Juan Williams

Just in case you've been living under a rock, Juan Williams is an African American journalist and political commentator for Fox News Channel and an analyst for the NPR.  Williams made a controversial statement referring to him feeling nervous when he see Muslims on a plane due to the past comments made by Shahzad.  All though the statement has been widely used and debated since 9/11, Williams lost his job as the analyst for NPR after the comment was aired on Fox.

NPR claimed that Williams have previously been warned about his boarder line controversial comments.  NPR accused Williams as being a bigot, and labeled the comment as racist and mislead.   "We have made our policies clear to Juan in prior conversations and warnings, and he has continued to violate our principles," said Dana Davis Rehm, an NPR spokeswoman. "When an analyst states personal opinions on an issue, our feeling is they have undermined their credibility as an analyst."

***View the video below for the controversial comment***

NPR Fires Juan Williams Over "Muslim Remarks"

Founders' Day Convocation

 The event consist of Jackson State Universities 133 year of service.  It was on Thursday, October 21, 2010, on the Jackson State campus at the Gibbs-Green Pedestrian Walkway at 10:00 am. 

Jackson State has celebrated its creation for 133year.  The program was for all who wanted to know the rich history of Jackson State University.  The benefits of knowing the struggles of the college was to know how it maintain and the accomplishments that have come to be.  The need of this message is vital because it brings forth successors, leaders, and visionaries. 

All came to celebrate this special event from students, faculty, alumni, founders, and general viewers.  The program was opened by the JSU Percussion Ensemble with "Moonlight."  The peak of the program came from Dr. Quinton L. Williams speech.

William spoke on large variety of topics.  He touched on when JSU was almost closed in 1894 due to the lacks of funds from the state and the school had been voted to close.  It was a six year struggle.  The four year curriculum had to go down to a two year curriculum.  He spoke about Einstein and how he felt that racism was Americas' greatest disease.  He also said that Einstein said that being black was not a disease upon African Americans but the whites.  William said that JSU represented love, hope and generations.  He explained how his great ,great parents were once slaves, and how he came to be born.  He proudly stated that his generation of siblings were the first to go to college.  "It is possible," he stated.  

JSU has been able to withstand  racism, reconstruction, natural disasters, merge and the economy.  JSU has faught to maintain, and maintain it will. 

Diversity in Media

After listening to an online interview about the diversity and women in media and in the news room, I began to realize the truth of their facts.  Many key points were mentioned ranging from the quality of working diversities and women, Asians, and the growing population of minorities. 

It is hard to find qualified minorities and women.  For example; when a newsroom is trying to find a producer and add diversity in their station, they just may grab the first candidate that comes along.  A lot of times this candidate is not ready or fully qualified for this position.  Some minorities and women show up expecting to get a job because of their color or gender and are greatly disappointed when they are turned away.  Women and minorities tend to play the race or gender card but that is not always the case.

Qualified minorities and women tend to have to work twice as hard in order to be found, recognized, and considered.  Now that education is accessible to them there should be no excuse.  What is not accessible to them is the convenience of connections and links.  In the interview it was stressed that this is a highly social industry.  If the individual is not social and are not marketing themselves before college then they are awaiting a major set back.  You have to market yourself.  Not only is your education vital but so is 'who you know.'  

In the census it was stated that although minorities in this industry statistically has not drastically changed, Asian women are out doing Asian men in the industry.  In the interview it was suggested that traditionally Asian men were prong and breaded to become doctors, lawyers, or positions of that status.  It was also suggested in the interview that the Asian men were lazier than the women.  I believe the increase was by 2%.  This increase was not enough to really increase the overall minorities numbers statistically.

Another question asked was how the minorities population was increasing but the job market was either staying the same or diminishing on their behalf.  If there was a shortage in jobs; for example the economy loosing jobs, minorities were some of the first to go.  Hispanics are the largest minority group in America and they have accumulated their own media string, but they have not been able to place themselves significantly in the main stream of media. 

The last side note I want to mention is how the majority of minorities and women who enter the newsroom want to be an anchor.  There is nothing wrong with that but there are other positions that need to be filled.  What about a writer, producer, coordinator, reporter, and etc.  These jobs are needed but aren't sought after.  The need of diversity behind the screen is just as vital as on the screen.   In the interview it was stress that the newsroom should be just as diverse as the audience is.

 If you would like to hear the interview for yourself please click on the link below    

http://www.rtdna.org/pages/education/live-chat--2010-women-minorities-survey

Jobs.....Jobs......Jobs.........

Finding a communication job is a lot more challenging than I expected.  Having the education is always a good thing but if you do not have any experience, drive, or connections then you might as well stay at home.  Every job I researched would have been more promising if I had experience under my belt.  My suggestion is to get involved your freshman year.  It could simply be involvement with the schools newspaper, television station, or PR firm.  On hands experience also allows the individual to discover their strong and weak points which contributes to the job selection they will choose.  Be strong in your education, hands on experience is a must, and determination will be your key.   Do you agree or disagree?   Let me know......

Good Times - Getting Up The Rent Part 1 of 3

No black-and-white answer for the lack of diversity on television

When the Fox, UPN and WB networks were in their formative years (and all were part of media leviathans -- News Corp., Viacom and Time Warner, respectively), many of their shows went after African American viewers.

Then as those networks found success, they gradually eased away from programs designed for those audiences. TBS, which is home to Tyler Perry's sitcoms and a new program produced by Ice Cube based on his hit movie "Are We There Yet," has made some effort to step into the breach.

This was quoted in the above article from the Los Angeles Times  website.  This comment caught my attention the most.  I feel that many outlets have made profit from the African Americans urban life styles.  Music, fashion, and television has used African Americans, culture, vocal traits, and natural physical figures to retain a form of popularity, brand, or recognition in society.  It is like the media finds the lively hood of Blacks as being their link to relate to the public but does not want to give the recognition of Blacks as being the source.  They take credit for African American lively hood.  This has been going on for years.  My earliest recognition of this activity was the discovery of African Americans writing Elvis' music.  He was greatly influenced by R&B and gospel which was dominated by African Americans at that point of time.