Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama gestures while speaking at the UNITY Journalism Convention Sunday. (The UNITY News Photo Jennifer Dronkers)

Sen. Barack Obama addressed thousands of journalists at a live forum on the final day of the UNITY convention in his first appearance since returning to the U.S. after a spending a week overseas.

The senator was greeted with a standing ovation when he walked onto the stage. He addressed issues such as immigration, the economy and race and gave a recap of his trip.

“When you think about the big problems we face at home, they are connected to the problems abroad,” Obama said.

Hundreds of empty seats in the back of the Skyline Ballroom at the McCormick Place convention center were noticeable as CNN broadcasted the event. Many attendees had already departed the convention by the time Obama spoke.

In weeks prior to the convention, UNITY organizers had heavily promoted a forum between Obama and Sen. John McCain, but neither candidate had confirmed the appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday night.

Karen Lincoln Michel, UNITY president, said McCain could not make the forum because of scheduling conflicts, although repeated invitations were sent.

Obama said although he was away from the country for a week, he was in touch with what was happening on this side. He expressed his pleasure with the passing of a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“We’ve got to prevent people from losing their homes,” he said.

In response to criticism he faced for going on the overseas trip, the presumptive nominee said he met with the same leaders that McCain met with when he won the nomination.

“I was puzzled by the notion that what we did was any different,” Obama said. “We just did it better.”

Obama said the trip offered him key insight into what it would be like as a leader, should he win the election.

In anticipation of both candidates’ arrival, The UNITY News sent an informal survey to members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and National Association of Black Journalists, and interviewed journalists planning to attend the convention. The Asian American Journalist Association and the Native American Journalist Association did not participate.

The journalists were surveyed about the most important issues they wanted each candidate to address, and the strengths and weaknesses of the presumptive nominees. Each member surveyed was also asked to identify their gender and race.

The 38 NAHJ members who responded to the survey chose immigration reform as the most important issue facing the next president, while the 15 NABJ members who responded identified stabilizing the economy. But many respondents expressed doubt about Obama’s security and immigration policies.

“We are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” Obama said. “The fact that we’re getting people who want to come to this country that is good.”

Obama said he will work to make a comprehensive immigration policy and work with immigrants currently in the country to help them become legal citizens.

The senator was asked a handful of tough questions, including if he would issue an apology to Native Americans for past mistreatment if elected.

“The most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer apologies, but offer deeds,” Obama said. “I have to confess, I’m more concerned with providing a better way of life.”

An apology was issued to Native Americans in 2000 by Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

BY KEVIN DU
THE UNITY NEWS

There’s an old saying: a picture is worth a thousand words. However, during the 2008 UNITY Photo and Multimedia ShootOut, not only are they worth a lot more, the meanings behind them are just as heavy.

Being the first ever converged shootout, both still photographers and multimedia producers had a chance to flex their photojournalism muscles in this year’s theme; Diversity in Chicago.

The prize money was massive this year with the amount being estimated to be more than $6,000.

Photography ShootOut Chair Milbert Brown, who has won this competition for NABJ 5 times, chose this year’s photo assignment. Each participant had to go into the city of Chicago and shoot a different diverse group other than themselves. This theme gave participants a chance to experience a different culture.

From families, barbershops, violence and even feet; these were just some of the subjects that were shot and submitted. With shots ranging from indoors to out, night and day, they all gave the judges and the crowd a diverse layout of Chicago and the people who inhabit the city.

The judging began at 1:30 p.m. with judges consisting of photographers and photo editors. Both the panel and audience screened all of the entries, first the still photos and later the multimedia productions.

The still judges included Philadelphia Enquirer’s Hai Do, Michael DuCille of the Washington Post, Santiago Lyon of the Associated Press, Jose Osorio of the Chicago Tribune and Arizona Republic’s Nick Oza.

Accompanying Do and Lyon in the multimedia judging was Ben De La Cruz of the Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times’ Boyzell Hosey and Dai Sugano of the San Jose Mercury News.

After each entry was viewed, the judges slowly narrowed down their favorites, critiquing each one. They looked for good composition, actions within the picture, if it followed the assigned theme and of course, the picture’s caption.

The elimination process consisted of an “in” or “out” answer from the judges. The entries were finally narrowed down to first and second place. Taking their time, viewing each entry repeatedly, checking every detail and reading each caption carefully, the judges made their decisions.

For the still photography portion of the contest, first place went to freelance photographer Ariel Zambelich for her shots of a Chicago barbershop. She won a Canon 40D camera set, $500 from the NABJ Visual Task Force, Quark Xpress software and a Canon camera bag.

Second place went to The Oakland Tribune’s Ray Chavez, who won a Canon G9 camera, a Canon camera bag, $250 and a Sandisk 8GH card. Third place went to David Trotman Wilkins of the Chicago Tribune. Honorable mentions went to Michelle Le, a student from San Francisco State University and University of Central Florida student Marie D. Dejesus.

In the multimedia portion of the contest, the first place winner was Adam Sings In The Timber of the University of Montana. Adam’s subject of choice, “Street Violence”, won him a Canon HD30 video camera, $500 and accessories. Second place winner Heather Charles won a Canon G9 camera, $250 and a Canon camera bag.

With Eric Shelton from Southern Mississippi University coming in third, the group of winners was completed with honorable mentions for Roxana Vasquez of the University of Arizona and San Francisco State’s Michelle Le.

The judges were impressed with the entries that were submitted and the effort the photojournalists and multimedia producers put in. They look forward to seeing how this industry will evolve in the future.

To view the first place winners for both the still and multimedia competitions, click on the links below.

Still photography first place winner
Multimedia first place winner

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 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.”

By TRACIE MORALES
The UNITY News Online

The brutal rape and beating of a Central Park jogger in 1989 drew national headlines, but the sexual assault and murder of a young black woman in New York that year barely got a mention, journalist Rubén Rosario said Wednesday at a panel session.

Rosario, of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, said he saw the unfair coverage of certain crime stories firsthand while he was a reporter for the New York Daily News.

Today’s police reporters are expected to find impossible details, chase trends and crime statistics, but dwindling resources and other obstacles complicate fair crime coverage, the panelists said.

“When you get handed a lemon, make lemonade,” Rosario said to about 50 journalists with varying levels of experience.

Along with Rosario, panel speakers included Lori Dorfman, executive director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group; Alden Loury, editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter; and moderator Ted Guest, president of the Criminal Justice Journalists in Washington, D.C.

Learning how to deal with editors, police departments and public information officers is necessary to paint an accurate picture of crime as it relates to communities of color, according to Loury and Rosario.

“Gain sources that you can get to if you have a question,” Loury said. “You need to have a brain that you can pick for feedback on how to cover a particular story.”

Panelists said more in-depth reporting and telling humanizing stories might further people’s understanding of certain groups such as drug dealers, gang members and undocumented immigrants.

Rosario said the recent story of an undocumented Guatemalan woman required more reporting after national headlines demonized the 24-year-old. Olga Franco was in a vehicle that slammed into a school bus on Feb. 19, killing four children.

Journalists from the Pioneer Press returned to Franco’s village in Guatemala and reported that she moved to the United States to help support her family.

“She wasn’t just a monster from a foreign country who slammed her car into a bus and killed four white kids,” Rosario said. “We humanized her.”

Franco, who was charged with manslaughter, is awaiting trial.

The panelists said other forms of in-depth reporting include knowing about police department protocols, wrongful death suits involving officers, traffic stop data and clearance records for past cases.