Villain In 1965, Hollywood Hero Today

WHAT WOULD Malcolm X say if he could see his name on a thousand theater marquees, hear TV anchors praising him as a hero and behold his image on national magazine covers and a million T-shirts?

One suspects the black revolutionary would have a sardonic comment, like: "This is America's way of saying `Thank God he's dead.' "

It's ironic that Malcolm X - who evolved from a petty hoodlum to a great moral leader and inspired thousands of activists in the 1960s - would become a media star. During his last months, well after he had abandoned the Nation of Islam and its anti-white demonology, Malcolm's speeches frequently condemned mainstream media.

Two months before he was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, Malcolm addressed a black audience there about the media's influence: "The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal. If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."

He accused the media of promoting so-called "responsible Negro leaders," while portraying him as an irrational, hateful extremist. Malcolm wrote in his autobiography how "the press, when it wants to, can twist and slant. If I had said `Mary had a little lamb,' what probably would have appeared was `Malcolm X Lampoons Mary.' "

Today's Hollywood hero was a media villain when he died in 1965. The day after the assassination, an error-filled editorial in The New York Times blamed Malcolm for his own death - calling him a "twisted man" with a "ruthless and fanatical belief in violence" whose life was "pitifully wasted" because "he did not seek to fit into society or into the life of his own people."

Carl Rowan - then the federal government's chief propagandist as head of the U.S. Information Agency and now a leading media pundit - complained that despite his agency's efforts, newspapers across Africa wrote warmly of Malcolm X. Rowan dismissed him as "an ex-convict, ex-dope dealer who became a racial fanatic."

Yesterday's "ruthless fanatic" has become today's hero with the help of filmmaker Spike Lee, who himself has clashed with "the white media" - though he has proven to be an adept media manipulator.

Besides bringing his powerful "Malcolm X" epic to the screen, Lee orchestrated massive advance publicity by provoking various media skirmishes. To say Spike Lee is a shrewd self-marketer is not to say his media criticism is wrong.

Lee was denounced as a racist when he stated his preference (reported as a "demand" in some quarters) that media outlets send black journalists to interview him about "Malcolm X." Lee knew this request would generate controversy - and more free publicity.

He defended his request by arguing that black journalists might bring a keener sensitivity to the story (possibly true), and that other movie directors have been allowed to pick and choose the journalists who cover them (definitely true). Lee also argued that media outlets need to be prodded into hiring more black journalists, who now comprise only 4.8 percent of daily newspaper staffs nationwide.

There is historic precedent for Lee's request. In the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt's insistence that women cover her press conferences was her way of ensuring that each news outlet in Washington had at least one female reporter.

After a "heavy sell" from Lee's camp and an internal staff debate, Premiere magazine did assign an African American to cover "Malcolm X." That debate also led Premiere to hire a black editor and a black staff writer.

Lee's complaints about white journalists are often sound. Take the headline on Esquire's cover, "Spike Lee Hates Your Cracker A--." Lee says he has never felt that way - "never have, never will."

He says he gets tired of hearing the kinds of questions from white journalists that are not asked of white filmmakers. "When are you going to make movies," Lee is asked, "that aren't about black people?" He wonders how often Woody Allen gets asked why his movies - usually set in multiracial New York City - never feature black characters.

Spike Lee's hit film is a breakthrough in spreading the word about Malcolm X. But it is only a movie.

As media critic Malcolm X warned in December 1964: "Never accept images that have been created for you by someone else. It is always better to form the habit of learning how to see things for yourself."

Media Beat: The Times invites critiques of the performance of local and national media. Commentary and opinion on the media should be addressed to the Op-Ed Editor, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Phone: 464-2323.

(Copyright, 1992, Creators Syndicate Inc.)