Urban program adopted
I tie Steei mg Committee of
I'he National 11 rban Coalition
has adopted a three - pronge«]
action program a line«] at the
revitalization of American
cities which ate faced with
serious problème of abandon
ment.
Cable TV* A chance
for Blacks in Media
by Vernon E. Jordan,
Jr.
fhe Pre sklent's recent an
nouncement of the nomination
of Benjamin Hooks, a black at
torney from Memphis to the
the broad
policy outline
F e d e ra l
Communications
adopted by the Steei I ng Com
Commission Is a heartening
mittee w ill be Implemented In
and Important step.
specific programs uni pro
I lie FCC Is die powerful
jects now uisler development
regulatory commission that
at tlie Coalition,
oversees the activities of all
radio and television stations In
Coalition Chairman Sol M.
tlie country, as well as exer
Llnow ltz said tie three d ir
cising regulatory responsibi
ections In which the Coali
litie s over other communica
tion w ill work are:
tions giants such as the tele
- Local action: concrete
phone Industry. A black pre
r e v i t a l i z a t i o n programs
sence among the seven FCC
launched
through selector’
Commissioners Is long over
problem areas In target citie s,
due. It Is almost fo u r years
- National policies: devel
'e r n o n E. J o rd a n ,J r.
since Whitney Young fir s t
oping an effective national
called fo r a black com m is-
"in
e large corporations, and
commitment to the revitaliza
» loner, and the appointment
continued black exclusion.
tion of central citie s.
could not come at a m ore cru
But if tlie FCC acts to as
- Information atsleducation!
cial tune.
sert its authority over the in-
support fo r tie revitalization
This is because the whole
lustry's development, and if It
effort through an Information
system of electronic commu
moves to insure a fa ir chance
and educatlonprogram dlrect-
nications in America is under
fo r blacks in the industry, the
erl at tie public, at national
going rapid change and is the
picture Could change radical
and local leailership, and at
subject of FCC actions that
ly.
private sector Interests.
could revolutionize the Indus
Black entrepreneurs arxl
try . Decisions w ill be made
"W e also hoie to capitalize
community groups should get a
In tlie coming year o r so that
f u r share of tlie Cable TV
on election-yearopportunltles
have the potential of redress-
by encouraging political can
franchises that w ill be up fo r
A rthur A F letcher, Executive D ire cto r of tie United Negro
uig black powerlessness in
didates stxl platform com m it
grabs, there is no reason why
Puni • nc" ,nd lo<1 Ltherlngton, Presklent of the
this important field.
tees to take strong positions
this important new form of
National Centet fo r Voluntary Action, at a recent meeting of
Perhaps the most cru cia l of
aimed
at urban revitaliza
communications
should hr
the Steeung Committee of the National Urban Coalition in these decisions w ill be that of
tio n ," Coalition President M.
subject to the same concentra
Washington, D.C.
I he group discussed the C oalition's new the future of cable television.
C arl Holman sakf.
tion of power as other indus
uiban revitalization thrust.
Cable TV Is a dynamic, fast-
tries.
growuig Industry. It’ s s till In
I his is especially so since
Its infancy, lu t experts predict
Cable TV is uniquely a com
that by the end of the decade it
munity service industry. A
w ill grow to a $4 billio n indus-
Cable TV outlet covers only a
try that w ill create about 2
Ol a part ot a city, so
m illion new Jobs.
it should tie in the hands of the
In a very real sense Cable
community it serves.
r v represents a last fro n tie r
E Ighteen years ago, die I I.S.
Guidelines that insure own
IOPEKA, KANSAS: the res re
tlie bunion of paying fo r p r i fo r black people, our last ership access to black bus
Supreme Court ruled that
<9 schools in Topeka, five of vate schools may force white chance to gain a foothold in the
segregated educational fa c ili
inessmen, community organi
which ate m ajority black and
communications industry, as
students back, and a handful
ties were unconstitutional.
zations, and colleges and a
some 15 ol which are all or
owners, job-holders, and par
of indigenous white lesilers
The ruling came In a con
¡xiblic and private program of
predominantly white. Blacks
ticipants.
ate teg inning to see desegre
solidated case Involving five
financial assistance could be a
make up 13 per cent ol the
gation as die only answer to
There is no question that
school d is tric ts , arxl slowly
tremendous boost fo r black
student population, and M exl-
black people have been effec
die educational c ris is .
It was applied to educational
economic
development In the
can—Americans another five
PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, tively excluded from present- '70s.
d is tric ts across the country.
|>er cent,
The atmosphere
VA.: Perhaps the most cele
day
radio and television.
It Is obvious that Brown
And since Cable TV can of
lias changed since the Brown
Nearly all stations are owned
brated example of defiance.
v. Hoard of Education has had
fer far more television chan
«leclslon days- blacks are now
by
white
people,
o
f
the
more
Prince
Edward
County
s
till
•
profound
impact
upon
nels than conventional, over-
mote assertive arxl whites
than 350 radio stations whose
has
Its
version ol dual
th e -a ir, broadcasting, the
school systems th roughout the
more fearful and confused
programming Is p rim a rily d i-
schools—public schools fo r
black community should be as
nation, but It is reasonable to
WASHINGTtiN. D.C.: I he stu-
rected to black people, a mere
blacks (s till white-controlled)
assume that Itsgieatest effect
sured of access to the home
dent population in D.C. is ap
nine are owned and controlled
and private schoolsforw hltes.
should have teen on the five
screens.
New FCC rules pro
proximately 95 percent black.
by blacks.
The county's most recent
school
systems
d ire ctly
vide fo r a community channel.
Standardize! test scores In
[ubile
school
superintendent
Entry into broadcasting, an
cover»! by die o n le r. What
It w ill be up to the black
dicate educational effective
seems to have Improved edu
established industry, requires
has happene«l to education In
community to make fu ll use of
ness may have declined, and
cational quality, tu i it ap
exhaustive license challenges
Delaware,
Topeka,
K an,
it, and also to monitor tune al
die crim e problem la severe.
o r m illio n s of d ollars o fca p i-
pears unlikely his efforts w ill
locations on such a channel to
C la r e n d o n
County, S .C ,
I he D.C. school hoard, ham
tal. But Cable TV is a new in
le sufficient to luiethew hltes
Prince Edwanl County, V a ,
Insure that it operates on a
strung (7 a lack of genuine
dustry whose ownership and
back In the te a r future.
arxl Washington D.C. since
non-discrim inatory basis.
power, has teen beset by
capital
requirements
are
s
till
DELAWARE:
1 he desegre
1954?
If you couple all this with the
serious Internal bicker ing. tut
fluid. So fa r it has been re
gation Issue remains alive in
To those who viewed de
black
efforts to gain access to
there are signs that the
stricted to ru ra l areas and
lielaware with busing a pivotal
segregation suits as an edu
the communications media, as
leadets may be getting to-
sm
aller
towns,
tut
now
the
concern. In Wilmington, fo r
cational panacea, the answers
reflected by license chal
gether.
example, the schools have FCC is encouraging its growth
lenges to stations that neglect
presented In the following sec CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C.:
in la rger cities, and that is
moved from nearly three-
th e ir public service and fa ir
tion should be anything but
Whites In massive numbers
where the bulk ol ttx; black
tourths white In 1954 to almost
employment obligations, and
com foitlng. Tfiree of the sys
have lied from Clarendon
fo u r-fifth s
black In 1972. population is.
the continuing monitoring of
tems are nearly all-black,
schools---- especially
since
Right now, the situation is
Racial tension has teen high,
arxl the other two have ex
local stations’ programming,
1970 when la te ra l co tin s ap
chaotic. Cable TV franchises
ant Delaware newsman Jim
you begin to see the Impor
perienced
racial
tension. plied the neighborhood school
M ille r w rites that the "seeds are licensed by local govern
System by system, the box concept to (tie county. But
tance of a black voice on the
ments and this has resulted in
of violence rem ain.”
score Is this:
FCC and the need fo r that
some local scandals, control
agency's becoming responsive
of the fledgling industry by
to m in o rity needs.
Reports on Brown cases
PortJand/ohserver Thursday June I, 1972
H ie PORTI j AND TRAFFIC
SAFE IY COMMISSION re
ports one out of six cars on
the highway today would fail
to pass a safety Inspection.
How about yours? Would it
flunk the test in an em er
gency?
NATE
hartley
Fuel Oil
O ne out of every fou r A m e ri
cans m ay eventually develop
cancer. The Am erican Cancer
Society urges you to support
cancer research w ith your d o l
lars and help to w ipe out cancer
in your life tim e
liaaiUldCMe
Norman E. Isaacs of tlie Co
lumbia Graduate School of
Journalism la quoted in tlie
Post (4-21-72) as noting that
m inorities have not teen en
couraged to seek careers in
journalism . He a ls o sees
"seven lean years” ahead be
fore there can be a significant
Increase In the number of
black newspapermen.
F o r fear that the uninformed
might believe blacks have not
sought careers In Journalism,
I wtaild like to provide them
with some significant back
ground.
As a group that haa always
wanted to put Its case before
the public - and It has had a
worthy one since tha a rriv a l
of the firs t slaves - blacks
have always viewed the press
as s tool vital to th e lrflg h t for
equality and Justice In this
country. One of the p rim a ry
reasons blacks have been able
to achieve some measure of
progress and enlist soma sup
port from others has been arxl
Is the a bility to articulate,
sometimes
subtly through
■ ong. from the pulpits of
churches, hut mote Impor
tantly
through the w ritten
word because It teaches a fa r
greater audience and has per»
inanence.
It Is no accident that many
affective black leaders,Duug-
lass, Washington, Du Bols,
Powell, employed the Negro
press as one of their most ef
fective Instruments fo r pro
test, enlightenment. Interpre
tation and guidance.
one with s close klentlflcs-
tlon with the black press Is
aware of a variety of tactics
employed to denigrate the
black sports w rite r who, de
assaults upon blacks. In the
black press either out of fear
elated Negro Press, founded
nied press accommodations at North It was a m atter of be
of it as a com petitor o r
by the late Claude A. Barnett.
tlie Kentucky Derby, coveted
nign neglect refusing cover
because of disagieetnent with
We sent samples of the service
It by donning a white coat and
age ofNegroevents. With rare
Its mission.
we had been regularly provid
hawking m int juleps.
exceptions, the only jo u rn a lis
It may seem laughable to
ing to the Negro press since
A white youth with whom J tic acknowledgement of Negro
1919, to 500 white newspapers
some that white newspapers
went to high school was hired
existence was In crim e re
would consider themselves In
offering fot tree a tria l ser
with no experience by the
ports ami occasionally tn the
competition with black week
vice. Some of the papers were
city s leading daily as a cub
obituary column. Unsolved
lies, but why else did many
large metropolitan dailies,
reporter and I was refused a
crim es weie regularly a ttrl-
southern newspapers replate
others
were small weeklies.
s im ila r Job several years
txiied to "a n unknown burly
their financial pages to ca rry
Only about a half dozen
later after 1 had earned a col
Negro” especially if it in
"N egro News” ?
eventually subscribed. About
lege degree and had some
volved an assault upon a white
25 to 30 evinced Interest, but
O r some northern metropo
Journalistic experience.
woman.
litan dallies employ Negro
m a jo rity didn't bother to re -
I know when a black g irl was
Assigned to cover a double
ply. W'hat was so startling was
Journalists to w rite a cen
denied admittance to the state
lynching in M ississippi, I had
sored once-a-week column of
not tie rejections we received
supported school of Journa
to disguise myself to Interv iew
from many, but the Insulting
“ Negro News and (unopln-
lism In M issouri and the state.
the blacks about the event he-
lonated) Views” ?
remarks that accompanied
In an effort to circumvent a
cause of the hostility of tlie
Or white editors describe
some of them. "W e 're not In
court ruling in her favor, es
sh e riff who later refused to
the black press as "In fla m m a
terested in nigger news.”
tablished a "separate but
talk to me ami referred me to
to ry " when Its mission was
"W ho cares?” "W e donot re
equal” Jint Crow school of
a local white newpaperman fo r
seeking those great American
gard this as newsworthy,”
Journalism at Lincoln Univer
the " fa c ts ."
"H as no news value." " P r o
goals of equality and Justice?
sity In Jefferson C ity.
I know from personal expe
O r when newsprint was ra
paganda.” "B ia se d .”
Even the White House and
rience that many white news
tioned during World W a rll and
One of tlie ironies is that
Congress denied press p riv i
papers have refused to accept
publishers tegularly lenteach
many of the best black report
leges to reporters from the
experience on a black news
other supplies, whites Invari
ers In TV and p rint media to
Negro press with the conni
p a p e r as qualification fo r a day were (rained by the black
ably denied requests from Ne
vance and approval of white
Job though the average good
gro editors fo r tlie loan of
press which Is now faltering
Journalists.
black reporter on a black
newsprint?
fo r lack ol advertising re
I can tecall during World
newspaper has broader back
venue.
I can recall when about 150
War II the extreme d ifficu lty
ground because he Is fa m ilia r
Negro newspapers were being
If it is true there are only
Negro publishers had In get
with two worlds, the white one
300 non-w hite r e p o r t e r s
published weekly, some with
ting the Defense Department
and the black one, and Is more
A BC circulations as high as
iniong a workforce of 40,000,
to accredit reporters as w ar
versatile because of the va ri
it's a self indictment, fo r the
500,000. In spite of creditable
correspondents, h a v in g to
ety of assignments that he claim that a shortage exists is
circulations, th e ir margin of
overvome the ch<irge that none
must cover out of economic to some extent a convenient
p ro fit was always lower than
qualified as bona fide Journa
necessity.
that of wtdte publications with
and not too original excuse.
lists, then discovering that In
It is true, as Roger W ilkins
the same circulation. White
The white press that has
the Pacific many of the whites
has pointed out, that many claimed clairvoyance so often
hislnessmen shunned them
were drunken discards put out
white reporters have long
either because they were of
on so many issues has teen
to pasture.
since lost thelrobjectivlty be
fended by th e ir m ilitancy o r
strongly myopic concerning
With a few exceptions the
cause of thelrclose identifica
because they underestimated
Its relations to m in o ritie s. In
white press has neve rle e n ob
tion over long periods of time
the Negro market.
the
early sixties when blacks
jective so fa r as Negro Is
covering the same beat.
F o r years Negro sports
were clam oring fo rp a rtlcip a -
sues ami events ate con
Due of tlie most revealing
w rite rs were denied press
tlon tn almost every human
cerned. In the South until tlie
experiences I have had con
privileges by major league
endeavor, the white press was
last 20 years, white newspap
cerning the objectivity of die
teams and p a rticu la rly fortbe
rejecting practically all appli
ers ohstrtteted Investigations
white press occurred in |9oO cations from black journa
World Series, I remember a
of lynchings and other Illegal
while I was editor of the A sso-
lists.
2 8 2 -5 5 3 9
2330 •’ F Alberta St
Portland, Ore. 972« 1
W hy we
want to get
to know you.
It s simple. W e figure if we know you
better, we can do more for you.
And, also, if you know us Better, you'll Be
more apt to ask for help when you want it. Even if it’s just
getting change for your parking meter.
So stop m at the First National Bank of
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It II give us a chance to do those little
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That’s why
F I R S T N A T IO N A L B A N K O F O R E G O N
«4 C J I
[*■ Ú
¡Í-
N4
Block journalist raps white press
by E noc W ate rs
if you're
r going to
serve
• • V
^4 »
*
Page 3
»
à
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