Credit: Today Show

From EurWeb

U.S. Airways is accused of refusing to let two young African American men into first class until they changed their clothes into more “appropriate attire.”

Brothers McCraig and Miles Warren are suing the airline for discrimination, claiming that when they tried to board the plane in Denver, they were repeatedly told by an employee that their outfit – jeans, hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps violated an alleged first-class dress code.

According to the federal discrimination lawsuit which was filed on Wednesday, they were told to change into button-down shirts, dress shoes and slacks if they wanted to sit in first class and were told that was the airline’s policy.

Read more at Eurweb.com.

Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Hasbro/AP Images

For the first time since the Local People Meters began tracking ratings for the New York area, a local morning program beat the Today show, Deadline Hollywood tells us.

Fox’s Good Day New York trumped the Today show between the hour of 7am and 9am during the month of February. The Today show has, of late, been facing some stiff competition from Good Morning America, particularly in the wake of the Ann Curry debacle. But a local show has never been a threat to the morning ratings driver. But at this point, it’s par for course, unfortunately, for NBC, which has seen trouble with shows like Smash, Deception, and others across its primetime lineup.

Meanwhile, over on ABC, things are on the up and up as GMA continues on its upward trajectory. Last week, that show extended its lead to a length not seen in almost two decades, about 1.1 million viewers. Robin Roberts’ return to the show gave it a ratings boost, which it has held on to. On the day of her return, GMA had 6.1 million viewers versus the Today show’s 4.9 million, said Zap2It.

AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron

Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer is on the TODAY show now, talking with Savannah Guthrie about everything from the tech company she leads to her work as CEO (a job she’s held since July) to being a new mom. But the real reason she’s making the morning appearance is to announce that the company has a new homepage that freshens up the look and, as Mayer says, personalizes the news presentation.

Calling it a new “experience,” the tech company’s CEO was sure to say that the homepage isn’t so radical that it will be unrecognizable to users. But emphasized the endless scrolling news feature and other features. The upper right shows what’s trending. And as the TODAY site notes, you can log in using your Facebook account in order to more easily share news.

Yahoo has been struggling to regain prominence in recent years, with the company bringing on Mayer for the expressed purpose of shining up the now dull tech giant. The New York Times writes, “Yahoo’s home page has long been a sort of sad reflection of the company. A jazzed-up Craigslist of sorts, the site was often cluttered with low-quality ads and irrelevant content and in no way reflected the fact that Yahoo is one of the most visited sites on the Web. With more than 700 million monthly visitors, Yahoo is still a leading source of information for sports, finance and entertainment.” The article also notes the homepage’s emphasis on all things Yahoo and the upgrades to customization.

The new look should aid with ad sales, which have been falling in recent years. But a new homepage will only be one step towards a bigger Yahoo recovery. We want to see what else Mayer has up her sleeve.

Credit: Shutterstock

From The Grio

There are many elements that go into the making of a superstar, and with a talent like Mariah Carey’s, some special handling is often needed. In the case of Tommy Mottola, the former Sony Music Entertainment executive  who mentored the current “American Idol” judge as she rose up the charts, that included marrying her.

Their five-year union was rocky, and she’s since been quoted as calling him “controlling” and “a Svengali.”

Read more at TheGrio.com.

Zimmerman in court with his attorney Don West in June. AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool, File

George Zimmerman, the man accused of second-degree murder for the death of Trayvon Martin, is suing NBCUniversal for defamation over the airing of edited 911 tapes on NBC News and the TODAY show.

Two NBC employees were fired after the edited tape aired in March, TVNewser reported earlier this year. Those two former staff members and a current correspondent, Ron Allen, are defendants in this case.

TVNewser also has the full legal filing, which says, “NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain.”

The New York Times outlines the “manipulation” referred to in the lawsuit: “The edits of a 911 audio recording — which removed an intervening question from the operator directly asking Mr. Zimmerman what race Mr. Martin was — aired three times on NBC’s ‘Today’ show.” NBC investigated the omissions and deemed them mistakes rather than “deliberate distortions.”

The complaint continues, “Zimmerman has suffered greatly, with death threats, a bounty placed on his head, threats of capture, and a constant, genuine fear for his life resulting in his need to, among other things live in hiding and wear a bullet proof vest.” Zimmerman is seeking “compensation for damages,” a jury trial, interests, costs, and punitive damages. Zimmerman’s lawyers have created a website for the case.

Zimmerman’s own case starts in June.

It may come as no surprise that while we go throughout our day looking for stories on relationships, ratchet entertainment, and crazy news to entertain you with, we find inspiration from morning talk shows like The View and the Today show. This morning, while watching Kathie Lee & Hoda and wondering (yet again) about how these two manage to drink merlot at 10am, one of the editors inquired about Hoda Kotb’s ethnicity. When I noted that she was Egyptian, my co-worker asked “how come Hoda doesn’t identify as a Black woman?”

Well, I didn’t realize that she didn’t identify as a Black woman. Does she really need to publicly exclaim herself to be a Black woman continuously in order to show pride?

Black folks are definitely representing in morning media: we have Robin Roberts, Al Roker, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, and Michael Strahan to name just a few. Although Hoda doesn’t necessarily come to mind when we think of Blacks in the media, do we need her to make a big to-do about being an African-American woman?

Personally, I don’t feel any type of way about it mainly because Hoda doesn’t seem like she’s trying not to be Black. She’s just herself. To be fair, when does she have the chance to speak out on Black issues on The Today Show? Between segments on makeovers, budget fashion and fluff celebrity interviews, I don’t know when she’d have the chance to really make references to her “Blackness” although I faintly recall her referencing her African roots when she discussed her personal hair care. The only thing I know about her that makes me question her self-identity is the title of her book: “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee.” The fact that she refers to her hair as “bad hair” may or may not shed some light on how she interprets her ethnicity. But since I haven’t read the book, I’ll withhold a lot of my comments on that subject.

Who knows if she is embracing the “ambiguity” zone she’s occupying, alongside celebs like Rashida Jones and Maya Rudolph, and playing it to her advantage? Who knows if she simply doesn’t think about her ethnicity?  Although I’m a strong proponent of Black celebrities leveraging their star power to advance Black causes, I can understand when certain celebs choose to keep a low profile on issues of race and rather lead by example.

What do you think? Does Hoda need to be more outspoken when it comes to her identity and speaking out on Black issues? Sound off in the comments section. 

Left to right: Morgan Joseph, her mom Sharon, Today correspondent Janice Lieberman and host Savannah Guthrie. Image: Today.MSNBC.com

While you were sleeping in this Labor Day morning, the TODAY show was taking a look at a new retail trend in girls clothing. The increasing number of overweight children in the U.S. and the higher number of girls who are simply growing bigger and taller at a younger age has prompted more stores to carry “plus-size” girls clothing.

According to the report from the show’s consumer correspondent Janice Lieberman, larger-sized children’s clothing has always been around. And for boys, it’s typically called “husky.” But for young girls, finding stylish clothes is difficult. Sears, Gap, Children’s Place and other stores are responding to the need. Sears has a “Pretty Plus” line for girls between the ages of seven and 12. Other retailers are offering bigger sizing for girls as young as three, most of it online.

In the studio interview, Morgan Joseph, an 11-year-old who is already 5′ 9″ tall, talked about the troubles she’s had shopping for clothes, noting that she even had a problem finding an outfit to wear on the show that would fit and be “age appropriate.” Sitting beside her mother Sharon, she said she plans on launching her own line of clothing.

“I don’t want [other kids] to go through what I had to go through,” she said at one point.

She also has a problem with the term “plus size.”

“I don’t really enjoy the word ‘plus,’” she said. “I think there should just be numbers like they do for other kids.”

With back-to-school shopping happening later this year, there are probably a lot of parents out there still grappling with this issue as well. Across all age groups, retailers have found value in selling plus-size clothing with more stores and brands — like H&M and The Limited —  offering larger sizes. The Los Angeles Times quotes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says more than a third of Americans are obese and nearly two-thirds of women are overweight. At least half of women wear a size 14 or larger. As a result, this is a growing segment of the retail industry, with sales expected to reach about $7.5 billion this year.

Parents, schools and politicians are fighting the growing childhood obesity issue. School lunches coming under greater scrutiny and more emphasis being placed on exercise and the health problems that arise for children who’ve put on a lot of weight. But, as the segment shows, it’s not just an issue with obesity. Some kids just grow quickly.

Do you agree with Morgan that retailers should use a different term? Should “plus-size” clothing come under a different name?

This hasn’t been Olympic Hurdler Lolo Jones’ week and ironically it has less to do with her not bringing home a medal after placing fourth in her 100-meter race last night, and more to do with what happens when the pretty girl doesn’t live up to the pedestal society placed her on simply because of her looks.

Let me explain that a bit. Lolo is a stellar athlete. The 30-year-old’s sheer participation in this year’s games tells you that, as do the Indoor world champion medals and records she holds. Is she the best hurdler on the American team? I’m not qualified to judge that, but I do know she’s received more mainstream attention than any other woman on the American track team. New York Times writer Jere Longman would say that’s because of a carefully calculated effort on Lolo and her PR team’s part. I think American bias plays a bigger role in that coverage than the columnist acknowledges.

In his piece, “For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image,” the author wrote:

“Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games. This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.”

“Women have struggled for decades to be appreciated as athletes. For the first time at these Games, every competing nation has sent a female participant. But Jones is not assured enough with her hurdling or her compelling story of perseverance. So she has played into the persistent, demeaning notion that women are worthy as athletes only if they have sex appeal. And, too often, the news media have played right along with her.”

If you recall, Lolo has spoken quite openly about her virginity over the years—a choice I mentioned before I didn’t think was wise because it invites the very type of backlash exhibited here. Longman wasn’t writing this piece as an op-ed on sexism in sports coverage, he wrote it because he was disappointed that he expected Lolo to lose her race yesterday, which she did. For him, that confirmed his assumption that she thinks she’s too swexy for her sports bra. I say that because he opened the article with, “judging from this year’s performances, Lolo Jones seems to have only a slim chance of winning an Olympic medal in the 100-meter hurdles and almost no possibility of winning gold.” He then outlines the so-called scandalous endeavors she’s been involved in off the track, like posing nude for ESPN and being nearly naked on the cover of Outside magazine, then follows it up with, “If there is a box to check off, Jones has checked it. Except for the small part about actually achieving Olympic success as a hurdler.”

The crux of Longman’s article is Lolo had no right to make us interested in her if she wasn’t going to deliver the goods, better yet the gold. I think this backlash is proof of one simple thing: when you’re hot (because of your looks and your skill) everyone loves you, and when you’re not, the praise and the recognition fades as though it was never there. Longman would have no problem with Lolo’s image if she actually won. Yet his argument still isn’t that Lolo should have spent more time training than taking pics and that’s because he can’t argue that. Lolo did train—for four years—to participate in the Olympics this year. Unfortunately, that still hasn’t stopped the athlete from being called the Anna Kournikova of track, a slight that brought the hurdler to tears on the “Today Show” as she relayed her feelings on the backlash, saying:

“I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media…They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking.”

“I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it’s just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I’m already so brokenhearted as it is.”

Source: enstarz.com

With their ratings sliding for the first time in 17 years, it’s time the “Today” Show joined its competition in adding a black female co-host.

Now is the perfect time to do it.

As Fox pointed out:

“Today” had been the undisputed morning champ in the ratings since 1995 until this spring, when a resurgent “GMA” snapped NBC’s winning streak by seizing the top spot several times.

Just last week, during Savannah’s first turn as the “Today” Show co-host, “Good Morning America” had the largest ratings lead over “Today” in more than 17 years, while extending its top-ranked status to three consecutive weeks.

There are plenty of reasons why “Today” has lost its edge. However, while their top brass is undoubtedly scrambling to make adjustments in an effort to place the show back on top, I hope they will seriously consider adding a black woman to the morning show.

When Savannah was promoted to co-anchor alongside Matt Lauer, she left her 9am spot open and many are speculating that Tamron Hall or Hoda Kobt may fill it.

It’s unlikely they would move Hoda to an earlier time slot considering that would leave a gaping hole next to Kathie Lee. That leaves Tamron to be the center of speculation. I don’t necessarily want that move for her because she has such a good gig right now. Plus, NBC shouldn’t just move one black person around to look like it has diverse talent on staff instead of hiring more black people and actually having diverse talent on staff. Like, electing Barack Obama to POTUS meant not having a single Black Senator in United States Congress, moving Tamron to mornings would mean the only other Black female on the network all day would be Hoda at 10am. Tamron certainly wouldn’t be a poor choice, but surely the network has more than two black women to choose from. If not, I’m fairly certain the National Association of Black Journalists could pass along some names and reels.

If moving Tamron or Hoda are the only options then I hope they go for it. The paucity of African-American co-anchors in The Today Show’s history is astounding. As far as black women are concerned? They’re utterly non-existent.

Back in 1974, Barbara Walters became the show’s first female co-host and the first female co-equal on a network TV news program. After her, there has been Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry and now Savannah Guthrie. To their credit, The Today Show has hired black men. They have Al Roker on weather and Bryant Gumbel was an anchor for years. But where are the black women?

The show certainly has black women in their audience, so why they can’t have a black woman on the air?

Seriously, is anyone else shocked that in the nearly 40 years since Barbara Walters broke into the all-boys club, The Today Show has never once hired a black woman? Not. Once. What persistent belief could be permeating that place that would allow this to be the case after all of these years? For those that want to mention ratings, I take offense to the thought that black women can’t bring eyes to a show. Oprah is still the most famous talk show host in the nation and she is black as can be. Look at Robin Roberts on ABC’s “Good Morning America” or Gayle King on “CBS This Morning.” People will watch a news show when a black woman is the anchor. The Today Show just hasn’t tried it.  Their ratings are down anyway, so now is as good a time as ever. Maybe the executives don’t believe that a black woman would be a boost to the show, I say there is no reason to believe a black woman wouldn’t be a boost. They won’t know if they never hire one.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who think the absence of black women from “Today’s” history of anchors is not a big deal. It is, after all, just a morning show. But, to me, consistently neglecting to hire black women when there are scores of qualified black women for the job is always a big deal.

What do you think? Do you think The “Today” Show should hire a black woman?

Alissa Henry is a writer living in Columbus, OH with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink. 

More on Madame Noire!

• “You Can See How Black People Evolved From Apes” and Other Racially-Charged Comments That Left Me Speechless
• The Business Of Our Periods: Why Are Feminine Products So Darn Expensive?
• Listen Up Fellas! 7 Signs SHE’s Just Not That Into You
• No Way Out? Don’t Blame The Day26 Break Up On Diddy and The “Bad Boy Curse”
• Cute Kid Alert: Diddy’s Girls, Tiny & T.I.’s Kids Celebrate Her B-Day & More
• Single Black Male: Should Women Still Expect Men to Pay for Dates?
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “Waiting to Exhale”

- Google’s Marissa Mayer is named Yahoo’s chief executive. She’s the fifth person to hold the spot in five years. And she’s faced with the daunting task of rebuilding a company that has lost its luster.

-The price of gas dropped in June, a welcome change. However, food prices crept up a bit, a topic we discussed in some detail yesterday.

-Goldman Sachs is creating an in-house bank to lend money to rich people and big corporations. It’s the bank’s attempt to remake its business in the face of harsh economic realities. The company just announced pay cuts, job cuts, and a steep revenue drop — 14 percent — to  $16.6 billion.

-President Obama is hitting his GOP opponent Mitt Romney hard over the former Massachusetts’ governor’s failure to disclose his tax return information. Romney is already reeling from questions about his involvement with Bain Capital, the private equity firm he says he worked with until 1999. Paperwork suggests his involvement with the company may have lasted longer.

-Last week was Savannah Guthrie’s first as co-host of the Today show. And though the program had hoped to retake its longstanding commanding lead in the ratings over GMA with the ouster of Ann Curry, it was not to be. GMA beat Today by 350,000 viewers and came close to overtaking the show in the 25 to 54-year old demographic.

More on Madame Noire Business!

• Behind The Click: Tara Roberts, Co-Founder of GirlTank
• Entrepreneur Spotlight: Wedding Photographer Amber Knowles on Building Her Studio
• How CARA B Naturally’s Founders Launched A Natural Skin & Hair Care Company For Ethnic Children
• Entrepreneur Spotlight: Meet The Women Behind The Groupon of Black Hair, The Fly Cut
• Do Black Designers Skip Over Black Models to Gain White Customers?
• How She Made It: Alia Jones-Harvey, Producer of A Streetcar Named Desire