Definitely must reading, the report below. Also, the New American Media news site should be checked out as religiously as the savant check out the New York Times.
ATLANTA – Over the last four years, the ethnic media have picked up 8 million new readers, viewers and listeners, and now regularly reach 57 million people in the United States, according to a poll released today by New America Media (NAM). The increase comes as mainstream media, especially metropolitan daily newspapers, struggle to keep their audiences.
I want to preface this semester wrap-up with an anecdote that I believe provides an insightful, behind-the-scenes look of inner workings and thinking as well as speaks to important matters, such as student learning, undergraduate journalism, Academic Freedom and the kind of baleful malaise that corrupts academic values and principles.
The D:F/M chair informed me a while back that he and the D:F/M Policy & Budget Committee wanted me to take a leave from teaching Basic Reporting, MEDP 292. I was suspected of being the culprit responsible for the drop in enrollment of department majors. There was this concern that a lot of students were flunking my classes (which have high standards and expectations for students, high – I’m being kind – in light of this department’s standards).
The result, if one was to believe the chair and the P&B, was a cosmic resonance so strong that what occurred in my classroom emanated beyond its boundaries and was discouraging students (who didn’t take classes with me, who weren’t even planning to enroll in my courses) from taking the major or were being encouraged to drop it.Â
Whew!
Lame courses, lame instructors were not being considered. Not to mention lame policy decisions.
… Nope. The New American Media expo wrapped yesterday. It was historic and I will have to figure out another way to write about it for this blog. Perhaps by interviewing the WORD’s Eunji Jang when she gets back.
The Mayor of New York City becomes visibly and publicly upset because he can’t manipulate the news media? This is an excellent real-world teaching anecdote for my J-news writing classes.
Since May 30, Saturday, because of a bike accident, I’ve been to two emergency rooms, the first via ambulance in Jersey City, and the second in Manhattan via PATH and taxi, and have made office visits to two Manhattan doctors, one to my personal physician who referred me to a podiatrist, who told me I really needed to see an orthopedic specialist. He told me to rush to NYU’s orthopedics emergency room where a NYU orthopedics ER doc told me what I suspected when I was in the Jersey City Medical Center but couldn’t get anyone there to take serious my concerns: My Achilles tendon was mangled, to what degree she couldn’t determine because the NYUÂ MRI folks had left at 7 p.m.
WORDwriter Eunji Jang is in Atlanta. The WORD editor ain’t there cause of a bicycle accident. If Jang isn’t overwhelmed by a lot of work – she’s working on project drawing on her fluency in Korean plus manning a table with pamphlets about Hunter as well as pursuing her own projects – she might deliver some updates or news about the expo.
Was Officer Andrew Duton acting like a racist? Trash that question. Better ones are: Does he live in a racist society? Was his fatal mistake the result of his growing up and living in a racist society? What was his mindset at the moment he squeezed off several shots? Would he have shot a white man, woman or child under similar circumstances?
Who the hell is capable of answering such questions considering the epistemological challenges, regardless of the torrent of news reporting as well as commentary manipulated to look like news reporting?
No one.
Google, this date, listed 1,184 links to news stories about Omar Edwards’s slaying. Yet, every sane New Yorker, however, knows the answer to this one: When was the last time a black NYPD officer mistakenly shot a white police officer under similar circumstances?
This is a quickie alert because I’m trying to wrap up my semester and have been waylaid with last minute stuff. More later about NAM and its June 4-5 convention. Needless to say, NAM – thanks to Jonathan Mena, Kisha Allison, Jacqueline Fernandez and Eunji Jang – really admires Hunter students and does a lot to support them.
On with the quickie:
OUTSTANDING PRINT, WEB AND BROADCAST REPORTING
ATLANTA – New America Media  the nation’s largest association of ethnic media outlets, today announced winners of its National Ethnic Media Awards honoring exceptional contributions to journalism by members of the ethnic media.
Email sent to my Feature Writing students after the Thursday, April 30 class: Andrea Leon convinced me that I missed the big picture and that she has a story that no journalist, pro or student (in recent memory), has regarding Sharpton. So, I would really appreciate it if everyone in class would send her three or four sentences regarding their likes and dislikes about Sharpton. Try to be specific about why you like or don’t like or respect or disrespect about him.
Please let her know if you can use your name or not in this special she’s working on.
For pedagogical reasons, I will offer a brief recap and opinion at the beginning of class because the tiff illustrates some journalistic matters that can’t be taught via book/class and have to be learned via real-world experience.
