Daily News Feed 8.23.08

Obama-Biden Ticket Makes Debut Sat.
Thousands of supporters were expected at a Saturday rally in Springfield, Illinois, to see the debut of Sen. Barack Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as a presidential ticket. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, announced his selection of Biden as his running mate with a 3 a.m. text message and a statement on his official Web site. “Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee,” the text message said. The 65-year-old senator who ran twice for president was informed of the decision Thursday, said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. In an e-mail sent to supporters Saturday morning, Obama wrote: “Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago. “I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.” (Continue Reading…)

Sierra Leone Agency Wants Ban on Blood Diamond Film
With the 2007 Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond” still pulling big crowds into Freetown’s movie halls, Sierra Leone’s new promotion agency would like nothing better than to see it banned. “This ‘Blood Diamond’ film is sending bad signals to the world about Sierra Leone,” the state-run Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIPA) said Thursday. The agency is urging the government and other partners “to ban the film with immediate effect,” SLIPA head Adeyormie Sandy told AFP. Set at the height Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an unscrupulous diamond trader. The film shows gruesome scenes of fighting in Sierra Leone and details how rebels force civilians to mine diamonds for them to fund the war effort. (Continue Reading…)

TV One and BET Deny They’re Obama Cheerleaders
AMID the crush of media at next week’s Democratic National Convention will be two relative newcomers to the election scene: TV One and BET, a pair of cable networks that court an African American audience. As all media outlets, the pair must meet the usual programming and logistical demands of convention coverage, but they also face a question that is virtually unique to them: What is the line between pride and advocacy? Although Sen. Barack Obama’s historic candidacy has prompted the two networks to devote unprecedented resources toward political coverage, it also means they must find a journalistic balance between honoring the achievement and reporting the news. That tension has been highlighted by both networks’ decision to extensively cover the Democratic convention and practically ignore its Republican counterpart. Both networks can provide a depth and insight that perhaps the mainstream media cannot, but they are still wary of charges of favoritism, which have already surfaced within some pockets of the black national media. (Continue Reading…)