Maynard alumni report: The death of Chauncey Bailey

August 3rd, 2007 No Comments Printer-Friendly

Maynard Institute alumni grieve over the death of a colleague.

Commentary

The untimely death of renowned African-American journalist and Maynard Institute alumnus Chauncey Bailey stunned the media community. He was gunned down on his way to work Aug. 2 in Oakland, Calif. A handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery, an organization Bailey was investigating, has been charged in the slaying. In e-mails to the Maynard Institute, alumni share how they covered the death of their fellow journalist and, for many, their friend.

Gregory Lewis

Gregory Lewis is a senior reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, where he is a member of the race and demographic team and author of the newspaper’s “Old School Blues” blog. He was director of recruitment and placement for the Maynard reporting and editing programs from 1981 to 1986.

In his blog entry of Aug. 3, “This can’t be real,” he wrote:

“I am in pain today …

“I am having a hard time believing this is real. It’s like a dream or a storyline in a movie or a television show.

“Chauncey invited me along with several other black journalists to write 13 scripts for a television sit-comedy he had sold to ABC. Chauncey had written the pilot and could have been selfish, but he wanted to share his potentially newfound wealth with other brothers and sisters.

“But my association with him started way before us trying to get rich being Hollywood writers. I’ve known Chauncey, who was editor of the Oakland Post, a black weekly newspaper in the East Bay, for nearly 30 years. He was a controversial brother but a good brother nonetheless. He was a black community-minded reporter.

“We often showed up on the same stories when I plied my trade for the San Francisco Examiner. He worked for the Oakland Tribune. Whenever we were on the same story, we traded off being good guy-bad guy on the person who was holding the press conference. We’d debate about who delivered the question that made the person squirm the most. I must admit, Chauncey won most of those challenges. He had a way of asking pointed, direct, hard questions, especially of black officials, that would anger them.

“He was about improving the black community…”

Mary Ambrose

Mary Ambrose, managing editor for New America Media, was in the Editing Program this summer. New America Media extensively covered the death of Bailey, who was a co-founder of the organization.

“Bailey will be honored and remembered for his tough, honest reporting and as a champion for black community causes. But as the past has tragically shown, the slayers of men such as him almost always are those that they champion.”

“The New America Media family would like to extend our personal condolences to the family of Chauncey Bailey — a consummate professional, friend, mentor and Black Media pioneer. Mr. Bailey was gunned down Aug. 2 in Oakland, Calif. He will be remembered as a fierce advocate for the African-American press and community, a loving father, a visionary media businessman and a friend of New America Media/Pacific News Service for over 20 years.

“New America Media Executive Director Sandy Close said of Bailey, ‘Chauncey was a co-founder of New America Media and one of the best investigative journalists working bar none … He once said, “All of the ethnic media are like fingers on a hand. Only together will we be strong like a fist.”‘”

Alice Bonner

Alice Bonner, a journalism instructor at the University of Maryland who is writing a Robert Maynard biography, was in the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at Columbia University in 1972. She taught in several classes at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1970s and 1980s and directed the Summer Program in 1986.