Not only does writer Kevin Sack spotlight a couple who has started an online magazine, EquallyWed, to fill a void in the media outlets that address concerns of same-sex couples, but he also identifies other media outlets and reviews mainstream media’s challenge in deciding how to handle what is still a controversial issue- same-sex marriage.

Historical Context Included

If you’re like me, handling the issue of same-sex marriage in my stories is not something I’ve done a lot of in my work as a journalist.

So Mr. Sack, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes in his journalism career,  provided a little background on the fact that gay wedding have been depicted on network TV since the mid 1990s.

According to his article, 70 percent of daily newspapers also carry same-sex wedding announcements.

Following CNN’s Lead?

While I certainly think neither Mr. Sack nor his editors had CNN in mind when he wrote this piece, it’s interesting to note that this week’s story follows another reporting on the experiences of same-sex couples.

If you missed it, CNN’s latest installment of its “In America” series included a depiction of the challenge of same-sex couples who try to adopt.

“Gary and Tony Have a Baby” aired last month on the number-3 cable network.   You can read my thoughts about that program on my blog.

Leaving Out the Naysayers

I thought University of Pennsylvania Communications Professor Katherine Sender’s comment in Sack’s story was especially important to mention.

“The market doesn’t wait for politics to catch up,” she told Sack.

That’s why I’ve been talking about the business imperative of diversity for years.

Absent from this article was the political debate about same-sex marriage.    That was not relevant for the reporting on this media trend.

CNN was criticized by some for not giving “both sides” (presumably those opposed and those supporting) of the issue of gay marriage.

In our reporting on diversity, we have to be comfortable enough to establish parameters for our stories that they don’t get sidetracked by politics, which is a fight for another day.

Sack mentions that Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and District of Columbia joined Massachusetts as areas where same-sex marriages have been recognized.

But, that’s sufficient to acknowledge the political context without allowing it to dominate the reporting on this trend.

Appropriate Media Critique Adds to Diversity Within Diversity

There is no one way to write about the experiences of same-sex couple.

In the concluding graphs of his story, Lack engages in a little media criticism by noting how EquallyWed is more content driven than competing sites.   He also depicts the diversity in content in the online magazine.

Other Web sites such as Queerly Wed, and SoYou’re EngGAYged and GayWeddings.com are mentioned in this article.

But, Sack also addresses those, like me, who are new to covering this trend, this part of America.   He includes a quote from EquallyWed’s Kirsten Palladino about how there are some photographers who were uncomfortable with knowing how to gather images of a gay wedding.

That discomfort is an important part of the story that comes with covering or reporting on anything that is different.   But, media outlets like the New York Times (which has a fairly long history of covering issues of sexual orientation) have to have the courage to tell this story.

A transcript from Fox News shows Steele said, “Our platform is one of the best political documents that’s been written in the last 25 years. Honest Injun on that.” Steele later said it was not an intentional racial slur. Native American Journalist Association (NAJA) President Ronnie Washines called for an apology immediately after the event and has since noted in Indian Country Today what he terms Steele’s qualifying his own racism by using the term.  

Native Americans called the remark “racist,” especially since Steele raised his hand as in an oath when he said the words. To Natives, this is one of the worst racial slurs someone can use when referring to their cultural/racial identity. In a January 8 NAJA press release Washines said:  

“Those of us in journalism have tirelessly worked to ensure that political leaders, newsrooms and the public be respectful to all cultures when speaking [publicly]. Michael Steele’s scurrilous tongue does no service to his group and only undermines the positive work of those who sincerely seek to respect one another in all of our working relationships. I urge Michael Steele to carefully word a sincere apology to the Native American community, which could help stop such uneducated archaic racist remarks from being made in the future. We here at NAJA are available to assist him and his organization with obtaining an accurate understanding of Native America”  

In the meantime, NAJA Executive Director Jeff Harjo said the organization and Native Americans are still waiting for an apology.  

– Rebecca J. Tallent, Ed.D., member of diversity committee

Robin D. Stone, the widow of Gerald M. Boyd, discusses Boyd’s memoir, “My Times In Black and White”

By Bonnie Newman Davis

I recently caught up with a very dear colleague, Robin D. Stone, to discuss a new book penned by her late husband, Gerald M. Boyd. The book, “My Times In Black and White,” carries the subtitle: “Race and Power at the New York Times.”

Most journalists are familiar with Boyd, the first black managing editor of the Times,  who was forced to resign his prized position in 2003 after it was learned that a young black reporter, Jayson Blair, plagiarized a series of articles that were published in the Times. The tragic (there’s really no better word to describe it) fallout from Blair’s stream of lies and deception is where Boyd’s book begins. He methodically chronicles the atmosphere of the storied New York newsroom in Blair’s aftermath.

“Then along came serial plagiarist Jayson Blair. And suddenly, in the credibility crisis that forever will be know as the Blair Affair, the prospect of my running the Times newsroom was gone. I realized: I am not invincible. I could be replaced. And from my lofty perch I had to watch, day by torturous day, as calamity unfolded with a surprising fury.”

Boyd describes how he came to write his book after leaving the Times, and what follows is a painful journey to another era when a young boy known mostly by his middle name, Michael, lost his mother when he was 3 years old, was abandoned by his father eight years later, and endured a poverty-stricken childhood so severe that he was forced to wear cardboard in his worn-out shoes.

While Boyd would eventually enjoy a lifestyle far removed from the one endured while growing in St. Louis, the world he’d so carefully crafted collapsed not only when the Blair debacle occurred, but again when Boyd was diagnosed with lung cancer which claimed his life in 2006 at age 56.

Some 400-pages long, “In Black and White” contains an afterward by Stone, a former New York Times editor whom Boyd lured from The Boston Globe in 1990. During our 30-minute telephone conversation, Stone explained why the book is important not just for journalists, but also for those seeking insight about management, corporate culture and personal growth.

“Even though in the end it is very difficult — the protagonist dies — he touched a generation of journalists and has this lasting legacy,” Stone says. “It’s a story about hope, tenacity and living your dream. That’s what makes you turn the page.

Following is a Q&A with Stone about the book.

Davis: Gerald’s book was released earlier this year. What has been the reception to it so far?

Stone: “I’m glad that the mainstream organizations are recognizing the book. While I certainly appreciate reviews by black publications, too, my sense is that some mainstream media were hesitant to write about it at first because it’s about the New York Times and it’s about race. But once an article about the book ran in The New York Times and the Times sort of acknowledged it, it became (more) well received in book circles. It’s important that “My Times” be widely embraced because it’s not just a story about a black journalist, it’s an American story about a black man who was a journalist.”

Davis: How did the book come to be?

Stone: Gerald wrote two drafts. The first was over 800 pages. In response to some who read it, he wrote a second version that was about 250-odd pages. He took ill as he was finishing it. When he passed, it took me some time to open the manuscripts. Once I did, I saw what he’d done and I felt the second draft was too truncated, so I married the two versions.  I also interviewed people who knew him growing up to fill in the blanks.

Davis: There are many descriptions of your husband. How would you describe him?

Stone: Oh, my goodness. Gerald has been described in the media as gruff; a brusque managing editor of The New York Times. That is not the picture I have of him. He was a decent, loving and caring man. He had a big heart and was humble although some would not describe him as that. He never forgot his background — growing up in poverty. His background is what led to the Times’ “Children in the Shadows” series.

He was a three-dimensional person and complicated. He was humble but also proud. He should have been proud. Some see that as arrogance. He was also very generous, and as a manager he would give of his time and valued his staff. When he left the Times, and we were walking down the street, he became concerned because he forgot to say goodbye to the cafeteria workers.

Davis: How did you manage to get through such a trying period? What enabled you to complete the book?

Stone: I don’t know how I did it. God was on my side, surrounding me with good friends and family. One day I said, ‘I have got to do this.’”

Davis: You compare the book to a movie. Why?

Stone: If you follow the whole arc of his story, it’s so rich and full and represents the arc of a successful life. It’s about race, but there are other issues. He came to his job as a Midwesterner who grew up poor, had a Jewish mentor as a young man, and he brought all of these perspectives to his role (as managing editor). At the end, he was very much in a place of peace.

Davis: Together, you and Gerald have a son, Zachary. How is he doing?

Stone: Zach, he’s 13. He’s managing. Sometimes it’s a struggle without his Dad. In the book is a picture of Gerald in high school. Zach looks exactly like him.

Bonnie Newman Davis is an associate professor of journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia

Many thanks to Crystal Johns of CBS News and Howard Goldberg of the Associated Press and New York SPJ chapter for organizing an Interactive Journalism 101 training on Mar. 13 for members of SPJ, NABJ, NAHJ, AAJA, NLGJA and SAJA groups.

I met Crystal at a Unity: Journalists of Color meeting in Boston last fall and we talked about the need to offer new media trainings in a competitive environment — especially for members of Unity. The day was quite the success and postiive feedback has been flowing in. The day tackled such  topics as:  How to equip yourself for electronic newsgathering, writing & filing for the web; Basics of video editing (using Final Cut Pro); Shooting & packaging multimedia, putting the words and images together.

Also thank you to speakers: Rick Borutta, Producer, CBS Interactive, Bonny Ghosh, video journalist, Associated Press TV News, Michael Wuebben, Senior Producer, CBS Interactive.

Howard’s entire slide show can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17964281@N08/sets/72157623622040402/show/

With this in mind, two forums in March in California’s Bay Area will provide space and time for an open conversation among community representatives, nonprofit organizations, citizen journalists and media professionals. A core question posed by these forums will be: How are we to achieve an inclusive new-media system?

The goal of these forums is to bring together local stakeholders to explore new ways to practice local journalism that:

– Acknowledges a changing journalism ecosystem
– Builds the influence of community, citizen and new media while honoring journalism ethics and principles
– Opens up new platforms for more diverse voices to reach wider audiences, especially by using new technologies and social networking strategies
– Elevates local models and best practices that can be shared nationally

Forum Discussion Areas

Media Representation and Accountability

Ownership and Diversity of Media Outlets

Regulation, Policy and What’s at Stake for Communities

Community Engagement in Shaping the New Media Landscape

Outcomes

The two community dialogues will result in a report to be presented to national and regional leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists at the Journalism Innovations III/Regional conference in May. The report will be used to start conversations with these leaders about how all journalists can use this time of media transformation to improve coverage of their respective local and regional communities. It also will be used to emphasize the need to cover and write about the changing media in a way the public understands and that enables community and news stakeholders to participate in public policy decisions.

The report will also provide the basis for a plenary session at the conference, a database of community and journalist participants, and a map for building stronger relationships amongst local journalism stakeholders.

We hope you can join us:
Details

San Francisco Forum
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA
March 24, 2010, 5-7:30 PM

East Bay Forum:
Laney College Auditorium
900 Fallon St
Oakland, CA
March 30, 2010, 5-7:30 PM

Contact:

Kwan Booth
(510.290.8274)
Conference Producer
(415) 738-4975
JI3@artsandmedia.net

http://journalisminnovations.org

On Saturday, February 20, SPJ teamed up with Community Media Workshop in Chicago to host training for journalists from the area’s ethnic publications. The Audio/Images for the Web session, part of SPJ’s Newsroom Training Program, offered beginning level hands-on training on how to record, import and edit audio files for use on the Web. Nineteen journalists from publications such as Hoy, Asian Broadcasting Network, CBS News, Reflegos bilingual newspaper, La Raza Newspaper and The Arab Horizon Newspaper attended. Victoria Lim, a reporter for Bright House Sports Network, served as the trainer.

“I have done training and been to the same kind of training that (Lim) did, and I thought she was excellent on the topic and wonderful as a communicator, listener and someone who carried through with enthusiasm and support,” Steve Franklin from Community Media Workshop said. “And the folks I talked to thought it was a wonderfully helpful session and plan to follow up.” For more information on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Newsroom Training Program, click here.

San Dieo — Southwest, so-called “Mexican,” restaurants and fast-food places are found in every city, but many serve an “Americanized” menu.

A 30-year-old handsome Mexican is running perhaps one of the most unique Mexican restaurants here, that again demonstrates that diversity in a business can lead to a huge success.

Juan Pablo Sanchez operates the Super-Cocina (translated: Super-Food) restaurant in the multi-ethnic City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. It’s located at 3627 University Avenue.

He took over from his father, Fernando, about five years ago. He holds a degree in political science from the University of California at San Diego.

Sanchez had an unusual idea for operating his restaurant: He decided NOT to hire professional cooks. Instead, he hires only local housewives who cook the 180 dishes on the basic menu; and who cook as if they were at home. It brings new meaning to the often abused marketing phrase: “home-cooking.”

With only housewives doing the cooking, the same dish can taste differently one day to the next, just like in the cooks’ homes.

The system works. His customers are a very diverse community. While Latinos remain the core, repeat clientele at Super-Cocina, about 60 percent of the patrons “now range from lots of Anglos to foreign-born immigrants from India, Vietnam, China, Taiwan and even Greece,” Sanchez said in an interview for this report. “The diversity of our customers has increased dramatically (in the past year),” he added.

“When I tell my Anglo friends about Super-Cocina, I’m surprised how many already know about it,” says Ezequiel Serrano Gonzales, 27, of Hillcrest, about five miles from the City Heights location of the unique restaurant.

One of the more popular items on the varied menu doesn’t even sound Mexican. “Chile Colorado.” It is spelled the same in Spanish or English.

Every day there are about 10 different Mexican dishes on the menu, all prepared by housewives in the restaurant’s, large kitchen.

Super-Cocina is decorated as if it were in “La Cuidad de Mexico” (Mexico City). Indeed, Sanchez often returns to the Mexican capital where he buys herbs and spices that are not found in the United States.

With a widely diverse customer base and the restaurant’s popularity spreading city-wide, it now has a growing, catering service; about 70 percent are corporate and non-profits.

From a list of 180 different dishes, 18 are offered every day plus an ala carte, Sanchez reports.

At least ten other items are also provided for breakfast.

“The food really tastes like it was prepared in a home in the interior of Mexico,” says Martin Bricksonof San Diego, a retired engineer who once lived deep inside the country.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

San Diego – The closest I even came to getting killed in decades as a working journalist was when I was covered a mafia “hit” in L.A., and the probability of actually getting shot was really nil as local detectives provided cover for me.

But if you are a daring journalist in Mexico and you print, broadcast or go online and tell the real story of the drug cartels, the probability of getting killed is actually quite high.

In the United States, with declining revenues and print circulation, some in the media worry that we are no longer relevant to people’s lives. Indeed, a survey by the respected Pew Research Center showed that 63 percent of the respondents said news articles were often inaccurate, and only 29 percent reported that the media generally “get the facts right.”

In Mexico, the media remains extremely relevant. But if reporters anger the wrong people, it could cost them their lives.

José Luis Romero was a 40-year-old radio reporter who broadcast from the state of Sinaloa where lots of the illicit drugs are produced. A few weeks ago, Romero was abducted from a restaurant at gunpoint. His body was found later along a deserted highway.

Valentín Valdés Espinosa, 29 — another reporter who covered the drug cartels – was kidnapped, tortured and killed in the Mexican state of Coahuila just a few weeks ago. A message was attached to the body that read, “This is going to happen to those who don’t understand. This message is for everyone.”

Mexico’s Human Rights Commission estimates that 59 journalsits have been murdered since 2000. Last year, 11 were assassinated.

These executions are done very publicly to scare off the media. Mexican officials believe the drug cartels are responsible for the murder of José Alberto Velázquez López, owner of the Mexican newspaper, “Expresiones de Tulum,” after leaving a Christmas party.

The major newspaper in the Mexican state of Coahuila, “Zócalo de Saltillo,” recently decided to stop covering stories of drug violance totally rather than risk the lives of its reporters.

Mexican journalists are refusing to run or hide. Some are actually encouraged that their stories are rattling the drug bosses.

In this country, some reporters are called courageous for reporting that a politican plays poker or has an affair with a lobbyist. That’s not courage. It’s timid. Going to work every day and covering the truth, even when it might get you killed . . . now that’s courage!

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Blogger: leopowerhere@msn.com

Diversity is considered an asset in people’s lives, according to a recent poll conducted by the independent, professional Field Poll in California.

More Californians consider diversity as an asset, rather than a problem, in their lives; although a majority consider it both.

The Field Poll conducted its study is six languages: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.

“Most recognize that (California’s wide racial and ethnic diversity) is both a challenge and an advantage,” says Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. “This spans most racial and ethnic subgroups of the population,” he added.

African-Americans have a much longer history in the country than most members of other ethnic groups, he explained.

While California courts recognize gays and lesbians as an ethnic group, and a “protected class” in the law, they were not included in this poll.

Among all voters, 58 percent say diversity is both an advantage and a source of problems, while 24 percent believe it is a clear advantage.

Among all racial groups, 31 percent of the Latinos think diversity is an advantage in their lives.

However, African Americans (22 percent) are most likely to see diversity as a problem; while Chinese and Vietnamese are least likely to (7 percent).

This Field Poll was based on 1,232 telephone interviews of registered California voters and was conducted between Jan. 5 and 17. The margin of error is 2.9 percent.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

While traveling around the country, I’ve noticed that some TV news shows are very heavy with police coverage. The BREAKING NEWS screen usually simply means that the station’s chopper is over yet another high-speed chase on a freeway, or something similar.

If police stories were eliminated from many of the local TV news shows here, a half-hour program might be reduced to about ten minutes.

That could be the result of budget cuts in the newsroom, or to bolster the entertainment value of the news show. Many of the better, scripted, prime-time shows are being replaced with low-budget, reality shows on the networks.

“We see far fewer TV news crews in the barrio now, and that hurts the community’s development,” warns Roberto Araiza, a Latino businessman here who wants to see more minority stories on local TV news shows.

Unfortunately, some minority community leaders believe more reliance on police news in TV hurts the public image of their people. Police operations typically involve racial minorities, and visually dramatic TV news coverage reinforces some stereotypes, they believe.

Having news staff from diverse communities opens up more opportunities and news sources to any newsroom. Reporters and photojournalists who live in the barrio, for example, know what’s going on there and who is making news.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com