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‘Black Eagle’ Joe Madison Dies of Prostate Cancer

by richard01672

Talk Show Host Embodied Social Justice Activism

200 Strike 7 Hedge-Fund -Owned Newsrooms

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Talk Show Host Embodied Social Justice Activism

Joe Madison, the activist talk show host known as “the Black Eagle,” died in his Washington, D.C., home after fighting prostate cancer, his family announced Thursday. He was 74.

Madison had written in December, “I’ve spoken candidly about my diagnosis to encourage more men to prioritize their health and talk with their healthcare providers about testing and treatments. As Dick Gregory once told me, ‘Don’t let fear get in the way.’ ”  

About one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives, according to the American Cancer Society, making it one of the most common forms of cancer in men, Dan Lamothe wrote Sunday for The Washington Post, addressing the diagnosis and treatment of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “Black men have a higher rate, about 1 in 6, and some veterans also may have a higher propensity to develop the disease.”

Madison brought a history of activism with him to the airwaves.

As TheHistoryMakers writes, Madison, a native of Dayton, Ohio, “was selected to serve as executive director of Detroit’s NAACP branch at the age of twenty four, the youngest person to be appointed to the position, serving from 1974 (pictured) to 1978.

“Appointed by NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks, Madison then served as NAACP national political director from 1978 to 1986. He began his broadcasting career at Detroit’s WXYZ-AM radio station in 1980, and later worked at FM talk station WWDB in Philadelphia. Madison joined WWRC-AM in Washington, D.C., from 1988 to 1989 where he developed ‘a crossover appeal’ handling issues that included race, but were aimed at the station’s multicultural audience. 

“From 1989 to 2007, he worked as a broadcaster at Radio One. In 1998, Madison left WWRC-AM to start an online chat show. He joined urban talk radio station WOL-AM, in Washington, D.C., serving as broadcaster and program director from 1999 to 2013. He joined SiriusXM in 2007.”

Madison took leave from his show last year when his prostate cancer flared. “Unfortunately, earlier this year the cancer resurfaced, he wrote. “With the unwavering support of my wife Sherry, my family, and the incredible team at SiriusXM, I was able to continue our daily broadcasts. However, upon preparing to return from the Thanksgiving hiatus my health took an adverse turn, making it challenging to host a four-hour live show every day. Currently, I am taking time to focus on my well-being. During this time, SiriusXM will continue to air ‘Madison Classics’ at our regularly scheduled time.”

He told Journal-isms in 2013 that he weighed 276 pounds in 2003 when a doctor looked at him in a waiting room and said, “You’re not leaving the office until I examine you.” The doctor concluded that Madison’s weight put him at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. “If you don’t lose weight, you are going to drop dead, and nobody’s going to know why,” Madison quoted the doctor as saying. In August 2006, Madison underwent gastric bypass surgery and dropped to 178 pounds, Ebony reported the next year.

Madison was not shy about staging hunger strikes, if necessary, to make his point. He went without solid food for 73 days in 2022 to protest renewed attacks on voting rights.

“This is not a time for business as usual,” he told Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy then. “The way I see it, we are coming to the end of the second Reconstruction in this country, and the voting rights gains of the 1960s are under attack just like they were under attack in the post-Reconstruction era following the Civil War.

“The first time, it was Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan,” he said. “This time it’s James Crow, esquire, and the Proud Boys. They are relentless. We need everybody on the battlefield for this one.”

Madison noted in his online bio, “He traveled to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, assisted relief workers in the Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina, and led 90 straight days of demonstrations and peaceful arrests in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC to raise awareness of genocide in Sudan. He took six trips to the country in the middle of [its] civil war to deliver survival kits to refugees and participate in the freeing of over 7,000 Sudanese slaves.

In 2013, Mackenzie Weinger wrote for Politico, “Joe Madison has made a name for himself as one of President Barack Obama’s biggest cheerleaders on talk radio — but he and the president also have the understanding that the talk show host reserves “the right to be an honest critic.”

Joe Madison, right, and Richard Prince discuss Black journalists in a well-received Sirius XM show on April 18, 2018. (Credit: Samuel Nassau)

Madison would readily admit that he was not a journalist, yet he took an interest in journalism. When this columnist wrote in 2018 that “Fewer Blacks Seem to Want to Cover Their Own,” he extended an invitation to discuss the issue on his show. You can listen here.

The family said in its announcement, “Although he is no longer with us, we hope you will . . . be proactive in the fight against injustice.

“The outpouring of prayers and support over the last few months lifted Joe’s spirits and strengthen us as a family. We continue to ask for privacy as we gather together to support each other through this difficult time. Condolences can be sent to the family at joemadison.com.”

“The past few days have been rough,” A.D. Quig wrote Thursday on X. “Don’t get me wrong: I am exceedingly proud to stand next to my Tribune colleagues, whose talent, grit, and love for this city convinced me to work at the paper knowing full well who our owners were. Today’s strike was necessary.”

200 Strike 7 Hedge-Fund-Owned Newsrooms

“More than 200 reporters, photographers and other staffers with the Chicago Tribune and six other newsrooms around the nation began a 24-hour strike Thursday to protest years of ‘slow-walked’ contract negotiations and to demand fair wages,”  the Associated Press reported, in a day that began with journalists at the papers, all owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, describing newsrooms cut to the core or eliminated entirely, exemplars of “corporate greed.”

Gavin Stone, a breaking news and general assignment reporter for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, said he needed a part-time job outside the newsroom to stay afloat financially, and Jon Schleuss, who heads the national News Guild-CWA, said others couldn’t join the picket lines for that very reason. “Too many journalists across the country are living paycheck to paycheck,” Schleuss said.

Dave Mulcahey, a Tribune Content Agency business editor, said a nearby Wendy’s was paying more than his own workplace. “We’re not in it for the money, in fact we’re in it despite the money,” Mulcahey said in the Guild’s Zoom call with reporters.

William Lee, an overnight reporter at the Chicago Tribune, invoked his grandfather, “who saw the failing of Bronzeville,” the South Side of Chicago that from the 1920s through the 1950s, was the center for African American culture and business. “Bronzeville fell into decline after the end of racially restricted housing. Upper and middle class families moved away, and over-population and poverty overwhelmed the neighborhood,” in the words of Chicago’s WTTW-TV. 

“I feel the same way,” Lee said.

From Orlando, Cristobal Reyes, reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, noted the closing of the Spanish-language El Sentinel and cutbacks in the newsroom that are prompting community members’ loss of confidence in the paper.

Joining the 24-hour strike were Tribune Publishing journalists, designers, and production workers at seven newsrooms across the country. They protested “the company’s refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair wage and management’s threat to take away the 401k match benefit,” as the Guild put it.

“Today’s walkout is the single largest coordinated action journalists at the company have taken against Alden Global Capital since the hedge fund purchased Tribune Publishing in 2021, in a deal that saddled Tribune Publishing with $278 million in debt,” the Guild continued. “The hedge fund has been slammed for decimating the newsrooms it has acquired and strip-mining its media assets for profits. Papers owned by Alden have cut staff at twice the rate of their competitors, and circulation has fallen faster at their papers than at their [peers’.]

“Tribune Publishing journalists have been fighting for a contract . . . for as long as five years.”

Moreover, “The company has also failed to remedy long-standing wage inequities on race and gender lines. “A Chicago Tribune Guild study from 2023 showed that journalists of color at the Tribune make a median wage that’s $10K less than their white counterparts, while women typically make $20K less than their male counterparts when examining median salaries.”

Editor & Publisher interviews Rick Goldsmith, whose latest work, “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” tells how hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s entry into news publishing has dismantled local newspapers “piece by piece,” creating crises within the communities they serve, leaving “news deserts” and “ghost papers” in their wake. (Credit: YouTube)

Critics have long said the Alden Global Capital model of aggressive cost-cutting has hurt the local news industry.

Watching the Zoom was Rick Goldsmith, a documentary filmmaker whose new 90-minute film, “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” documents the Alden takeover of Tribune Co.

A posted synopsis about the film by Goldsmith states, “Ours is a cautionary tale: What is lost when billionaires with no background nor interest in a civic mission, who are only concerned with profiteering, take over our most influential news organizations? What new models of news gathering, and dissemination show promise for our increasingly digital age? What can the public do to preserve and support vibrant journalism? Stripped for Parts addresses these questions and more. ‘Democracy dies in darkness’ and the stakes could not be higher.”

The Associated Press reported, “An email message seeking comment on the strike was sent to Mitch Pugh, the Chicago Tribune’s executive editor, who replied that all inquiries should be directed to Goldin Solutions. A message seeking comment was sent by The Associated Press to Goldin Solutions on Thursday morning.

“Aside from the Chicago Tribune and four sister newspapers in the Chicago suburbs, some of the other striking workers include staffers with the Orlando Sentinel; The Morning Call, of Allentown, Pennsylvania; The Virginian-Pilot; the Daily Press, of Virginia; the Virginia Gazette; and the Tidewater Review, according to The NewsGuild-CWA.”

Little Love in Black Press for Slain Soldiers

Jan. 30, 2024

African American Reservists Killed in Drone Strike
What Top 10 Black-Oriented Sites Featured Tuesday
(Including Those That Don’t Pretend to Do News)

Chicago Tribune, Sister Papers Plan Thursday Strike (Jan. 31 update)

Prisoners Are Hidden Workforce for Popular Foods
Worldwide, Indigenous Journalists Cite Turnoffs
14-Year-Old Is Already a Scientist

Short Takes: Joy Reid; Hector Becerra; Amy Robach, T.J. Holmes, Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig; Byron Allen; dictionaries as contraband; background checks for journalists; BET and CBS’s “America In Black”; $250,000 for N.Y. journalism multiplatform initiative; Dexter King; Baltimore Sun, David D. Smith and Baltimore schools; Dow Jones News Fund Early Career Program; Society of Environmental Journalists diversity fellowships; CNN Philippines.

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KTVU-TV in San Francisco reports Monday on the identification of the three soldiers killed in the Jordan attack. (Credit: YouTube).

African American Reservists Killed in Drone Strike

If you received the “Editorially Black” summary from the New York Amsterdam News in your email queue Tuesday morning, you quickly got the headlined story of three Black Army reservists who were killed in Jordan by a drone attack in northeastern Jordan Sunday, a personal tragedy for their families and the more than 40 others who were injured, but also an act that threatens to widen the Israel-Hamas war.

The Amsterdam News and the Atlanta Voice were just about the only members of the traditional Black press that carried the story, according to a quick survey of Black newspaper websites and the most-viewed Black online platforms. The National Association of Black Journalists’ Black News & Views also had the AP story, and some other websites had the news on an inside page.

Black Press USA — which supplies content for the more than 200 members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Black press’ trade group — featured a posting from four days ago: “Watch Live!: Lifetime Achievement Award Gala

“Lifetime Achievement Award Gala celebrating Carl and Carol Zippert, publishers of the Greene County Democrat.”

Below that was a video about a “National Town Hall Meeting on Affirming the relationship between Blacks and Jews in America” that takes place “tonight,” which was actually last Wednesday.

From left, Army Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. (Credit: U.S. Army)

(Benjamin Chavis, NNPA president, did not respond to a request for comment, but NNPA subsequently produced a story on the soldiers.)  

Local NNPA papers ignored the story, by and large leading with local developments, from “The Former Bears Players and Coaches in The Super Bowl” in the Chicago Defender to “Andrew Young reflects on Civil Rights Movement at Washington National Cathedral” in the Afro-American in Baltimore.

Online, Blavity, the most-viewed Black-oriented website, according to a survey by Comscore last year for Journal-isms, featured a story headlined, “COREY HAWKINS TAKING OVER JONATHAN MAJORS’ ROLE IN WALTER MOSLEY ADAPTATION ‘THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT’.”

BET.com, the second most-viewed site, headlined, “A New Character Shakes Things Up on Tyler Perry’s Sistas: Andi and Sabrina both find themselves competing with workplace rivals, Danni is torn between her friendships with Karen and Fatima, and Penelope makes a shocking discovery about Gary.”


Even in Georgia, the home of the three Black reservists, the story was missing from the Black newspapers Atlanta Black Star and the Atlanta Daily World, though it was the lead story in the dominant, general-interest Atlanta Journal-Constitution. To its credit, the Atlanta Voice ran a CNN story.

At the Amsterdam News, Josh Barker (pictured), who has spent 16 years at the newspaper, the last two as digital editor, explained to Journal-isms, “The story [in ‘Editorially Black’] is an AP wire story. I decided to put it at the top of our newsletter because oftentimes, the images we usually see in mainstream media of U.S. military personnel are white males.

“It’s a major news story today and [I] wanted our audience to know that they have a connection with the story. The fact that all three of those killed in the drone strike are Black is significant to the fact that even our brothers and sisters are giving their lives for all Americans.”

Clint C. Wilson II (pictured) would agree. A retired Howard University journalism professor and author of books about the Black press, told Journal-isms that when he heard the news about the drone killings, “my first thought was whether any of the dead victims were Black. My next thought was a fleeting sense of shame that I had interjected racial perspective into an event of general national importance. In 21st century ethical practice, racial/ethnic status should not be relevant in journalistic practice unless specifically central to a story.

“Nevertheless, I anxiously awaited photographic evidence that would reveal whether any or all the dead were in fact African Americans.

“My reaction was largely the result of having spent my newswriting career divided between reporting for Black and White-owned newspapers. If I were an editor or reporter for a Black news outlet there is no question my first instinct would be to learn the racial identities of the American soldiers. Thus, because it appears some Black news media either missed (or failed to consider) the fact [that] all three victims were Black disappointed me. The additional matter that two of the three victims were young Black women magnifies my concern.

“So, I am left to ponder whether some Black press outlets have adapted their coverage to consider such stories ‘race neutral’ — as their White [counterparts] do – or simply failed to pursue the issue on the rather likely chance it could prove to be of particular interest to their primary audience.

“Isn’t there a reason we call it the ‘Black press’?”



Veteran journalist Gene Seymour (pictured) told Journal-isms, “Chuck Stone in his angry young prime woulda been all over that mess.”

Stone, as Seymour has written, was his uncle, and “was at various times in the 1950s and ’60s editor of The New York Age, The Washington Afro-American, and The Chicago Defender — all before his 18-year run as a columnist, political gadfly, go-between for law enforcement and Black suspects, and senior editor at the Philadelphia Daily News.” Stone was also founding president of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Seymour wrote about the Black press for The Nation last month with the headline, “One Big Cookout: From the ‘Negro Press’ to Black Twitter: We always suspected that whatever magazines and newspapers for white folks weren’t telling us, Black newspapers and magazines would.“

“This is where we need the old JET,” messaged Todd Steven Burroughs, a Black press historian.

As with Jet, there is plenty of human-interest material in the story of the service members.

Jeremy Redmon wrote Tuesday for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga., and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga., enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2019 as horizontal construction engineers. They were first assigned to the 381st Engineer Company in Tifton. In 2021, Sanders completed an 8-month rotation to Djibouti in East Africa. Rivers enlisted in 2011 as an interior electrician. Seven years later, he completed a 9-month rotation to Iraq.

“Sanders’ parents told the Associated Press Monday she volunteered to deploy, eager for a chance to see a different part of the world.

“ ‘She was loved. She didn’t have any enemies. All the time you saw her smiling,’ Sanders’ father, Shawn Sanders, told the AP. ‘This is somebody who was just living life, enjoying life at a young age, working toward a career.’ ”

Jozsef Papp added Tuesday for the AJC:

“Shane Davis came to the Rivers’ home [in Carrollton, Ga.,] Tuesday morning with a plant and a heartfelt message: We are here for you.

” ‘You just try to reach out, that’s what we’re here for,’ said Davis, chairman and president of local non-profit West Georgia First Responders. ‘In this time of need, reach out and let them know we are here.’

“The family didn’t want to speak publicly. A neighbor who brought some pies for the family didn’t want to, either. . . .

” ‘It really hits home,’ said Davis. ‘It really makes you think about when you’re watching the news, it isn’t just somewhere else.’ ”

President Biden called the Sanders family on Tuesday to express his condolences, and all 14 members of Georgia’s House delegation, plus several from other states, gathered in Washington for a tribute to the reservists.

What Top 10 Black-Oriented Sites Featured Tuesday

(Including Those That Don’t Pretend to Do News)

While not in the top 10, EURWeb.com also had the soldiers’ story on its homepage.

Still, Danielle Belton, editor of HuffPost and a former editor of The Root, contends that homepages might not be the best indicators of how a site values the story.

 “Most people find news through social media, or at least did historically until sites like Facebook started de-prioritizing news, which is why some news sites are much more aggressive on social than their homepages.

“Homepage traffic is down for a lot of news sites and has been in some cases for years. HuffPost is one of the few news sites that has a large, dedicated homepage audience. Building this kind of loyalty can still be done, but it takes a degree of time and investment that most news sites stopped doing in the advent of social media.

“Now that social media giants like Facebook and Twitter/X have become less traffic drivers or promoters of news, investing in homepages may become more necessary.”

The News Guild makes a request of Thursday’s news consumers.

Chicago Tribune, Sister Papers Plan Thursday Strike

Journalists at the Chicago Tribune plan Thursday to join “hundreds of unionized journalists at Tribune Publishing across seven newsrooms in a one-day strike to demand fair wages, protection of 401k match,” the NewsGuild announced Wednesday. It will be the “biggest collective action against Alden Global Capital since 2021 purchase of Tribune Publishing,” the Guild said.

Mobilizing for the job action are, according to the union:

  • Chicago Tribune Guild: The Chicago Tribune
  • Tribune Publishing joint bargaining unit
  • Tribune Suburbs: Beacon-News, Courier-News, Daily Southtown, Naperville Sun
  • Orlando Sentinel
  • Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
  • Tidewater Media Guild: Virginian Press, Daily Pilot, Virginia Gazette, Tidewater Review
  • Design and Production Studio (DPS): Tribune’s central layout and design hub
  • Tribune Content Agency (TCA): Tribune newswire service and syndication agency

“The company has also failed to remedy long-standing wage inequities on race and gender lines,” a Guild statement said. “A Chicago Tribune Guild study from 2023 showed that journalists of color at the Tribune make a median wage that’s $10K less than their white counterparts, while women typically make $20K less than their male counterparts when examining median salaries.”

Critics have long said the Alden Global Capital model of aggressive cost-cutting has hurt the local news industry.

In a letter posted to Alden Global Capital posted Wednesday on X, the Guild said, “in your time owning Tribune newspapers across the country, you have shrunk our staff by dozens, cut freelancer budgets and limited access to critical information.“

Laura Wagner reported for The Washington Post, “while most of the recent media walkouts — from the New York Times a year ago to Condé Nast last week — have largely been PR exercises, aimed at pressuring owners in the court of public opinion, union members believe their action could seriously disrupt the Tribune newspapers’ production this week.

“ ‘I presume a paper will get out,’ said Dave Roknic, a print production specialist in the Tribune unit that oversees the entire chain’s print publication, from which 90 percent of unionized employees plan to walk out alongside editorial staffers. ‘But I can’t speak to how those papers are going to look.’

“Gregory Royal Pratt, an investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune, said Thursday’s strike is just the beginning of the staffs’ attempt to confront management over practices they believe are undermining coverage of their communities. Journalists at the New York Daily News, another Alden paper acquired with the Tribune purchase, conducted a walkout last week.

“ ‘This is not a one-time thing where we’re gonna go away if they ignore us,’ Pratt said. ‘This is something that we’re going to continue to fight over.’ ” (Jan. 31 update)

Inmates walk down the long hallway on their way out to the recreation yard, at the Deuel Vocational Institution near Tracy, Calif. Due to the jail overcrowding, the inmates get only four hours of recreation a week. (Credit: Tony Avelar/file photo/Christian Science Monitor)

Prisoners Are Hidden Workforce for Popular Foods

“In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to U.S. prisoners wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola. They are on the shelves of most supermarkets, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods,” Margie Mason and Robin McDowell reported Monday for the Associated Press.

“Here are takeaways from the AP’s investigation:

“PEOPLE OF COLOR DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED

“The U.S. has a history of locking up more people than any other country – currently around 2 million – and goods tied to prison labor have morphed into a massive multibillion-dollar empire, extending far beyond the classic images of people stamping license plates or working on road crews. . . .

“WIDE RANGE OF BUSINESSES BENEFIT FROM PRISON LABOR . . .

“WIDE RANGE OF JOBS

“Almost all of the country’s state and federal adult prisons have some sort of work programs, employing around 800,000 people, according to a 2022 report by the American Civil Liberties Union. The vast majority of those jobs are tied to tasks like maintaining prisons, laundry or kitchen work. Some prisoners also work for states and municipalities, doing everything from cleaning up after hurricanes and tornadoes to picking up trash along bustling highways. . . .

“WHAT DO THE COMPANIES SAY?

“While prison labor seeps into the supply chains of some companies through third-party suppliers without them knowing, others buy direct. Mammoth commodity traders that are essential to feeding the globe like Cargill, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus, Archer Daniels Midland and Consolidated Grain and Barge have been scooping up millions of dollars’ worth of soy, corn and wheat straight from prison farms. . . .

“WHAT DO THE PRISONS SAY?

“Corrections officials and other proponents note that not all work is forced and that prison jobs save taxpayers money. They also say workers are learning skills that can be used when they’re released and given a sense of purpose, which could help ward off repeat offenses. In some cases, labor can mean time shaved off a sentence. And the jobs provide a way to repay a debt to society, they say. . . .”

Ron Nixon, the AP’s vice president, news and head of investigations, enterprise, partnerships and grants, told Journal-isms, “Margie Mason and Robin McDowell are Pulitzer Prize winners who have done these types of investigations abroad and wanted to turn their attention to [a] similar issue at home.”

Indigenous Affairs Editor Bridget Brennan of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. presents her findings in London. (Credit: Andrew Bailey/Reuters Institute)

Worldwide, Indigenous Journalists Cite Turnoffs

“In the past five years alone, Indigenous journalists have uncovered multiple allegations of human rights abuses in settler colonial countries. These stories have exposed allegations of police brutality, the disappearances and murders of Aboriginal women, land theft, deaths in custody, racist media coverage and failures to repatriate human remains,” Bridget Brennan reported Jan. 16 for the Reuters Institute.

“But amidst all the power and promise inherent in the growth of Indigenous affairs beats around the world, there are unseen pressures that – if not dealt with systematically – threaten to derail the progress made.

“We can start to alleviate the risk of burnout and disillusionment if we talk more openly about the factors that can make this job so challenging.

“During my fellowship at the Reuters Institute, I conducted six in-depth interviews with Indigenous journalists from five countries to ask why so many talented First Nations journalists consider quitting, despite loving the work that they do.

“Five key themes emerged. This list is not exhaustive, but it serves as a starting point. Some of these will be applicable to other journalists from marginalised communities, too.

  • “1. Pitching the story: ‘Imagine having to plead your own humanity.’ . . .
  • “2. Moral injury: ‘You are watching people die in slow motion from neglect.’ . . .
  • “3. The cultural load: ‘I’m going to have to answer for that.’ . . .
  • “4. Translation exhaustion: ‘Now I have to make sure your work is culturally competent.’ . . .
  • “5. Racist abuse: ‘Start the morning trawling through racist emails.’ . . .

“My interviewees called for more dedicated and well-resourced Indigenous affairs units led by Indigenous journalists and editors who deeply understand the issues. These teams need adequate funding and resources, equivalent to other respected bureaus. They also need editorial autonomy for meaningful story selection. . . .”

14-Year-Old Is Already a Scientist

Everybody likes feel-good stories. Here’s one from “PBS News Weekend”: “Heman Bekele spent the last year developing a bar of soap that could treat skin cancer. It was the winning entry at the annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge, considered one of the top science and engineering competitions for fifth through eighth graders. For our Weekend Spotlight, John Yang speaks with Bekele about his work.” This young man is 14.

Short Takes

  • “MSNBC’s Joy Reid (pictured) unwittingly unloaded an f-bomb on a hot mic during Monday’s edition of The ReidOut,” Michael Luciano reported Monday for Mediaite. “At one point, Reid slammed congressional Republicans who oppose President Joe Biden’s legislative achievements – only to later take credit for the benefits their states and districts receive. She then pivoted to immigration talks in the Senate. . . . Later in the show, Reid apologized to viewers. ‘Before we go, I just want to apologize very quickly,’ she said. ‘I was chatting during a clip that was playing, and you know, we try to keep this show very PG-13, so I just want to apologize to anyone who was listening to my ‘behind the scenes’ chatter. I deeply, deeply apologize for that.’ ”
  • Hector Becerra (pictured) has been promoted to managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, interim executive editor Terry Tang announced Tuesday, putting people of color in the top two newsroom posts. “Becerra will oversee daily newsgathering and editorial operations, beginning today,” the announcement said. “He will also work with Tang to examine all aspects of The Times’ report and editorial staffing as the newsroom undergoes a leadership transition and reorganization. . . . Since 2022, Becerra has been deputy managing editor for California and Metro, leading the largest staff in The Times newsroom with a charge of refining its mission and enhancing its ability to make its news coverage indispensable to readers in the region. . . .”
  • “Byron Allen (pictured) is making a play for Paramount,” Alex Weprin reported Tuesday for the Hollywood Reporter. “The comic-turned media mogul has made a $14.3 billion offer to buy all outstanding shares Paramount Global, according to a statement from Allen’s company.” Christopher Palmeri reported for Bloomberg that Allen, according to “people familiar with his plans,” intends “to sell the Paramount film studio, real estate and some other intellectual property. He will keep the TV channels, including the Paramount+ streaming service, and run them on a more cost-efficient basis. He has banks and other investors lined up, the people said.” Palmeri also wrote, “Paramount — one of the crown jewels in a global media empire controlled by the Redstone family — would be a tough deal to complete. The company generated operating income before depreciation and amortization of $1.87 billion in the first nine months of last year, a 30% decline from the year before. Sales, at $22 billion, were flat. Allen would be borrowing at a time of much higher interest rates than some of his previous acquisitions. . . .”
  • “In response to laws passed last year in Florida, the School District of Escambia County — which includes Pensacola, in the state’s northwest corner — removed more than 1,600 books from school libraries and placed them into storage,” Will Bunch wrote Friday for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s “The Grammarian” column. “Included in that sequester: Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary, The American Heritage Children’s Dictionary, and Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus for Students. Also on the list: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. While Florida has passed plenty of problematic legislation in recent years, the current controversy is a result of the state’s HB 1069, which prescribes what Florida students learn related to sex and gender (ideally: nothing at all) and how they learn it (ideally: while wearing potato sacks and puritan bonnets). . . .”
  • “Epicenter-NYC, a community journalism multiplatform initiative that launched as a newsletter in 2020 to help neighbors navigate the Covid pandemic, has been awarded $250,000 from the Mellon Foundation to establish a multipurpose community hub,” the organization announced Tuesday. “Epicenter’s model reframes newsgathering toward partnering with, rather than reporting on, people and places whose heritage and stories have not always been told on their own terms,” it said of the Queens, N.Y., program. “To be in such deep alignment with a philanthropic partner who shares our vision to center communities is a delight,” said S. Mitra Kalita (pictured), co-founder and publisher of Epicenter-NYC. . . . “
Barbara Reynolds is flanked by Martin King III, left, and Dexter King.
  • “On December 8, 1999, Dexter and Mrs. King, on behalf of the family, pursued a civil suit in Memphis,” Barbara Reynolds, a biographer of Coretta Scott King, wrote Saturday for the Trice Edney Newswire after Dexter King’s death from prostate cancer at age 62. “A jury of six Whites and six Blacks unanimously implicated U.S. government agencies in the wrongful death of Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.]. The shocking evidence convinced the jury that Dr. King had been the victim of assassination by a conspiracy involving the Memphis Police Department as well as local, state, and federal government agencies, and the Mafia. The Jury also concluded, just as Dexter had argued all along, that [James Earl] Ray was not the shooter, but had been set up as a patsy to take the blame. This news, where both Dexter and Mrs. King testified, should have rocked the world, but unfortunately it landed like the noise of a feather hitting the ground. The verdict and shocking testimony were virtually ignored by the media — as it is today. . . .”
  • “CNN Philippines is to close down on Wednesday, the company announced on Monday local time,” Patrick Frater reported Sunday for Variety. “The move means up to 300 jobs will be lost. CNN Philippines was launched in 2015 under a brand licensing agreement between Turner and Nine Media Network, a Philippines company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ALC Group of Companies previously launched by the late Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua. . . .”

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About Richard Prince

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View previous columns (before Feb. 13, 2016)

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