My9, formerly known as the UPN, kept much of its original formatting style in the name switch. Known for its particular attention to African-American programming, their news programming featured races in an interesting way.
Anchors: Lynda Lopez (Hispanic female), Mike Gilliam (black male).
Weathercaster: Shaye Ryan (white female)
Sports: Scott Stanford (white male)
- Policeman Doug Ziegler (black male) claims he was unfairly accosted by two plainclothes white officers who suspected him of wrongdoing when he was simply sitting in his car in his pwn neighborhood. He was searched and treated poorly even after he provided identification that he was a cop. Senator Adams (black male) feels the two officers should be suspended for gross misconduct. "It is not against the law to sit in your own car...apparently unless you are black or brown" says Adams.
- Al Sharpton visited three victims of a brutal police beating where a dozen cops took the men out of their cars. One of the men insists he was not resisting arrest and did not hardly deserve the beating administered to him. All three men are black.
- There was a vigil held for mothers who have lost their black sons in police-related incidents. Members of Black Women Against Racism Empowered (BWARE) called for the end of unfair police treatment and also boycotted the commercialism of Mother's Day.
- A damaged levee in the Hackensack river in Carlstadt NJ has meant constant flooding for much of the surrounding area, including local businesses who find it hard to continue on when their companies are bogged down by water. It has been this way for a year, and the buisness owners profiled in the piece are simply asking lawmakers to fix the problem.
- Correspondent Ti-Hua Chang (Asian male) narrated a piece about the three convergent causes of rising gas prices: increased demand, uncertain supply, oil money policy. Investors flood the market, driving prices up. Americans do not change their driving habits. Featured lots of experts talking about the problem.
- The McGreevy's are set to return to court to battle over custody over their daughter.
- A fire in Jersey City has left 14 people homeless. Joann Peliggi (white female) talked to some of them, white and black.
- Disabled kids ages 4-17 play baseball in the Special All Stars program in Ridgewood.
- Bush calls his daughter's wedding "spectacular".
- A con man (Derek Jones, black male) illegally sold the Free Mission Apostolic Church for 50,000 dollars. He forged his signature on the mortgage documents, and now the company who owns the land is suing the church itself. Jones has since vanished. "He's just a demon. An evil individual" said one of the all-black church members. A white female correspondent brought the story.
- Obama might accept McCain's offer to appear together in town halls across the nation to speak and debate. John Edwards warns Hillary not to hurt Obama's chances by staying in the race too long. Hillary has not hardly given up.
- Tornadoes in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas have now killed 24 people.
This news was focused on a very local, Jersey level. Among other things, it featured the most stories having to do with the black community. A high level of diversity was present in the correspondents and newscasters, and My9 featured the first Asian correspondent I had seen in any of the news I watched. With Asians being the most underrepresented racial category in most television news, I was actually surprised to see a man like Ti-Hua Chang featured, especially with his very ethnic-sounding name. My9 news seemed to promote diversity by getting all racial groups involved with the telling of the news, and highlighted many police brutality cases right in the beginning of the program. With the recent case of Sean Bell, these issuses have proven improtant to the black community in particular.
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