Articles Feature

It’s Official: Kim Godwin to Lead ABC News

by richard04925
‘The significance of this appointment is not lost on me,’ Kim Godwin said.

Updated April 16

NABJ: ‘Glass Ceiling Must Be Shattered’
Vanessa De Luca Named to Edit The Root
Officials Bar Some From Minn. News Conference
Marlon A. Walker Named Editor in Jackson, Miss.
Shawn Kennedy, Harbinger of Diversity, Dies at 73
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NABJ: ‘Glass Ceiling Must Be Shattered’

“Kimberly Godwin, a veteran of local and national TV-news operations, will be the next president of ABC News — and the first Black executive to run a broadcast-network news operation,” Brian Steinberg reported Wednesday for Variety.

“Disney on Wednesday confirmed that Godwin, who has been with CBS News since 2007, will take over the role most recently held by James Goldston. She will now be charged with maintaining the status of two of ABC News’ mainstays, ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘World News Tonight,’ both of which are the most-watched programs in their category, along with shows like ‘The View,’ ’20/20′ and ‘This Week.’

“And she will have ultimate say over the news unit’s increasingly frequent steps into live-streaming, audio and special programming. . . .”

Godwin told the National Association of Black Journalists that her new role is a testament to the work of those who came before her to open the doors for Black journalists, NABJ said.

“The significance of this appointment is not lost on me,” Godwin told NABJ. “I stand on the shoulders of giants in journalism who paved the way as members of NABJ. I was mentored by many in this organization and have therefore made it my business to mentor many as I’ve come along. I’m looking forward to joining the extraordinary team at ABC News and excited about what we can accomplish together. “

Steinberg continued, “Godwin will face challenges in her new role. Some ABC News staffers had hoped that a familiar face would be the next to guide them, such as Michael Corn, the executive producer who oversees ‘GMA,’ or Tom Cibrowski, a veteran ABC News executive who now is general manager of KGO, a Disney-owned station in San Francisco.

“And while CBS News has a sterling reputation in the industry, owing to its connection with news stalwarts like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, as well as its ’60 Minutes’ newsmagazine, in recent years the network’s morning and evening programs have settled into third place among broadcast-news offerings.

“”ABC News has proven itself to be a restive environment in recent months, drawing scrutiny for reports about the alleged behavior of former senior executive Barbara Fedida toward employees (she denied claims made against her) and for a recent decision to award the bulk of duties related to special reports and breaking news to ‘World News Tonight’ anchor David Muir. His evening news program has become one of the most-watched elements of the ABC schedule. ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘This Week’ anchor George Stephanopoulos had previously handled all breaking-news duties for the network.”

Meanwhile, David Bauder reported for the Associated Press that “CBS News President Susan Zirinsky (pictured) is stepping down after two years on the job, making it the second of the three broadcast news divisions to lose its leader in the past couple of months.

“Zirinsky told CBS News staff at the network’s morning news meeting on Wednesday, according to someone there who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was an internal gathering.

“ ‘I am absolutely not leaving CBS,’ said Zirinsky, a longtime news producer at the network, said at the meeting. It was unclear how long the transition will take place.

Vanessa De Luca Named to Edit The Root

Vanessa De Luca (pictured, below), a former editor-in-chief at Essence magazine, was named to the top position Wednesday at The Root, the digital news-and-culture magazine that is among the most highly read sites targeting African Americans.

“Reporting into G/O Media’s Editorial Director, Jim Rich,” a former editor of the Daily News in New York, “Vanessa will lead an award-winning team, overseeing all content creation and original reporting across The Root brand,” the announcement said.

 De Luca succeeds Danielle Belton, who on March 24 was named editor-in-chief of Huff Post, a job that coincidentally, Rich held in 2017.

Rich said in the release, “Vanessa is a proven leader who has run major editorial operations covering the African American experience in the US. She is a smart, innovative editor who I am confident will maintain and grow The Root’s position in the industry, and with her guidance, take the brand to new levels of success. . . .

“”Most recently, she served as Editor-in-Chief at Zora magazine by Medium. The digital-first publication centered on stories of women of color, from politics and social justice to culture and commentary. Prior to this, she held various editorial positions at Glamour and Life, among others. . . .. Ms. De Luca is also the co-author, beside Tyra Banks, of the bestselling beauty and empowerment book, Tyra Banks Beauty Inside & Out.”

​The Root has undergone a series of ownership changes and shifts in tone since its founding in January 2008 by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and then-Washington Post Publisher Donald Graham.

Under Belton, “politeness” was out; four-letter words and attitude were in. The site declared itself uncompromisingly Black.

De Luca follows Belton, Lynette Clemetson, Danyel Smith, Joel Dreyfuss, Sheryl Huggins Salomon and Lyne Pitts as top editorial leader.

De Luca was editor-in-chief of Essence from 2013 to 2018, when she and Editorial Projects Director Patrik Henry Bass were let go in a restructuring.

Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications, wrote at the time, “Vanessa has a diverse and accomplished history with ESSENCE. She first joined the company more than a decade ago as the magazine’s Beauty and Fashion Features Editor and went on to serve as Lifestyle Editor and Executive Editor.

“During her 5-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief, Vanessa sharpened ESSENCE’s journalistic focus and the brand’s creative vision by developing new multi-platform editorial franchises, including the Woke 100. Committed to bringing ESSENCE content to life, she created programming for the ESSENCE Festival and other live experiences.”

Officials Bar Some From Minn. News Conference

“Reporters from multiple local organizations were denied entry to a news conference on Monday about the shooting of Daunte Wright, whose death at the hands of a police officer in Minnesota has set off protests,“ Katie Robertson reported Monday for The New York Times.

“Mr. Wright, 20-year-old Black man, was killed by the officer on Sunday during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. As national and international media flooded in, Brooklyn Center officials organized a news conference for Monday to address the shooting and release body-camera video.

“Andy Mannix, a federal courts reporter for The Star Tribune, the largest newspaper in Minnesota, said on Twitter that he and his colleagues were denied access to the news conference while he watched national and international media be let in.

“Suki Dardarian, a senior managing editor of The Star Tribune, said in an email that the paper had sent three journalists to the news conference. Two were denied entry, while one, a videojournalist, was able to get in, she said.”

Meanwhile, while “reporting live from Brooklyn Center, a demonstrator confronted Sara Sidner (pictured), claiming the press is ‘twisting’ the story and making things ‘worse‘,” Oliver Darcy reported Monday for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “After listening to the man’s profanity-laced commentary, Sidner pointed out that he didn’t know her. ‘We’re going to get to know each other,’ she said, before volunteering to give him her phone number. The demonstrator continued to suggest Sidner would behave dishonestly, claiming that she was going to ‘edit’ his remarks.

“Sidner pointed out that she was actually live on the air at the moment. But he didn’t believe her, telling her to leave and stop making people ‘look crazier than they are.’ Moments later, Sidner said, ‘Let me tell you something … I’m not moving out of here. I’m a reporter. I have been in Minneapolis for years covering stories. And I feel like this is also my community. So I’m not going anywhere.’ “

Darcy continued, “It wasn’t just the man that Sidner spoke to who expressed frustration with the press. Over on MSNBC, correspondent Ron Allen (pictured) and his crew were confronted by a group of people who were not pleased by their presence and shouted at them to ‘go home’ and ‘get the f**k out.’ Allen asked group to ‘take it easy’ and explained that the crew wanted to ‘tell the world what is going on out here,’ but his pleas yielded no results.

“Eventually Rachel Maddow cut away from the scene, explaining to viewers, ‘We have a responsibility in terms of language and I’m sorry to have to cut in … but there [are] certain things that we can broadcast and certain things that we can’t … ‘”

Marlon A. Walker Named Editor in Jackson, Miss.

“Marlon A. Walker (pictured) has been named executive editor of the Clarion Ledger in Jackson and the Mississippi state editor for the USA TODAY Network, which includes the Hattiesburg American,” Justin Vicory reported Monday for the Clarion Ledger.

“Walker, a Detroit native and award-winning journalist, has spent the last decade advocating for improved diversity and equal pay in newsrooms. He will begin his new role immediately, Michael Anastasi, the USA TODAY Network’s regional editor for the South, announced Monday.

” ‘This is beyond exciting,’ Walker said during a virtual announcement. ‘I look at Mississippi and everything this state has to offer and I want to continue doing what we do best — telling the unique and compelling stories of this community.’

“Walker, 39, replaces Mary Irby-Jones, who in March became executive editor of the Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky. . . .

“Walker arrived at the Clarion Ledger in August as a senior editor.

“As a reporter, he previously covered education at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Walker has also covered city and county government, as well as transportation and public safety, working at publications including The Tampa Bay Times, The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, The Associated Press, The Telegraph in Macon, Georgia, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Detroit Free Press.”

Vicory also noted, “Walker was elected vice president of print for the National Association of Black Journalists in August 2015, a position he held for five years.”

Last August, Gannett announced that “its personnel would mirror the nation’s population of women and BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] by 2025. Gannett also plans to increase by 30% the share of BIPOC in leadership positions,” as Nathan Bomey reported then for USA Today. The Clarion Ledger and Courier Journal are Gannett properties.

Shawn G. Kennedy, left, with New York Times colleagues in the mid-1970s. Standing with her, from left, are Jill Gerston, Lena Williams and Marilyn K. Yee. In front is Sheila Rule. (Credit: Royal Kennedy Rodgers)

Shawn Kennedy, Harbinger of Diversity, Dies at 73

Shawn G. Kennedy, who worked at The New York Times for 23 years, died April 5 in San Francisco at age 73, Katharine Q. Seelye reported Friday for the Times.

The obituary put Kennedy in the context of the drive for diversity in the newspaper business and in particular at the Times. Kennedy’s twin sister, broadcast journalist Royal Kennedy Rodgers, attributed the death to breast cancer.

“She was part of a wave of recruited Black reporters who began changing the face of the paper in the ’70s,” the subheadline said. “She also helped rebuild New Orleans after Katrina.”

Seelye continued, “Ms. Kennedy (pictured) began her career at The Times as a trainee in the Washington bureau in 1975 as part of a program to cultivate minority journalists.

“Max Frankel, who was the Washington bureau chief from 1968 to 1972, and who later became executive editor, had recruited [Paul] Delaney from The Washington Star. Then, as Mr. Frankel wrote in his memoir, ‘The Times of My Life and My Life with The Times’ (1999), ‘We decided we had an obligation not just to raid other staffs but to open a path into our business for promising youngsters.’

“The Times created that path by hiring people of color in the bureau as news assistants. Through an agreement with the reporters’ union, Mr. Frankel said, the bureau used them as reporters while paying them clerical wages; in exchange, the bureau promised to sponsor them for reporting jobs in New York if they met Times standards. One of the bureau’s editors, Bob Phelps, helped them by taking their work home and marking it up as a teacher would.

“Ms. Kennedy made the cut. ‘She was in the vanguard,’ Mr. Delaney (pictured) said in an interview. ‘Having her succeed and join the staff attracted a lot of other minorities to the program.’

“At the time, people of color at the paper were relatively rare; more recently they made up about 26 percent of the newsroom (nine percent are Black) and 32 percent of the company as a whole, and The Times has established a fellowship program that attracts a great number of journalists of color.”

Shawn Kennedy’s dream went beyond real estate, said Lena Williams (pictured), a now-retired colleague. Her goal was to work for the Styles section. “Ms. Kennedy was an accomplished cook and knowledgeable about fashion, interior design and architecture. She was disappointed when she was told that she was ‘not ready’ for Styles, Williams said, though she occasionally freelanced for the section anyway.

“Mr. Delaney said that ‘you’re not ready’ was a common explanation when a Black reporter was denied a move. ‘That was the kind of stuff we faced all the time,’ he said. ‘That’s what we had to overcome.’

Royal Kennedy Rodgers said of her twin, “New Orleans was her big second act.”

Seelye continued, Shawn Kennedy and her husband, investment manager Harold Brown, “were already involved in economic development there before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and afterward they devoted themselves even more to rebuilding the city. After Mr. Brown died in 2013, Ms. Kennedy continued many of his projects. . . .”

Royal Kennedy Rodgers wrote friends on Saturday, “We have decided to wait to celebrate her life until it is safe to gather in person, so it will probably be some time in the Fall.”

She suggested three ways to honor her sister through contributions:

Rose Community Development Corporation, New Orleans
“This would honor both Shawn and her late husband Hal Brown. Contributions can be sent to:
“c/o Lisa Amoss, Treasurer
“3118 Ursulines Avenue
“New Orleans, LA 70119”

The National Association of Black Journalists
Stand Up To Cancer [Added April 16, 17]

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