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Updated:
Friday, January 2, 2009
Posted: Jan. 2, 2009 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
Scholarships available for Journalists to attend Health Disparities Conference
First-of-its-kind conference empowers journalists
to cover rising mortality rate of blacks
WASHINGTON, D.C., JANUARY 1, 2009 - The National Association of Black Journalists is pleased to announce professional scholarships for journalists to attend the NABJ Conference on Health Disparities, January 30-31, 2009 at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. These professional scholarships are possible through funding by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"Medical issues are the silent killer in the African American community,” said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. “The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has the foresight to support journalism education that will help enlighten our communities with the knowledge that will save lives."
The two-day conference is the first of its kind for the nation’s largest minority journalist organization. The entire focus is on the health of the black community and empowering journalists to better reach their audiences about the countless number of health issues that plague African Americans. Heart disease, breast cancer, strokes, mental health, HIV/AIDS and childhood obesity are among the topics that will be addressed through a series of seminar and roundtable discussions.
“Health and health disparities may be one of the single most important issues in communities of color,” said conference chair and freelance journalist Andrea King Collier. “The ability to be educated, employed, and to build a more prosperous future all hinge on being healthy, and having the ability to access health care. It is an issue that cuts across all ages and stages within the black community. As journalists, we must be able to have a deeper understanding of how to cover the issues and to find ways to put the spotlight on them in all media. It is more than just a talking head conference, it is a much needed conversation.”
Health policy analysts, physicians, researchers, and corporations will join journalists to uncover why African Americans fall victim to preventable and curable diseases. The conference will also show journalists how to cover these major health and medical stories using today’s multimedia model.
Presenters include Dr. Kevin Fenton of the Centers for Disease Control, Marian Wright Edelman, of the Children’s Defense Fund, Phill Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute, and Linda Blount of the American Cancer Society. In addition to funding by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the NABJ Conference on Health Disparities is sponsored by the National Center for Primary Care the Morehouse School of Medicine, the host organization and the Schering Plough Corporation.
"This conference is important because some news organizations are cutting back on health coverage," said Kathy Times, NABJ Media Institute Chair. "There will be plenty of information available that will lead to great news stories and save countless lives."
The professional scholarship covers conference registration, lodging and travel expenses. Scholarship deadline is Wednesday, January 14th.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.
The NABJ Media Institute offers professional development opportunities, technical training, historical documentation, educational programs, conferences, workshops, entrepreneurial guidance as well as Web seminars which consist of quality content and provides resources for students and journalists of color, relating to the industry.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
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