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February 2003 KCABJ Newsletter
From the President
 Anita K. Parran
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This new year promises to be very challenging and exciting! During the Strategic Planning Retreat in January the KCABJ Executive Board and KCABJ members convened to outline ambitious plans for 2003. Here is a synopsis of what's to come.
Our kick-off membership recruiting and retention campaign commences in February. Current members are encouraged to invite others to join the organization, and our member ``ambassadors'' will be contacting potential members to join. New membership kits will be distributed in news rooms and communications organizations throughout the city. Dues are only $20 a year -- the least expensive in the country -- and well-worth the value! Our goal is to elevate the membership role to at least 60 and beyond this year. As an added carrot, immediate past President Benita Y. Williams is securing incentive awards for KCABJ members who attract the most members during the year.
Many activities are being planned! Among those activities:
KCABJ is collaborating with the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City and other organizations to sponsor a candidates forum for the upcoming Kansas City Council elections. It will take place March 10 at the Hereford House downtown. Our very own Lewis Diuguid, KCABJ treasurer and newsletter editor, will be the moderator of this public event.
KCABJ again will have activities planned for the newspaper industry's nationwide Time Out for Diversity Week. We hope to have a DWB (Driving While Black) Race Relations Forum, featuring city leaders. That is planned for Saturday, May 3.
The KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Workshop dates are set for June 16-27 at Rockhurst University. All of our journalism buddies will be again asked to support this worthwhile program for high school and college students who aspire to enter the field of journalism. Don't wait for the call. Volunteer now!
80s Party: On July 26, a unique social networking event is scheduled. Yes! It will be time to celebrate the '80s (again) with music, dancing and racuous fun at a party that will bring the house down. It's a pre-NABJ convention party. So dig up some ''vintage'' clothes and get ready to party!
Sometime during the third quarter, KCABJ will offer a seminar tentatively titled ''Surviving a Bad Economy: Move Up? Move On? Stay Put?'' This provocative session will feature sessions on resume preparation, review and portfolio critiques for working journalists and recent grads.
The 12th Annual KCABJ Media Awards program will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. The ''Afternoon Delight'' theme will be duplicated again this year, featuring a variety of desserts and beverages. This free event again will focus on student scholarships, media awards for the best coverage about people of color and the infamous KCABJ Thumbs Down Award presentation. An added feature will be a ''Silent Auction'' to augment the donations that will be requested at the door. Donated items for the auction would be appreciated!
With these very ambitious plans, all members will be called on deck. Let's work to keep our 2003 organizational themes in motion: ''Keeping Connected in 2003.'' That translates to keeping connected with each other and our community!
--Anita K. Parran
What's Up In KCABJ?
KCABJ members met in January to set dates for many ambitious community, membership retention and professional development programs for 2003. KCABJ President Anita K. Parran led the group through a three-hour strategic planning retreat.
Here are some dates to put on your calendar:
March 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Herford House downtown. KCABJ will partner with the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, SBC and the Kansas City Convention and Tourism Bureau to sponsor a candidates forum. Those wanting to attend should RSVP to A. Marie Young, executive director of the black chamber at (816) 474-9901. KCABJ Treasurer Lewis Diuguid will be the moderator of the forum.
May 5-9, Time Out for Diversity Week. KCABJ is sponsoring a race relations forum is to include area newsmakers and recently completed studies. Also during diversity week, Keith Woods, a journalism and diversity expert with the Poynter Institute in Florida, will be in Kansas City to lead important professional development programs.
June 16-27 for the KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Workshop. It will be at Rockhurst University. Applications will be prepared by the end of February. They will go online and be available to be handed to students, parents and journalism teachers metrowide. The program is open to high school and college students of all colors. A KCABJ committee has been formed to work out the details of a revamped broadcast week. The first week consists of print journalism taught by reporters, columnists and editors working for Kansas City area publications. Committee members include Glenn Rice, Crystal Lumpkins, Tanyanika Samuels, Heather Staggers and Lewis Diuguid. The student orientation for the workshop will be on Saturday, June 14 at The Kansas City Star.
July 26, 1980s KCABJ Party. Glenn Rice and Stan Austin have agreed to help compile the music -- with contributions from KCABJ members -- and burn compilation CDs so members can get their groove on. Ticket prices and the location will be announced soon.
Nov. 15 for the 12th Annual KCABJ Media Awards Ceremony. It will be at 2 p.m. at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. The membership agreed to repeat last year's innovation of having a dessert reception after the program and to condense the ceremony time from two hours to one hour. Newsmakers the students will interview for stories in the KCABJ Journal will be invited to attend the event this year.
No date has been set yet for a KCABJ professional development program. Outreach is to be made to the University of Kansas to get broadcast professors to assist. KCABJ members who work in the area media also will be asked to serve as resume doctors and critique articles and tapes. The program will cost $15, which will include a lunch. Students at area universities and members of the National Association of Black Journalists will be invited to attend.
On membership retention, Anita told the group she would like to see paid membership in 2003 rise to at least 60. KCABJ had 43 paid members in 2002. KCABJ currently has 19 paid members. It continues to creep upward throughout the year. Membership packets will be mailed to get people to renew their membership and to attract new persons to the organization. Follow-up telephone calls also will take place. Dues is $20 a year.
NABJ News
NABJ President Condace L. Pressley strongly encourages black journalists to either renew their membership in the National Association of Black Journalists or become new members. It is a way, she writes for NABJ, to ensure that having diversity in the media will be more than just lip service. ''For the first time, NABJ is reaching out to its lapsed members via e-mail encouraging them to 'come home,' '' Pressley said.
''Tens of thousands of black journalists work in newsrooms across the nation,'' she said. ''Yet only approximately 3,000 are members of NABJ.''
Pressley said black journalists should know that NABJ's finances are stable. After sustaining an operating deficit of $340,000 in 2000, NABJ reported a budget surplus of almost $84,000 in 2001. NABJ has a surplus of more than $170,000 in 2002, which is ahead of budget projections. The organization has NABJ Treasurer Glenn E. Rice to thank for that. Glenn is a KCABJ member and former president.
In Other News ...
Target Market News Bulletin reports that Comcast Corp. and Radio One Inc. announced in January that they plan to start a new television network featuring entertainment, news, opinion and sports programming aimed at 25-54-year-old African-American viewers. The network has not picked a name, but it is expected to begin broadcasts in mid-2003.
Target Market News also reports that although many magazines are struggling because of the bad economy, black magazines are doing better in advertising sales than the industry overall. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, the top five African-American targeted titles earned $243.8 million in annual ad revenues up to November 2002. That was a 4.5 percent increase in earnings for Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence, Jet and Vibe over 2001.
Nationally syndicated radio jock Tom Joyner has formed REACH Media with David Kantor and will assume control and syndication of the ''Tom Joyner Morning Show.'' The program is heard by 8 million listeners on 120 stations.
The Associated Press reported that a deal has been reached on the sale of the Chicago Defender, the nation's only black-owned daily newspaper. The family-owed Sengstacke Enterprises Inc. agreed to sell the newspaper to Real Times Inc., a company headed by Senmgstacke relative Thomas Picou. Real Times will pay $3 million in cast, an additional $3 million plus 12 percent interest over five years and a final payment of at least $2.5 million. The Defender's future had been up in the air since 1997 when John Sengstacke, publisher and majority owner of Sengstacke Enterprises died at age 84. Founded in 1905, the newspaper at its peak, had a circulation of 100,000. It had campaigned courageously against lynchings and Jim Crow. It helped fuel the migration of blacks from farms in the South to factory jobs in the North. The newspaper now has a circulation of about 20,000.
Boosting Your Career
Investigative Reporter and Editors will offer a Census Workshop on Feb. 21 in Tempe, Ariz. For more information call Pia Christensen at (573) 884-2175 or check out www.ire.org.
Entries are being accepted for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists 2003 Contest. The deadline is March 15. For more information call (415) 722-7030.
NABJ's Salute to Excellence Awards program is accepting entries. Winners will be announced Aug. 6-10 at the NABJ convention in Dallas. For more information call (301) 445-7100, ext. 109.
The National Mental Health Association is seeking entries for its awards in excellence in reporting on mental health. The deadline is April 1. Awards will be presented June 6 in Washington, D.C. For more information contact Chris Condayan at (703) 838-7551.
Black Enterprise Magazine is seeking juniors and seniors for its 2003 Summer Internship Program. Contact Lewis Diuguid at (816) 234-4723 for more information.
The President's Commission on White House Fellowships is accepting applications for its 2003-2004 class. For more information visit www.whitehouse.gov/fellows/ .
The Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars Program, announced by President Bush in January 2002, is accepting applications. Ten students will be picked to work during the summer in the U.S. Department of Education. For more information check out www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/fshea.html.
The Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism is accepting applications for an expense paid four-day seminar titled, ''Multimedia Reporting and Media Convergence'' on March 23-29 at the University of California-Berkeley. For more information contact Vikki Porter at (213) 743-4976.
The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times has several editing, graphic design, photojournalism and reporting jobs open. For more information contact Rob Hooker at (800) 333-7505, ext. 8521.
Central Florida News 13 is seeking an assistant news director. For more information write to aparker@cfnews13.com.
WB62 KSMO-TV is seeking a master control operator, an account executive and a writer/producer. For more information write to jeskew@ksmo.sbgnet.com.
The Kaiser Family Foundation's Media Fellowships in Health is accepting applications. Six print or broadcast fellows will be picked. For more information check out www.kff.org/doc/fellowships/fih2000.html.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is seeking a night photo editor. For more information write to Liz Dufour at ldufour@enquirer.com.
The Albuquerque Tribune is seeking a reporter. For more information call Tim Archuleta at (505) 823-3624.
The Philadelphia Daily News is seeking a free-lance marketing writer to develop material for nonprofit groups that teach children to read using the arts. For more information write to Cindy Brom at cindy@whirlwind-results.org.
KC People
KCABJ's membership moved forward fast to 19 persons with the additions of Morgan Neal, Edwin D. Birch, Dr. Hannah M. Dixon, Khia C. Simmons, Crystal Lumpkins, Glenn E. Rice, J.W. Edwards, Eyobong Ita and Heather Staggers.
KCABJ member and past president Benita Y. Williams has been picked to co-chair the 2003 newsroom diversity committee at The Kansas City Star. Benita during the 1990s served a year as co-chair of the committee with Randy Smith, assistant managing editor of the Missouri desk. This year her co-chair will be Tony Balandran, an assistant city editor in the Northland bureau. Benita is the Jackson County Courthouse reporter for the newspaper.
Kansas City Star At Your Service Columnist Angela Curry in January became the recipient of the Black Achievers in Business and Industry Award.
Former KCABJ vice president/broadcast, E. Lenita Johnson, has become the first African-American female to be president of the Central Missouri State University Board of Governors. Lenita had worked at KMBC-TV, Channel 9 and taught journalism at CMSU.
Look for Joy Sewing's byline in People magazine. Joy had worked at The Kansas City Star and had been vice president/print and treasurer of KCABJ in the 1990s.
Malecia El-Amin has moved south to work for the Dallas Morning News. She had been a copy editor and page designer at The Kansas City Star and one of KCABJ's more active members. Malecia taught during the workshop and edited the student newspaper. She will be missed. A going away party was held for her at G's Jamaican Spot. Many KCABJ members attended and had a lot of fun wishing her well.
On some sad notes:
-- Bethenia Jeffers, the mother of former KCABJ President Gromer Jeffers, died in January in Chicago. KCABJ members donated funds for flowers for the service.
 Freeman
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-- Greg Freeman, a columnist with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, died unexpectedly Dec. 31 at age 46. Greg was director of NABJ Region 8 -- which includes Missouri -- several years ago and visited Kansas City many times in that capacity. In recent years he battled a series of health problems but continued writing his popular metro column. Stan Austin and Glenn Rice represented KCABJ at a memorial service for Greg in January. The Post-Dispatch has archived several of Greg's columns online at the newspaper's Web site.
-- Mildred M. Carter, matriarch of the Carter Broadcast Group which includes KPRS-FM, died at age 89.
Check out the winter 2002 edition of KR News, the Knight Ridder Inc. newsletter. Inside is a photograph of Mara Rose Williams, Yvette Walker and Norma Martin. They were instrumental in continuing The Kansas City Star Newsroom Diversity Committee's Perennial Exchange in September at the River Market. It's an annual opportunity for a diversity of gardners to exchange plants.
Remember Fatimeh El-Sherif? She was in the 2000 KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Workshop class at Rockhurst University and she was a KCABJ Roy Wilkins Scholarship winner. Fatimeh is the editor of the University News, the campus newspaper at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Elizabeth Hornbeck, a KCABJ workshop student from the early 1990s, writes that she is a mommy. Congratulations, Elizabeth!
Robyn King, a KCABJ workshop student in the mid-'90s and a University of Missouri-Columbia graduate, is on the air at KPRS-FM. Listen for her radio name -- Robyn Knight. She is a DJ on weekends and in the early morning.
Erica Wood, former KCABJ vice president/print, is enrolled in graduate school in special education. She would love to hear from members. Call Lewis to get her e-mail address.
2003 Kansas City Association of Black Journalists
P.O. Box 32744, Kansas City, Mo. 64111
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