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Updated: Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Published: Sunday, December 11, 2005 |
Thirty Years Later, What's Goin' On?
On December 12, 2005, NABJ officially celebrated our 30th Anniversary. Happy Birthday, NABJ!
Thirty years ago, on December 12, 1975, 44 brave men and women came together at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, DC – they were among nearly 100 black journalists who were in town to cover the National Association of Black Elected Officials – and signed their names to our founding documents.
At the Miami convention in 1987, outgoing NABJ President Al Fitzpatrick (left) with his successor, incoming president DeWayne Wickham. |
They came together because blacks were not being portrayed accurately in American media, and somebody needed to do something about it. They came together because blacks were not being hired at American newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations, and somebody needed to do something about it. They came together because the journalism world around them marginalized, ignored or downright insulted blacks, and somebody needed to do something about it.
So they did something about it.
Today, thirty years later, while some things have certainly improved, many of those same issues still exist. We still are woefully underrepresented in newsrooms. We still see an image of ourselves in the media that is incomplete and often inaccurate. And now, the very foundation of journalism seems to be crumbling under our feet.
We’re going backward, not forward.
Just look at recent developments over the past few months:
- Veteran journalists such as Ken Cooper of the Boston Globe (whose job and national staff was eliminated due to budget cuts), Acel Moore of the Philadelphia Inquirer (who took a buyout and retired after 43 years) and Keith Wheeler of the Orlando Sentinel (who was laid off after his job was slashed) are leaving or being forced out of the business.
- Two out of the three network anchor lineups for the evening news have been named, and they still can’t seem to find a black journalist to elevate (I’d think CBS’ Byron Pitts or ABC’s Michel Martin are about due for a call).
- Knight Ridder is under attack by a powerful investor, forcing the company to, among other things, put on hold its corporate-sponsored intern and scholarship programs for 2006. (Disclosure: I work for Knight Ridder.)
- The L.A. Times is canceling its long-running high school and college journalism program, leaving nearly 70 students without exposure and training. (This is the same L.A. Times that just named Dean Baquet as its first black editor.)
- Buyouts and layoffs continue across American journalism, from the Baltimore Sun to the Allentown Morning Call to US News & World Report (congressional writer and NABJ member Terence Samuel was among 10 journalists axed there).
- Savoy magazine, trying to make a fresh start of it, is now back on indefinite “hiatus,” having run out of money.
There have, however, been some solid developments over the past few months.
- Veteran journalist and longtime NABJ member Glenn Proctor took over as the first black editor of the Richmond Times Dispatch.
- Wanda Lloyd, the first black executive editor of the Montgomery Advertiser, has hit the ground running with a breathtaking online package covering the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks.
- NABJ founder Maureen Bunyan remains on the air at WJLA-TV after more than 30 years, starting on Washington, D.C. television in 1973. (Who would have thought 30 years ago that any black on the air would last 30 minutes, much less 30 years.) Also passing the 30-year mark are veterans Jim Vance of WRC-TV and his good friend Ed Bradley of CBS’ 60 Minutes.
- Terry Neal, one of the best political writers online, moves back into the Washington Post newsroom as an editor. And his colleague, Eugene Robinson, passed over for the managing editor slot, has taken that setback and turned it into an opportunity, becoming one of the sharpest voices in D.C. as a columnist (Washingtonian Magazine noted that, but missed the other black voices in the nation’s capital).
- And even Aaron McGruder got his time on the tube when the Cartoon Network launched Boondocks, an animated series based on his biting newspaper strips.
Nevertheless, for the industry and for our people, it’s getting cold out there.
So, thirty years later, what do we and NABJ do to stay warm? First, now is the time to become even better journalists. Start to learn new skills. Become that three-dimensional journalist – adept in print, broadcast and online. NABJ, through the Media Institute and our annual Convention and Career Fair in Indianapolis (August 16-20, 2006), will be placing extra emphasis on skills-based training for the next generation of journalists. There is still plenty of excitement and importance in journalism; we just need to develop the skills and tools to practice it on the new playing field.
Next, let’s make a little noise. NABJ affiliated chapters, our first line of defense, should take the lead in speaking out on the changes happening at a local level – from Boston to the Bay Area, from Dallas to the City of Brotherly Love. Make sure your local members -- as well as your local readers, viewers and listeners -- understand the impact when another black voice disappears from the newspaper or is silenced from the airwaves.
Then, the best way to change the media is to OWN the media. In Indianapolis, we hope to have several sessions – perhaps even a major plenary – on media ownership. We need financial education, access to capital, hard work and a little bit of luck. I see many young entrepreneurs starting up urban magazines and interesting Web sites all the time. Let’s encourage more of that.
And finally, the only way to know where you are going is to know where you have been. Take a look here on www.nabj.org for an extraordinary collection archiving the 30 years of NABJ. We have pulled together the history of NABJ, through words, pictures, audio and video. It is the perfect companion to a first-ever DVD production our members will get in the mail this month. Let me thank Herb & Mira Lowe, Caleb Wilkerson, Lisa Goodnight and Ben Winton for all their hard work in producing the packages.
Yes, a lot has changed since 1975. And a lot hasn’t. But one thing is certain: what faces us in the next 30 years will be unpredictable and scary, but also holds the possibility to be exciting and rewarding. The future is ours to create or to become its victim.
It all depends on what we do about it.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
-- Dylan Thomas
CORRECTION: In the DVD presentation that was mailed out to members in December, we inadvertently switched the names of NABJ Founders Francis Ward and John White. We apologize for the mistake, have contacted them individually and are sending them each a personalized, corrected DVD. |
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