n- ^tutoriala*"1 M ' Dangerous Journalistic Politics Gary Hart, the leading Democratic Party presidential hopeful is suddenly gone. In re sponding to the news media's "womanizing question," Hart said, "Follow me around. I don’t care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'd be very bored." The Miami Herald accepted Hart's challenge. They staked out his Washington townhome and reported that a beautiful wom an named Donna Rice was seen entering the house with him and spent the night alone with him. Some, including media people, have been severely critical of The Herald claiming that "Peeping Tom” journalism borders on being unethical and unprofessional. However, the Florida-based newspaper justified its actions on three key points. First, as a presidential candidate, the public has a right to know about any flaws in the character and moral judgement of a person who is seeking a pub lic office that requires the full faith and trust of the American people. Secondly, it was the allegations of womanizing that led The Her ald to accept Hart's invitation to follow him around. Thirdly, notwithstanding the moral question, it was important for all to kno.w about Hart's judgement skills. The Herald's original report that Ms. Rice spent the night with Hart was later discredit ed when the newsmen admitted that they had not watched both entrances to the townhouse. While Hart was claiming innocence of any wrong doing, it was revealed that the same young woman had spent another questiona ble night on a boat with Hart and two other couples last year. These developments led Gary Hart to with draw his potential candidacy for the highest office in the nation. It means too that from the very moment of Hart’s withdrawal, the di rection of America's political stance has changed from an unknown, what might have been to what now is and possibly through the very actions of the next president. This is and will be at least pfcrtly thj^result of the ac tions of The Miami Herald. An example is evident, too, in a related de velopment being influenced by the news me dia. With Gary Hart out of the presidential hopeful picture, it would appear that the sec ond most notable candidate for the Democrat ic Party's nomination would move up to the number one spot. This is not happening be cause neither the Democratic Party leader ship nor the news media believes the candi date in questioh can win the presidential election in 1988. The candidate we are referring to is Jesse Jackson. While a distant second to Hart, Jackson has name recognition, it is believed that he can influence a major portion of the black vote, and a few white liberals, and he has considerable presidential campaigning experience. Yet, the sad an somewhat embar rassing fact is that neither the Democratic Party nor the news media truly believes that a black candidate can win in 1988. Jackson has said and done some things that have upset some blacks and some Demo crats both liberal and conservative. These concerns aside, if Jackson were white, the media with or without the encouragement of the Democratic Party, would be heavily court ing Jackson as the new Democratic Party front-runner. We have referred to this as an embarrassing fact" because it implies some racist feeling's attitude which may or may not be real. Most voters don't know these other long shot candidates. Beyond the borders of their respective states - Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massa chusetts, and a few lesser known hopefuls - these candidates lack instant name recogni tion and even less presidential planning and campaign strategy. Again because of the media's action, or in action in this case, the direction of political history is and will be changed from an un known what might have been to what now is and may possibly be thrdugh the presidency of1988 through 1992. These are examples of journalistic policies because in different ways and for different reasons, the media is not simply reporting the news that's fit to print," but rather is act ing as a king maker. We would like to think that in free society with a free presa that pewsmen would be pleased ito just report the ' news and not be the news makers. Further more, at the very least let a national political • convention select a presidential candidate; and at the very most let the voters decide who shall be our next president. Journalistic poli tics is dangerous because its wider use could lead to government regulation and thus threaten the loss of our free press. Re-Evaluate American Moral Standards \ . J • Sl ' * I • • Ted Kennedy, Jim Bakker, Gary Hart. Two of these men lost opportunities to become President oflhe United States. The other, Jim Bakker, lost a $140 million a year television evangelism ministry and first class hotel and amusement part facilities. In addition, the multi-million dollar newly built Ameri can embassy in Moscow is said to be awash with listening devices that would allow the Russians to be fully aware of all our embassy dealings. Each of these missed presidential opportu nities, the loss of a worldwide television ministry and a totally useless foreign em bassy are all the result of sexual behavior in volving these three men and two U.S. Ma rines, one black and one American Indian, each with women of some questionable char acter and. purpose. Indeed, the affairs raise serious questions, too, about the character of these men iq whom the public is asked to • place great trust and the two young Marines who lacked the sense of discipline to be a first line of defense for our nation by not letting the Russians have free reign to "bug" our embassy in exchange for monetary sexual favors from a few Russian women. All of this appears to show a great need for America and Americans to re-evaluate their moral standards and not sell their souls to the devil, be they Russians or others. Wfc A* RJOft* A**>pHMLp oORpemny... if wk eonnMdk at o^r pRese^r (SOUR**, OUR FUTURE WILL BE A VfcRY t**Rk Otlm, FULL OF poverty, ILLITERACY, TVcMa^e pre<*MaM<^ PFUfi|5. Aflp *ELT PE*TRUcr»o»4. BUT IT* |4orf&® LATE 12? e FULL OF More amp pripb, Lets -start T2**y7 Musician 4 Engineer / FU.*ici*n 4 » 4 7iocK*r' - - ^ ^ Good News In The News Room special To The Post By Rev. Ben Chavis They were told they couldn't win. They were told the lawsuit would ruin their careers. Still, they continued. And now, four Af rican American reporters on the staff of the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS have been vindicated. They have won their law suit. A jury has found that the four jour nalists were given lower salaries, fewer promotions and worse as signments because of their race. It is Predicted that the outcome will have major national impact. For. it is the first time that a discrimina tion suit, filed by newspaper edito rial employees, actually went, to tiiW, and thud so rally exposed lie racism in that industry. The evidence presented at the trial was overwhelming. For ex ample, the editorial department of the DAILY NEWS hired only 36 African Americans since the late 1940's through 1981 -a period of over 30years. And it wasn't until 1981 that one was promoted into a management position. According to the testimony of Vincent Dona to, a former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) manager, in the two short years from 1979 to 1981, the News hired or promoted 47 People into management positions. Yet none was African American. As Mr. Donato, testified. "We found whites, as a group, were paid more than Blacks. White em ployees were likely to get merit in creases and the increases they got were likely to be higher." Based on its findings the EEOC, has now filed a class action discrimination suit against the DAILY NEWS on behalf of 25 African American em ployees. However, statistics never tell the full stoiy. Statistics can't re veal that an assistant night editor told another white staffer that "Blacks are not well suited for journalism [because] they didn't have the background and the edu cation." Statistics can't show how Joan Shephard, a cultural affairs editor, felt after one editor called her a "street-walker". Numbers can't demonstrate how David Hardy, the NEWS' political report er, felt after he was pulled off the famous ABscanv scandal in favor of a white reporter, even though he had exclusive knowledge about one of the Abscam defendants. And figures don't explain the frus tration that assistant news editor Steven Duncan, now 63 years old, felt as he was passed over by other white reporters, some of whom he had trained. It was only after he filed discrimination charges in 1983 that he received his latest promotion. Just as this trial has more than local implications, the situation which it revealed exists in more than just the city room of the NY DAILY NEWS.- In newsrooms across this nation the percentage of Blacks and other racial and eth nic peoples at the top manage ment level is only 3%. In fact, ra cial and ethnic Employment at dai ly newspapers, at any level, is a mere 6.3%. For those who wonder about the skewed and — dare we say it — racist coverage of papers like the NY DAILY NEWS, these statistics provide a clearer understanding. However, knowledge is insuffi-1 dent without action. Our commu nities must begin to better use their. power. In dties with large African American and Hispanic popula tions, such as New York City, the daily newspapers depend on the newsstand sales in these commu nities...and on the advertising dol lars supported by the business of these populations. If we want our dailies to provide piore balanced. coverage of our communities, we need to show them how their con-, tinued racist coverage will affect, thajr Pocketbooks. We also applaud tW JfTorts.T from the inside, of the interradal, Institute for Journalistic Educa-, tion, a watchdog and training or-; ganization. The Institute provides top-notch training for racial andt ethnic journalists and has consis tently spoken out against the, shameful hiring and promotion practices of this nation's daily newspapers. The greatest credit, however, goes to the four journalists who perservered through five long years of legal maneuverings until they won their day in court. Their battle is far from over, of course. ' THE NEWS, in all its arrogance, ' will continue to fight with all the* money and power at its disposal. ’ But nothing can erase the decision' nor the evidence upon which it' was based. As always, it is not' only organizations, but also two or' three people unitedin action, who continue the movement for change. On Politicians And The Constitution Memorial Day is an opportuni ty for America to honor her dead. It is also a time to pay tribute to those Americans who gave up their lives to preserve the free doms guaranteed by the UA Con stitution. Yet, many national lead ers demonstrate little respect for the Constitution on its 200th anni versary. While suffering a bad case of Wall 8treet Journal Withdrawal" in the Phillipines during the ten ure of former President Ferdi nand Marcos, I learned to appre ciate the Conetitution as a living document. It had been some time since I had read the Journal so I was ready to settle for anything. I asked the lady at the hotel desk where I could buy a paper. She pointed to some newspaper machines in the hotel's lobby. As I started in their direction, she com mented that if I wanted to read the truth I should buy a paper from the boys on the streets. She felt the other newspapers were merely government propaganda. This small experience highlight ed the importance of America's free press. Thus the news media must take a leadership role in the celebration of the 200th anniver sary of the U.8. Constitution. The national media must point out to our political leaders that they need to show reverence for the Consti tution. flhennm MUw | There is currently a movement afoot to get the U.8. Congress to meet in Philadelphia, PA, the birth- j place of the U.8. Constitution, for a 200th Constitution celebration. So far, Pennsylvania's Congressional ' Delegation is. still trying to con vince their associates to corns to Philadelphia. The mare fact that our national leadership places the U.8. Constitution so low on their priority list is a slap in the face of the American families whose sons and daughters died in foreign wars to preserve this great natidn. Since the leadership of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.8. Senate have not seen fit to honor the U.8. Constitution, then perhaps the 1988 presidential can didates will prove theihselyes worthy of the U.8. presidency. One of these candidates will tkke the Presidential Oath, "1 do sol emnly swear (or affirm) that I trill '' * « faithfully execute the Office of! President of the United States, and! will to the best of my ability, pie serve, protect and defend the Con stitution of the United States." If Democrats like U.S. Senator Joe Biden and Representative! Richard Gephardt and Republi cans as U.8. Senator Bob Dole and Representative Jack Kemp cannot rally their peers to honor the U.8. Constitution, they do no deserve to be President. Perhaps non-officeholders for mer Republican governor Pate Dupont IV | or Democrat Rev. Jesse Jackson will seize tfiis gold en opportunity to lead the nation in paying homage to our "Founding Fathers" dream. When I think about the numer ous lives lost to preserve our Con stitution, I conclude that Congres sional members who fail to con vene in Philadelphia for the 200th anniversary constitutional cele bration should not stand for la election. These people's actions will have demonstrated their lack of respect for the U.8. Constitu tion. Let us hop* our Congressional leadership demonstrates to the world that our Constitution is re v*r*d Ly the American people. Hopefully the world will believe us when w* claim that our demo cratic form of government is su perior to all others.