By GERRICK D. LEWIS
The UNITY News Online

Popular blog sites such as Concrete Loop and Bossip gave the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. controversy and the Jena Six case prominent attention before major media outlets picked them up.

In the session, “Jeremiah Wright and Jena: Who Covered It and Who Got It Right,” a panel of media experts discussed how blogs magnify and transform stories that might have been overlooked by the media — in these cases, an obscure video and a small-town crime.

“A little piece of info can have a ripple effect and shine a spotlight,” said Michele Norris, host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Norris said the now-infamous Wright video and the Jena Six story prove that the mainstream media are increasingly relying on the blog world.

But Tom Joyner, host of the popular Tom Joyner Morning Show, said black radio will always be a prominent source for blacks, regardless of how the mainstream media covers the story.

“It’s the power of black radio,” Joyner said. “Radio has always been the source for black people to come to news about us first.”

Eric Deggans, a media reporter with the St. Petersburg Times, said the blogosphere helps get the mainstream’s attention.

Panel members criticized blogs’ journalistic standards and what they said might be a lack of accuracy, balance and integrity.

They also discussed the competition between nontraditional and traditional media, with the former taking audiences and advertisers from the latter.

Hundreds of convention goers turned out for the event, leaving no seat empty.

Joyer pointed to the civil rights era to explain the relevance of black radio and how it remains a prime source for blacks, despite the speed and accessibility of blogs.

“Martin Luther King Jr. got thousands of people to march without a blog or a megaphone,” he said. “He did it with radio.”

By DANIELLE HESTER
The UNITY News

Beth Daley has worked at The Boston Globe for 14 years.

But just recently, her workload has doubled, maybe even tripled.

The 41-year-old environmental reporter says newsroom buyouts have shrunk her staff. She has weathered the cuts over the years, but that doesn’t mean that she and others still at the Globe haven’t been affected by staffing changes.

“High layoffs and turnover rates are definitely making us work harder,” said Daley.

The impact of turnover and layoffs has hit many working journalists hard. Some feel overwhelmed by increased workloads and having to juggle multiple things at once.

Daley is one of two reporters for the Globe’s science section. Although her section is holding steady, the heavy layoffs of metro staff have resulted in extra coverage for Daley.
On top of covering her sections, she now has to post daily blogs and produce multimedia projects.

“You don’t have the time to spend six to eight weeks on a story anymore. It is really hard to do in-depth stories now,” Daley said.

There is a sense of anxiety when talking to working journalists. They know the industry is changing, sections need to be filled and little revenue is coming in.

In addition to being concerned about the job changes and increased workload, journalists also work under uncertainties: they may have friends being laid off or know people who are taking buyouts. Some worry that they could be next.

The worry, fear and desperation can lead to increased stress. But change and limited jobs are not what keeps some in journalism.

Many say it’s the craft. They love to write, they love to tell stories, and they love to be the voice of the people.

“What I do is important,” said Kathy Pellegrino, recruitment editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “If I can have a helping hand in keeping the industry vivid and relative to today’s changes then I am happy with that.”

Mark Miller, assistant managing editor for Newsweek, said that although journalists are anxious, they should have an open mind to change.

Miller said he tries not to overload his reporters. He talked about how editors are being affected too. In some cases, assistant editors may be writing, editing and creating copy for the Web.

“We would like to pay people more, but it’s the business.”

At UNITY: ’08 veterans and aspiring journalists lined up looking for employment, knowing how the conditions of the industry and the impact of turnover for those already employed.

Many remain optimistic.

Cristina Azocar, president of the Native American Journalists Association, says that just because the industry is changing, doesn’t mean that journalists can’t do their jobs effectively.

“We don’t have to stay in the system,” she said. “We need to create our own system; think of it as an opportunity.”

By KYLA SMITH
The UNITY News

Surrounded by recruiters, students and notepads, Sharon Rosenhause began saying goodbye to her colleagues Friday.

At the end of next week, the managing editor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel will retire after serving more than 20 years in the newspaper business, as a mentor and a long-standing voice for journalists of color.

Rosenhause, who joined the Sun-Sentinel in March 2001, pushed to diversify newsrooms and news coverage with a stern but compassionate demeanor, friends and colleagues said.

She served as the chairwoman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Diversity Committee, and was a member of the advisory board of the Race and Diversity Workshop at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, according to the ASNE Web site.

Rosenhause hosted a Diversity Leadership Institute, according to ASNE, and found funding for a Florida Society of Newspaper Editors multimedia scholarship for diverse college students.

In 2006, she was awarded the Robert G. McGruder Diversity Leadership Award.

Friends praised Rosenhause for her hard work and described her as a light-hearted person who loves pink flamingoes, tennis, HBO’s “The Wire” and is determined to master her newly purchased Mac computer.

Rosenhause was too busy saying goodbye to talk about her impending retirement, but friends, colleagues and protégés were eager to share their thoughts on her guidance and influence:

“She is one of the strongest forces in the newsroom. She has a great mind for judgment and knows a good story. Everyone respects her and she is a motivator. She will be missed dearly.”
Bowdeya Tweh
Intern, Sun-Sentinel

“When I first came in five years ago, Sharon seemed intimidating and scary, but deep down she is a teddy bear. When I heard the news, I teared up. I can’t imagine the newsroom without her.”
Belinda Long Ivey
Graphic Artist, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“When I had rough days working eight hours in the newsroom and eight hours on a reserve base, Sharon told me that I couldn’t work like this anymore. That showed me what type of editor she was, and that she cared about people.”
C. Ron Allen
Staff Writer, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“She was a woman of very few words but they were intense words that were well chosen. Her retirement represents a real loss in a time of massive layoffs. Not only did she inspire me in the newsroom she inspired me to get back out on the court after not playing tennis for over 30 years.”
Michele A. Salcedo
Race and Demographics Editor, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Arelis Hernandez
The UNITY News Online

At a time when the U.S. government reneged on promises of equal rights to Hispanics in the West, one young Californio named Francisco Ramirez advocated for his community with ink and paper.

In 1855, 17-year-old Ramirez founded El Clamor Público, a Spanish-language newspaper in California that sought to incite, instruct and inform his Mexican community.

“He’s a representative of journalism at it’s best,” said Felix Gutierrez, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California. “He’s a great role model for all of us.”

Though he died 100 years ago, Ramirez’s vision for an inclusive news media persists with his induction into the National Association of Hispanic Journalist’s Hall of Fame alongside NAHJ co-founders Juan Gonzalez, a columnist for the New York Daily News, and Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

“They’ve all contributed in different ways as strong activists for our community,” said Ivan Roman, NAHJ executive director.

Gonzalez has campaigned for equality since he was a student, co-founding the New York chapter of the Young Lords organization, a Puerto Rican nationalist group. The Young Lords broadcasted their message of discontent through the pages of the “Pa’lante,” newspaper — one of his Gonzalez’s first experiences with journalism.

Through alternative media, Gonzalez worked his way up to becoming an investigative reporter and columnist at the New York Daily News. In 2002, he was elected NAHJ president, where he spearheaded a number of programs to increase diversity in the newsroom.

Longtime friend and colleague Felix Gutierrez said Gonzalez was always on the “leading edge of raising issues.”

When newsrooms failed to acknowledge the importance of diversity, Gonzalez made them listen, Gutierrez said.

NAHJ board member Kevin Olivas recalled his first year at NAHJ under Gonzalez’s leadership.

“He brought all these ideas and energy including the Parity Project,” Olivas said, who now directs the program that increases the number of Latinos in the media. “He is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. He is always solving problems.”

Gonzalez, along with William Sutton, former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, met together in 1988 hoping to bring together four media organizations of color. That initiative was later known as UNITY, Gutierrez said.

“All of this [UNITY convention] was their brainchild,” Gutierrez said.

In 2007, Gonzalez won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in exposing the health effects arising from Ground Zero’s air hazards. The admiration he has gained over the last 30 years has made him a name to know among elected officials and community leaders.

“It’s hard to think of another person that commands such immediate respect from so many people,” Olivas said.

Advocacy through journalism is not foreign to Rivas-Rodriguez. When she was working as a young reporter in the 1970s, Rivas-Rodriguez said she was often frustrated because she could only write about the change she wanted to see.

The news media were ignoring Latinos, and negative perceptions about her community abounded, but she had no way to correct it, she said.

“When I’d see something wrong, I would write about it,” Rivas-Rodriguez said. “But nothing changed.”

When NAHJ formed in 1982, Rivas-Rodriguez said she found a venue to channel her frustration and become a participant rather than an observer. Her work translated into the formation of a convention newspaper, The Latino Reporter, that was staffed by college students and guided by professionals.

Rivas-Rodriguez’s idea developed and became the model for the student projects that have evolved in each of UNITY’s associations. She said the project has come a long way from cutting and pasting pages and carrying plates to the printer.

“I’m really proud that we helped create something,” she said. “It has been refined every time. It’s amazing.”

As a professor, Rivas-Rodriguez concentrates on adding Latino history to the academic canon. She said history books, documentaries and journals have consistently omitted the stories of Latinos and their contributions. Recently, Rivas-Rodriguez led a campaign challenging the legitimacy of Ken Burn’s World War II documentary that did not feature Latino veterans.

“It’s not that we weren’t there, it’s that we were not read or written about,” she said. “There needs to be more outreach to the Latino community.”

Rivas-Rodriguez now leads a project to document the oral stories of Latino World War II veterans to augment an archive of Latino history that will be available for future generations.

“Maggie is somebody who through education and advocacy really carries the torch for the inclusion of Latinos in news coverage and media,” Roman said. “She advocates for fairness and educates young people in advocacy.”