Articles Feature

With Millennials the Focus, NABJ Demolishes Attendance Records

by richard03052

More Than 4,000 Flock to Miami

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NABJ President Sarah Glover announces record-sending attendance figures at the Miami convention. (Credit: Twitter)
NABJ President Sarah Glover announces record-setting attendance figures at the Miami convention. (Credit: Twitter)

More Than 4,000 Flock to Miami

By Wayne Dawkins

The youth movement was evident at the annual National Association of Black Journalists convention in Aventura, Fla., near Miami, last week. Three of every four attendees were 20- to 30-
something millennials or 40ish Gen Xers, announced the organizers. The attendance record was not exceeded; it was demolished: the final figure was 4,129 attendees, said Executive Director Drew Berry, breaking the 3,340 mark at Atlanta-2005. [The previous record was 3,300 in Chicago, 1997].

A most-discussed theme during the four-day gathering was race and the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Thursday morning, Abby Phillip of CNN moderated the first of a three-part, two-hour opening plenary session.

Astead W. Herndon of the New York Times, Eva McKend, who covers the Kentucky congressional delegation in Washington for Spectrum Networks, and Darlene Superville of the Associated Press struggled with questions about doing a better job of covering race now that it is intertwined with politics because of Trump.

We’ve reached a point, said Phillip, where journalists are covering white identity politics, not just the conventional effort to include African American and Latinx voices in mainstream narratives.

“I don’t know if we’re there,” answered Herndon, regarding whether coverage is better. “Whites are coming to the ballot box with a racial lens. When President [Trump] is targeting minorities, his base is enjoying it.” Herndon added, “We’ve been pushed to look at race in a fact-driven, clear-eyed way. Donald Trump has shocked newsrooms into looking at this.”

McKend said, “Trump’s base likes the demonization. They think white supremacy is a myth.”

Superville said the lethal mass shootings the weekend before the convention that targeted people of color released an unpredictable commander in chief: “Trump is forced to come out and be somewhat presidential, then after a few days later, he’s back on Twitter insulting people.”

The shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left several dozen dead prompted calls from Democratic presidential candidates and others to regulate civilian use of military-style weapons, McKend noted.

They also initiated a dance between Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said McKend: “He’s moving where the president is moving on guns.”

McKend, who tracks McConnell, was the correspondent who asked his opinion about reparations for blacks in advance of congressional hearings last month. “I think people I work with appreciated that I asked,” she said in response to a question.

A good recognition of the above, said Superville, is that Errin Haines Whack, the Associated Press’ lead reporter on race and ethnicity, is covering presidential politics.

Since the midterms, Whack’s priority has been the intersection of race and politics. She is focused on themes of race in the 2020 election through next November. Politico wrote about her role here.

Attendance for this session peaked at 120 in the 720-person capacity ballroom.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at the presidential candidate forum on Day 2 (Credit: Sarahbeth Maney/NABJ Monitor)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at the presidential candidate forum on Day 2 (Credit: Sarahbeth Maney/NABJ Monitor)

At the Friday business meeting, Berry noted that despite overwhelming record attendance, conferees were still arriving, and the numbers were expected to grow when the final tally was done after noontime, Saturday. Last year’s Detroit convention attracted 3,010 attendees, he said.

Significant funding was still pouring in, said Berry, and, there were significant added expenses.

For starters, police presence — federal, state and local — was increased at the convention site in response to the El Paso and Dayton incidents. Berry said there was extra spending for complimentary food and beverages for attendees, and he persuaded the JW Turnberry Miami to double the bandwidth because of anticipated super-use by journalists.

NABJ stress-tested the hotel resort. Previously, the largest number of attendees at Turnberry was 1,500, said Berry. [On Friday evening, internet and cell phone service was sluggish during a tropical downpour.] NABJ had a surplus budget of $102,000 for the extra costs, said Berry, but he anticipated about $200,000 in extra expenses.

The two-hour business meeting attended by about 50 people was noteworthy for punctuality and civility compared to previous extended, raucous meetings. Lots of good news was reported. In addition to record attendance, 2019 was another revenue surplus year. Finance Chair Gregory Lee Jr. said this was the fourth consecutive year of surpluses.

Yet the meeting was not all sweetness and light. Discussion became chippy during the Constitution and Bylaws segment. Chair Melanie Burney was asked about the uproar over a constitutional amendment that proposed reduction of board members that included eliminating the academic representative.

Burney said members were notified appropriately, at least 60 days in advance, and e-blasts were sent. The academic representative and the constituents, however, could not vote on the amendment. “So how can educators be heard?” asked E.R. Shipp, associate professor at Morgan State University. President Sarah Glover answered that educator members were interspersed in the Innovation Bubble program planning, i.e. “Breaking into Audio and Podcasting,” or “Getting Started with WordPress. ” These were sponsored workshops.

Wayne Dawkins, associate professor at Morgan State, stated for the record that in the future longtime journalists who transition to academia should retain their $100 full-voting memberships and not downgrade to the $80 academic [or media-related] category. Milt Brown, Ph.D, the academic representative, answered, “I am a representative without a country, an ambassador without portfolio. I was a professor of practice who took the $20 drop. I urge a ‘no’ vote on the amendment.”

The amendment did fail narrowly Friday evening, short of the two-thirds majority needed. As of July 16, said Berry, the NABJ symbol that includes a pen and microphone embedded in the italicized letters, is now trademarked. People other than NABJ members and staff will be required to pay licensing fees for use of the symbol.


News events were felt at the convention. The Thursday plenary opened with a moment of silence in memory of Toni Morrison, 88, Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning author, who died Aug. 5.

On Saturday morning, David Peterkin, an ABC News executive, interrupted the annual Columbia J-school breakfast to announce that reputed child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York prison from a suspected suicide.

Wayne Dawkins is an associate professor at Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communication and author of “Black Journalists: The NABJ Story” and “Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream.”

 

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