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NABJ President Tests Positive for COVID-19

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Tucker Says She Has ‘Fully Recovered’
Essence Cancels Festival for 2020
Bill Whitaker Meets Trump Aide’s Challenge
Walston Returns to Asheville, N.C., as Editor
Nominate a J-Educator Who Promotes Diversity


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Dorothy Tucker sent a message Wednesday to members of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Tucker Says She Has ‘Fully Recovered’

Dorothy Tucker, investigative reporter for WBBM-TV in Chicago and president of the National Association of Black Journalists, announced Wednesday that she has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus but has “fully recovered, and my family did not have any symptoms.”

Tucker, who turned 64 on Monday, wrote, “I only experienced mild symptoms — a low-grade fever and a couple of days of fatigue. That was it.

“Because of my past travels, I have no idea where I contracted the virus.”

She told Journal-isms by telephone that she “wanted to wait until my husband and my daughter did not have any symptoms” before making an announcement.

Tucker did not want to disclose personal details such as what prompted her to be tested.

What’s most important, she said, is that NABJ members be mindful of their safety and that they take care of themselves. “I was very fortunate,” Tucker added.  

“My experience is a reminder that we must be mindful of our health and self-care,” she wrote to members. “Please remember that it is OK to respectfully decline any assignment that makes you feel uncomfortable.

“Make sure you wear protective gear at all times and practice social distancing. We need you healthy so you can continue to do great work. Please join me in sending well wishes to our members who are still recovering from the coronavirus. . . .”

Apart from Tucker’s case, the Chicago city government reported Wednesday that “There have been 10,264 cases of COVID-19 identified in Chicago residents so far and 24,593 in Illinois.” Latinx fatalities were 21.7 percent of the total and black, non-Latinx people were 48.3 percent.

In addition to having more of the underlying conditions that permit COVID-19 to take hold, African Americans are said to have higher rates in part because they did not see themselves in the early news coverage. Some believed they would not be affected.

Actress Kerry Washington said April 6 on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” for example, “It speaks to kind of how separate our communities remain in this country and how… There’s a huge gap between worlds in a lot of ways that we don’t always — if we watch the news and we don’t see somebody who looks exactly like us, we don’t necessarily think that it has to do with us.”

Journalism associations, including NABJ, have been conducting webinars related to how journalists are
affected by the coronavirus.

On Wednesday night, NABJ planned to conduct “What To Do If You’re Laid Off During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The Native American Journalists Association messaged members Wednesday that “NAJA wants to know what you are experiencing professionally and personally due to COVID-19 and how we might support our members during this challenging time.” It asked nembers to respond to a NAJA survey.

Meanwhile, “Kerry Flynn writes: Local news reporters in Mississippi are grappling with a deadly natural disaster — on top of a coronavirus outbreak — after tornadoes tore across the south on Sunday, destroying hundreds of homes and killing at least 11 people,” Brian Stelter wrote in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter for CNN. “I spoke with Mary Irby-Jones (pictured), the top editor of Gannett-owned The Clarion Ledger in Jackson and the Hattiesburg American, about how her team is handling the coverage. . . .”

These were to be headliners at this year’s Essence festival. (Credit: Essence)

Essence Cancels Festival for 2020

Essence Communications, publisher of Essence magazine, canceled its popular Festival of Culture Wednesday after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell recommended that no large events take place for the rest of the year.

We “look forward to returning to New Orleans in 2021,” the announcement said.

“We are excited to now announce that our ‘ESSENCE Benefit Series to Fight COVID-19’ will raise money and provide support for businesses and organizations in Black communities across the country, and that our first-ever ESSENCE Festival of Culture: The Virtual Edition taking place over July 4th weekend will be included in this effort as a multi-day experience and benefit celebration.

“This Festival will be hosted on our new ESSENCE Studios streaming platform, which will extend the experience to communities everywhere providing unfettered access to the power, purpose and party that has made the ESSENCE Festival the largest cultural, entertainment and empowerment experience in the world. . . .” the statement said.

Festival organizers previously announced that the event, originally scheduled for July 4, was being postponed and moved “‘closer to the fall.“

NOLA.com reported last year, “Attendance for Essence’s paid and free events numbers in the hundreds of thousands, with an annual economic impact estimated in hundreds of millions of dollars.

(Credit: CBS’ “60 Minutes”)

Bill Whitaker Meets Trump Aide’s Challenge

“Peter Navarro suggested in a heated interview that 60 Minutes never covered pandemic preparation efforts from the presidencies before Donald Trump, prompting an instant fact check from CBS News,” Ken Meyer reported Monday for Mediaite.

“Bill Whitaker interviewed the White House trade adviser for Sunday night’s episode of 60 Minutes, and asked why the Trump administration didn’t anticipate the Covid-19 pandemic despite early warnings.


“ ‘I don’t know what you mean. It’s like if an intelligence agency said a global pandemic could happen, right? I mean, I’m sure they’ve been saying that for decades and nobody took them seriously,’ said Navarro. ‘This was the 500-year flood. This hasn’t happened since 1917. You can line up every president since then and say, “Why didn’t you think this could happen again,” but that’s not productive right now.’


“Navarro then issued a challenge to CBS.


“ ‘Show me the 60 Minutes episode a year ago, two years ago or during the Obama administration, during the Bush administration, that said, “Hey a global pandemic’s coming, you’ve got to do XYZ and by the way we would shut down the entire global economy to fight it. Show me that episode, then you’ll have some credence in terms of attacking the Trump administration for not being prepared.’


“ ‘I guarantee you we did,’ Whitaker retorted.


“From there, 60 Minutes aired clips from their past coverage on how governments contended with the swine flu in 2009 and the avian flu of 2005. The footage from 2005 included an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, currently the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who warned that ‘right now, if we had an explosion of an H5N1, we would not be prepared for that.’ ”

Walston Returns to Asheville, N.C., as Editor

“Jewell Walston, a former Citizen Times sports editor, is returning to Asheville to lead the newsroom as executive editor,” Todd Runkle reported Monday for the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen Times.

Jewell Walston

“Walston was introduced as executive editor of Gannett’s Western North Carolina Group on April 13 during a video call. She takes over the top spot in the Asheville newsroom after former news director Katie Wadington shifted in March to a role helping lead a fact-check team with USA TODAY. . . .

“While Walston will be based in Asheville and lead the Citizen Times, she also will oversee Gannett’s Hendersonville Times-News, Gaston Gazette and Shelby Star. . . .

“Before accepting the Western North Carolina Group executive editor position, Walston was regional sports director for Gannett’s South region, a role she adopted in August 2019. Walston had numerous editorship positions after leaving the Citizen Times in 2003, including stints at The Cincinnati Enquirer, Detroit News, Newport News Daily Press, Winston-Salem Journal and Newsday. . . .”

The Gannett Co., which owns the Citizen Times, announced March 30 that it would be instituting furloughs and other cost reductions in response to big advertising declines, Rick Edmonds reported then for the Poynter Institute. Those measures have begun.

Nominate a J-Educator Who Promotes Diversity

Beginning in 1990, the Association of Opinion Journalists, formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers, annually granted a Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship — actually an award — “in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage minority students in the field of journalism.”

Laura  Castaneda, 2019 winner

AOJ merged in 2016 into the American Society of News Editors, which as the News Leaders Association is continuing the Bingham award tradition.

Since 2000, the recipient has been awarded an honorarium of $1,000 to be used to “further work in progress or begin a new project.”

Past winners include James Hawkins, Florida A&M University (1990); Larry Kaggwa, Howard University (1992); Ben Holman, University of Maryland (1996); Linda Jones, Roosevelt University, Chicago (1998); Ramon Chavez,University of Colorado, Boulder (1999); Erna Smith, San Francisco State (2000); Joseph Selden, Penn State University (2001); Cheryl Smith, Paul Quinn College (2002); Rose Richard, Marquette University (2003).

Also, Leara D. Rhodes, University of Georgia (2004); Denny McAuliffe, University of Montana (2005); Pearl Stewart, Black College Wire (2006); Valerie White, Florida A&M University (2007); Phillip Dixon, Howard University (2008); Bruce DePyssler, North Carolina Central University (2009); Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia University (2010); Yvonne Latty, New York University (2011); Michelle Johnson, Boston University (2012); Vanessa Shelton, University of Iowa (2013); William Drummond, University of California at Berkeley (2014); Julian Rodriguez of the University of Texas at Arlington (2015) (video); David G. Armstrong, Georgia State University (2016) (video); Gerald Jordan, University of Arkansas (2017) ,Bill Celis, University of Southern California (2018) and Laura Castañeda, University of Southern California (2019).

Nominations may be emailed to Richard Prince, Opinion Journalism Committee, richardprince (at) hotmail.com. The deadline is May 17. Please use that address only for NLA matters.


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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity.   Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms-owner@yahoogroups.com

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