Marvin Kalb told the audience, “​We are, as a country today, still tied up in knots because of racial discrimination. . . . Maybe we need a lot of other Wallace Terrys to go out there and cover this story, because I have a feeling that most people have forgotten that the story still exists.” (Credit: Richard Prince)

Panel Fills in Wallace Terry’s Own ‘Missing Page’

The storied journalist Marvin Kalb, now 96, last Wednesday joined authors A’Lelia Bundles and Ray Boomhower, along with Lisa Terry, to discuss a Black journalist described as underappreciated chronicler of the civil rights movement and of Blacks who served in the Vietnam War, Wallace Terry.

Wallace Terry, who worked at the Washington Post and Time magazine, died at 65 in 2005. Lisa Terry is his daughter.

The setting for the forum was the Washington, D.C., campus of New York University. It took place Wednesday. Kalb, who joined remotely, called Boomhower’s  newly released “Wallace Terry: From Selma to Saigon to Bloods,” “simply terrific,” adding that, “I say that as a harsh critic.

“We tend not to realize what a difficult assignment that was, covering the civil rights movement then,” Kalb said.

He continued, ” ​We are, as a country today, still tied up in knots because of racial discrimination. So, you can talk about that issue back in the 1980s, and a number of people were absorbed with it, clearly.  He obviously did. But the next issue is, you might think in your mind as a writer that you could help conquer this, and I think that was in his mind. He wanted — he had enough self-esteem, I guess, to want to conquer something that large, and somehow do it.

“But the country was fighting it. We are still as a nation fighting it. And maybe we need a lot of other Wallace Terrys to go out there and cover this story, because I have a feeling that most people have forgotten that the story still exists.”

Terry’s oral history of Black soldiers in Vietnam, “Bloods,” is now considered a classic. Ironically, Terry found himself “written out of history” when war correspondents were chronicled. He gave that as a reason for writing his own book, “Missing Pages: Black Journalists of Modern America: An Oral History,” published in 2007.

“Why, I asked, was I left unmentioned?” Terry wrote. “That’s when I made up my mind to research and write a book about black journalists beginning with World War II and taking them through the civil rights movement in America, and the Vietnam War. This work would help fill the missing pages in the history of modern American journalism.”

You can watch a recording of the NYU event here.

Media on Agenda at Black Panther Party Reunion

Sixty years after the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, Calif., the two foundations carrying the legacies of the Party’s co-founders, Huey P. Newton, Ph.D., and Bobby Seale, are staging an anniversary gathering this month. Discussions of the media — including the Black Panther Party’s own newspaper, the Black Panther — are on the agenda [PDF].

The four-day conference and gala takes place Oct. 15-18, in downtown Oakland.

A Friday workshop  is called “Revolutionary media after the party.”

“We are highlighting the revolutionary media created by the San Francisco Bay View, picking up where the Black Panther Party Newspaper left,” the description says.

Another is described as “Investigating and staging A Record of Monstrous Falsehoods: FOIA litigation, international journalism, live documentary theatre, and the case for reparations for the Black Panther Party in Baltimore.” (Pictured: Vol. 1, No. 1 of “the Black Panther.”)

The description continues:  “A Record of Monstrous Falsehoods: The State of Maryland v.The Black Panther Party is a public-history, investigative journalism, and community education project that brings archival research, cross-border journalism, and live performance together to examine the history and legacy of the Baltimore Chapter of the Black Panther Party, and the case for reparations.

“This workshop presentation traces the project’s research process and the international dimensions of COINTELPRO, featuring excerpts from recent investigative journalism and its adaptation into a live documentary stage play. The project’s researcher, writer, and director will be joined by members of the cast and veteran Baltimore Panther member Paul Coates to discuss the investigative and creative processes behind the work.”

Coates is the owner of the Black Classic Press publishing company and father of author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Howard University’s Center for Journalism & Democracy said it was “convening 300+ newsroom executives, domestic and international journalists and scholars . . . for a full day of learning, strategizing and preparation. Expect sharp panel discussions, a first-of-its-kind Election Night Newsroom Simulation and hard-won lessons from journalists who’ve covered democratic backsliding around the world — plus the chance to connect with the people shaping this work nationwide.” (Credit: (YouTube)

Listen Up: ‘We Are Not Powerless as a Profession’

Journalists, legal scholars, and democracy advocates gathered at Howard University on Tuesday to discuss threats to press freedom and democratic institutions ahead of the midterm elections.

Here is a Rev.com summary of the all-day meeting:

The summit opened with remarks from Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, interim president of Howard University, who welcomed attendees to the fourth Democracy Summit [29:51]. He noted that previous summits had focused on threats to elections (2022), propaganda and democratic decline (2023), and oligarchy (2024), while this year’s theme centered on what newsrooms would do with that knowledge [31:17].

Nicole Hannah-Jones, founding director of the Center for Journalism and Democracy, delivered the inaugural address as the newly named Knight Chair in Race and Journalism [30:56]. She described the Trump administration’s attacks on the press, including defunding NPR and PBS by cutting $1.1 billion [40:56], surveilling journalists, banning news organizations from White House access [41:11], and filing multimillion-dollar lawsuits against media outlets [42:17]. She cited data showing U.S. democracy had reached its lowest level in 50 years according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance [42:56] and was deteriorating faster than any other democracy in modern times according to the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index [43:29].

Bill Adair, Knight Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, presented a photo essay documenting the past year of press attacks [46:34], including [President] Trump’s lawsuits against ABC (settled for $15 million) [48:15] and CBS/Paramount ($16 million) [48:35], the arrest of journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon [49:37], and the White House website dedicated to “calling out the media’s lies” [49:03].

The opening panel “Press Attacks Amid an Eroding Democracy” featured Hannah-Jones, Mary McCord (Executive Director at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection), and Georgia Fort (independent journalist), moderated by Jodie Ginsburg of the Committee to Protect Journalists [53:01]. Fort described federal agents raiding her home, seizing her devices, and accessing her phone records via administrative summons [56:08] [56:22] [58:18], even after a judge denied a search warrant [58:14]. McCord explained how the administration was using executive orders to blacklist law firms and chill speech across institutions [1:10:07], noting courts had enjoined these orders “within hours” in three of four cases [1:12:15].

A second panel on election preparedness featured Carolyn Ryan of The New York Times and Leroy Chapman Jr. of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, moderated by Jelani Cobb of Columbia Journalism School [2:15:14]. Ryan described a September 23rd election simulation with 70 staffers [2:19:30], while both emphasized the importance of explaining vote-counting processes to prevent disinformation narratives [2:20:54]. Chapman noted the partisan history of Georgia’s election system — “built by Republicans” [2:36:45]— but highlighted new concerns about law enforcement presence at polls and potential ICE activity affecting voter turnout [2:30:30] [2:31:03].

The “Lessons from Abroad” panel brought international perspectives with Christina Zahar (CPJ Latin America), Marianella Balabi (Press and Society Institute of Venezuela), and Atila Mong (CPJ Europe) [3:43:05]. They described authoritarian playbooks including weaponizing courts, economic asphyxiation of media, and criminalizing journalism [3:46:49]. Balabi detailed Venezuela’s post-January 3rd reality following Maduro’s removal, where digital news sites were unblocked and official data began returning — but warned these were merely “cracks in what is a wall of secrecy and censorship” [4:03:21]. Mong emphasized that media capture never occurs alone but alongside capture of judiciary and other institutions [4:08:12], and that Hungarian elections had been deemed “free but unfair” by international observers since 2014 [4:09:28].

The afternoon featured a newsroom simulation moderated by Joe Davidson [formerly] of The Washington Post [6:05:52], presenting scenarios including dumpster fires alleged to contain burned ballots, ICE presence at Latino polling places, and presidential declarations of victory without evidence. Panelists Claire McNeill (Tampa Bay Times), Ron Nixon (former AP/NYT), and Janae Nelson (NAACP LDF) stressed verification before publication [6:10:13] [6:11:26], consulting lawyers [6:34:31], and providing service journalism to help voters navigate confusion [6:22:05].

The summit concluded with breakout discussions and closing remarks from Hannah-Jones, who urged attendees to remember that “we are not powerless as a profession” [8:24:35] and quoted Ida B. Wells: “The people must know so that they can act” [8:25:05].

Map showing the kingdoms of Bornu, Sokoto, and Asante. (From Isaac Samuel’s Substack, African History Extra)

They Read the Times of London in Asante Kingdom

“Western explorers often arrived in Africa assuming they were ‘discovering’ a continent that had had little contact with the outside world. The reality was quite the opposite, Isaac Samuel notes,” reports Semafor and the London Review of Substacks.

“A British government representative in the mid-19th century found those he came into contact with ‘were as inquisitive about Europe as he was about Africa,’ while one had a deep understanding of Aristotle and Plato via Arabic translation. Decades prior, a UK government official traveling through West Africa was asked why, if his country was as benevolent as he claimed, had it been so overtly controlling and repressive in India?

“Though surprising to the explorers and colonizers who visited, African states learnt of other places through the same methods of elsewhere in the world: African explorers returned with written accounts of their travels, foreign visitors’ remarks were well catalogued, and Arabic-language representatives of Muslim kingdoms offered their own manuscripts. When British forces invaded the Asante kingdom in the late 19th century, they found copies of the Times of London and Bristol Courier.”

 

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Apart from independent journalists, others in disfavor in include the son of this Afro-Cuban father, who participated in protests in 2021. “A #11J political prisoner with an intellectual disability, imprisoned more than 4 hours away from his family: he is denied visits, food and soap,” according to this social media posting, which includes an English translation.

“Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera is serving a 12-year prison sentence for taking part in Cuba’s July 11, 2021 protests (#11J). He has needed psychiatric treatment since childhood. In prison, he does not receive the medication or care he needs. . . .” (Credit: X)

Cuban Independent Journos Still Harassed, Imprisoned

“José Luis Tan Estrada is an independent journalist, originally from Camagüey [in Cuba]  and now in exile in Mexico City. The Cuban Observatory for Freedom of Expression (OCLE) has documented several acts of repression against him, and his case shows that the harassment of a journalist can go beyond the borders of Cuba,” the observatory said in a Facebook reel posted last week.

“In Camagüey, he was watched, arbitrarily detained, and summoned on repeated occasions. He was stopped when he was heading to deliver donations of medicines to a pediatric hospital, and he was interrogated and threatened to abandon independent journalism, aid to needy people, and his social media denunciations. When he refused to sign the warning documents, his house was besieged for several days. When he tried to travel abroad,

“Nicaragua denied him entry and had to move to Guyana, where he was exiled and stranded after losing the cost of a ticket that the airline did not refund.

“The threats followed. In Guyana, a man with a Cuban accent warned him in the middle of the street: ‘Don’t keep talking nonsense, we know where you are.’ A Cuban ambassador publicly insulted him on social media and accused him of being a ‘mercenary.’ In Mexico, he received death threats from a foreign number, in addition to intimidating comments on his publications. The journalist himself reported that a source linked to the government of his province warned him that there would be plans against his physical integrity.

“His response has been to continue: he will continue denouncing corruption and human rights violations in Cuba.”

Meanwhile, “The writer and independent journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez is serving sentences in conditions of isolation and physical risk in the prison of Guamajal, in Villa Clara, where he was transferred at the end of September from the La Pendiente prison, according to Pastor Mario Félix Lleonart, director of the Patmos Institute, to Martí Noticias,” the Spain-based CiberCuba reported Saturday.

“Lleonart specified that the transfer occurred around September 26 and that since then the writer remains in full incommunicado, without the possibility of receiving calls, books or notebooks.

“From Guamajal the calls do not come out. The excuse is that the phones are broken or there is no coverage,” the pastor said.

“The correspondence is also blocked in practice: ‘The cards hardly circulate because they read them and if something does not fit them they do not let them pass,’added Lleonart.

“What worries the director of the Patmos Institute the most is the physical security of the intellectual: according to the information he has received, Barrenechea was placed in a cubicle with about twenty people, including inmates described as violent, and fears that he could be assaulted, with the suspicion that other prisoners could receive incentives to attack him. . . .”

Short Takes

] “Dawn Porter is set to direct a feature documentary on pioneering Black TV news anchor Max Robinson (pictured) for Wise Child Studios. CNN anchor Victor Blackwell is among the producers,” Cynthia Littleton reported Friday for Variety. “ ‘Color Bars: The Story of the Black Journalist Who Broke the TV News Color Barrier’ will recount the rise and fall of Robinson’s career in broadcast news for Wise Child Studios. Porter, known for her much-praised docus including 2020’s ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ and 2018’s ‘Bobby Kennedy for President,’ will produce through her Trilogy Films banner. Blackwell, who anchors ‘CNN This Morning Weekend’ and hosts the weekly series ‘First of All with Victor Blackwell,’ will produce through his Fresh Fruit Films. . . .”

  • “Chicago Public Media announced today that Sasha-Ann Simons (pictured) will be departing ‘In the Loop,’ the daily news talk show she has hosted since 2025. Simons’ last show will be Nov. 6,” the organization announced Friday. “Simons joined WBEZ in December 2020 to host the two-hour midday talk show ‘Reset.’ ”

  • Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary is launching a podcast for the Washington Post, to begin Oct. 13, Chris Roush reported for Talking Biz News. “I’m excited. It’s another way to reach readers,” Singletary told Journal-isms. Acast Productions announced in July that new shows in development and production would be hosted by Post journalists Carolyn Hax, Shane O’Neill and Singletary.
  • “Former CNN newscaster Don Lemon is apparently giving more serious consideration to running for president than he previously admitted,” David Moye reported Wednesday for HuffPost. “In fact, he’s more than halfway sure he’s running, according to an interview he gave on the Uncloseted Media podcast earlier this week. “After host Spencer Macnaughton asked him about comments he made earlier this year that he was ‘totally serious’ about running for higher office in 2028, Lemon admitted that the odds are 65 to 70% that he will throw his hat in the ring. . . .”