WINTER 2017 ISSUE POWERED BY THE BLACK PRESS How the new Museum of African American History and Culture pays homage to black journalists Here’s to all truth seekers Your passion overcomes obstacles Your craft reveals the true essence of who we are a2 | National Association of Black Journalists | www.nabj.org | Winter 2017 ©2016 FCA US LLC. All Rights Reserved. Jeep is a registered trademark of MacBook is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Agency: Union Adworks AD: Wald Trim: 8.5" x 11" Client: Jeep CW: Patton Live: 8" x 10.5" Jeep® NABJ Ad Publication: NABJ Journal Bleed: 8.75" x 11.25" Remembering Gwen Ifill 10 WINTER 2017 | Vol. 35, No. 1 Official Publication of the National Association of Black Journalists NABJ Staff EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT Drew Berry MEMBERSHIP MANAGER Veronique Dodson FINANCE MANAGER Nathaniel Chambers SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Kerwin Speight PROGRAM MANAGER Lisa Waldschmitt DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT JoAnne Lyons Wooten DEVELOPMENT CONCIERGE Heidi Stevens COMMUNICATIONS Enid Doggett STAFF ACCOUNTANT Sharon Odle NABJ Journal Staff PUBLISHER Sarah Glover Reporting a disaster George Curry's influence EDITOR 6 12 Zuri Berry DEPUTY EDITOR Shauntel Lowe COPY EDITOR Benét J. Wilson CIRCULATION MANAGER Veronique Dodson Black male anchors The black press influence DESIGN AND LAYOUT 15 18 Lisa Waldschmitt Contributors Danny Garrett Wayne Dawkins Kenneth Cooper Autumn A. Arnett Tené Croom Election lessons Ida B. Wells Society Maria Roberts 20 22 Dorothy Tucker 16 Photos from NABJ events 30 DeWayne Wickham Copyright 2017 24 Claire Smith 31 #NABJCongrats The National Association of 28 J.A. Adande Black Journalists Winter 2017 | www.nabj.org | National Association of Black Journalists | 3 a4 | National Association of Black Journalists | www.nabj.org | Winter 2017 From the President Greetings NABJ family! On behalf of the NABJ Board of NABJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS Directors, I’m honored to present the PRESIDENT 2017 NABJ Journal winter issue. Sarah Glover In this meaningful edition, NABJ NBC Owned Television Stations highlights the pivotal role black journalists play in the exhibits at the VICE PRESIDENT/PRINT Smithsonian’s National Museum Marlon A. Walker of African American History and Atlanta Journal-Constitution Culture in Washington, D.C. There are notable lessons to extract from covering Haiti and the divisive U.S. VICE PRESIDENT/DIGITAL presidential election, which we Benét J. Wilson delve into. Aviation Queen LLC We are inspired by NABJ member J.A. Adande and the founders of the VICE PRESIDENT/BROADCAST Ida B. Wells Society who are working Dorothy Tucker to provide new opportunities for a new WBBM-TV wave of NABJ members to learn from their breadth of experience. SECRETARY We also remember two great pillars of the Cheryl Smith journalism community — Gwen Ifill and George Curry. I Messenger News Group Both Gwen and George touched many NABJ members and mentored scores of journalists across the country. George was a true champion of the black press and Gwen was a TREASURER talented journalist who broke barriers over three decades in journalism, most recently as Greg Morrison an anchor at PBS' "NewsHour." Bumper2BumperTV NABJ is fortunate to have founders who continue to empower our association. I applaud the work of NABJ founder DeWayne Wickham and his recognition by the Enoch PARLIAMENTARIAN Pratt Free Library’s African American Department in Baltimore for naming a special Dave Jordan collection after him. NABJ also thanks Wickham for leading a delegation of 20 people to WSPA-TV Cuba in January. The travelers included NABJ members, Morgan State representatives, journalists, professionals and students. DIRECTOR, REGION I I'm most proud of the work of the NABJ Media Institute this past year and the Johann Calhoun programming it has produced over the course of the year — regional conferences, skills- The Philadelphia Tribune based training, and a specialized digital leadership training at Poynter. Over the course of 2017, NABJ will publish reports outlining “The State of Black DIRECTOR, REGION II Journalists 2017” in broadcast, print and online. Black men are an endangered species Vickie Thomas among television anchors. Here, an essay serves as the first installment of this project, WWJ//CBS Radio which aims to tackle how well black journalists are faring in American journalism. As we seek answers, more questions may arise. NABJ will work with our partners to improve the DIRECTOR, REGION III status of black journalists which in turn improves the state of all newsrooms nationwide. Gayle Hurd Thank you to the NABJ Journal’s new editor Zuri Berry, deputy editor Shauntel Lowe WPTF-AM/NC News Network and the entire team who contributed to this important issue. DIRECTOR, REGION IV Marcus Vanderberg Yours In Service, Yahoo Sports ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIVE Michelle Johnson Boston University Sarah Glover, NABJ President @sarah4nabj MEDIA-RELATED REPRESENTATIVE Tanzi West-Barbour SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: ADVERTISING ADDRESS ALL Policy Innovators for Education National Association of Black INQUIRIES: CORRESPONDENCE TO: STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Journalists Advertising Inquiries: NABJ Journal 1100 Knight Hall, Suite 3100 (301) 405-0248 1100 Knight Hall, Suite 3100 Wilton Charles Jackson II College Park, MD 20742 College Park, MD 20742 Louisiana State University (301) 405-0248 Winter 2017 | www.nabj.org | National Association of Black Journalists | 5 LEADING THE WAY REPORTING ON HAITI, HURRICANE MATTHEW SHOWS JOURNALISTS HOW TO COVER CATASTROPHES WELL By Danny Garrett 2 | National Association of Black Journalists | www.nabj.org | Winter 2017 he island nation of Haiti has a homes, polluted water sources and Hemisphere” across the exterior of its history just as fascinating as killed nearly 1,000 people. thorned crown. The moniker is a far it is revolutionary. Toussaint For many, the disaster triggered cry from its former title as the Jewel Louverture, and his keen memories of the 2010 earthquake of the Antilles, and its present status militaryT mind, fought for this country that struck the Caribbean country. as the country that counts as one of and called it home. Kingly and stately According to the Disasters Emergency its shining towns Jacmel, a place that Henri Christophe governed this land Committee, 220,000 people were bustles and flickers from its 35 art and called it the same. estimated to have died in the galleries to its murals, mosaics and Hopefully, one does not need to earthquake. (The Haitian government sculptures that line the commune’s venture far within the sprawling pages has those estimates much higher.) streets and walls. of history books to read the smooth More than 188,000 houses were badly Many economists look strictly at and silky prose of Jacques-Stephen damaged, and more than 105,000 were Haiti’s impoverished status through the Alexis, and the post-colonial fervor of destroyed. lens of its gross domestic product, but Jacques Roumain. It can be argued that For journalists covering Hurricane reading the country’s economic output one does not fully know the country Matthew, there were concerns this way is somewhat misleading. until one has read Langston Hughes’s about repeating faulty disaster Haiti’s GDP does not accurately “A Poem for Jacques Roumain,” which narratives about Haiti that triggered reflect that many of Haiti’s poor are immortalized the Haitian writer and a quick response from the American landowners, which provides much politician: public to donate tremendously, yet subsistence for extended Haitian indiscriminately. families, and opens wider participation Never will you become UConn professor of public policy to Haiti’s informal economy. From Anonymous. Thomas Craemer describes the disaster the Organisation for Economic Co- Never will your dust narrative as reinforcing views that operation and Development estimates, Become air – Haiti is this wholesale “poor, violent, Haiti’s informal economy accounts for overcrowded, and aid-dependent” roughly 90 percent of the country’s Then nothingness – nation, which can provoke a limited total labor market, which is not figured Invisible. number of responses from the into the country’s GDP measurements. Never will you become American public. One is to, “Donate, Therefore, if a journalist is tasked Less than a name – donate, and donate some more,” to to cover Haiti, the positive economic Or less than you. save a weak and poverty-stricken features of the country shouldn’t be Haiti from itself. Two is to raise the ignored. These words find rest in the minds question, “Why bother donating But something interesting occurred of the Haitian people and exemplify if nothing has changed within the when Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti. Haitian land. The mist- and green- country in decades?”— which is not Yes, there was the expected focus on covered mountains know the stories. true. The United Nations Development poor and suffering Haitians running for The turquoise waters and white Programme can attest to economic and their lives, demolished buildings and sands of Chouchou Bay and Kokoye educational improvements within the an “unorganized” response from local Beach recite the lines from memory. decade. Haitian governments. But, somewhat The Citadelle Laferrière, which sits Americans chose option one in 2010. unexpectedly, much of the U.S. atop Bonnet a L’Eveque and the Amid incessant images of rubble and national media ceased coverage of the Gingerbread homes of Port-au-Prince, suffering black bodies on TV screens, event within a week. in their Victorian and Caribbean glory, Americans joined the rest of the No longer was it false disaster give voice to the volumes. world in donating half a billion dollars narratives that were cause for concern, It is best to keep this picture of Haiti in aid to the Red Cross. It was one but coverage altogether. close, ingrained well within the mind. of the foundation’s most successful NABJ member and NPR TV critic Because in the United States, media fundraising efforts. But after an Eric Deggans was not surprised by outlets addicted to sensation will investigation by NPR and ProPublica, the quick and minimal coverage.