In April’s Milwaukee Magazine, which is on newsstands now, Pressroom takes a look at the state of black media in town. It’s not a pretty sight, what with the loss of another signature show on WMCS-AM and the relatively low profiles of the city’s three black papers.
While researching the column, Pressroom interviewed George Sanders, who offers one of the longest views of black journalism you can find here. Sanders reminisced for us about the history of the old Milwaukee Star newspaper. “We did what papers were supposed to do,” he says – aggressively reporting news within the black community. And by his recollection, advertisers noticed and bought ads that helped pay for the publication’s operation. “Whether it was Gimbels or the Boston Store or A&P, they knew that we had a good circulation among the community – blacks and whites.”
Sanders believes today’s black papers are too soft. “It’s been those newspapers that have been tough that the public sees as the answers to their problems,” he says. Too often today, “they’re shy about shaking things up.”
Pressroom also spent some time talking to Malinda Young, who operates a magazine called CCN. The initials stand variously for Community Connections News or Community Connections Network — both are found on the publication’s Web site. CCN is the polar opposite of the sort of aggressive journalism that Sanders longs for. Young positions it as a sort of multicultural, upbeat People magazine.
CCN is based here, and Young identifies it as “the only African-American publishing company in the Midwest other than Harpo Productions” – Oprah Winfrey’s company. Despite that, she says, it’s neither strictly a Milwaukee publication nor a black one.
“We write about stories that will uplift the Midwest community,” she says. “We’re a very positive magazine.” And it pointedly doesn’t identify itself as a black publication. “We are a multicultural magazine. We don’t just cater to one particular cultural group. Our readers are diverse. Our stories are diverse. Our clients are diverse.”
Like other media, CCN has been struggling in the current economy, Young notes: Ad sales fell 40 percent last year. The publication has responded by diversifying, publishing multicultural coloring books tied to holidays and exploring other educational publications. CCN also has a marketing arm.
Young founded the magazine eight years ago after being laid off from a corporate marketing job. Although circulated only in the Midwest, for now, “we’re looking, region by region, to go national,” Young says. Last year’s downturn set the publication back from its expansion plans but hasn’t deterred it permanently.
In February, the magazine sponsored an “Urban Empowerment Awards” dinner that lauded a wide range of people for various community service accomplishments. Eric Von, former WMCS-AM afternoon talk host, emceed the event. It was perhaps an ironic moment; the keynote speaker was Willie Davis, whose All-Pro Broadcasting owns the shrinking WMCS.
*
Calling the irony police on Shalala
Jim Hopkins is a former editor for Gannett who now runs a blog from his home in San Francisco. It covers the newspaper publishing giant (which has 10 daily papers in Wisconsin) primarily from the worm’s eye view of beleaguered Gannett employees. (He also has started similarly focused blogs covering the New York Times company and Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp.)
Yesterday and over the weekend, Hopkins posted some pungent criticism of erstwhile Badger State resident Donna Shalala. Shalala is the former UW-Madison chancellor who later served as President Bill Clinton‘s Health and Human Services secretary and now is president of the University of Miami.
In February, Shalala appeared on Charlie Rose‘s TV talk show, urging passage of health care reform to extend coverage to some 30 million American families and prevent denial of insurance to people for pre-existing conditions. And when the Senate bill passed the House on Sunday, heading to President Obama for his signature, she issued a statement praising the action:
“First, people who get up every day and go to work have a right to good health insurance for themselves and their families. Second, that every child no matter where they live or what their family’s income has a right to a healthy life. Medicare honored the most vulnerable – the elderly and disabled. We now honor working Americans and all our children.”
Less well known, however, is that Shalala also sits on the board of Gannett – where layoffs combined with handsome benefits for top executives provoked blogger Hopkins to point out a disconnect between her policy advocacy and her actions as a corporate director:
It’s noteworthy, yet again, that Gannett’s board of directors has rewarded top management for thousands of layoffs that cost dedicated employees their medical coverage.
What’s more, Gannett’s top executives — known as named executive officers (NEOs) — are entitled to post-retirement medical benefits, plus supplemental coverage, according to the new shareholders proxy report. That benefit extends to their eligible dependents – even after the executive dies:
“The company would continue to provide supplemental medical insurance coverage for the executive’s eligible dependents up to an annual maximum of $12,500 per year, in addition to the regular post-retirement medical insurance coverage available to the NEOs on the same terms as provided to company retirees generally, for the duration of the life of the eligible dependents.”
Finally, last year, Gannett paid Shalala $92,607 in director fees.
*
Comment below or write Pressroom at pressroom@milwaukeemagazine.com.
Follow Pressroom on Facebook or on Twitter.
