Articles Feature

Cyberattack Hits Black News Website

by richard02524

N.Y. Cops Say They’re Not Ready to Take a Report
The Root’s New Editor Has Already Been in the Chair
Jim Trotter Named NABJ’s Journalist of the Year
Phila. Council Gives $25G to Black Journalist Group
News Directors Say Staff Burnout Is on the Rise
Native Journalists Announce Top Awards
Black-Press Embarrassment: Perry Didn’t Buy BET
Jack Stokes, A.P. Veteran, Spokesman, Dies at 73
Where Endangered Journalists Seek Refuge

Short Takes: unattainable housing for younger journalists; Geraldo Rivera; Crystal Bui; second life for “El Washington Post”; Kathleen O. McElroy; Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Max Kellerman; “See It Loud: The History of Black Television”; more on Grand Rapids Pride Month flap; Talia Buford;

Ron Bartholomew, Gary Wordlaw and Ismail Turay Jr.; Lester Holt; Inside Climate News summer fellows; Francisco Gutierrez; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense News contributor Vivek Raghuvansh; Brazilian newspapers’ “very serious cultural, social, and political” diversity problem; threats to press in Colombia; ongoing crackdown in Tunisia.

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“Part of the cost of exposing wrongs is that you’re subjected to attacks — whether in the form of losing advertising revenue or in the form of cyberattacks,” Milton Allimadi, publisher of Black Star News, wrote on GoFundMe. “We’re paying the price.”

N.Y. Cops Say They’re Not Ready to Take a Report

The publisher of a Black weekly in New York says the paper’s website was the target of a cyberattack that resulted in the deletion of 25,768 articles and disabling of its ability to post new articles.

The publisher is Milton Allimadi, publisher of Black Star News and an adjunct professor in the Africana Studies Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Allimadi told Journal-isms that most of the articles had been retrieved. “The new developer who’d been working on it for months had been archiving while building the new site. He said he had managed to save most of the articles except for those posted between March and May,” Allimadi said.

However, New York police refused to accept a report about the incident, he said, because “for them to even start doing anything our Web host would have to first do a thorough investigation and prepare a detailed report in writing which I should then bring back to them.”

A New York police spokesman confirmed on May 25 that the department did not accept Allimadi’s May 22 report to police because it was sent by email and not presented in person at the precinct.

When Allimadi went to the precinct, he messaged, an officer conferred with supervisors and told him “They won’t move until our webmaster does [a] comprehensive review themselves and [prepares a] report before they take it up. We are not in a rush to pay the webmaster to do something nypd would do if we were major corporate media but may eventually pay for it. Our resources were into completing the new site and migrating stories a new designer had managed to archive separately.”

Allimadi, a native of Uganda whose 2021 book, “Manufacturing Hate: How Africa Was Demonized in Western Media,” was excerpted in Journal-isms, has now updated a GoFundMe page in which he says, “Over the years we’ve covered many stories that ruffled feathers — be they about alleged egregious misconduct by judges in the New York courts system or by the corrupt U.S.-backed military regime in Uganda, to name just a few subjects.”

The GoFundMe page goes into more detail.

The Root’s New Editor Has Already Been in the Chair

The designated supervisor of TheRoot.com, who declared that in seeking the next top editor, “our goals start with serious journalistic coverage and commentary about important issues,” has selected acting editor Tatsha Robertson for the job.

“An award-winning journalist and author, Robertson was recently deputy editor,” a Friday announcement said. “Previously, she was a senior editor at People Magazine and served as deputy editor of Essence, where she launched its Washington, D.C. bureau.”

Robertson (pictured) became acting editor in April after Vanessa K. De Luca left the position after two years as editor-in-chief. Owner G/O Media advertised for her successor.

Robertson had been a book ghostwriter among other roles and, while at the Boston Globe, shared in the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service for the Globe’s investigation of sexual abuse by priests.

In recent years, the Root has tended toward lighter fare. The current lead story is “Memorable Moments at BET Awards,” and over the Juneteenth weekend, it repeated the recently discredited canard that Blacks in Galveston, Texas, did not know about the end of slavery until a Union general told them. Earlier, it ran a piece speculating on whether Don Lemon, fired as an anchor on CNN, would want to return. No spokespeople from CNN — which would do the hiring — were quoted. Instead, the website TMZ was the source.

Merrill Brown (pictured), editorial director at G/O Media, which owns The Root, told the Journal-isms Roundtable last month, “The Root is particularly important to me, quite frankly, because of its history, the legacy of people who have worked there, the ups and downs it’s had through multiple ownership situations/circumstances, and because of how critically important its mission is. And its mission is to cover a part of American life that is not always well-covered.

“Its mission is to try to look under cracks where much of journalism doesn’t necessarily get to. Its mission is to cover culture in ways that some publications do rather well, but not that many; and it’s in a category where I think there’s lots of editorial opportunity.” The next Root editor also should have “the right journalism context, especially in this moment, and [an understanding of] the business model challenges that all of us on this call are familiar with. . . .”

Brown had said earlier, “I hope [and am] assuming you know of my [Washington] Post roots, our goals start with serious journalistic coverage and commentary about important issues.

“I just got here and get to make a really critical hire at The Root. At the same time we are also committed to continuing to cover popular culture and work to take the pulse of the communities we’re covering.”

Brown’s talk of “serious journalistic coverage” harkened to the aims of the site when it began.

“Initially launched as a vertical by The Washington Post in 2008, its white owners at the Post gave The Root plenty of autonomy and trusted its stewardship to revered professor and historian, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and top-notch editor Lynette Clemetson, who came to The Root as its founding managing editor from The New York Times,” Aja Hannah wrote in 2021 for the Pivot Fund.

“The Root flourished at the Post under this leadership and became a go-to site for Black thought leadership on critical topics of the day such as the housing crisis to policing in America and more. . . .”

The National Association of Black Jounalists’ Hall of Fame Induction and Luncheon is to take place during the organization’s convention on Friday, Aug. 4, at noon CDT in Birmingham, Ala. Special honors recipients and finalists are to be feted at the luncheon also, as well as at other times during the convention. (Credit: NABJ)

Jim Trotter Named NABJ’s Journalist of the Year

Jim Trotter, longtime pro football reporter who publicly challenged NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the lack of diversity off the field and within the NFL Media Group — where Trotter worked — and then did not have his contract renewed, has been voted Journalist of the Year by the board of the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ announced Friday.

Trotter told the Journal-isms Roundtable in March, “I just believe that the role of a journalist is to hold those in power accountable, and to make sure that their actions reflect their words. And so when the NFL repeatedly says that its core principles are diversity, equity and inclusion, and the data does not reflect that, then they need to be asked about it.”

The NABJ announcement said, “Trotter is a National Columnist for The Athletic. He spent nearly three decades doggedly covering the National Football League for NFL Media, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is the 2023 winner of the Bill Nunn Jr. Award and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee. In 2021, he was named Journalist of the Year by the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches and is a former president of Pro Football Writers of America.”

The announcement also included the other top honors.

Phila. Council Gives $25G to Black Journalist Group

The Philadelphia City Council has awarded $25,000 to the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the Council announced Thursday.

“The funding will be used to advance PABJ’s programming around youth media mentorship and career development opportunities for professionals and the at-large community,” Council members Katherine Gilmore Richardson and Isaiah Thomas announced.

“Through their hard work and dedication, the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (PABJ)… has provided a platform for diverse voices, educational enhancement, and community engagement that has helped us create a more informed and engaged society,” said Gilmore Richardson.

“She added that she is honored to ensure the PABJ has the necessary resources to continue serving as advocates for fair and accurate coverage in communities of color,” Philadelphia’s Al Día reported.

The notion of an organization of journalists accepting money from the government has raised questions elsewhere about firewalls between the two groups. However, PABJ President Ernest Owens told Journal-isms in March, when the decision to award the money was made, but the amount had not been determined, that the money would in no way influence journalists who belong to PABJ.

“We’re not a news organization,” Owens said, but a nonprofit. The amount would be “way less than 10 percent of what our current budget is.” It’s important that PABJ diversify its funding sources, and if anyone from the city suggested any quid pro quo from a PABJ member, PABJ would give the money back, Owens said.

PABJ announced in December that it had left the National Association of Black Journalists, and in April, it was confirmed that Owens had been suspended from the national for five years for reasons unrelated to the grant money.

Bob Butler, Sharon Kyle and James Farr of the LA Progressive discuss the challenges associated with covering stories that take an emotional toll on journalists. (Credit: YouTube)

News Directors Say Staff Burnout Is on the Rise

“More than two-thirds (68.9%) of all TV news directors say staff burnout is worse now than it was one year ago,” the Radio Television Digital News Association reported Wednesday.

“That’s the latest finding of the 2023 RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.

‘The percentage was a bit lower in top 25 markets (at 59.4%), but all other market sizes were in the two-thirds range or higher, peaking in the smallest markets at 77.3%. Stations in both the Northeast and the Midwest were near 75%, but both the South and West were in the mid-60s.

“Almost nine out of ten news directors (88.8%) say they’re trying to do something about it, and their tactics vary. Some are making substantive changes to salaries and schedules, and others are offering more mental health resources to staff. Others still have taken more creative approaches to boost staff morale: a fun committee, gym memberships, cake, pizza, staff potlucks and midday nature walks. . . . “

The report did not address racial disparities, but the effect on journalists of color of covering trauma in their own communities has been widely discussed.

“Bob Butler has had a storied 44-year career in broadcast journalism,” the LA Progressive wrote this month. “This former president of the National Association of Black Journalists is known as a reporters’ reporter. A Peabody award and Edward R. Murrow winning journalist, Butler recently retired from KCBS radio in San Francisco.

“In this video interview, Bob Butler . . . speaks with Sharon Kyle and James Farr on the topic of emotional burnout. On the heels of an interview James and Sharon conducted with Andrew and Deanna Joseph,” whose child died because of police negligence, “they wanted to ask the veteran journalist if he had any tips on dealing [with] the sometimes overwhelmingly sad news we report on, especially news that covers gun violence and police killings of unarmed Black and brown people.

“Butler believes that all journalists, regardless of race, must deal with the personal impact of covering horrific stories. Said Butler, ‘We often cover tragedy. We talk to the parents of murdered children, to the children of murdered mothers and fathers. We talk to people who’ve lost their homes to floods and hurricanes. We talk to people whose houses have burned down. It’s hard to cover those kinds of news stories and not take in some of that tragedy yourself.’ He went on to say that you must find a way to address the trauma of covering these stories. Butler spoke of sources of support offered through the National Association of Black Journalists. d. . .”

Ray Taken Alive and Gloria Runs Close To Lodge-Goggles accused the founder of the Language Conservancy of taking their family’s data for his work. The Native American Journalists Association honored Graham Lee Brewer for reporting the story. (Credit: J.D. Reeves for NBC News / Tara Rose Weston / Natalie Behring).

Native Journalists Announce Top Awards

“The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) has selected the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) as the recipient of the 2023 NAJA Elias Boudinot Free Press Award, which recognizes a publication or media outlet that has shown dedication and commitment to upholding freedom of the press, information and transparency on Turtle Island,” the latter a term for North and Central America, NAJA announced Friday.

“APTN News was selected for their ongoing coverage of Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance’s (Saulteaux) wrongful conviction case and general commitment to government accountability and transparency. . . .”

APTN News successfully joined the sisters’ lawyer in the fight against a proposed publication ban, “arguing that the media plays a crucial role in cases of wrongful conviction. . . .”

In addition, NAJA selected Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee) (pictured) NAJA president and NBC national investigative reporter, as the recipient of the 2023 Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Journalism. The award “recognizes groundbreaking work by journalists that creatively use digital tools in the role of community watchdog. Special consideration is given to journalism that helps a community understand and address important issues.

“The committee selected Brewer for his story on the Lakota Language Consortium over access to recordings of Ray Taken Alive’s grandmother speaking their language as part of a project to generate a standardized Lakota dictionary and textbooks. . . .

“Taken Alive asked for the recordings after she died from COVID-19 in 2020 and learned that the consortium had ‘unrestricted permission to copyright’ and publish them, according to the agreement she signed. While the tapes were eventually provided, this raised a larger issue. The tribe had helped fund and support funding for the project and was now being charged for access to its own culture. . . .”

NAJA chose Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation / Lakota) (pictured) “as the inaugural 2023 Tim Giago Free Press Award recipient, which recognizes an individual NAJA member that has [shown] dedication and commitment to upholding freedom of the press, information and transparency within their Indigenous community.

“Spotted Bear was selected for her work as a citizen and journalist in holding the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation accountable through her reporting on the tribal government and raising awareness regarding its transparency issues.

“Spotted Bear is president of the Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information (SPJ FOI) Committee, which gave the 2023 SPJ FOI Black Hole Award to the Three Affiliated Tribes’ Mark Fox administration, the first ever to a tribal government. . . .”

Another outlet used The Streamr report, which turned out to be false. (Credit: YouTube)

Black-Press Embarrassment: Perry Didn’t Buy BET

“In a major development for the entertainment industry, BET has become Black-owned once again after 21 years, while VH1, for the first time, now boasts an African American owner,” the news service of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which funnels stories to the members of the Black press, declared.

It wasn’t true.

The story, by Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire senior national correspondent, continued, “According to his longtime friend and television personality Rolanda Watts, Tyler Perry has cemented his place in history by acquiring the two major television networks, making him the first African American to do so. . . .

“As the new owner of these influential networks, Perry is poised to leave an indelible mark on the future of Black-owned media and further amplify underrepresented narratives on a global scale.”

The St. Louis American, an NNPA member, quoted a different source, The Streamr, which has since removed the story. The American headlined Tuesday, “Tyler Perry finalizes deal to buy BET.“

The Seattle Medium, which used the NNPA story, told readers June 14, “Tyler Perry Reportedly Makes History As First African American To Acquire Two Major TV Networks.”

The NNPA story did not quote Perry, a Perry representative or Paramount Global, BET’s current owner.

Other reports told a different tale:

“Tyler Perry Did Not Buy BET, But If He Does Here Are Three Sports Programs We Would Like To See Made,” Jarod Hector wrote Tuesday for the Shadow League.

“Tyler Perry is ‘balking at the $3BILLION asking price’ for BET as he is ‘becoming frustrated’ in his efforts to buy the network,” Alesia Stanford wrote on Tuesday, updated Wednesday, for DailyMail.com.

Chris Katje wrote June 15 for Benzinga, “Is Tyler Perry The New Owner of BET, VH1? Inside The Rumors“

Jack Stokes, A.P. Veteran, Spokesman, Dies at 73

“Jack Stokes, a veteran journalist with The Associated Press who was the news cooperative’s steadfast supporter and served as its spokesman during the last years of his decades-long career before his retirement, has died,” Deepti Hajela reported Wednesday for the AP. “He was 73.

“Stokes, an avid cyclist and athlete, died unexpectedly after collapsing at his home in Queens on Sunday evening, said his longtime partner, Lorene Bradshaw.

“He was remembered fondly by former colleagues as a calm, funny and charming presence everywhere from shifts working overnight in his early days to the company’s basketball league that ran for a few years toward the end of his time at the AP.

“ ‘Jack was a beloved colleague to generations of AP employees and at many times felt like our center of gravity,’ said Josh Hoffner, national news director for the AP. “He loved the camaraderie of the AP and enhanced it every day.”

“The widely known and outgoing Stokes was often a bridge among AP’s various departments, making regular stops in different parts of the organization and its New York headquarters news operations to stop and chat. When people would ask him what was new, he’d retort: ‘You tell me.’

“Stokes had started working at the AP in 1971 in temporary stints while still in college, before becoming a full-time hire in 1974 and spending about a dozen years with the AP’s broadcast operations in New York City and in Washington.

“He switched to the company’s corporate communications in 1986 and then spent just over a decade in human resources, where he played a vital role in programs including its internship program for college students.

“ ‘His approach to diversity, staff development and mentorship was truly ahead of its time,’ said Michael Giarrusso, AP’s deputy head of newsgathering for global beats. ‘He launched hundreds of AP careers and built trust with bureau chiefs and department heads by putting the right interns in the right openings.’ . . .”

Where Endangered Journalists Seek Refuge

“All over the world, journalists who are threatened or endangered in connection with their work are forced to flee abroad in search of refuge,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Tuesday. “Based on data provided by RSF’s Assistance Desk and information gathered during the past five years by RSF’s bureaux, the exile journalists map shows that this is a global phenomenon. Each continent produces its flow of journalists fleeing abroad, who mainly find refuge in Europe and North America.

“The map reflects not only armed conflicts In Europe (Ukraine), Africa (Sudan) and the Middle East (Syria) but also recent tension and political turmoil that has fuelled persecution of critical and/or independent journalists. . . .”

Short Takes

  • “It’s a Catch-22 in the local news business in which some news outlets that enjoy steady advertising and older, affluent readers are also communities where housing is unattainable for younger journalists. Such markets include Martha’s Vineyard, the Delaware shore and wealthy beach cities in Florida and California,” Paul Glader wrote Monday for the Poynter Institute. Solutions? Glader also wrote, Indiana-based Sarkes Tarzian “launched an internship program this summer in Reno and Chattanooga that would provide housing for interns from colleges outside their coverage areas in addition to paying for 40 hours per week of work. . . . In Washington D.C., the National Press Club offers a Lewis Scholarship that provides free housing and a $4,000 stipend to student journalists of color who have secured a newsroom internship in Washington, D.C. . . .”
  • “A former KSTP-TV news reporter has accused the station of sexism and unsafe work practices,” Neal Justin reported Monday for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. “In her self-published book, ‘More to Tell,’ Crystal Bui (pictured) focuses on 2019-21, the two years she spent at the local ABC affiliate. Among her many allegations are claims that her bosses didn’t do enough to protect her while she was covering protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. . . .’I don’t want my experiences to be in vain,’ said Bui, who is Vietnamese American and grew up in Northern California. ‘Women are taught, especially in Asian culture, to be polite and go along with the flow. We’re not allowed to talk back. This is my way of talking back.’ “
  • “Kathleen O. McElroy (pictured) will direct Texas A&M University’s new journalism program with the vision of equipping the next generation of journalists, forging collaborations across System partners and private industry, and rebuilding community trust in the Free Press,” the university announced June 13. “A priority for McElroy and the Communication & Journalism faculty is to build a curriculum incorporating innovative ways to deliver news to underserved audiences across Texas and beyond its borders . . . For 55 years, A&M had a journalism department and degree before it was discontinued in 2004. A&M continued to offer journalism education as a minor and later as a Liberal Arts degree in university studies.” McElroy’s journalism career includes 20 years at The New York Times. From 2018 through 2022, McElroy was director of the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received her Ph.D. in Journalism in 2014.
ESPN is scrapping its national morning radio show featuring Max Kellerman, left, Keyshawn Johnson and Jay Williams. (Credit: ESPN)
  • “CNN has set a premiere date for its next original series: See It Loud: The History of Black Television,” Alex Weprin reported Monday for the Hollywood Reporter. “The five-episode docuseries — which is produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter through their SpringHill Company — will debut Sunday, July 9 at 9 PM. The series explores the impact of Black television on popular culture, from The Jeffersons and Roots to the cultural impact of reality and unscripted TV. ‘Today we are in the midst of what is being widely referred to as “The Golden Age of Black Television”; however, this ‘Golden Age’ is the culmination of an eighty-year struggle for Black artists to find a voice and fight for representation,’ the logline reads.”
  • “Gray-owned WNDU has partnered with the Gannett-owned South Bend [Ind.] Tribune to share content and collaborate on a wide array of reporting projects,” TVNewsCheck wrote Tuesday over a story by Michael Stahl. “The upshot has been a win-win for both outlets and the broader ‘Michiana’ community, says the Tribune’s executive editor.” The principals are three Black men: Ron Bartholomew, WNDU vice president and general manager; Gary Wordlaw, news directo;r and Ismail Turay Jr., (pictured) Tribune executive editor. “Bartholomew, Wordlaw and Turay envision joint investigative reporting projects in the future, and in a few months, about the time Notre Dame’s varsity football season kicks off, Michiana residents will enjoy a new Fighting Irish-focused podcast featuring staffers from WNDU and the Tribune,” Stahl wrote. “Turay was recently treated to a dry-run episode that left him gobsmacked. . . .”
  • “The hardest job I’ve had is cable-news anchor,” NBC News anchor Lester Holt (pictured) told Brian Stelter Thursday for Esquire. “I did twenty years of local television and radio, but when I got to MSNBC, I was drinking from a fire hose. Ad-libbing. Shifting topics really quickly. I thought, Man, if I can master this, I can do anything.” Holt also said, “I was twenty-eight years old, and I was doing a story about the military. I had the opportunity to go up in an F-16 with an Air Force pilot. We went up on a little training mission in the Arizona desert and we’re flying between these canyons. He lets me take the stick and I fly it through a loop. We landed, and I had this almost slight feeling of depression, like I had screwed up my life. I thought, This is what I should have done. But life went a different way.”
  • Patrice Gaines, award-winning journalist, author of two books, motivational speaker, and advocate for criminal justice reform, is being honored with the Defender of Innocence award by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project at its annual awards luncheon on June 28. “Her brave early writing about the 8th & H case for The Washington Post garnered national attention and led to MAIP’s involvement in the case,” the group said.
  • “Senior White House officials said press freedom would be among the topics discussed this week by President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in private meetings, but would not commit to specifically intervening in the case of Defense News contributor Vivek Raghuvanshi (pictured),” Leo Shane III reported Thursday for Defense News. “Raghuvanshi, a journalist and freelancer to Defense News for more than three decades, was jailed in mid-May by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of espionage. The Indian government has released minimal information on his arrest. . . .”
  • “A new report on attacks against the press in Colombia developed by the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, by its Spanish acronym), revealed a concerning assessment for journalists in the country,” LatAm Journalism Review reported Monday, quoting Infobae. “In 2023, 58 threats against these professionals have been documented. The figures, which correspond to the period between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2023, show that a journalist is threatened every two days, according to FLIP …”

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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

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