Articles Feature

Eek! Biden Said ‘Black Woman’!

by richard03276

Updated Feb. 2

Fox’s Faulkner Even Sees ‘Discrimination’
None ‘More Pragmatic . . . Than a Black Woman’

Co-Hosts ‘Furious’ Over Goldberg Suspension

Bailon Exits St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Public Media
Two Black Editors Moving On
Pioneering Bilingual J-Program to Debut This Fall
NAHJ Board Members Question Ties to Facebook

‘Are You Black First?’ Variation Resurfaces
. . . Gun Violence Is Not a ‘They’ Problem
‘A Lynching Countenanced by the White Press’
Here Are the ‘World’s Most Under-Reported Crises’
Fourth Mexican Journalist Killed in Month

Short Takes: Grupo Televisa-Univision collaboration; 10 years of Black Lives Matter movement; different take on “Latinx”; “The Root” exodus; Damon Young; Gabriela Tristán; Jyoti Thottam; Andy Alford; Hector Becerra; nonprofit website Capital B; stats on “Why Black Media Matters Now”; media literacy intervention and reduction of racial stereotypes;

NBCU Academy expansion to 30 schools; Eugene Daniels; media access to trial in Breonna Taylor case; “the state of Black beauty”; white judges and Black criminal defendants; threats to Salt Lake Tribune staffers; Bob Nunnally; Rolling Out’s N. Ali Early; Black Radio Exclusive’s Sidney Miller; Cheslie Kryst; Michelle Li; Reveal: from the Center for Investigative Reporting; W. Kamau Bell and Bill Cosby; new Black World Media Network; Leon Harris; Chronicle of Philanthropy fellowships; Apple’s Black History Month; rewriting, defining and amplifying African narratives.

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Fox’s Faulkner Even Sees ‘Discrimination’

Conservatives and their media are treating President Biden’s campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the court “like an unprecedented affront against the country — while engaging in plenty of blatantly racist and misogynist rhetoric — even though it was nearly identical to a campaign pledge made by Ronald Reagan in 1980,” Eric Kleefeld wrote Thursday for Media Matters for America.

“Conservatives are now calling Biden’s pledge ‘discrimination,’ ‘unconstitutional,’ and even ‘tribal warfare’ “

On Sunday, ABC News reported, citing a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, “Biden’s campaign trail vow to select a Black woman to fill a high-court vacancy without reviewing all potential candidates evokes a sharply negative reaction from voters. . . .

“Although the poll’s sample size was not large enough to break out results for Black people, only a little more than 1 in 4 nonwhite Americans (28%) wish for Biden to consider only Black women for the vacancy. Democrats are more supportive of Biden’s vow (46%) than Americans as a whole, but still a majority of Democrats (54%) also prefer that Biden consider all possible nominees.”

(On Feb. 2, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting called the poll “More About a Soundbite Than Public Opinion“)

Despite the backlash, some in the media have championed the significance of Biden’s move. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, host Chuck Todd said, “I want to put up these statistics just so people understand why I think so many people believe it’s about time for an African American woman on the high court.

“There are nearly 1,400 federal judges, just 51 one of them right now are African American women, right? That’s less than 4% of everybody, so it’s an underrepresented group, as it is in the federal judiciary, the importance of this to African Americans, getting this representation on the court.”

A shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees (Credit: CNN) Who’s who.

And on PBS’ “NewsHour” on Friday, Jonathan Capehart made the case in his weekly conversation with conservative columnist David Brooks (next item).

Still, Kleefeld continued, “Early on Wednesday afternoon, in a conversation with law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley, Fox anchor Harris Faulkner suggested that Biden’s campaign pledge was ‘discrimination.’ ” Faulkner is a Black woman.

“Turley then published a guest column that evening in Fox News’ corporate cousin The Wall Street Journal, claiming that this Supreme Court nomination would be ‘different from any in history’ due to Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman. He also alleged that the presence of such a justice on the court would set up a historically ‘jarring’ moment in the court’s proceedings:

“Mr. Biden is now going to create one of the more jarring and incongruous moments in the history of the Supreme Court. This fall, in the Harvard and University of North Carolina cases, the justices will hear arguments that the use of race in admissions is unlawful discrimination. One of them will have gained her seat in part through exclusionary criteria of race and sex.

“National Review also furnished some concern-trolling that afternoon, its editorial bemoaning that Biden ‘disqualified dozens of liberal and progressive jurists for no reason other than their race and gender.’

On Wednesday night, Fox prime-time host Tucker Carlson alleged that Biden’s pledge for the Supreme Court nomination was equivalent to ‘giving up the spoils like carrot cake.’ He further added, very ominously: ‘You can see where this is going. It always goes there — identity politics always ends with tribal warfare. It’s funny the Biden people can’t see that. Maybe they can see it and don’t care or maybe it is the entire point of the exercise.’

“Fox host Sean Hannity repeatedly questioned whether Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman was even constitutional. Alan Dershowitz and others made similar claims.

“Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo declared Thursday morning: ‘What kind of qualification is that, being a Black woman? I mean is this our standards now, in terms of the highest court in the land?’

Turley appeared Thursday morning on Fox’s America’s Newsroom, during which co-anchor Dana Perino read a section from his Wall Street Journal column. Turley, at his own initiative, attempted to delineate the ‘subtle difference’ between Biden’s promise in 2020, versus Reagan’s campaign promise in 1980 to nominate a woman to ‘one of the first Supreme Court vacancies’ — claiming that Reagan ‘didn’t say he would only consider a woman.’ . . .”

None ‘More Pragmatic . . . Than a Black Woman’

On the “PBS News Hour” on Friday, conservative David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, was asked about President Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Brooks said, “I confess I’m a little uncomfortable at fronting that identity, putting that identity up front. And I think universities have learned that, as they seek diversity, they should treat the whole person.

“And so naming it that way and putting those identity issues up front, to me, it’s a matter of articulation. But I would like to emphasize, I would like to think the part of the person that’s up front is their wisdom, their compassion, their care, and that they are treated as a whole person.

“And so I confess I’m a little uncomfortable with the way Joe Biden used that pledge during the campaign, though I support the idea of the pledge.”

Jonathan Capehart (pictured), a Black journalist, noted that Biden did in fact put non-racial qualifications first in his White House announcement, “I’ve made no decision except one: The person I will nominate will be somebody of extraordinary qualifications, character and integrity.” And then Biden said, “And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It is long overdue.”

Capehart said, “I really hope that whoever President Biden chooses to be the nominee is someone who will be pragmatic. And I will just say flat out, since we know that it is going to be a Black woman who will be the nominee, and hopefully confirmed as justice, I can tell you right now, there’s no more pragmatic people in the world, out of necessity, than a Black woman.”

To Brooks’ “a little uncomfortable,” Capehart replied, “We have to understand something that, for far too long in this country, qualifications and wisdom and everything were never things that were — or ideas or characteristics — that were automatically ascribed to someone who was not white and certainly someone who was not white and male.

“And there — we have seen on the court that diversity has not been a thing on the court up until recently. We have an African American justice. We have several women justices. We have a Latina justice. And, pretty soon, we will have a Black woman justice.

“And it says something — you can focus on the race, but how about we focus on the experience the person brings to the bench because of who they are, where they’re from, their lived experience?

“And, also, the Black woman who’s going to be on the bench will probably be more impressive, have more qualifications, be more brilliant than the folks who have come in before her, precisely because she has had to be all those things because people used her race to downgrade and — downgrade and belittle and not think much of her, simply because she is Black. . . .”

Whoopi Goldberg apologized, explaining that, as a Black person, she thinks of racism as being based on skin color but that she realized not everyone sees it that way. (Credit: YouTube)

Co-Hosts ‘Furious’ Over Goldberg Suspension

“Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from The View for two weeks over her Monday remarks about the Holocaust, and most of her co-hosts are furious with the network, sources told The Daily Beast,” Lachlan Cartwright and Justin Baragona reported Tuesday, updated Wednesday, for The Daily Beast.

” ‘People are really upset and don’t understand why it took two days,’ an ABC executive told The Daily Beast. But multiple sources said that Goldberg’s co-hosts Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, and Ana Navarro are furious with the network’s decision.”

As Jenny Gross and Neil Vigdor reported Tuesday, updated Feb. 2, for The New York Times, “In the episode, Ms. Goldberg said the Holocaust was about ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ and ‘not about race.‘ When one of her co-hosts challenged that assertion, saying the Holocaust was driven by white supremacy, Ms. Goldberg said, ‘But these are two white groups of people.’

“She added, ‘This is white people doing it to white people, so y’all going to fight amongst yourselves.’ As she continued to speak, music came on, indicating a commercial break.

“In a statement on Tuesday night, Kim Godwin (pictured), president of ABC News, said that Ms. Goldberg would be suspended for ‘her wrong and hurtful comments.’

“ ‘While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,’ she said. “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.’

“There was a fierce backlash to Ms. Goldberg’s remarks. Jewish groups said that her comments were dangerous and the latest example of growing ignorance about the Nazi genocide. During World War II, under a policy of mass extermination, the Nazis killed six million Jews — about a third of the world’s Jewish population at the time — on the basis that they were an inferior race.

“In a later appearance on Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ on Monday, Ms. Goldberg apologized, explaining that, as a Black person, she thinks of racism as being based on skin color but that she realized not everyone sees it that way. ‘I get it. Folks are angry,’ she said. ‘I accept that, and I did it to myself.’ . . .”

Cartwright and Baragona wrote, “Navarro, a regular guest host who was on Monday’s broadcast, later told The Daily Beast how sad she was about the entire saga.

“ ‘I love Whoopi Goldberg. I love The View,’ she said on Tuesday evening. ‘This was an incredibly unfortunate incident. Whoopi is a lifelong ally to the Jewish community. She is not an antisemite. Period. I am sad. And I have nothing else to say.’ ”

  • Comment: Greg Thrasher, “Open Letter to Black Journalists : Whoopi” (end of this column)

Bailon Exits St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Public Media

Gilbert Bailon (pictured), one of the highest-ranking Hispanic editors in the mainstream media, is leaving the St. Louis Post-Dispatch “to join KERA News in Dallas as executive editor and to oversee the Texas Newsroom collaboration of public media newsrooms in Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio,” Bailon and KERA News announced late Tuesday.

He had been Post-Dispatch editor since 2012, joining the paper as editorial page editor in 2007.

In a question-and-answer part of the KERA news release, Bailon was asked, “Throughout your career, you’ve stressed the importance of covering underserved communities. What would you like to say to folks in North Texas who feel that the issues important to them have been ignored?”

Bailon replied: “In many markets, underserved communities get covered but often missing is the full breadth of those communities in their wider context and nuance. Underserved communities … deserve the time and effort from newsrooms to reflect them more completely. Historical context and sourcing are critical across race, gender, immigration status, language, culture, sexual orientation, socio-economic background and religion.”

Bailon has long been a newspaper industry figure, having headed both the old American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

In 2007, he became the first ASNE president from a Spanish-speaking newspaper. Bailon was then editor and publisher of Al Dia, the Spanish-language daily product of the Dallas Morning News. The KERA announcement heralded his time in Texas.

NAHJ president from 1994 to 1996, Bailon was given the group’s president’s award at last summer’s virtual convention.

During Bailon’s tenure, the Post-Dispatch reported only 14.47 percent people of color in the 2019 newsroom diversity survey of the News Leaders Association [PDF], successor to ASNE. That figure has disappointed some, but Bailon cited the need for more top editors, news directors, members of boards of directors and college deans of color, saying that people of color must be in leadership positions for true change to take place.

“We’re the ones who need to train, get educated, make those extra efforts, work the hardest,” Bailon urged. He also said, “Ultimately, it’s not about your career. There’s a greater mission we have.”

Bailon oversaw the Post-Dispatch’s coverage of the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson, Mo., and the social unrest that followed. The Post-Dispatch won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography and was a Pulitzer finalist for editorial writing for its coverage.

Within the newspaper industry, Bailon was called upon as a speaker to discuss “best practices” after the Ferguson unrest, and he was not shy about criticizing some of the coverage.

Bailon singled out Fox News for focusing on looting and “chaos” while ignoring the “deeper story” in Ferguson, and also cited The Washington Post and the New York Post for running thinly sourced negative stories about Brown, Joe Strupp reported at the time for Media Matters for America.

Two Black Editors Moving On

While there has been a spike in African American editors at mainstream newspapers since last year’s post-George Floyd “racial reckoning,” two of them announced Monday that they are stepping down.

Each posted the news on social media.

At the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss., Marlon A. Walker (pictured) wrote on LinkedIn, “After 18 months, my time with Gannett is coming to an end. In my new role, I will lead the charge for establishing and managing local newsrooms committed to The Marshall Project’s criminal justice mission. That will include bringing on talented journalists to tell those stories.”

Walker was more exuberant on Twitter, There, he said, “I’ve got news! I am headed to @marshallproj at the end of February for a job bigger than my dreams previously allowed me to imagine.”

Justin Madden, (pictured) at the Sun-News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., tweeted, “I’ll be joining the
@GuardianUS as the deputy west coast editor based in Los Angeles. I’m a child of LA and incredibly excited to help shape stories about those in a region dear to my heart.“

Eline Gordts, West Coast editor of The Guardian U.S., added, “The best possible start to 2022.“

Lourdes Cárdenas explains the origins of the B.A. program in a November interview with KRON-TV in San Francisco.

Pioneering Bilingual J-Program to Debut This Fall


A bilingual journalism B.A. program, the first of its kind to be offered by a public university in the United States, is set to launch at San Francisco State University this fall. The goal, according to Assistant Professor Ana Lourdes Cárdenas, is “to really help to change this landscape and the coverage of Latino communities in the U.S.“

“The program is designed to help students not just report in English and Spanish but to cover in a more nuanced and sensitive way Latino communities, which have traditionally been ignored and misrepresented by mainstream media.

” ‘I think our program, by preparing students to work in both English and Spanish, is going to really help to change this landscape and the coverage of Latino communities in the U.S.,’ said Cárdenas, who helped design the program,” the university said in its initial announcement.

“Cárdenas noted that students in the interdisciplinary program will take classes in five different departments — Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, Spanish, Latina/Latino Studies, International Relations, as well as Journalism.”

Responding to a question, Cárdenas messaged Journal-isms on Sunday, “I was hired by SFSU in 2018 with the idea of developing the program. “So it took three years to develop the curriculum and to get the approval for the [University of California System], which happened in October last year. Usually the design and approval of a new major takes a long time.

“In regards to the instructors, the entire faculty will be involved in teaching the program because it is bilingual. So many of the classes are going to be in English and many others in Spanish. For the Spanish classes myself and other instructors from the Spanish department will be the main instructors.

“Our expectation is to have at least 10 students enrolled for the kick out of the program in the fall. It seems as a small number, but please take in consideration that it will be the first semester, so hopefully the numbers will grow little by little. Let me add that we also launched a minor in Bilingual Journalism so our numbers will be bigger –hopefully.”

Applications were due Dec. 30. “We know that around 20 students applied, but we are not sure if they will formally enroll in the fall 2022,” Cárdenas messaged Journal-isms.

Maria Ressa, journalist and founder of the Philippine news organization Rappler, said, ‘We are fighting for facts’ last year after being named joint winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. (Credit: The Guardian)

NAHJ Board Members Question Ties to Facebook


Facebook has doled out millions of dollars to journalism organizations through scholarships and efforts to help stem local newspapers’ red ink, but at the board meeting Saturday of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, some wondered whether they were accomplices to the company’s deadly, less noble practices.


Facebook is “a threat to democracy,” said Mc Nelly Torres (pictured), national general at-large officer. “We need to reject Facebook money. They have decided that money is more important than anything else. . . . Us taking the money and looking the other way is not a good message.”

President Nora Lopez conceded, “I do find our relationship with them somewhat problematic moving forward,” but there is just one last scholarship” from Facebook to be awarded.


Yvette Cabrera, national vice president for online, said, “I agree with Mc Nelly. It’s really against our interests as journalists to continue.”

NAHJ, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association, have all partnered with Facebook to award scholarship money through the Facebook Journalism Project.

The NABJ Board of Directors responded Tuesday to an inquiry with this statement: “We have already discussed the issues with Facebook and are looking forward to our second of what will be ongoing discussions. They (Facebook) are clear on our concerns. We will have a statement on specifics as soon as our initial concerns and remedies are addressed.”

Spokespeople for AAJA and NAJA did not respond to emails seeking comment.

[Jessica Xiao, AAJA’s director of communications & strategic engagement, replied on Feb. 2, “We do have a Fundraising Policy that guides our collaborations with external organizations. Non-media companies and foundations can only sponsor social events and educational programs at the direction of the Governing Board, so each partnership is decided on a case-by-case basis.

[“We have a Facebook scholarship approved by a governing board from a few years ago after much discussion, but we do plan on revisiting our partnerships.”]

NAJA continues to advertise that it will select five students for one-time awards of $10,000 each for Indigenous students pursuing journalism and media.

NABJ announced in 2018 that it was “excited and proud to announce its partnership with Facebook.“

AAJA says it “will award five scholarships of $10,000 each for students to use toward their college tuition.”

Outside of these associations, Facebook said in 2020 that “more than 200 news organizations will receive nearly $16 million in grants through the Facebook Journalism Project’s relief fund for local news. These grants stem from $25 million in local news relief funding announced in March as part of Facebook’s $100 million global investment in news.”

Last October, the world heard assertions that Facebook has blood on its hands because of the disinformation spread on its platform, particularly in the conflict areas of Myanmar and Ethiopia, where thousands have died.

After winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Philippines journalist Maria Ressa reiterated that Facebook had become the world’s largest distributor of news, “yet it is biased against facts, it is biased against journalism … If you have no facts, you can’t have truths, you can’t have trust. If you don’t have any of these, you don’t have a democracy,” Michael Savage reported then for The Guardian. “Critics say Facebook’s algorithms favor postings that will generate emotion and clicks over facts, even if the postings amount to disinformation.”

That same month, NAHJ issued a statement saying it condemns Facebook CEO and co-founder “Mark Zuckerberg’s opposition in 2020 to a Spanish-language voting information resource on the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, as reported in the Washington Post. Employees from the Facebook-owned company had suggested creating the resource to offer accurate voting information to Spanish-speaking Americans, such as a chat bot or link, and providing it directly to users. But Zuckerberg allegedly objected to the proposal because he thought it would look ‘partisan’ ” A spokesperson from WhatsApp, Christina LoNigro, claims that this suggestion was never made.”

The release also said, “The responsibility of curbing the spread of misinformation should not fall upon individuals or non-profit organizations but on the platform itself,” said Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, NAHJ’s National Spanish At-Large Officer. “WhatsApp, and Zuckerberg by extension, must recognize their place as a major messaging platform and be held accountable for creating a safe and factual space. . . .”

Pierre Thomas, ABC News correspondent, helped report an ABC News project last year on crime. (Credit: ABC News)

‘Are You Black First?’ Variation Resurfaces


“Are you Black first or a journalist first?” Just when many of us thought that old saw, used to question the integrity of Black journalists, was dead and buried, a variation has surfaced.

At a Zoom program Saturday on “Race and Justice in America in 2022,” hosted by the News Literacy Project, founder and CEO Allan Miller interviewed Pierre Thomas, ABC News Justice Department correspondent, a Black journalist and a member of the Project’s National Leadership Council.

Miller asked Thomas, “How do you set aside . . . your biases as a Black man” when covering racial justice issues?

Rather than reject the premise of the question, Thomas explained that he is a professional journalist and acts as professional journalists do.

Of course, being Black and being a journalist are not in competition; it’s a false choice. And being white comes with its own perspective on racial issues. That, in fact, is the basis for the discussion of what “objectivity” in news reporting really means. “Objectivity” in whose eyes?

Michel Martin of NPR (pictured) is among the many Black journalists who have addressed the issue over the years.

“Are you black, first, or a journalist, first?,” she began in a 2008 broadcast.

“What plays a bigger role in your life, being black or being female?,” Martin continued with her list of questions.

“Now, how are you reacting to these questions? They are actual remarks that have been made to me, some of them very recently. It’s a little sampler of insensitivity for you.

“Are these worst things I’ve ever heard? Of course, not.

“Any permanent scarring? By all means no, and frankly I’m at the age where it really rolls off my back, and I have so many standard comebacks, I don’t even think about it. . . .

“But my real issue is that only some of us have to answer these questions and, if you are a white man, I can almost guarantee they have never been said to you.”

On Monday, Miller (pictured) wrote in a follow-up note to attendees, “During the salon, I asked Pierre how he sets aside his biases when covering issues of race and justice. In hindsight, the question could be interpreted that Pierre’s race could raise questions of bias. However, as we note in our Checkology® virtual classroom lesson ‘Understanding Bias,’ every journalist (including white journalists) must be cognitive of their own inherent biases in their work.”

. . . Gun Violence Is Not a ‘They’ Problem

. . . Separately, Pierre Thomas told the Zoom participants that the media need to be “more thoughtful” in covering crime. Often overlooked in reporting is that studies show domestic violence to be part of the picture. As Thomas and his colleagues reported last year,, “ABC News partnered with the Gun Violence Archive, as well its owned stations and affiliates across the nation, to track the devastation. The findings reveal that gun violence, for many Americans, isn’t far removed from everyday life.”

It’s easier to do nothing “if it’s a ‘they’ problem instead of a ‘we’ problem,” Thomas said in the Zoom.

ABC’s reporting showed that “Over half of the incidents (58.5%) occurred in the nation’s poorest census tracts, where the median household income is $40,000 a year or less.”

But it also found, “About 17% of shootings occurred in census tracts where people make more than $60,000.”

Pictured is George White, lynched in Delaware on June 23, 1903, after being accused of a local killing. (Photo courtesy of The News Journal’s Archives)

‘A Lynching Countenanced by the White Press’


“George White prayed incessantly as the lynch mob leaders placed dry straw around him and a stake with twigs in Wilmington, Delaware,” Anuoluwapo Adefiwitan reported Jan. 24 for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism as its series “Printing Hate” concluded.

“While beseeching God in the early hours of June 23, 1903, he heard the footsteps of the growing thousands who surrounded him to watch his death.

“As the pyre was fully prepared near Price’s Corner, the location of his alleged crime, a mob leader wrapped White in ‘strong’ rope ‘from his shoulders to his feet,’ and dragged him closer to the stake, according to stories in Wilmington newspapers.

“White muttered his final cry, ‘God, help me!’ as the mob leader set fire to the straw. As the flame burned off his clothes and the rope, he tried to escape. ‘Willing hands,’ the newspapers reported, repeatedly returned White to his stake.

“While White’s body lay still, ablaze and reeking of burnt flesh, a ‘young and pretty woman’ was brought near the stake. ‘She was pale but appeared to be satisfied that proper justice was being meted out to the man,’ The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware, reported.

“White’s lynching was incited by two major forces of the post-Civil War South: the church and the press, specifically The News Journal, Evening Journal and The Morning News of Delaware. . . .

“Although all three newspapers published content that showed disapproval of White’s lynching, the coverage reflected the influence of the culture of a slave state where the mindset of God-ordained white supremacy reigned, including in the press.

“David R. Davies, a professor of journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi, said, ‘White supremacy was a given’ in newspapers. ‘These viewpoints were stated just outright that one race is superior and one race is inferior.’ . . .”

The story noted, “”This work is a collaboration of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and Capital News Service at the University of Maryland, Morgan State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and the University of Arkansas.”

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Afghans and people who do not conform to rigid gender norms in Afghanistan have faced an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety under the Taliban, Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International said in a report Wednesday.

Here Are the ‘World’s Most Under-Reported Crises’

The “sixth edition of ‘The World’s Most Under-Reported Crises’ highlights the humanitarian crises that receive the least media coverage worldwide. Why is the public more interested in the billionaire’s space race than the fight for survival of millions of people around the world?” [PDF] Laurie Lee, CEO of CARE International UK, asked.

“The ongoing crisis in Syria – the second most widely reported humanitarian crisis after Afghanistan – still received less global online media coverage (230,000 articles) than the space flights of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (239,422 articles). While Zambia, where more than one million people are living with extreme hunger, was only covered in 512 reports compared with the announcement that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are dating again, resulting in 91,979 online articles globally.

“The global prioritisation of media coverage is astonishing to us and, as a humanitarian aid organisation, CARE is dedicated to shining a light on the world’s neglected crises as well as providing much-needed assistance to those living through them.

“But what you may not realise is that your media consumption has a significant influence on what is reported and how much. Because it has never been so easy to measure media behaviour as precisely as it is today.

“When media coverage captures public attention, it can precipitate change. That’s why we want to focus attention on the emergencies and conflicts where humanitarian work can save lives and improve the situation. This report can only make a difference if it is read.”

The report listed “Ten humanitarian crises that didn’t make the headlines in 2021.” They were in Zambia, Ukraine, Malawi, Central African Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Burundi, Niger, Zimbabwe and Honduras.

Fourth Mexican Journalist Killed in Month

 “A journalist with an online news outlet was preparing to record a video interview Monday when he was shot by assailants, becoming the fourth journalist killed in less than a month in Mexico, the outlet’s director said, Fabiola Sanchez reported Tuesday for the Associated Press.

“Roberto Toledo had just arrived at the law offices of the deputy director of the outlet, Monitor Michoacan, when three armed men shot him, said Monitor director Armando Linares, who had also planned to be there.

“Twenty minutes before I had told him by phone that we were going to meet at the office to interview a person,” Linares said. “I got held up a little and he arrives before I do, goes in, closes the door, but almost immediately they rang.”

On Friday, ” Marco Ugarte and Julie Watson reported Friday for the AP, “Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado dedicated her last program to a fellow journalist one day after he was gunned down outside his home, and then she described her own vulnerability covering the violent, border city of Tijuana.”

“In her trademark bold style, she blasted Mexico’s corruption and accused a state official of drug ties before telling her viewers she had been under state government protection for eight months.

“ ‘They take good care of you,’ she said on her internet radio and television show called ‘Brebaje’ or ‘Potion.’ ‘But no one can avoid — not even under police supervision — getting killed outside your house in a cowardly manner.’

“Her words eerily predicted her fate. Five days later, Maldonado was shot outside her home at 7 p.m. . . .

She was the third journalist this year to be killed in Mexico. “Their deaths over the span of a month is an unusually high toll in such a short period even in Mexico and drew the largest protest yet over the killings with thousands demonstrating nationwide on Tuesday. The murders have left journalists working in the most dangerous place for their trade in the Western Hemisphere — feeling angry and hopeless.

“On Friday, a day after Maldonado’s funeral, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador returned to criticizing the press. He said that his government guarantees free speech but ‘very few journalists, women and men, are fulfilling their noble duty to inform. Most are looking to see how we fail.’

“According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since the current administration began on Dec. 1, 2018, at least 32 journalists have been killed and 15 disappeared, despite a government program to protect them. . . .”

Short Takes

  • “The mass exodus from The Root follows a trend of what has been happening at G/O media in general,” Tarpley Hitt wrote Thursday for Gawker, referring to The Root’s parent company. “Since April, 15 of the site’s 16 staffers have quit, following a trend of mass resignations at the websites owned by G/O Media. . . .Eight former and current Root staffers told Gawker that management seemed to want less of the overtly provocative work its writers were known for in favor of ‘a softer, gentler, more upbeat site,’ with an emphasis on entertainment, fewer swear words, a blurrier relationship with advertisers, and stories like, as one source put it: ‘This Girl Applied For 17 Scholarships And Got Into Three Ivy League Schools’. . . . A G/O spokesperson contested this framing. . . .” The Pivot explored the changes in December.
  • Jyoti Thottam (pictured) will become The New York Times’ new editorials editor beginning in early February, “overseeing the day-to-day operations of the board and the journalism it produces,” the Times announced Wednesday. “Jyoti is a deeply penetrating thinker and farsighted leader who has steered our mighty Op-Ed team for nearly two years, working especially closely on our health, business/tech and world coverage.”
  • As part of a reorganization at the Los Angeles Times, “Hector Becerra (pictured) becomes deputy managing editor for California and Metro, taking the helm of our largest staff with a charge of refining its mission and mining for new coverage gold,” Executive Editor Kevin Merida announced Monday. “He will oversee the coalition of beats, teams and distinctive voices that comprise our signature local and statewide coverage – from the 88 cities in greater L.A., to our evolving approach to communities of color, investigative journalism and the narratives that define the contours of the most populous state in America. . . .”
“On Feb. 24 and 25 at 1 p.m. EST, we hope you’ll join us for Capital B’s virtual launch event: The Power of Black Stories.”
  • “NBCU Academy, NBCU News Group’s multi-platform journalism training and development program, significantly expanded its reach to 30 schools by adding 13 new partners, NBCU News Group Chairman Cesar Conde announced” on Jan. 18. “NBCU Academy will invest $2 million in grants toward building sustainable relationships to support the 13 new partner institutions, enriching the online experience and growing signature pipeline programs – all while keeping diversity and inclusion as a core driver,” the announcement said.
  • “Is the state of Black beauty long, blond, store-bought locks?” a reader asks. “For far too many Black people, the answer seems to be yes.”
  • “The Salt Lake Tribune alerted police to threats that the newspaper received after publishing a Jan. 15 editorial that ripped state leaders for their response to covid-19, according to an email from executive editor Lauren Gustus to subscribers,” Erik Wemple reported in The Washington Post. “ ‘Sean Hannity and FoxNews — in addition elected leaders in Utah — talked about the editorial, and we received dozens of threats. Some went to every journalist at The Tribune,’ Gustus wrote. . . .”
  • “N. Ali Early (pictured), the multitalented senior editor for rolling out, has died,” Terry Shropshire reported Friday for the Atlanta-based entertainment and media company. Early, 47, died of cancer on Jan. 27 in Atlanta, Melinda R. Johnson, director of business operations, messaged Journal-isms on Tuesday. Shropshire also wrote, “Early, who was a fiercely proud Bay Area native and began with rolling out at the turn of the century, was a very gifted writer, copy editor and senior editor. He was also the founder of Kreative Souls LLC, a multifaceted media platform that provided writing, marketing and graphic design services for a profusion of esteemed clients. . . .”
  • “Sidney Miller, founder and publisher of the pioneering Black Radio Exclusive magazine, has died. He was 89,” Mike Barnes wrote Jan. 25 for the Hollywood Reporter. “A week after his birthday, Miller died Thursday in a hospital in Arlington, Virginia, of complications from COVID-19, his family announced. A onetime Capitol Records executive, Miller also was a former vice chairman on the MusiCares board of directors, and in the 1980s, he launched the nationally syndicated radio show Hollywood Live, hosted by WBLS personality Frankie Crocker. . . .”
“Ms. Kryst joined “Extra” as a correspondent in the fall of 2019, and later earned two Daytime Emmy Award nominations for outstanding entertainment news program for her work.”

  • “Michelle Li (pictured), formerly a news anchor at News 3 Now in Madison and currently an anchor at KTLA in St. Louis, received a $15,000 donation to support the Asian American Journalists Association in the wake of a racist incident that launched the #VeryAsian hashtag on social media” Madison365 reported Jan. 25. The site also said, “On Wednesday, she recounted the experience on The Ellen Show, where she revealed that she had spoken to the woman, who apologized. Li told [Ellen] DeGeneres that she and fellow journalist Gia Vang had created ‘Very Asian’ t-shirts and were donating proceeds to AAJA, which supports Asian American journalists and helps newsrooms ensure equity in both hiring and coverage. Near the end of the segment, DeGeneres presented Li with a check for $15,000 from partner company Tisbest, which enables people to replace material gifts with philanthropic ones. .. .”
  • “In 2014, students from a rural college in Mexico came under attack by police,” Reveal: from the Center for Investigative Reporting begins, describing its latest podcast series, “After Ayotzinapa.” “Six people were killed and 43 young men disappeared without a trace. Families suspected the government was hiding the truth. Now, Reveal is exposing corruption at the highest levels, and an unsettling connection to America’s war on drugs.”
  • Black World Media Network premieres Thursday, the Institute of the Black World 21st Century announced Jan. 25. “A multimedia digital platform, BWMN connects the Black World through news, information and culture from the United States, Canada, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Great Britain, Europe and beyond. “BWMN is the brainchild and legacy project of Don Rojas, Director of Communications and International Relations for Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) founded by Dr. Ron Daniels in 2002. . . . The centerpiece of BWMN is Black World Radio, a 24-hour, fully-licensed audio streaming service that features news, commentaries, spoken word, conscious, progressive Black music and public service announcements from the Diaspora and the Pan African World.”
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COMMENT

Open Letter to Black Journalists : Whoopi

It has been disturbing and disheartening observing Whoopi Goldberg being dragged and compelled to apologize for being candid and factual with her reasoned insights about the Holocaust.

Nothing Whoopi stated was fictional nor scripted disinformation or misinformation about the Holocaust. It has been extremely disturbing observing so many in America inserting credibility to Hitler and the Nazis’ analysis of race on the back of Whoopi and facts.

Equally disturbing and disheartening as well is the silence from the overwhelming majority of Black journalists in America, including many who are part of the Journal-isms Roundtable, to offer an analysis and commentary that informs and affirms Whoopi.

The plight of Black women in every sphere of life in America deserves to be discussed and written about on our media platforms, not just those stories about Black women seeking history on our SCOTUS or parenting in a pandemic, etc. etc.

The very few commentaries that have been authored by Black journalists don’t advance anything notable; a few have affirmed the majority media platforms that Whoopi was wrong in her views about the Holocaust and Jews. Another Black pundit simply babbled about the origins of race. Another prominent Black woman pundit echoed the rant that Whoopi was insensitive and then inserted CRT for some misplaced linkage rather than making sense or any substantive comments about Whoopi’s reasoned excursion down the Holocaust rabbit hole. Overall, it has been shameful observing so many notable Black journalists run for cover on this saga.

The absence of Black voices now with regard to Whoopi is unsettling and almost cowardly. Neither Hitler’s nor the Nazis’ perspectives about race are credible, now or then. There were millions of victims of the Holocaust who were not Jews. Whoopi ‘s opinion about the inhumanity of the Holocaust was on point.

The shredding by Jewish PC pundits and other civil rights organizations deserves to be rejected and challenged not only with reason but with facts, such as Judaism is not race , it is a religious belief system, and many Jews are quite diverse racially.

Whoopi did not insult, nor did her comments embrace the Holocaust . Whoopi did not declare that Hitler was a mensch nor that Golda Meir was a witch. Black Americans should never fear nor be threatened into silence or censorship in having an opinion on any subject matter. No collective in America is beyond approach and criticism, including Black Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans and others.

Black Americans and the nation deserve better than this act of MIA journalism and cowardice that has been exhibited by far too many Black journalists in America with respect to this topic.

Greg Thrasher
Director
Plane Ideas
Alternative Think Tank
Detroit/DC
Planeidea@MSN.com

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