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Banquet Tickets On Sale
KCABJ member Laurie Scott Austin has printed about 200 tickets for the Nov. 17 KCABJ banquet. They are on sale for members at $25 each.
People can contact KCABJ Treasurer Lewis Diuguid at (816) 234-4723 or (816) 942-0733 before Nov. 12 to purchase tickets. Others will be sold at the door the night of the banquet. KCABJ members will celebrate the organization's 20th anniversary at the event and honor Greater Kansas City area journalists at the 10th Annual KCABJ Media Awards Ceremony.
The 12 graduates of the 2001 KCABJ Urban Student Journalism Workshop at Rockhurst University also will receive certificates, copies of the 2001 KCABJ Journal with news stories they did for the workshop and copies of their television newscast. The top four performers of the class of high school and college students will receive scholarships from KCABJ.
Those awards include the KCABJ Roy Wilkins Scholarship, the KCABJ/Kansas City Star Laura R. Hockaday Scholarship, the KCABJ Nancy Diuguid Scholarship and a KCABJ Scholarship.
Banquet invitation letters have been mailed to the students, people with entries that were judged for KCABJ media awards and past KCABJ presidents and founders. Gerald Jordan, a professor of journalism at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, will deliver the keynote address during the banquet. Jordan is a founding member of KCABJ and worked as a sportswriter, editorial writer and TV critic for The Kansas City Star.
At the membership meeting in October, KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams urged members to buy tickets to support the organization. The banquet has been KCABJ's biggest annual fund-raiser, helping to pay for the student journalism workshop, scholarships and other programs.
KCABJ Media Awards Committee Co-Chair Anita K. Parran said the dinner will start at 6 p.m. It will be catered by Cuisine By Matthews c/o Meitka Matthews at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Blue Parkway. The menu will include smoked brisket, roasted turkey, baked beans, a vegetable medley, a potato salad or cole slaw, dinner rolls, assorted desserts and sparkling punch. Advance ticket sales will help the caterer. A count is needed by Nov. 12. Ticket sales are stronger this year than during previous banquets, which may limit the number of seats available during the night of the banquet.
KCABJ in Compliance
KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams said at the October meeting that NABJ Treasurer Glenn Rice told her that affiliate chapters of the National Association of Black Journalists would not have to obtain a federal tax exempt status to remain associated with the national organization. Benita had attended a Council of Presidents meeting at the NABJ convention in Orlando during the summer where it was reported that the tax-exempt status would be mandatory. She shared that information with KCABJ members at the monthly meeting in September.
But Glenn said that's not the case.
Member chapters are required to be bonded so they are insured against financial losses. Benita said chapters also are strongly urged to register with the state they are in as not-for-profit corporations. KCABJ is bonded and has been registered with the state of Missouri as a not-for-profit corporation since 1987. KCABJ remains in compliance with NABJ in order to maintain its affiliate chapter status.
News You Can Use
A forum will take place Nov. 14 in New York City titled "Race and Health: In Genes or Injustice?'' for more information contact Erica Cerilli at (212) 826-0256. Another forum will occur Nov. 2 and/or Nov. 7 on the Impact of 9/11 on the Biotechnology Industry. Both are being sponsored by the Gene Media Forum.
Post 9/11 Media Blues
The Associated Press reported in October that heightened security measures instituted since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are making it difficult for the news media to gather information.
Freedomforum.org said in another story that many of the nation's 35 million Hispanics are choosing Univision over the mainstream networks because of the way stories are reported, rather than because of the Spanish language Univision uses. Latinos are attracted to the way Univision covers issues that affect Hispanics.
Television newsroom staffs are more racially and ethnically diverse than 10 years ago, but stories and issues that are important to the Asian community and other ethnic groups receive little coverage, Freedomforum.org reported. Mil Arcega, a reporter with Washington's NBC4 television station said the media in Washington are ``primarily producer driven. Unless you can change the mind of these producers and the news directors...things will remain as they are.''
Arcega said, "The more diversity you have in the newsroom... the more sensitive a newsroom is going to be'' to diversity.
KC People
Former KCABJ Vice President/Print Vickie L. Walton-James has been promoted to Washington Bureau Chief of the Chicago Tribune. Vickie had been deputy Washington bureau chief before being named to the associate managing editor post at the Tribune. Vickie joined the Chicago Tribune in 1989 as a copy editor. She had been real estate editor at The Kansas City Star before that. She started her newspaper career at The Star as a reporter/clerk in the early to mid-1980s. She was promoted to a reporter position and then copy editor at The Star. Vickie also was a graduate of the Maynard Institute's Editing Program fellowship.
Look for the announcement of the next KCABJ meeting in your e-mail. The meeting will occur after the KCABJ banquet. The membership will assess how well the banquet went and plan the KCABJ Christmas party for 2001 and programs for 2002.
2001 Kansas City Association of Black Journalists
P.O. Box 32744, Kansas City, Mo. 64111