Articles Feature

What Journalists Can Learn From Bob Moses

by richard02274

Self-Effacing Civil Rights Organizer Dies at 86
NBC Brands Lester Holt ‘Anchor for America’
An Encounter That Went Viral

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Robert P. Moses, left, and Charles E. Cobb Jr. discuss their book “Radical Equations” on C-SPAN in 2001.

Self-Effacing Civil Rights Organizer Dies at 86

Charles E. Cobb Jr., a co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and a colleague of civil rights organizer Robert P. (Bob) Moses in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was asked Sunday whether there were things to say about Moses that would connect him with journalism. Moses died that morning at 86.

Cobb’s response was brief. “I don’t really have anything to say in this vein . . . except perhaps to say how frequently the press ignores the work of a consequential life until it has passed,” the author, journalist and activist messaged Journal-isms.

Moses’ life, perhaps underreported but certainly consequential, carried lessons for journalists, particularly Black journalists.

Paul W. Valentine summed up that consequence in The Washington Post’s obituary. “Bob Moses, a towering but self-effacing leader of the civil rights movement who, after enduring beatings and jailings to register Black voters in Mississippi in the 1960s, picked up the civil rights torch 20 years later by founding the Algebra Project, a math education initiative aimed at rural and inner-city students, died July 25 at his home in Hollywood, Fla. He was 86. . . .”

Moses and Cobb wrote “Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights” in 2001 about that Algebra Project.

In explaining the story of the book, Cobb wrote Journal-isms then that journalists need to understand that the civil rights movement was not just about the drama of marches and protests, but about organizing, a theme that Cobb would continue to stress in subsequent writings, such as “This Nonviolent Stuff′ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible” in 2015.

Cobb also urged in his message that journalists read “Radical Equations” to help them take up the cause of schools serving African Americans that have been “written off.”

A statement from the SNCC Legacy Project Sunday was accompanied by this photo of, from left, Bob Moses, Julian Bond, Curtis Muhammad, an unidentified man, Hollis Watkins, Amzie Moore and E.W. Steptoe.

Cobb wrote Journal-isms:  
 
“Bob Moses and I go way back, way back to the early summer of 1962 when as a 19-year-old I wandered into Mississippi and wound up being persuaded to stay by the young people we talk about in Part One of the book.  

“I stayed in the state for almost five years as a SNCC field secretary. I have been a writer and journalist for the last quarter-century so it was easy and natural for Bob to turn to me for the telling of his story (my condition was that it had to be told in his voice) because trust as well as skill is necessary to work together in this kind of book-writing relationship.

“For me, telling Bob’s story was a way into beginning to write about the older organizing tradition of the Southern civil rights movement that we were pulled into as students engaged in sit-in protests against lunch counter segregation. I think this organizing tradition has largely been overlooked by historians, academics and journalists who seem to prefer the drama of marches and protests and excerpts from Dr. [Martin Luther] King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

“I am committed to continuing to write about the Southern civil rights organizing of the 1960s. Part of what Bob and I agreed on early in the book project was that we wanted to bring the names and actions of at least some of the older people (Ella Baker [pictured], Amzie Moore, E.W. Steptoe, etc.) on whose shoulders we stood — many of them local NAACP leaders who for years, decades in most cases, had been fashioning what amounted to an underground guerrilla struggle — into focus. As we say in the book, they were our ‘fundis’ — teachers with whom we apprenticed — in the tradition of community organizing.

“Our discussion of the Algebra Project connects to this tradition and the broad argument we are raising with our discussion of math literacy is that public schools should educate instead of create sharecroppers.

“The Algebra Project is retooling the organizing tradition of the civil rights movement to advance an American tradition that argues for education as the fundamental structure for opportunity and meaningful citizenship.

“No one understood this better than freed Negro slaves during and right after the Civil War. ‘The first great mass movement for public education at the expense of the state, in the South, came from Negroes. Public education for all at public expense, was, in the South, a Negro idea,’ wrote W.E.B. Du Bois (pictured) in ‘Black Reconstruction.’ With tragic consequences, the idea of quality education for each and every student in public school has been abandoned.

“And the whole discussion about ‘school reform’ underway now does not address fixing public schools that now amount to little more than sharecropper schools in inner cities and the rural South. Instead, they are still being written off.

“This is something for journalists — especially Black journalists — to probe using our book as one tool.”  

  • Ramtin Arablouei, Laine Kaplan-Levenson, Lawrence Wu, Julie Caine, Jamie York, Parth Shah, Victoria Whitley-Berry, “Throughline,” NPR: The Most Sacred Right (2020) (July 15)
For the past six weeks, “NBC Nightly News” has been the third-most-watched program on TV. (Credit: NBC News)

NBC Brands Lester Holt ‘Anchor for America’


“NBC will use its Olympics coverage to kick-start a new marketing campaign for NBC Nightly News and anchor Lester Holt, branding the NBC veteran as ‘The Anchor for America,’ ” Alex Weprin reported Friday for The Hollywood Reporter.

“The campaign will debut with a 15-second commercial during NBC’s live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony Friday morning, with other versions of the spot airing across NBC’s platforms in the days and weeks that follow. . . .”

Weprin also wrote, “Using the Olympics as a promotional vehicle for Nightly News and Holt underscores the investment NBC continues to make in its signature evening newscast. Nightly News has been playing catch-up to ABC’s World News Tonight With David Muir in both total viewers and the target adults 25-54 demographic for more than a year, according to data from Nielsen.

“That being said, the program ended 2020 with its best total viewer numbers in four years, driven by the heavy news cycle, and for the past six weeks has been the third-most-watched program on TV, excluding syndication and sports. . . .”

An Encounter That Went Viral

Fox News Steps Up Catering to White Fear

July 24, 2021

Network Exploits ‘Panic’ Over a Changing U.S.

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Network Exploits ‘Panic’ Over a Changing U.S.

“One evening earlier this month, a White rage-filled man sat behind a desk, looked into a camera, and began to rant about how something must be done to ‘save’ the United States before ‘we become Rwanda,’ a not-so-subtle reference to the horrific genocide that occurred in the African country decades ago,” Oliver Darcy wrote Friday for CNN.

“That rage-filled man, who delivered his diatribe while positioned adjacent to an ‘ANTI WHITE MANIA’ graphic, was not a Neo-Nazi filming a video for an underground network of like-minded extremists,” Darcy wrote under the headline, “How Fox News is making a network out of race baiting.”

“He was Tucker Carlson of Fox News, the most-watched host on one of the most-watched networks in all of America.

“Carlson occupies the space furthest on the fringe at Fox. His show has become defined by bald-faced race-baiting. Earlier this year, Carlson even endorsed the racist ‘great replacement’ theory on his prime time show.

“But though Carlson might be more overt about it than most of his colleagues, what he’s been doing fits neatly into the broader theme pushed by Fox as a network. Fox has a long history of catering to the fears of white America. But programming in that vein has increased recently, engraining itself into the channel’s core DNA.

“Fox understands the panic rippling through White America and exploits it for profit. Instead of using its platform for good-faith discussion and debate about race, the network chooses to demonize those seeking to have it. It presents a terrifying world to viewers and then tells them, repeatedly, that it is the only entity in society standing up to the nefarious forces that seek to destroy their way of life.

“The network’s obsession with critical race theory, for example, illustrates how integral race baiting has become to the network and ballooned on its airwaves in recent months. According to Media Matters, a progressive watchdog, Fox mentioned ‘critical race theory’ on its airwaves an astounding 901 times during the month of June. The organization said that over the past three-and-a-half months, Fox has mentioned the topic over 1,900 times.

“Coverage of Gwen Berry, the US Olympian who protested the Star Spangled Banner by turning away from the flag while it played, offers another data point. Over the last month, Fox’s website has published 24 stories focusing on her, often depicting her as an Olympian who hates the country — similar to how the network has portrayed other Black athletes who have protested racial injustices on the field.

“The examples are too numerous to count. . . .”

Darcy also wrote that the nation’s demographic changes “can be frightening — especially to White communities which make up the vast majority of Fox viewers. 94% of viewers who tuned into ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ from January 1 to July 7 have been White, according to Nielsen Media Research, the industry standard for measuring television audiences. Only 2% were Black. (For comparison, over the same six-month period, CNN’s 8 p.m. hour had an audience that was 25% Black and the audience for MSNBC’s 8 p.m. hour was 27% Black. Both of those audiences were 66% White.) . . .”

2 More CBS GMs Out After Investigation

July 23, 2021

‘Workplace Culture Needs to Measurably Improve’
Shani Hilton to Help Drive L.A. Times Outreach
Wall St. Journal’s Johnson to Grow Audiences
Tanzina Vega Leaves ‘The Takeaway’; Harris-Perry to Sub

Short Takes

From earlier this week:

Black Women to Lead Two Big Texas Papers
Maria Reeve in Houston; Katrice Hardy in Dallas
ESPN, Maria Taylor Split; Next Stop May Be NBC
Patricia Mays in a Top Role at Hollywood Reporter

Can Journalism Solve Urban Problems?:
Temple J-School Launches Investigative Unit
Paul Cheung to Lead Center for Public Integrity

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“Our diversity, equity and inclusion standards need to be a top priority for leadership in every corner of our Stations business,” wrote  CBS’ CEO George Cheeks.

‘Workplace Culture Needs to Measurably Improve’

“In a sweeping shake-up, CBS has ousted two senior managers responsible for its television stations in Los Angeles and Chicago,” Meg James reported Thursday for the Los Angeles Times.

“Jay Howell, general manager of KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles; and Derek Dalton, the head of WBBM-TV Channel 2 in Chicago, were ousted Thursday after a six-month investigation into alleged wrongdoing within CBS’ stations group.

“The moves extend a dramatic management makeover at CBS News and the network’s stations division after a Los Angeles Times investigation uncovered alleged misconduct, racism and misogyny at a handful of CBS-owned stations.”

Deadline reported that George Cheeks (pictured), president and CEO, said in an email to staff:

“This has been a difficult period for everyone in the group. The investigation cited painful revelations about experiences that we cannot tolerate today or in the future.

“While the investigation largely looked at events in the past, and the issues revealed were more pronounced in certain areas and at specific stations than others, there are clear themes that we need to address moving forward: our diversity, equity and inclusion standards need to be a top priority for leadership in every corner of our Stations business; our workplace culture needs to measurably improve; and, your trust needs to be restored with your CBS leaders. [boldfaced in the email]

“Several steps have already been taken in this direction:

  • “We have established new leadership at the Stations group and have already made important changes in the top three markets.
  • “Johnny Green (pictured) is now our dedicated general manager at WCBS/New York, separate from the Stations’ central team.
  • “We have refocused our local priorities on content, culture and community connections, with special attention being paid to reflecting and representing our local audiences. This approach includes weaving the CBS News’ Race and Culture Unit into our community coverage.”

The National Association of Black Journalists said in a statement that “these developments come in the aftermath of the former President of CBS Television Stations Peter Dunn and former Senior Vice President (SVP) of News for CBS Stations David Friend being released from their positions. This also comes on the heels of CBS CEO and President of CBS Entertainment Group George Cheeks naming NABJ member Johnny Green the new GM at CBS’s New York station.

“NABJ met several months ago with Cheeks and Marva Smalls (pictured), Executive Vice President and Global Head of Inclusion. Discussions included numerous allegations from our members about unfair treatment of Black journalists and other people of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. Many of those charges were detailed in an LA Times article earlier this year, which can be found here.

“NABJ Vice President-Broadcast Ken Lemon said, ‘We are encouraged by significant movements to address charges from our members and CBS employees. We applaud George Cheeks for taking decisive action and look forward to the steps he is taking to continue changing the company’s culture.”

The statement also said, “ ‘What George Cheeks has done is exactly what he promised us that he would do: take corrective action that will positively impact a change in the culture of CBS,’ said NABJ Vice President-Digital Roland S. Martin. ‘This is not the time for gradual change. For media companies to change, it requires bold action. And we look forward to offering Mr. Cheeks a list of eminently qualified Black candidates to fill these GM roles.’ ”

Shani Hilton to Help Drive L.A. Times Outreach

Shani Hilton (pictured), who joined the Los Angeles Times two years ago from BuzzFeed News and helped lead the Times through its racial reckoning last year, has been appointed to the newly created role of managing editor for new initiatives, the news organization announced on Thursday.

“In making the appointment, Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida said that Hilton will be responsible for driving the L.A. Times’ efforts to expand its journalism and to foster a newsroom culture of aggressive, organic experimentation with form and approach,” the Times said.

Merida, who became executive editor in June, has said he wants the L.A. Times to be more than a newspaper, to reach consumers in a variety of ways. (video)

In a news release, the Times said, “As Managing Editor for New Initiatives, Hilton joins Managing Editors Scott Kraft and Kimi Yoshino, and will oversee the Podcast and Video departments, working with those teams and other collaborators to sharpen The Times’ audio and video strategies. Hilton will also work within the newsroom to cultivate ideas and create an environment where journalists can try new things, launch products and pursue different ways to engage subscribers and the community with their reporting.”

“ ‘Shani is superbly equipped for this new role,’ Merida said. ‘She is a force for creativity with a get-things-done spirit. Her focus will be wide-ranging and may include new areas of coverage, music, poetry, comedy, books, documentaries, scripted projects, new ways for journalists to engage with subscribers, pop-up events, debates, community and prison journalism, block parties and much more.’

“Since coming to the L.A. Times as a deputy managing editor in 2019, Hilton has worked with staffs across the newsroom — from Business to the Washington bureau to Politics to Entertainment — to focus The Times’ coverage through a California lens. At BuzzFeed News, where Hilton had previously served as vice president of news and programming, she was a newsroom innovator, developing forward-thinking news coverage and building live television programming and documentaries. . . .”

Last year, the Times published an apology for past racist coverage and pledged to do better. “Our entire industry is going through this reckoning: How do we root out the anti-Black racism from our organization and from our coverage?” Hilton said then. “How do we stop the tides of white supremacy that invade, not only what we do, but all of society?”

Wall St. Journal’s Johnson to Grow Audiences

Kimberly S. Johnson (pictured) was named Speed & Trending Coverage Chief of The Wall Street Journal, the Journal’s top editors announced Thursday, saying Johnson was “taking on a key leadership role at the center of the newsroom. “

“As we said last month, this new team is central to our efforts to grow audience and deepen engagement,” Matt Murray, editor in chief, and Jason Anders, chief news editor, said in their memo.

“Kimberly will build and lead a high-metabolism team charged with being the first word on many of the most important stories of the day, as well as weighing in on a wide range of trending stories. We’re staffing the desk with reporting, editing, visuals and SEO expertise, and have a number of open positions posted at WSJ.jobs. Kimberly will work closely with Hub editors, coverage chiefs and colleagues across the newsroom.

“Kimberly is a natural leader for this important role. Her strong news judgment, record of innovation and dedication to high standards have guided her tenure as Professional Products Editor, where she has expanded and strengthened our editorial offerings for business and finance professionals. Under Kimberly’s leadership, we have launched three new verticals including WSJ Pro Artificial Intelligence, The Experience Report and WSJ Pro Sustainable Business, while deepening our 10 existing products and growing our reach. Kimberly also led the project exploring the legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre and its economic reverberations a century later. . . .”

Vega Leaves ‘The Takeaway’; Harris-Perry to Sub

Tanzina Vega (pictured), who began hosting public radio’s “The Takeaway” in 2018 after a stint as The New York Times’ race and ethnicity reporter and as a reporter for CNN Politics, announced Friday that she is leaving the show. The Daily Beast reported that she “is leaving following reports that she berated staff and was subject of internal complaints.”

Vega had been on approved leave since April. She messaged Journal-isms, “I’m most looking forward to spending some quality summer time with my [infant] son.”

In a memo to the staff at New York’s WNYC , where “The Takeaway” originates, Chief Content Officer Andrew Golis wrote Friday, “Over the last three years, Tanzina and the entire Takeaway team have worked tirelessly to produce an essential daily national news show for the listeners of 290 public radio stations and thousands more online. They’ve focused the show on the issues that bring us together and sometimes divide us, paying special attention to criminal and social justice, the economy, and racial disparities. We wish Tanzina the very best on her next chapter.

“I’m thrilled to also announce that the esteemed scholar and journalist Melissa Harris-Perry (pictured) has agreed to stay on as interim host of The Takeaway through the end of 2021.

“Melissa is a brilliant thinker, teacher, and broadcaster. She’s the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair in three departments at Wake Forest, and held previous roles on the faculty of University of Chicago, Princeton, and Tulane. She is a prolific writer and speaker. And many of you, like me, probably loved spending Saturday and Sunday mornings with her when she hosted a far-ranging, welcoming, and deeply intelligent show on MSNBC (#nerdland). . . .”

Daily Beast reporters Maxwell Tani and Diana Falzone wrote, “The well-known journalist has been on medical leave for months at the same time the network has looked into human-resources complaints against her, including claims that on multiple occasions Vega blew up at members of her staff.

“Vega has privately disputed the claims, enlisting Neil Mullin, a prominent employment attorney, who told The Daily Beast last month that the media had ‘spread false rumors about the reason for her leave,’ which he said was ‘indecent treatment of an esteemed radio host.’ ”

A year into the WNYC job, in which Vega succeeded host John Hockenberry, who left amid accusations of sexual misconduct, Vega was chosen by Kent University for its Robert G. McGruder Distinguished Lecture and Award.

She told Jeff St. Clair of the campus radio station, WKSU then, “At ‘The Takeaway’ we try to go deep. We know there’s too much ‘surface’ out there, we know that news has become a commodity, so we try to go deep.

“Two examples of how we did that: the first is going out to Puerto Rico for the one year anniversary of hurricane Maria. I took a step back from the host chair and spent one week on the ground talking to people that I knew, family members of mine, going to parts of the island that people hadn’t been talked to for quite some time, and getting a week’s worth of reporting to get a different story of resilience, of their relationship with the U.S., and nuances that had gotten loss in the coverage leading up to the one year anniversary. You can hear that on TheTakeaway.org.

“The other series that we did: we’re living in a moment right now, a lot of people are calling it the #MeToo movement.

“Obviously women are having a moment, there’s a reckoning happening with women in the U.S. and around the world. And as part of that we decided to look at rage, and we called it Hysterical. We really examined what happens when women get angry, when women push back. What does that sound like? What does that look like, if it happens in the workplace, if it happens in your personal life? The ways that women are limited in how they can express themselves emotionally. We took four days, in different segments, talking with experts around the country to really dig deep into the ways that we allow men to walk the world and not women.”

Short Takes

  • Jaweed Kaleem (pictured), a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, placed first in the The American Academy of Religion’s reporting on religion contest. “His artful narratives of five Americans revealed a poetic mosaic about the nature of religion in the age of Trump,” said the association of academics who research or teach topics related to religion. “Kaleem’s winning entry included a feature of one of Auschwitz’s last remaining survivors and a story about a rural Idaho Mormon family that spent a lifetime preparing for disasters. One juror observed that ‘Kaleem’s depiction of an emerging clergyman illustrated the gritty reality of lived religion in an era of zoom worship’. His investigation of a Catholic parish priest to immigrants who worked for Smithfield was an exposé of the intersection of religion, citizenship, food, Covid, and politics. The winning entry also included Kaleem’s portrayal of a Christian Reform Church pastor’s emotional struggle to leave his church and his ministry over Trump.”
  • “The Cleveland Indians new name is. . .The Guardians,” Paul Hoynes reported Friday for cleveland.com. “The Indians announced the new name on Twitter on Friday morning. They have been called the Indians since 1915. The franchise announced the name change in a video narrated by Cleveland fan Tom Hanks with music supplied by The Black Keys from the Akron area.” The Native American Journalists Association, along with other Native groups, have long opposed sports mascots that reference Native Americans.

Black Women to Lead Two Big Texas Papers

July 21, 2021

Maria Reeve in Houston; Katrice Hardy in Dallas
ESPN, Maria Taylor Split; Next Stop May Be NBC
Patricia Mays in a Top Role at Hollywood Reporter

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Maria Reeve celebrates as she is named executive editor of the Houston Chronicle Tuesday at the Chronicle’s Houston office. (Credit: Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle)

Maria Reeve in Houston; Katrice Hardy in Dallas

In an unprecedented development, the Houston Chronicle named Managing Editor Maria Reeve as its new executive editor, followed within 24 hours by the Dallas Morning News announcing a second Black woman, Katrice Hardy, executive editor of the Indianapolis Star, as its new newsroom leader.

“The Dallas Morning News has named Katrice Hardy, a veteran journalist whose newsrooms have a track record of award-winning reporting, to be its next top editor,” Maria Halkias reported Wednesday for the Morning News.

Halkias noted that Hardy, 47, is “currently executive editor at the Indianapolis Star, which won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, and Midwest regional editor for the USA Today Network.

“Hardy becomes the first woman and Black journalist to hold The News’ top newsroom job. She also led newsrooms in Virginia and South Carolina before joining The Star in March 2020.”

In Houston, “Reeve, 53, joined the Chronicle from the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she served in various roles including assistant managing editor of news, assistant features editor and deputy metro editor,” Paul Takahashi reported Tuesday, updated Wednesday, for the Chronicle. “She previously worked for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Saint Paul, Minn. She started her journalism career as a general assignment reporter at The Bradenton Herald in Florida, where she covered transportation and the environment.

“Reeve joined the Chronicle four months before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. She oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the historic oil bust and the Texas blackouts — all while managing a remote staff.”

Reeve, active in the National Association of Black Journalists, was president of its Twin Cities chapter. Houston has been called the nation’s most diverse city. Reeve told Journal-isms that while the newsroom’s diversity numbers weren’t immediately available, “As for wanting to improve them, that is a goal, especially if we intend to reflect the community, which we do.”

Takahashi also wrote, “Reeve said she plans to accelerate the reinvention of the 120-year-old newspaper into a multi-platform media company, with a particular emphasis on online journalism.”

Grant Moise, left, Dallas Morning News publisher, introduces Katrice Hardy as the paper’s executive editor Wednesday. (Credit: Dallas Morning News)

Hardy chairs the Diversity Committee of the News Leaders Association, which resulted from the merger of the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors.

“Hardy said she’s excited to see ‘so much diversity’ in the Dallas community. She spent time this week visiting schools for her daughter and exploring neighborhoods,”  Halkias wrote.

Halkias added that “only a handful of Black women have been the top editor of an American newspaper. In the past few months, a number of major U.S. newspapers have appointed Black executive editors to lead their newsrooms. . . .

“ ‘It’s important to acknowledge the historical significance of the appointments of Katrice Hardy in Dallas and Maria Reeve in Houston as two of the top editors in the U.S.,’ said Debra Adams Simmons, executive editor, culture at National Geographic and a mentor to Hardy. ‘Just a few short years ago, there was less than a handful of black women running newsrooms. This is an important moment.’

“Simmons said Hardy will ‘survey the landscape and fairly quickly identify opportunities for growth in Dallas.’

“ ‘Katrice is the editor who can help The Dallas Morning News meet the moment — in the work you create and in the relationships you build in the greater community,’ Simmons said. “

In Houston, the Houston Association of Black Journalists posted about Reeve on Facebook: “Huge congrats to Maria Reeve — Houston Chronicle’s FIRST Black Editor in Chief! ✍? We are so proud of you and the trail you’ve blazed. Women and people of color are capable of dynamic things. We just need the same doors opened.”

Maria Taylor, left, and Rachel Nichols.

ESPN, Maria Taylor Split; Next Stop May Be NBC

“ESPN and Maria Taylor, an up-and-coming on-air personality, have parted ways in the wake of an internal controversy that spilled into the public arena and drew new scrutiny of diversity policies at the Disney-owned sports-media giant,” Brian Steinberg reported Wednesday for Variety.

​Andrew Marchand added for the New York Post, “and she is headed to NBC and will cover the Olympics, The Post has learned. . . . For NBC, Taylor is expected to be part of its forthcoming Olympic coverage that begins in earnest on Friday. . . .

“With NBC, Taylor also could be waiting in the on-deck circle to become the host of ‘Football Night in America,’ when Mike Tirico moves to the full-time ​’​Sunday Night Football’ play-by-play position in the fall of 2022. It is not fully set that Taylor will replace Tirico, but seems as if it could be a potential fit. Taylor could also have a role on Notre Dame football this season.

Steinberg continued, “ ‘There is no doubt we will miss Maria, but we remain determined to continue to build a deep and skilled talent roster that thoroughly reflects the athletes we cover and the fans we serve,’ said Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN’s chairman, in a prepared statement. ‘While she chose to pursue a new opportunity, we are proud of the work we’ve done together.’

“Taylor’s last on-air appearance for ESPN came Tuesday night during coverage of the last game of the NBA Finals.

“Her departure would seem to cap a period of inner discord at ESPN. In July of last year, basketball correspondent Rachel Nichols was caught on video speaking to representatives of LeBron James about ESPN’s decision to have Taylor host ESPN’s basketball report, ‘NBA Countdown,’ during 2020’s NBA Finals. Her comments were recorded by a video camera she had left on and subsequently uploaded into ESPN’s system, where the footage was discovered and distributed by an employee.

“Nichols was frustrated that she hadn’t gotten the role, and suggested that ESPN’s interest in paying more attention to diversity was a factor in the decision. The matter boiled over after the New York Times reported that some employees who helped produce ESPN’s basketball coverage may have been choosing sides, and has drawn comments from Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner. . . .”

The National Association of Black Journalists said in a statement Wednesday, “ESPN President James Pitaro has agreed to meet with the NABJ leadership team the first week of August to discuss the current situation and what his team plans to do, in collaboration with NABJ, to address the multiple challenges facing the network.

“ ‘ Our members who either work at ESPN or formerly worked at ESPN are sharing with us deeply troubling stories of their experience there,’ said NABJ President Dorothy Tucker. ‘We are obviously disturbed by what we are hearing and are eager to meet with ESPN to assist them in long-overdue changes that will lead to a positive work environment for Black journalists and media professionals.’ ”

Patricia Mays in a Top Role at Hollywood Reporter

 
“The Hollywood Reporter has found its executive editor of news,” the show business publication reported Monday.

“Patricia Mays (pictured), who comes to THR from ESPN, will oversee the digital strategy of the award-winning publication across the brand, including its recently relaunched website. Mays will start her new position Aug. 16.

“ ‘Patricia is a dynamic leader who will be an incredible asset to an already stellar newsroom, one known for breaking news, investigative journalism, revealing features and eye-catching visuals,’ said Nekesa Mumbi Moody (pictured), THR’s editorial director. ‘Patricia’s expertise in digital and proven track record, coupled with her ability to produce unique, compelling journalism across multiple mediums, will allow THR to further distinguish itself as the leader in entertainment and industry news.’

The story also said, “Mays has been instrumental in leading the production of award-winning feature content, capturing a Sports Emmy and successfully orchestrating cross-platform integration across TV, digital, audio and direct-to-consumer. During her tenure as executive editor for ESPN Digital Media, ESPN was the No. 1 online sports destination in audience metrics and time spent. Before joining ESPN in 2009, Mays was sports editor at The Press-Enterprise newspaper in Southern California and worked for The Associated Press for a decade in various key roles, including as assistant sports editor.”

Can Journalism Solve Urban Problems?

July 20, 2021

Temple J-School Launches Investigative Unit
Paul Cheung to Lead Center for Public Integrity

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Homepage photo: The scene of a triple shooting in Philadelphia last week, at Keim and East Ontario streets. (Credit: Jessica Griffin/Philadelphia Inquirer)

The new center “will focus exclusively on the issues facing Philadelphia and other large American cities, including gun violence, economic inequality, education and health disparities, crumbling infrastructure and eroding trust in institutions.” (Credit: Temple University)

Temple J-School Launches Investigative Unit

“Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication will soon launch a Center for Urban Investigative Reporting, thanks to a $1.2 million founding grant from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation of Berkeley, California,” the college announced Tuesday.

Asked how many other universities have such centers, Dean David Boardman (pictured) messaged Journal-isms, “Not sure. I know of several: Berkeley, Maryland, Arizona State, for starters. But I believe ours will be the only one exclusively focused on urban issues and dedicated to community input and engagement. “

He said the school was seeking a director.

The announcement came as the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, “An average of more than 10 people have been shot per day in Philadelphia in July, as of Sunday. That July pace is 53% higher than last year, and 159% higher than 2019.”

Two weeks ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a new state of emergency around gun violence and committed almost $139 million to reverse the trend of rising shootings and murders across the state. Cuomo said it was the first by a state to address gun violence, Ashley Southall reported for The New York Times.

According to Temple’s Klein College news release, “The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation Center for Urban Investigative Reporting will focus exclusively on the issues facing Philadelphia and other large American cities, including gun violence, economic inequality, education and health disparities, crumbling infrastructure and eroding trust in institutions.

“Through the Logan Center, Klein students and faculty will report aggressively not only on these problems, but on potential solutions, closely examining what has worked well in other cities across the nation and the globe.”

Boardman is also vice chair of the Solutions Journalism Network. That organization says on its website, “As news avoidance and distrust grow, solutions journalism has rapidly grown from an ‘extra’ to a must-have for newsrooms building or repairing relationships with their communities. These results reveal the extent to which audiences respond to solutions journalism in ways that can strengthen local news.”

“Klein has long had a ‘teaching hospital’ model for preparing students for careers in journalism and other communications professions, giving them a strong foundation in theory and research along with myriad opportunities to hone their skills on campus and in the community. Through the college’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods capstone class, students report from areas of North and West Philadelphia that are largely overlooked by mainstream media. . . .”

Paul Cheung to Lead Center for Public Integrity

Paul Cheung (pictured), a past president of the Asian American Journalists Association and most recently director of journalism and technology innovation at the Knight Foundation, has been named CEO of the Center for Public Integrity. He “will lead one of the country’s oldest nonprofit news organizations in its mission of investigative reporting about inequality,” the Washington-based organization said Monday.

In a question-and-answer on the Center’s website, Cheung said, “Public Integrity has a rich history of holding the powerful accountable, and I want to use that power to hold those people and systems who are perpetuating or worsening inequality accountable as well as uplifting those who are solving the problems of inequality.

“My vision is for us to be the leading newsroom in America in equipping and inspiring change makers with our investigative journalism to reverse the effects of inequalities.”

Cheung previously worked at NBC News Digital, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald, and he is a board member of the News Leaders Association.

As Kristin Hare reported Monday for the Poynter Institute, Cheung “succeeds Susan Smith Richardson, who became deputy editor of The Guardian US earlier this year. Cheung is the first Asian American to lead the Center for Public Integrity, which was founded in 1989 and is an investigative, nonprofit news organization.”

On his LinkedIn profile, Chung emphasizes his background in technology. “I manage a multimillion dollar investment portfolio at the Knight Foundation. My key investment areas include scaling AI [artificial intelligence], business sustainability solutions, and mitigating misinformation,” he wrote.

“With more than 20 years of experience at the forefront of digital transformation in the media — pioneering AI, data journalism, AR/VR [Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality], visual storytelling and digital training strategies, I am ready to lead media companies looking to launch breakthrough ideas from concept to reality across new digital and emerging technology platforms.”

AAJA membership declined during Chung’s four years as president, as newsrooms shrank, but in his farewell message in 2016, Cheung listed these successes:

  • “Partnering with more than 30 community groups to host the first Asian American Presidential Town Hall, which featured principals and surrogates from all major campaigns.
  • “Launching ‘The Heartland Project,’ a first-of-its-kind partnership among the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to help newsrooms in the
  • “Cornhusker State do a better job in covering communities of color and LGBT issues.
  • “Acquiring more than $300,000 in grants and sponsorships to reboot AAJA’s signature journalism programs, including the Executive Leadership Program.
  • “Holding newsrooms accountable by aggressively responding — via our MediaWatch team — to unfair, irresponsible and inaccurate coverage of our communities.”

Cheung advocated for keeping AAJA in the Unity: Journalists of Color coalition after the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists pulled out, and AAJA remained until Unity dissolved in 2018.

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