great deal of introspection, sadness, stress and disappointment for me.

“It’s really hard to understand how something (my hair) that has been celebrated for my entire life by myself, family and members of my community, has become something that instead of celebrating, I sometimes find myself in the position of having to defend.

“It’s troubling that people continue to express these micro aggressions and in my opinion, anti-Black sentiments. But it’s unfortunately not surprising.

“I try not to respond to trolls.

“But these aren’t trolls or bots.

“These are actual human beings who lack the knowledge and understanding about the significance and beauty of Black hair texture and styles.

“So, I’m going to use this moment, which is the ONLY time I’m going to publicly address this, to educate.

“My choice to grow my hair was initially just that, my choice. No statement. No political undertones. Nothing.

“BUT it’s clear to me now more than I ever that I need to use my voice + platform to further the discussion about hair equity for [BIPOC] folks.

“Below is a link to the official website for the ‘Crown Act’ which is a piece of legislation aimed at ending hair discrimination. . . .

“All Love, Royce”

Cesar Conde, chair of the NBCUniversal NewsGroup, at an “Employee Appreciation Day” at NBC-owned Telemundo in 2020. He previously headed  NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. (Credit: NBC)

Reshuffling of Roles at NBC, CNN

Restructurings at NBC and CNN this week gave new roles to Latinos such as Cesar Conde, Janelle Rodriguez and Jim Acosta and African Americans such as Sara Sidner, Jonathan Capehart, Victor Blackwell and Laura Coates.

The restructuring at NBCUniversal News Group was announced by Conde, chair of the group. He was born in Miami to immigrant parents who are Cuban and Peruvian.

“On Wednesday he also appointed himself as the effective president of NBC News,” Oliver Darcy wrote Thursday for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter.

“After Noah Oppenheim — who has led the network during a tumultuous period in the media industry and through Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency — told staff that he would vacate the role of NBC News president in favor of returning to screenwriting, Conde disclosed his succession plan.”

“Rebecca Blumenstein, a deputy managing editor of The New York Times, will assume a swath of Oppenheim’s duties, taking on a newly created role as president of editorial at the network. Blumenstein has a lengthy history working in print, but glaringly lacks experience in television news. She will oversee some of NBC News’ television portfolio, such as ‘Meet the Press,’ but will not have purview over the two cornerstone programs, the ‘Today’ show franchise and ‘NBC Nightly News.’

“Those duties will fall to the other two executives that Conde has elevated to run the NBC News portfolio: Libby Leist and Janelle Rodriguez, two longtime network executives who both received promotions to executive vice president. Leist will continue to oversee ‘Today’ and Rodriguez will oversee ‘Nightly’ and NBC News NOW.” Rodriguez is Puerto Rican.

“All three executives — Blumenstein, Leist, and Rodriguez — will report directly to Conde, making him the ultimate network boss. . . .”

Separately, “MSNBC is expanding Hallie Jackson’s daily anchoring duties on streaming as the network retools its weekday and weekend lineups heading into the new year,” Dominick Mastrangelo reported Thursday for The Hill.

“José Díaz-Balart will move in his anchoring duties from 10 am to 11 am,” according to a memo from Rodriguez, Mastrangelo wrote.

“Anchor Katie Phang will begin MSNBC’s live programming on weekends beginning at 8 a.m., while Jonathan Capehart will expand his hosting duties to include both Saturdays and Sundays, beginning at 9 a.m. . . .”

Meanwhile, correspondent Gadi Schwartz has been named anchor of a new Los Angeles-based 8 p.m. program on NBC News’ streaming network News Now, Veronica Villafañe reported Monday for her Media Moves site. “NOW Tonight with Gadi Schwartz is launching next month. He replaces Joshua Johnson,” who left the network in November.

Meanwhile, “CNN said it would shuffle anchors across its weekday and weekend daytime schedules, grouping them together in new ways the network hopes will attract viewers as it attempts to work its way out of a longtime ratings shortfall,” Brian Steinberg wrote Wednesday for Variety.

“John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner will lead a three-hour mid-morning program from New York that lasts from 9 a.m. to noon, while Brianna Keilar, Boris Sanchez and Jim Sciutto will anchor a three-hour Washington, D.C. broadcast between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. . . .

“There are other changes in store. Victor Blackwell, who moved to New York from Atlanta to lead a mid-afternoon broadcast with Alisyn Camerota, appears to be moving back south. He is expected to anchor the 10am hour on Saturdays and co-anchor the weekend edition of “CNN This Morning” with Amara Walker. Jim Acosta will expand his role on the weekends, anchoring 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. . . . Laura Coates, who was promised a roost on the evening schedule well before the pandemic, finally gets a spot at 11 p.m.”

Blackwell anchored CNN’s “New Day Weekends” for the last nine years before getting the more visible weekday job in 2021.

Among his memorable moments was, as a Journal-isms reader messaged in 2019, when the Baltimore native “just broke down on live television . . . as he rebuked Donald Trump for saying Blackwell’s hometown, also known as Baltimore, is an ‘infested’ city. Victor must have repeated the word ‘infested’ about 10 times.”

Last month, Ana Cabrera, who had risen steadily since joining CNN in 2013, announced she was leaving the network, and did. She is expected to join NBC.

Adriana Diaz’ story about the found documents begins at 5:40 in this video of Monday’s “CBS Evening News.” (Credit: CBS News)

Adriana Diaz Broke Story on Biden Documents

CBS News’ Adriana Diaz broke the story Monday that all week made headlines in the media and headaches at the White House: “roughly 10 documents with classified markings had been found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. The documents were from President Biden’s vice-presidential office at the center.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the storage of the documents.

Diaz is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago and is the anchor of Saturday’s edition of the “CBS Weekend News.”

From her bio: “Diaz was previously CBS News’ Asia correspondent based in Beijing, where she used her Mandarin skills to report from China on U.S.-Chinese relations, Chinese politics, science, and culture. Diaz reported from inside North Korea twice, documenting the country’s political pageantry and isolation. Her Asia assignments also took her to the Korean Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Japan, and Laos.”

“Diaz was Miss New York USA 2006 and Miss New York Teen USA 2003. Her family is from the Dominican Republic, and she speaks Spanish, French and Mandarin . . .”

Diaz has been updating the story all week. Her initial report was attributed to “sources,” but a White House counsel supplied a timeline and Scott Fredericksen, a former federal prosecutor, said there was an important difference between Biden’s case and Trump’s. The Biden team self-reported the situation, “indicating a lack of intentional conduct,” he said.

Diaz attended the joint convention last summer of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which featured a panel, “Two Worlds — Afro-Latinx in the Newsroom,” organized by NAHJ’s Afro-Latino Task Force. Diaz told the Latino Reporter that she had attended multiple NAHJ conferences over the years, but “this convention has felt different for me from an Afro-Latina perspective because we had programming focus on the Afro-Latino experience.”

Mexican journalists Fernando Moreno Villegas, left, who has since been freed, and Alan Garcia Aguilar, whose status is unclear, appeared barefoot and chained hand and foot in a video posted on social media on Monday. (Credit: Mazatlan Weekly)

2 of 3 Kidnapped Mexican Journalists Freed

Two of three journalists kidnapped in the stronghold of a Mexican drug cartel have been freed after an operation involving the military and National Guard, according to the state’s prosecutor’s office, Graham Keeley reported Friday for the Voice of America. The status of the third journalist was unclear.

On Monday, a chilling video of Fernando Moreno Villegas, later freed, and Alan Garcia Aguilar, whose status is undetermined, was posted on social media. It showed the two chained hand and foot. The second freed journalist is Jesus Pintor Alegre.

“In the 41-second clip, Moreno stated that they were ‘paying the consequences of the publications against those people in the region of Tierra Caliente and Guerrero of Mexico,’ ” Keeley wrote.

“Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which had called for their release, said Friday that he was still trying to reach the families of the journalists.

“Victims being released is a pretty unusual situation in terms of journalists being kidnapped in Mexico. Usually, the outcome is not such good news, he told VOA.

“This seems to have happened because of the local and international media attention which this case attracted. But we cannot say this means that the outcome in other cases will also be the same. This was a very local situation.”

“Paula Saucedo, of the media rights group Article 19, told VOA that the website the journalists worked on mainly reported stories about the Familia Michoacana drug cartel. . . .”

Keeley also reported, “Hours after Pintor was released, he called on Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, to change the country’s policy to tackle the endemic problem of kidnapping by drug gangs of journalists and human rights activists.

” ‘Hugs, not bullets’ does not work, and the population lives in a state of barbarism, totally unprotected,’ Pintor told Radio Formula, a local station.

“The president’s ‘hugs, not bullets’ policy has involved tackling the social causes of drug violence and reducing the military presence on the streets.

“It has been widely criticized because it has not resulted in a decline in murders related to [drug] gangs. . . .”

Keeley also wrote, “Mexico remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a journalist, with killings, threats and kidnappings common. Media watchdogs say the country saw its most deadly year on record last year for journalists, with UNESCO recording 19 killings.”

Sharpton Film Called ‘Self-Serving Spin’

“This is the first time a civil rights leader has lived to see their story told on the big screen,” activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton messaged supporters of the National Action Network, which he heads, last month.

“Friday’s premiere will be a historic event, which is why you see more theaters eager to screen ‘Loudmouth’ from coast to coast and everywhere in between. I encourage all young loudmouths who want to change their community to go see this film. Dec 9, 2022.”

“Loudmouth” debuted Tuesday on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, and is to be released on DVD on Tuesday. Journal-isms supporter Todd Steven Burroughs, public historian, media consultant and contractor, wrote this short review.

“As a Newarker who constantly watched Sharpton from my senior year in high school in the mid-’80s to a journalist who covered Sharpton in Jersey City for The Star-Ledger to my first year in graduate school at the University of Maryland in 1992, I had to watch ‘Loudmouth’ three times so I could really understand his argument. 

“In this very sympathetic documentary, this story of a winner who outlived and out-hustled his critics evades and obscures a lot about his long career — particularly when he deals with the explosive Tawana Brawley case.

“Still, he makes good points about how editorially white the mainstream media was back then, locally in New York and nationally.

“In today’s culture, where MSNBC and CNN carry Black liberal commentary every day that attempts to explain the Black experience, the talk show and news-interview clips that the documentary uses — from ‘The Richard Bey Show’ to ‘Donahue’ on the white syndicated televised side and [in New York,] WLIB’s ‘The Mark Riley Show’ on the Black radio side — show that many of the ideological and cultural chasms have mainly been filled in 2023.

“Interestingly, it could be argued with some justification that he and the documentarians subtly argue that the gap was closed largely by his civil rights efforts — daring, dangerous work that, according to him, resulted in his elevated status which, in turn, resulted in his 2023 seven-days-a-week media empire! Little credit is given to other activists, and zero — none! — to any Black or Latino journalists.

“Even The City Sun, the [New York] Black weekly newspaper that championed him the most, is relegated, like most things in ‘Loudmouth,’ to the deep background.

“I wish Les Payne were alive and WCBS-TV’s Mike Taibbi, the latter Sharpton’s nightly news arch-enemy, was still active because they would be writing Op-Eds calling Sharpton out about this extraordinary work of revisionist history.

“Perhaps the most important thing he says about the news media is his admission that it was the growing tabloid-television culture that put him on the stage. If you check the documentary on Morton Downey Jr., Downey’s people made it very clear that Sharpton was in on Downey’s racket — one that contributed greatly to the dumbing-down of American culture and disgraced the serious (albeit white hegemonic) tradition of discussion of civil rights issues on television.

“In America, winners never have to explain their tactics, particularly if they are rich and famous. In this film, Sharpton comes the closest to doing so, but he does so in the absence of any facts and perspectives that would halt his strongly self-serving spin.”

A trailer for the WMAQ one-hour special, “The Lost Story of Emmett Till: The Universal Child,” that aired March 19, 2022.

New Details on Acquittal of Emmett Till’s Killers

“In an exclusive interview with NBC Chicago, new information about what led to the verdict in the decades-old murder of Emmett Till, a Black teenager from Chicago, may change what the world knows about the acquittal of two white men that marked a pivotal moment in American history,” Marion Brooks, DS Shin and Tom Jones reported Tuesday for WMAQ-TV.

“Till’s death in 1955 sparked the modern-day Civil Rights Movement, his face no longer forgotten, along with the words, courage and tenacity of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who did not rest in her pursuit of justice for her son. . . .

“Decades after the trial, the world has always thought the jury had reached a quick ‘not guilty’ decision, based on deliberations reportedly lasting less than an hour, and by the added boasting of some jury members, who told the press at the time, ‘If we hadn’t stopped to drink pop, it wouldn’t have taken that long.’

“But according to new details, the jury’s initial vote was not unanimous.

“In fact, three members of the jury required convincing by other jurors after first voting to convict Till’s killers, according to Stephen Whitaker, Ph.D., one of the first people to extensively research Till’s murder and the trial that followed.

“In an exclusive interview with NBC Chicago, his first-ever television interview, Whitaker also said he discovered ways that the murder trial may have been fixed from the start, including one of the suspects’ defense attorneys, John Whitten, in his role as the county attorney for Tallahatchie [Miss.], hand-picking the jury pool to ensure each person was ‘racist’ and willing to set the white men free.

“There were other forces influencing the trial, Whitaker learned, including key witnesses who were kept from testifying and hidden from view by the local Tallahatchie Sheriff at that time, H.C. Strider. . . . “

The station reported Dec. 13, updated Wednesday, ” ‘The Lost Story of Emmett Till: The Universal Child,’ part one of NBC Chicago’s three-part Emmett Till docuseries, can be viewed below, followed by parts two and three in subsequent players on this page. . . .“

Randy Hagihara Dies, L.A. Times Editor, Recruiter

“Randy Hagihara (pictured), a longtime Los Angeles Times editor known for his no-nonsense demeanor, as well as for being a sharp-eyed recruiter who delighted in finding and mentoring young journalists, has died at his home in Huntington Beach,” Christopher Goffard wrote Jan. 8 for the Times. “He was 72.

“Hagihara’s death Saturday followed a battle with esophageal cancer, according to Sean Kawata, his stepson.

“Hagihara spent more than 21 years at The Times starting in 1990, with stints as deputy city editor, city editor and night city editor in the Orange County bureau when the paper was engaged in a fierce circulation war with the rival Orange County Register.

“ ‘Randy communicated toughness as an editor. And he was, in fact, damn tough,’ said Martin Baron, who was editor of the Orange County edition in the 1990s and later became editor of the Washington Post. At the time Hagihara worked under him, Baron recalled, there were 165 staffers in the edition’s news department.

“ ‘He pressed for hard work, aggressive reporting, unequivocal truth-telling, clear writing and the most rigorous standards,’ Baron said in an email. ‘He was allergic to nonsense. And yet there was a genuine softness inside. He was abundantly empathetic and generous in spirit, and forever willing to give professional guidance to reporters who were early in their careers.’ . . .

“In 1979, Hagihara joined the tiny staff of the short-lived Koreatown Weekly, which became known as the first English-language newspaper for Korean Americans. Hagihara worked out of the newspaper’s office in downtown Los Angeles, reporting stories, taking photographs and developing them in the darkroom. He also sold ads, pursued advertisers for unpaid bills, and made trips in a Ford Pinto station wagon to collect bundles of the newspaper from the printing presses in Sacramento. . . .”

Gregory Yee, L.A. Times Reporter, Dies at 33

“Los Angeles Times breaking news reporter Gregory Yee (pictured) has died at the age of 33, the newspaper reported on Jan. 5,” Rafu Shimpo, the bilingual Japanese-English language newspaper based in Los Angeles, reported Friday.

“Yee died on Jan. 4 at the Hollywood bungalow where he lived. ‘His family said the cause appeared to be complications from a respiratory issue,‘ according to The Times.

“Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Yee attended UC Irvine, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, New University. After his 2012 graduation with a double degree in Spanish and literary journalism, Yee worked at a New Mexico newspaper, covered crime for The Long Beach Press-Telegram and criminal justice for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.

“ ‘Yee covered an assortment of issues — gun violence, extreme weather, clowns — with enthusiasm and composure,’ according to The Post and Courier. He brought attention to deplorable living conditions in a public housing building on the upper Charleston peninsula for senior citizens and people with disabilities; documented how racial justice protests in the summer of 2020 devolved into rioting in South Carolina’s oldest city; and led the newspaper’s coverage of an April 2021 mass shooting in Rock Hill by a former NFL player. . . .”

Charles Taylor, Va. Reporter, Classical Music Host

Charles H. Taylor III (pictured), freelance writer, journalist and community leader, died Jan. 7 “from a blood clot due to COVID-19 infection” just eight days before what would have been his 71st birthday, according to a death notice placed in the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va.

“For more than 30 years, Mr. Taylor applied his many skills to a series of media-related jobs and services. Starting out as a radio news reporter, he went on to host a classical music program and then became a reporter for Richmond Newspapers Inc. He later worked as a corporate communications representative and media and community relations manager for Dominion Power in both Norfolk and Richmond. During this time, he was a member of and served as president of Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals, an affiliate chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. . . .”

George Copeland Jr. added for the Richmond Free Press, “Mr. Taylor had ended his retirement last year to work with the Richmond Free Press as a freelance reporter and editor. Bonnie Newman Davis, Free Press managing editor, said she’d known Mr. Taylor for more than 30 years, having previously worked with him at another Richmond newspaper.

“ ‘I was thrilled when Charles called to ask “How may I help?” ‘ she said. ‘His first story for us chronicled a Richmonder who last year climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain at 19,341 feet. When the Free Press was approached about writing the article, I instinctively knew that the story had Charles’ name all over it. He wrote an excellent story!

“I am devastated that Charles is no longer with us, but I am at peace knowing that his body of work and legacy will be with us forever.”

Short Takes

  • The RTDNA Foundation plans to honor nine people at the 32nd annual First Amendment Awards, “recognizing their efforts to promote responsible journalism and preserve the constitutionally guaranteed rights to do so,” the foundation announced Thursday. Honorees include Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC; Maria Hinojosa, journalist and founder of Futuro Media; Jordan Wertlieb, president of Hearst Television; Keith Woods, chief diversity officer at NPR; Hilde Lysiak, 16, a junior at Nogales High School in Selingsgrove, Pa., and former publisher of the Orange Street News; Connie Walker, Okanese First Nation, investigative journalist and host of the Gimlet Media podcast “Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s”; and Boyd Huppert, reporter/producer at KARE-TV in Minneapolis and national storytelling coach for the 49 newsrooms of Tegna. The RTDNA Foundation is the charitable arm of the Radio Television Digital News Association.
  • Washington Post national enterprise reporter Robert Samuels, co-author of “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” with his colleague Toluse Olorunnipa, is joining the New Yorker as a staff writer in March, the magazine announced Thursday. Samuels wrote on Facebook, “It is a rare, awesome opportunity that I never thought would be offered to me. I still cannot believe it. . . . To answer some big questions: Yes, I am staying in DC. Yes, I will continue to travel the country in search for America. And yes, a part of the deal is that they’ll send me to Milan to cover figure skating at the next Olympics!” (Photo by Sharon Farmer/sfphotoworks)
  • “Job cuts across the media industry were up about 20 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to a new study,” Dominick Mastrangelo reported Tuesday for The Hill. “Data from outplacement research firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas found jobs in the ‘news,’ category — a sector the firm tracks as a subset of media that includes digital, broadcast and print news — announced 1,808 cuts in 2022. That number is up 20 percent from the 1,511 news job cuts announced in 2021. . . .”
Archaeologists and museum collectors looted Native American remains from ancient homes, graves and places of worship, ProPublica says.
  • Jayson Blair (pictured), whose fabrications at The New York Times led to a scandal in 2003 that forced his own resignation and that of the Times’ top two editors, tarring other Black journalists in the process, is hosting a podcast in his role as a life coach in Northern Virginia. Blair announced on LinkedIn that it “will focus on psychology and the workplace. Among our early guests will be Hogan Chief Science Officer Ryne Sherman, Executive Coach and Venture Capitalist Jerry Colonna, Retired Vice Admiral Raquel Cruz Bono, MD, MBA, FACS and Former Professional and College Football Player Jihad Abdur-Rahman™️ ICP, CSPO, CAL-E/O/T and John ‘The Purple Coach’ Mitchell.”
Trudy Haynes with her portrait that was unveiled during the Philadelphia Legacies portrait awards in September 2019. (Credit: Elizabeth Robertson/Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • In Minnesota, Sahan Journal is challenging the traditional newsletter format by making its outreach vehicle audio only, Hanaa’ Tameez reported Wednesday for Nieman Lab. Sahan Journal was founded in 2019 by CEO and publisher Mukhtar Ibrahim to serve the news needs of immigrant communities and communities of color in Minneapolis and throughout the state. The weekly newsletter, Tani waa su’aashayda, which means “This is my question” in Somali, uses the platform GroundSource to send audio files to subscribers via SMS.
  • Veralyn Williams (pictured) will become permanent executive producer of NPR’s “Code Switch” podcast, network executives announced Tuesday, succeeding Steve Drummond, who “has decided to transition from the show to focus on his work as head of NPR’s Education Desk.” Williams will continue to also serve as EP for the podcast “It’s Been a Minute.” NPR describes “Code Switch” as “the fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor.”
“My dad in our neighborhood on our moped. ” (Courtesy Dana James)
  • “Society rarely shows good examples of Black fathers,” Dana James wrote in September for the New Black Iowa blog on Substack. The piece continues to circulate, surfacing Jan. 4 in the Daily Montanan. “Social media commenters often label Blacks as fatherless and cling to stereotypes that if Black dads are present, they’re somehow unloving, uninvolved or even abusive. But the Black men I saw growing up had only ever worked toward one goal with their children — to give them a better life than they had. That’s not a fatherly aspiration only reserved for white dads. According to 2013 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70% of Black fathers were most likely to have bathed, dressed, diapered or helped their children use the toilet every day, compared with 60% of whites and 45% of Hispanics. . . .”
  • “The National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP), an IFJ affiliate, has recorded at least 72 cases of violations of the work of media and aggressions against journalists, amid the political and social crisis gripping the country,” the International Federation of Journalists said Tuesday. “Among these assaults, was an attack by the police on photojournalist Aldair Mejía, working for EFE agency, who was first threatened and then shot in the leg. Since the outbreak of the protests that followed the dismissal of former president Pedro Castillo, 46 people have been killed. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the violence unleashed by the State against the population and against media workers, who are carrying out the indispensable work of exposing threats to democracy.”
  • “The freedom of the press which is critical to a democratic society in which the government is accountable to the people is under assault in Senegal (An investigating journalist Pap Ale Niang who just revealed a plot within the security forces with the complicity of some members of the government, is under arrest), . . . ” Souleymane Gueye wrote Tuesday for Seneplus, an information portal about Senegal. “Most of the mainstream media has been neutered and muzzled by intimidation and conflict of interests created by the sprawling conglomerates and the irruption of scrupulous businessmen in this sector that control much of Senegalese media. Maintaining a free and accessible public square for debate is crucial to defending Senegal’s democracy. Unfortunately, the current government is intent on muzzling the free press. . . .”
  • “Six journalists in South Sudan have been detained over the circulation of footage showing President Salva Kiir (pictured) appearing to wet himself at an official event, the national journalists union said on Saturday,” Ayenat Mersie reported Jan. 7 for Reuters. “The footage from December showed a dark stain spread down the 71-year-old president’s grey trousers as he stood for the national anthem at a road commissioning event. The video never aired on television but subsequently circulated on social media. . . .”

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