Articles Feature

A Black Journalist as Miss USA!

by richard03498

A Black Journalist as Miss USA!:
‘It’s Been Very Hard to Juggle. . .’
‘Ballistic’ Over ‘Famous Baby Daddies’:
Station Won’t Apologize, Loses Partner
Reward Offered in Killing of Reporter’s Guard
CBS Names Ciprian-Matthews to New VP Role

EPA Reacts to Reporting on Environmental Racism
New Tax Credit Not Much Help to Black Press
‘Indignity. Apathy. Lack of Respect.’ Familiar?
AAJA Removes Disputed Style Entry on ‘Taiwan’

Short Takes: brutal migrant detention centers; Joshua Johnson; Associated Press’ racist history on lynching stories; Aungelique Proctor; weaponization of “woke”; South African media and COVID; Clint Smith; Wil Haygood; Rebecca Carroll; corporate pledges to advertise in Black media; Byron Allen, Armstrong Williams and FCC nominee Gigi Sohn; frustration at not attracting Latinos; Maribel Lopez; Toriano Porter;

Memphis Commercial Appeal; Chicago high school journalists; One America News Network’s targeting of Indigenous; whiteness of Canadian newsrooms; Ethiopian restrictions on media; India’s accusations against reporters; European Parliament alarm over Somalia; spying on Salvadoran journalists; Mozambique firing on journalists

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Elle Smith talks pageant life as she prepares for Miss USA competition (Credit: YouTube/WHAS-TV, Louisville, Ky.)

‘It’s Been Very Hard to Juggle. . .’

Elle Smith, who worked as a “multi-skilled journalist” at WHAS-TV in Louisville, Ky., while touring the state as Miss Kentucky, was crowned Miss USA Monday night in Tulsa, Okla.

Smith, 23, is set to compete for the Miss Universe crown in mid-December.

One seldom hears about journalists winning beauty pageants, though it’s not unheard of. In July, local television reporter Christina Thompson was chosen Miss Virginia USA 2021, and in England, the tabloid Sun reported, a journalist won a pageant she was sent to cover.

But it’s rarer still for a Black journalist. In 1971, Oprah Winfrey was crowned Miss Black Tennessee — but at the tender age of 17.

Smith was crowned by Miss USA 2020, Asya Branch, a Black student at the University of Mississippi majoring in integrated marketing communications in the School of Journalism and New Media.

“It’s been hard, very hard to juggle a full-time job, the role of Miss Kentucky and prepping for Miss USA,” Smith said, Krista Johnson and Kirby Adams wrote in the Courier Journal.

“I don’t think I would have been able to accomplish this without such [a] supportive work team at WHAS because I was getting up at 5:30 a.m. to work out, then hop into a morning editorial meeting with WHAS, then spent the day reporting, then I would do another workout at 7 p.m., eat dinner at 9 p.m. and then until 10 p.m. I was doing interview prep.”

With Smith’s achievement, she is no longer with the station, News Director Chris Gegg (pictured) messaged Journal-isms on Wednesday.

“Now that Elle has been crowned Miss USA, she is heading to Israel to compete in the Miss Universe pageant and is making that her full-time focus. We wish her all the best, and will be cheering her on along with the rest of America.

“We have policies in place regarding what our journalists can and cannot do, and have conversations directly with employees to ensure that activities are not in conflict with news reporting.”

Smith’s alma mater, the University of Kentucky, said on Nov. 9, ” If she wins Miss USA, she will give her Miss Kentucky USA title to the Kentucky runner-up and move to Los Angeles on a full salary to represent the nation for a year.“

Soo Kim of Newsweek had reported that “Smith has represented her state as Miss Kentucky while working full-time as a reporter, making appearances at ball games and other events while also appearing on camera to cover news stories.

In her Miss USA bio, Smith said that being a journalist in America today is “an honor and a role I take very seriously.”

According to the station, “Elle graduated from the University of Kentucky in May 2020 with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Political Science.

“As a Wildcat, she was the vice president of UK’s National Association of Black Journalists chapter, a reporter for the UK Student News Network and a videographer for UK Athletics and SEC Network.”

“Her experiences at UK also carried her into the whirlwind world of pageantry. She competed in her first pageant in May 2021, representing Georgetown and taking home the title of Miss Kentucky USA.”

Smith landed her job at WHAS11 — her first — through an NABJ conference, Kim wrote in Newsweek.

At the Miss USA pageant, Smith “spoke on sustainability and encouraging businesses to be more environmentally conscious,” Insider reported.

“We’ve got to look at it from a macro and also a micro level,” Smith explained. “So at the macro level, companies need to switch to green energy—I think that’s something we can all agree on.”

“But then, at the micro level, we all know how to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and those are all things we can implement in our daily life,” she added.

Smith competes for the Miss Universe title in Eilat, Israel, on Dec. 12. The Miss Universe Organization said most of the 80 contestants have arrived in Israel and that the event will be held as planned with strict coronavirus protocols.

On Monday, organizers said a contestant tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Israel and was taken to a government-run isolation hotel. They said she was fully vaccinated and had been tested prior to departure, the Associated Press reported.

‘Ballistic’ Over ‘Famous Baby Daddies’

“My community went ballistic,” Francine Maxwell of the San Diego NAACP said of the skit by ‘The DSC Show.’

Station Won’t Apologize, Loses Partner

Oh, yes, they did.

A San Diego radio show staged a skit in which the hosts had to guess which of two named and pictured celebrity fathers had the most children with the most partners. Of the 18 celebrity fathers named in the segment, nine were Black.

“A day after the San Diego chapter of the NAACP criticized a segment on the KUSI ‘Good Morning San Diego Show’ about ‘Famous Baby Daddies’ as racist, a KUSI executive said the station will no longer provide a platform to ‘The DSC Show,‘ ” Morgan Cook reported Nov. 17 for the San Diego Union Tribune.

The episode is heading for a productive ending, Francine Maxwell (pictured), president of the San Diego NAACP, told Journal-isms by telephone on Tuesday.

Maxwell said she received more than 70 irate calls the morning ‘The DSC Show’ skit aired — “my community went ballistic” — and many wanted to stage a protest in front of the station. But, Maxwell recalled, “I said, ‘stand down, give me a minute.’ “

KUSI had a good reputation in the community, she added. “We have organizations that would never have been able to get publicity if it hadn’t been for KUSI.” So Maxwell contacted the station leadership. They explained that the feed from ‘The DSC Show’ wasn’t properly screened before airing.

The Union Tribune picks up the story: Steve Cohen, news director for KUSI TV, said Nov. 24 “that KUSI has asked ‘The DSC Show’ to apologize to KUSI viewers for the segment’s racial insensitivity.

“ ‘KUSI believes that it is our goal to always present content that does not demean or appear insensitive to any minority, racial or ethnic group,’ Cohen said in a statement. ‘This past Monday, a feature segment aired that did not meet that standard. The segment created by the 101.5 KGB radio program, The DSC Show, was inappropriate and an affront to our African/American community and our viewers.”

“The statement said KUSI asked 101.5 KGB to offer an apology on KUSI and officials at KGB declined.

“ ‘As a result, KUSI has decided to no longer provide a platform for the KGB – DSC Show,’ the statement said. ‘KUSI will be contacting our NAACP chapter and its president to further discuss this incident. . . .’

“KUSI-TV is an independent local station and is not affiliated with a broadcast network. It is owned by McKinnon Broadcasting Co. McKinnon Broadcasting General Manager Michael McKinnon has been described in news reports as a long-time supporter of politically conservative candidates and causes. . . .”

At a meeting Nov. 22, the NAACP and station management “had a wonderful discussion,” Maxwell said. The two are working together on possibly airing public service announcements, providing internships, implementing cultural sensitivity and implicit bias training, and empowering staffers to be more active in calling out insensitivity.

The NAACP chapter also wants a more public apology.

Cohen messaged Tuesday, “I have no update at this time. My comments are quoted accurately.”

iHeartMedia says on its website that it is “the #1 audio company in the United States, reaching 9 out of 10 Americans every month – and with its quarter of a billion monthly listeners, has a greater reach than any other media company in the U.S.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment, but Maxwell said its representatives requested a one-on-one meeting with her. “But I don’t do those.”

Melissa A. Forrest, president of the San Diego/Arizona Region at iHeartMedia and general manager of KGB, the operation Cohen said refused to apologize, likewise did not respond to an inquiry from Journal-isms.

Maxwell said, however, that she had been told that the incident might have affected iHeart’s sharing relationships with other outlets. “A couple of stations let them know this may have been the last straw,” she said.

On the GoFundMe page for Kevin Nishita’s family, one donor said, “Asian community needs bravery like yours.” Another attributed his death to anti-Asian violence. A third called him a First Amendment champion.

Reward Offered in Killing of Reporter’s Guard

A fundraiser and trust fund have been created for the family of Kevin Nishita, a security guard and former police officer who died Saturday after being shot in Oakland during an attempted robbery of a news crew’s camera equipment, Gabriel Greschler reported Monday for the Bay Area News Group.

As of Wednesday, the online fundraiser received more than 580 donations and had brought in more than $41,000.

Andres Picon and Danielle Echeverria reported Saturday, updated Sunday, for the San Francisco Chronicle that Nishita was assigned to a KRON reporter covering the Monday night burglary of the Prime 356 clothing store on the 300 block of 14th Street. Television news crews have bodyguards because they’re often targeted for their equipment while working in communities with high crime rates, according to former KRON reporter Stanley Roberts.

“As Nishita stood outside the store with the reporter at about 12:20 p.m., a group tried to rob the pair and the security guard was shot in the abdomen, Oakland police spokesperson Kim Armstead said.

“Crime Stoppers of Oakland, the city’s Police Department and other contributors are offering a reward totaling $32,500 for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved in the crime.”

Roberts said the reporter, who has not been identified, was covering the theft for KRON when three men pulled up in a car, one with a gun in hand, and tried to take the reporter’s camera. The security guard was shot when he intervened, Roberts said, according to the Chronicle.

The Radio Television Digital News Association said in a statement Tuesday, “Violence against journalists has no place in the world, but unfortunately it is far too common — and increasing. RTDNA has SAFE Journalist Training & Resources available to help journalists assess risk and stay as safe as possible during daily reporting.

“Threats, violence, and even the coverage of violence can negatively impact the mental health of journalists, and Kevin’s death has impacted many in the Bay Area journalism community. RTDNA has a Newsroom Mental Health Resource Guide available to all, and we encourage anybody who needs it to seek counseling and address any mental health needs.

“Nobody should fear for their life simply for reporting the news — or protecting those who do.”

The proposed Journalist Protection Act, reintroduced in July by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., would make it a federal crime to assault journalists during the course of their duties. It is pending in the House Judiciary Committee.

CBS Names Ciprian-Matthews to New VP Role

“CBS News has promoted Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews (pictured) to a new role as executive vp of newsgathering, overseeing all network newsgathering worldwide for the news division,” Alex Weprin reported Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter.

Ciprian-Matthews, a native of the Dominican Republic, is one of the highest-ranking Latinas in mainstream television.

“With her new role, Ciprian-Matthews will step aside as CBS’ Washington bureau chief,” Weprin continued. “According to an email to staff from CBS News and Stations co-president Neeraj Khemlani, the network has ‘begun our search for a new Washington Bureau chief and appreciate Ingrid continuing to support the bureau until a replacement is in place.’

“Ciprian-Matthews was named the network’s D.C. bureau chief in January, after serving in the role in [an] interim capacity since last summer. She previously served in a number of executive roles at CBS News, and also oversaw a number of the network’s key bureaus, including in London and New York. . . .”

Michael Coleman, left, and Robert Taylor, residents of St. John the Baptist Parish, La., and Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, listen to EPA Administrator Michael Regan talk to the media about what he’s learned on his “Journey to Justice” tour. (Credit: Bobbi-Jeanne Misick/Gulf States Newsroom)

EPA Reacts to Reporting on Environmental Racism

“ProPublica found more than 1,000 toxic air hot spots across the country, and determined Black residents were disproportionately at risk,” ProPublica reported Nov. 24 over a story by Ava Kofman. “Environmental experts called the Environmental Protection Agency’s response to our investigation historic and a ‘radical change in tone.’ ”

Two days after the initial report, the EPA announced that Administrator Michael S. Regan would visit the communities featured in the reporting.

“During last week’s ‘Journey to Justice’ trip across the South, Regan toured the Houston ship channel, the Louisiana community of Mossville and a stretch of land along the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley — places that we identified as among the largest hot spots of toxic air pollution in the country.”

Regan told ProPublica, “We’ve looked very carefully at your reporting and we’re incorporating much of it into our refined and revised system ourselves as well, so that we can begin to address these issues. We’re working on just how we can do that in a way that gives us the ability to move forward, set standards, enforce existing laws and do it in a manner where we believe that it is legally and scientifically defensible.

“One of the reasons I’m on the road for five days is to be on the ground, listening directly to these communities and taking this information back. This is an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Darryl Fears added Sunday in the Washington Post, “Black people are nearly four times as likely to die of exposure to pollution than White people. According to ‘Fumes Across the Fence-Line,‘ a recent study by the Clean Air Task Force, African Americans are exposed to 38 percent more polluted air than White Americans, and they are 75 percent more likely to live in communities that border a plant or factory.”

New Tax Credit Not Much Help to Black Press

“A provision in President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan will benefit community news publishers across the United States by providing a tax credit that rewards local news organizations for employing journalists,” Edward Henderson reported Thursday for California Black Media.

“But some Black newspaper publishers in California — and across the country — say, although the proposal, valued at $1.67 billion, is rooted in good intentions, it will not benefit their businesses.

“ ‘My first reaction was to applaud. This would be the first time a president has put forth a plan that acknowledges we even exist,’ said Dr. John Warren (pictured), publisher of the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, the city’s largest Black newspaper. ‘Congress passed the Preservation Act in 1970, but that didn’t protect us from the losses we saw a few decades later.’

“Warren points out that the tax credit is not a big event for businesses that have losses.

“ ‘You would have to get a gain to benefit. Most of our papers are not making profits, at least not substantially, due to the pandemic and other factors,’ said Warren. ‘I think it could have been better done if there were bids — bids for public work jobs, etc, to be advertised in community newspapers. I would consider that something meaningful and sustainable.’ “

Nationwide, there are fewer than 5,000 community newspapers, according to Warren. “Of that number, Black papers account for less than 200.

“ ‘At one point we had about 600 papers in the country,’ Warren said, referring to Black-owned and operated publications. . . .”

‘Indignity. Apathy. Lack of Respect.’ Familiar?

“In Mississippi and much of the country, police officer-involved death investigations tend to be shrouded in secrecy,” Reveal, a radio show and podcast from the Center for Investigative Journalism, announced in a November email. “It’s extremely difficult to access information about the grand jury, the medical examiner and the district attorney.

“But that didn’t deter us.

“We devoted more than three years looking into the case of Billey Joe Johnson, a Black teenager who died during an early-morning traffic stop by a White police officer in Mississippi. As we listened to police interview tape, reviewed crime scene photos, interviewed grieving but relentless family members and looked at what investigators did and didn’t do, we saw some glaring themes: indignity. Apathy. A lack of respect.

“Along with the family of Billey Joe, we were committed to finding out: How did justice fail in this case?

“We hope you will find some time to listen to our serialized podcast, Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe, before the last episode airs Dec. 4.”

“Reveal” host Al Letson (pictured) told NPR’s Ailsa Chang on Nov. 4 that, “this story is all about race. What we’re trying to do is understand the systems that come into play with Billey Joe Johnson’s life and his death. And also, you know, I think that when we looked at the investigation, there was a big hole in the investigation, and that hole was the size of Billey Joe’s family. Like, they’ve totally been left out.

“And what I wanted to do is I wanted to put the family and Billey Joe front and center. But also, I think that, you know, a case like this that . . . is filled with race and these stories that we hear that pop up all over the country that happens all the time with . . . Black people and law enforcement, we never get to tell those stories in the full context, right? And I think the fact that I am a Black man . . . I bring all my experiences into reporting like this.”

AAJA Removes Disputed Style Entry on ‘Taiwan’

The Asian American Journalists Association is removing its style guide entry on “Taiwan” after criticism from overseas for listing Taiwan as a “province of China'” and ignoring “the presence of Indigenous peoples on the island nation for over 6,500 years,” in the words of Keoni Everington, reporting Friday for Taiwan News.

Everington also wrote, “Completely missing from the AAJA entry is Taiwan’s more than 500,000 members of 16 officially recognized indigenous tribes, including the Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Yami, Thao, Kavalan, Truku, Sakizaya, Sediq, Hla’alua and Kanakanavu. It also completely neglects their rich variety of 26 known languages which linguists point to as the origin of Austronesian languages, which are spoken by 386 million people. . . .”

Asked to comment, Jessica Xiao, AAJA’s director of communications and strategic engagement, replied to Journal-isms Wednesday:

“We are grateful to members of the community for their attentiveness and commitment to the accuracy of our guidance written in 2012 and for sharing their concerns on the ‘Taiwan’  entry.”

Citing AAJA President Michelle Ye Hee Lee’s Twitter thread,  Xiao continued, “the guidance has been under necessary revision; we put it back onto the website to help those seeking guidance when covering anti-AAPI violence, but noting these concerns, AAJA has removed the current version of the style guide, and in the coming weeks will publish a condensed version with basic terminology that can be a resource while we undergo a full review.

“We welcome all feedback, volunteers, researchers, funders and community members who are willing and able to lend us their help with this project, and folks can express their interest here. [link to form]

“We also advise that anyone who seeks comprehensive understanding of Asian Pacific America should consult additional style guides and resources, including those provided by the AP Stylebook and Conscious Style Guide.” (Map credit: Shutterstock)

Short Takes

  • “Joshua Johnson (pictured) is getting his own show in prime time on NBC’s streaming service,” Dominick Mastrangelo reported Tuesday for The Hill. “The hourlong program, dubbed ‘NOW Tonight with Joshua Johnson,’ will air at 8 p.m. beginning on Monday, Dec. 6, and be available daily on The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, YouTube, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi and the NBC News app. The network said the show will ‘take a step back’ to offer viewers context ‘into the why and the how behind the biggest stories of the day.’ . . .”
  • “An analysis of newspaper and wire clippings by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland found AP stories labeled Black lynching victims as fiends, ravishers and monsters in stories distributed to a national audience,” Tatyana Monnay and Eve Sampson reported Monday for the center’s “Printing Hate” project, intended as “a thorough exploration of the racist pasts of newspapers.” John Daniszewski, AP vice president and editor at large for standards, told the Center, “We know of no instance in which the AP deliberately promoted racist violence. “However, the AP reported on lynching and other forms of racial violence over many years, sometimes in disturbing detail with flaws and omissions. These shortcomings clearly reflected the attitudes and prejudices of the era in which these reports were written but that is no excuse and we regret them.”

  • “She has been with the station since 1994: ‘Cancer was the last thing on my mind,‘” Rodney Ho reported Nov. 23 for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Veteran Fox 5 reporter Aungelique Proctor announced she has stage 2 stomach cancer and is currently in treatment. Proctor, who has been with the station for 26 years, had taken time off this fall from work to deal with fatigue and stomach pain. That’s when the doctors discovered the tumor. . . .”
  • The word “woke” has been distorted and co-opted, Jarvis DeBerry wrote Sunday for MSNBC. “It’s now white people’s word. ‘Woke’ and Black people have no future together. So don’t think of ‘woke’ as having anything to do with what Black people think. Think of it and ‘wokeism’ as having everything to do with what white people want the world to think Black people think.”
  • The discovery in southern Africa of Omicron, the latest COVID variant, has focused much needed attention on the need for developed countries to share their vaccines with Africa and the rest of the world in their own self-interest. In South Africa itself, though, a study of the news media found last month “that front page reports were mostly alarmist, sensationalist and negative in tone. Moreover, these reports did not see much possibility for individual agency in combating the pandemic.” The study, conducted by academics Herman Wasserman, Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam, Tanja Bosch and Wallace Chuma, said, “This finding is important as it suggests that South African newspapers could have contributed to public anxiety and fear.” They wrote Nov. 9 in The Conversation.
  • In Minnesota, the Center for Economic Inclusion held a Zoom meeting in November with local leaders of Black-owned media to discuss promises to invest in those businesses in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. “Among corporations that made pledges are Target, General Mills, Nestle and DoorDash,” RB King reported Nov. 24 for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. The headline was, “Corporations fail to honor pledges to Black media.” Asked to comment, Center founder and CEO Tawanna A. Black (pictured) messaged Journal-isms Thursday, in part, “We have begun individual discussions with corporations and will host meetings in December and January with corporations and Black-owned media outlets to further articulate the reasons why organizations who want Black talent, dollars, and engagement must partner with and advertise with Black media who are most trusted by our communities.”
  • Sean Scully (pictured), outgoing editor of the Napa Valley (Calif.) Register, wrote Saturday that he had been frustrated “in our ability to build some diversity in the newsroom and forge connections with the growing Latino community. I tried several times to hire bilingual Hispanic journalists, but they are in high demand, and I simply wasn’t able to pay as much as larger papers such as the Press Democrat and Chronicle. I lost out on some good candidates. We did do a few projects in Spanish, particularly two health-related projects done in association with the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at USC, but I never quite figured out how to institutionalize our outreach to the Latino community in English or Spanish. . . .”
  • Maribel Lopez (pictured) has been named Head of PBS Digital Studios, the network announced Nov. 15. “In this role, she will oversee efforts to further drive content delivery and audience development across multiple digital platforms including, PBS’s YouTube channel. Lopez will begin the role on December 13 and will report directly to PBS Chief Programming Executive Sylvia Bugg. PBS Digital Studios offers original series and short-form content that explore science, arts, culture and more. . . .”
  • “So, in 2018 I was hired as an opinion writer for the The Kansas City Star Editorial Board,” Toriano Porter wrote Nov. 25 on LinkedIn. “The jump from breaking news reporter to opinion journalist was a challenge. In 2019 and 2020, I fell short of one of the goals laid out in my job description: 1 million page views per year. In fact, last year I reached 951,000 views; 49,000 short of my intended goal. This year, while working remotely (sometimes in cities such as St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, Dallas and Oklahoma City) I hit 1 million page views before Halloween. I don’t know what it all means but I do know that every click, subscription, and shared story mattered. And for that, I am thankful for you all. Remember to keep ya’ head down, do the work and trust the process. Also, continue to support local journalism. It really does make a difference. #unbreakable”
In India, policemen attack a photojournalist who was covering the procession marking the holy Islamic month of Muharram in Srinagar on Aug. 17. (Credit: Courtesy of Faisal Bashir)
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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms+owner@groups.io

About Richard Prince

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

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