Articles Feature

Ousted Editor Got $2.5 Million in Payback

by richard02997

Maharaj Taped Boss’ ‘Jewish Cabal’ Remarks

Nixon to Head AP’s International Investigations

Gov’t Reunites Dad, Son After Reporter’s Questions

Wall Street Journal Out Front on Cohen Story

Database Launches: How to Find an Editor of Color

Jackson’s Public Shaming Has Little Effect

U.S.-Funded Radio, TV Martí Aired Anti-Semitism

Report: More Independent Native Media Needed

‘Global Assault on Journalists’ Has 251 Behind Bars

Short Takes

Support Journal-isms

Davan Maharaj, then editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, announces the Pulitzer prize to reporters and editors in 2016. (Credit: UC Riverside)
Davan Maharaj, then editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, announces its Pulitzer Prize to reporters and editors in 2016. The Times won in the breaking news category “for exceptional reporting, including both local and global perspectives, on the shooting in San Bernardino and the terror investigation that followed.” (Credit: UC Riverside)

Maharaj Taped Boss’ ‘Jewish Cabal’ Remarks

After the Trinidad-born editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Davan Maharaj, was ousted in 2017 after a 28-year career at the Times, Maharaj found a profitable way to get payback, according to reporting by NPR.

Maharaj revealed to a mediator that he had recorded anti-Semitic comments allegedly made by the largest shareholder at the Times’ then-owner, Tribune Publishing Co., and received a secret $2.5-million settlement, NPR’s David Folkenflik reported Wednesday.

“The payout, which was unusually large for a newspaper executive, came at a time when the company was laying off employees amid a downturn in advertising,” the Times’ Meg James reported later in the day.

The Times also said, “Folkenflik reported the remarks were made during a gathering of newspaper executives at a dinner near the Chicago headquarters of the company, which also owns the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel.”

In 2016, shortly after taking control of the newspaper company, Michael Ferro allegedly complained that his business pursuits were being thwarted by a “Jewish cabal” in Los Angeles that included billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, Folkenflik reported.

“At the time, Ferro was chairman of the company, which he renamed Tronc. Ferro received a controversial $15-million fee for consulting services to the company. He relinquished the chairmanship in March amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.

“Maharaj, through a representative, said the settlement was not being properly portrayed.

” ‘We reject any assertion that Davan received any payments to keep information secret. Tronc and Maharaj agreed on a confidential settlement that reflected almost 30 years of exceptional service to the Los Angeles Times,’ his attorney Eric George said Wednesday night.

“Ferro’s spokesman, Dennis Culloton, disputed that Ferro made anti-Semitic remarks. ‘We 100% deny that those comments were ever said about Mr. Eli Broad,’ Culloton said. . . .”

Maharaj has been out of the spotlight since he left the Times.

Though he was at the newspaper for 28 years, Trinidadians took pride in his success. He is a native whose great-grandparents came from northern India.

“Maharaj is a former Express journalist who received awards for excellence in the field during his career with this newspaper,” the Trinidad Express reported when he was named editor of the Times in 2011.

Folkenflik reported Wednesday:

“In August 2017, Tribune Publishing fired Maharaj and his top editors, naming [Ross] Levinsohn as publisher and CEO.

“The decision set two damaging developments into motion.

“The first involved Maharaj’s reaction. He hired a prominent Beverly Hills attorney to pursue a wrongful termination suit. Maharaj had ammunition, having recorded Ferro in unguarded conversation with associates. . . .”

Folkenflik also reported, “The payments started in the first quarter of this year, for which Tribune Publishing reported a net loss of $14.8 million. The loss was attributed to the company’s decision in December 2017 to pay Ferro $15 million in consulting fees even as he served as chairman and was the company’s controlling owner. . . .”

Nixon to Head AP’s International Investigations

Ron Nixon
Ron Nixon

“Ron Nixon, an acclaimed reporter, editor and data journalist, will join The Associated Press as its international investigations editor, based in Washington,” the AP announced Thursday.

“Nixon, currently homeland security correspondent for The New York Times, will manage a team of reporters based in London, Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai and Washington, and work closely with colleagues around the globe to conduct ambitious investigative and accountability reporting on a variety of topics.

“The appointment was announced Thursday by Michael Hudson, who heads AP’s investigative journalism.

“ ‘Ron brings an impressive range of experience and know-how to the job,’ Hudson said. ‘As an editor and reporter, he’s adept at immersing himself in all kinds of stories — from investigations of global propaganda, to the day-to-day workings of America’s homeland security apparatus.’

“Nixon has covered border and aviation security, immigration, cybercrime and violent extremism at The Times. He has reported in recent years from Mexico, Belgium, Rwanda, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other places. He is the author of the book ‘Selling Apartheid: Apartheid South Africa’s Global Propaganda War,’ and is the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society, which trains journalists of color in investigative reporting.

“Nixon previously worked as data editor at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, as training director at Investigative Reporters and Editors, and as an environment and investigative reporter at The Roanoke Times in Virginia. . . .”

Hudson wrote that Nixon’s counterparts will be Maud Beelman, based in Dallas, national investigative editor; and Desmond Butler in Washington, breaking news.

Rick Pienciak in New York “continues to work closely with the regions and beat teams to identify and go after investigative opportunities that arise in the field,” and four reporters report directly to Hudson.

Gov’t Reunites Dad, Son After Reporter’s Questions

Brayan (Courtesy Mercedes Linares)
Brayan (Courtesy Mercedes Linares)

“It looked like a happy holiday reunion: A 4-year-old boy wearing a Spider-Man baseball shirt sprinted across an airport baggage claim area in Austin, Texas, late Tuesday night and flung himself into his father’s arms, then immediately pulled toys out of his bag as if trying to catch his father up on all that was new in his life,” Ginger Thompson reported Wednesday for ProPublica.

She also wrote, “This reunion wasn’t about the holidays, however. It was the bittersweet homecoming of a father and son from El Salvador who’d been separated for more than 11 weeks and 1,800 miles for reasons the United States government still has not made entirely clear.

“Brayan and his father, Julio, are among a small, new wave of family separations that immigration lawyers and advocates say signal an unofficial continuation of the Trump administration’s controversial zero-tolerance policy.

“Brayan, with striking reddish-blond hair, and his 27-year-old father came to the U.S. seeking refuge from gang violence in September but were separated at a border detention facility in Texas. Brayan was sent to temporary foster care in New York, Julio to an immigration detention facility outside San Antonio.

“ProPublica is not using their last name because the family is worried that Julio’s wife and stepson could face gang threats in El Salvador.

“When ProPublica asked about their case, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency had separated them for

Ginger Thompson
Ginger Thompson

Brayan’s safety, and had evidence that Julio was a gang member. But the agency did not provide that evidence to ProPublica or to an immigration court or explain what made Julio a danger to his son. So, two weeks ago, an immigration judge released Julio from detention on bond to pursue his asylum claim. And late Tuesday night, authorities returned Brayan to his dad in Austin, where Julio’s mother lives. . . .

“Anthony Enriquez, director of the unaccompanied minors program at Catholic Charities, said the reunion proved there had likely never been any justification for the separation. . . .

“As ProPublica reported last month, nearly six months after a court ordered the government to end its zero-tolerance policy and stop separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, the government continues to do so. Authorities have been justifying the new separations by deeming the parents unfit, often due to vague and unsubstantiated criminal accusations.

“The separations are being conducted by Border Patrol officers in secret, without oversight by courts and child welfare agencies. . . .”


The Wall Street Journal investigative team appears in this video made by the news organization.

Wall Street Journal Out Front on Cohen Story

“President Trump is reportedly ‘seething,’ ” CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote Wednesday in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “His lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for committing serious campaign finance violations. And Trump has been implicated in two felonies.

“As CNN’s Jake Tapper said on Wednesday: ‘The president’s attorney is going to jail — jail — for crimes that the prosecutors say, two of them at least, the president told him to do. I know that we have all kind of gotten numb to all of the daily chaos of this administration. But this is huge.’

Nicole Hong
Nicole Hong

“Yes. So try to think back to the beginnings of this scandal. When did you first [hear] about it? I first read about it in the Wall Street Journal. The paper exposed this scandal. The WSJ first published a story about the $150,000 payoff to Karen McDougal four days before — before! — the 2016 election.

” ‘The Wall Street Journal broke the original stories of payments made by Michael Cohen and has owned every step of this story, from the role of the National Enquirer to the tactics of the investigators,’ EIC Matt Murray told me Wednesday night.

” ‘Importantly, no one, ever, has substantively challenged the facts we have reported — and in fact subsequent events have time and again confirmed them.’

“So let’s go back in time and revisit that very first story. The headline: ‘National Enquirer Shielded Donald Trump From Playboy Model’s Affair Allegation.’ IMHO, it’s a headline for the history books, now that it’s been determined to be a campaign finance violation. . . .”

Stelter also wrote, “Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo led the way on the WSJ’s reporting. On Wednesday night, they told me, ‘Even though we were certain of our reporting about Michael Cohen and American Media paying women on behalf of Donald Trump to keep silent during the presidential campaign, despite their strong denials, it is gratifying to see both of them admit what they had done.’

“So many investigative journalists can relate to that feeling…” American Media is the Enquirer’s parent company.

“Murray credited Rothfeld and Palazzolo for their ‘groundbreaking work,’ first and foremost, and pointed out that a big team was involved in the coverage:

“Reporters Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Nicole Hong, Rebecca Ballhaus, Mark Maremont, Rob Barry, Lukas Alpert and Ali Berzon… And editors Mike Siconolfi, Jennifer Forsyth and Ashby Jones ‘have shepherded the entire effort with grace and rigor,’ he said…

“The walls are closing in…”

The presence of Hong on the team differentiates it from so many others that are all-white. Hong writes about New York-area courts and prosecutors. Her coverage areas include cybercrime and terrorism, according to a short bio.

Hong shared a byline on such stories as “Cohen Sentencing, Tabloid Deal Intensify Spotlight on Trump” (Dec. 12) and “Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal” (Nov. 9).

Database Launches: How to Find an Editor of Color

“I’m pleased to announce the official launch of the Editors of Color Database, a free service that connects editors, proofreaders, and sensitivity readers of color in the U.S. and Canada with employers and recruiters seeking to diversify their teams and broaden their perspectives,” Karen Yin, an independent writer and editor, wrote to interested parties on Monday.

Karen Yin
Karen Yin

According to a short bio, Yin, a second-generation American of Chinese descent, “is the creator of AP vs. Chicago, a guide for anyone who gives ‘a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style’; Conscious Style Guide, a reference site for inclusive, compassionate, and empowering language; and Editors of Color, tools for diversifying your staff and sources.”

The note continues, “You can search the database by location, areas of expertise, genre, editorial and adjacent services, and types of media. You can also submit a job listing at no charge by completing our online form. If you are a non-White editorial professional, we invite you to join the database and our closed group on Facebook.

“A project of Conscious Style Guide, Editors of Color also maintains a Database of Diverse Databases on its website to highlight other U.S. databases promoting underrepresented communities in various industries.

“Thank you for your enthusiastic social media posts and retweets about Editors of Color. Moving toward diversity and equality requires a conscious group effort. We — meaning Editors of Color and editors of color — wouldn’t be able to get as far without your active, vocal, and relentless support. . . .”

Jesse Jackson tells the National Association of Black Journalists in August that he visited two Ohio editorial boards and saw "not one" black journalist in the room." (Credit: Jason Miccolo Johnson)
Jesse Jackson tells the National Association of Black Journalists in August that he visited two Ohio editorial boards and saw “not one” black journalist in the room. (Credit: Jason Miccolo Johnson)

Jackson’s Public Shaming Has Little Effect

Jesse Jackson called out two Ohio newspapers for their lack of diversity in August at the National Association of Black Journalists in Detroit, the Columbus Dispatch and the Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

It appears that the attempt at public shaming did not work.

In June, Jackson said, he visited editorial boards at both papers and “not one” black journalist was in the room.

Stephen Means
Stephen Means

Alan Miller, editor of the Dispatch, told Journal-isms after Jackson’s speech, “He’s not wrong. There is a lack of diversity in some of our newsrooms,” and that his was one.

The Dispatch had openings for a hockey writer and a real estate reporter. “We’d love to hear from minority candidates,” Miller said then.

Elizabeth Sullivan, director of the editorial board for the Plain Dealer and cleveland.com, and director of opinion for cleveland.com, responded by email then that she was surprised by Jackson’s comments.

“Shortly before The Plain Dealer/cleveland.com editorial board met with the Rev. Jackson in early June, the two African-American members of our editorial board, Karl Turner and Sharon Broussard, took a buyout and left cleveland.com.

“We explained this to Rev. Jackson when he met with us, and let him know we were in the process of expanding the board for diversity reasons, a move he applauded, but perhaps he did not recall that part of the discussion. . . .”

Journal-isms asked the two papers last month whether they had improved their diversity since Jackson’s attempt at public shaming.

Chris Quinn, president and editor of Advance Ohio/cleveland.com, responded by email on Nov. 29 on Sullivan’s behalf.

“As you are no doubt aware, media organizations like us continue to cope with the most challenging financial conditions in our history. The result of that in 2018 is that the size of our staff has dropped by about a quarter, and we have done very little hiring,” Quinn said.

“The single position I filled this year was the lead writer on Ohio State sports, and the person in that role is Stephen Means, an African American journalist.

“If or when we are in a position to hire again, we will continue efforts to have our newsroom reflect the makeup of the community we serve.”

Miller has not responded to inquiries by email and to his office. Marlon A. Walker, vice president for print of the National Association of Black Journalists, said he received no response when he reached out to the newspaper over the summer.

U.S.-Funded Radio, TV Martí Aired Anti-Semitism

“A U.S. taxpayer-funded broadcaster this fall published a Spanish-language opinion piece warning that the ‘Islamization’ of Europe by migrants is destroying the continent’s Christian character and posing a danger to the United States ‘greater than that from the Nazis in the 1940s,’ ” Aaron C. Davis reported Wednesday for the Washington Post.

“The online piece followed stories by the same government-run publisher, Radio and Television Martí, that described philanthropist and prominent Democratic donor George Soros as a ‘nonpracticing Jew of flexible morals’ and as a ‘left-wing billionaire of Hungarian-Jewish origin.’

“The federal agency that oversees Martí launched an internal investigation this fall after a May report about Soros was publicized and widely denounced. The probe has now expanded to include examining how Martí came to publish an earlier story that included anti-Semitic language about Soros, a U.S. citizen, as well as the anti-Muslim piece, the agency confirmed. . . .”

Report: More Independent Native Media Needed

“Owning about 75 percent of Indian mass media, tribal governments are a key barrier to independent reporting in American Indian outlets, according to a new report from the Democracy Fund announced last month,” Talli Nauman reported Monday for Native Sun News Today in Rapid City, S.D.

Jodi Rave
Jodi Rave

“ ‘It is time to flip the script and make independent media in Indian country normal rather than an exception,’ says report author Jodi Rave, an award-winning journalist of Mandan, Hidatsa and Minneconjou Lakota descent.

“She would know. Having both founded her own digital publication Buffalo’s Fire and held a top post in the Three Affiliated Tribes’ media department, she went on to become executive director of Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance.

“The donor-supported non-profit aims at ‘creating a news system that can respond to the news gap of information in American Indian communities in the Great Plains.’

“Indian-owned newspapers that are run as independent businesses, such as the Native Sun News Today based in Rapid City, are precious few, according to the report entitled ‘American Indian Media Today: Tribes Maintain Majority Ownership as Independent Journalists Seek Growth.’

“Among the independent outlets the report spotlights are: the Teton Times based in McLaughlin, [S.D.,] Native News Online headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Native Hoop, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“ ‘Like other media sectors, Indian print media has had a significant downturn,’ Rave writes. ‘Today, there are 54 urban and reservation newspapers and 24 newsletters, compared to 280 reservation newspapers and bulletins and 320 urban Indian publications in 1998. . . .”

Time magazine this week chose "The Guardians," journalists who have been targeted for their work, as Person of the Year, CNN reported. The group includes Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October; Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested one year ago in Myanmar while they were working on stories about the killings of Rohingya Muslims (their wives were photographed for the cover); and journalists at the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, Md. newspaper where five employees were murdered by a gunman in June. (Credit: CNN)
Time magazine this week chose “The Guardians,” journalists who have been targeted for their work, as Person of the Year, CNN reported. The group includes Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October; Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested one year ago in Myanmar while they were working on stories about the killings of Rohingya Muslims (their wives were photographed for the cover); and journalists at the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, Md., newspaper where five employees were killed by a gunman in June. (Credit: CNN)

‘Global Assault on Journalists’ Has 251 Behind Bars

“For the third consecutive year at least 251 journalists are behind bars for their work, as authoritarian regimes increasingly use imprisonment to silence dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists found,” the press-freedom group reported Thursday.

“As of December 1, 2018, CPJ found 251 journalists in jail for their work. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year as they intensified their repression of local journalists, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer for the third year in a row, with at least 68 behind bars.

“Amid global anti-press rhetoric, CPJ’s census found 70 per cent of journalists jailed on anti-state charges and 28 charged with ‘false news’ — the latter is an increase from nine in 2016. Politics was the most dangerous beat for journalists, followed by human rights. The number of female journalists behind bars increased, with 33 imprisoned globally, including four in Saudi Arabia who wrote about women’s rights. An increase in the overall number of journalists jailed in China this year is the result in part of Beijing’s persecution of the Uighur ethnic minority.

” ‘The terrible global assault on journalists that has intensified in the past few years shows no sign of abating. It is unacceptable that 251 journalists are in jail around the world just for covering the news,’ said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. ‘The broader cost is being borne by all those who care about the flow of news and information. The tyrants who use imprisonment to impose censorship cannot be allowed to get away with it.’ . . .”

Short Takes

  • Columbia Journalism School Tuesday announced the 16 winners of the 2019 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honoring outstanding audiovisual reporting in the public interest. One Silver Baton goes to Reveal, PRX, “PBS NewsHour” and the Associated Press, who collaborated on “Kept Out” “to expose current day redlining — the entrenched practice of denying mortgages and home loans to people of color. Among other winners, “For a second year in a row, immigration is the theme of several winners’ work, including This American Life’s two hour-long radio program ‘Our Town,’ about immigrants in an Alabama town. The cable channel Epix’s feature-length documentary, ‘This is Home,’ chronicled the first year of refugees in Baltimore. . . . “
  • “Janice Mcknight-Magona, a 1984 graduate of Howard University’s School of Communications, passed away Nov. 30,” Jaylin Paschal reported Monday for the Hilltop, Howard University’s newspaper. Her death in Bethesda, Md., followed a stroke and illnesses dating to 1999-2000, her daughter, Dejan Magona, told Journal-isms on Friday. Mcknight-Magona, who was Hilltop editor-in-chief, was expelled after she published articles covering sex discrimination on campus.  “Though a complicated case — made more so by Mcknight-Magona’s preparation to go to trial to argue for her reinstatement as a student and editor of The Hilltop, and a D.C. Superior Court’s ruling that her expulsion [was] legal — President [James] Cheek decided to allow Mcknight-Magona to return to the university. . . .” After Howard, she worked on the first Million Man March, served as the legislative correspondent for Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa., and was the public relations director for National Council of Negro Women under Dr. Dorothy I. Height’s presidency, Gracie Lawson-Borders, dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, said in a notice. Mcknight-Magona was 58.
  • Paris Dennard
    Paris Dennard

    “Pro-Trump contributor Paris Dennard will not return to CNN following his suspension last August amid an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a past termination, he confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter,” Jeremy Barr reported Tuesday for the publication. After the story appeared, a CNN spokesperson confirmed that “Paris Dennard’s contract with CNN has expired and he is no longer with the network,” Barr wrote.

  • “The FCC today adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking commencing the 2018 Quadrennial Review of its media ownership rules,” Mark K. Miller wrote Wednesday for TVNewsCheck. Up for review are “the Local Radio Ownership Rule, the Local Television Ownership Rule and the Dual Network Rule. The Local Radio and Local Television Ownership Rules limit the total number of broadcast radio and television stations, respectively, that may be commonly owned in a media market. The Dual Network Rule prohibits a merger between or among the Big Four broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC). . . .”
  • The proposed $4.1 billion merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tribune Media presents an opportunity to advance minority ownership and opportunity, and the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice “should take full advantage of the chance,” commentator and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams wrote Monday for Broadcasting & Cable. “As one of the only African-American owners of television stations in the nation, I sincerely hope this happens. . . .”
  • On C-SPAN’s “Book TV” this weekend: “Saturday at 8pm & Sunday at 10pm ET — Michelle Obama, Becoming. Former First Lady Michelle Obama is on tour promoting her bestselling autobiography, ‘Becoming.’ BookTV covered portions of her tour stops in Chicago, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City. BookTV will begin this bloc of programming by re-airing Michelle Obama’s keynote address from the American Library Association Conference earlier this year, where she reflected on her life and time in the White House.”
Carrie Ann Inaba (Credit: MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock)
Carrie Ann Inaba (Credit: MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock)

“Carrie Ann Inaba is set to take over Julie Chen’s chair on ‘The Talk,’ ” Joe Otterson reported Dec. 6 for Variety. “Sources tell Variety that Inaba has closed a deal to join the CBS daytime chat show, and will come aboard in January. . . . Inaba has been one of several guest hosts filling in since Chen’s departure from the daytime talker in September, which came on the heels of Chen’s husband – CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves – being ousted from the company over multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault. . . .”

Frances Wang
Frances Wang
  • “Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson used to be a mainstream conservative. But in recent years, he has morphed into a leading white nationalist pundit“(audio), according to the Hate Sleuths, a group of dedicated Reveal News readers who volunteer their time to help expose hate across America, Will Carless and Aaron Sankin reported Dec. 7 for Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting. “He uses his nightly show to question the benefits of diversity, issue misguided warnings of ‘genocide’ for white people and amplify other talking points frequently found in the internet’s darkest, foulest corners. . . .”
  • In Sacramento, Calif., hometown reporter Frances Wang announced Dec. 7 she is leaving KXTV, the station she grew up watching. In a Facebook message on Thursday, Wang said she was joining WFOR-TV, the CBS-owned station in Miami, as an anchor and reporter.
Jeff Hiday, left, and Jim Hummel as Crockett and Tubbs
Jeff Hiday, left, and Jim Hummel as Crockett and Tubbs
  • “The first-ever Hispanic Leadership Summit at the United Nations concluded this week with a call-to-action to unify America’s Hispanic community of more than 55 million behind a set of common goals, as leaders expressed a desire to bolster the community’s image and voice in advance of the 2020 elections . . .,” the summit announced Wednesday. “. . . ‘[Hispanics] should make sure our stories are being told — producers, bookers, everyone involved in storytelling from concept to execution, needs to understand that Hispanic stories are [American] stories,’ said Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, during a summit panel on the media’s role in the perception of Hispanics.”
  • In Providence, R.I., “Former State Representative Ray Rickman joined GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle on LIVE after a photo of Jim Hummel, the investigative reporter for the Providence Journal and host of ‘The Lively Experiment’ of RI PBS, in blackface has emerged and was sent to GoLocal,” theGoLocalProv site reported Wednesday. “The photo of Hummel was taken when he was about [30-years-old] and was a news reporter for the Providence Journal. At that time, Blackface had been considered to be racist for decades. . . .” Hummel told GoLocal, “My recollection is that Jeff (Hiday, then another Projo reporter) and I went to a Halloween Party back in the 1980s when we were roommates. Miami Vice was a popular TV program at the time and we decided to go as the two main characters, Crockett and Tubbs — in part because Jeff looked like Don Johnson and had a white linen suit. It was a very long time ago when I was a young man and clearly not reflective of my values and I think anybody who knows me would see it in that context.”
  • Carlton Houston
    Carlton Houston

    “Carlton Houston, who’s run the day-to-day operation at WUSA in Washington for the past 2 1/2 years, is joining Blue Cross Blue Shield in Chicago as Director of Storytelling,” the subscription-only NewsBlues website reported Wednesday. “He explains: ‘I’ll be working closely with the Executive communications team and its 36 BCBS companies across the United States. After 25 years in television, my wife and I are thrilled to be starting a new chapter.’ Houston’s a former ND in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, worked in management in Tampa and Jackson MS, and as a reporter/anchor in Kansas City, Norfolk, and Columbia, MO.” Katherine Wojtecki, executive director, media relations for Blue Cross Blue Shield, said Friday that she could not confirm the item.

  • In Nicaragua, “[j]ournalists have been beaten, arrested and robbed; radio stations raided by police. Last week, both the UN and the IACHR [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] condemned the intensifying harassment,” Toby Stirling Hill reported from Managua Monday for the Guardian. ” ‘This government has banned protest, captured opposition leaders, and now the only thing preventing a totalitarian dictatorship is the independent media,’ says [Nicaraguan TV journalist Miguel] Mora. ‘This is the stage where they try to silence us.’ . . .”
  • Reporters Without Borders called on the Afghan authorities Tuesday “to do everything possible to locate the owner of a regional TV station who was snatched from his car on a street in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar, last week. According to Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial governor’s spokesman, Enikas TV owner Zalmi Latifi was being driven home on the evening of 4 December when he was abducted by unidentified gunmen, who killed his driver. No group has so far claimed responsibility. . . .”
  • “China is trying to reshape the global information environment with massive infusions of money — funding paid-for advertorials, sponsored journalistic coverage and heavily massaged positive messages from boosters,” Louisa Lim and Julia Bergin reported Dec. 7 for the Guardian. “While within China the press is increasingly tightly controlled, abroad Beijing has sought to exploit the vulnerabilities of the free press to its advantage. In its simplest form, this involves paying for Chinese propaganda supplements to appear in dozens of respected international publications such as the Washington Post. The strategy can also take more insidious forms, such as planting content from the state-run radio station, China Radio International (CRI), on to the airwaves of ostensibly independent broadcasters across the world, from Australia to Turkey. . . .”

 

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