{"id":27532,"date":"2020-11-12T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=27532"},"modified":"2020-11-12T10:16:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T16:16:55","slug":"robservations-marcus-betts-chair-expanded-public-narrative-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2020\/11\/12\/robservations-marcus-betts-chair-expanded-public-narrative-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: Marcus Betts to chair expanded Public Narrative board"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Marcus Betts<\/p><\/div>\n

Robservations on the media beat:<\/p>\n

Marcus Betts,<\/strong> assistant vice chancellor for external engagement at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been named chair of a newly expanded board of directors at Public Narrative.<\/a> He\u2019ll lead board members Catherine Rabenstine, Ryan Schermerhorn, Anita Banerji, Katie O\u2019Malley, Paul O\u2019Connor<\/strong> and Katanya Raby<\/strong> in advancing the Chicago-based nonprofit group\u2019s mission to provide media literacy services through projects, partnerships and training series under president and executive director Jhmira Alexander.<\/strong> \u201cIt is evident that our collective efforts are needed, now more than ever, to defend our democracy at the intersections threatened most,\u201d Betts said. Founded in 1989 as Community Media Workshop, the group also presents the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brian Haddad<\/p><\/div>\n

It might be time for Brian Haddad<\/strong> to consider dropping \u201cWhose Karen Is It?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0from his morning show on Cumulus Media alternative rock WKQX 101.1-FM.<\/a> Wednesday\u2019s installment of the weekly bit (purportedly based on a woman charging her friends and family $80 per person for Thanksgiving dinner) took a bizarre turn when a caller unleashed some unmistakably anti-Semitic tropes about \u201cthose people\u201d in Skokie. Haddad apologized for the lapse, which he attributed to technical problems with \u201cKQX Morning Crew\u201d<\/a> co-hosts Ali Mattacola<\/strong> and Justin Nettlebeck.<\/strong> \u201cWe are all in three different locations because of COVID,\u201d Haddad wrote to listeners. \u201cSo there is a big delay of what we all hear between all three of us and the phone calls. . . . We were in a fast-moving contest so honestly didn\u2019t grab his horrid point til it was too late. So sorry on that. It\u2019s been challenging broadcasting this way since COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tim Franklin<\/p><\/div>\n

Tim Franklin,<\/strong> senior associate dean and professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism,<\/a> has been named inaugural holder of the John M. Mutz<\/strong> Chair in Local News at Medill. Endowed with a $2 million gift from Mutz, former lieutenant governor of Indiana and president of Lilly Endowment, the chair will focus on local news sustainability. It also will advance Medill\u2019s Local News Initiative,<\/a> which Franklin has led since its founding in 2018. \"With John\u2019s generous gift, Medill will continue to be a national leader for years to come in developing partnerships, programs and new tools to help local news organizations and the communities they serve,\u201d he said. Franklin, who began his career as a reporter and editor for the Chicago Tribune, also served as editor of the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charlie Meyerson<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago Public Square, <\/a>the indispensable daily newsletter published by Chicago media innovator Charlie Meyerson,<\/strong> has been cited by tech and media industry analyst Simon Owens<\/strong> as one of nine \"thriving local news operations\"<\/a> at a time of industrywide declines. (Here is the link.<\/a>) \u201cI recommend any person or team looking to launch a news organization for any place or subject begin with an email newsletter, and build out content from there,\" he told Owens. Meyerson, who pioneered the format with the Chicago Tribune's former Daywatch roundup in 1998, launched Chicago Public Square in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cassidy Skafish<\/p><\/div>\n

Happy to discover the weekly music podcast \"Handcrafted Once More,\"<\/a> hosted by Cassidy Skafish,<\/strong> daughter of Chicago rock radio legend Bobby Skafish.<\/strong> The show, billed as \"your best source for old music on the air,\" streams at 11 p.m. Saturdays on the podcast platform Spreaker. (Here is the link.<\/a>) \"She may be 17, but don\u2019t expect today\u2019s Top 40 \u2014 it\u2019s anything but,\" said her proud father. \"Her tastes are surprising and wide ranging. She\u2019s a natural.\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Joe Reilly<\/p><\/div>\n

Joe Reilly,<\/strong>\u00a0the widely admired and respected Chicago newsman who rose to metropolitan editor of the Sun-Times<\/a> before becoming general manager and editor of Chicago's City News Bureau, died Monday at a senior residence in Westmont. He was 81. An Elmwood Park native and U.S. Air Force veteran, Reilly joined the Sun-Times as a reporter in 1961. Maureen O'Donnell's<\/strong> excellent obituary recounted how Reilly broke the news in 1969 that \"bullet holes\" identified in police photos of the West Side apartment of slain Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton<\/strong> and Mark Clark<\/strong> were actually nail heads. (Here is the link.<\/a>) Reilly left the Sun-Times when Rupert Murdoch<\/strong> bought the paper in 1984.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Burt Levy:<\/strong> I am from the media sector that believes that editorial professionals should not hold a publisher title. Using the same thinking, professionals on the business side of media should not hold editorial positions. Two different skill sets. Combining the role of editor and publisher creates a<\/em>\u00a0very\u00a0slippery slope and at times a conflict of interest. A publisher\u2019s main role and responsibility is to drive revenue. Period. Most on the editorial side lack those revenue generating relationships and knowledge. I have great respect and admiration for Tracy Baim and can\u2019t imagine anyone within the Reader infrastructure to have better relationships than Tracy. Not understanding the benefit to the Reader of an additional title at the top.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: Marcus Betts, assistant vice chancellor for external engagement at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been named chair of a newly expanded board of directors at Public Narrative. He\u2019ll lead board members Catherine Rabenstine, Ryan Schermerhorn, Anita Banerji, Katie O\u2019Malley, Paul O\u2019Connor and Katanya Raby in advancing the Chicago-based... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27532"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27560,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27532\/revisions\/27560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}