NABJ Region IX Conference to be held May 26-28 in Las Vegas

NABJ Region IX Conference to be held May 26-28 in Las Vegas

WASHINGTON, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Black Journalists will sponsor a three-day career-development conference in Las Vegas -- an event that is expected to attract media professionals from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

The conference will provide valuable career development to journalists, students and media-related professionals, while also addressing topical issues that matter to media in the region. It will be held May 26-28 at Bally's Las Vegas, 3645 Las Vegas Boulevard South.

"The past year for black journalists has been challenging on many fronts and we must continue to push the industry to put as much focus on diversity as it does the bottom line," said NABJ President Herbert Lowe, a courts reporter for Newsday in New York. "Regional conferences, like the upcoming conference in Las Vegas, bring together the best and brightest in the media industry to discuss topical issues of interest and strategies for the future."

"We have been working diligently to offer attractive programming for all," said Region IX Director V. W. Vaughan, assistant managing editor at The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, "the support from national experts, media executives and local journalists has been tremendous."

Conference attendees will find a host of workshops including: "The Apprentice," the things they don't tell you in college or grad school; "The Nielson Trap," exploring the importance of accurately measuring audience participation; "Ethical Boundaries in News and Public Relations," examining the use of company video news releases and the Armstrong Williams debacle; the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Diversity Report, showing that newspapers are woefully negligent in recruiting and retaining black journalists; and a workshop on how to improve visual editing skills, led by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Partners from the Unity Journalists of Color, Inc., will also participate and conduct several workshops.

A highlight of the conference will be a town hall forum. The public is invited to this session where recent media controversies will be examined. Controversies include former Las Vegas Weathercaster Rob Blair, who substituted the racial slur "coon" for the last name of Dr. Martin Luther King; talk show host Armstrong Williams; former New York Times' Reporter Jayson Blair; and the Nielsen reports and how the black community is affected by them. This meeting provides a public forum to discuss concerns of media coverage and allow journalists to offer perspective on the controversies.

NABJ is an organization of journalists, students and media-related professionals that provides quality programs and services to and advocates on behalf of black journalists. NABJ is the nation's largest organization of journalists of color.

For more information about the conference or NABJ, visit http://www.nabj.org/ , or call (301) 445-7100.

Best photo opportunities: Daily workshops and the Diversity Town Hall Meeting, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Saturday, May 28th.

Source: National Association of Black Journalists

CONTACT: Lisa Goodnight of National Association of Black Journalists,
+1-301-445-7100 Ext. 107, lisa@nabj.org

Web site: http://www.nabj.org/

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