KCABJ members voted in March to cement its World Wide Web hookup by picking up the $132 annual bill for www.kcabj.org. KCABJ member Stan Austin, who heads the Knight Ridder.com Web Sites in Kansas City, has set up the Web sites for KCABJ. KCABJ member Patricia Hardin has agreed to maintain the site.

Beginning next month, all KCABJ members with e-mail and Internet access will get the monthly KCABJ Newsletter shipped to them electronically. Members will be able to access the latest at www.kcabj.org. Members who do not have Web access will continue to receive the paper copy of the newsletter so that they will remain informed. E-mail also will let people know when and where membership meetings will take place.

The KCABJ Web page will have links to the National Association of Black Journalists Web site at www.nabj.org and links to other pertinent journalism groups. KCABJ would like to thank Stan for his hard work and dedication.

KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams and KCABJ member Glenn E. Rice reported that The Kansas City Star's Newsroom Diversity Committee has been asked to cosponsor a free, half-day community workshop on accessing the media with KCABJ during "Take Time for Diversity Week," May 14-19. KMBC-TV, Channel 9 also has expressed interest in participating.

"Although a budget hasn't been determined yet, The Star's committee is eager to work with us," Glenn said. "We just have to iron out a few more details."

Planning is under way for the KCABJ Urban Journalism Workshop. KCABJ Vice President/Print Erica Wood and KCABJ Vice President/Broadcast Natalie Moultrie have assigned area schools to KCABJ members to recruit high school and college students.

"We're working on getting as many applications as possible to students throughout the metropolitan area and helping them turn them in on time," Erica said. "We need everyone to pitch in and help distribute these materials before the April 28 deadline."

Erica and Natalie also are assembling a list of speakers to address the students, including a reporter and photographer from The Kansas City Star who traveled to Sierra Leone for a series of stories. KCABJ is following up on a verbal commitment from KSHB-TV, Channel 41 to produce videotape of the student broadcast newscast. The workshop will take place June 17-29 at Rockhurst University.

New KCABJ member Jennifer Sanchez and Sherice Shields are searching for vendors to produce T-shirts for KCABJ's 20th Anniversary. The committee has developed a design, and KCABJ members voted to buy 72 shirts that will go on sale soon.

KCABJ Secretary Joi Preciphs said the KCABJ Membership Committee was ready to distribute new packets to black journalists in the area to encourage them to join KCABJ. They will be invited to attend a KCABJ recruitment happy hour/mixer in mid-April or May.

Missouri Sen. Mary Groves Bland, a Kansas City Democrat, spoke at the March meeting, telling members of her concerns with the media, African-Americans in the General Assembly and the need for more dialogue between legislators and KCABJ. The 21-year veteran politician told KCABJ members of students taking statewide scholastic skills tests in April. The students' performance on the exam could help determine whether the school district regains its accreditation or is taken over by the state. A bill was introduced in the state legislature to have the state immediately take over the school district rather than wait until the outcome of the exam is known. Bland's initiative seeks to "engage all citizens, especially the parents, and make them responsible for the kids' progress."

"We want anyone there who's interested in the Kansas City district's well-being," Bland said.

State Rep. Craig Bland also told KCABJ members he would assist KCABJ with any contacts the organization would like to make with other legislators.

Joi L. Preciphs
KCABJ Secretary

KCABJ member Gerald Jordan has agreed to be the speaker at KCABJ's 20th Anniversary Banquet on Nov. 17. Gerald was a founding member of KCABJ and currently is a professor of journalism at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

KCABJ member Anita Parran has secured the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center as the location for the banquet and is working to get a caterer. The 10th Annual KCABJ Media Awards Ceremony also will take place that night. Top honors will go to the best print and broadcast journalism of the last year. Students of the summer workshop also will be honored and receive scholarships. Ticket sales will begin by the summer.

Angela Dodson has been named to coordinate the National Association of Black Journalists Stylebook Project. The initiative will consists of terms and word use of special interest to NABJ members and other journalists. Many other organizations have done stylebooks, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Asian American Journalists Association. Herb Lowe will be the contact for the NABJ board. The goal is "to put all matters pertaining to black people in one source" that can be used by journalists in every newsroom in America. The material covered could include everything from culture, language, religion, issues, stereotypes, ethnicity, geography, black organizations, language, demographics, family, customs, politics, terminology, coverage and resources.

According to news reports, CNN is working to permanently pull the plug on Rev. Jesse Jackson's weekly public affairs show. CNN staffers are asking why the cable news network is paying Jackson more than $250,000 a year to host "Both Sides with Jesse Jackson." Jackson revealed that he's paid $5,000 a week to do the show.

The "Meet Me In Motown: New Voices, New Choices" Region V & VIII NABJ Conference will take place April 27-29 at the Detroit Renaissance Center. For an application or more information, call KCABJ member Lewis Diuguid at (816) 234-4723.

Tom Joyner announced on his syndicated radio program in March that Viacom, the new owners of BET, has canceled Tavis Smiley's show - "the only show, next to Ed Gordon's, that has any real meaning" on BET. The Kansas City Call reported March 23 that BET also laid off nearly a third of its employees on March 22 and canceled its "Teen Summit" program, "BET on Jazz" and "BET with Tavis Smiley"