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Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007
Published: Monday, April 11, 2005 |
NABJ Presidential Candidates Debate in Region III
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NABJ Presidential Candidates
(l-r) Bryan Monroe, Cheryl Smith and Mike Woolfolk at the Region IV Conference in Orlando
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By Richard Prince
LINTHICUM HEIGHTS, Md. - NABJ presidential candidate Mike Woolfolk, appearing with fellow candidates Cheryl Smith and Bryan Monroe at a forum at the organizations Region III conference on April 9, said he favored NABJ pulling out of future Unity conventions, while remaining a partner in the Unity: Journalists of Color alliance.
I think Unity works better as an organization, Woolfolk said at the meeting, held at a conference center in suburban Baltimore. While acknowledging that NABJ made $500,000 from last summers Unity gathering in Washington, the former vice president-broadcast noted how large it had become and said, Do we need to be doing the mega-convention? I don't think so.
The others differed. Smith, a past Region VII director, said she had initially felt that NABJ had conceded too much to the other Unity partners, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association and Native American Journalists Association. But the former Unity program committee member concluded that I believe in coalition building, and said later that she supported participating in the Unity convention as long as it was mutually beneficial, which she said it was.
Monroe, who is Unity vice president as well as NABJ's vice president-print, said he strongly disagreed with pulling out of the conventions, adding that they had put a large spotlight on issues important to NABJ, that half those present last summer were NABJ members and that the event confirmed NABJ's position as the dominant journalism organization of color.
On the last day of Unity 2004, then-alliance President Ernest Sotomayor said registration had reached 8,158, exceeding projections, and that 10,000 was not unrealistic in 2008. Boston, Chicago, Washington and Houston are potential sites for Unity 2008, Anna Lopez, Unitys executive director, said in February.
Asked after the regional conference whether NABJ could actually pull out of the 2008 convention, Unity President Mae Cheng said: We are going ahead with the planning of Unity with the agreement and participation of the current NABJ president, Herb Lowe, as well as the three NABJ representatives who he has appointed. There is no signed contract, per se, from any of the groups. I don't believe there has ever been.
Only about 20 people were in the audience in the auditorium at the Maritime Institute for the forum, which was moderated by Theola Labb, president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists and a member of the NABJ Elections Committee.
Still, the candidates appearances at regional conferences are providing an early look at the three together. The filing deadline for this years elections for the 2005-2007 Board of Directors closed on April 1. NABJ members will elect a new president on Aug. 5 at the 30th annual convention and career fair in Atlanta.
Monroe, the only presidential candidate currently on the board, is assistant vice president-news at Knight Ridder in San Jose, Calif. Smith has been associate editor of the weekly Dallas Examiner and is talk show host/editor at KKDA-AM in Grand Prairie, Texas. Woolfolk is anchor/managing editor at WACH-TV in Columbia, S.C.
The candidates answered questions on such topics as the NABJ Journal, associate members, using emerging technologies, serving mid-career journalists, persuading President Bush to address a NABJ convention, increasing newsroom diversity and, for Woolfolk and Smith, why they thought 2005 was their year to be president.
In 2003, Herbert Lowe won the office in a three-way race, garnering 220 votes to 166 for Smith and 141 for Woolfolk, who is also a former Region IV director. Monroe ran unopposed then for a second term as vice president-print.
Losing was a very humbling experience, Woolfolk said, adding he had spent the last two years in reflection. I'm a different person in 2005 than I was in 2003. He also said, This is not about whoever gets to sit in the presidents chair. My focus is on you. I want to be sure you get all you deserve.
Smith noted that she was one of 17 people from across the country honored as Invisible Giants in March as she participated in the 40th anniversary of the march on Selma, Ala. I've done things in my career. Its a natural progression, she said. Its not often in life that you get a second chance.
The three candidates all agreed that the quarterly NABJ Journal magazine, last published as an online-only issue last summer, should be revived.
Monroe said he understood why producing the Journal was a problem when the organization had financial issues, but now we have $1.7 million in the bank and we have the opportunity to produce a quality product. He said NABJ should enlist its members in the magazine industry who know how to bring in advertising revenue.
Woolfolk called for expanding the readership. A lot of other people in our community would be interested in the stories in there, he said. When the members-only publication went from newsprint to magazine stock in 1996, it was anticipated that it would be marketed outside the organization. It could be a money maker, Smith said. Moreover, there are so many people looking for other things to do with their talents.
On other issues, all agreed on the importance of the NABJ Media Institute as a training vehicle, that the issue of the role of associate members had been settled, and that NABJ could help keep members up on technological advances lest they be left behind.
Of diversity efforts in the industry, publishers and station managers should be challenged to ask those who report to them, What black journalists did you consider before you named this white journalist? Monroe said. Woolfolk said that the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) lagged behind its print counterparts in measuring progress. Smith said that we have to start marketing our members and demonstrate that diversity benefits companies' bottom lines.
In remarks summarizing their candidacies, Smith said that I worked with NABJ on all levels since I was a college student at Florida A&M. I know how it feels to be sitting where you are.
I have a passion for NABJ and a passion for you, Woolfolk said. I feel like I've been called to service.
Monroe cited what he called a record of advocacy and standing up for what's right while on the board. He said he had a vision of an NABJ for life that would serve veterans and mid-career journalists as well as students and those just starting out.
Bonnie Newman Davis, a former Region III director who is now a visiting associate professor of journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., said after the forum: I didn't really hear anything new. Perhaps the messages were just framed differently. But that can be attributed to the organization becoming more stable. All the things we've sought to attain in the last few years seem to have come to fruition. Maybe were at the point where we can have civil discussion.
Richard Prince is chairman of the NABJ Media Monitoring Committee. |
