By DIONI L. WISE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

Senegal president Abdoulaye Wade said he does not presume that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, if elected president, would be a better ally for his country than Sen. John McCain.

“I don’t push people behind color…I don’t believe Barack Obama will be at the service of Africa,” Wade said in an interview with The UNITY News and the Chicago Sun-Times. “They’re all Americans, anyways. I’m not making any postulates. He has to prove it.”

His views on Obama, whose father was African, were among several he offered in response to journalist’s questions. Wade was invited to Chicago by the National Association of Black Journalists to address UNITY membership about Senegal’s plan to increase agricultural production. His speech is at 1:30 p.m. today.

Wade then will fly to Washington, D.C., to meet with White House and State Department officials. He will not be in Chicago when the senator arrives to speak to UNITY on Sunday.

“You can say hello to him for me,” he said in a private meeting in a Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers suite.

Senegal made headlines Monday when media outlets across his country staged a press blackout to protest the police beating of two journalists and Wade’s refusal to condemn the beatings. He said the matter was in the hands of the justice system.

“If there is an incident between a journalist and a policeman, what would you like a president to do with this?” he said.

He said the reporters involved suffered from a lack of journalistic integrity that he lamented has become common in Senegal. He said many Senegalese journalists have not had formal accreditation to practice journalism.

Under Wade’s eight-year tenure, Senegalese authorities have used criminal libel laws to detain and question at least 15 journalists because of political stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 10 have been handed suspended prison sentences for defamation, though those terms were seldom applied. Wade said he wanted more journalists to be trained.

“They think in the newspaper you can write anything you want,” Wade said. “I should have been more vigilant than this. I should have been tougher.”

By Gerrick D. Lewis
Photos courtesy of Kevin Du
The UNITY News Online

Networking and potential career opportunities aren’t the only plus side of the career fair. Now recruiters are revamping the standard pen-and-notebook giveaway to offer visitors a bit more fun. We take a look at the top five schwag items that made this online reporter jump for joy.

The goods.

5. Ice cream scoop from Sinclair Broadcast Group
Like most people, I love ice cream. And what better way to stand out from the crowd than offer something totally unique? The next time I dive into that pint of peanut butter chip ice cream after a long day in the newsroom, I’ll know where I got my scoop.

4. Stress-relief squeeze dogs from Hearst Newspapers.
Animal cruelty is not encouraged, but taking your stress out on this toy is as effective as it is fun.

3. Fans from Bloomberg
Just in time for summer, Bloomberg is offering mini fans. But, keeping in mind of this digital age,

Do not stare directly into the light...the light...the light...

2. “Black In America” on DVD
I was disappointed that I missed the highly anticipated two-part series, “Black in America,” reported by Soledad O’Brien, because I was running around Chicago for this conference. CNN made me love them a lot more by giving away the DVD for those of us who couldn’t see it the first time around.

1. ZeeBeez from The Washington Post
I had no idea what this small blue dome-like gadget was, but it has changed my life and given me plenty of much-needed distraction. Grab one, push it in with your thumbs, drop it and see how far it will fly.

- See the print edition of tomorrow’s Unity News for a complete story on this year’s giveaways.

By MICHELLE D. ANDERSON
The UNITY News Online
 
It’s not often reporters see their stories printed on the back of a T-shirt. 

But for Howard Witt, the southwest bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune, this was his reality when protesters during a civil rights protest wore “Free the Jena Six” T-shirts featuring his story printed on the back. Witt was one of two panelists at an “Activism & Blogging” breakfast discussion on Thursday, which explained how journalists can use blogs to their advantage.

In May 2007, Witt wrote the first national story about the Jena Six, a group of Louisiana teenagers involved in a series of racially charged incidents at their school. The teens’ troubles ignited discussion on blogs and e-mail list servs. Witt wrote a later story in September 2007 discussing how blogs drove the Sept. 20 Jena Six protest.

During the panel, Witt said he focused on making sure the stories he wrote gained exposure in the paper and on Chicago Tribune website. Now he’s concentrating on writing his stories quickly and having them blasted all over the blogosphere. 

However, Witt’s interest in blogs is not a reflection of how all journalists feel. While some journalists like Witt maintain an e-mail list of bloggers to whom they can send their work, other journalists think of bloggers as narcissists rambling in front of their computer screens.

Some journalists have a “superiority complex” about their craft and view themselves as the gatekeepers of reporting information and amplifying a story, according to Witt. Therefore, they often times miss out on story ideas available on blogs, and the opportunity to have their stories posted on multiple sites, guaranteeing a wider readership. 

The panelists outlined some possible reasons for some journalists’ hesitance to acknowledge bloggers.

Christopher Barger, director of global communications technology of General Motors, said that readers don’t always draw a distinction between the work of professionally trained journalists and bloggers. 

There’s also the issue of plagiarism. Witt noted that often bloggers fail to attribute his work by copying and pasting his stories to their site without stating where the information originated. 

Other times, Witt has seen bloggers misinterpret his work altogether. When that happens, he usually sends them an e-mail to try and clear things up. But finding an appropriate way to respond to bloggers can be tricky for some reporters. Witt recommends journalists learning how to deal with scrutiny in a way that doesn’t compromise their integrity. For example, he warned reporters against responding to criticism anonymously. “If you get revealed, you might up looking like an idiot.”

By EUNICE LEE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade told a dozen American journalists today that “there are too many papers in Senegal, too many journalists.”

Wade, who was invited to Chicago by the National Association of Black Journalists to address the UNITY convention, brushed off the media blackout in his country on Monday, when most newspapers did not print as a protest of a reported police beating of two journalists at a soccer match in June. Wade said that police were trying to protect soccer players from the reporters who he claimed were physically attacking the players.

“They’re competing to bring out extraordinary headlines. They attack people, they make up things,” Wade told said to journalists at a breakfast.

“Now, I’m not asking for them to praise me or say good things about me.”

Wade, who spoke in French and English, also addressed about his plans to increase Senegal’s food production and fight climate change, the topic of his UNITY speech on Friday afternoon. He was flanked by his minister of information and spokesperson, and elsewhere in the room sat Senegalese politicians and journalists exclusively from Senegal-owned media outlets, though Wade added that a privately–owned African news organization had been invited.

Wade also addressed International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s July 14 indictment of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Since 2003, when violence in Darfur ignited, some 300,000 people have died and 2.2 million have fled their homes, according to the United Nations.

“What is recognized by everybody is that many people were killed there,” Wade said. “I’m not sure it’s a genocide.”

Wade said al-Bashir called him for advice when initially presented with the charges.

“I think he was a bit surprised by the decision,” Wade said. “I was the one who told him it’s not your collaborators, it’s you. What can I do now? I’m thinking about it, I don’t know.”

“I am a friend of President Bashir,” Wade said. “My friendship does not mean that…I’m going to protect him from the law.”

By ARELIS HERNANDEZ
The UNITY News Online

For the last 20 years, immigration coverage has been defined by the public’s wonder—or rather the journalist’s wonder. When new people ride into town, the temptation is to tell the story of their arrival and origins—but the story doesn’t end after they arrive.

From the African escaping civil war to the Central American with a student visa, reporters are fascinated by the people that reach our shores and borders.

But the tone of these stories treat immigrants as an “other” in a community, relegating them to the fringes of society, said panelists during a session on immigration storytelling.

Mainstream media over-emphasizes cultural differences and illegality while ignoring the greater story of collective impact, said University of Southern California journalism professor Roberto Suro.

Steve Holmes, deputy national editor for domestic policy at the Washington Post, predicted that immigration coverage will have to undergo a shift to maintain its relevancy.

“Immigration coverage is not the same as covering immigrants,” Holmes said. “You don’t have to tell the story of immigrants but economic stories about immigrants.”

Cultural shock stories blossom during years of prosperity, he said, but during a recession the main question concerns economic issues like jobs.

Holmes said he looked forward to reading a new kind of “coming to America,” story, one that examines the economics of immigration. He said journalists need to write stories that include immigrants as members of the community.

“The next few years may be the toughest we’ve seen in immigration coverage,” Holmes said. He believes an economic downturn will incite even more fiery rhetoric from television pundits such as Lou Dobbs.

Suro, a former immigration reporter, said journalists must avoid “de-contextualizing” immigrants by excluding information about the economic conditions that trigger their migration.

“Have you ever seen an employer quoted in a story about immigrants?” Suro said.

Reporters, Suro said, need to ask different questions such as: How are immigrants impacting local businesses? How do employers feel about the immigration? How much are they paid?

Part of telling the money story will mean testing the claims made about immigration, both legal and illegal: Are immigrants really taking American jobs? Do immigrants pay taxes? Are immigrants holding up the economy?

Because the story isn’t new, Suro said, the media needs to stop reacting and start interpreting to help the public move past the ideological stalemate concerning the issue.

“Immigration is classically known as a newser,” Suro said, quoting famed Philadelphia Inquirer editor Gene Roberts. “It’s a slow, gradual story.”