Did Black Journo’s Cross the Obama Line?
By Don | August 8, 2008
Journalist bristles at criticism leveled at black colleagues over enthusiasm for Obama at last month's UNITY Journalists of Color convention.
From the Root.
-When a weary and jet-lagged Barack Obama took the stage on the last day of the UNITY Journalists of Color convention in Chicago last month, most of the attendees had already left. But there was still a healthy crowd of over 2,500 there to hear the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
That is when, according to the mainstream media, black folks apparently acted like natural-born fools.
"When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so," reported The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama."
Later, National Public Radio Ombudsman Alicia C. Shepard told the radio network's Talk of the Nation that she actually witnessed a journalist rush the stage to score an autograph and later bragged about touching the senator. "I think it's unfortunate, but it's inappropriate," she scolded. NPR political editor Ken Rudin chimed in, calling the reaction, "disheartening" and "disappointing in our profession."
"This was a convention of journalists, not a rally of groupies for Obama," snorted John Leo on New York Daily News' Web site.
As a longtime journalist, I have a question of my own for those critics: Was the visible enthusiasm really so different than journalists (mostly white) fighting for the chance to go to the White House and have their pictures taken with the president at the annual Christmas party or gathering every spring to hold a dinner in honor of the President of the United States? What about the fabled media crush on Maverick McCain, from the mostly white male Washington press corps? For years journalists have been fawning over politicians while keeping their credibility and objectivity securely intact. Which black reporters did John McCain have in mind when he referred to the news media as "my base?"
Obama's campaign must have noticed the author's leanings as they placed a large banner ad smack in the middle of his column.
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