Essence Shifts White Male Managing Editor for his Right Wing Anti-Obama Feelings
Facebook Page Filled With Right-Wing Messages
A Michael Bullerdick Facebook pageEssence magazine and its white male managing editor — whom the leading magazine for black women has emphasized had a production, not an editorial role — are parting ways, a spokeswoman told Journal-isms Friday, after right-wing material on his Facebook page was brought to the editors' attention.
The hiring of Michael Bullerdick last July created an uproar, partly because the title of "managing editor" implied to many a major role for a white man in the editorial process of a magazine for black women.
In his LinkedIn profile, Bullerdick lists "Edit stories for tone and style" among his duties, even though editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White insisted when he was hired, "Michael is responsible for production and operational workflow. He has no involvement in editorial content."
The hiring of Michael Bullerdick last July created an uproar, partly because the title of "managing editor" implied to many a major role for a white man in the editorial process of a magazine for black women.
In his LinkedIn profile, Bullerdick lists "Edit stories for tone and style" among his duties, even though editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White insisted when he was hired, "Michael is responsible for production and operational workflow. He has no involvement in editorial content."
Michael BullerdickThe announcement of Bullerdick's departure for the book division of Time Warner, the conglomerate that owns Essence, came after Journal-isms shared screen shots of Bullerdick's Facebook page taken by a reader.
"Essence readers would be shocked to find that Bullerdick, who under the prodding of Time Inc became the first white male editor at the magazine last year, openly espouses extremist Right-wing views that run counter to what Essence has historically stood for," the Journal-isms reader wrote in an email.
In one screen shot, an April 10 posting is headlined, "No Voter Fraud, Mr. Attorney General?" touting a video by James O'Keefe, the conservative activist who worked with right-wing trickster Andrew Breitbart. The same day, Bullerdick shared a photo illustration of Al Sharpton headlined, "MSNBC Race Pimp." Bullerdick also recommends material from the conservative magazine Human Events and the right-wing website townhall.com, from which Bullerdick posted "the Frequent Bomber Program," an article about 1960s radical Bill Ayers. Bullerdick wrote, "Obama's mentor and friend."
"Essence readers would be shocked to find that Bullerdick, who under the prodding of Time Inc became the first white male editor at the magazine last year, openly espouses extremist Right-wing views that run counter to what Essence has historically stood for," the Journal-isms reader wrote in an email.
In one screen shot, an April 10 posting is headlined, "No Voter Fraud, Mr. Attorney General?" touting a video by James O'Keefe, the conservative activist who worked with right-wing trickster Andrew Breitbart. The same day, Bullerdick shared a photo illustration of Al Sharpton headlined, "MSNBC Race Pimp." Bullerdick also recommends material from the conservative magazine Human Events and the right-wing website townhall.com, from which Bullerdick posted "the Frequent Bomber Program," an article about 1960s radical Bill Ayers. Bullerdick wrote, "Obama's mentor and friend."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama noted that he was a child when Ayers notoriously was a member of the Weathermen, protesting the Vietnam War. "The former Weatherman, William Ayers, now holds the position of distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago," Michael Dobbs wrote in 2008 in the Washington Post. . . . Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago . . . Whatever his past, Ayers is now a respected member of the Chicago intelligentsia, and still a member of the Woods Fund Board."
Through a spokeswoman, White initially gave Journal-isms this statement on Friday: "As editor-in-chief, I'm responsible for all editorial content for Essence. I hired Michael to manage the production schedule of Essence. As head of production, he does not attend editorial idea meetings, nor does he get involved in the editorial direction of the magazine."
Later, however, the spokeswoman said, "By mutual agreement, Michael has accepted a position in another division."
The episode is yet another in which employees' social media activities have created tension between employer and employee. To forestall such conflict, some news organizations have forbidden employees to express political views in social media.
Just last month, for example, ESPN said its journalists would be violating its social media policy by displaying pictures of themselves wearing hoods on Twitter in solidarity with the slain teenager Trayvon Martin. Then the network reversed itself.
Asked whether Essence has developed a social media policy, the spokeswoman said by email, "Employees must follow the Standards of Business Conduct, which is distributed to everyone at the company. Dan Okrent (who heads up Editorial Standards and Practices for Time Inc.) has been working for some time now with our top Editors to develop a social media policy. This will be released when the work is done." Okrent was the first New York Times public editor.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Bullderdick is a magazine industry veteran who was a corporate managing editor for American Media from August 2004 to January 2011.
He also lists himself as Consultant/Editorial Director for American Athlete magazine from August 2011 to the present. In that position, he oversees "print, digital and brand positioning for this innovative digital magazine and Website with social media extensions (late 2011 launch). Conceptualize stories, set tone, hire all talent, write, top edit and oversee all content across platforms."
No successor to Bullerdick was named.
While in the midst of this firestorm Dr Boyce Watkins who is a professor and columnist posed these questions.
1) How did you let a right wing bigot into a key decision-making position in the first place?
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone inside Essence Magazine was responsible for releasing the screen shots of Bullerdick’s facebook page, which made him look like one of Rush Limbaugh’s biggest fans. One must also wonder how this man got through the door and why no one vetted him properly. It’s one thing for Bullerdick to be the guy taking out the trash, and another thing for him to be responsible for filtering the content that will shape the minds and perceptions of millions of black women across America…if only the Republicans were dumb enough to let me to do the same thing, I’d be able to destroy them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone inside Essence Magazine was responsible for releasing the screen shots of Bullerdick’s facebook page, which made him look like one of Rush Limbaugh’s biggest fans. One must also wonder how this man got through the door and why no one vetted him properly. It’s one thing for Bullerdick to be the guy taking out the trash, and another thing for him to be responsible for filtering the content that will shape the minds and perceptions of millions of black women across America…if only the Republicans were dumb enough to let me to do the same thing, I’d be able to destroy them.
Bullerdick has been in his position for months, and it’s disturbing when an editor of a major black women’s publication espouses views which communicate that he has very little respect for black people. If any of the women at Essence were at Fox News doing the same thing, they would be fired faster than you can say, “Post-racial society.”
2) Was Bullerdick lying about his job description or were you?
Essence Editor-in-Chief, Constance White, became somewhat defensive when the public began to question the hiring of Bullerdick. Richard Prince does a very good job of pointing out the double-talk by stating that:
“In his LinkedIn profile, Bullerdick lists ‘Edit stories for tone and style’ among his duties, even though editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White insisted when he was hired, ‘Michael is responsible for production and operational workflow. He has no involvement in editorial content.’”
Essence Editor-in-Chief, Constance White, became somewhat defensive when the public began to question the hiring of Bullerdick. Richard Prince does a very good job of pointing out the double-talk by stating that:
“In his LinkedIn profile, Bullerdick lists ‘Edit stories for tone and style’ among his duties, even though editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White insisted when he was hired, ‘Michael is responsible for production and operational workflow. He has no involvement in editorial content.’”
So, which one is it? That he edits for tone and style or that he has no involvement in editorial content? Either Bullerdick is lying or White is lying. I’d love to speak to a member of the staff to find out which one it is.
3) Do you understand just how deeply this man has disrespected you and your constituents?
No one can fault Michael Bullerdick for being a white guy. We can’t even necessarily attack him for being a Republican. But it’s one thing to be a Republican and another thing to be the kind of nasty, racist, vile Republican that even Fox News won’t hire. The remarks made by Bullerdick on his Facebook page about black public figures were a direct slap in the face to the millions of black people who pay the bills at Essence Magazine.
No one can fault Michael Bullerdick for being a white guy. We can’t even necessarily attack him for being a Republican. But it’s one thing to be a Republican and another thing to be the kind of nasty, racist, vile Republican that even Fox News won’t hire. The remarks made by Bullerdick on his Facebook page about black public figures were a direct slap in the face to the millions of black people who pay the bills at Essence Magazine.
By being so bold in his disrespectful and possibly racist ideology, Bullerdick was effectively saying, “I don’t care what you people think and I have no respect for you.”
We should also note that every public figure being attacked on the screenshot of Bullerdick’s Facebook page “just happens” to be black. Of course he would expect us to see things differently, since people like him believe that racism is a figment of our imagination.
4) Who told you to hire this dude in the first place?
It’s hard to become the Managing Editor at Essence Magazine by just walking in off the street and handing them your resume. In order for anyone, let alone someone who isn’t black and female, to get this kind of job, they usually have to have a connection. To make the hire into a reality, someone has to say “I’ve worked with this guy in the past and he’s good.” Another possibility is that a higher up at Time Warner (the company that owns Essence) made a phone call and told White to hire Bullerdick for the job.
It’s hard to become the Managing Editor at Essence Magazine by just walking in off the street and handing them your resume. In order for anyone, let alone someone who isn’t black and female, to get this kind of job, they usually have to have a connection. To make the hire into a reality, someone has to say “I’ve worked with this guy in the past and he’s good.” Another possibility is that a higher up at Time Warner (the company that owns Essence) made a phone call and told White to hire Bullerdick for the job.
I’d love to know who the puppet master happens to be, because it’s hard to imagine that the old school Essence Magazine of the 1990s would have ever hired anyone like this. This “racial mutiny” within the walls of Essence is disturbing to anyone who loves the institution and indicative of something deeper. The incident also makes it clear that some things have changed for the worse.
5) What now?
Whether speaking of an interaction between two people or between a magazine and its readers, all relationships require trust. By folding to corporate financial pressure and giving decision-making responsibility to individuals who do not have the black community’s interest at heart, Essence Magazine has engaged in a massive breach of trust with the black community and made questionable decisions which indicate that profit matters more than people. From this point on, any “diversity decisions” are going to be viewed with a critical eye, and this incident is a telling reminder of what can happen when our most prized institutions hand over their power to the highest bidder.
Whether speaking of an interaction between two people or between a magazine and its readers, all relationships require trust. By folding to corporate financial pressure and giving decision-making responsibility to individuals who do not have the black community’s interest at heart, Essence Magazine has engaged in a massive breach of trust with the black community and made questionable decisions which indicate that profit matters more than people. From this point on, any “diversity decisions” are going to be viewed with a critical eye, and this incident is a telling reminder of what can happen when our most prized institutions hand over their power to the highest bidder.
The fact is that ownership is highly correlated with power, which is something that white folks figured out long ago. African Americans, by believing that their power is in the paycheck, almost always find ourselves sitting on the sidelines complaining after we’ve been disrespected by those who own us. Malcolm X warned us about this kind of thinking a long time ago.
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