Daily News Feed 9.05.08

Forbes: Tyra Top Earning Woman in TV
The former supermodel, who hosts two hit US shows, raked in a staggering $US23 million between June 2007 and June 2008, according to a new list by Forbes.com. Tyra was responsible for creating daytime TV programme The Tyra Banks Show and America’s Next Top Model, on which she is also a producer and judge. Last year, the 34-year-old beauty signed a lucrative deal with Warner Bros, which will involve her launching Stylista – a new reality show set around a magazine. Tyra is also developing a straight-to-DVD series based on Clique, a popular series of best-selling books for teenagers. Forbes.com staff writer Lacey Rose said: “There is still plenty of money to be made in television. Although the days of $US1 million per-episode salaries may be long gone, TV’s top-earning women are finding other ways to cash in.” (Continue Reading…)

UK: Black Children Held Back by Institutional Racism in Schools
Black Caribbean pupils are being subjected to institutional racism in English schools which can dramatically undermine their chances of academic success, according to a new study. Researchers have uncovered evidence that teachers are routinely under-estimating the abilities of some black pupils, suggesting that assumptions about behavioural problems are overshadowing their academic talents. The findings, based on a survey which tracked 15,000 pupils through their education, add weight to the theory that low achievement among some black students is made worse because teachers don’t expect them to succeed. Black education groups welcomed the evidence, calling for urgent measures to be taken to stamp out any covert racism in schools. But other experts said the study was evidence that there needed to be new efforts to tackle behavioural problems among young black Caribbean pupils. (Continue Reading…)

In a More Diverse America, a Mostly White Convention
St. Paul, Minnesota – Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party’s biggest shortcomings. As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white. Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern — a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years. “It’s hard to look around and not get frustrated,” said Michael S. Steele, a black Republican and former lieutenant governor of Maryland. “You almost have to think, ‘Wait. How did it come to this?’ ” (Continue Reading…)