ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13

People & Places

Media

Disability inclusion ‘Newsmen should get out of power centers’ NEW YORK, Jan 31, (AP): If Tom Brokaw has one piece of advice to leave for television journalists upon his retirement, it’s to get out to more of the country -and not just to visit. The Capitol insurrection is but one example of a story that might not have seemed as much a surprise if more journalists were attuned to communities outside of the power centers, the veteran NBC newsman said. Television news is “much, much too wedded to the East Coast and West Coast only” and needs to expand its presence across the country. “Take some of the people who are only in Washing- ton and send them to Salt Lake City or Kansas City, or St. Louis for that matter,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. Brokaw, who turns 81 next month, announced last week that he’s retiring from NBC News, where he worked for 55 years. He said he’s been overwhelmed and heartened by the outpouring of good wishes from colleagues and people who watched him on TV for many of those years. He’s been away from the power centers himself, and hasn’t been to New York since Brokaw before the onset of the corona- virus pandemic. He has split time between homes in Montana and Florida. His advice to the industry he’s leaving behind has nothing to do with the sort of they-don’t-make-’em- like-they-used-to criticism you might get from older people in any business. Brokaw said he’s impressed with the work of young journalists at NBC News and elsewhere, and is invested in seeing them succeed. He believes a reorientation can take place without a signifi cant outlay of money for an industry that has seen a two-decade decline in local news coverage. “I don’t want to knock what they’re doing now be- This image released by PBS shows , (left), and in a scene from the miniseries ‘’ which debuted Jan. 31 on ‘Master cause they get on an airplane and go to these places piece.’ (AP) and they do a good job,” he said. “But I always found it was best to invest yourself in different parts of the country and get to know the politics and culture.” Pessimistic Television He’s pessimistic about a change in the public’s at- titude toward the press after four years in which Presi- dent Donald Trump considered journalists the enemy. “I don’t think there will be a full recovery,” he said. Lawrance on using her skills to create work “I think this is baked in.” Brokaw has kept busy in the years since he stepped down as “NBC Nightly News” anchor in 2004, doing documentaries, appearing on “Morning Joe” and the ‘Long Song’ actor makes her mark network during newsy occasions for commentary and writing. He’s fi nishing a book about his parents and their life growing up during the Depression in South LOS ANGELES, Jan 31, (AP): Brit- ited for clarity and length. cause if this is all I want to do with my Dakota. ish actor Tamara Lawrance got on the AP: How did you prepare for the life, then what what else is there to do? For two decades, Brokaw, Peter Jennings at ABC phone from a movie shoot in Poland to role of July? AP: Is the British entertainment and Dan Rather at CBS dominated television news - a discuss “The Long Song,” a miniseries Lawrance: This is a TV rendition industry starting to change, become period in which cable and digital news sources either she fi lmed in the Dominican Republic of a book, so the fi rst port of call is more inclusive? didn’t exist or weren’t nearly as established as they as stand-in for . reading the novel. And I emailed An- Lawrance: I defi nitely think it is. are. Both Lawrance and her career are on drea Levy’s agent to say, “Please pass There’s an amazing energy among the Brokaw recalled that when the late Jennings was the move. In her fi rst few years as an on my thanks to Andrea, and if at any actors of color that I know, an amazing asked whether the three men were friends he respond- actor, she’s played Viola in a stage ver- point I could speak to her that would focus and determination and excite- ed, “kind of.” They were competitors but had a shared sion of “” that screened be amazing.” She invited me to her ment and also a proliferation of our value system, Brokaw said. internationally in theaters; portrayed a house and we had lunch, and she was own projects, which is equally excit- Actress Jane Fonda appears at the fi ctional girlfriend to Prince Harry in gracious enough to talk about her pro- ing. People are seeing gaps in the mar- “I grew up in Yankton, South Dakota, hoping that 71st international film festival in one day maybe I’ll get to appear on NBC News with Cannes, southern France, on May the 2017 TV movie “King Charles III,” cess in writing a book and the research ket and saying, ”OK, let’s make this, (Chet) Huntley and (David) Brinkley,” he said. “And, 12, 2018. The Golden Globes will and was in an episode of fi lmmaker she did. I defi nitely remember her say- let’s do this.” People are taking much by God, it was within three years I was on Huntley- bestow the Cecil B. DeMille Award Steve McQueen’s 2020 “Small Axe” ing that July is not a victim. I took that more agency and not waiting around. Brinkley, fi rst from Omaha and then from California. to Fonda during the 78th annual anthology. to heart, that a slave is not a character. Back in the day, they thought maybe “It was bang, bang, bang, just like that,” he said, awards show. (AP) Glowing reviews met those and I’m not playing a slave. I’m playing actor-singer-dancer was the triple “and it frankly astonished me, astonished my par- other performances, including in the July, and July is not a victim, she’s a threat, but now I think it’s actor-writer- ents and my friends back in South Dakota. I caught three-part “The Long Song,” which victor. She’s a very formidable person. director, or producer. People are very the merry-go-round and I was in the right place at the aired in Britain in 2018 and made its She’s funny, she’s attractive. much multidisciplinary artists. If I’m right time.” US debut Sunday on PBS’ “Master- AP: The US and British entertain- not working on screen, I’m going to do Asked how he was feeling, Brokaw said, “mixed, piece” (check local listings for time). ment industries have faced sharp criti- something else with my time. I can use frankly.” He was diagnosed in 2013 with multiple my- It’s based on the acclaimed 2010 An- cism for a lack of inclusivity, ethnic my skills in other areas to create work eloma, an incurable blood cancer that affects the bone drea Levy novel of the same name. and otherwise. When you thought for myself and my peers. marrow, and this has led to painful back surgery. He The drama is set in the fi nal days of about becoming an actor, what oppor- AP: What project brought you to got his fi rst dose of COVID vaccine this past week. in 19th-century Jamaica and stars tunities did you expect and what have Poland? ❑ ❑ ❑ Lawrance as July, from her early years you found? Lawrance: It’s called “Silent working in a plantation owner’s house to Lawrance: I wanted to be an actor Twins,” based on a book. The twins Actors with disabilities will be included in audi- liberation (with Doña Croll as the elder from an age before you think about are notorious in British culture for tions for each new fi lm and television production at July). Lawrance has Jamaican roots - her such things. I wanted to be an actor out having selective mutism. There was a NBCUniversal, which becomes the second major me- Stewart Lee mother was born there - but it was the of a pure need for joy and for a very sort of folklore around them, that one dia company to make such a commitment. chance to play the vibrant July as a fully innocent fascination with the capacity twin controlled the other. But actually, NBCUniversal said Friday that the pledge cov- realized character, not a downtrodden to become someone else. It was only their decision to only talk to each other ers projects by the Universal Filmed Entertainment slave, that drew her to the project. when I entered into my late teens that I and not to anyone else was a product of Group, Universal Studio Group, NBC network and Variety In an interview with The Associated came across teachers and extracurricu- the context they were born into: Black Peacock streaming service. Press, Lawrance discussed the meet- lar drama clubs where people would women in the 1970s in Wales, with The pledge was made in response to calls for ing she was able to have with Levy a talk more about the vocational aspect immigrant parents and a speech im- change by the Ruderman Family Foundation, follow- WEST PALM BEACH, Fla: Rock icon year before the writer’s 2019 death; the to being an actor. And yes, I was told pediment. They struggle to fi t in and to ing a similar commitment the disability rights advo- Rod Stewart and his son have reached a value of being a triple-threat artist, and plenty of times, “Black people don’t belong, withdraw into their own world cate received from CBS Entertainment in 2019. plea deal to settle misdemeanor battery the fact-based movie she was work- work, you’re not going to get a job, and then very scandalously end up in “My hope is that other major studios in the industry charges stemming from an altercation ing on in Europe with Letitia Wright blah, blah, blah.” And I just would not Broadmoor (an English high security will now see NBCUniversal and say, ‘This is some- with a security guard at a posh Florida (“Black Panther”). Remarks were ed- talk to them. I had tunnel vision, be- psychiatric hospital) at the age of 19. thing that makes sense and we’re also going to com- hotel. mit to this,’” said Jay Ruderman, head of the Boston- Prosecutors and defense attorneys based foundation. Disney, Sony and major streaming announced Friday that Stewart and his son, Sean Stewart, would not be Dixon signed an affi davit saying that ing the often ignored Asian and Pacifi c “His passion was to rediscover, services including Netfl ix and Amazon are among going to trial for the altercation at The he wanted to press charges against the Islander American communities, has document and champion through his others the foundation would like to enlist, he said. Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach on New Stewarts. (AP) died. He was 73. images the plight of all Americans but Opportunities Year’s Day 2020, the South Florida ❑ ❑ ❑ Lee died Wednesday in New York most especially that of Asian and Pacifi c SunSentinel reported. Terms were not City’s Queens borough of complications Islanders,” his family said. As more people with disabilities are seen in roles, released. NEW YORK: Corky Lee, a photojour- from COVID-19, his family said in a The self-described “undisputed unof- “it will have ramifi cations throughout society,” Ru- Stewart, 76 and a member of the Rock nalist who spent fi ve decades spotlight- statement. fi cial Asian American Photographer derman told The Associated Press. Comcast-owned and Roll Hall of Fame, is best known Laureate,” Lee used his eye to pursue NBCUniversal signed on after a series of conversa- for such hits as “Maggie May” and what he saw as “photographic justice.” tions with the foundation, he said. “Tonight’s the Night.” The London-born Almost always sporting a camera around The company is committed “to creating content singer was knighted by Queen Elizabeth his neck, he was present at many seminal that authentically refl ects the world we live in, and II in 2016. moments impacting Asian America over increasing opportunities for those with disabilities is Security guard Jessie Dixon told po- a 50-year career. an integral part of that,” said NBCUniversal executive lice then that the now 76-year-old Stew- He was born Young Kwok Lee in Janine Jones-Clark art and his family were at the check-in New York City to Chinese immigrant vice president , whose portfolio parents. He was the fi rst child in his includes fi lm, TV and streaming inclusion. table for a private party that they weren’t authorized to attend. family to go to college, graduating from Outside calls for action are important and “hold the City University of New York’s Queens industry accountable of the work we still need to do Dixon said the group became loud and began causing a scene. Dixon told inves- College. in order to see systemic change,” Jones-Clark said in tigators he put his hand on the younger A self-taught freelance photogra- a statement. Stewart’s chest and told him to back up pher, Lee aimed his camera lens on a According to the most recent foundation report, and make space, the report said. slew of subjects from anti-Vietnam war only about 22% of characters with disabilities on net- That’s when Sean Stewart, the rock protests to police brutality. Over the work and streaming shows in 2018 were “authenti- star’s 40-year-old son, got “nose to nose” years, his photos appeared in The New cally portrayed by actors with disabilities.” That’s an with Dixon. York Times, Time magazine, the New improvement over 2016’s fi nding that 5% of such TV Sean Stewart then shoved Dixon back- York Post, New York Daily News, The roles went to actors with disabilities. wards. Rod Stewart punched Dixon in Associated Press and Asian American Actor Kurt Yaeger a member of the SAG-AFTRA his “left rib cage area” with a closed fi st, outlets. Most recently, he was document- Performers with Disability Committee, lauded the a police report said. ing anti-Asian racism brought on by the new agreement. “It’s what I’ve been pushing for 10 The police report said Sean Stewart pandemic. years,” he said, given how infrequently studios and told investigators he became agitated Lee was there when Asian Ameri- producers open the door to people with disabilities. when they were not able to attend the cans took to the streets to protest the event “due to Dixon’s interaction with lack of jail time for the killers of Vin- Yaeger, who uses a prosthetic leg because of a cent Chin. The 27-year-old Chin was motorcycle accident, has appeared as a guest actor him and his family.” Palm Beach offi cer Stephen Mancino Singer Kris Kristofferson performs at the Glastonbury music festival at Worthy beaten to death in Detroit in 1982, a in more than 50 TV episodes, including ABC’s “The time when Japan was being blamed for Good Doctor” and Netfl ix’s upcoming “Another said he viewed security footage at the Farm, in Somerset, England, on June 23, 2017. Kristofferson has retired after hotel and determined that the Stewarts five decades. A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Fam- the US auto industry’s decline. The two Life.” That’s more than most people who are audi- were the “primary aggressors.” er and Grammy winner retired in 2020. His son, John, stepped in last year to laid-off white autoworkers who killed tioning regularly for continuing series roles, he said, Two Breakers employees who were oversee his father’s business including his record label. The Texas-born Oxford Chin — who was Chinese — assumed adding, “I’d like more of those opportunities for me working the private event told police scholar brought introspective and poetic lyrics to country music with songs like he was Japanese. They were convicted and my fellow performers with disabilities.” they saw Sean Stewart push Dixon and ‘Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down’ and ‘Me and Bobby McGee.’ He was a member of manslaughter but got just three years Rod Stewart punch the guard. of the supergroup The Highwaymen and starred in 70 films over his career. (AP) of probation. (AP)