Rashod Ollison, 41, Was Awarded at Va. Newspaper

Rashod Ollison, 41, Was Awarded at Va. Newspaper

Rashod Ollison, entertainment writer at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, died at 41 Wednesday, his mother confirmed Thursday, still owed money by Ebony magazine.

As reported Monday, Ebony Media Organization (EMO) and its parent Clear View Group (CVG) company missed their scheduled Sept. 30 payment to 44 freelancer writers totaling about $80,000.

“His colleagues and his union are both sad and angry,” Larry Goldbetter, president of the National Writers Union, said of Ollison by email Thursday. “We will demand his payment go through his estate.”

Fellow writer Adrienne Samuels Gibbs tweeted Thursday, “@EBONYMag never paid him for his beautiful, lovely work. I pray that Ebony and CVG pay Rashod’s estate and remember he was one of our number. I will miss his wit. And shame on them. #ebonyowes #EbonyStillOwes.”

Ollison died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital in Virginia Beach, his mother, Royce Ollison, said by telephone from her home in Little Rock, Ark. “He’d been dealing with that for . . . years,” said his mother, also known as Dianne.

Ollison joined the Virginian-Pilot in 2010, winning two first-place Excellence-in-Features awards from the Society for Features Journalism in 2015. Often he was one of the few journalists of color to write the obituaries of prominent African American entertainers in mainstream newspapers, as he did with blues musician B.B. King in 2015. His appreciation ran above the fold.

In 2016, he wrote a memoir, “Soul Serenade: Rhythm, Blues & Coming of Age Through Vinyl.”

The dust jacket read, in part, “Moving nine times during his childhood, Rashod constantly adjusted to new schools and homes with his two sisters, Dusa and Reagan, and his mother, Dianne . . .

“Becoming aware of his same-sex attraction, Rashod felt further isolated and alone but was encouraged by mentors in the community who fostered his intelligence and talent. He became transformed through discovering the writing of Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Nikki Giovanni, and other literary greats, and these books, along with the soulful sounds of the 1970s and ’80s, enabled him to thrive in spite of the instability and harshness of his childhood. . . .”

Ollison came to the Virginian-Pilot from the Baltimore Sun, where he was laid off from his job as entertainment writer. A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, majoring in creative writing and journalism, he also had worked at the Dallas Morning News, where he was an intern; the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was an intern and feature writer; and the Journal-News in Westchester County, N.Y.

“In addition to being gifted, he was a sweet and soulful man,” Max Brantley wrote Wednesday in the Arkansas Times. “He wrote kindly in his book about enduring Jimmy Buffett on the car CD player during a ride home with me from Board Camp, Ark. many years ago. . . .”

Jamesetta M. Walker, Virginian-Pilot features editor, said by email, “Rashod’s three-year battle with cancer was virtually invisible to all but the closest of his confidantes. This is because he never lost the burn for writing with illuminating perspective. He would even elevate assignments that he considered pop culture pettiness (meaning ones he didn’t want to do) to higher reading by including context. Point in case: When asked to write just a straight story on this past summer’s dust-up between Drake and Pusha T, he wove in much more interesting perspective with these quips:

“ ‘Such rap battles are as old as the genre itself – actually older if you consider how it all sprang from the dozens, the old street game of trading putdowns. … The question of tastelessness – Pusha T’s use of Whitney Houston’s bathroom photo, Drake’s old blackface picture – seems especially pertinent in these culturally sensitive times.

” ‘But that’s the nature of hip-hop beefs, to go for the jugular in hopes of eviscerating the competition, as it were, and rising to the top. In that sense, as rap battles have extolled ruthless capitalism and over-the-top materialism, hip-hop has always been quintessentially American.’
“I am grateful for his ethic. More writers could stand to take a page from his book. And aside, his biting humor and cooking were epic. He leaves an immense void.”

Survivors include two sisters, Reagan and Roycelyn (Dusa) of Little Rock; and three brothers, Terry, Antonio and Omar, of Malvern, Ark.

A memorial service is planned in Little Rock for Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 3323 W. 12th St.

• Stories by Rashod Ollison

How to Discuss Kanye’s Mental Health?

Oct. 16, 2018

Serious Issue Ignored, Joked About, Excused

Ebony Misses $80,000 Payment Due Writers

‘Close to 400’ Fill Out ASNE Diversity Survey

Media Fell for Sanitized Version of Saudi Prince

Don’t Miss Covering Biggest Story of Our Time

Michaela Pereira Out at HLN in Format Change

Short Takes

Serious Issue Ignored, Joked About, Excused

Kayne West’s bizarre performance at the White House last Thursday was so entertaining, so outrageous, so unusual that it had to be covered. But the rapper’s nearly 10-minute tirade posed a dilemma for some: How much to emphasize West’s mental condition and how to contextualize it.

Now some are saying that many in the media got it wrong.

“Kim Kardashian is trying her best to be supportive of Kanye West, but his public rants are negatively affecting the mother of three,” Natalie Stone wrote Friday for People magazine.

“ ‘Kim is very uncomfortable and unhappy with the whole situation,’ a source tells PEOPLE about the Kimoji creator, who shares daughters North, 5, and Chicago, 8 months, and son Saint, 2½, with West.

“ ‘She finds Kanye brilliant, so it makes her upset when he goes on these public rants and come across as someone who isn’t well,’ says the source. . . .”

During his White House rant, West said, “I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and the NFL. And he looked at my brain — it’s equal on three parts. I’m going to go ahead drop some bombs for you — 98 percentile IQ test. I had a 75 percentile of all human beings, but it was counting eight numbers backwards, (inaudible), so I’m going to work on that one. The other ones, 98 percent — Tesla, Freud.

“So he said that I actually wasn’t bipolar; I had sleep deprivation, which could cause dementia 10 to 20 years from now, where I wouldn’t even remember my son’s name. So all this power that I got, and I’m taking my son to the Sox game and all that, I wouldn’t be able to remember his name from a misdiagnosis. . . .”

Writing in the Daily Beast, Marlow Stern asserted Friday, “While there are legitimate gripes to be had with West and his puzzling contradictions . . . late-night comedians and cable-news pundits have resorted to cruelly mocking West’s mental health and even invoking his dead mother.

“On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel gleefully branded West ‘an irrational madman,’ describing the Trump-West exchange as ‘the kind of conversation that would typically be held between people wearing hospital bracelets.’ The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah called West ‘a ranting lunatic.’ And CNN’s Don Lemon said that ‘Kanye’s mother is rolling over in her grave.’ These comments echo the ugly criticisms lobbed West’s way back in April, when The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert argued that the music legend had ‘finally lost his mind,’ and New York magazine somehow involved his young children. . . .”

On the Intercept, Glen Greenwald pointed a finger at CNN. “On Monday night, CNN host Don Lemon led a panel discussion with three CNN commentators as they gleefully heaped scorn on Kanye West for meeting with President Trump to discuss prison reform and for otherwise expressing support for the President (the video is below),” Greenwald wrote Thursday. “Among other things, West was pilloried for being both ignorant and exploited. ‘Kanye West is what happens when Negroes don’t read,’ CNN’s Bakari Sellers said. CNN’s Tara Setmayer pronounced him ‘the token Negro of the Trump administration.’

“While those comments received some attention (only from conservative outlets, needless to say), the laughter-driven attacks on West for his well-publicized medical treatment for mental health issues were largely ignored. But those comments, broadcast in prime-time by CNN on television and then widely disseminated by the network on social media, were not just reprehensible, but genuinely dangerous. . . .

“That was precisely the stigma that CNN and its various personalities exploited, played with and strengthened by weaponizing West’s medical treatment against him, using it to disqualify him as someone who can be regarded as credible or serious. . . .”

However, if West’s mental condition is being trivialized, the rapper himself shares some of the blame, according to Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. Writing on Oct. 5 about West’s new album, “Ye,” Page noted, “On the track ‘Yikes,’ he raps that his ‘bipolar (barnyard epithet)’ is ‘my superpower, ain’t no disability, I’m a superhero! I’m a superhero.’ And the album cover has a photo of mountains in Wyoming behind the handwritten words ‘I hate being Bi-Polar it’s awesome.’

“As with his remarks on other touchy topics, mental health experts warn that people could take his words as a trivialization of a complex disorder about which too many people already know too little.

“Ironically and coincidentally, the first full week of October happens to be Mental Illness Awareness Week, officially established by Congress. That makes this a particularly appropriate time for Ye, the great attention magnet, to show the world how mental illness is a very serious condition that, with good information and treatment, doesn’t have to stop anyone from being a superstar.”

Few would argue that West did so at the White House.

Many news stories downplayed West’s mental issues, while some commentators argued that they were tolerated for the sake of politics.

Tony Norman wrote Friday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “If this had been an episode of ‘Black Mirror,’ audiences would’ve clicked away because there’s no way a president’s chief of staff in this universe would have allowed cameras to record a mentally ill rapper pounding the desk of a narcissistic president. That’s too much cognitive dissonance even for the most fantastical science-fiction program. . . .”

Norman also wrote, “Now, imagine Kanye West doing the same song and dance routine for President Barack Obama. It’s inconceivable that it would have been tolerated. No one at Fox News would have given Kanye a pass — or Mr. Obama — had he banged on the president’s desk. Many entertainers, from Bob Dylan and Lin-Manuel Miranda to Jay-Z and Aretha Franklin, visited the Obama White House, but there was never anything like Thursday afternoon’s descent into madness. . . .”

• Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post: I said Kanye West was laughable. He proved me right.
• Rachel DeSantis, Daily News, New York: Kanye West’s antics force Michael Che to drop the N-word on ‘Saturday Night Live’
• Barbara Ellen, the Guardian: Kanye West needs care, not being put in front of the cameras
• Brian Flood, Fox News: Herschel Walker calls for CNN to fire Don Lemon over ‘racist’ Kanye West criticism
• Glenn Greenwald, the Intercept: Mental Health Professionals Denounce CNN and Don Lemon’s Show for Mocking and Stigmatizing Kanye West’s Hospitalization
• Jack Holmes, Esquire: We Have to Cover the Trump-Kanye Oval Office Meeting. How Should We?
• John Kass, Chicago Tribune: Democrats shame Kanye West to protect themselves
• Steve Knopper, Rolling Stone: Kanye’s Overshadowing of Historic Bill Signing Irks Music Industry
• Tamar Lapin, New York Post: Kanye West hops on table at Apple store, gives ‘keynote’ speech
• Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times: Kanye West thumbs nose at black angst over Trump’s presidency
• Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer, Cleveland: America needs more bipartisan hugs and cough drops
• David Moye, HuffPost: White House Aides ‘Hugely Embarrassed’ By Trump’s Lunch With Kanye: NYT Reporter
• Vann R. Newkirk II, the Atlantic: Kanye West’s Quixotic Quest
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Kanye’s West Wing shenanigans
• Tina Nguyen, Vanity Fair: “This Hat, It Gives Me Power”: How Kanye West’s Breakdown Revealed MAGA’s Id
• Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Taylor, Kanye and the bad blood of politics
• Ian Schwartz, Real Clear Politics: Michael Eric Dyson: Blacks Can Not Stand By Kanye West; This Is “White Supremacy By Ventriloquism”
• Joe Soucheray, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.: If only Kanye had taken off the hat and skipped the *%#!
• Marlow Stern, Daily Beast: Stop Mocking Kanye West’s Mental Health
• Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times: After Trump meeting, Kanye asked me, ‘How do you feel?’
• Clinton Yates, the Undefeated: Things used to be, now they not, Kanye

Ebony Misses $80,000 Payment Due Writers

“Ebony Media Organization (EMO) and its parent Clear View Group (CVG) have failed to honor the terms of a February agreement with the National Writers Union (NWU/UAW) and 44 freelancer writers for about $80,000 for unpaid work that was contracted and published,” the union announced on Tuesday.

“The union filed a case in Cook County Court against EMO and CVG in September, 2017. In February, 2018, EMO and CVG signed an agreement to make four quarterly payments, with the final installment due on or before December 31, 2018. According to the terms of the agreement, Ebony agreed to pay all of the freelancers 100 percent of their unpaid invoices in four quarterly payments, starting with the oldest invoices first. Almost half of the invoices go back to 2016. The payments are guaranteed by Ebony’s ownership group, CVG, who also signed the payment agreement.

“The first and second quarter payments, covering 14 writers for $30,000, were made on time. The third quarter payment, covering another 14 writers for $30,000 was due on September 30, and has not been paid. Efforts to contact EMO and CVG by lawyers for the union have gone unanswered. To date, about one-third of the writers have been paid just over 35% of the total owed.

“NWU President Larry Goldbetter says the union is prepared to file in court to have the agreement enforced if the September payment is not made this week. . . .”

Michael Gibson, chairman and co-founder of Clear View Group, did not respond Monday to an inquiry from Journal-isms.

‘Close to 400’ Fill Out ASNE Diversity Survey

“Close to 400” newspapers and digital media outlets submitted information for the American Society of News Editors annual diversity survey by Friday’s deadline, according to the organization. The survey was delayed this year because only 234 of nearly 1,700 newspapers and digital media outlets submitted data.

Last year, ASNE received responses from 661 news organizations, including 598 newspapers and 63 online-only news websites.

The tally is not complete. “We are giving folks who started the survey but did not finish by Friday some more time to get it done,” messaged Teri Hayt, ASNE’s executive director, on Monday. She said later that the results would be released in early November.

Lead researcher Meredith D. Clark, assistant professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, added, “Right now we’re close to 400, but the data need cleaning (incomplete surveys, blank surveys, etc.).”

Media Fell for Sanitized Version of Saudi Prince

“Just six months ago, American media outlets presented a sunny-side-up portrait of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia as he made a good-will tour of New York, Hollywood and Silicon Valley,” Jim Rutenberg reported Sunday for the New York Times.

“Eager journalists captured him at Starbucks with Michael R. Bloomberg, strolling the Google grounds with Sergey Brin and dining with Rupert Murdoch. Built into the narrative was a mostly cheerful acceptance of the story Crown Prince Mohammed was selling about himself — that here, at last, was the modern Middle Eastern leader the West had been waiting for.

“That story started to crack apart on Oct. 2, when the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a sharp critic of the Saudi government, walked into the country’s consulate in Istanbul and didn’t walk out. . . .”

Rutenberg also wrote, “None of this is meant to suggest there wasn’t something newsworthy in the crown prince’s moves to reopen theaters and allow women to drive under a more moderate form of Saudi Islam. ‘I never dreamed I would see that — these are huge deals,’ said The Times columnist Tom Friedman, who wrote a column praising Crown Prince [Mohammed] last year, but has also warned that his autocratic side would undercut his efforts if left unchecked.

“It’s just that there’s a streak in American journalism to allow glittering narratives about budding authoritarians to obscure less appealing facts.

“It wasn’t too long ago that Bashar al-Assad captured journalists’ imaginations as a next-gen ruler ready to open Syria to American tech. His wife, Asma, landed a gauzy profile in Vogue in 2011 enthusing over the Assads’ ‘wildly democratic’ home life. Yesterday’s reformer is now ‘the Butcher of Damascus.’

“There was also the civilian leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel Prize winner and, potentially, ‘the Mandela of Asia,’ as CNN reported in 2016. Last week, Myanmar arrested three journalists for critical reporting. That followed the sentencing of two of Reuters reporters to seven years in prison.

“Crown Prince [Mohammed] got something last week that those leaders never did — a spot on Vanity Fair’s annual New Establishment List. . . .”

• Sarah Aziza, the Intercept: Jamal Khashoggi Wasn’t the First — Saudi Arabia Has Been Going After Dissidents Abroad for Decades
• Lee Fang, the Intercept: Saudi Media Casts Khashoggi Disappearance as a Conspiracy, Claims Qatar Owns Washington Post
• Hadas Gold, CNN: Most media sponsors pull out of Saudi conference after journalist disappears
• Hadas Gold, CNN: New York Times shuts down $11,995 Saudi Arabia tours
• Colbert I. King, Washington Post: Trump is kissing Saudi backsides. He’s Not Alone
• Shaun King, the Intercept: Let’s Use Social Media to Put Pressure on Saudi Arabia Over Jamal Khashoggi’s Disappearance
• EJ Montini, Arizona Republic: Are Saudi arms sales more important than a butchered journalist?
• Adam Taylor, Washington Post: Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance in Turkey plays into Middle East media war
• Clarissa Ward and Tim Lister, CNN: Saudis preparing to admit Jamal Khashoggi died during interrogation, sources say

Don’t Miss Covering Biggest Story of Our Time

After scientists convened by the United Nations warned last week that the immediate consequences of climate change are more dire than previously thought, Journal-isms asked attendees of this month’s Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Flint, Mich., for their thoughts.

Here is a response from a board member of the society.

By Roger Witherspoon

I’ve been frustrated in trying to get black journalists interested in covering environmental issues — of which climate change is a part — and realizing that professionally, this has the potential to be the top beat in the newsroom. It touches on and incorporates every beat except sports and the arts.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change is the consensus of the world’s top climate scientists and all the major scientific organizations evaluating portions of the climate change phenomena and its impacts. What was significant about this latest report is that they conclude that time is running out before the earth reaches a “tipping point” and the impacts will be locked in. It is important to delve into what those impacts might be, to what degree will different groups be affected and more importantly, what resources will be brought to bear to aid different segments of the populace.

When it comes to the environment, many blacks shrug and wonder at the relevance of issues involving wildlife and forests and arctic glaciers; or the nexus between the need for jobs and assertions that fossil fuels hurt the upper atmosphere. Somehow. In the future. Maybe.

The reality is these issues are connected and affect black Americans in particular.

In April 1993, for example, more than 400,000 Milwaukee residents fell ill and more than 100 died when that city’s water system became contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium, which penetrated filters in one of the city’s water treatment plants. Later analysis suggested that runoff carried animal waste and effluent from the slaughterhouses, which made its way into the lake providing the region’s drinking water.

That was a relatively rare occurrence. But as the temperature warms, parasites that have a hard time surviving northern winters find it easier to live and thrive in new locales. It is already affecting the nation’s agriculture sector, forcing some farmers to change their crops to better handle changing climate conditions and the pests that thrive in it.

Climate change is a phenomenon with wide-ranging implications. Take the most recent hurricanes, which were notable for their ferocity and the amount of rain they deposited. In southern cities, the black section is usually downwind and in the geologically lowest part of town — hence the almost total flooding of New Orleans’ 9th ward during Hurricane Katrina. It was also the last area of New Orleans whose needs were addressed after the water receded. The jury is out on the recovery of minority communities in Florida and South Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Michael. But it is clear that Michael was stronger than anticipated, and that was due in part to the Gulf waters warmed through global climate change.

Stories about Michael in the national media have focused on how destructive it was. Journalists should focus on how recovery will be made, and what areas will receive what resources in what order. If half a city’s transmission wires are down, which sections will be restored and when? Who makes those decisions? Why? If farmland is damaged, how will the USDA apportion funds and resources for recovery? Whose farms get helped? What networks for what grocery chains are aided? What segments of town and what communities will have their food networks restored? Who makes the decisions and how?

If hurricanes are nature’s way of cooling down the eastern side of a country, what is there for the Left Coast? The persistent drought and heat has turned what had been a short fire season into what threatens to be a nearly year-long, dangerous condition in the Southwest and West. What are the ramifications for agriculture there, and the ensuing price of food? Fires gulping thousands of square miles dump billions of tons of particulates into the air. What is the cost to the lungs of residents in various communities? The increased use of air conditions could help protect vulnerable lungs. But who would pay the additional energy costs?

You wonder about energy? According to the American Association of Blacks in Energy (www.AABE.org), the average black family spends about 25 percent of its income on energy — nearly double the percentage of white families. The type of energy provided, its costs, its effectiveness and its environmental impacts are all of concern to anyone who pays an electric bill. In New York, utilities have to give homeowners an hour-for-hour credit if they have solar energy and are feeding their output into the grid. At the end of the year, when my utility does its annual count of how much electricity I contribute to the system vs. how much I take out, it sends me a check that has been as much as $1,500.

Florida, which has more sunny days than New York, doesn’t have that arrangement because its Republican governor claims there isn’t enough sunlight to make such a system work in the Sunshine State. Instead, ratepayers in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have been charged billions of dollars for the development of nuclear power plants. These will not be built in South Carolina and Florida, and the jury is out on the Georgia plants — but the charges continue and they do not have a solar alternative.

Compare the average electric bill in South Carolina, which is among the highest in the nation due to a 37 percent surcharge for construction of the failed nuclear plants, and my bill from New York’s Consolidated Edison. Would South Carolina voters have chosen representatives enthralled with nuclear power if journalists had spelled out the true costs beforehand?

Further, all nuclear reactors release radioactive particulates into the surrounding environment, contaminating dairy farms, fish, deer and other game. What impact might that have on health in minority communities in particular? How might that affect those who fish not for sport, but for dinner? What are safer, less expensive options?

The latest IPCC report should be an alarm for black journalists not to miss out on covering all aspects of the biggest issue of our time, especially its impact on the most vulnerable citizens.

In the Comments section below is a source list for journalists. I asked Seth Borenstein, environmental writer of the Associated Press and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, if he would share his list.

Roger Witherspoon is a contributing editor to US Black Engineer & IT

• Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun: Uneven heat: Researchers say some Baltimore blocks were 16 degrees hotter than others during August heat wave
• Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times: Here’s an idea: Let’s call climate change ‘Obama warming’ and watch Trump jump into action
• Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald: We only have 10 years to save ourselves from climate change
• Jason Samenow, Washington Post: On sizzling summer days, Northeast D.C. heats up the most, NOAA analysis shows
• Brian Stelter, “Reliable Sources” newsletter: “Help is coming” [In Michael’s aftermath; Florida newsrooms struggling]
• Patricia Sullivan and Frances Stead Sellers, Washington Post: ‘I wasn’t going anywhere’: On land of former slaves, a sturdy home gives shelter from the storm

Michaela Pereira Out at HLN in Format Change

Michaela Pereira and two of her on-air colleagues at HLN are leaving the network as the CNN sibling shifts away live programming, Ken Jautz, executive vice  president of CNN, told staff members on Tuesday.

Jautz said in his note:

“The current cable news landscape is dominated by politics. Our live news shows have not benefitted from this trend given our story mix. However, HLN’s longform programs have been performing very well.

“In today’s news environment, every network has to focus on its strengths. To ensure HLN’s growth, we will shift some of our resources from live to longform programming and produce our live shows in as streamlined a manner as possible. The best way to do this is to centralize production of live news programming in Atlanta.

“Beginning October 29, our live program schedule will be as follows: 6a-noon ET, an expanded ‘Morning Express with Robin Meade;’ noon-3p ‘On the Story;’ series, documentaries and other taped programming will start at 3p. ‘Weekend Express with Lynn Smith‘ hours remain 7a-noon.

“As a result, we will no longer have live programs based in NY or LA. It’s with deep regret that we will have to end production of ‘Across America with Carol Costello,’ ‘Michaela’ and ‘Crime & Justice with Ashleigh Banfield.’ I know that you will join me in thanking these incredibly talented journalists and their teams for their dedication and hard work.

“We built a top-notch line-up of some of the best anchors and show teams in the industry, and we are proud of what we’ve accomplished together these past few years.”

Pereira, formerly news anchor on CNN’s then-flagship morning program, “New Day,” began “Michaela,” a live, three-hour daily news program,  on HLN in 2016. It originated in Los Angeles, where she had been a co-host of “KTLA Morning News,” the top-rated morning show in the Los Angeles market, for nine years..

In 2014, she received the Angelo Henderson Community Service Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

“Each and every morning viewers of CNN are able to see in Michaela Pereira a compassionate journalist who understands that journalists have a responsibility to be involved in the community,” Bob Butler, then NABJ president, said in a news release. “While in Los Angeles Michaela gave voice to people who needed a voice, and told stories that needed to be told. She also serves as a role model, a source of inspiration, or a listening ear. She uses her platform, her power and her personality to communicate a clear message, a very real truth that our shared experiences as people really do bind us together.”

“Spurred in part by her upbringing as one of five adopted children, Pereira has a special place in her heart for children,” the release continued. “She has served as chairwoman of the board of LA’s BEST Friends, an after school education, enrichment, and recreation program, as a member of the board of directors for the Long Beach Boys and Girls Club, as an advisory board member for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), supporting children in foster care, and as an honorary advisory board member for Optimist Youth Home, which provides services for troubled youth. . . .”

Short Takes

• Mira Lowe, director of the Innovation News Center at University of Florida was elected president-elect of the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) at the annual CAMP at Welches, Ore., and Wendi C. Thomas, founder of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a Memphis-based news project, was named Journalist of the Year (video). Deborah Douglas becomes treasurer and Charisse Gibson, Jennifer Kho, Martha Trahan Martinez and Fara Warner are new general board members.
• “TV’s morning-news wars have a new competitor,” Brian Steinberg reported Monday for Variety. “CBS News, which already produces ‘CBS This Morning,’ unveiled ‘CBSN AM,’ a one-hour morning program built for its CBSN streaming-video hub. The program. anchored by Anne-Marie Green and Vladimir Duthiers, launched today. . . .”
• “The black power salute by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on a Mexico City medal stand at the 1968 Summer Olympics is one of the most iconic images in the history of sports activism,” Andrew Maraniss wrote Monday for the Undefeated. He also wrote, “with many people comparing the media coverage and public perception of Colin Kaepernick to the precedent set by Smith and Carlos, it’s important to ask how things really went down that night 50 years ago and how it was covered by the American media at the time. The answers are different from what one might believe. . . .” Howard Cosell commentary (video)
• “In the past decade, consolidation in the media industry has reduced the number of outlets producing news,” Sheelah Kolhatkar wrote for the Oct. 22 issue of the New Yorker. “With advertising siphoned away by online platforms, dozens of newspapers have closed, leaving many towns with limited or no local coverage. The changing landscape has expanded the influence of companies like Sinclair [Broadcasting], with profound political implications. . . . Sinclair is especially well positioned to capitalize on this trust. It owns more stations in swing states than any other company. Since Trump began his Presidential campaign, many of Sinclair’s political messages have hewed closely to his talking points. . . .”
• “Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides ‘strong evidence’ she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations, an unprecedented move by one of the top possible contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president,” Annie Linskey reported Monday for the Boston Globe.

• 

  “The Pacifica Foundation has hired its first permanent executive director since 2015,” Tyler Falk reported Thursday in a Q-and-A for Current.org. “The Pacifica National Board announced the hire of Maxie Jackson Oct. 4. In a press release, Jan Goodman, vice chair of Pacifica’s board, said directors were ‘impressed with Maxie’s fiduciary track record, content creation acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.’ Jackson has worked in numerous leadership positions in public radio, most recently as station manager at ideastream in Cleveland. He also served as president and CEO of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. He now joins a five-station network that has long battled financial woes and grappled with a board and management at odds with each other. . . .”

• “A Republican ad portrays Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum as a man on the run from law enforcement amid an FBI corruption investigation in his city,” Amy Sherman of PolitiFact Florida wrote Monday. ” ‘Andrew Gillum is running for governor and also from the FBI,’ the Republican Party of Florida ad says. That’s extremely misleading . . .” Sherman declared the ad “false.” Gillum who would be the state’s first black governor, has been endorsed by the Tampa Bay Times and the South Florida SunSentinel.
• Makeda Easter, a trainee in the Metpro progam at the Los Angeles Times, wrote “Black hair in Hollywood: five women share their stories,” published Saturday. The five are: Tracee Ellis Ross, Sanaa Lathan, Simone Missick, Ora Green and Erika Alexander.
• This month Sergio Cruel, a reporter for Fox29’s Chasing News team in Philadelphia, “launched Deeper Than Journalism, a weekly web show that focuses on stories about the Philly area’s missing persons, “Helen Ubiñas reported Wednesday in her philly.com column. “Until the project gets some financial backing, this is a labor of love for Cruel, a Philly native who attended the Art Institute of Philadelphia and Temple University. Helping him are college buddies with full-time jobs who are currently being paid in gratitude. . . .”
• If “the Trump administration were really interested in stopping colleges from giving one group an unfair hand up, they’d prohibit them from considering gender,” the Boston Globe editorialized Friday. “Women have better grades, higher test scores, and make better college applicants than men. Indeed, they make up 57 percent of all college students. In the interests of relative gender parity on campus, many colleges admit lesser-qualified men and reject more qualified women. Schools do this in part because college is about more than just the classroom. It is about creating a community of people who study together, live together, fall in love with each other, play sports together, and form bonds that will stay with them for a lifetime. . . .”
• Two main policies overseen by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, “have drawn criticism and legal challenges: Georgia’s ‘exact match’ registration verification process and the mass cancellation of inactive voter registrations,” Ben Nadler reported Oct. 9 for the Associated Press. Nadler also wrote, “Under the policy, information on voter applications must precisely match information on file with the Georgia Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. Election officials can place non-matching applications on hold. . . . An analysis of the records obtained by The Associated Press reveals racial disparity in the process. Georgia’s population is approximately 32 percent black, according to the U.S. Census, but the list of voter registrations on hold with Kemp’s office is nearly 70 percent black. . . .”

• “Fox 26 News anchor Isiah Carey was arrested over the weekend on a DWI charge after Montgomery County authorities saw his vehicle swerving on the road, according to a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office news release,” Julian Gill reported Wednesday for the Houston Chronicle. Carey hosts the station’s segment “The Isiah Factor.” Carey apologized for the incident on social media.
• “Former ‘Today’ show anchor Ann Curry will anchor and executive produce the upcoming TNT and Lionsgate series ‘M.D. Live,’ ” Tim Baysinger reported for the Wrap. “Last week, the Turner network ordered 10 episodes of “M.D. Live,” a two-hour weekly series [that] will see patients battling various ailments consulting a recurring panel of doctors, who will discuss potential diagnoses before asking the live audience for additional feedback, solutions and support. . . .”
• “I’m a 23-year-old white guy from the Hill Country, and I feel pretty lucky about a mistake that I made when I was in high school that landed me in jail,” Brendon Tucker wrote Saturday in an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle. “Lucky because that mistake pushed me to change my politics. And even become a better Texan. . . . . In Canyon Lake, where I grew up, I had no idea I was a racist. Everyone there is — they just don’t know it. Every joke out of your mouth is a racist joke. You say the N-word all the time, and you think it’s funny. And when you make a joke so many times, you build the stereotype into your framework and you believe it, whether or not you think you do. . . .”
• “Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots star tight end, dazzled crowds with his spectacular athleticism,” the Boston Globe reported in beginning a six-part series Saturday. “But he was implicated in one murder, then two others. There were trials, and verdicts, and a maximum security prison. He took his own life at age 27. . . . A Spotlight Team investigation found a man who lived a life of secrets — about his childhood, his football career, his sexuality, his drug habits, and his fascination with violence. . . . In life, one of the National Football League’s star gladiators was not who he seemed to be; the elite athlete behind the dimples and the goofy grin was degenerating into a reckless thug. In death, Hernandez provides a damning example of the indifference big-time football often shows to the price some of its players pay. . . .” The series was reported by Bob Hohler, Beth Healy, Sacha Pfeiffer, Andrew Ryan, and editor Patricia Wen.
• “On Friday, NBC News reported, and tweeted, that President Donald Trump praised Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as ‘incredible,’ “ Caleb Howe reported Sunday for Mediaite. “But on Sunday, NBC had to correct that tweet since, as it turns out, Trump was actually praising Union General (and future U.S. President) Ulysses S. Grant in the clip. . . .”
• “Once the 15th passes, the confluence of National Hispanic Heritage Month and Filipino American History Month ends, and the Filipinos have October all to themselves,” Emil Guillermo wrote Friday for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Noting that October is Filipino History Month, Guillermo also wrote, “the Filipinos technically were the first non-indigenous people to step foot on the continental U.S. . . .”
• “A comprehensive new study released today by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism shows that far more U.S. communities have totally lost news coverage — more than 1,300 — than previously known,” Tom Stites reported Monday for the Poynter Institute. However, he added, “The UNC researchers cite a Knight Foundation study of television news, released in April, that found stations from Hawaii to Idaho to Virginia that offer robust local news reports  . . .”
• “As of 2016, 39 percent of rural Americans lack access to high-speed broadband, compared to just four percent of urban Americans,” Lyz Lenz reported Monday for Columbia Journalism Review. “Only 17 percent of rural Americans rely on their smartphones for internet, according to a PEW research poll.” Lenz also wrote, “What does this gap mean for journalists? It means me paying over $80 a month just for reliable internet to do my job in Cedar Rapids while my friend in Minneapolis only has to pay $39 for hers. It means rural Americans aren’t reading your hot takes. . . .”
• “Alaska has a ‘linguistic emergency,’ according to the Alaskan Gov. Bill Walker,” Rosalyn R. LaPier wrote Oct. 5 for the Conversation. “A report warned earlier this year that all of the state’s 20 Native American languages might cease to exist by the end of this century, if the state did not act.” LaPier also wrote, “The United Nations has designated 2019 as the ‘International Year of Indigenous Languages’ in order to raise awareness of indigenous languages as holders of ‘complex systems of knowledge’ and encourage nation states to work toward their revitalization. . . .”
• “Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced dramatic gains in internet use in recent years. With this rapid growth in connectivity have come a host of potential problems, including fake news, political targeting and manipulation and financial scams, among others,” Laura Silver and Courtney Johnson reported Oct. 9 for the Pew Research Center. “Yet according to a new Pew Research Center analysis, most sub-Saharan Africans feel positively about the role the internet plays in their country. . . .”

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• Journalist Richard Prince w/Joe Madison (Sirius XM, April 18, 2018) (podcast)
• Richard Prince (journalist) (Wikipedia entry)
• February 2018 Podcast: Richard “Dick” Prince on the need for newsroom diversity (Gabriel Greschler, Student Press Law Center, Feb. 26, 2018)
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2017 — Where Will They Take Us in the Year Ahead?
• Book Notes: Best Sellers, Uncovered Treasures, Overlooked History (Dec. 19, 2017)
• An advocate for diversity in the media is still pressing for representation, (Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2017)
• Morgan Global Journalism Review: Journal-isms Journeys On (Aug. 31, 2017)
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2016
• Book Notes: 16 Writers Dish About ‘Chelle,’ the First Lady
• Book Notes: From Coretta to Barack, and in Search of the Godfather
• Journal-isms’ Richard Prince Wants Your Ideas (FishbowlDC, Feb. 26, 2016)
• “JOURNAL-ISMS” IS LATEST TO BEAR BRUNT OF INDUSTRY’S ECONOMIC WOES (Feb. 19, 2016)
• Richard Prince with Charlayne Hunter-Gault,“PBS NewsHour,” “What stagnant diversity means for America’s newsrooms” (Dec. 15, 2015)
• Book Notes: Journalists Follow Their Passions
• Book Notes: Journalists Who Rocked Their World
• Book Notes: Hands Up! Read This!
• Book Notes: New Cosby Bio Looks Like a Best-Seller
• Journo-diversity advocate turns attention to Ezra Klein project (Erik Wemple, Washington Post, March 5, 2014)
• Book Notes: “Love, Peace and Soul!” And More
• Book Notes: Book Notes: Soothing the Senses, Shocking the Conscience
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2015
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2014
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2013
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2012
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2011
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2010
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2009
• Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2008
• Book Notes: Books to Ring In the New Year
• Book Notes: In-Your-Face Holiday Reads
• Fishbowl Interview With the Fresh Prince of D.C. (Oct. 26, 2012)
• NABJ to Honor Columnist Richard Prince With Ida B. Wells Award (Oct. 11, 2012)
• So What Do You Do, Richard Prince, Columnist for the Maynard Institute? (Richard Horgan, FishbowlLA, Aug. 22, 2012)
• Book Notes: Who Am I? What’s Race Got to Do With It?: Journalists Explore Identity
• Book Notes: Catching Up With Books for the Fall
• Richard Prince Helps Journalists Set High Bar (Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com, 2011)
• Book Notes: 10 Ways to Turn Pages This Summer
• Book Notes: 7 for Serious Spring Reading
• Book Notes: 7 Candidates for the Journalist’s Library
• Book Notes: 9 That Add Heft to the Bookshelf
• Five Minutes With Richard Prince (Newspaper Association of America, 2005)
• ‘Journal-isms’ That Engage and Inform Diverse Audiences (Q&A with Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter Institute, 2008)Sept. 3)

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