LOS ANGELES (Oct. 29, 2019) – Before kicking off its fall meeting in Los Angeles, the National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) Board of Directors held its inaugural #NABJAdvocacy Day on Oct. 25. Led by President Dorothy Tucker, Board members and Executive Director Drew Berry visited local newsrooms, national network headquarters, publishing companies, PR firms and spent time with several Black Press newspapers. NABJ Journal Editor Kathy Chaney also participated in meetings.
Board members broke out into teams and spent a full day, from sun up until early evening, in the LA community participating in collaborative and fruitful meetings focused on diversity and inclusion awareness, job opportunities for members, NABJ resources for companies, and building relationships with organizations who have not directly been involved with NABJ. Meetings at Black Press newsrooms provided an opportunity to exchange ideas and offer mutually beneficial insights.
“I wanted to make sure we could really make an impact,” said Tucker. “I knew we couldn’t just talk to one company. This was an opportunity for us to have meaningful conversations, very candid conversations with a number of companies. Print, radio, television, public relations, digital… we touched them all.”
Tucker said that the Board will hold more advocacy days in other cities over the next year.
LA meeting stops included KNBC, Spectrum News 1, KNX Radio, the Los Angeles News Observer, the LA Sentinel, Penske Media (Variety, Deadline, Rolling Stone, IndieWire), The Los Angeles Times – MetPro Training Program, and the NFL Network. Board members also met with Edelman representatives to discuss pipeline development and diversity initiatives to collaborate on.
“We want to work in a collaborative effort and in more of a proactive mode instead of a reactive mode,” said Berry.
Local NABJ members stopped by the full-Board meeting and expressed gratitude for the impact of the Board’s presence during a time when they are pushing for better coverage of communities of color and more career advancement opportunities in media and entertainment.”The gravity, the effect of having the National Board here is important,” said Xavier Higgs, longtime NABJ member and former local chapter president.
From the evening of Oct. 25 through Oct. 26, the Board held its fall meeting at the JW Marriott LA Live and at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Board members visited NABJLA’s Inaugural Media Summit also held at USC Annenberg.
President Tucker was proud of the LA chapter’s sold-out and productive summit, which included innovative workshops, plenaries and a career fair.
“This was a really awesome event. It was an impressive day and very informative,” she said.
Chapter President Tre’vell Anderson applauded Tucker for centering one of her first initiatives on visiting LA, allowing members to reconnect with the national Board.
“[President Tucker] was just elected two months ago and she’s hit the ground running. She has brought the National Board to LA … and we are glad they are here,” Anderson said.
While addressing summit attendees, Tucker encouraged members to remain active, offered her support, and also appealed to nonmembers to take advantage of the benefits of joining the NABJ family.
“NABJ is the family that you choose and the family that will take care of you,” she said.