Daily News Feed 1.09.09/Vocab: desideratum

Under the Microscope: A Marriage Tested
“Not Easily Broken,” a melodrama of marital difficulty directed by Bill Duke, is based on a novel by T. D. Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas and a powerhouse of that ever-expanding zone of American life in which religion, therapy and popular culture intersect. “I don’t want to go all Oprah on you,” a character says at one point, but Mr. Jakes is doing a version of just that, advancing a more overtly Christian, and more frankly patriarchal, version of Oprah Winfrey’s message of empathy, resilience and forgiveness. (Continue Reading…)

R. Kelly & Wife Finalize Divorce
R&B singer R. Kelly and his wife of 11 years, Andrea Lee Kelly, are officially divorced, according to a statement from their lawyers Thursday. Kelly, 42, and Andrea, 35, will have joint custody of their three children. No other details were revealed. The announcement follows Kelly’s acquittal of child pornography charges in June. The couple weathered martial ups and downs during the six-year-long case. In 2005, Andrea, filed an emergency protective order to keep the singer away from her amid claims of physical abuse which she rescinded weeks later. The couple then filed for divorce in 2006, but were still trying to make things work. (Continue Reading…)

New Data Exposes Racial Discrimination in Advertising Industry
An exhaustive new study of America’s advertising industry released today has found dramatic levels of racial discrimination throughout the industry. Bias against African-American professionals was found in pay, hiring, promotions, assignments, and other areas. The study was initiated by a coalition of legal, civil rights, and industry leaders who created the Madison Avenue Project. The Project was created in 2008 to address advertising’s deep-rooted racial bias and today, Cyrus Mehri, Project leader and prominent civil rights lawyer, called the findings “absolutely astonishing in this day and age.” Angela Ciccolo of the NAACP, another Project partner, commented that “the time has come to stand up to change this industry.” Overall, the findings reveal that racial discrimination is 38% worse in the advertising industry than in the overall U.S. labor market, and that the “discrimination divide” between advertising and other U.S. industries is more than twice as bad now as it was 30 years ago. (Continue Reading…)

desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\, noun: