Mid-Year Catch Up and Lessons from Michael Jackson

As “Michaelmania” subsides, I’d like to shed a little perspective on what we’ve witnessed over the past two weeks since Michael Jackson’s death.

Full Disclosure: I've been in serious "MJZ/Michael Jackson Zone" as I’ve taken in the personal branding / image building / barrier breaking / crisis communications story of a lifetime. Yes, I purchased CDs and DVDs, baseball caps and t-shirts from street vendors for myself, family and friends. I was proud to be on 125th Street in Harlem to experience the Apollo Theater tribute. You just had to be in the mix to experience the cool vibe ... there were satellite trucks to beam the celebration throughout the world in all languages! Those waiting in the bright sunshine were huddled masses that represented the cross-cultural mosaic of MJ fans.

Sales/media visibility wise MJ totally displaced President Barack Obama for two weeks -- which is simply mind blowing! It shows the power of the entertainment business and influence of global pop culture. If something resonates in your soul (as MJ’s music did for his fans), you just can’t get it out of your system until the feelings cycle through and pass on. MJ’s death was Topic A for conversations in my Entrepreneurship for Media Communications class at CCNY, as well as at barbershops and bus stops.

However, don’t think we’re totally “We are the World” yet. There’s still a lot of work to do right here in the US. Just this week, 65 young African Americans and their chaperones from a summer camp were asked to leave a pool outside Philadelphia this week after flack from members who preferred not to have their kind in the water with them, despite a personal invitation from the president of the private club. However, the president was forced to rescind the swimming offer after pressure from his board of directors.

Now they’re in hot water and a Michael Jackson soundtrack can’t make these stories sound any better because ethnic people of a certain age have seen this before. Racism and lack of respect are messages that resonate deep inside your soul.

Or, consider that African American photographers from the Black Press were denied press credentials to cover the MJ Staples Center memorial this past week (July 2009). The arrogant denial of the contributions made by leading ethnic media is something I’ve also experienced in my career. We must stay vigilant.

Scroll down for the full story from the LA Sentinel.

As a consultant working on the Listen Up! Quincy Jones documentary years ago, I politely had to explain to studio publicity/marketing execs why Ebony, Jet, the Amsterdam News and other ethnic press had to be credentialed for the Apollo premiere, in addition to Entertainment Tonight and other mainstream outlets.
Thankfully, the Warner Bros. execs listened.

Years later, Spike Lee pressed Warner Bros. for ethnic firms to be included in the marketing mix for the promotion of Malcolm X. Purposefully, we all kept pushing. The result: a wildly successful African American Media Day whereby the Black Press got a “sneak peak” at the film, which was a public relations first and publicity/goodwill media bonanza!

Change happens … one step at a time. Everyone is a foot soldier to ensure that our rights, images or messages don’t get stomped on.

We must to remember to pay attention to the subtleties of all the news and work to right the ills of society in our own backyard. Don’t let people get a “pass;” press forward to break barriers. That’s what MJ did; that’s an important lesson to learn.
As PR practitioners, we have the opportunity to move the discussion forward and channel new solutions to age old problems that have taken on slightly different tones.

I’m someone who grew up on MJ’s music and still remember talking about the Jackson 5 in the church parking lot after choir rehearsal. Yes “Right On” magazine covers and fold out posters covered my bedroom walls.

Michael Jackson had impact. Not only as the world’s greatest entertainer, but as a humanitarian and celebrity entrepreneur who can also teach us a little about the importance of work-life balance. We should all take a look at our lives and push ourselves a little bit harder – just not to the breaking point. We have to understand too much of any one thing (even work) can send you off kilter – and sometimes be a killer.


Dodson on Jackson

Check out Howard Dodson’s blog for an insightful perspective on the life, legacy and emotional struggles of MJ. Dodson is Chief of The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Located at 135th Street and Malcolm X (Lenox) Boulevard, the center is the nation’s leading repository of black history and literature and part of the New York Public Library. Artists, scholars, musicians and rappers consume a wide range of resources to insure their creations are historically accurate. Never underestimate the power of research!
http://www.nypl.org/blogs/2009/07/07/michael-jackson-icon


Get in the Know—At the Library

Thursday, my CCNY Entrepreneurship for Media Communications class visited New York Public Library - Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th and Madison; http://www.nypl.org/sibl.

Director of Training Janet Bogenshultz, provided an excellent primer of what’s available at the world’s largest business library open to the public. SIBL features databases and resources comparable to what’s available at leading university business schools. All info is complimentary – paid for with your tax dollars. You can also take advantage of free courses in e-commerce, list creation/database development, green jobs and other important business trends.


This just in from the Los Angeles Sentinel

Black Press Photographers Denied Access at Michael Jackson's Memorial - Was it AEG or the Jackson Family?
by Yussuf Simmonds
Assistant Managing Editor, Los Angeles Sentinel
Originally posted 7/8/2009

LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - Historically the Black press has been covering Black artists, entertainers and other well-known personalities when no else would, primarily out of a sense of duty, responsibility and pride in order to showcase their talent to the world. That included Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, when they were at the beginning of their rise to stardom.

So it was not surprising that the Black press came out in full force to cover Jackson’s memorial at the event that was described as a virtual sea of Blackness. Yet, photographers representing the Los Angeles Sentinel – the oldest and largest Black newspaper on the West Coast; Ebony and Jet magazines – two of the largest Black publications in the world; and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) – a federation that represents more than 200 Black publishers across the United States were not credentialed to take photos inside the Staples Center during the memorial of Michael Jackson.

“This is a recurring theme; this is constantly happening to the Black press all over the country,” says Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., the newly elected chairman of the NNPA (the Black Press of America) and executive publisher of the Sentinel. “This has got to stop. I am declaring today on their behalf that we are going to take on companies, associations and media outlets that overtly disrespect, disregard and devalue the Black press.”

It was rather apparent that the promoters of the event (AEG, the company that owns the Staples Center) did not think it was important to allow access to all the credentialed media personnel - particularly those carrying cameras. Three African-American photojournalists related their experiences to the Sentinel – three similar incidents that happened separately to three different individuals whose only common traits were that they were Black.

As a photojournalist for many years, Malcolm Ali has covered many events throughout the country. He said, “While at the memorial, I was contacted by the Sentinel to get my credential from Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was just arriving at the gate. As I left the area, the police confronted me and I told them I was going to get my credentials, and that I already had my LAPD press pass.” After getting his pass, he still was not allowed to get inside the Staples Center. “I learned that there were press cameras in there (the Staples Center) that were authorized by AEG included Getty Images and other Wire Services,” he also said.

“They’re the biggest photo distribution house in the world; they sell photos,” Ali continued, “They send their photographers to major events, capture these images and they upload them on their website, then and sell them to (Black) newspapers, and magazines throughout the world. To do this, they have to make a deal with AEG that they (Getty Images) will provide the pool of photographers (for the event) and everyone has to buy from them. And this locks outs the smaller newspapers especially the Black press.”

Expressing similar sentiments Bakewell commented, “We understand that AEG sells the exclusive rights to photography to wire services. One time before, Black reporters were denied access to a concert with Prince because they have an exclusive with some of the artists. The problem however, is that many of the Black artists, who we love, on the way up; they go up on the ‘elevator of the Black press’ and when they reach the top, they won’t let the elevator back down to pick the Black press up to shoot them anymore.”

Shon Smith is a professional photographer with D’Angelus Photos; she was another photographer who was denied access to the memorial. “When I got there the first set of officers saw my blue wrist band (identification for the media) and let me through the barricade,” she said, “That was to allow me access to places where others were not allowed. I was following other photographers when an officer called me to get out of the line.

There were a group of White photographers ahead of me.”

According to Smith, she made a left turn nearby where more of the press corps was located, an individual in a red jacket – Staples Center security personnel – asked her to stand on the other side. She told him, “All these other photographers are right here and he said ‘that’s them, you need to stand over here.’ Well who are they with?

‘They are with us’. We all have blue bands. ‘I could get you arrested’. I told them that I was with the Los Angeles Sentinel, but that did not seem to matter.”

The police officer then told her to go behind the barricade. Smith, who was also shooting photos to be published by the NNPA News Service, said she was not allowed to go places where other White photographers were taking pictures. Eventually she came to the realization, “It was because I’m Black; I’m a woman and I wasn’t all dressed up, but I had on a professional jacket and I was carrying a $3,000 camera. It was obvious what I was doing. They never let me into Staples Center, but I believed they did let a female Black photographer in but they took her camera and then her wristband and made her exit the building. I believed I was singled out because I was a Black woman with dreadlocks.”

Bakewell went on to say, “The irony of all this is that the Black press was covering Michael Jackson and his family over the last 40 years with endearment, accuracy, affection and pride when no one else was covering him. The Black press defended him when no one else defended him. Now, at his final tribute, the Black photographers are denied. Furthermore, after the Black press helps many of the Black artists to reach the top, they do not use their status and their influence to require parity to the Black press.

When they make movies, plays and records, they do not demand that the Black press be included in the budgets to promote their work. And that’s unconscionable, a violation of their own family ethic; while the Michael Jackson is front and center, this is a malignancy that exists in Black America.”

Valerie Goodloe is an ace photographer; she shoots for Ebony and Jet magazines, and she was denied access to the Staples Center. Goodloe said, “We’re made invisible when it comes to large events that are African-American driven; we are shoved to the side. Even though Revs. Jackson and Al Sharpton were working on my behalf to get me credentials along with the pool photographers from the L.A. Times and the New York Times, it just didn’t work out.” Though she went inside with Rev. Jackson she was not allowed to take any pictures. “AEG sent a person downstairs and said that I was not going to be credentialed.”

Rev. Jackson was the only individual who stood up to demand that the Black press have equal access to the Jackson memorial. The staff of Rev. Al Sharpton also pushed for credentials for the NNPA News Service, but to no avail.

Calls were made to AEG but there was no response.

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