Office of FCC's Clyburn Was Catalyst for Black Ownership Deal

The office of Mignon Clyburn, a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, played a role in linking Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., with black media entrepreneur Pluria Marshall Jr. The two parties announced on Friday that Nexstar had agreed to sell Marshall's company three television stations.

Responding to a question about how Nexstar found him, Marshall told Journal-isms by email, "Commissioner Clyburn's office made several recommendations on possible individuals to work with."

Clyburn messaged Journal-isms, however, that "I personally did not make any recommendations." Adonis E. Hoffman, Clyburn's chief of staff and senior legal adviser, said by telephone that Nexstar representatives came to lobby him in March on the controversial issue of joint services agreements, under which one station provides services, such as advertising sales, to another. The FCC was moving to ban such arrangements.

On the way out of the meeting, a Nexstar representative said the company would be interested in finding a minority buyer. Hoffman mentioned Marshall and an Atlanta business. "It was as casual as that," he said. The representatives were familiar with Marshall. Nexstar followed up. 

Marshall was asked about an assertion that Nexstar chose a black-owned company as a way to operate three of its stations under thinly disguised shared-services or "sidecar" or joint services agreements. The FCC last month voted 3-2 for the ban but made an exception if the arrangement furthered diversity.

"When the newly invigorated FCC stepped in and threatened to swat the deals down, Nexstar got creative and recruited black media entrepreneur Pluria Marshall Jr. as a 'black beard,'" the subscription-only NewsBlues site asserted on Monday. "Pluria Marshall Jr. will front the three stations in name only, and Nexstar will finance the $58.5 million sale with its own money."

Marshall replied in his email, "You obviously don't know me. I am a seasoned media executive and hands on manager. I run everything I own, always have. The sidecar transactions of the past have been derailed by Chairman [Tom] Wheeler. Our transaction is totally different in form and scope."

The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters said Monday that it had questions about the deal, but that it approved.

Jim Winston, NABOB executive director, said in a statement, "This is the type of transaction NABOB was hoping to see as a result of the new JSA [joint services agreement] rule. Pluria Marshall, Jr. is the type of person, with a long history in radio station ownership and operation, who has the potential to become a successful television station owner and operator. This appears to be the kind of transaction that should receive a waiver of the rule."

The stations involved, all FOX-affiliated, are KMSS-TV in Shreveport, La.; KPEJ-TV in Odessa, Texas; and KLJB-TV in Davenport, Iowa. As president and chief executive officer of Equal Access Media Inc., Marshall owns several newspapers serving African American and minority communities, including the Houston Informer, Texas Freeman, the Los Angeles Wave Newspaper Group and the Los Angeles Independent Publications Group.

If the deal is approved, it would nearly double the tiny number of black-owned, full-power commercial television stations.

Meanwhile, Jessica J. Gonzalez, executive vice president and general counsel of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, is listed among the witnesses to testify Wednesday before a House Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing on "Media Ownership in the 21st Century." 

Readers Contribute $35,000 to Aid Nigerian Schoolgirls

"How about some good news for a change?"Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote Tuesday in the Miami Herald.

"Last month, I wrote about the kidnapping of nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls by a band of putative men who style themselves Boko Haram — 'Western Education is Forbidden.' Taken in concert with the 2012 shooting of Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan and the 2008 acid attack on Shamsia Husseini in Afghanistan, this latest outrage cements an impression that Islamic extremists are petrified of girls and what they might become with a little education.

"It is a frustrating, anger-making thing. 'Make me wanna holler,' as Marvin Gaye once sang.

"But this time for some reason, I needed to do more than holler. I needed to take action. It seemed to me the best way to fight against people seeking to interdict the education of Nigerian girls was to help ensure that still more Nigerian girls go to school.

"That led me to the Peace Corps Nigeria Alumni Foundation (PCNAF.org), a small group of Peace Corps vets in greater Washington, D.C., that exists for the specific purpose of providing scholarships for Nigerian girls. I spoke to their president, Albert Hannans, verified their link to the Peace Corps, searched Lexis-Nexis for red flags. Finding none, I sent a small donation to PCNAF c/o P.O. Box 65530, Washington, D.C., 20035 and wrote about it in this space. I figured a few of you might do the same.

"I was wrong. It wasn’t a few of you. It was a whole bunch of you. So many that Hannans tells me the little group's treasurer is overwhelmed, and it's become a welcome hardship just running back and forth to the bank. The present tally: $35,000 and climbing, a huge amount given that $500 represents a year's tuition. . . ."

• Dele Agekameh, Premium Times, Nigeria: A Military in Tatters and the Senseless Onslaught Against the Media
  
  
• Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | the Times-Picayune: Nigeria's ban on 'Bring Back Our Girls' calls for a listen to Fela(June 3)
  
  
• Wole Mosadomi and Victor Ahiuma-Young, Vanguard, Nigeria: Newspapers Return to Newsstands As Military Ends Clampdown
  
  
• Reporters Without Borders: Army Seizes Newspaper Issues Day After Day on "Security" Grounds

White Cast Members Missing From Essence Magazine Cover

"The men and women of the upcoming comedy 'Think Like A Man Too' are featured on dueling covers of the July double issue of Essence magazine — but hold up — some very important cast members are missing!"Sarah Huggins wrote on June 5 for zap2it.com.

"The men's cover features African American actors Michael Ealy, Romany Malco, Kevin Hart and Terrence Jenkins accompanied by producer Will Packer, decked out for summer in their best blues.

"However, fans everywhere noticed a giant hole in the cover photo — white main cast members Jerry Ferrara and Gary Owen as well as supporting actor Adam Brody are not only not on the cover, but not even pictured in the article.

"Outraged readers of the . . . publication, [which] promotes equality amongst races, are taking to Instagram to voice their disapproval. . . ."

Coincidentally, Essence co-founder Edward Lewiswas on NPR's "Tell Me More" Wednesday to promote his new memoir, "The Man From Essence: Creating a Magazine for Black Women," with co-author Audrey Edwards.

Asked about the backlash to the 2005 sale of the formerly black-owned magazine to Time Inc., Lewis replied, "I've often said that when you see white women on the cover or white women in the magazine of Essence, then black women should stop buying the magazine."

An Essence spokeswoman declined to comment.

In News Media, Are Muslims the Only "Terrorists?"

"What do you call a couple who espouse an extremist, anti-government ideology and kill two policemen and a bystander while draping one of their victims in a flag associated with a political movement?"Paul Farhi asked Tuesday for the Washington Post.

"After Sunday's shooting spree perpetrated by just such a couple in Las Vegas, many in the media declined to use one potential label: terrorists.

"Jerad and Amanda Miller, the young Nevada couple who fatally shot three people before killing themselves, were enamored of a right-wing, conspiratorial view of federal authority, according to law enforcement officials. They killed two police officers, Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo, as the two men quietly ate lunch, and covered one of the bodies with a Nazi swastika and the Revolutionary War-era 'Don't Tread on Me' flag, a symbol of the Tea Party movement. The pair shouted about 'revolution' as they moved to a nearby Wal-Mart, where Amanda Miller shot a customer, Joseph Wilcox, who tried to stop them.

"That shorthand description would seem to qualify the Millers as terrorists. Although the term's strict definition has been a subject of debate within national security circles for years, there has been some consensus around Georgetown professor Bruce R. Hoffman's five-part test: an act of violence that was politically motivated, perpetrated to influence a broader audience, involved an organized group, targeted civilians and was carried out by a person outside the government.

"Yet few media accounts have described the Millers as terrorists or their actions as terrorism. . . ."

How Climate Change Affects Blacks' Kitchen Table Issues

"This week Ebony Magazine asks whether blacks care about climate change,"Tracie Powell wrote Tuesday for alldigitocracy.org. "Earlier this month theRoot.com raised this question: Where's the Black Political Conversation on Climate Change?

"'Barack Obama might be the only black person on the planet who cares about climate change,'Charles D. Ellison wrote following the announcement of new carbon dioxide emissions initiatives by the Obama Administration. 'Without clean air to breathe or unflooded land to live on, eventually not much else will matter. For that reason alone, it's time for black folks to get invested in the climate debate.'

"One reason black people and other ethnic groups may not talk much about global warming, carbon emissions and melting polar icecaps is because they don't make the connection with 'kitchen table' issues like having to pay more for gas or food. Another reason for the relative silence is that hardly any news organizations, local or otherwise, are reporting on how climate change is specifically impacting ethnic communities; ethnic news media aren’t making the connections either. The National Science and Technology News Service is hoping to change this by increasing interest in science, technology, engineering and math through media advocacy.

"Dr. Marshall Shepherd, a member of the news service, 2013 president of the American Meteorological Society and Director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, sat down with All Digitocracy to offer tips on how ethnic media, particularly black news organizations, can do a better job at covering climate change. . . ."

• Brentin Mock, grist.com: The world is yours: Kids take the lead in the climate fight (June 5)
  
  
• Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Ebony: Blacks Don’t Care About Climate Change Fact or Fiction?

ASNE Announces Minority Leadership Institutes

"The American Society of News Editors is thrilled to announce details of three Minority Leadership Institutes in 2014," the society announced on Friday:

"At NABJ: July 30-31, before the NABJ Convention & Career Fair in Boston

"At NAHJ: Aug. 6-7, before the NAHJ Multimedia Convention & Career Expo in San Antonio

"At ASNE/APME: Sept. 14-15, before the ASNE/APME conference in Chicago

"Open primarily to ASNE member organizations, each Institute will provide leadership and management training to about 15 mid-level editors and news directors from news organizations around the country. . . .

"ASNE has trained about 70 news leaders since its inception. . . ."

Writer Sees Humor in GOP Chair's Plans to Address NABJ

"It sounds like a plot point from a bad ’90s cyberthriller, but my email inbox might have a sense of humor,"Jamelle Bouie wrote Tuesday for Slate.

"Let me explain. On Tuesday morning, I received an alert from the Brennan Center for Justice, announcing its new report on the prevalence of voting restrictions. In the four years since the 2010 election — when the GOP swept state houses across the country — 22 states have passed restrictive voting measures, from voter identification laws to limits on early and weekend voting. While some restrictions were overturned by the courts or weakened by the Justice Department, others remain on the books, with provisions set to take effect before the midterm elections. 'In 15 states,' notes the Brennan Center, '2014 will be the first major federal election with these new restrictions in place.' . . .

"Republican voter restrictions are most likely in places where black people vote the most. . . ."

Bouie continued, "After the Brennan Center alert, the next message in my inbox was a press release from the Republican National Committee. The subject line? 'RNC Chair Reince Priebus To NABJ.' The NABJ, for those unaware, is the National Association of Black Journalists, the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation. Priebus is visiting — along with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz—as a speaker for the NABJ's annual convention, where he will speak on the GOP's outreach to black Americans. . . ."

Bouie also wrote, "By now, I’m sure you see the humor here. Announcement one: Republican-pushed voter restrictions target blacks and other minorities. Announcement two: Republican leader plans to talk outreach with black journalists who — among other things — report on voter restrictions. . . ."

Republicans have not always accepted NABJ's invitations. During the last presidential campaign, this column noted, "The Republican National Committee and the putative GOP standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, have ceded the National Association of Black Journalists convention to the Democrats, rejecting invitations to send speakers or panelists that the Democrats eagerly accepted."

• Charles M. Blow, New York Times: The Cantor Omen(June 11)
  
  
• Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: 'Freedom Summer II' could turn red states blue
  
  
• Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Overdosing on tea (June 12)

In Britain, BBC Ramps Up Diversity Efforts

"The BBC has announced new measures to improve the representation of the Black, Asian and minority ethnic community, including a new executive development scheme and a ringfenced commissioning fund," Jason Deans and Tara Conlan reported Friday for Britain's Guardian newspaper. .

"Other measures announced on Friday include more training internships for BAME graduate trainees, an assistant commissioner development programme for people from diverse backgrounds and new on- and off-air diversity targets.

"BBC director general Tony Hall, unveiling the BAME proposals at the EastEnders set in Elstree on Friday morning, also announced that he would chair a new independent diversity action group to advise the BBC. . . ."

• Kathy English, Toronto Star: Diversity is right course: Public Editor

Editor of State-Controlled Paper Arrested in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, "After armed police raided his home and his office early on Thursday, Edmund Kudzayi, the newly appointed editor of the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper, handed himself over to police later in the day,"Peta Thornycroft reported Friday from Durban, South Africa, for the Independent Foreign Service.

"Police confiscated equipment from his office, but have so far not laid any charges against him.

"Police are also looking for Dumisani Muleya, the editor of a privately owned newspaper, The Independent, owned by Trevor Ncube, who also publishes two daily newspapers in Zimbabwe and the Mail & Guardian in South Africa.

"Police visited Muleya’s office on Thursday but were told he was on leave.

"Muleya told online publication New Zimbabwe.com by telephone from Harare: 'I've no business with the police, and until they state specifically why they want me, I will not be turning myself in.'

"Mduduzi Mathuthu, appointed last year to edit a state newspaper, The Chronicle, in Bulawayo, said that his home had been burgled early in the day and that his communication equipment had been stolen.

"Mathuthu spent several recent years in exile, mostly in London, where he helped launch a well-read online Zimbabwean newspaper, NewZimbabwe.com.

"The arrests are believed to be linked to a fight between two camps within the ruling Zanu-PF party over who will succeed President Robert Mugabe, 90, when he retires or dies. . . ."

• Lloyd Gumbo, the Herald, Zimbabwe: Why Sunday Mail editor was arrested

Tampa Bay Times' Ivan Penn Honored for Business Writing

Ivan Penn, a business reporter at the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, was awarded a Gerald Loeb Award for beat reporting Tuesday in New York.

Penn told Journal-isms that the award covered a combination of stories, but the primary one was an economic analysis comparing nuclear energy costs and natural gas. The awards are bestowed by the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Penn joined the Times in July 2006 after more than 12 years with the Baltimore Sun. He covers utilities, energy and consumer issues.

Black journalists are underrepresented on business desks. "Business reporting is undervalued in general," Penn messaged Journal-isms. "People care about the pocketbook issues. It's great that the Loebs recognize business reporting in such a spectacular way. The key in much of what we do in holding businesses and government accountable is the core journalistic principle of follow the money."

• Alicia Canales, Reynolds Center: Tampa Bay Times' Ivan Penn on bringing power to the energy beat (June 10)

Eric Brown, Chicago Radio Sportscaster, Dies at 58

"Co-workers and colleagues are remembering Chicago radio sportscaster Eric Brown as a consummate professional and a genuinely nice guy," Chicago television writer Robert Feder reported Tuesday on his website.

"A 26-year veteran of CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780/WCFS FM 105.9, Brown died of cancer Tuesday at 58. He had been on a leave of absence since last fall.

"Eric was a reporting mainstay for the Bears successes in the 90's, for the Bulls six championships, and it gave him a lot of joy to report and talk about two Blackhawks Stanley Cup champions in 2010 and 2013, the station reported on its website. . . ."

• Rob Hernandez, madison.com: Sports media loses a soft-spoken friend with passing of former Ch. 3 anchor Eric Brown

42% of Top Companies Link Compensation to Diversity Goals

"It's official. White men dominate Silicon Valley,"Thomas Lee wrote Friday for the San Francisco Chronicle.

"While that's not exactly revelatory, Google, Facebook, Yahoo and LinkedIn all recently issued reports that say they need more women and minorities in the workforce.

"'Our intent was to start a dialogue in the industry,'Prasad Setty, Google's vice president of people analytics and compensation, recently told me at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in San Francisco. 'We can't do this alone. How do we get a girl in middle school interested in coding?'

"Shortly after our conversation, the company said it will donate $50 million to encourage women to pursue the field.

"That might sound like a significant commitment, but if these tech giants really care about employees' gender and race (and by calling attention to their own shortcomings, I assume they do), then they should put real skin in the game by linking executive compensation to diversity goals. . . ."

Lee also wrote, "Linking pay to diversity is not as audacious as it sounds. Verizon, Dell, Coca-Cola and Kraft base top managers' pay on diversity initiatives, as do several hospitals and nonprofits. According to a report last year by Calvert Investments, 42 percent of the companies in the Standard & Poor's 100 index link executive compensation to diversity goals. . . ."

As noted earlier in this column, tying compensation to progress on diversity goals was a strategy successfully used by the late Al Neuharth, CEO of the Gannett Co., and supported by Gary Knell, former CEO and president of NPR.

However, Jarl Mohn, a veteran media executive and investor who is NPR's incoming leader, disagreed with the idea. "I'm doing this job not for the money. I haven't made this little money for 25 or 30 years," he told Journal-isms last month. Money "is not why people work there. I don't think people are [incentivized] to change their behavior for money."

Network News Says "Billionaire" 4 Times More Than "Poverty"

"Poverty continues to be a pressing social problem— but it's hardly mentioned on the network newscasts, according to a new study," the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting said Thursday.

"The study looks at ABC World News, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News for a 14-month period (1/1/13-2/28/14) in the wake of the 2012 elections. FAIR examined stories in the Nexis news database that included and discussed the terms 'poverty,''low income,''food stamps,''welfare' or 'homeless.'

"According to the study:

• "An average of just 2.7 seconds per 22-minute nightly news program was devoted to segments where poverty was mentioned.
  
  
• "Only 23 segments discussing poverty appeared over the 14-month study period.
  
  
• "Less than half of the 54 segment sources — 22 — were people personally affected by poverty. That means, on average, someone affected by poverty appeared on any nightly news show only once every 20 days.
  
  
• "Over the same period, the network news shows aired almost four times as many stories, 82, that included the term 'billionaire.'
  
  
• "ABC discussed poverty in just three stories in the 14-month period. . . ."

The June 1 FAIR report noted, "There are 482 billionaires in the US, compared to nearly 50 million living in poverty, according to Census standards, which some scholars say greatly undercount the poor . . ."

El Diario Accusations Have ImpreMedia in Crisis Mode

"Accusations of harassment, racism, elitism and union busting from El Diario employees, who claim their support of the Newspaper Guild of NY made them a target for termination[,] has impreMedia, the paper's parent company, in crisis mode,"Veronica Villafañe reported Friday for her Media Moves column.

"A round of layoffs announced two weeks ago has sparked major discontent and union action from El Diario’s newspaper workers, including a picket in front of impreMedia's headquarters in New York yesterday.

"About 40 people rallied in support of the 12 people laid off on Friday, June 13. Of those, 8 were union employees, including 4 reporters: Rosa Margarita Murphy, Gloria Medina, Candida Portugués and Héctor Rodríguez, most of whom had been with the company over 12 years. The others were corporate employees in admin and sales positions.

"'The accusations are completely false,'Juan Varela, VP of Content of impreMedia[,] tells Media Moves. 'There is no intention to dismantle the union…. this mess was caused by the tremendous manipulation of a small group of people.' . . . "

Nigerian Government Hires U.S. P.R. Firm Over Boko Haram

"The Nigerian government has signed a contract worth more than $1.2 million with a Washington public relations firm to deal with the fallout from the Boko Haram kidnappings, documents obtained by The Hill show,"Megan R. Wilson reported Thursday for the Hill newspaper, which covers Capitol Hill.

"Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who is up for reelection in February, is seeking to counter the perception that he has not done enough to combat the Islamic extremists in his country who abducted more than 270 schoolgirls in April.

"To that end, his government has hired Levick, a prominent PR and lobbying firm in Washington, to engage in an effort to change . . . 'the international and local media narrative' surrounding Nigeria's 'efforts to find and safely return the girls abducted by the terrorist organization Boko Haram,' according to a contract document signed June 13. . . ."

President Admits Journalist Jailings Hurt Egypt's Reputation

"Egypt's president has acknowledged for the first time that the heavy sentences handed down to three al-Jazeera journalists had a 'very negative' impact on his country's reputation, saying he wished they had never been put on trial," the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

"The comments by Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to Egyptian media editors, published late on Sunday, are the first public recognition by Egyptian officials that the case has damaged the country's international relations.

"The sentencing of the Australian reporter Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian acting bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed on 23 June, after a five-month trial described as a 'sham' by rights groups, caused an international outcry.

"'The verdict issued against a number of journalists had very negative consequences, and we had nothing to do with it,' Sisi said, suggesting it had no political element. 'I wished they were deported immediately after their arrest instead of being put on trial.'

"His comments were published in the online version of Al-Masry Al-Youm daily. . . ."

• David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun: Al Jazeera America excels in covering killings of Middle East teens

Jezebel Said to Miss Opportunity for Diversity

The failure to name deputy editor Dodai Stewart for the top job at Jezebel rankles for racial reasons as well as the perceived undervaluing of Stewart's personal and professional qualities, staffers and admirers say.

Emma Carmichael, editor of The Hairpin, was given the job. 

"Stewart is one of the few women of color on Jezebel’s masthead and the longest-serving staffer at the site, having been hired by founding editor Anna Holmes shortly after the site launched in 2007,"Peter Sterne wrote Monday for capitalnewyork.com. "In the past year, she has also assumed a larger role in running the site, three people familiar with the site's internal workings told Capital."

Sterne also wrote, "But the decision to hand the site to a young white woman instead of Stewart — a black woman who has been working at the site since Carmichael was still in college — rubs some current and former staffers the wrong way, especially since the site has been criticized in the past for its handling of race issues.

"'I would not say that I think it is like a racist action, but it is kind of a missed opportunity,' one staffer said. 'The race thing would have been a really wonderful — just like to have a really well-established Black woman who is so good at her job running the site would have been great.'

"'But that's not the crux of what's disappointing about Dodai not getting the job,' the staffer added. 'She deserves it.' . . ."

Sterne added, "Gawker owner Nick Denton told Capital in an instant message conversation that Carmichael will bring a slightly different editorial direction for the site, though he declined to go into detail. . . ."

• Joel Johnson blog: Emma Carmichael, Jezebel's Next Editor-in-Chief (June 24)
  
  
• Luvvie, the Grio: Jezebel gets it wrong with new 'Editor' hire

Blogger for Redskins Quits After Old Tweets Surface

"Eight years after 'macaca,'Ben Tribbett has found himself in the middle of a second name-calling debate,"Michael Phillips wrote Tuesday for the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch. "This time, though, he's the one holding his tongue.

"Tribbett, a political blogger . . . abruptly resigned from a position with the Washington Redskins on Monday after two weeks on the job. He had been hired to defend the team against protest groups advocating a name change.

"The Oneida Indian Nation, a group funding the name-change movement, posted a series of online comments made several years ago by Tribbett at a casino that appeared to be derogatory to Native Americans.

"'Just took Chief for his last 300 (dollars),' Tribbett wrote on Twitter. 'I'd call it a scalping but that seems uncalled for.'

"Tribbett said the tweets were taken out of context. He said he was playing cards with a man wearing a Native American headdress, and that it was not meant as a broad generalization.

"Still, he resigned his position with the Redskins so as not to be a distraction to the team in its efforts. . . ."

• Chelsey Luger, Indian Country Today Media Network: Indian (yet not 'an' Indian)(June 26)
  
  
• Claudio Saunt, Slate: This Land Is Their Land
  
  
• Theresa Vargas, Washington Post: One Native American family with Redskins ties disagrees on whether name is offensive

Short Takes

• "After 18-years of hosting Fox 2's Morning Show, WJBK television anchor Alan Lee has decided to pursue a new path in life," the Detroit station announced on Tuesday. "On Tuesday, Lee announced his departure during the morning show while sitting on the anchor desk with show co-host Anqunette Jamison. Lee says he plans to continue with his life long dream of being a novel writer. In 2013 his first novella, Sandstorm, was published. Lee joined Fox 2 in 1996 and co-hosted the morning show with Sherry Margolis. His last day with Fox 2 will be July 31."
  
  
• "Texas Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder is one of six world-class athletes who appears nude on the July cover of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, but the response so far has been mixed,"Travis Reilly wrote Tuesday for the Wrap. "'The Body Issue is ESPN The Magazine's annual celebration of athletes' amazing bodies, where we stop to admire the vast potential of the human form,' says ESPN on their website, but many sports fans are expressing anything but admiration for how the 30-year-old slugger looks naked. . . ." However, Yesha Callahan wrote for The Root, "In honor of Fielder's positive body image, the husky population on Twitter, who are thick and proud, created the #HuskyTwitter hashtag . . . ."
  
  
• A two-day training session in which about 20 members of underrepresented groups write and publish op-eds began in Washington on Wednesday. The Global Policy Solutions Greenhouse is part of The OpEd Project's Public Voices Fellowship, a national initiative first piloted at Yale, Stanford and Princeton universities and now rolling out in partnership with top universities and foundations, according to Deborah Douglas, who facilitated Wednesday's session. Douglas is adjunct lecturer at the Medill School at Northwestern University and a former member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board. Two more sessions take place this summer.
  
  
• "With more than a billion Facebook interactions and 300 million tweets, the 2014 World Cup is likely to be the biggest social media event ever,"Nicole del Castillo reported Tuesday for Fox News Latino. "As the Round of 16 came to a close in early July, Facebook reported more than a billion Cup-related posts, comments and likes generated by 220 million users since the start of the tournament on June 12. The social network announced Monday that the 2014 Cup has already claimed the title of the largest event — sporting or otherwise — in Facebook history. . . ."
  
  
• "Weekend anchor Jacqueline Ortiz is leaving San Antonio's WOAI-KABB to become a full-time mom to her two kids,"Veronica Villafañereported Tuesday for her Media Moves site. "She had been at the station for the past 16 years. . . ."
  
  
• In San Antonio, "KSAT anchor Isis Romero was unable to continue reading a story Monday, overcome by emotions as she told viewers of the San Antonio ABC affiliate of an infant badly injured in a fireworks accident. Romero, who is expecting a child, apologized on her Facebook page for becoming overwhelmed by the news,"Mark Joyella reported for TVSpy.
  
  
• Washington Post local columnist Courtland Milloy angered bicyclists far and wide when he wrote Wednesday, "It's a $500 fine for a motorist to hit a bicyclist in the District [of Columbia], but some behaviors are so egregious that some drivers might think it's worth paying the fine.""Wash Cycle did the dirty work of correcting each and every one of Milloy's erroneous statements,"Tanya Snyder wrote for usa.streetsblog.org.
  
  
• "Last Wednesday, NPR education team blogger Anya Kamenetzcomplained on Twitter that 'only the white guys get back to me' when reaching out to diverse sources,"Jim Romenesko reported on his media blog on Tuesday. "After being criticized for the tweet, Kamenetz said that 'I take personal responsibility [for the tweet and] I don’t think it should reflect on my employer.' But it does, says a just-released NPR memo. It reminds the public radio staff to always ask before posting something: 'Is it helping my journalism, or is it hurting my journalism?' . . .”
  
  
• C-SPAN2 broadcasts live from the Harlem Book Fair starting Saturday at 11:45 a.m. Eastern, reairing at midnight. Topics include the state of African American literature, multicultural book publishing, a conversation with Tracey Syphax, author of "From the Block to the Boardroom: A Memoir"; "James Baldwin and American Morality" and the Black Arts Movement. On Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. and midnight, "AfterWords" features Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal editorial writer and author of "Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed." It is hosted by April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks.
  
  
• "Philadelphia's WHYY is taking a solutions-based approach to its new collaborative, multiplatform community journalism project, which explores urban decline and renewal in the Keystone State,"Erica Sweeney reported Tuesday for NetNewsCheck. The project examines day-to-day life in Pennsylvania, where four of 10 residents live in areas declared financially distressed. "A staff of seven has been hired and partnerships with three other stations — WESA in Pittsburgh, WPSU at Penn State and WITF in Harrisburg — have been established. Pittsburgh’s WQED is an associate partner. . . ."
  
  
• "A Palestinian working for a local news agency in the Gaza Strip was killed on Wednesday night by an Israeli strike on a car full of journalists, according to multiple reports from the war-torn region,"Jack Mirkinson reported for the Huffington Post. "Hamdi Shihab, who was apparently working as a driver for news agency Media 24, was killed in a car marked 'TV.' . . . "
  
  
• In Mexico, "The senate has just approved the 'Secondary Law on Telecommunications' that President Enrique Peña Nieto's government proposed on 24 March," Reporters Without Borders reported. The organization said it was "alarmed by the speed with which the bill is being adopted because some of its articles threaten freedom of information. The bill provides for content surveillance, the right to block telecommunication services, prior censorship of news and information that could endanger national security, and an unequal distribution of licences between commercial, state-owned and community broadcast media. . . ."
  
  
• Since three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped on 12 June, and their bodies discovered 18 days later, "Many journalists have been targeted by the Israeli army. Others have been arrested arbitrarily. And security forces have been conducting raids on media offices," Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday. "RWB urges the Israeli military to allow news professionals, whether Palestinian or foreign, to carry out their work freely and safely. . . ."
  
  
• "Marzieh Rasouli, an Iranian journalist who writes mainly about literature for reformist newspapers and her popular blog, Three Days Ago, was taken into custody on Tuesday at Evin Prison in Tehran to begin serving a two-year sentence for taking part in street protests in 2009 and publishing what the authorities called antistate propaganda,"Robert Mackey wrote Tuesday for the New York Times. "The verdict, which she learned about in a phone call on Monday, also calls for her to receive 50 lashes. . . ."
  
  
• Referring to the Western Sahara colony of Morocco, "Spokesman of the Red-Green Alliance Party in the Danish Parliament, MP Christian Juhl, has expressed 'profound worry' for tens of Saharawi activists, journalists and protestors having detained by Moroccan authorities without a court order following peaceful protests calling for the Saharawi people's right to self-determination, held on 30th June 2014 in El Aaiun, capital of Western Sahara," the Sahara Press Service reported on Wednesday.
  
  
• "The repressive effects of Ecuador's one-year-old communications law can be seen in a regulator's decision to fine a newspaper just days after the daily said the law was the reason it was shuttering its print edition," the International Press Institute said on Wednesday. It also said, "The fine followed HOY's June 29 announcement that it was ending its print edition due to 'an environment adverse to the development of a free and independent daily publication' . . ."
  
  

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FCC Seeks Comments on Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal

"The Federal Communications Commission has released its schedule for the public and the media industry to weigh in on Comcast's proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable and its complex deal to trade some cable systems with Charter Communications,"Joe Flint reported Thursday for the Los Angeles Times.

"Comments and petitions seeking to block Comcast's deals are due on Aug. 25. Comcast will then have until Sept. 23rd to respond to those comments. Subsequent replies to Comcast's response are due on Oct. 8. . . "

Flint also wrote, "Many media watchdog groups and consumer activists have already voiced their intent to strongly oppose Comcast's deals. Earlier this week, satellite broadcaster Dish Network told the FCC that it should block Comcast from buying Time Warner Cable because the acquisition would give the cable giant too much power in the video and broadband marketplace. Netflix has also expressed concern about Comcast's plans. . . ."

The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters said in a statement June 25, "NABOB is very interested in the review process, and we will have a number of questions to ask [PDF].

"For example, when Comcast announced the Time Warner deal, Comcast announced that it would need to [spin off] cable television systems serving approximately 3 million subscribers, valued at $17 billion. Because cable television systems can be sold in distinct metropolitan units, NABOB recognized immediately that this was an ideal opportunity for Comcast to [spin off] some of these cable television systems in several smaller transactions, which would provide African American entrepreneurs opportunities to purchase one or more of these cable television systems.

"In March, NABOB contacted Comcast and asked that they consider spinning off some cable television systems in smaller transactions. Unfortunately, Comcast did not respond to NABOB's request, and instead, announced that it will [spin off] all of the systems in a complicated deal with Charter Communications. . . .

"Another issue that NABOB will monitor with respect to the Comcast-Time Warner transaction is the extent to which Comcast commits to carry channels, such as TV One, on Comcast's basic tiers, so that consumers will not have to subscribe to high priced tiers to receive programing serving the African American community. . . ."

Essence Made Mistake in Seeking Younger Audience

Edward Lewis, one of four men who in 1968 conceptualized Essence magazine, sat for a brief question-and-answer session with Janelle Harris of mediabistro, published Wednesday.

Harris asked Lewis, "Jet magazine has folded its print copy and is going all digital. Do you think this was a good move?"

Lewis replied, "One of my heroes outside my family is John Johnson, who started Ebony and Jet. The media landscape has changed with respect to how people get information. It's very difficult. It's one of the reasons why I made the decision to sell to Time Inc. when they approached me in 2000. I began to realize that what I call the four P's — paper, printing, postage and people — are going to continue to increase in cost. Ebony has gone through some changes with respect to trying to find its editorial feet. In fact, on one level, they're trying to make it look younger than what their audience is. We tried to make the Essence audience look younger and when we did, black women punished us. Our circulation went down and it took us a year to recover. Those are the pressures on Johnson Publishing and Jet."

Essence Made Mistake in Seeking Younger Audience

Edward Lewis, one of four men who in 1968 conceptualized Essence magazine, sat for a brief question-and-answer session with Janelle Harris of mediabistro, published Wednesday.

Harris asked Lewis, "Jet magazine has folded its print copy and is going all digital. Do you think this was a good move?"

Lewis replied, "One of my heroes outside my family is John Johnson, who started Ebony and Jet. The media landscape has changed with respect to how people get information. It's very difficult. It's one of the reasons why I made the decision to sell to Time Inc. when they approached me in 2000. I began to realize that what I call the four P's — paper, printing, postage and people — are going to continue to increase in cost. Ebony has gone through some changes with respect to trying to find its editorial feet. In fact, on one level, they're trying to make it look younger than what their audience is. We tried to make the Essence audience look younger and when we did, black women punished us. Our circulation went down and it took us a year to recover. Those are the pressures on Johnson Publishing and Jet."

Smith, Bayless in Shoutfest Over Gay Player

"Sports talk shows have the capacity to be just as inane as cable news,"Tina Nguyen wrote Tuesday for Mediaite, "and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith just hit a new one: he and Skip Bayless fell into a heated debate about Tony Dungy's comments about gay NFL draftee Michael Sam.

"Smith argued that Sam's sexuality was a problem, one which could impact the success of the St. Louis Rams, while Michael Vick, whose return to the NFL after being convicted for dogfighting cause massive controversy, was just a 'nuisance.'

"'Whether it's a religious perspective, or taking his quote verbatim, [Dungy] happens to be right!' Smith said. 'Somebody going to jail for a dogfighting scandal, serving his time in a prison, and then being in an NFL locker room, is not necessarily something that will cause a distraction in the eyes of players, compared to somebody that is gay in a locker room. We don't like to say that, but it's just the truth.' . . ." [video]

• Tony Dungy, NBC Sports: Tony Dungy's statement regarding his Michael Sam comments
  
  
• Jason Whitlock, ESPN: Dungy wrong about Michael Sam
  
  
• Curtis M. Wong, Huffington Post: Michael Sam Had Second Guesses About Coming Out As Gay, While Boyfriend Vito Cammisano Provided Support
  
  

Western Media Lack Sustained Coverage of Much of World

"The Western news media are in crisis and are turning their back on the world,"Anjan Sundaram wrote Friday for the New York Times Sunday Review. "We hardly ever notice. Where correspondents were once assigned to a place for years or months, reporters now handle 20 countries each. Bureaus are in hub cities, far from many of the countries they cover. And journalists are often lodged in expensive bungalows or five-star hotels. As the news has receded, so have our minds.

"To the consumer, the news can seem authoritative. But the 24-hour news cycles we watch rarely give us the stories essential to understanding the major events of our time. The news machine, confused about its mandate, has faltered. Big stories are often missed. Huge swaths of the world are forgotten or shrouded in myth. The news both creates these myths and dispels them, in a pretense of providing us with truth.

"I worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a stringer, a freelance journalist paid by the word, for a year and a half, in 2005-06. There, on the bottom rung of the news ladder, I grasped the role of the imaginary in the production of world news. Congo is the scene of one of the greatest man-made disasters of our lifetimes. Two successive wars have killed more than five million people since 1996.

"Yet this great event in human history has produced no sustained reporting. No journalist is stationed consistently on the front lines of the war telling us its stories. . . ."

Sundaram also wrote, "News organizations tell us that immersive reporting is prohibitively expensive. But the money is there; it's just often misallocated on expensive trips for correspondents. Even as I was struggling to justify costs for a new round of reporting in Congo, I watched teams of correspondents stay in $300-per-night hotels, spending in one night what I would in two months. And they missed the story. . . . News organizations need to work more closely with stringers. . . ."

• Al Jazeera: The New Scramble for Africa
  
  
• Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: What Is News?