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Updated:
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 |
'We can't let diversity be a passing fad'
Remarks by NABJ President Barbara Ciara at the Opening Ceremonies of UNITY ’08 Convention.
McCormick West Convention Center, Chicago, Illinois
Good afternoon, UNITY. My name is Barbara Ciara and I’m president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
I’m so happy to be in the great city of Chicago with our UNITY partners and our wonderful NABJ members, who I proudly want to point out, make up the oldest and biggest minority-journalist organization in the world!
I’d like to welcome all of you to what’s sure to be a dynamic convention for all of the UNITY partners
I’d also like to extend a warm and special welcome to our South Asian, Arab, African, and Gay and Lesbian colleagues, who we cherish so much in our fight for diversity in the media.
You know, it seems like it was only yesterday when we had our first UNITY convention in Atlanta in 1994. Since then, a lot of things in our business have changed and so have we – although our mission remains the same.
We set out to raise the media’s awareness and understanding of the diverse cultures of our UNITY alliance members … and to increase the number of people of color at all levels in the nation’s newsrooms. We also pushed to increase and broaden news coverage of people of color, and to dispel racial and ethnic stereotypes and myths.
Our mission, no doubt, continues to be a work in progress. But we have made important progress the past 14 years – progress that now is in jeopardy of dissipating because of the current condition of this business we love.
As the economy has worsened, and ad and circulation dollars have dried up, so have our numbers in radio and television … at magazines … and, in particular, at newspapers across the country. No one has been immune, it seems. The Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times. USA TODAY. And even here in Chicago.
Our friends and colleagues are being laid off or “voluntarily furloughed” in record numbers. What’s scary is that there are no concrete plans in place to replenish the pipeline that we’ve worked so hard all these years to fill with smart, savvy and eminently qualified journalists of color.
We all know that when times get tight, diversity training and recruiting are the first things to go. But I stand before you today to say we can’t let that happen. We can’t let diversity be a passing fad. And we can’t let years of work and progress bottom out like a bad investment in the stock market.
We can’t - and I pledge to you - that we won’t … with your help.
We – NABJ and the UNITY Alliance – must continue to put pressure on media companies across our great country not to let diversity become a line item in their budgets. We have to continue to make the case that diversity is not about “doing the right thing” … we’re way beyond that. Diversity in coverage and in the newsroom is about business. Or better yet, the bottom line.
If the country ever needed the unique perspective and expertise of journalists of color, it is now. Not just in the coverage of the presidential race, but also on issues such as immigration, housing, predatory lending, the impact of the economic collapse in our communities, the Iraq War, the war on poverty, education … and even the culture of music, relationships and family.
But we’re in trouble. The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) reported last year that newsrooms suffered the biggest loss of jobs in three decades, while doing little to increase their percentage of minority journalists. Daily newsrooms, in fact, shrank by 2,400 journalists in the past year, and there were nearly 300 fewer journalists of color working in those newsrooms.
In the face of these numbers, we at NABJ have increased our efforts to demand and encourage media companies to keep diversity – in coverage and in the newsrooms – top of mind and in play. We have written Congress and lobbied on Capitol Hill to make sure that minority broadcasters are not shut out in the planned consolidation of XM and Sirius.
We also have made phone calls, written letters and visited with media executives nationwide to ask them what happens next to journalists of color in the wake of all of these layoffs.
And lastly, we have redoubled our efforts through our NABJ Media Institute to help train a new generation of journalists in this digital age and to help reinvent our veteran colleagues as the landscape changes.
Yes, we at NABJ have been busy stirring the pot and we will continue to be forceful and outspoken to get people to listen.
This Friday, NABJ will release its own accounting of journalists of color who are in management at network-owned and –operated radio and TV stations across the country. We feel it’s necessary because the networks have refused to disclose those numbers to us or the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the world’s largest organization of electronic journalists.
Also, on Friday, NABJ will announce the winner of our dubious Thumbs Down award, which goes to the media company, property or individual whose coverage or actions fly in the face of the practice of responsible and diversified journalism.
But as I said earlier, we – NABJ or the UNITY Alliance – can’t do it alone. We need your help in pointing out and speaking out about discriminatory practices in media coverage and in the newsrooms. We’re fighting for our survival … our livelihood … and we need all the help we can get.
I would encourage everyone here at UNITY to take advantage of all the wonderful workshops and presentations that will be offered this week. Think about the future … about keeping up with the changes in our business … consider new things for yourself, whether it be writing blogs and shooting video, or even figuring out a way to be more interactive with your audience.
That’s what this convention is about. And it’s what you should be about, too.
Having said that, don’t spend all of your time in the hotel. Get out and see Chicago. Enjoy the city. It’s a fun and vibrant place.
I’d like to thank UNITY President Karen Lincoln Michel, the alliance presidents, Cristina, Rafael, and Jeanne and their staffs for all the hard work they’ve put in to make this convention a success. A huge thank-you also goes to Karen Wynn Freeman and her outstanding staff at NABJ.
Thanks for the company and have a great UNITY experience.
Yours in service,
Barbara Ciara
President, National Association of Black Journalists |
