Syesha's Scrapbook: Deggans Tries His Hand at Photojournalism

The Pulitzer committee doesn't need to be alerted just yet. But I had more fun -- and success-- than I expected shooting pictures of American Idol contestant Syesha Mercado's visit to the Tampa Bay area Friday.

Tracking the visit itself was like walking the Bataan Death March -- cruising to Tampa at 7 a.m., Sarasota by lunchtime, then back to St. Petersburg in rush hour traffic to hassle with the crowd at Tropicana Field so I could watch Syesha nail a national anthem she's sung at baseball games since she was 9 years old.

A few things did stick out while I was shadowing the Last Woman Standing in TV's most popular singing contest:

-- Syesha pretty much admitted that she doesn't listen to the judges, telling reporters her vocal coaches have more impact on her creative decisions in the competition.

-- Syesha's dad Jose said he didn't mind the barbs directed his way by idol judge Simon Cowell because most of his criticisms are just a shtick, anyway.

-- Idol is still a phenomenon, and huge draw locally for WTVT-Ch. 13. Still, it was a little surprising to see the amount of news resources the station devoted to covering her visit, including two remote trucks and their helicopter.

-- Sarasota's 70-year-old mayor, Lou Ann Palmer, reportedly did three handstands last Tuesday, during a massive Idol party hosted by an area radio station at Mattison's restaurant.

-- When Palmer failed to hold a handstand on her first try during Mercado's visit to the Ringling Museum, the mayor cracked "I pulled a Brooke," in referenced to ejected Idol Brooke White, who had two false starts while competing on the show.

-- Reality was rarely good enough for idol's camera crew; Mercado had to redo her entrance at WTVT twice and redo her departure from the stations three times before they got the footage the producer wanted. Palmer had to say the name of the song Randy Jackson picked for Syesha to sing Tuesday four times before she got it right. 

Here's a host of photos from my time Friday. Click on any photo to see an enlarged, more detailed display.

Another American Idol Surprise: Sarasota-Bred Finalist Syesha Mercado is a Playful, Poised Star-in-the-Making

TAMPA -- This was not the Syesha Mercado I've seen tackling the big songs each week on American Idol.

That woman, appearing on my TV each week belting out classic diva tunes despite all advice to the contrary, is by turns intensely serious and emotional -- focused on nailing the increasingly showy tunes she picks each week for America's biggest talent competition.

But the Syesha who emerged during the start of her daylong local publicity tour of the Tampa Bay area this morning was so much more appealing. Funny. Humble. Given to playful teasing and spot-on impressions -- she cracked up the crew on WFLZ-FM's morning show with a dead-on impersonation of Idol judge Paula Abdul -- Mercado seems born to bask in the attention afforded a major singing star.

So why does so little of this superstar charisma make it onto the Idol stage during the competition?

"American Idol kind of put me in a stage fright mode," said Mercado, speaking backstage at the studios of Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13, where the station had assembled a phalanx of media to document the return of a local hero. "I've learned to loosen up a bit and go with the flow."

By 8 a.m. this morning, Mercado was deep into a day of media appearances and public performances that would challenge the most experienced performer. As her gigantic stretch limousine pulled up before WTVT's Kennedy Blvd. headquarters, she had already knocked off two radio interviews, singing snatches of the National Anthem she would recreate tonight at the Rays baseball game in St. Petersburg and firing off a dead-on impersonation of Tina Turner.

At WTVT, a small knot of fans culled from the station's staff waved signs before a makeshift red carpet, providing the kind of celebratory greeting that will look good for Idol's cameras.

Inside the Fox affiliate, reporters from People magazine, Sarasota magazine, Orlando's fox affiliate and host of area newspapers jockeyed for good photos while the station's Idol correspondent Charlie Belcher goofed around with Mercado. And because cameras were on hand filming this for Idol's Welcome Home show next week, reality wasn't quite good enough: Mercado stepped out of her limo twice and re-enacted leaving the station three times, to catch the perfect shots.

Ask Mercado whether consistent criticism from the judges has ever affected her -- she is, after all, the only contestant this season to land in the Bottom Three of audience votes multiple times and survive to stand among the Top Three contenders -- and you learn that she pays far more attention to what her vocal coaches advise than what Abdul Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell offer.

"The judges say stuff to me, and it doesn't affect me...I never take it to heart," she says, expertly directing her attention to each member of the media crowded around her while speaking. "Paula is really cool -- she came backstage and told me the other day 'Simon liked your performance, he just didn't have anything else to say.' I'm like, why didn't he just say that he liked it on national television?"

Mercado even let a bit of showbiz dish drop, inadvertently; admitting that she can't get permission to sing a version of Beyonce's Listen because Cowell remains in a tiff with the singer. Back in 2005, he criticized Beyonce's figure and singing ability in an interview for Esquire magazine, promoting the singer's dad to challenge Cowell to a competition to develop the most successful singing group.

"That last show, he kind of...(nixed the song)," said Mercado. "Simon doesn't like to apologize to people, so..."

Mercado blamed her early, ice queen image on an illness early in the competition which forced her to conserve her voice, communicating with people mostly through rudimentary hand signals and written notes. Her turning point came during a performance of Andrew Lloyd Weber's One Rock N Roll Too Many, which allowed her to be a little flirty and theatrical -- separating herself from the experience by playing a bit of a role.

"Being on vocal rest kind of dampened who I am," she said. "It kinda made me silent -- you can only hold up note cards (to communicate) for so long. But slowly and surely, I came into my own."

Certainly, she looked born to the role this morning, fielding every question with enthusiasm and sass, jousting a bit with Belcher on WTVT and basking in the chorus of camera shutters set off every time she moved to a new position on WTVT's set (she even graciously handled WTVT's request that she read an endless list of on air promos, sure to fill their airwaves leading to the Idol finale).

Later today, she'll head for her old high school, Booker High School in Sarasota, headline a short performance at the Ringling Museum (rumors are, some folks are leaving work early to check it out) and angle back to St. Petersburg for the Rays game.

Something tells me, this woman who has been angling for a showbiz career since she was 9 years old -- singing the National Anthem at spring training games for the Pittsburgh Pirates -- will be just as energetic at 7 p.m. as she was at 7 a.m., well aware that she's living her dreams in a way few performers ever achieve.

"People tell me to smile more...but YOU stand up here and try to smile," said Mercado, noting how hard its been to show her true performing personality on Idol's super-visible stage. "This experience is so amazing, I just don't want to go home. sometimes I don't smile...because its just so nerve wracking."

Apologies for the low-quality photos...but I was forced to shoot pictures myself. Click on any one to enlarge.    

A Bonus From Evil Jason's Departure From American Idol: Syesha Comes Home to the Tampa Bay Area Friday

Now it can be told: In addition to finally ridding the show of its Dead Singer Walking, Jason Castro's departure tonight from American Idol brings another bit of good tidings.

Syesha Mercado is coming home to the Tampa Bay area on Friday.

Longtime Idol fans will recall that the show always films a segment close to the show's end where the finalists head home for a burst of adulation from their hometown crowds, collecting keys to the city, adoring speeches from former teachers and lots of good wishes from adoring crowds.

Because the closest Fox affiliate to Mercado's Sarasota hometown is Tampa's WTVT-Ch. 13, she'll spend a fair amount of time in Tampa, stopping by WFLZ-FM's MJ Morning Show Friday at 7 a.m., heading over to WTVT's Good Day Tampa Bay morning show by 8 a.m. and stopping by her alma mater, Booker High School in Sarasota by 12:30 p.m. for a mini-parade and private concert.

By 2:45 p.m. she's scheduled to hop aboard WTVT's SkyFox helicopter for a ride to the Ringling Museum where she'll present another short concert for the public. By 6:30 p.m., she'll be in St. Petersburg to sing the National Anthem for the Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field.

I'm assuming that she'll be in a coma in a hotel room bed somewhere by 8 p.m.

No wonder Castro was so glad to be hitting the road tonight, and the remaining contestants look so tired. It seems the life of a potential Idol leaves little room for small things. Like sleep. And more than an hour spent in any one location.

6:45 a.m.: In-studio appearances on WFLZ-FM 93.3’s MJ Morning Show and WMTX-FM 100.7’s Nancy and Chris show.

8 a.m.: WTVT's Good Day Tampa Bay.

10:30 a.m.: Downtown Bradenton appearance between City Hall and the Manatee River.

11:15 a.m.: Autograph session at the AT&T store at 4708 Cortez Road, Bradenton.

12:30 p.m. or thereabouts: At her alma mater, Booker High School in Sarasota, for a mini-parade and private concert.

2:45 p.m.: She's scheduled to hop aboard WTVT's SkyFox helicopter for a ride to the Ringling Museum where she'll present another short concert for the public.

6:57 p.m.: She'll sing the National Anthem at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg before the Rays game against the Los Angeles Angels. The game starts at 7:10 p.m. and tickets start at $9 at 1-888-326-7297. raysbaseball.com.

University of Florida Among Five Schools Selected by ABC News for Campus Journalism Initiative

Under this new plan, the Gainesville school will be one of five schools to host a multimedia newsroom supported by ABC News, where students will gather stories for a host of different news outlets, ranging from Good Morning America to mtvU.

According to ABC's press release, the student staffers working in the bureau will be paid by the network, including the bureau chief, all of whom will be selected by ABC News and a representative from the participating school. The staffers and bureau chief also get twice-yearly training sessions at ABC News headquarters in New York.

As a former j-school nerd myself, this sounds like an amazing opportunity for kids who will, presumably, not get paid a lot to chase stories for one of the biggest news organizations on the planet. If it works like they say it will, I bet other schools will be lining up to participate before too long.

Here's the press release: 

ABC News LAUNCHES ABC NEWS ON CAMPUS JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

News Division Partners with Five Top Journalism Schools Across The Country to Open College Digital Bureaus in September 2008 

            ABC News announced today the launch of ABC News on Campus, a partnership with five top journalism schools across the country to educate and mentor talented college students. The news division will create five on campus multimedia bureaus that will open in September 2008 and provide an opportunity for students to report on stories in their area and produce a wide array of content for ABC News’ various digital and broadcast platforms, including “Good Morning America,” “World News with Charles Gibson,” “Nightline,” ABC News NOW, ABCNEWS.com, mtvU, ABC News Radio, and NewsOne. 

            “These college digital bureaus will extend the newsgathering reach of ABC News throughout the country,” said ABC News’ President David Westin. “In addition, they will enable us to nurture bright young journalism students, giving them hands-on training from some of the most seasoned news professionals in the business and opportunities to see their work appear on ABC News’ platforms.”   

            

            Whether students are responding to breaking news or creating daily original content, the ABC News on Campus initiative will provide unique insight into what America's 33 million 18-25 year-olds are thinking. Student participants will primarily consist of upper-class undergraduate and graduate students who are selected by ABC News and the respective college. 

            ABC News Executive Producer of Special Programming and Development John Green will supervise and manage the program with Director of Executive Projects, Sandy Sidey and a team at ABC News headquarters in New York. Each bureau will receive extensive training including on-site mentoring with the student bureau chiefs and faculty liaisons at ABC News headquarters twice yearly.  Representatives from ABC News will also travel to all five campuses for ABC News information sessions. 

            

The 2008 ABC News on Campus College News Bureaus are:

·         Arizona State University- Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

·         Syracuse University - S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

·         University of Florida - College of Journalism and Communications

·         University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication

·         University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism

            Each ABC News on Campus bureau will have a team of official ABC News paid student staffers including a bureau chief.  These positions will be vetted and supervised by a participating university-appointed faculty member and ABC News. In addition, any student will have the opportunity to contribute ideas and content as part of each university wide initiative. ABC News will provide an annual stipend for this core team of staff students to manage the bureau as well as state of the art digital technology including video cameras, computers, and edit software.

            

ABC News Media Relations: Paige Capossela (212) 456-7243

Deggans Pundit Alert: Explaining Media's Toughness on Obama and Network TV's Post Strike Blues

Howard Kurtz must be trying to turn me into a star.

That's my admittedly self-centered conclusion after noting how much the Washington Post media critic has quoted me in his latest story, a look at how the media has gotten tougher on Obama. Frankly, this is a trend I talked about way back in February, when a Saturday Night Live sketch poking fun at the media's adulation of Obama seemed to spark a raft of negative stories about the candidate.

Unfortunately, many media outlets' idea of incisive coverage includes stories about whether Obama wears a flag pin and how long he's known that Jeremiah Wright is a loose cannon. Now Howard has weighed in, concluding that Obama has "been brought down to earth by the same media organizations that fueled his meteoric rise."

Another element at work here is something I've also written about before: The news media's love for a tight Democratic primary which has fueled TV ratings, boosted the visibility of myriad reporters and given declining newspapers a reason to argue for their relevance. Big media loves this fight and wants both contenders to stay in the game as long as possible -- which means that whenever one of them pulls ahead, the other will take a few hits.

Another friend in media, reality TV expert Andy Dehnart, did me the honor of calling while he was assembling a story for MSNBC.com on why ratings for network TV shows have dropped since their return after the writers' strike.

Andy presents experts who argue that the viewership dip isn't solely caused by the strike. But as I noted a while ago, the strike allowed some viewers to find new ways to occupy their time -- and the spate of returning shows will last just a few weeks before we're back to reality TV and reruns for summer.

What's more worrisome than viewership drops is the trend of complex scripted shows migrating to cable. Increasingly, the best scripted dramas are found in the wilds of cable, where ratings demands and content restriction are lower. So what will happen to network TV's upscale, educated audience when all you can find on broadcast is Deal or No Deal and Celebrity Apprentice?

Keep your eye on this blog, and you'll read the answers before my quotes wind up in the Washington post or MSNBC.com.   

Day Three in NYC: Denis Leary and the Psychology of Race in Election Coverage

Only in New York can you go from an academic discussion of race, media and the presidential election to kickin' it with Rescue Me's Tommy Gavin.

But that's the fun I'm going to be having today, as I cap my time in Gotham by visiting Denis Leary on the set of FX's deliciously profane firefighter drama Rescue Me to talk with about that show and HBO's ambitious take on the Florida-based fight over the 2000 presidential election, Recount.

Last night, I sat on a panel at Columbia University discussing the state of the media's work covering race and the election -- we had lots of criticisms, surprise! -- moderated by Ray Suarez of PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and featuring folks from the Poynter Institute, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal (I KNOW, what was I doing there?)

I was particularly intrigued by the work of the Post's Shankar Vedantam, an academic-friendly reporter who has assembled a number of stories crunching behavioral studies to explain some of the dynamics in the current election.

One reason why he thinks reaction to the Jeremiah Wright scandal varies so starkly between black people and white people is because minorities seems to measure racial progress by comparing current conditions to an ideal future, while white people measure racial progress by comparing the present to our racial past. So when Jeremiah Wright delivers fiery sermons about institutional racism, black people immediately think of how far we have to go while white people get offended, thinking of how far we have come.

He also cited another study in which white people were presented with a scenario -- you're about to be born and you are scheduled to be born white. If your color were somehow switched to black, how much money would you want in compensation? At first, respondents said about $5,000, greatly underestimating the challenges of being black in America. Once they are told the true cost -- that black people are 447 percent more likely to be imprisoned, 521 percent more likely to be murdered and start life generally with five times less the wealth of the average white person -- they usually demand more money.

And regarding gender, he cited a study in which the same description of an executive was handed to two groups of people -- tough but fair, rewards creativity, etc. -- but the only difference is one group gets a description on a CEO named James and the other group gets a description of a CEO named Andrea. You got it - when questioned, the subjects overwhelmingly named Andrea as less likable and James as the boss they would prefer to work for, even though there was no difference in the descriptions except for the names.

His work suggests there are split-second, unconscious reactions to race and gender issues that are affecting how we react to these candidates. Exposing and discussing those tendencies -- and what they mean for real-life candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- is some of the most interesting work around on the campaign trail.

Wonder how Denis is going to react to some of this? 

60 Minutes' Steve Kroft Speaks on Clarence Thomas Interview; Leaves a Few Questions Unanswered

One of the treats of the conference on covering race that I'm attending here at Columbia University, was a chance to hear 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft talk about one of his most controversial interviews in recent memory: his Sept. 30 sit-down with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Critics accused Kroft of handling Thomas with kid gloves to get the kind of access he has never given a TV journalist: hanging with him at his boyhood home in Savanna, Ga., riding in his RV (which he occasionally parks at Wal Marts when he is traveling?!) and questioning him with his wife. Thomas was selling a book -- Kroft admits the publishing house was instrumental in pushing Thomas to do the interview in the first place -- and still left CBS producers unsure if he would fully participate.

"I don't think anybody deserves to be defined totally by his enemies," Kroft said, explaining why he agreed with Thomas' feeling that he had been caricatured by the press. "He is somebody who hasn't gotten a fair shake in the press -- in part, because he let people define him."

I was impressed and a little envious at the resources Kroft said he had -- including seven or eight producers to comb through mountains of research to produce two thick "briefing books" which give him everything major that has been reported on Thomas. 

More than anything, I was intrigued by a moment when Kroft was asked about a typical Thomas inconsistency: He has a moment early in the interview where he insists race is not a huge factor in his life or perception of himself. But he also recounts growing up in a segregated south, feeling as if the white world discounted his law degree from Yale because he was black and being told by his grandfather that at a certain age, he couldn't dare look a white woman in the face for fear of lynching or worse.

But Thomas wound up an opponent of affirmative action who married a white woman. Doesn't that indicate that race had some impact on him, despite his protestations? "I didn't think about that until this session," noted Kroft today.

In an odd way, that response proved the value of what we're talking about here at Columbia. If you don't have journalists on hand who know black culture and black issues -- like the reasons why some black people feel Clarence Thomas is in denial about how race and affirmative action have affected his own life -- then you get stories which miss important cultural issues.

Later, we wondered why Kroft's story claimed at the outset that many criticisms about Thomas -- that he was an affirmative action hire who wants to kill affirmative action, for example -- were false. But the story didn't really seem to demonstrate how. And the many inconsistencies about Thomas' life and views weren't challenged much.

Still it was an informative look at how a big institution like 60 Minutes gets those big interviews -- and what viewers may be missing in the process. 

Cable TV's Election Coverage: The More They Talk, The Less We Learn

I have a simple theory about cable news, developed after months spent consuming its endless coverage of this endless presidential election: the more attention they pay to a subject, the less viewers actually learn.

I tested my notion recently by tackling a marathon assignment: spending a day watching the shows cobbled together by each cable news channel to capitalize on the nation's electoral interest -- Fox’s America’s Election HQ, MSNBC’s Race to the White House and CNN’s Election Center.

What I found: news programs chewing over morsels of information like grazing cows, taking a sliver of reported fact and massaging it with bursts of analysis and supposition until viewers had a tough time separating actual fact from assumption and opinion.

I call it the high “noise to signal ratio” of cable news; the way punditry and strategy often overwhelms the meat of reportage. Unsurprisingly, the show with the highest noise to signal ratio on this day was found at Fox News.

America’s Election HQ is a chummy, vibrating hour packed with flashy graphics, made-to-order partisan conflicts, Fox’s trademark general friendliness to conservatives and two gleaming, youthful hosts in anchors Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly.

The day I watched, Hemmer led the show with “breaking news”: former Clinton aide Dick Morris heard from an unnamed source that Bill Clinton had recommended to Columbia’s president in 2007 that he would only get a trade agreement with the U.S. by convincing Democrats to support it. According to Morris, 10 days later, Columbia hired the consulting firm led by Mark Penn, the recently-resigned chief strategist of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Are you reporting that Bill Clinton got Mark Penn the gig?” Hemmer asked urgently.
“Yes,” said Morris, before thinking better of his allegation. “I don’t -- I can’t prove it. I wasn’t there.” So what exactly was he reporting? That Clinton told Columbia’s president last year that Democrats control Congress thanks to their success in 2006’s midterm elections? That’s breaking political news?

Another urgent panel discussion centered on acampaign worker assembling a crowd to stand behind Michelle Obama at a Pittsburgh rally, who yelled for “more white people.”

Fox’s high velocity election program was a clear contrast to MSNBC’s Race to the White House, a vehicle for rising NBC News star David Gregory that seems tailor made for Hardball-weaned political junkies.

What irked me most here was the continuing presence of pundit Pat Buchanan, who has written at least one book implying America’s success lies in its identity as a white Christian nation. Why MSNBC and NBC News continue to allow this guy to denounce people like Jeremiah Wright as bigots with no mention of his own tangled history remains a mystery to me.

Indeed, it wasn’t until I turned on CNN’s Election Center that I felt the media noise subside a bit. On a day when there wasn’t much real campaign news, Brown’s CNN show focused more on the news of the day, spending the first 15 minutes or so dissecting the protests in San Francisco and the likelihood that any president could implement a quick troop withdrawal from Iraq.

At a time when Americans are still struggling to make a historic electoral choice, don't we deserve election coverage which cuts  through the noise instead of adding to it?

New Tidbits Revealed About Media General Buyout Offer

I recently received a copy of the packet sent to Media General employees laying out the terms of the buyout offer from the company. As I noted Monday, the offer has gone out to half the 1,326 employees of Media General subsidiary Florida Communications Group, which includes outlets such as WFLA-Ch. 8, the Tampa Tribune, TBO.com, Hernando Today and many more outlets.

The information in the packet is mostly technical, with details on handling 401 (K) plans, medical benefits and such. Rumors abound that certain types of employees -- copy editors, photographers and people who already practice a lot of convergence -- have not been offered the buyout. The fate of some of the Tribune's biggest stars, including columnists Dan Ruth and Steve Otto, has not yet been announced (TV anchors and on air types working under contract and are also exempt).

"It has become clear that the recession in Tampa is now so deep, that the cost-saving steps we have implemented will not be enough," reads a letter from FCG head John Schueler included with the packet. "If the necessary staff reducations are not achieved through this voluntary program, we are likely to  require an involuntary program."

The money provided in the buyout is the same amount an employee would receive if they were laid off involuntarily, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to participate -- particularly if certain employees are not being informed that they will be laid off involuntarily if they don't take it; Schueler insists that is not happening.  And because the company hasn't announced target levels for savings or buyouts, it's tough to anticipate whether involuntary layoffs will be necessary

Some notes:

-- The packet says positions reduced in the buyout will not be replaced, resulting in a "permanent reduction" of positions.

-- If more people apply for the buyout than the company need, they will accept requests according to hire date -- first in, first out.

-- According to the company's timeline, employees who apply for the buyout will be notified between May 20 and May 23 if they have been accepted, with June 15 as their last day of employment.

-- Employees rehired within six months of their last day of employment must repay their severance. (Small update: I wonder, after talking with some friends about it, if this provision may also help prevent managers from giving someone a buyout and then rehiring them right away at a lower salary).

Here's a clip from my appearance on Media Talk, speaking on Dr. Phil and the buyouts.

ABC News Debate Reveals the New Bill Clinton: Barack Obama

I spent much of last night watching American Idol and old TiVo-ed shows, so I didn't see the big Democratic debate on ABC News -- the 21st collision between these two candidates on TV.

(Much of America wasn't as disinterested as I; ABC News reports that 10.7-million people watched the debate, making it the most-watched debate of the 2008 presidential cycle).

And, if the news reports are to be believed, the first 50 minutes or so were spent quizzing Obama on a long litany of controversies that don't have much to do with the issues of the day, from Rev. Wright and his loose connection to a former member of the Weather Underground to the fact that he doesn't wear a flag pin on his lapel. So what headlines have dominated coverage of the event?

Hillary Clinton's admission that she does indeed think that Obama can win the presidency if he is the nominee.

It sounds like last night was a perfect storm of conditions converging to ensure an irrelevant debate. These candidates have already tangled publicly on policy issues for months (and on many issues, their positions aren't that different); they just appeared separately as a public forum on faith issues Sunday, we haven't had a primary in weeks, so there are no fresh electoral results to parse and the resulting lack of real campaign news has flooded the news cycle with irrelevance.

But through all that, the top headline on many post debate stories either criticized ABC News for focusing on such trivialities or played up Clinton's admission that she thinks he can win the general election, even as she presumably tells superdelegates in private that he cannot.

Despite some critics claim that Obama survives challenges because of racism charges, there seems to be something else going on. I hope its that people are parsing the BS on their own, with little help from the media.

And if that isn't an example of the kind of Teflon politics that Bill Clinton seemed to perfect during his years in politics, I'm not sure what is.

Check out the spin room reaction to the debate:

Tallahassee-Based Black-Centered TV News Channel Signs Deal With Comcast

UPDATE: The Black Television News Channel is a project fronted by former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts, aimed at creating a black-focused news channel which would look like a hybrid of Fox News Channel and CNN, according to its senior vice president Steven Pruitt.

The company is based in Tallahassee right now because it is working with Bob Brilliante, the former head of Florida's News Channel -- an effort to create a statewide TV news channel which never quite lived up to its ambitions. The project expects to move its headquarters to Washington D.C. soon and launch in time for Black History Month 2009, according to Pruitt.

Pruitt says the company is securing carriage deals like the one it announced today before hiring any personnel. But this will be the third time an independent company has tried to form a black-centered TV news network; Quincy Jones was the most visible investor in New Urban Entertainment, which fell apart when it couldn't nail carriage agrements and Stuart, Fla. lawyer Willie Gary tried spinning off a news network from his Major Broadcasting Cable Network, which also failed. Neither of the two existing  black-focused cable networks, Black Entertainment Television or TV One, offers regular newscast programming

Pruitt also said the company expects to spend more than $30-million on the venture. As well as some ethnic media is doing these days, starting a TV news channel from scratch is a tall order; it will be interesting to see how this one unfolds, if it ever does. Bear in mind, all I know about this company is what Pruitt and his press release have told me, so far. (UPDATE END)

I'll be doing some reporting later today to check up on this, but here's a press release I got today which looks interesting. Bear in mind that press releases most times don't tell the whole story.

Here it is:

Washington, DC — April 14, 2008 -- Black Television News Channel (BTNC), the nation’s only African-American news network, scheduled to launch in 2009, today announced a multi-year carriage agreement with Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK), the country’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services.  Under the agreement, BTNC expects that it will be added to Comcast systems in the following key African American markets: Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Baltimore.

BTNC will be a 24/7 cable news network that provides original news programming with a distinctly African-American perspective, and therefore helps fill a major gap in today’s media. BTNC is the endeavor of J.C. Watts, Jr., former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma and celebrated athlete, and broadcast and cable news veterans. 

“Our unique and vast content partnerships with African American newsmakers will provide our viewers LIVE access to the stories and people in whom our viewers have a special interest,” said Watts. “With this agreement, Comcast continues to demonstrate its commitment to working with independent programmers with diverse points of view.”

BTNC will construct the first coast-to-coast all high-definition television newsgathering infrastructure with its network operations center located in Washington, DC.

###
About BTNC

Black Television News Channel will be the nation’s only provider of 24/7 cable news programming dedicated to covering the unique perspective of African American communities.  BTNC will provide access to information and educational programming to meet the specific needs of this growing and dynamic community, which is a major consumer of subscription television services. BTNC will provide a new voice that represents African Americans in mainstream media and fosters political, economic, and social discourse.  BTNC’s programming will shed light on the unique social, economic, and political challenges facing urban communities and help close the “image gap” that exists today between the negative African American stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream media news and our enterprising black communities.

Lessons of the Tampa Bay Media General Buyouts: Florida's Media Economy is Terrible

It's hard to know what to feel when a competitor falters.

Those outside the media might assume folks at the St. Petersburg Times would be popping champagne corks as Media General Monday presented a buyout offer to about half its 1,326 employees in the Tampa Bay area, but that's not necessarily true.

Because we know what this news really means: the state's media economy is getting worse, not better. And the result will be fewer media jobs for everyone.

The problem, as has been noted here before, isn't circulation figures. Here at the Times, we've kept our paid circulation numbers stable and even increased a small bit. But that hasn't helped with the faltering advertising scene, where free classifieds services such as Craigslist have taken huge bites, and problems for retail and real estate have meant fewer ads sold (when business plunges, advertising budgets usually take the first hit).

The result is a tough decision for media managers: If you cut staff enough to bring profits, you may also thin out your product so much it loses credibility with readers. But if you don't cut expenses, especially at a public company like Media General, the market will not tolerate sinking profits for long.

I'm hardly the expert many are in the field, but I heard a few things in reporting yesterday:

--- Florida Communications Group president John Schueler denied rumors that specific employees were being told to accept the buyout offer. he also denied rumors the company specifically hoped to save $3-million. And he doesn't expect to accept buyouts from anywhere near then umber of employees who are eligible for them.

-- Much as Schueler says their reorganization has nothing to do with the proxy fight underway at Media General, it will be tough for company executives to argue their efforts aren't a way to show the company is trying to cut costs in a market that both sides in the proxy fight agree is dragging down the company's stock price. And the deadline for applying for the buyout is one day after stockholders vote on directors for the company's board, choosing between nominees suggested by Media General and dissident investors Harbinger Capital Partners.

--- Much as Harbinger seems to want it, a sale of the Media General properties in Florida makes little sense. Credits markets being what they are, its tough to imagine anyone who could afford the purchase, or anyone who could even make money by selling off the parts. At a time when everyone from Clear Channel to Tribune co. is trying to get smaller, who would want to buy such a huge operation in such a depressed media market -- and why would Media General sell when they are likely to get a rock bottom price?

-- The typical view of convergence -- having staffers work across media platforms such as print, online and TV -- is that its a difficult tool for reducing staff costs, both because its tough to find people who are talented enough to work in multiple mediums, and because it is tough for one person to find the time to complete tasks across all platforms.

For example, if a photographer at a news event has to also shoot video, do reporting for the web site and do "talkback" interviews for a TV station, it may be tough to do every task as well as competitors who only have a couple of those tasks. With this new streamlining, Media General will put that concept to the test.

Bailing Out YouTube Fighter: When Will Dr. Phil Take a Look in the Mirror?

News that a producer for Dr. Phil McGraw's popular syndicated talk show bailed out one of the Lakeland girls arrested and charged in connection with a videotaped assault on a classmate should come as no surprise.

McGraw's show has shown an increasing appetite for guests connected to hot-button, high-profile issues, most recently displayed in McGraw's ham-handed attempts to get close to troubled pop star Britney Spears while preparing a show on her public meltdown.

Unfortunately, McGraw's organization doesn't seem prepared for the backlash such moves can create.

In this case, local media swarmed the Friday release of Mercades Nichols -- the girl who police said lured another girl to a house where she was pummeled -- while someone, presumably connected to McGraw's show, repeatedly asserts that the program has exclusive rights to Nichols' story. The news literally made worldwide headlines and the show later issued a statement saying the bail posting was against the show's policies and they will no longer go forward with their planned segment on the fight.

But McGraw often gets at the stories of his guests by using his show to provide resources that they  cannot access on their own. The barter is an implied one: bare your deepest problems on the show, and we'll provide the kind of treatment or counseling you could never afford on your own.

In a country where 40-million people don't have health insurance, that's a powerful bargain. So this time, Dr. Phil sealed the deal in a different venue, with a higher profile subject. My question: what policy did the producer break? And how did he get the okay to post a bail set at $30,000 without the approval of a senior executive on the show? (one side question: should media outlets be naming the younger girls involved in this attack, who range in age from 14 to 16?)

TMZ.com is reporting that the guy in the footage below is a production assistant, a job they dismiss as an intern with a checkbook. But they also raise my question about how an intern with an expense account could arrange the financial resources for bail on his own, and Hollywood has a long tradition of expecting low folks on the totem pole to take a PR bullet for the boss.

I'm not really placing much stock in gossipy reports that Dr. Phil benefactor Oprah Winfrey is growing tired of the demanding doctor, although this won't help that dynamic if it's true. But it looks like McGraw's once-winning formula is showing some fraying edges -- perhaps he ought to reconsider the cynical bargain at the heart of many of his shows.   

Jailed Trucker Jean Claude Meus Gets New Trial: Did TV Help Make It Happen?

Score another win for media-savvy attorney John Trevena.

It has taken years, but Trevena has finally won a new trial for the 44-year-old Haitian immigrant truck driver, who started a 15-year prison sentence in 2003 after his conviction on vehicular homicide charges after an accident in which prosecutors alleged he fell asleep at the wheel.

I wrote about Meus and Trevena back in 2005, when Trevena tipped WTVT-Ch. 13 investigative reporter Doug Smith to the seeming disparity. At the time, Jennifer Porter, a 29-year-old, part-Cuban woman widely perceived to be white, had received three years of probation, two years of house arrest and 500 hours of community service after leaving the scene of a car accident in which she struck two children, who died.

Didn't hurt that she was represented by the most powerful criminal lawyer in town, Barry Cohen.

I wrote about how national media outlets were surprisingly indifferent to Meus' story, despite its parallels with the Porter case and questionable outcome. Trevena and Smith stuck with the case, however, and saw their efforts pay off Tuesday. See Smith's story from last night here.

Meus, who stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, was charged with homicide in Hardee County for the accident, which killed a 40-year-old woman and her daughter. His case was striking enough that two sisters of the woman killed in the accident took up his cause, arguing that the trial wasn't fair.

Smith's story, along with a later piece in the St. Petersburg Times, suggested Meus may have faced tougher charges and received a stiffer sentence because of his race and lack of wealth (Trevena didn't represent him in the original trial). Smith noted, for example, that another trucker, Thomas Smith, had a similar accident in 2002 in Hardee County which killed a man, but that driver admitted falling asleep at the wheel and got a traffic citation for it as his only punishment.

The difference between Smith and Meus? Smith is white and Meus is not.

But it sounds like justice may finally be at hand, thanks to a persistent lawyer and TV reporter. 

 

An Accusation Which Makes Me Proud: Bill O'Reilly Thinks I'm a 'Race Baiter'

The main people who don't seem to want to talk about race in America these days, are those who earn their living by keeping us apart.

Exhibit A: Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, a guy who I've called on the carpet many times for his use of coded words and phrases to pass along stereotypical, insulting ideas. He's gleefully pointed out going after "black rappers" in a prime time special on explicit entertainment, noted how those who live a "gangsta life" were like those left to drown in post-Katrina New Orleans and insisted he wasn't going to "go on a lynching party" when Michelle Obama said some thing which upset conservatives about America.

Last night, in one of those inexplicable moments when a world-famous opinionator reaches out to swat a barely-known newspaper writer, O'Reilly called me "one of the biggest race baiters in the country," offering no proof of how I'd earned the term, beyond my status as chair of the Media Monitoring Committee for the National Association of Black Journalists.

I'm betting it's because I took note of his lynching remark in a column about Don Imus on Friday. Indeed, I have a long history of tangling with Fox News' most popular pundit, viewable in stories here, here and here.

"Millions of white Americans will no longer even think about discussing race with black people," O'Reilly offered, just before plastering my picture on his screen. "Any slip of the tongue can lead to trouble."

Of course, O'Reilly's use of coded race language is hardly accidental. A key part of his show involves invoking the specter of out-of-control black males to frighten his audience. Once a critic like me objects, he can claim it was a mistake and accuse others of overreaching or unfairness. But if the Don Imus incident teaches anything, it's that mainstream America is growing far less tolerant of such antics.

I'm not saying I'm perfect in this. We've reached a point with prejudice and stereotypes where the issues are subtle, deep-seated and difficult to discuss. But I think intent counts for a lot -- and it seems obvious to me that O'Reilly doesn't come to these debates with respect for many positions besides his own. And that's why I'm so tough on him; because he's smart enough to know exactly what he's doing.

The News Hounds web site notes that the only people O'Reilly accuses of being unfair about claims of racism are black folks (he did cite the liberal media watchdog Web site Media Matters for America, which is run by white people). His list of "race hustlers includes an ex-girlfriend of comic Bill Maher, who filed a palimony suit accusing the HBO host of using "degrading racial comments" against her. (that mention, which really has little to do with accusations of racism in politics and media, just seemed calculated to show a picture of Maher, who is white, next to his black centerfold model ex-girlfriend).   

O'Reilly and I can agree on one thing: the word racist is thrown around way too much. It feeds the notion that the only people who leverage such language are serious bigots, which isn't true. The toughest thing about confronting stereotypes sometimes is that they are seductive, entertaining and often employed by people who aren't bigots. Doesn't make them any more right.

In O'Reilly's world, the only "race hustlers" in the game seem to be black people (except Al Sharpton, with whom O'Reilly seems to have a cordial relationship). But white pundits like O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage often use race tension to score points with their audiences, exploiting their fear and frustration about race issues to score ratings points.

As I've said many times before, I judge journalists by the enemies they make. So I must be doing pretty well these days.

Here's a clip of O'Reilly's rant, courtesy of YouTube:

   

New York Times Notes Pundit Diversity, But Whiffs on the Reason

   

UPDATE: An original version of this blog post said there were no women anchors working afternoon shows on the three cable TV networks. That was an error; Fox News has several female anchors working in the afternoon and the post has been corrected. 

The New York Times had an interesting story yesterday on the diversity of pundits deployed by the TV networks and cable TV channels to discuss this year's historic presidential election.

Penned by Felica Lee, it was an informative and interesting take on a trend which has helped ignite the career of folks like Roland Martin, Amy Holmes and Eugene Robinson, as TV news departments grapple with the reality of a landmark run for the presidency featuring a popular woman and biracial male. (I've even gotten a taste of this, with appearances on CNN, NPR and Fox News over the past year).

Unfortunately, I think it also brushed aside the reason why these outlets have developed such a diverse palette of experts: their field of anchors is amazingly devoid of that same diversity.

Indeed, as cable TV begins to more closely resemble talk radio as the voice of the Angry White Male, you have a list of TV news shows which closely resembles the talk radio universe -- mostly middle-aged white guys with a few women sprinkled in.

I've already noted in a previous post that, with the exception of Campbell Brown and Greta Van Susteren, white males host every program in prime time on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. Katie Couric breaks up the testosterone among the evening news anchors, but her ratings are a distant third in a three-person race. And there seems to be little diversity among the press gaggle following the candidates, as well.

Contrast that with the morning shows on network TV and cable, where gender and ethnic diversity are tremendous. It seems apparent, that programmer have concluded that diversity only works in mornings, and they've leveraged a diverse field of reporters and pundits to mask the unrelenting lack of diversity among their highest profile name anchors.

It will be interesting to see, if we eventually inaugurate a President Clinton or Obama, whether the anchor lineups will change, as well. Or, if we welcome a President McCain, whether cable networks will still feel the need to have such a diverse slate of pundits.

Kathie Lee Gifford Joins Today's Fourth Hour

Like so many TV programming changes, news about Kathie Lee Gifford's return to morning TV leaked a while ago.

Still, NBC made Gifford's move to join its venerated Today show franchise official this morning, setting an April 7 debut for the former Regis and Kathie Lee co-host. This isn't the first time NBC's tried bringing an experienced showbiz woman to its morning franchise; Florence Henderson was a game co-host with Jodi Applegate when the Peacock Network first tried a Today show extension in 1999, the ill-fated Later Today.

But Gifford has an advantage, because Today's fourth hour is already up and running, even if critics haven't given it much love. (Locally, it airs at noon after WFLA-Ch. 8's 10 a.m. show Daytime and the station's 11 a.m. midday newscast. The standard airtime is 10 a.m.)

Her other advantage: She's undisputably the big name here. When she left Regis in 2000 after 15 years, rumors bubbled that the two couldn't get along, though they maintained a happy face in public. On Today's fourth hour, backed NBC News anchor/reporter Hoda Kotb, she'll be the Barbara Walters of the pack -- bringing a connection to daytime TV's older female viewers and loads of showbiz experience.

We'll see if she can rein in the big showbiz ego -- and get used to working on a show which is still considered an extension of NBC News.

Here's the announcement, aired on the Today show at 7:30 a.m. this morning:

Click below to read the press release:   

Deggans PunditWatch: NPR's Barbershop and Florida This Week

As if bloviating on CNN weren't enough, I'm flapping my gums in two more places this week, which you can enjoy at the comfort of your own computer screen through the magic of the Internet (sounds like some late '90s instructional film, I know).

Click here to check out my first-ever participation in The Barbershop, a regular feature on former ABC News reporter Michel Martin's National Public Radio show Tell Me More. Every Friday, a group of brothers gets together to razz each other and talk about the week's events. I was a last-minute addition, but I had been wanting to join this crew for a while, so this was fun (for those of you who know, it's one step below the hang late night in the hotel lounge at an NABJ convention. Nuff said).

As Michel describes it: "The guys in this week's Barbershop — Arsalan Iftikhar, Nick Charles (VP of BET.com), Roy S. Johnson (Editor-in-Chief of Mens Fitness magazine) and Eric Deggans (Media Critic for St. Petersburg Times) — have a lot to say about Sen. Hillary Clinton's conflicted account of a trip to Bosnia, Chelsea Clinton's snappy response to a question about Monica Lewinsky during a recent campaign stop, the latest song release by the "Obama Girl" and the NCAA's March Madness.

If THAT weren't enough, you can also catch me on Rob Lorei's public affairs show for WEDU, Florida This Week. This time, I'm appearing with former Florida Senate president Tom Lee, Democratic consultant Vic DiMaio and leadership director at USF Sarasota, David Klement. What do I know about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the state's apology for slavery and the teaching of intelligent design in the state's schools? Tune in at 8 p.m. tonight or 12:30 p.m. Sunday to find out!

Hillary Clinton Can Make Insensitive Racial Remarks, Too

I almost hate to put this up, because I really don't want to contribute to the sound bite culture that has gotten a stranglehold on our political process these days.

But I was rooting around on a different story today, and stumbled on this YouTube clip of Hillary Clinton making a joke four years ago, comparing noted east Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandi to a gas station owner. This a remark for which Senator Clinton has already apologized.

This wasn't something said by a pastor or a friend. This was a scripted joke she delivered while introducing someone at a public event. I don't think it's evidence of some closet racism on her part. But I do think it's evidence that anyone can say something racially insensitive in public, and the sensible thing to do is find out whether it reflects their consistent feelings about these issues or if they are just errors in judgement.

And its also evidence that we all should be careful about judging people too harshly on these issues.

Why Did It Take Sinbad to Expose Hillary Clinton's Bosnia "Misstatement"?

As I've been watching coverage of Hillary Clinton's attempt to explain why she characterized a visit to Bosnia years ago as much more dangerous than it actually was, I've been struck by network reporters' attempts to insert themselves into the story.

Both CBS's Sharyl Attkisson and NBC's Andrea Mitchell have pointed out during their reports that they were actually with Clinton on that Bosnia trip and recalled no sniper fire, rushing crowds or exagerrated danger. Since headlines have been filled with the news, other journalists who took that trip 12 years ago -- including former MTV News reporter Tabitha Soren -- have weighed in.

So why did it take comic Sinbad to blow the lid on the whole deal?

The idea that Clinton may have been fudging the truth about her Bosnia story first came from a March 11 interview Sinbad gave to The Sleuth, a behind-the-scenes Washington blog produced by WashingtonPost.com writer Mary Ann Akers. The former Jingle All the Way co-star, last in the news denying widespread rumors he was dead (just the career folks, rimshot!) accompanied Clinton on the 1996 trip with singer Sheryl Crow and said it wasn't so dangerous.

His best line: "What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"

Unfortunately, Sinbad also declared himself an Obama supporter during the interview, which probably   cost him credibility. And Akers basically presented the story as a he said, she said, with a Clinton spokesman providing quotes from stories published at the time noting the danger. Journalists acknowledge Clinton has told the Bosnia story at least since December on the stump; relating it so many times, reporters who regularly cover her had begun to joke about how often she'd drag out this old chestnut.

The Post ran a snarky blog item on Clinton's use of the story Dec. 29 and the conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters noted March 18 that no reporter covering the Bosnia trip in 1996 mentioned sniper fire.

But the truth of the Bosnia visit didn't resonate in the mainstream press until Attkisson's story this week (what's funny, is that Attkisson's original report plays up the danger of the visit a lot more than her latest story).

But shouldn't Mitchell and Attkisson, who have filed more than a few election stories this year, have remembered the truth before now?

Now it Can Be Told: Cheney Would Rather Spread Democracy Than Practice It

Jon Stewart said it best on The Daily Show, when he lampooned Dick Cheney as a "dealer, not a user" of democracy. But it is interesting to see how the Bush administration is dropping many of its past pretenses as its lame duck status advances.

In this interview, with ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Cheney admits he couldn't care less about the nation's opinion of his five-years-and-counting war...

Rev. Wright Debate on CNN But Not in Tampa

I was disappointed to hear that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was not coming to Tampa. I was hoping his appearance here might bring the debate over his words to the Tampa Bay area in a way which might help broaden the debate a bit.

I've been pretty disappointed in how media outlets have been unable to present a quality debate about some of the issues Wright's speeches have raised. Instead, we're stuck in soundbites and snarky comments, with longtime closet racists such as Pat Buchanan using the controversy as an excuse to air their awful comments in the guise of serving as elder statesmen.

I wonder how it is a guy like Buchanan can write books and columns admiringly quoting white supremacist William Pierce and the white supremacist organiztion the New Century Foundation without any rebuke from mainstream media. And yet his he is indignant that journalists haven't hammered Obama harder for his ties to Wright?

Here is a video of my vain attempt to bring some perspective to this debate on Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources show. The video is provided by left-leaning media watchdogs Media Matters, which have also criticized CNN's Kurtz for not covering the excesses of conservative pastors more: