Empowering Tales: Lawyer Addresses TRSA Group
One day Johnita Due reached into the pocket of her slacks and pulled out a stray piece of Italian currency. This random act precipitated a career change that would see her shift from a job as a litigator for a Wall Street law firm to a role as a legal counsel on media law for CNN.
A daughter of two career civil rights activists, Due grew up in an environment that emphasized the importance of empowering people through stories on the need for justice for all people. Due shared her own story of media issues and the pursuit for social justice to a room filled primarily with women managers or executives of textile services companies. The talk took place during a luncheon meeting sponsored by the TRSA's Women in Textile Services Committee on Day II of the Clean Show in Atlanta on April 17.
Due began with a discussion of her background, which included childhood vacations that typically coincided with yearly conventions of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She grew up amid the social and ethnic diversity of Miami and learned the value early of storytelling and its power to help right social wrongs.
Like many bright young people, Due ended up in law school and later advanced to a post as a litigator with a Wall Street law firm. The firm was one with a social conscience, and that led Due to apply for a fellowship that allowed her to work with a nonprofit group in Italy that was focused on improving race relations in that country.
At the time, Due explained, Italy was largely homogeneous. However, immigrants from Africa and the Middle East were making it more diverse. In some cases, this trend was creating conflicts among various ethnic groups.
Due enjoyed working on the project in Italy and when she returned, the idea of shifting to a job with a focus on empowering people through stories encouraged her in 2003 to accept a position as a media lawyer for CNN in Atlanta.
In that role, Due recently has dealt with many stories with a social justice angle. These include last year’s police shooting in Ferguson, MO, following a struggle between a white officer and an unarmed African-American suspect. Due had to voice the network’s concerns to police that the CNN’s correspondents should receive maximum access to street scenes in Ferguson following the shootings, which at times were quite heated.
More recently, Due has dealt with a similar case in South Carolina where an unarmed black man was shot by police. In this incident, however, a passerby shot video of the incident and shared it with the news media. The widely viewed tape shows the officer repeatedly shooting a suspect, Walter Scott, who was running away from him. Legal authorities in South Carolina have indicted the officer.
Like other networks, CNN aired the tape, which qualified under a “fair use” legal doctrine that allows news media outlets to share such materials with or without the owner’s consent, if the public’s interest in the information is at stake. In this case, Due noted that the man who shot the video recently has obtained an agency in Australia that’s seeking a $10,000 royalty for use of the tape.
Another media-related issue that Due discussed that has a particular relevance to textile services is the use by CNN correspondents or “talent” (i.e., anchor personalities) of social media outlets to voice their opinions on issues that go beyond CNN’s “objective” approach to news coverage. “We want our talent to show their personality,” Due said, noting that a TV medium requires an anchor to engage listeners on issues such as the pursuit of justice. However, when that crosses into advocacy in specific cases, it can cause trouble, particularly if statements appear on social media websites. “We say, “Don’t put anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t say on the air,’” Due said. She said that some CNN staff have been disciplined or dismissed for not following the company’s policy on social media use.