Connections With Women of Color ‘Were Deep and Broad’
Media Near Lake Ontario Ridicule Name Change:
Some on Fence; Native Leader Calls Renaming Illegal
‘White Guys’ Getting Most NFL Broadcast Jobs?
Historic Bill Aiding Local News on Newsom’s Desk
Essence Fest-New Orleans Marriage on Rocks?
Reclaiming Their Enslaved Ancestor’s Work
Palestinian Journalist Dies in Israeli Custody
Press-Freedom Group Spotlights ‘Forcibly Disappeared’
Short Takes: USA Today; Michigan Chronicle’s Sam Robinson; Ruben Navarrette and Iran; New York magazine’s Habibi City; John Simons; Antonia Hylton; Charles M. Blow; Boston Globe’s Anica Butler, Greg Huang, Ben Olivo and Milton Valencia; Brandon Pope; Emmanuel Akinwotu; slain Mexican journalist; Cuban journalist warned to leave country or face jail
Ticket, livestream information for Parker Award lecture.
Homepage photo: Gloria Steinem talks with Amandla Stenberg for Teen Vogue in 2016, when Stenberg, at 17, was considered “one of the new guards of feminism.” (Credit: Pamela Hanson)
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Instagram post shows iconic photo of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes at a podium in 1970. “In addition to four decades of community organizing and social movement work in New York around race, gender, and class, Pitman Hughes was a singer, a speaker, and a small business owner,” says the Museum of the City of New York.
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Connections With Women of Color ‘Were Deep and Broad’
“I recently had an opportunity to speak with actress, activist and author Pam Grier at Black Enterprise’s Women of Power Summit in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,” Stacey Tisdale wrote in 2015 for Black Enterprise.
“When she reflected on her career highlights, she said a moment she will always remember was when then Ms. Magazine editor, Gloria Steinem, whom Grier still calls her mentor, ‘courageously’ put her on the cover of the magazine in 1975. That made Grier the first African American to grace the cover and helped make Foxy Brown an early feminist icon.
“It wasn’t just Grier. While she is considered the face of the feminist movement, Steinem, now a vibrant and energetic 81-year-old, says her most important lessons and inspirations came from black women. Not only was Steinem the National Treasurer of the 1970’s ‘Free Angela Davis’ campaign, but she also crafted the television speech the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm delivered in her historic 1972 bid for presidential nomination of the Democratic party.
“ ‘I thought they invented the feminist movement. I’ve learned feminism disproportionately from black women,’ Steinem says.’ I realize that things being what they are, the White middle-class part of the movement got reported more, but if you look at the numbers and the very first poll of women responding to feminist issues, African American women were twice as likely to support feminism and feminist issues than White women,’ she adds. . . . ”
Steinem, “the celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women’s movement and a fierce advocate for feminist causes for over six decades, has died,” Jocelyn Noveck reported Thursday for the Associated Press. Steinem was 92.
“Steinem, who had been in declining health, died Wednesday at her home in New York City, according to a post on her social media page. She had recently completed a memoir, to be released this fall.”
“Her connections in the women of color communities were deep and broad,” Julie Burton, president and CEO of the Women’s Media Center, of which Steinem was a co-founder, told Journal-isms.
WMC IDAR/E, a English/Spanish digital channel, hosted its online launch event in 2021 on “The Legacy of Jovita Idar,” a journalist and activist who more than a century ago denounced white supremacist violence in Texas and championed women’s rights. Steinem joined prominent Latinas in the talk. (Credit: YouTube)
“Dolores Huerta asked for her help in the California farm worker marches (help with press). She worked with many Latinas and helped us launch our Latina channel, IDAR/E. Our board Vice Chair, Erica Gonzalez Martinas, talks about it in our press statement on Gloria. Gloria worked with many Asian American groups. Our board member, Helen Zia, worked with her at Ms. magazine and in other capacities.”
And as Black Enterprise noted, “Steinem had close alliances with black activists such as the late lawyer Flo Kennedy and Dorothy Pitman Hughes, an early advocate of affordable child care. In the early 1970’s Steinem also published Alice Walker’s work in Ms. Magazine, making Walker one of the first black editors at the publication. (This is long before Walker became a household name for writing her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Color Purple.)”
Gloria Steinem talks with Amandla Stenberg for Teen Vogue in 2016, when Stenberg, at 17, was considered “one of the new guards of feminism.” (Credit: Pamela Hanson)
There are the anecdotes. “The news media can’t be fair, accurate, or viable if they are not inclusive,” Steinem said in introducing the Women’s Media Center in U.S. News Leadership” report in 2023. “We are indebted to these amazing women, and to the fortitude and talent necessary to attain their high-powered jobs. They have demonstrated excellence and determination despite the inherent racism and sexism most encounter on their career journeys.”
They were cultural as well as political. Steinem was a journalist “edging toward the crusade that would define her life” when Aretha Franklin’s definitive version of “Respect” hit the radio in 1967, Elle magazine reported. “I always felt that nothing too bad could happen in the world while I was listening to Aretha Franklin. Everything was good, including that I could dance with nobody around. True, there was a line in ‘Respect’ that made me anxious for both of us: something like, ‘I’m about to give you all my money.’ But I figured Aretha knew what she was doing, and nobody was going to mess with her. With us.”
She blurbed Dorothy Butler Gilliam’s 2019 memoir, “Trailblazer,”: “Dorothy Gilliam is that most rare of revolutionaries, one who not only climbs the barricades, but lets down a ladder to help others up, too. In her more than six decades at the centers of journalism in New York and Washington, she has often been the first African American woman and the best of everything. Her memoir shows us that a few can be both, but no one should have to. We will have no democracy until each of us can be our unique individual selves.” Gilliam was the first Black female journalist at the Washington Post.
Steinem stood behind Indigenous Americans in 2016 as they successfully protested the Dakota Access Pipeline, seeing sexual violence as part of the equation.
“This 1,134-mile pipeline would run under the Missouri River, posing a serious threat to drinking water, especially for the native nations whose sacred sites sit in the path of the proposed structure,” she and Mary Kathryn Nagle wrote then for the Boston Globe. “Native leaders are warning all of us. They have traveled from hundreds of native nations to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. At first in obscurity, and often at risk of arrest or beatings, they have succeeded in putting the country on notice that the pipeline endangers sacred lands and the environment.
“It also endangers women and girls. That’s because, in this country as around the world, extractive industries create so-called “man camps,” places where male workers often work 12-hour days, are socially isolated for weeks or months at a time, and live in trailers in parks that extend for miles. As advocacy organizations like First Nations Women’s Alliance have noted, these man camps become centers for drugs, violence, and the sex trafficking of women and girls. They also become launching pads for serial sexual predators who endanger females for miles around.”
Today’s journalists of color were weighing in on social media Thursday.
“I am reminded that when I met her at the March 2013 forum of the White House Conference on Women and Girls, that may have been my first fan-girl experience,” Wanda Lloyd, retired editor of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser and author (pictured, with Steinem), wrote on Facebook.
“The room was filled with accomplished women, including Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama. Jarrett led the discussion around that conference table that day.
“Steinem and her magazine were staples in the literary experiences of women of my era, and some in the generation before me, including my own mother — women who created successful legacies based on our own accomplishments instead of relying solely on men to define our professional status. . . .
“I’ve had the honor of taking a seat at many important tables, but the only tent card I ever saved was the one from that day.”
Karen Attiah, the journalist who last month won an arbitrator’s decision that she had been unjustly fired as a Washington Post opinion journalist, wrote on Threads, “Thank you for inspiring millions of women, of journalist, truth, tellers, and troublemakers for decades. I had the blessing to be amongst a group of women invited to her home in July. Little did I think that that gathering would be a baton passing.
“She told us about the need to have attitude in our journalism. About trying to start things, even if we don’t have the resources. To just do the damn thing!”
- Jennifer Gerson, the 19th: Gloria Steinem, an iconic voice of feminism, dies at 92
- Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Gloria Steinem with Amy Goodman, “Democracy Now!” Race and Gender in Presidential Politics: A Debate Between Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris-Lacewell (Jan. 14, 2008)
- Gloria Steinem, Women’s Media Center: We Live as Long as We Are Remembered: Gloria Steinem Remembers Dorothy Pitman Hughes (Jan. 5, 2023)
- Angela Wilson, the Root: Gloria Steinem, Who Once Said She ‘Learned Feminism From Black Women,’ Dies at 92
Media Near Lake Ontario Ridicule Name Change
Cartoonist Joe Long in the Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times
Some on Fence; Native Leader Calls Renaming Illegal
“President’s renaming of Lake Ontario is absurd, but goes beyond a joke,” headlined an editorial in the Buffalo N.Y.) News.
“Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is an embarrassment,” declared an editorial in the Syracuse Post-Standard, like Buffalo published in a city on the U.S. side of the Great Lake.
“We have not articulated it, but we are not changing the references. It will remain Lake Ontario in my newspapers,” declared Alec E. Johnson, editor and publisher of the Watertown Daily News, whose circulation area also hugs the lake. Johnson was responding to an inquiry from Journal-isms.
As USA Today explained, “Trump signed an executive order Aug. 27 directing officials to make the change in an apparent attempt to snub Canada after tariff negotiations broke down and the trade war between the two nations escalated. . . ”
The move has proved to be so unpopular that “MapQuest, which was openly dismissive of the president’s 27 August executive order. . . leapfrogged rivals Google Maps and Apple Maps to top the most-downloaded list,” as reported by TechCrunch.
That’s not to say that all news media are going on record against the Trump administration’s wishes. Some are keeping their counsel. The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, which also abuts the lake, referred questions to its corporate owner, the USAToday Co.
Google Maps was updated faster than the government’s GNIS maps. (Credit: Google)
Last year, Gannett, as the USA Today Co. was then known, responded to Trump administration pressure and announced it would no longer publish demographic and diversity data about its workforce. It revamped its corporate site to remove mentions of diversity.
“As part of the USA TODAY Network, the Democrat and Chronicle adheres to the USA TODAY Style Guide, which we are currently in the process of updating to address President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America,” a spokesperson told Journal-isms. “An updated version will be available in the coming days.”
Likewise, the Associated Press, Reuters and the three major broadcast television networks did not respond to a question from Journal-isms about their positions.
The query came in the context of the continuing pressure to bully and intimate the news media. Joel Simon wrote Wednesday for Columbia Journalism Review:
“A cardinal rule of journalism: never back down in the face of intimidation. And yet, in a lawsuit filed in August by ABC and its parent, Disney, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers argued that for months, as the Trump administration ‘steadily increased the pressure on ABC,’ the actions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively undermined the network’s First Amendment rights. In the filing, ABC says that led to self-censorship — a seemingly unprecedented admission, and an untested legal strategy for a media organization.”
On Wednesday, Apple Maps caved.
That morning, “Apple Maps displayed ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users looking at the lake that sits between the state of New York and Canada’s Ontario province. Users outside of the U.S. still saw the Lake Ontario name,” the Associated Press reported.
“Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox that Trump had reached out to the company ‘directly’ about the change.’
If there is anyone who believes this is no time for fence-sitting, it is J. Conrad Seneca (pictured), president of the Seneca Nation.
The name Lake Ontario comes from the Huron Indigenous people’s word “oniatarí:io,” which means “lake of shining waters.” The Canadian province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.
Seneca said Trump’s renaming violated the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed by President George Washington and the Haudenosaunee confederacy
“The news media has a responsibility to the public to inform and educate and to hold people, especially people in power, to account,” Seneca messaged Journal-isms Wednesday.
“Those important roles can be more difficult to navigate in today’s media landscape, when you have partisan forces from both sides that seemingly have more influence on how information, and what information, is reported. The issue of President Trump’s misguided and disrespectful Executive Order to change the name of Lake Ontario from its Indigenous roots is a prime opportunity for the news media to fulfill its responsibilities to the people.
“Many people, perhaps not even President Trump himself, are not aware of the history behind the name, the importance of the lake to our history and our culture, and the fact that the United States has centuries-old commitments to Native nations that are still, and will always be, in effect through our treaties, which the United States Constitution declares are the supreme law of the land. Specifically, there are long-established consultation requirements for the United States to consult with and engage Native nations on decisions that impact our people, our lands and our culture. The President is ignoring those requirements. . . . ”
Some get what President Seneca is talking about.
Vanessa Curwen, speaking for the Los Angeles Times, told Journal-isms, “In a newsroom memo, Ruthanne Salido, assistant managing editor of the multiplatform desk and co-chair of the standards and practices committee explained:
” ‘The Great Lakes are international waters, governed jointly by the U.S. and Canada through the International Joint Commission, which was established by a 1909 treaty. Therefore, the U.S. president has no say over the naming of Lake Ontario or any of the other Great Lakes. The Times will continue to use Lake Ontario (just as we continue to use the Gulf of Mexico, not the Gulf of America), because it is an international body.’ ”
At the New York Times, spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said, “The Times takes many factors into consideration when dealing with disputed geographical names, and we reflect settled, common usage in our journalism. In the case of Lake Ontario, it is an international body of water that has been known by that name for centuries. We will continue to follow common usage in updating our style guidance, as we have done in the past with other areas of the world. We also covered the news of the president’s executive order.”
- Isha Bhargava, CBC News: Carney’s ‘hydronym’ moment is behind a cheeky campaign to raise awareness about Lake Ontario
- Hayes Brown, MS NOW: What Trump’s ‘Lake America’ rebrand says about his presidency
- Jeanine Santucci, Kerria Weaver and Kayla Canne, USA Today Network: ‘Lake America’? Trump’s Canada snub prompts backlash – from Americans
- Amelia Schafer, ICT News: Tribal leaders call Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario a ‘slap in the face’
‘White Guys’ Getting Most NFL Broadcast Jobs?
“The NFL broadcasting musical chairs has finally stopped after a busy offseason,” Brendon Kleen wrote Tuesday for Awful Announcing.
“Several studio shows underwent major upheaval, with Russell Wilson, Mike Tomlin and of course Pat McAfee nabbing top jobs. The top announce teams were slated for a relatively quiet year before multiple contracts come up in 2027, until Netflix locked in its first season-long booth and Tony Romo’s arrest gave CBS Sports a significant shakeup.
“Luke Kuechly is now the up-and-coming broadcasting star that people like. When they look at Tony Romo and they put him on the bench for a while, they replace him with J.J. Watt. Gronk has a job, even though Gronk is a notoriously bad talker,” Le Batard explained Tuesday on The Dan Le Batard Show.
“ ‘And I just wonder if you guys notice that the sport is disproportionately Black, and the broadcasters who get hired are disproportionately white, and it’s on purpose … it’s to make it palatable to the broadest section of people.’
“ ‘There aren’t that many white stars in football. There are plenty of Black stars,’ he said. ‘Why are the white ones the only ones who get the broadcasting jobs?’ ”
- Ahmad Austin Jr., Mediaite: ‘Scared to Show Up!’ Stephen A. Smith Says Only Liberals Reject His Show Invitations — While Republicans ‘All Accept’
- Ryan Glasspiegel, Front Office Sports: Trey Wingo Reuniting With Former ESPN Colleagues for New NFL Show
- Rashad Grove, the Root: Ryan Clark Didn’t Need ESPN. Netflix Just Proved It.
- Pro Football Network: ‘I’d Rather Watch Paint Dry,’ ‘Well Deserved’ — NFL World Has Mixed Reaction to Ryan Clark’s ‘The Pivot’ Inking Netflix Deal
The Rebuild Local News organization sponsored the bill, which it says “would create refundable tax credits for California local news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ, with enhanced benefits for the smallest community newsrooms and outlets creating new journalist jobs.”
Historic Bill Aiding Local News on Newsom’s Desk
“A historic California bill that provides a refundable employment tax credit for qualifying local news organizations could soon become law, pending Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature,” Sara Fischer reported for Axios.
Why it matters: Local news advocates believe the first-of-its kind measure, if signed into law, would represent the country’s largest single-state investment in community news ever.
“This bill is the big one,” said Steven Waldman, founder and president of the Rebuild Local News coalition, which sponsored the bill. “It’s where we have planted the flag as the ideal.”
“Zoom in: The measure — which passed California’s Senate on Sunday and Assembly on Monday — gives refundable tax credits to qualifying local newsrooms for employing full- and part-time journalists.
Fischer added, “Yes, but: Newsom hasn’t indicated whether he plans to sign the bill.
- “The legislation initially had bipartisan support, but lost some momentum among Republicans after executive tax provisions were added to the final markup. “California tax groups have strongly opposed the measure, arguing the bill represents bad tax policy. . . .”
Participants pose after a July 2 news conference about the 2026 Essence Festival of Culture in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. They include, from left, Coca-Cola cultural marketing lead Stephanie Eaddy, Sundial Media & Technology Group chairman Richelieu Dennis, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, Sundial CEO Kirk McDonald, Sundial chief community officer Barkue Tubman-Zawolo and longtime radio deejay Wayne “Wild Wayne” Benjamin Jr. (Credit: Keith Spera/NOLA.com)
Essence Fest-New Orleans Marriage on Rocks?
“Let me say this,” Will Sutton wrote Tuesday in his column for NOLA.com: “The agreement ends Friday.”
“We’re here for several reasons,” Sutton wrote.
“Essence and New Orleans have chosen each other for more than 30 years. There have been multiple agreements. None have led to divorce. In a letter on behalf of the mayor’s Essence steering committee, City Attorney Charline K. Gipson asked Essence and Sundial to provide some specific business details. . . .” Sundial Media Group is Essence’s parent company.
“Here’s a new twist: The steering committee said it’s considering a competitive bidding process to host a Fourth of July festival weekend event. That would mean the Essence-New Orleans marriage could come to an end and a new relationship, perhaps with a prenuptial agreement, would restart how the couple proceeds. Or, maybe a new partner enters the picture.
“Not quite divorce proceedings, but certainly acknowledging that the years together have been nice while pursuing clarification before moving forward with a new understanding — or agreeing to see each other in divorce court.
“ ‘We were surprised and disappointed,’ [Sundial Media Group CEO Kirk] McDonald told me, comparing the relationship to a long-term marriage. Imagine, he said, saying,’ Why don’t we start dating other people to see where we stand?’ ”
Essence says on its website, “For over 30 years, ESSENCE Festival of Culture® has been a vibrant homecoming and cultural pilgrimage—born from a celebration of Essence Magazine’s 25th anniversary, and now honoring 55 years of a legacy that has shaped, uplifted, and empowered generations. Every Fourth of July weekend, we gather in New Orleans to celebrate Black excellence in all its forms. . . .”
- Shannon Dawson, Madame Noire: Caroline Wanga Fires Back — Ex-ESSENCE CEO Files Defamation Complaint, Says She Scapegoat For Festival ‘Failure’ (June 16)
Reclaiming Their Enslaved Ancestor’s Work
The “PBS News Hour” demonstrated its commitment to inclusion Monday with this compelling piece about enslaved potter David Drake and his present-day progeny. “Descendants of David Drake have traced their lineage back to the once-enslaved potter and launched an effort to reclaim their ancestor’s work. They say the effort has not only reconnected them with their family’s legacy but also raised broader questions about art ownership and restitution. Geoff Bennett spoke with Pauline Baker and Yaba Baker for our arts and culture series, CANVAS,” said co-host Amna Nawaz introducing the segment. The saga has been recounted in print and online, but on air, not so much. (Credit: “PBS News Hour”/YouTube)
Palestinian Journalist Dies in Israeli Custody
“On August 9, 2026, Israeli authorities informed the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs of the death of journalist Ihab Diab (pictured) while in Israeli custody,”“According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a nongovernmental organization that supports Palestinians incarcerated by Israel, Diab was arrested on December 12, 2023, from the home of one of his relatives in the northern Gaza Strip. The Prisoners’ Club said the Israeli authorities attributed Diab’s death to his health condition, without providing sufficient details about the circumstances of his death. Diab’s fate and whereabouts had remained unknown for nearly two years.
“After contacting his family, the Prisoners’ Club confirmed that Diab had not suffered from any known health condition before his arrest and that he had been in excellent health.
“Diab’s case reflects a broader pattern of secret detention documented by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. A 2024 report stated that thousands of Palestinians, including journalists, had been detained since October 7, 2023, and that many were held in secret, without being informed of the reasons for their detention or being granted effective access to lawyers or judicial review. The report also documented allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. . . .”
Separately, Martin Roux, who heads the Crisis Desk for Reporters Without Borders, wrote Aug. 20 that his group “condemns the Israeli army’s attacks on journalists and calls on Israel’s allied governments to pressure the country’s authorities to put an end to these actions. Amidst documented violence by extremist Jewish settlers against the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers are targeting journalists, thereby preventing information from emerging from this territory, which is increasingly cut off from the rest of the world.”
- Committee to Protect Journalists: CPJ demands answers after deaths of journalist, media worker in Israeli custody (April 13)
Press-Freedom Group Spotlights ‘Forcibly Disappeared’
The Committee to Protect Journalists has begun a campaign to mark the 25th anniversary of the shuttering of the privately owned press in Eritrea and the ongoing detention of at least 16 Eritrean journalists.
“We are calling for accountability and justice for the Eritrea 16, who were forcibly disappeared a quarter of a century ago,” according to Muthoki Mumo (pictured), Africa program coordinator, who was part of the Journal-isms Roundtable’s 2024 panel, ‘Press Freedom in Black-Run Countries.”
.”The campaign will profile a different member of the Eritrea 16 each day, culminating on September 18, the 25th anniversary of the day that authorities banned the privately owned press. CPJ will honor the Eritrea 16 with its International Press Freedom Award later this year.”
The Sept. 5 entry features Yusuf Mohamed Ali (pictured). Before his arrest, he “was editor-in-chief of Tsigenay newspaper, the first outlet to interview ruling party reformists. . . . In 2009, the Eritrean news site Assena published purported death certificates of Yusuf and three other journalists, amid leaks about harsh conditions in Eiraeiro prison camp. CPJ has been unable to confirm reports of Yusuf’s death in custody and retains his name in our database to hold the Eritrean government accountable for his fate.”
Short Takes
- “USA Today is cutting staff and reorganizing its audience team,” the New York Times’ Ben Mullin wrote Thursday on X. “The changes are designed to address the depreciation of search traffic, which is ‘under pressure’ as ‘platforms are increasingly keeping user experiences to themselves.’ ”
“As Abdul El-Sayed’s star rose, Michigan ascended as a national story about the future of the Democratic Party. His win in the state’s Senate primary — against Haley Stevens, the establishment candidate — became the latest example of voters’ willingness to lean left,” Ivan L. Nagy wrote Wednesday for Columbia Journalism Review. “Sam Robinson (pictured), a twenty-nine-year-old Detroit-based reporter for the Michigan Chronicle, the state’s oldest Black newspaper, has had a view from the front lines of local coverage. His approach is less pundit, more personal. Lately, his videos of voters have gone viral on social media: He tees people up and says little, letting them speak their minds with refreshing candor. . . .”
“I still believe this was a necessary war, something that should have become obvious to all Americans when Iran responded to the initial attack in February by firing missiles and drones at moderate Arab states such as Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia,” columnist Ruben Navarrette wrote Aug. 25 for Creators Syndicate.” Imagine if those missiles had been tipped with nuclear warheads. I regret nothing. It’s a dangerous world. Denying that fact won’t make it any safer. . . . ” Navarrette acknowledged, “I know that I am still out of step with the majority of the American people, which never wanted this war in the first place. And, as the war has progressed, they have wanted it even less.”
“In her now-viral cover story for New York magazine, journalist Zaina Arafat — who was born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but identifies as SWANA, an acronym that previously stood for the Solid Waste Association of North America but now apparently means Southwest Asian and North African, and represents anyone who is vaguely Middle Eastern and dislikes capitalism, America, and the Jews — kicks things into high gear by celebrating the fact that New York is now ‘Habibi City,’ a full-on SWANA enclave,“ Liel Leibovitz wrote Aug. 11 for the Free Press, one of several who took to paper or pixel to disagree with the piece.
“John Simons has been hired as senior director, business and media for CNN, managing reporters and editors who cover business, technology, and media for the network, and reporting to Marie Beaudette, who is vice president, business and media for CNN,” Chris Roush reported Aug 23 for Talking Biz News. “He was most recently a partner at the Brunswick Group, a global advisory firm focused on strategic communications issues. Simons joined Brunswick from Time where he was executive editor, responsible for national and business news, as well as the publication’s technology coverage. . . . ”
“Antonia Hylton will take over MS NOW‘s news-focused weekend afternoons when she launches ‘The Assignment‘ on Sept. 12, Brian Steinberg reported Aug. 31 for Variety. “The program will air from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.”
Charles M. Blow, former New York Times columnist now Inaugural Langston Hughes Fellow at Harvard University, is becoming a contributing writer for the Guardian, the news outlet confirms.
Anica Butler, deputy managing editor for local, will become the deputy managing editor for storytelling; Greg Huang (pictured), business editor, will become a senior assistant managing editor for storytelling and be named to the masthead; Ben Olivo, deputy metro editor, will help drive key new initiatives in metro as an assistant metro editor; and Milton Valencia, an assistant metro editor focusing on criminal justice issues and immigration, will become the deputy metro editor, among changes announced Aug. 13 by the Boston Globe.
“Fox 32 has landed a new political reporter: Veteran Chicago journalist Brandon Pope (pictured) takes over just as the midterms and mayoral election get underway,” Justin Kaufmann reported Wednesday for Axios. “Pope, who co-hosted WCIU’s ‘On the Block’ until it was canceled in 2025, has covered politics locally and nationally and worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, Block Club Chicago, Ebony Magazine and The Root. . . . The Emmy Award-winning journalist also serves as president of the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.”
“Emmanuel Akinwotu (pictured), a powerful storyteller with a wealth of experience reporting in Africa, is bringing his talents to the International desk as a West Africa correspondent,” the New York Times announced Monday. “Emmanuel was most recently an international correspondent based in Nigeria for National Public Radio. He has reported on hospitals overwhelmed by years of conflict in Sudan and on the waves of foreigners of African heritage making their way to Ghana as part of the ‘Year of Return.’ He has also distinguished himself with coverage of art, music and culture, interviewing some of the most recognized African pop artists, including Tems and Davido. His latest piece for NPR was a multimedia project charting the Lagos-Abidjan corridor and its rapidly growing population. . . . “
In Mexico, “Ricardo Zúñiga Rosas (pictured), a 35-year-old photographer and local journalist, was killed on 29 August in the municipality of Tehuitzingo, in the state of Puebla, after publicly reporting threats linked to his reporting. He is the second journalist to be murdered in Puebla in less than two months,” Reporters Without Borders reported Tuesday. “Zúñiga’s murder comes just three days after a communications operation by RSF and over 40 media outlets across Mexico calling on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government and the justice department to take concrete action to protect the country’s endangered news professionals.”
Austin Llerandi (pictured), a journalist and the director of Amanecer Habanero, a community media outlet in Havana, was warned by a State Security officer that he should leave Cuba within two months or face jail, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Friday. “Llerandi, 36, has been detained numerous times in recent months for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression and a free press. Cuba’s penal code considers it a crime to defy ‘socialist law’ or work as a journalist outside of state-controlled media. These laws violate the Cuban constitution which recognizes freedom of press as well as freedom of thought and expression, while also establishing the people’s ‘right to the free development of their personality.’ . . . ”
Less than two weeks. We cannot wait!@ruha9.bsky.social delivers the Parker Lecture, and Richard Prince receives the Parker Award. September 10 in D.C., or you can join us virtually!Get your tickets and be a part of our annual celebration for media justice: buff.ly/2cbGM31
— UCC Media Justice Ministry (@uccmediajustice.org) 2026-08-28T12:37:01.999Z
