Black Journalists Group Kicks Off Lifetime Membership Campaign

Black Journalists Group Kicks Off Lifetime Membership Campaign
New VIP privileges and opportunity to help train the next generation of black journalists

 WASHINGTON, D.C. - --The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced its "100 Members in 100 Days" lifetime membership campaign this week to include special VIP privileges and lifetime registration to the organization's annual convention and career fair. 

"As NABJ looks ahead at the changes necessary to compete in a new journalism industry, we wanted to give our members-our most important asset-the opportunity to step up and help pave the way for that future," said NABJ President Kathy Y. Times. "NABJ already offers cutting edge digital journalism, production and management training to members, but we want to expand our reach and offer more training to the next generation of black journalists."

The campaign has already received commitments from campaign chairman and NABJ Secretary Roland Martin, a CNN/ TV One analyst, as well as NBC Universal's Executive Vice President of Diversity, Paula Madison, TV One CEO/President Johnathan Rodgers, USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham, and Boston Globe Senior Assistant Sports Editor Gregory Lee.

"There are so many people out there that believe in our mission-that is, training the next generation of journalists-that we believe by you becoming a lifetime member you are going to be doing that," said Roland Martin. "People will see you stepping up and supporting this organization and reaching, teaching the next generation of black journalists and that's what's most important as we transform this industry."

In addition to free yearly registration for life to the NABJ Convention, lifetime members are granted VIP express registration, VIP seating at awards events, green room access, invitations to special events, discounts to NABJ training opportunities and recognition in the convention program book, NABJ Journal and Web site.

The National Association of Black Journalists currently offers training opportunities to its membership of 3,000 through the Media Institute, an innovative program of regional workshops targeting the latest trends and coverage areas like health disparities in the African-American community or investigative reporting techniques. 

The NABJ annual convention drew 1,900 attendees to Tampa this year who participated in half-day training sessions at the Poynter Institute and attended workshops led by Google and many others. Year-round, NABJ organizes regional conferences, teleconferences, webinars, has an online Job board and sends members weekly updates with valuable scholarship, fellowship and training information.

To learn more about joining NABJ or the "100 Members in 100 Days" campaign, visit NABJ at: www.NABJ.org.

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 3,200 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.