Columns by Dori J. Maynard

Bloggers Demonstrate the Difference Diversity Makes

Friday, July 24, 2009

Two days after the election both UNITY and the National Association of Black Journalists sent out open letters urging the media to redouble their efforts to diversify staffs in the aftermath of the historic election of Barack Obama.

 
  

  

    


  
  	    

      Ta-Nehisi Coates, from Politics to Poetry
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Friday, July 24, 2009        

        



Go to Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog and you don't know if you're going to find a post on politics, poetry, the NFL or the world of videogames.
A journalist who has worked at Time Magazine and the Village Voice, Coates started his own blog after being laid off from Time Magazine. Then, back in August, the author of the recently released "The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Manhood," was added to the magazine's roster of bloggers at the Atlantic.com.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      When is a Riot a Riot?
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Friday, July 24, 2009        

        



By now almost everyone knows that a group of demonstrators protesting against the killing of a young father by a transit officer splintered off and began a wave of destruction in downtown Oakland.
Mainstream media outlets called it everything from a riot to a violent protest. Some bloggers referred to it as a civil unrest, rebellion or both a riot and civil unrest.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      As Newspapers Implode, Diverse Voices Move Online
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Friday, July 24, 2009        

        



In a few weeks the American Society of Newspaper Editors will release its annual census. The census, created to capture an accurate picture of the industry's diversity, will also tell us how many jobs were lost in this year of layoffs, buy-outs and shuttered newspapers.
As newspaper companies struggle with advertisers and audiences continuing to migrate to the web, the horrifying and at times mind-numbing rate at which the industry appeared to be imploding has take the question of diversity virtually off the table.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      It's fabulous turning 51 on Facebook
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Friday, July 24, 2009        

        






This year for my birthday I got three calls. Two people sent cards. And I don't think I ever received so much attention in my life.




I have to say, it was fabulous turning 51 years old on Facebook.

     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      Glimpsing the Worlds of Neighbors Online
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Tuesday, July 1, 2008        

        




Over at TheRoot.com, Kim McLarin points out the ridiculousness behind the rumor that floating "out there" exists a tape of Michelle Obama using the term "whitey."
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      Election Day Could Be Our Own Pangia Day
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Tuesday, June 10, 2008        

        




When the filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED), her wish was to create one day where people across the world gathered at the same time to watch films produced by international filmmakers. Best known for her film Control Room(film), Noujaim believed the power of the films could help the audience see beyond our differences to the humanity that binds us together.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      Coverage of Slaying Verdict Illustrates Lack of Cultural Diversity in Journalism
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Monday, May 12, 2008        

        




Blaring red headlines on the Drudge Report announced to the world that the three New York City Police who shot Sean Bell 50 times, killing him, were found not guilty. Drudge, with his right wing reputation, it turns out was one of the only mainstream white blogs to prominently play the Bell verdict. In fairness, the Huffington Post did have a small headline about the verdict.


Things were different in the black blogosphere.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      Hidden Biases on Race and Diversity Reflected in Our Work, Lives
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Saturday, April 19, 2008        

        




In a recent post Lauren Williams editor of the black interest blog Stereohyped, wrote about the case of a black man accused of killing a white police officer in New Hampshire. In defense of the accused, Mahzarin Banaji, the creator of Implicit Association Test, a web-based test that measures an individual's inherent biases, testified that it would be virtually impossible for a black defendant to get a fair trail by an all white jury.
     


    
 


 

  

  

    


  
  	    

      Black Leaders of Adaptation of New Technology, Despite Lack of Diversity in Online Video Posting
    

  
  
      

      
          

  
  

	      

    

            

                    Tuesday, April 8, 2008        

        




At a recent meeting, a representative from Verizon and a former BET executive were discussing the seeming contradiction between the fact that African American males were early adapters of mobile technology, yet have a very low rate of posting videos on internet sites such as BET.Com and Youtube.