Displaying items by tag: journalism

As Thanksgiving approaches, I usually take a little time to think about who and what I'm thankful for and express my (gratitude). That seems to be the point, after all. This year, for various reasons, my thoughts and appreciation turn toward journalists, newspapers, and other news media.

PEMBROKE — UNC Pembroke graduate Octavia Johnson was among 21 students nationwide selected to participate in the 2021 National Association of Black Journalists Student Multimedia Project. 

During her 1927 obscenity trial, the judge reportedly asked Mae West if she was "trying to show contempt for this court?”

West infamously quipped, "I was trying my best to conceal it."

There are a lot of reasons to be outraged by the recent preposterous decision of UNC-Chapel Hill leaders to deny academic tenure to acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and instead hire her as a contract employee.

 In a few weeks, New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones will join the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media, as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. She accepted a five-year contract as a professor of the practice, with the possibility of receiving tenure at a later date.

I’ve written a regular column for nearly 35 years. It debuted in the Spring Hope Enterprise, a Nash County weekly, in the summer of 1986 and then quickly expanded to dozens of other daily and community papers.

Former CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski declared on Twitter last week that American journalists would “never expect … Your own govt to lie to you, repeatedly” and “Your own govt to hide information the public has a right to know.” Kosinski denounced “Trump’s unAmerican regime” and declared, “No one should accept this.” Kosinski’s comments epitomize the “Trump-washing” of American history that explains much of the media’s rage, hypocrisy, and follies in the last five years.

Most of the time, this column is pretty lighthearted and fun. Rarely do I take a step toward hard journalism or topics of controversy. That's not to say there aren't topics that catch my interest and stir within me a desire to write about them.