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President's Message
Now that the summer months are upon us, I hope that each of you will not "go on vacation" when it comes to being involved with KCABJ for the summer of 2004.
As many of you are aware, we are gearing up for another tremendous KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Academy. It is only a few weeks away, and we anticipate a large class for this year's program. So far, 12 students have been accepted, and it looks as if we will "max" out at 14.
Because of the large class, it will be incredibly important that you, the professional journalists, get involved in the next few weeks to help make this year's academy a success. Remember, you and I had someone who helped pave the way for our careers in journalism. Why not give back to those who aspire to be just like us, the professional journalists?
I personally am excited about this workshop for several reasons. The location, Penn Valley Community College, is centralized so it shouldn't be hard for students or workshop speakers to get to. And, it's a new site for those who didn't participate in past workshops, which had been held at Rockhurst University.
Also, I'm excited about the diversity of this year's class, which will have an even number of males and females, and the age rage will be those entering high school as well as those students who are already in college. At least one student is out of college. So, it is critically important that we have cooperation from all our members. Yes. I know it's summer, and many people are getting ready for vacations, weddings, showers, you name it. But as I said earlier, someone helped you in your career. Be willing to give back, too.
Although we're five months away, applications will go out in June for the 13th Annual KCABJ Media Awards contest. The culminating ceremony will be Nov. 13 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Blue Parkway. This event recognizes those who have written or broadcast enterprising and accurate material regarding people of color. Begin now to decide on what you will be submitting.
This could be a challenge to those in broadcast: In 2003, we had no submissions from local television stations. Either Kansas City area television stations didn't produce enterprising and accurate stories about people of color in 2002-2003, or no one felt the need to submit entries. Kansas City area television personalities, I ask that you consider not only submitting entries for this year's KCABJ Media Awards, but also consider doing stories that reflect on the true nature of what minority communities in Kansas City are doing. I would hate to see a second year in which our local television affiliates didn't do anything worthy enough about people of color to be entered let alone judged for one of the KCABJ awards.
Well, I hope all of you are excited about another summer, and I hope you're excited about June 21-July 2, our next class for the KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Academy. If you're not involved and want to be, contact KCABJ Vice President/Print Tanyanika Samuels, coordinator of the print portion of the academy, or KCABJ Vice President/Broadcast April Jackson, the program's broadcast coordinator. KCABJ member Robyn King, also known as KPRS-FM D.J. Robyn Knight, is another source for broadcast.
For questions and to volunteer, please contact the following members of the KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Academy Committee: Tanyanika, tsamuels@kcstar.com, (816) 234-4376; April, jacksona@nbcactionnews.com, (816) 932-0714; Glenn E. Rice, grice@kcstar.com, (816) 234-5908; Eugene Scott, escott@kcstar.com, (816) 234-7723; Lewis Diuguid, ldiuguid@kcstar.com, (816) 234-4723; Tracy Allen, tracykccall@hotmail.com, (816) 842-3804; Masego Maphakela, saigom@hotmail.com, (816) 682-8837.
KCABJ Academy Accepts Students
s many as 14 students will participate in the 2004 KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Academy at Penn Valley Community College this summer. They include non-traditional students and one young person who just completed middle school.
What each has in common is a desire to become a journalist. That was clear in the essays each completed to be accepted into the academy. The program will run from June 21 to July 2 in the Humanities Building, Room 209 at Penn Valley Community College, 3201 Southwest Trafficway.
The students will be responsible for their transportation to and from class. A mandatory orientation will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 19 at The Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd. Students will receive their notebooks with the class outline and their first assignment. Parents and other family members are encouraged to attend.
KCABJ Vice President/Print Tanyanika Samuels told the membership at the May meeting that the print week will include press conferences for the students involving Kansas City School Superintendent Bernard Taylor Jr. speaking about progress in the Kansas City School District. Kansas City Board of Elections Commissioner Sharon Turner Buie will speak with the students on the push to get out the vote for the August primary and the November general election. She also will give them insight on the issues that will be on the ballot during the elections. Kansas City Star Editor Mark Zieman will speak with the class about the importance of diversity in the news media, and the students will hear from experts on the death penalty. Students also will hear from working journalists in the Kansas City area on such issues as the basics in the profession, careers in public relations, the UNITY convention in Washington, D.C., in August, ethics and the history of the Black Press.
The class will tour of The Star, attend an afternoon news meeting and learn how to break into the business. A final session during the first week will involve getting feedback from the students on what worked best during the program. Members of the class are expected to type their stories into the computer system at The Kansas City Star on Saturday, June 26. The stories will be edited for the production of the 2004 KCABJ Journal. The Star has annually published the academy newspaper. KCABJ Vice President/Broadcast April Jackson told the membership that during the second week of the academy classes will start at 8 a.m. Television journalists who are set to appear include KCABJ member Anthony Powell, who will speak with the students on field reporting.
Other speakers include Danyelle Sargeant, sports anchor/reporter with Metro Sports. NBC Action News reporter Kevin Petrehn will speak on investigative reporting; Matt Hackworth with KCUR will talk about reporting and writing for radio; Germane Friends with the Kansas City Fire Department will talk about his work with the press; KMBC-TV, Channel 9 weather anchor Bryan Busby will speak on weather reports as news; Cynne Simpson, reporter/anchor with KCTV5, will talk about preparing for a newscast; Alavee Miller, a NBC Action News photographer, will address photojournalism; Damon Bryant, vice president of marketing and Creative Services with Fox 4, will talk about careers in broadcasting; and Shawn Edwards will speak about movie reviews. KSHB-NBC Action News studios will be where the students will produce their TV newscast. The students also will tour and produce a radio broadcast at KPRS-FM.
All KCABJ members are urged to contact April and Tanyanika to volunteer to assist in editing stories and working with the students.
Online Opportunity
Stan Austin notified KCABJ that he is stepping down as the Web master for the organization. Stan has done a great job posting the KCABJ Newsletter each month and other information and pictures about the organization. KCABJ now has an opening for a new Web master. Stan has agreed to provide the training for KCABJ members to perform the duty.
A time and date is being arranged for that training to be provided to KCABJ members who have an interest in picking up the skills.
KCABJ Activities
KCABJ member Alonzo Weston told the group that KCABJ members are invited to participate in the Sixth Annual Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival in St. Joseph. It will take place June 18-19. The entertainers at the Missouri Western State College Jazz Camp All Stars will include Paul Montemurro, Max Groove, Ray Alburn's Big Band, Mike Mathews' Mini-Big Band, Millie Edwards, Sharon Thompson and Duck Warner, Everette DeVan, Etta Cox and Joe Cartwright.
13th Annual KCABJ Media Awards
Applications for the 13th Annual KCABJ Media Awards will be arriving in the mail in June to all KCABJ members and media companies in the Greater Kansas City area. Print and broadcast entries are being sought as well as those for media public service, new media and community service categories. They are given to the media and journalists in the Greater Kansas City area for enterprise work that accurately depicts African Americans and other people of color.
KCABJ President Tracy Allen will pick a member of KCABJ for the President's Award. It goes to the person who has done the most to further the aims of KCABJ. The executive board also will decide what journalist, media personality or media company will receive this year's Thumbs Down Award for setting back the image of people of color.
Reporting Tips
The Children's Beat: A Journal of Media Coverage offers the following tips on covering young people involved in trouble:
Diversity Blues Part II
The NABJ Forum reports that TV/Media Critic Eric Deggans with The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times wrote that each U.S. daily newspaper now has a Web page comparing the racial diversity of its news staff and the community it serves. The effort is part of a new report for the Knight Foundation on 1,413 newspapers and their circulation areas. The report is at www.asu.edu/cronkite/asne. It's to help journalists and readers discuss how well their newspaper's staff reflects their community.
Among the more interesting points: Only 13 percent of the U.S. newspapers have reached the American Society of Newspaper Editors' parity goals for diversity, and 374 U.S. newspapers still have no racial minorities on their professional news staffs. Those newspapers, while small, have a combined curculation of 3.7 million. Check out powerreporting.com/knight/.
NABJ News
The National Association of Black Journalists has picked Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder's Baghdad bureau chief, as the NABJ Journalist of the Year. Theola Labbe, a suburban reporter who went to Iraq for The Washington Post, was named NABJ's Emerging Journalist of the Year. Talia Buford, editor of the Hampton Script at Hampton University was picked as NABJ's first Student Journalist of the Year. The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to columnist Clarence Page; Legacy Award to Vernon Jarrett, who died May 23 after fighting cancer; Community Service Award to Dallas Examiner Publisher Mollie Finch Belt; Percy Qoboza Award to Cameroon Le Messager Editor in Chief Pius Njawe; and Best Practices Award to Our Texas magazine.
NABJ is giving two Thumbs Down Awards. They will go to Jayson Blair, former reporter for The New York Times, and JoAnn Haysbert, the acting university president at Hampton who seized the entire press run of The Script student newspaper.
In addition, John H. Johnson, Robert Maynard, Chuck Stone and 10 other legendary journalists will be inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame. The others include Robert S. Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender; Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm, co-publishers of Freedom's Journal the nation's first black newspaper; Frederick Douglass, a former slave turned abolitionist who published the North Star; W.E.B. Du Bois, creator and first editor of The Crisis magazine of the NAACP; T.Thomas Fortune, one of the most prominent journalists in the post-Civil War era; Marcus Garvey, a journalist for the Africa Times and Orient Review and publisher of the Negro World; Ethel Payne, the "First Lady of the Black Press'' who was a correspondent for the Sengstacke Newspapers; John Sengstacke, founder of the Michigan Chronicle and publisher of the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier; and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, newspaper editor who crusaded against segregation and lynchings. The NABJ Hall of Fame was created in 1990. The induction will take place on Aug. 5 at the NABJ banquet at the UNITY convention at the Washington Convention Center.
Be sure to register for the UNITY convention before the June 15 deadline. The price before the deadline is $325; afterward it's $700.
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