NABJ Members Ask What Happened to NAHJ

Hispanic Group Decides to Go West to Hollywood in 2024 Instead Joint Conference in Chicago

BY ELIJAH PITTMAN

The National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists split for the 2024 joint convention brought out spirited dialog at the board and business meetings this week.

ing on Tuesday. “All of a sudden they expressed a desire for celebrating the 40th alone.” spect, people that I admired for so long. We are the best journalist organization in the world.

Q. What legacy do you hope to leave with NABJ?

A. You know, throughout my career, all I’ve ever wanted to do was to leave a legacy of purpose. My God gave me some gifts and talents that I know, I must give back. Service is so important in everything that we do. And that’s why I’m still here at NABJ all these years later, and that I continue to give back.

Q. The Student Projects have grown im- mensely since its initial start. How does it feel seeing your idea grow to where it is today?

A. You know, the student projects is one of the best things that has ever happened in my lifetime. My first convention was 1982. But I became a member when I was a student in 1977 at the University of Washington.

I found out when I attended [my] first national conference in 1982 there weren’t a lot of activities for students. And I said, ‘You know what, one day I’m gonna do something about that.’

To the surprise of the memberships of each organization, NAHJ chose to divorce NABJ for the 2024 convention and celebrate their 40th convention alone in Hollywood. According to Drew Berry, executive director of NABJ, David Peña, the former executive director of NAHJ, influenced NAHJ’s board to pull out from the convention.

The original hotel agreement for the 2024 Chicago joint convention was signed several years ago by then-Executive Director Alberto Mendoza.

“What changed? A new executive director for NAHJ (Peña), who didn’t see things the way the previous board and ED thought,” Berry said at the board meet-

Berry added that NABJ and NAHJ signed the hotel agreement for Chicago with Mendoza. According to Berry, there were multiple potential reasons for the split, but ultimately it was a decision made by NAHJ.

“You have to ask them why they pulled out,” Berry responded when asked by a member of the business meeting.

Despite Berry urging the board members to ask NAHJ, he suggested several potential reasons for the split, such as losses in leadership, Hollywood being a better fit as it is the city of founding for NAHJ and financial conflicts.

Both NABJ and NAHJ members were disappointed at the lack of a joint convention, as expressed on social media and in person at each organization’s respective 2023 conventions.

“Members, including myself, always look forward to joint conferences,” said Hugo Balta, former president of the NAHJ who signed the initial agreement for the joint NAHJ convention in 2014. “It gives us an opportunity to see friends and colleagues we normally don’t see throughout the year…I think overall from those I [have] spoken to, it [has] been a disappointment.”

Members of the NAHJ board or staff could not be reached for comment at the time of publication of this story.

At the board meeting Tuesday, Berry explained that Chicago is a union city, which made convention planning expensive because of labor costs, and the collaborative effort between the two organizations would have softened the financial blow of Chicago. Berry mentioned that, despite the break, NABJ would not bear the cost of the convention alone.

“We’re not going to absorb the cost alone and we’re working through those issues in a cordial, professional manner,” Berry told the board.

Berry assured the board and the membership that there would not be a decrease in revenue due to the cancellation of the joint convention, citing previous convention numbers.

He mentioned, in both meetings, that the Birmingham convention is expected to clear in excess of $700,000 whereas the 2022 Las Vegas joint convention with NAHJ cleared only $301,817 in surplus.

“I’m disappointed. I mean, I think it’s great when we meet together,” said Bob Butler, former president of NABJ who was in office when the agreement was signed.

“It’s hard to explain when you walk into a hall and you see Black journalists, Latino journalists all coming together.

“I mean, you’re talking about thousands of people coming together. You have different cultures coming together. I think it’s a great, enriching experience.”