Articles Feature

An Apology Americans Deserved to Hear

by richard05113

How Far the Belgians Took ‘Family Separations’

3 Vie to Lead NABJ, Including a Past President

Richardson to Lead Center for Public Integrity

Critics Might Be Energizing Student Journalists

Detroit Editors Acknowledge Imbalance on Diversity

Inquirer to Debut Section Devoted to Good News

Commentators Seize on ‘Other-izing’ of Puerto Rico

Campaign Highlights Journalist Missing 500 Days

Journalist Groups Unite to Promote Safety Practices

Still Seeking Peace in Australia

Short Takes

 

Children and grandchildren of African mothers and European fathers when Belgians ruled Congo and Rwanda deplane in Europe. They are known as métis and are members of métis associations in Belgium, who successfully pressed the country for an apology for the kidnapping and forced removals that took place.. (Credit: Métis de Belgique)
Children and grandchildren of African mothers and European fathers, born during Belgian colonization of the Belgian Congo and Rwanda, deplane. They are known as métis and are members of métis associations in Belgium. The groups successfully pressed the country for an apology for the kidnapping and forced removals that took place. (Credit: Métis de Belgique)

How Far the Belgians Took ‘Family Separations’

“Belgium on Thursday apologized for the forced removal of thousands of children born to mixed-race couples during its colonial-era rule of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda,” Aanu Adeoye reported for CNN, but unless you saw the story on CNN, in the New York Times or in a report about the CNN story on ebony.com, chances are slim that an American would have known about it.

“Prime Minister Charles Michel issued the formal apology during a plenary session at the Belgian Parliament in Brussels with dozens of those affected watching on from the visitors’ gallery,” Adeoye’s story continued.

“Belgium forcibly took away thousands of mixed-race children, known as ‘metis,’ born to white settlers and black mothers in these Central African nations towards the end of its colonial rule between 1959 and 1962, a U.N. report [PDF] said.

“The Catholic Church and other institutions then raised these children. . . .”

In 1999, Adam Hochschild shocked many with his best-selling “King Leopold’s Ghost,” about the “rape of the Congo” by Belgian King Leopold. “Until 1909, he used his mercenary army to force slaves into mines and rubber plantations, burn villages, mete out sadistic punishments, including dismemberment, and commit mass murder,” Publishers Weekly wrote.

Today, Hochschild teaches journalism part-time at the University of California at Berkeley.

“There is much too little coverage at any time in any country of severely racist things done in the past,” Hochschild told Journal-isms Friday by telephone. “Usually, when we do, it’s when somebody is severely agitated and does something.” Referring to the métis, he said, “agitating for these kids is certainly long overdue.”

Milan Schreuer wrote in the Times, “The apology is the first time that Belgium has recognized any responsibility for what historians say was the immense harm the country inflicted on the Central African nations, which it colonized for eight decades. . . . Michel offered the apology on Thursday afternoon in front of a plenary session of Parliament, which was attended by dozens of people of mixed race in the visitors gallery. . . .”

Schreuer also wrote, “An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children were segregated from their parents — most often from single African mothers — and placed in orphanages and schools predominantly run by the Catholic Church, historians said.

“ ‘Children born out of parents of mixed color during colonial times were always considered as a threat to the colonial enterprise, to profits and to the prestige and the domination of the white race,’ said Assumani Budagwa, 65, a Belgian engineer and amateur historian who was born in colonial Congo and whose family experienced the separation of mixed-race children.

“Mr. Budagwa was a co-author of a Parliamentary resolution that was unanimously adopted last year urging the government to apologize and recognizing Belgium’s misdeeds regarding the mixed-race children with the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church. . . .”

“Métis de Belgique, a Belgian group representing mixed-race people affected by the segregation, along with their descendants, counts a few hundred active members and fights for their right to obtain Belgian nationality, which in some cases still has not been granted, and to gain access to their families’ colonial records. . . .”

The phrase “family separations” has gained currency because of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration at the southern border, and the Times story connected the past with the present.

” The apologies . . . come at a time when politicians across Europe are under pressure from a growing African diaspora and a younger generation that wishes to shed a new light on colonial history in order to tackle latent racism and discrimination in European society,” Schreuer wrote.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, asserted last month at a meeting with Washington journalists that many of those separated at the U.S.-Mexico border will never be reunited with their parents, and will end up in foster care and, for some, prison.

Bass said she would introduce legislation to award damages to those affected, “because the separation of these children will create lifelong emotional and psychological problems.

Lorena Walker, left, and Mikaela Simpson
Lorena Walker, left, and Mikaela Simpson

“Some of those children, they’re never going to see their parents again. . . .” The government will “terminate their parental rights and put them up for adoption. One of the main issues I work on, by the way, is the nation’s foster care system,” Bass told the Journal-isms Roundtable, “because the majority of kids in foster care are our kids. It’s the feeder system to the prison system.”

Colleen Echohawk, executive director of the Chief Seattle Club, has related the U.S. border separations to the plight of Native Americans.

Echohawk wrote last June for the Seattle Times, “Built with the mandate to ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man,’ boarding schools removed Native children from their homes, separated families and sent them to become assimilated into mainstream-colonizer culture. Our brown skin and non-European essences made them so uncomfortable, they went after our children. They cut our hair, changed our names and stripped us of our language.

“The echoes of this policy filter through federal Indian policy to this day, as Native children are taken from their homes and placed into foster care, or put up for adoption in non-Native homes. . . .” Such practices also took place in Canada and Australia.

Two indigenous radio journalists from the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association attended the 2013 Native American Journalists Association convention in Phoenix. Lorena Walker told Journal-isms then that her grandmother was part of the “Stolen Generation,” children who were taken from their homes and given to white families to raise.

Her grandmother still feels as though a part of her life was taken from her, Walker said.

3 Vie to Lead NABJ, Including a Past President

Gregory H. Lee Jr.
Gregory H. Lee Jr.

Three people are vying to be president of the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ announced Friday, including two of its vice presidents — Dorothy Tucker and Marlon A. Walker — and Gregory H. Lee Jr., who would be the first former NABJ president to return to the office if his bid is successful.

Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, likewise returned for a second term last year after being president from 2012 to 2014, but Balta, the first to hold the office twice at NAHJ, ran unopposed.

Lee, senior managing editor of the subscription sports site the Athletic and based in Washington, is able to seek the office again because of constitutional changes that went into effect in 2014 after a membership vote. Previously, presidents were allowed to serve only one term to give more members an opportunity to gain leadership skills, as the late Les Payne, a founding member and NABJ’s fourth president, had explained.

Sarah Glover, the current president, was the first to be able to succeed herself.

Dorothy Tucker
Dorothy Tucker

In his candidate’s statement, Lee, president from 2011 to 2013, touted his 20 years of NABJ service, as finance chair the past four years, longest-serving chair of the Sports Task Force, and activity in other roles.

“I have a proven track record as an effective leader who constantly pushes for our organization to be fiscally responsible, transparent in governance, responsive to the membership and a visible advocate for black journalists,” Lee wrote.

Tucker, an investigative reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago, is concluding two terms as vice president-broadcast.

“Tucker is a former Regional Director, has held leadership positions in Denver, Memphis and Pittsburgh and is dedicated to her Chicago chapter, where she co-chairs an annual jobs fair that attracts 30 news outlets, 200 members and in 2018 resulted in a dozen hires,” her statement says. “She helped the NABJ national organization recover from a $400,000 deficit and eventually achieve a $1.2 million dollar surplus. Tucker is a skilled fundraiser, securing support from first time sponsors, Vice Media, Gift of Hope and Uber which offered free rides for 40 NABJ student project attendees and $10 discount for 4,000 NABJ/NAHJ members. . . .”

Marlon Walker
Marlon A. Walker

Walker covers K-12 education for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has served as vice president-print since 2015.

“When NABJ turns 44 in December, it needs to have a leader ready for the challenge of directing it into the next 44 years,” Walker wrote. “I am that leader. In my time on the NABJ Board of Directors, I have advocated for our members in many ways and organized training institutes to prepare black journalists for what to expect as newsrooms continue to change. I see NABJ turning toward more training outside our annual convention and being seen more as the leading force for covering race, ethnicity and more in the world.”

Richardson to Lead Center for Public Integrity

“Susan Smith Richardson, an award-winning editor with over three decades of experience as a newsroom leader producing innovative, powerful journalism, has been named Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Public Integrity,” the center announced on Thursday.

Susan Smith Richardson
Susan Smith Richardson

“Richardson will take the helm of one of America’s oldest nonprofit investigative journalism organizations as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. In that time, the Center has produced substantive stories that have won some of journalism’s highest honors, including several Pulitzer Prizes. . . .”

“Thirty years after it was founded, the D.C.-based investigative nonprofit Center for Public Integrity operates in a very different news environment from the one in which it began,” Laura Hazard Owen added Thursday for Nieman Lab. “Statehouse reporting has declined drastically, as have local newspapers themselves.”

Richardson is “bringing new ideas with her about the kinds of coverage CPI can do and the audiences it can reach. Richardson, a 2003 Nieman Fellow, is a longtime journalist who was most recently the editorial director of Solutions Journalism Network. She’s worked in newsrooms like the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reporter, and Texas Observer, and reported extensively on gentrification and poverty. She is also CPI’s first African-American CEO, and one of relatively few African Americans in leadership roles at news nonprofits. (Matt Thompson was named editor-in-chief of the Center for Investigative Reporting in February.) . . .”

In a Q-and-A with Owen, Richardson cited her interest in local journalism and bemoaned cutbacks in statehouse coverage. She also said, “I want to spend a significant amount of time thinking about how best and most effectively to partner with media that is owned and produced by communities of color, and think about what we could learn from working with those organizations and what kinds of unique partnerships we can create there.

“As we’re talking about our statehouse coverage and working with news organizations that really need support to cover state government, we also need to be looking at news organizations that have a different lens on state government. Given where we are as a country, and given the importance of media by people of color in serving the information needs of their communities, we need to form partnerships there.”

Richardson told Owen, “as Pew noted recently, more than 1 in 5 members of Congress is from a racial or ethnic minority. I would really like us to tackle an area of coverage that intersects with race, gender, politics, and power.

“That will have many, many fronts to it. One aspect would be how money intersects with those issues, but also, too, how it affects representation, both in ways that are challenging and in ways that may help to increase representation. The other part of focusing on the intersection of gender, race, power, and politics is having the opportunity to spread out across the country and look at these places where you are seeing some interesting change in terms of organization rising up. . . . .”

Khanya Branm, left, a senior at Temple University, and Ayooluwa Ariyo, a junior, report for a story about a bakery in the 15th Street subway concourse near Temple's Center City Campus last month. (Credit: Margo Reed/Philadelphia Inquirer)
Khanya Brann, left, a senior at Temple University, and Ayooluwa Ariyo, a junior, report for a story about a bakery in Philadelphia’s 15th Street subway concourse near Temple’s Center City Campus last month. (Credit: Margo Reed/Philadelphia Inquirer)

Critics Might Be Energizing Student Journalists

“Emily Erdos wanted to be a reporter so badly that she begged administrators at Princeton to allow her to study journalism — a major the Ivy League school didn’t offer. She was denied. ‘Too vocational,’ they said,” Anna Orso reported Monday for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“But the Massachusetts native kept at it, and, along with a dedicated professor, eventually helped persuade faculty members to approve a formal journalism program, a first for the school. This year, she’ll be part of the inaugural class of students to graduate with an undergraduate certificate in journalism.

“It’s an industry that’s being decimated by layoffs — from the tiniest weekly newspapers to the sexiest digital start-ups to the largest legacy conglomerates — and facing more distrust from the public than ever before, thanks in no small part to a president who has deemed journalists ‘the enemy of the people.’

“Nonetheless, Erdos still wants to be a reporter — one whose work proves to critics how the work serves American democracy.

“ ‘I don’t see backing down as an option,’ she said.

“Interest in studying journalism hasn’t waned at the region’s top schools since Donald Trump’s election, and in some ways, criticism of the press may actually be energizing student journalists, students and faculty say. What’s different now is that an increasing number want to do more than report on problems. They want to solve them. . . .”

Orso also wrote, “David Boardman, dean of Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication, said applications to the school’s journalism major are up this year after several years of decline (although the school didn’t provide figures). He said the response to the president’s attacks on the press are just a part of ‘a rebirth of awareness and commitment’ to the idea of a healthy Fourth Estate, as young people witness the power of the press not only in politics but also in the #MeToo movement, which was largely driven by investigative reporting.

“Boardman, who is also chair of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which owns Philadelphia Media Network, added that even in just the last 5½ years since he’s been dean, students have taken more of an activist role, which reminds him of when he decided to study journalism in the 1970s in response to the Watergate scandal. . . .”

The story also said, “Khanya Brann, a 22-year-old senior journalism major at Temple, has been writing since she was in middle school, and published work on a blog for a local organization for black girls. She wants to be a reporter after college, but the dream isn’t to cover the White House. She wants to tell stories about everyday people in underserved communities. Some of her favorite reporting is about women and minority-owned businesses.

“ ‘My calling is connecting with people and bringing stories to the forefront,’ she said. . . .”

A guest takes a phone snapshot of her picture at the 2018 National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in, Detroit last August. (Credit: Chilee Agunanna/NABJ Monitor)
A guest takes a phone snapshot of her picture at the 2018 National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in Detroit last August. (Credit: Chilee Agunanna/NABJ Monitor)

Detroit Editors Acknowledge Imbalance on Diversity

“Last summer, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) hosted its annual conference in Detroit. Representatives of the city’s mainstream media were there with recruitment booths,” Megan Frye wrote Wednesday for Columbia Journalism Review. “But as much as Detroit’s publications need the voices of Black people, who make up 80 percent of its population, its newspapers — whose staffs are 75-percent white, overall — didn’t have openings.

“Detroit’s 673,000 or so people deserve better representation, many journalists of color say. So do minorities in the city’s increasingly diverse suburbs, in which reside the largest Arab-American population in the country. Editors are aware that they have a problem reflecting the city’s diversity of residents in their coverage and their newsrooms, but say budget constraints prohibit more hires, even after many have lost journalists of color to buyouts, layoffs, career changes, relocation, and retirement.

“ ‘Sometimes editors post their jobs on platforms that they are familiar with instead of asking the people of color in the newsroom if there’s another place to look,’ Vincent D. McCraw, who is president of Detroit’s NABJ chapter, and who recently took a buyout from The Detroit News, says. Journalism schools should not be the lone avenue for recruitment, he adds. ‘Saying that there is a lack of talent is a common refrain that is frankly not acceptable. There are other avenues to recruit.’ . . .”

Frye also wrote, “ ‘In the latest downsizing, we lost four African-American professionals from the staff, which was painful,’ Peter Bhatia, the editor-in-chief of the Free Press, says. Bhatia, who is biracial and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, acknowledges that the number of journalists of color in his newsroom is not sufficient. ‘We are very aware of where we are and put a tremendous amount of emphasis on trying to make sure we provide authentic coverage of communities of color in the larger area,’ he says. . . .

“Gary Miles, managing editor of The Detroit News, expresses a similar desire to change his newsroom’s numbers. ‘I’m not sure that I’ve ever been in a newsroom that really adequately reflected the demographics of a region as rich in diversity as metro Detroit, and I certainly wouldn’t say we’re there,’ says Miles, who is white. ‘The biggest challenge we face, to be honest, is that the past decade has been a time of very low hiring throughout the industry.’

“Mike Murri is station manager of WXYZ-TV, where 11 out of 30 newscasters are journalists of color. ‘What we try to do in order to be in-tune with the community is we listen,’ Murri, who is white, says. . . .”

Inquirer to Debut Section Devoted to Good News

“I’ve received many inquiries in recent months from readers requesting more positive stories,” Stan Wischnowski, executive editor and senior vice president of the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote to subscribers on Friday. “They want something to help offset what they see as a constant barrage of polarizing news that overshadows so many good things happening in our region.

“One such letter, hand-written by a longtime subscriber, came with an idea:

” ‘Dear Mr. Wischnowski: Is it possible for you to consider publishing only good news for one day? I have long wondered how that would impact our city. I know mayhem sells, but I’ll bet one day of good news, happy stories, kindnesses done, would lift the spirits. Who knows? Other papers might copy The Inquirer.’

“We have good news for that reader and others who are clamoring for more positivity in our pages: This Sunday, April 7, The Inquirer will debut The UpSide, a new section in the Sunday paper and at Philly.com/upside that will celebrate the best of us — and the best in us. It’s filled with stories of people and groups in our region who are connecting communities, advocating for positive change, and seeking solutions to challenges large and small. . . .”

Columnist Ronnie Polaneczky < upside (at) philly.com > is editing the section.

Public radio's "On the Media" devoted the third episode of its "American Expansion" series to an interview with historian Daniel Immerwahr , author of" How To Hide An Empire: A History of the Greater United States. "
Public radio’s “On the Media” this week devotes the third episode of its “American Expansion” series to an interview with historian Daniel Immerwahr, author of ‘How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States. ” The show originates at WNYC in New York.

Commentators Seize on ‘Other-izing’ of Puerto Rico

“In the 19th century, the US sought to be a democracy, an empire, and a white supremacist nation. It couldn’t be all three,” NPR’s “On the Media” wrote in summarizing the third episode of its series, “Empire State of Mind,” dated Friday.

It coincided with President Trump’s attempt to “other-ize” Puerto Rico, as commentators noted this week.

“White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said it not once, but twice during an interview with MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday,” CNN’s Brian Stelter noted in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter. He said Puerto Rico is ‘that country’ — when in fact it’s a proud part of the United States. He later called the mistake a ‘slip of the tongue.’

“But as WaPo’s Aaron Blake tweeted, it’s ‘not difficult to see a deliberately provocative effort to other-ize Puerto Rico,‘ between Gidley’s dismissive remarks and Trump’s claims that Puerto Rican officials ‘only take from USA.’ ”

Connie Schultz wrote Thursday for Creators Syndicate, “Donald Trump is dumping again on Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and remains in dire need of help that has never come. ‘I’ve taken better care of Puerto Rico than any man ever,’ Trump said last week. ‘They’ve got to spend the money wisely. They don’t know how to spend the money.’

 

 

“They.

“Do you see what he’s doing there?

“A reminder for the president of the United States: Puerto Ricans are fellow Americans.

“Trump tweeted this week that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion in federal aid, and misused all of it. As multiple news organizations have reported, this is a lie. Not all of them are calling it a lie, because we can’t know if maybe Trump just can’t add and subtract, I guess. Just as we can’t know for sure that Trump’s repeated false attacks on an entire island of minorities has anything do with his racism.

“So far, Puerto Rico has received only $11.2 billion of the $41 billion allocated. That hasn’t stopped Trump from, in that same tweet, denouncing Puerto Rico’s public officials as ‘grossly incompetent, and who ‘only take from the USA….’

“From the USA.

“Again, a reminder for the president of the United States: Puerto Ricans are fellow Americans, of the USA.

“We know why he is denying this without the slightest glimpse into his mind.”

A screen shot from December 2017 displays the front pages of Tanzanian newspapers Mwananchi and The Citizen, calling on the Tanzanian government to help find missing journalist Azory Gwanda. Friday marked 500 days since he was last seen (Credit: MCL Digital)
A screen shot from December 2017 displays the front pages of Tanzanian newspapers Mwananchi and The Citizen, calling on the Tanzanian government to help find missing journalist Azory Gwanda. Friday marked 500 days since he was last seen. (Credit: MCL Digital)

Campaign Highlights Journalist Missing 500 Days

“The Committee to Protect Journalists today launched the #WhereIsAzory campaign to bring attention to the case of Tanzanian freelance journalist Azory Gwanda, as tomorrow marks 500 days since he was last seen,” Africa News reported on Thursday.

“The campaign intends to raise awareness about Gwanda and will call on Tanzanian authorities to carry out a credible investigation and publicly account for his fate. Supporters can participate by sharing the hashtags #WhereIsAzory and #MrudisheniAzory on social media.

” ‘Azory Gwanda is a freelance journalist reporting about his community and he must not become just another statistic,’ said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. ‘Through this campaign, we want to ensure that Gwanda’s case becomes a priority for the Tanzanian authorities and that we get much-needed answers about what really happened [to] him. Until that time, Tanzanian journalists will not feel safe.’

“Gwanda was last seen by his family and friends on November 21, 2017, according to CPJ research. Gwanda told his wife, Anna Pinoni, that he was taking an emergency trip, and would return the next day. He has not been seen since.

“In an interview with Mwananchi newspaper, Pinoni said she thought her husband’s disappearance might be linked to his work reporting on a series of mysterious killings in Tanzania’s Coast region, a view shared by others with whom CPJ has spoken.

“In Tanzania, journalists and media outlets are wary of retaliation if they are too vocal about Gwanda’s case. . . .”

Journalist Groups Unite to Promote Safety Practices

“The International Federation of Journalists, together with a number of other organisations, is launching the News Organisations Safety Self-Assessment, a new resource that will help news outlets review and improve their current safety practices and protocols,” the federation said Tuesday.

“This resource is a collaboration between the IFJ and a number of press freedom groups, including the ACOS Alliance, the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, the International Press Institute, the International Women’s Media Foundation and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

“The News Organisations Safety Self-Assessment comprises a brief set of key questions and guideline notes that should prompt a constructive conversation around safety best practices and encourage practical and effective ways to advance such practices. The Self-Assessment supports news organisations to identify and better understand their own weaknesses and strengths in relation to the security of all individuals working for them exposed to danger, including freelancers.

“The resource pays special attention to gender issues, mental health care, digital security needs and working with freelancers and local journalists, aspects which are often neglected in organisational policy and protocols. . . .”

Still Seeking Peace in Australia

Greg Howard
Greg Howard

Greg Howard made a name for himself breaking scoops at Deadspin and then spent two years at the New York Times as an inaugural David Carr Fellow. “[A]fter a compelling run producing memorable essays for the Magazine and writerly features for Metropolitan, Greg Howard will be leaving The Times for his next adventure, which will start at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,” the Times wrote a year ago.

Journal-isms reached him Down Under on Thursday, his 31st birthday.

“I quit NYT to come here for 2 months. Loved Melbourne, so got a working holiday visa and moved back,” Howard messaged. “I took vacation here, and all my dreams kinda came rushing back. So [I] went home, quit, and moved to Melbourne.” After working for the Australian Broadcasting Corp, “Just quit this week,” he said. “Freelancing for a couple places to pay rent and on vacation. Bartending starting next week.”

Howard says he moved to Australia to relax, but hasn’t completely done so. “I’ve been stressed for 5 years.” Howard also observes, “Aborigines and Indians are considered black here, along with Africans. So there are fewer of us, but the community is wider.”

Short Takes


(Credit: YouTube)

  • The Black Googler Network and Talks at Google hosted a Black History Month event with Angela Ford, founder of the Chicago-based Obsidian Collection Archives. Ford is dedicated to preserving and sharing images from black legacy newspapers and black photographers for future generations. More here and here. Ford also discusses the TRiiBE, “a digital media platform showcasing innovative content to reshape the narrative of Black Chicago.” The group says, ” Our original works in journalism and documentary, alongside creative writing and video, capture the multifaceted essence of our communities. As an independent, alternative news source, we hope to unify Black Chicago in the common purpose to create a safer, more vibrant Chicago.”
  • “This summer Indian Country Today will open a newsroom in Phoenix at the Walter Cronkite School at Arizona State University,” the publication announced Wednesday. “Indian Country Today is on the move. It has a new legal framework — and soon will have a new newsroom and partnership with Arizona State University. . . .”
  • “For the past two years, High Country News has been building a tribal affairs desk that centers Native voices for a Native audience,” Editor-in-chief Brian Calvert wrote Thursday for the publication. “We have published more than 170 stories from journalists, authors and experts across Indian Country, and we are proud of how far we’ve come and optimistic about where we are going. . . . We are the only non-Native outlet in the country with such a desk. . . .”
  • Sheila Rule and Joe Robinson
    Sheila Rule and Joe Robinson

    For its “Marriage: An Investigation,” a weeklong series that attempts to understand marriage, New York magazine and the Cut interviewed Sheila Rule, former New York Times correspondent and editor, and her husband Joe Robinson, who had been her prison pen pal. Rule told Rachel Bashein, “Joe has great empathy, but also he’s very perceptive. It’s interesting because in prison, what I learned from his experience there, you gain a high level of perception. It’s about survival. So transplanted on the outside, it really serves to enhance our marriage.”

  • The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Thursday that on March 30 in Venezuela, “police from Lagunillas, a municipality in Zulia state, beat and detained journalist Danilo Alberto Gil, a reporter for Venezuelan news outlet NotiRedVe — which operates on Twitter and Facebook — at around 9:30 a.m., while he was covering an opposition protest in the town of Ciudad Ojeda, according to posts on Twitter by NotiRedVe, local press freedom group Espacio Público, and the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP). At the time of his arrest, Gil was recording video of police attacking protesters and attempting to detain an opposition politician and member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, ” according to reports. Gil was released April 1 after being charged with resisting authority, and was barred from leaving the country.
  • “CNN on Wednesday said political analyst Van Jones will host a series launching this month that offers ‘a rare glimpse into the restorative justice process’ of those who have committed ‘a life-altering crime,’ ” Joe Concha reported for The Hill. “Jones, a former Obama administration official, will host the eight-part CNN original series known as ‘The Redemption Project.’ . . .” The series premieres April 28 at 9 p.m.  News release
  • “April 7 marks 25 years since the start of the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda,” Meghan Sobel and Karen McIntyre wrote Thursday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Since then, the Rwandan government has had a complex relationship with the press. Last fall, the government of Rwanda updated its penal code, officially decriminalizing defamation, a move that the Rwanda Journalists Association praised as ‘a very important step.’ Yet the code also made it a crime to defame the country’s president, or to ‘humiliate’ — ‘verbally, by gestures or threats, in writings or cartoons’ — a government official. . . .”
  • “Working conditions for Nicaraguan journalists have gone from bad to worse under the repressive regime of President Daniel Ortega,” Matilda Jokinen wrote March 29 for the International Press Institute. “Following the start of a national protest movement on April 18, 2018, attacks on press freedom increased. Between April and December 2018, there were over 700 attacks on Nicaraguan journalists, according to monitoring conducted by the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. . . .”
  • “KGNS is expanding its Spanish-language news coverage with two daily newscasts to its Telemundo Laredo lineup,” Veronica Villafañe reported Wednesday for her Media Moves column. “The Gray Television-owned station is adding an 11 am news and lifestyle program. . . . KGNS also launched “Telemundo: Primera Edición” at 4:30 pm. . .  .”
  • Christopher J. Farley
    Christopher J. Farley

    “There’s never been a [young adult] book like mine, focused on exploring how people of color navigate the elite college experience, and revealing the secrets of the Ivory Tower,” Christopher J. Farley, former senior editor at the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, writes Journal-isms. The novel “Around Harvard Square“was published by Akashic Books on Monday. It “tells the story of an African-American freshman at Harvard struggling to get onto the staff of the Harvard Lampoon, the school’s legendary humor magazine,” Farley continued. “It’s a YA book, but it’s for adults too. My book predicted the college cheating scandal: one key subplot is about a rich family that fakes pictures in their application to get their kid into Harvard. . . .” Farley is an executive editor at Audible.

  • “Tyler Batiste, 31, assistant managing editor/sports at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Lucio Villa, 31, interactive producer at the San Francisco Chronicle, are among Editor & Publisher’s “25 Under 35” list for 2019. Villa says on the Journalism Diversity Project website, “Before returning to California, Villa was a News Applications Developer for Hoy, a daily Spanish publication in Chicago. Co-founder of Code Latino and (Honorary) Co-founder of Latino Techies in Chicago. . . .”

 

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