Minutes before the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, addressed journalists of
color this past weekend in Chicago, a few dozen latecomers were asked to
relocate, which involved the laborious task of awkwardly scooching past
others who were already seated.
When nobody moved, a volunteer with the host
organization, UNITY: Journalists of Color, barked: “You all need to
stand up and fill the front. The scatter doesn’t look good on
camera.” Moments later, a CNN producer directed everyone to shut off
all video and audio recording equipment, drawing more growls of
disapproval.
Indeed, the stipulations were probably unnecessary,
considering that CNN, which co-sponsored the forum with Time magazine, had exclusive
rights to broadcast the event live on Sunday morning. The risers
weren’t even equipped to allow other camera crews to go live.
Most shocking was UNITY’s eager complicity in
allowing CNN and Time — both owned by Time Warner — to force the
10,000-member journalist alliance to bend to their will. Unfortunately,
suppression of a free and unfettered press didn’t stop with powering
off the recorders in the McCormick Place ballroom.
The promised “60-minute conversations”
with representatives of UNITY shrunk to a half-hour. Moderators Suzanne
Malveaux, a CNN White House correspondent, and Ramesh Ratnesar, Time’s deputy managing
editor, devoted half of the allotted time to questions about Obama’s
trip overseas.
And when reporters with other organizations were
finally allowed to speak, questions were limited to one from each of the
four associations that make up UNITY: the Asian American Journalists
Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists
Association.
Instead of being used to provide one deserving
student journalist a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ask a question of
the would-be leader of the free world, those prized slots were given to
recognizable reporters from high-profile outlets: Miami Herald columnist Leonard
Pitts, NBC White House reporter John Yang, Dallas
Morning News reporter Diane Solis, and Brian
Bull of Wisconsin Public Radio, an NPR affiliate.
At least they were good questions, some of which
seemed to catch the visibly fatigued candidate off guard.
For instance, Bull, a member of the Native American
journalists group, asked Obama whether his administration would follow the
leads of the governments of Australia and Canada and issue an apology on
behalf of the federal government for human-rights abuses against indigenous
people.
“When it comes to our treatment of Native
Americans, as well as other persons of color in this country, we’ve
got some very sad and difficult things to account for,” Obama said.
He continued: “But the most important thing for
the U.S. government to do is not just to offer words but to offer deeds. I
have to confess that I’m more interested in creating a better and
having a better relationship with Native American peoples than anything
else.”
The event was Obama’s first public appearance
after returning from a 10-day tour of Europe and the Middle East.
The Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain, also
received an invitation from UNITY but declined to participate.
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
