Camilla Gant
MAC Head
A Time for Historical, Critical Reflection & Advocacy
by Camilla Gant
I’m excited about seeing each of you in Chicago in a few weeks. As I’m sure you know by now, the conference is slated for Wednesday, August 6th through Saturday, August 9th with pre-convention activities scheduled for Tuesday, August 5th. While MAC has a history of offering progressive programming that transcends the foci of AEJMC divisions and interest groups, this year’s programming is particularly special. Our emphasis this year is historical and critical reflection to inform and encourage spirited advocacy for LANA, journalism, and mass communication programs, initiatives, and scholarship. Below are three convention sessions that I ask you to consider attending during the convention.
Tuesday, August 5, 1 to 5 p.m.
40 Years After Kerner – No Fee, No Registration RequiredPresented by AEJMC, this workshop will focus on developing an action plan to improve diversity within the academy and industry. Discussions will center on ways to strengthen initiatives for news media to hire and promote journalists of color, and ways to renew the commitment to the fundamental, core mission of journalism — public service.
Wednesday, August 6, 5 pm to 6:30 pm
MAC and AEJMC Council of Affiliates
Lessons from the Past and Fodder for the Future: 40 Years After the Kerner Report & Lee Barrow’s Vision of an Inclusive AEJMC
Friday, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm
State of the Division & Discipline: Rethinking and Repositioning MAC
The strength of these programs is our intellectual capital, so I extend a special invitation to you all to be a part of the dialogue, which will inform and shape AEJMC and MAC’s strategic plan to be launched following the convention. Also, I ask that you make plans to attend the MAC business meeting on Thursday, August 7th, from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. In addition to the procession and election of new leadership, the agenda will include consideration of two critical proposals– a proposal to amend MAC leadership succession; and a proposal to adopt recommendations that evolve from the Kerner Commission workshop to be forwarded to AEJMC, journalism educators, administrators, news organizations, etc.
Indeed this has been a great year for MAC. We have an awesome convention line-up thanks in large part to our vice head/program chair, Sharon Stringer, who did the lion’s share of the work (with scant opportunity for training) in collaboration with our second vice-head, Jennifer Woodard; PF&R chair, Frances Ward-Johnson; and teaching chair, Bradley Gorham. Our research competition was vigorous, and our research chairs, Petra Guerra (faculty research) and Brenda Edgerton Webster (student research), ably navigated year two of the electronic submission process. We also launched our website and electronic newsletter, thanks to the diligence of Darlene Lee, newsletter editor; and we strengthened our out-of convention programming. Kudos to Yuiki Fujioka and Jerry Domatob midwinter conference coordinators; E.K. Daufin, Ida B. Wells lecture coordinator and listserv manager; and Diana Rios, Ethnic American Press exhibition coordinator.
Please join me in thanking our colleagues for their sacrificial leadership, and raising the bar of excellence for our division. I also extend special thanks to each of you for your commitment to MAC, and I look forward to seeing you in Chicago!
Change is in the air. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States, is not the only person highlighting the urgency for change. Dr. Francis Ward, a professor of journalism at Syracuse University, challenges the media to re-evaluate their responsibilities as journalists and their coverage of important news issues.”It’s time for accurate reporting of the Jeremiah Wright story and for news media to take the lead in promoting an honest and open dialogue about race,” he says. In an opinion piece Ward provides insight as to why he is capable of criticizing the media and then pens his poignant thoughts on the media’s responsibility moving forward.
Francis Ward
Professor of Journalism
Syracuse University
A Challenge to the News Media
by Francis Ward
In 1985, I was an assistant press secretary in the Mayor’s Press Office in Chicago when the late Harold Washington was mayor. He had been elected in April 1983 as the first-ever black mayor of Chicago. During Washington’s first administration (1983 – 87), Chicago was drastically split along racial lines: blacks solidly (almost unanimously) supporting Washington and most, but not all, whites favoring the white majority in City Council that bitterly opposed everything Washington said and did. At the time, Chicago was truly “us and them,” blacks versus whites, with no moderate center. You were either on one side of the other.
As part of the Washington administration, I strongly supported his goals of openness and reform in city government, but I also strongly believed Harold was open to some criticism. He spent too much time out of the office, making public appearances, reveling in the celebrity of being the first black mayor, while he should have spent much more time shoring up his political base and running city government. Washington delegated too much authority to his chief of staff, the late Bill Ware, a political moderate who despised the small contingent of ideological pan – Africanists (aka: black nationalists) who were vital in getting Washington elected.
I wanted to find some way of making my criticisms public by either leaking them to a friendly journalist, or persuading some public figure to speak out. But I also knew that criticism of Washington by a black person at the time would be tantamount to Read the rest of this entry »
Federico Subervi, Ph.D
Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Texas State Univeristy-San Marcus
Director of Latinos and Media Project
Federico Subervi has had a busy summer:
Attended the National Conference on Media Reform (Minneapolis, MN, June 5-8), where he spoke at a panel discussing Spanish-language media.
Attended a meeting in Chicago (June 18-20) that brought together recipients of McCormick Foundation grants to analyze various issues related to ethnic media. His project is assessing the policies and practices in Texas and Illinois for emergency communications directed at non-English-speaking populations.
From Chicago he flew directly to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attend (June 21-25) and become a team member of OBITEL, which brings together annually a group of international scholars from 9 Latin American and Iberian countries who are analyzing telenovelas and other fictional television produced and distributed in these region.
From July 22-27, he will be in Chicago to attend UNITY 2008, the conference of journalists of color, where he is one of the authors selected to do a book signing for his edited/authored book: The Mass Media and Latino Politics (NY:Routledge).
