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Updated: Thursday, November 1, 2007
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 |
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NABJ celebrates life of founder Mal Johnson
WASHINGTON The National Association of Black Journalists celebrates the life and service of Mal Johnson, one of its 44 founding members and longtime treasurer, who passed Saturday at the age of 85.
NABJ has lost a strong, vocal champion for women and minorities in the media, said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. Her reputation as a pioneering broadcast reporter is recognized worldwide and she will be greatly missed.
Born Mal Hooser in Philadelphia, Johnson attended Temple University and earned a bachelors degree in education and a masters degree in community dynamics.
Johnson taught throughout the South Pacific and Europe while her husband served as an Air Force officer.
Journalism chose me, Johnson later recalled in Black Journalists: The NABJ Story. I wanted to be an artist, but my mother told me I wouldn't make any money at it.
Following the death of her husband after five years of marriage, Johnson worked for civil rights groups in North Philadelphia before joining the now defunct WKBS-TV in Philadelphia.
She later joined Cox Broadcasting in Washington D.C. as their first female reporter and White House correspondent. For nearly 30 years, Johnson covered Capitol Hill, several federal agencies and every president from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush.
While with WKBS, Johnson helped form the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists in 1973, and was a key figure in gathering journalists to Washington, D.C. in December of 1975 to form NABJ, which would become the largest organization of journalists of color in the world.
She served as the organization's treasurer from 1976-1983 and was known for keeping a tight hold of the fledging groups finances.
She was a tough treasurer. She was no nonsense and basically held the organization accountable and helped it become a well-run and efficient organization. At the same time, while she was a tough administrator, she was also a sweet and kind lady. A person you would want to have a nice conversation with, said Joe Davidson, an NABJ founder and assistant city editor at the Washington Post. She had the organizations long-term best interest at heart. She was trying to mold NABJ into a long term effective body. Not just a club of journalists. I hope that all of the members who may not have known her personally come to appreciate what she meant to the organization. She really helped mold it to an effective organization.
She was an exceptional trailblazer, whose tenacity and talent made NABJ and the world better, said Kathy Times, NABJ Vice President of Broadcast.
Johnson resided in Alexandria, Va., at the time of her death.
Johnson was inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame in 1990. After retiring from Cox in 2000, Johnson created her own media consulting firm, Medialinx International.
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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