The Buzz 10.05.23

FREE SPEECH

In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson’s administration appointed the Kerner Commission to investigate riots in American cities. That report cited sensationalist and divisive coverage, and specifically unfair and inaccurate reporting on Black communities. Now, 55 years later – and three years after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer, prompting widespread protests – a survey by Pew Research Center shows that Black people find many of the same problems persist in the news, with unfairly negative coverage. Pew’s research, published Sept. 26, shows that 4,742 respondents overwhelmingly recommend educating all journalists about issues impacting Black Americans; 64 percent said that would make coverage fairer. Education ranked higher than representation, with 54 percent saying that including more Black voices as sources would improve fairness and accuracy, and 44 percent suggested hiring more Black journalists. “Black Americans take a number of factors into account when assessing the credibility of a news story – but the journalist’s race is not a dominant one,” according to Pew’s findings.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We’re doing our due diligence in separating the facts from the fiction.” - Carmel Mayor Dave Potter speaking about a review of a videotaped physical altercation between Nematic Gallery owner Craig Rose and City Administrator Chip Rerig (see story, mcweekly.com)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

CSU Monterey Bay has recently received good news in college rankings. The most recent is that it ranked No. 2 for social mobility – which measures how well a university helps launch low-income students on a path to success – in the Western United States in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges rankings. CSUMB also ranked No. 6 in “Top Public Schools” and No. 14 in “Regional Universities West.” “Our success as a top public school and on social mobility is due to our dedicated staff and faculty, who work hard to ensure students have an exceptional experience and gain a strong education that prepares them for jobs in our region,” said CSUMB President Vanya Quiñones. Recently CSUMB ranked No. 13 for public schools in California and No. 8 in the CSU system in the Wall Street Journal poll. Forbes listed CSUMB as No. 17 among medium-sized colleges nationally.

GREAT:

Great news for the Salinas Fire Department comes in the form of a $4.7 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The three-year grant – from FEMA’s Staffing for Adequate Firefighter Response (SAFER) program – supports nine additional positions. SFD has seen a workload increase of 30 percent over the past seven years, and staffing has not kept pace. “Salinas firefighters now respond to over 16,000 calls per year with firefighter staffing below 2006 levels when the department responded to just over 9,000 calls per year,” Salinas Fire Chief Samuel Klemek said in a statement. Salinas has a rate of 0.58 firefighters per 1,000 residents, below the national median of 1.2 per 1,000. The SAFER grant means the hiring of more firefighters, and also the opportunity to test alternative response models to increase safety and productivity.