8695: Journalism In Black & Non-White.

From The New York Times…

Black Journalists Group Leaves Minority Coalition

By Tanzina Vega

The National Association of Black Journalists has pulled out of an alliance intended to improve minority representation in the media, saying the group’s conference no longer provided enough revenue to meet its goals.

The decision to leave the alliance, Unity: Journalists of Color, came just days after a report from an American news editors group said that the percentage of minorities in newsrooms continued to decline last year.

The alliance, which holds a national conference every four years, is made up of members from four national journalism associations — the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.

The black journalists group had proposed that the member organizations receive a bigger cut of the revenue from the conference, said Kathy Y. Times, president of the group. According to its Web site, the organization had presented various options to the Unity board. Its final proposal in March would have increased its share of the revenue to $1.2 million. The funding plan ultimately approved, however, capped its portion at $976,718.

“N.A.B.J. has grown,” Ms. Times said. “The funding that we received under the Unity current business model was not sufficient for us to maintain the level of programming and service that we provide for our members.”

Over the past few years, the black journalists group has been working on diversifying its revenue model. Ms. Times said it had increased its use of nonmedia company sponsorships at its annual convention, including corporate sponsors like FedEx, Toyota and Eli Lilly, and nonprofit sponsors like the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

News of the pullout came after the release of a report by the American Society of News Editors that said that while the number of journalists in newsrooms had increased over all, last year represented the third year in a row in which the percentages of African-American, Asian, Latino and Native American journalists had declined.

In a statement on the Unity Web site, the group’s president, Joanna Hernandez, said: “I understand that this is a business decision, that the N.A.B.J. board members are doing what they think is best for their organization. And I wish them well.” Ms. Hernandez added that the organization would welcome feedback and suggestions from members of the National Association of Black Journalists, and said, “Although the N.A.B.J. board has made this decision, we will never shut the door nor turn our backs on our friends and colleagues.”

In a statement from the Asian American Journalists Association, Doris Truong, the president, said, “We are terribly disappointed that the lengthy discussions involving alliance partner presidents, executive directors and treasurers that began in December 2010 did not result in an outcome satisfying all parties.”

Michele Salcedo, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said in a statement that the “N.A.H.J. is committed to working with N.A.B.J. to create more diverse newsrooms in all media and would welcome its future return as an alliance partner.”

Rhonda LeValdo, president of the Native American Journalists Association, said in a statement, “We are all saddened at the thought of not having N.A.B.J. a part of the convention.”

The Unity conference will be held in Las Vegas Aug. 1 to 4, 2012.