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September 2003 KCABJ Newsletter
President's Message
 Anita K. Parran
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First, welcome to all new members! Even those of you who "re-upped'' late in the year -- and have been members in previous years -- thank you for remaining the backbone of KCABJ.
Our organization is only as good as its members. You'll soon receive your new membership card and letter of appreciation. Everyone will receive an updated membership directory by the end of September.
Secondly, this missive will be short and sweet, as I am on another quest as you'll see in the next couple of paragraphs.
We are virtually in the last quarter of the year, and our strategic plan has been in constant motion. Our next BIG event will be the 12th Annual KCABJ Media Awards "Afternoon Delight'' event in November. So this is the deal. In order to swell our coffers at this event, which is FREE, we are planning a silent auction!
That's where YOU -- the membership -- come in. We need donations to display and auction. For example, I'm willing to donate a stock of really fun and fine stationery to the cause so someone can purchase it to benefit KCABJ. I have a few professional books that may garner a good price, too.
SOOOOO, ya'll if you have anything to donate (or have the right connections to get something worthwhile) do it! And let me know by sending an e-mail to akparran@swbell.net
Oh yeah -- don't forget the specifics of the media awards event: Again, it's at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center.
--Anita K. Parran
Forum with George Curry canceled
Members of KCABJ decided at the monthly meeting in August to take advantage of an offer from journalist George Curry to participate in a community forum that KCABJ might hold.
Curry was to have been in Kansas City to take part in Brothers of the Academy "Think Tank'' for African-Americans on Oct. 1-4 at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. But it appears that he will not be in town for the event. KCABJ President Anita K. Parran, who is good friends with Curry, tried to make other arrangements for KCABJ to sponsor a community forum called "A Conversation with George Curry,'' but the timetable was too short to make it feasible.
Curry is executive editor of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and writes a weekly column that appears in The Call and The Kansas City Globe. He was named Journalist of the Year at last month's NABJ convention in Dallas. Curry is a founding member of the St. Louis chapter of the NABJ, a former president of that affiliate and started the chapter's student journalism workshop in the1970s. Curry's career has included jobs at Sports Illustrated, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Tribune. Before joining NNPA, he was editor of Emerge magazine.
In other action during the monthly KCABJ meeting:
Members decided to send a letter to newly elected NABJ President Herbert Lowe for what members thought were inappropriate and unprofessional comments that Lowe made during his acceptance speech at the NABJ convention. Members said his comments about multiracial journalists and women journalists were off base.
KCABJ member Benita Y. Williams, who co-chairs the newsroom diversity committee at The Kansas City Star, announced that the committee again will hold its annual Perennial Exchange at the City Market. It will run from 8 a.m. to noon Sept. 20. KCABJ member Yvette Walker started the program in the 1990s when she first began serving on the diversity committee at The Star.
KCABJ heard a proposal made by Tilmon Stewart and Herbert Kyles with the Heartland Civil Rights Institute & Heritage Center Development Group. They wanted KCABJ to partner with their effort to create a traveling museum-quality exhibit that would help tell the stories of African Americans' accomplishments in the Kansas City area. KCABJ President Anita K. Parran said she would send the men a letter with the membership's decision.
Jabs At The Media
Democratic presidential hopeful Al Sharpton said in a wire story that ran in the Aug. 8 edition of The Kansas City Star that the news media dismiss his White House hopes because newsrooms are overwhelmingly white. "When you look at the lack of diversity from the editors and those in power, then you see them as automatically dismissive of anything that is not like them, which is white males."
Sharpton said Howard Dean, another Democratic presidential contender, has been anointed the front-runner in the crowded field for the party's nomination because of a white-dominated media focusing on a middle-age white man.
The Call of Kansas City reported in its Aug. 8 edition that a two-year study by the University of California tracking diversity on television found that white characters during the fall of 2002 prime time season still accounted for the majority of screen time. Latinos were barely visible. The study was titled "Prime Time in Black and White: Not Much is New for 2002.''
It reported that white people appeared on television for 224 hours out of 276 total screen time. African American characters accounted for about 41 hours of screen time or 15 percent of the time. Latino characters accounted for seven hours or only 3 percent of the screen time. Asian Americans showed up in four hours, which translated to 1 percent. Native Americans were once again invisible, the study found.
Latino statistics were up from 2 percent in the 2001 study, though Hispanics now are the nation's largest minority group, representing more than 13 percent of the nation's population of more than 284 million people.
The research was based on a content analysis of 234 episodes of 85 situation comedies and dramas airing on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and The WB networks during three weeks in October and November.
More News About Us
BlackJournalist.com reports that the British newspaper the Independent wrote in August that Reuters news group and one of its U.S. subsidiaries are being sued for racial discrimination. The suit is over allegations of discrimination of black employees. The class action suit is being assisted by celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran. He said, "It is difficult to imagine how, in 2003, a company like Reuters could tolerate this sort of overt racist behavior at the highest level in a business that it created and now controls.''
BlackJournalist.com also reported that the Radio and Television News Directors Association/Ball State University Annual Survey of women and minorities found that the number of people of color working in local radio and television news rose slightly last year, yet the percentage of minorities dropped. The survey showed that minorities now comprise 18.1 percent of local television news staffs, down from 20.6 percent last year. In local radio, minorities hold 6.5 percent of the jobs, down from 8 percent a year ago. However, the number of minorities at radio and television stations is up overall because the number of employees overall is up this year. Anna Lopez, executive director of UNITY: Journalists of Color (which has its convention in Washington in 2004), said the percentage decline for minorities working in the media would be even greater if those with the Spanish language networks Telemundo and Univision were removed from the RTNDA numbers.
NABJ News
NABJ President Herb Lowe announced that John Yearwood is officially NABJ's new treasurer. The election results were contested.
However, the vote has been certified as correct. Yearwood defeated Gregory Lee 262 to 258. Lee had filed a formal request for a recount.
BlackJournalist.com reported that the election overall suffered from a low voter turnout. Only 35 percent of the 1,486 full members cast ballots, according to the Aug. 9 edition of the NABJ Monitor. In 2001, 42 percent of the eligible full members voted in the NABJ presidential contest. In 1999, 80 percent of the members voted. The elections take place every two years.
The National Association of Black Journalists has joined more than 70 organizations calling for the Department of Homeland Security to allow public input on keeping government open.
NABJ joined journalists, scientists, librarians, environmental groups, privacy advocates and others seeking input on procedures for ``safeguarding'' and sharing a vaguely defined set of information between firefighters, police officers, public health researchers, and federal, state and local governments.
Their letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge expressed concern that the government would restrict the flow of information to the public. Procedures could subject millions of people inside and outside the government to nondisclosure agreements and criminal penalties for releasing information improperly.
The Maynard Institute is starting a series of new projects to increase diversity in the nation's newsrooms. One is a new Distinguished Lecture Series to help the industry reframe the dialogue on diversity. The institute also is designing The Media Academy, a year-long training effort that will prepare first-time managers to lead a diverse workforce. The 12-month start-up will culminate with The Robert C. Maynard Vision Award, a celebration of those whose work furthers diversity efforts in this country. The institute also is moving its History Project to Hampton University. It documents the oral histories of pioneering journalists of color from the '50s, '60s and '70s.
Robert Maynard, the first African-American publisher of a mainstream newspaper, died 10 years ago in August.
Jobs And More
WB-62 is seeking an assistant chief engineer. For more information contact Bob Schneider at bschneid@ksmo.sbjnet.com.
The 2004 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop will take place March 25-27 at the University of Dayton. For more information check out www.HumorWriters.org.
The new Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at the American Press Institute in Reston, Va., is seeking candidates for its Web managing editor and workshop project director. for more information call Andrew Leckey at (703) 715-3329.
Southern Press is seeking a senior editor. For more information contact Dru Harris at dru_harris@timeinc.com.
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is seeking entries for its next workshop in June 2004 exploring ways to improve coverage of race and ethnicity. For more information contact Arlene Morgan at (212) 854-5377 or e-mail her at race@jrn.columbia.edu.
The Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism is seeking applications from mid-career journalists for its eight-day, expense-paid, traveling seminar exploring political, social, economic and cultural border issues between the United States and Mexico. For more information contact Vikki Porter at vporter@usc.edu.
A business fellowship is being offered Nov. 12-14 at The New York Times. For more information, check out http:aaja.org/html/news_html/news_030718.html.
An e-learning class will be held starting in October on ``Reporting Across Cultures, Writing About Differences. For more information contact Bobbi Bowman at (703) 453-1126 or e-mail her at bowmanb@asne.org.
The 2004 Sports Journalism Institute is seeking people who want to be sportswriters. The nine-week training and internship program is for college students interested in sports journalism careers. For more information contact Sandy Bailey at (212) 522-6407.
The University of California-Berkeley Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism is seeking applications for its five-day, expenses paid seminar on covering public health threats such as SARS, AIDS and the West Nile Virus. The seminar is titled ``Public Health Reporting: Covering Infectious Diseases.'' It will take place Sept. 29 to Oct. 5. For more information contact Lanita Pace-Hinton at (510) 643-7429.
ABC has several job openings: The Washington Bureau is seeking a graphic artist and an assistant producer. The Atlanta Bureau is seeking a deputy bureau chief. The London Bureau is seeking a producer. The Weekend News has an opening for a researcher and a production secretary. Newsmagazines has an opening for a field producer. ABCNEWS.com has openings for a producer and producer/editor. NewsOne has an opening for a producer. For more information contact Lewis Diuguid at (816) 234-4723.
WANE-TV, a CBS affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind., is seeking future candidates for a general assignment reporter. For more information call Rick Moll at (260) 422-3335.
Walt Disney Studios and ABC Entertainment are seeking 11 full-time writers who will develop their talent in a Disney fellowship. It is the 14th year the program has been offered. For more information call (818) 560-6894.
The Kellog School of Management at Northwestern University is seeking people for its executive program titled "Strategic Crisis Management: Converting Challenges into Opportunities.'' It will take place Nov. 16-21. For more information call Kimberly Crompton at (847) 467-7022.
KC People
Kara Edgerson, a KCABJ member and student workshop graduate, was a reporter for the Monitor, which covered the convention in August. She also got to attend the NABJ Jobs Fair. Kara writes: "I finally understand when you say keep in contact with everyone you meet. I collected over 30 business cards.'' Kara is a freshman at Hampton University. She thanks KCABJ members Glenn E. Rice and Vice President/Print Tanyanika Samuels and President Anita K. Parran for helping to shape her into a journalist.
KCABJ member Tracy Allen, a reporter and editor with The Call, won a A. Phillip Randolph Messenger Award from the National Newspaper Publishers' Association. She got the award for her story, "Out of Focus: Troubles Lead Networks Into Federal Court Suit.'' KCABJ was notified in August that accompanying the award is a sizable donation to a not-for-profit organization of the recipient's choice. Tracy picked KCABJ to be the receive the grant. Tracy asked that the money be used for the student workshop and scholarships.
2003 Kansas City Association of Black Journalists
P.O. Box 32744, Kansas City, Mo. 64111
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