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For some reason, this was not a good day to take a current event’s quiz! After near-perfect scores last week, participants had a hard time asking questions like: 1. Who is Elin Nordegren? 2. Name two Texas gubernatorial candidates. 3. Who is Conrad Murray? 4. Name the former U.S. Secretary of State who died yesterday. 5. Why were three women caned in Asia? The scores were dismal. For the bonus: do you know the first name of Vice President Biden’s wife? After everyone got over the shock of the poor scores and a lecture on the need to be informed about current and world events and issues, editors were selected and stories assigned for the DFW/ABJ Journal. Co-editors are: Brad Calhoun of Paul Quinn College and Jasmine Maturino of Lincoln Humanities and Communications Magnet and the managing editor is Paul Quinn’s Channette Fultz. Next each participant was interviewed and assigned mentors based on their interests and career goals. The participants will interview their mentors and write features. Hopefully some will build lasting relationships. For lunch, radio personality and urban journalism workshop alum Gary Hayes (Gary with the Tea) was the speaker. Gary is currently heard on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show where his segment is extremely popular. In addition to talking about the impact the urban journalism workshop had on his career, Gary talked about how he got his start in radio with radio-veteran, Russ Parr. He has also worked on the Steve Harvey Morning Show. After lunch, mentee Robert Musgrove of Texas A&M Commerce had a one-on-one with Gary and Kenezia Smith of El Centro College took photos while Annya Smith of Duncanville High School filmed the interview. Exercises in ethics filled the remainder of the evening. Participants were challenged about various ethical theories and how they made decisions. They reviewed several codes of ethics, including the American Marketing Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. Situational ethics appeared to be popular among the group. Special thanks to: Natalie Brown for delivering lunch from her Subway store, Lincoln Magnet Principal Carlos Lee for visiting with the students and Gary Hayes for volunteering to purchase lunch next week (we’re having Blackjack’s Pizza!). Principal Lee said that he will work with us to ensure that more Lincoln students are in the program next year. NEXT WEEK- CALLING ALL RADIO PEOPLE, COME ON OUT AND WORK WITH US: This is the first week of Radio, facilitated by DFW/ABJ Vice President-Broadcast, Eva Coleman. A number of radio professionals will be participating in panels, writing for radio exercises and voice exercises. Fort Worth Star-Telegram VP and Columnist Bob Ray Sanders will be the luncheon speaker, so the participants are in for a real treat. I am attaching the schedule again, just in case anyone missed it. If you're available, we need and want you!
Cheryl
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It was an All-Star Weekend at the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists Urban Journalism Workshop this week as a Toronto Raptor and Lincoln Humanities and Communications Magnet alum brought his Chris Bosh Foundation to town, along with many of his teammates. Some participants felt that we shouldn’t meet because of the “bad” weather--we had a little snow! I told them two things: in this business, the weather becomes the story; and, if they turned on the television and didn’t see any journalists, opened the door and their newspaper wasn’t there, or turned on the radio and didn’t hear any broadcasters, we wouldn’t be meeting. The day began with a Current Events Quiz. I thought it was pretty easy because the night before I was hanging out at the Cedric the Entertainer After Party at Harwood 609. You take the quiz: 1. Name the shortest player ever to win the NBA All-Star Slam dunk contest? 2. Who is the Mayor of Dallas? 3. Name the “Dr.” who won the NBA All-Star Slam dunk contest? 4. What auto company is in the news because of the massive recall of its autos? 5. What team won the 2010 Super Bowl? 6. Who performed during the halftime of the 2010 Super Bowl? 7. Where are the 2010 Winter Olympics? 8. What tragedy occurred at the 2010 Winter Olympics? 9. What former presidential candidate is currently embroiled in a scandal? 10. What former president was hospitalized last week? BONUS: Who is the governor of Texas? I told you it was easy! Wait until next week.
After reviewing the quiz, we actually had a 100 from workshop veteran Robert Musgrove who began the program a couple of years ago when he was at Paul Quinn College. He is about to graduate from Texas A&M Commerce. Also Kenezia Smith (no relation), a neophyte, from El Centro College scored a 90! The students were briefed about the time they would spend with Chris Bosh and then veteran journalist Steve Pickett of CBS-11 shared interviewing techniques and note-taking and newsgathering tips with the participants. Additionally it was interesting hearing about Steve’s journey . He told students, “Use your bias to show your balance.” and to “Balance your subjectivity.” Everyone should hear Steve’s take on “objectivity” because sometimes folks get caught up --it’s about balance and fairness. He also introduced CBS- 11 cameraman Troy Larkins. Then the students moved to the auditorium where they were received bags from the Chris Bosh Foundation and ate lunch courtesy of McDonald’s. Cheryl “Action” Jackson of WFAA-TV warmed everyone up for Judge Greg Mathis and Chris Bosh. They all had inspiring messages and workshop participants were taking notes and pictures. Cheryl gave out money and Chris gave computers!!! They also heard from Paul Quinn College President Dr. Michael J. Sorrell and Mrs. Freda Bosh, Chris' mother. Paul Quinn is also a recipient of computers. SPECIAL THANKS: Workshop alum Jasmine Patrick of KKDA-AM and Langston University brought donuts and punch; Sherilyn Smith-Rudolph of Enigma L.L.C, for including the workshop in the Chris Bosh program (Sherilyn, formerly of the Dallas Weekly has been a speaker at the workshop over the years); and The Spears Family (their son, James is in the workshop), who agreed to donate lunch for two weekends!!! NEXT WEEK: Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Irwin Thompson of the Dallas Morning News will tell stories with pictures and Gary with the Tea from the Rickey Smiley Morning Show will share his experiences from the workshop and working in radio. Then there will be a discussion on Ethics, the choosing of editors and a budget meeting. Cheryl The Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists recently hosted the sports forum, "Fair or Foul: How the Media Portrays the Black Athlete," at the beautiful Harwood 609 Restaurant and Jazz Club, 609 North Harwood Street in Downtown Dallas. Kicking off a week of activities surrounding the NBA All-Star Game, the discussion ranged from Tiger Woods’ infidelities off the course and Serena Williams’ tiff during a match to Gilbert Arenas’ bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room and the womanizing antics of some athletes. The impressive panel, that was moderated by the dynamic former WNBAer Fran Harris, featured sports journalists KKDA's Chris Arnold, Fort Worth Star-Telegram senior writer Clarence Hill, 411 Sports & Entertainment Publisher Cedric Lyons, Dallas Weekly sports writer LaToya Hardaway, The Home Team DFW's Channing Curtis, and businessman and freelance journalist Thom Bailey, along with Dr. Murray Fortner, chair of the sociology/psychology department at Tarrant County College. Of course the discussion got heated at times, but it was really engaging. Here are some of the high points from panelists: Moderator Harris: “Is Tiger Woods sick or is he a ho?” Chris Arnold: “He’s a sick ho!” Cedric Lyons: “He’s being what all men are.” Clarence Hill: “Tiger is a victim of his own image.” Chris Arnold: “The reason you haven’t seen him was because Tiger had to heal.” Chris also talked about how Tiger’s wife caused physical damage to him. Moderator Harris: “What do you think about Tiger going to a clinic?” Channing Curtis: “No clinic is going to heal what Tiger Woods has.”
Latoya Hardaway: "It was a PR move to go to a clinic.” Chris Arnold said athletes are taking jobs from journalists. Chris had message for the journalism students in attendance--”you have to be a writer.” Stupid decisions made by athletes provided fodder for a very engaging discussion that resulted in a number of names and indiscretions being shared and dissected. When A former Dallas Cowboy name was mentioned, Clarence Hill said “we don't know if Mike Irvin is guilty or innocent.” Thom Bailey said he is tired of the tattoos on athletes Latoya said the media put these athletes on pedestals. Fran Harris asked if male athletes could keep “it” in? Interestingly when it came time to name Black male athletes who were not cheating on their wives or girlfriends, two names came up: Doug Christie and A.C. Green. Dr. Fortner discussed the celebrity mindset, saying that celebrity is a culture as he explained why media execs are using athletes as sports commentators and broadcasters. He also said athletes are not learning from the past transgressions of others. Everyone agreed that the coverage of Serena and Venus Williams is wrong and not fair. I don’t want to give everything up. In the near future we will have the taping of the panel discussion at www.dfwabj.org. Stay tuned. Cheryl ONE DOWN AND 11 TO GO! The first day of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists Urban Journalism Workshop went extremely well. Actually it was so rewarding because the students were really engaged and a few parents also stopped by to see what was happening. Even Meyla Hooker, an alum from the late 1990s showed up with a student! There were students from Lincoln Humanities and Communications Magnet, Paul Quinn College, Stephen F. Austin State University/El Centro, Duncanville High School, Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet, Texas A&M Commerce and Daniel Intermediate. The students started off learning protocol and Joe Thomas, who teaches R/TV Film at Lincoln talked to the students about his work on different projects and what he teaches in his classes. DFW/ABJ Board member Sharon Egiebor of Egiebor Expressions, Toska Medlock-Lee of Flow Records, Gemeral Berry of Our Texas Magazine and Reginald Hardwick of NBC 5 talked about their careers and answered questions. Next Shewanda Riley, who is the D/FW-ABJ Jobs and Internships Chair, talked about preparing for job interviews, getting letters of recommendation and more. It was a full day. A special thanks to Dr. Louie White of Lincoln for being there bright and early to let us in, Natalie Brown of SUBWAY for delivering lunch, Brenda Epperson (two of her grandchildren were in the workshop last year--Ty and Kelsie) for bringing snacks for our session, and to Mary Bennett, who has two grandchildren who are alums of the program--she gave a $50 donation.
Coming up next week: CBS 11’s Steve Pickett is going to be at the workshop to share interviewing and note-taking tips before leading the students in a mock press conference. The students will then cover NBA star and Lincoln graduate Chris Bosh at a luncheon and Q&A session with Sports Net TV‘s (and NABJer) Brian Custer. From there, students and instructors will be off to the many NBA activities!!! Attached is a copy of the tentative (and ever-changing) schedule for the workshop. Please contact me if you would like to participate in any session or fill in any gap. Also, if you’d like to donate lunch or snacks, that would be great! We’re keeping with the tradition that was started by George Curry and Gerald Boyd and then was brought to Dallas by Rochelle Riley. This is year number 21! Let’s keep the tradition going! Cheryl |
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