Knight Foundation funds award honoring diversity leader; AP reporter interviews freed Boko Haram prisoners; in killings by cops, consider whiteness of legal profession; Glover, Lowe certified to run for NABJ president; Unity goes to Pine Ridge Reservation; Mark Hinojosa laid off at Detroit News (5/4/15)Knight Foundation Funds Award Honoring Diversity Leader
AP Reporter Interviews Freed Boko Haram Prisoners
In Killings by Cops, Consider Whiteness of Legal Profession
Glover, Lowe Certified to Run for NABJ President
Unity Goes to Pine Ridge Reservation
Mark Hinojosa Laid Off at Detroit News
Glover, Lowe Certified to Run for NABJ President
Former board member Sarah J. Glover, social media editor for NBC-Owned Television Stations, based in New York, and Mira Lowe, senior features editor for CNN Digital, based in Atlanta, have been certified as candidates for president of the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ announced on Monday.
Two candidates are challenging incumbent Dedrick Russell, a reporter for WBTV-TV in Charlotte, N.C., for vice president-broadcast: Galen Gordon, coordinating producer ESPN, Bristol, Conn., and Dorothy Tucker, reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago and a former board member.
Marlon Walker, a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is running unopposed for vice president-print.
Mark Luckie, partnerships manager for journalism and news at Twitter, and Benét Wilson, owner/founder/editor of Aviation Queen LLC in Baltimore are vying for the newly created position of vice president-digital.
Sherlon Christie, a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, N.J., and current board member, is running unopposed for secretary.
For treasurer, Drew Berry, a former Finance Committee chairman, president of Drew Berry & Associates, LLC, and critic of current board members, faces NABJ veteran Greg Morrison, assignment editor for the Affiliate Content Center at CNN in Atlanta.
Dave Jordan, investigative reporter at WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, S.C., is running unopposed for parliamentarian.
Other contests will fill seats for regional board representatives and academic, media-related and student representative.
Members may vote electronically from July 1 to Aug. 7.
Glover, a former president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and NABJ board secretary, ran unsuccessfully for president in 2013 against then-vice president/broadcast Bob Butler. Lowe, also a former editor of Jet magazine, has not served on the NABJ board. She is the wife of Herbert Lowe, who was NABJ president from 2003 to 2005 and called her then "the first lady of NABJ."
Mark Hinojosa Laid Off at Detroit News
Mark Hinojosa, who joined the Detroit News as new-media director in 2008 after being laid off as associate managing editor for multimedia at the Chicago Tribune, has been laid off again.
"They laid off three of us, a designer and our librarian," Hinojosa messaged Journal-isms on Monday. "Looking at what's out there, but I'm not sure I will do another newsroom."
Hinojosa posted the following to his Facebook friends Monday:
"Couple of weeks ago The Detroit News decided it did not need my services. Here is the note I send to the newsroom.
"To my friends at The News:
"There is one constant in life; things go on. I know you all will continue to tell Detroit's story through an unblinking, yet compassionate, eye. You will find the beauty in its revival, but not be blinded by the radiance of the new. You will continue to fight for the entire city, rich and poor alike. Unfortunately, I will not be there to add my small contribution to your efforts, and that is a great sadness for me.
"I joined The News six years and seven months ago. I came as a refugee and was received as a friend by so many. You did me many kindnesses, too many to list here, but all of them are remembered and cherished.
"Once, after one particularly difficult week, my children asked me why I stayed in newspapers. I flippantly answered, 'If I don’t do it, who will?' But isn't that the truth of it? If we don't do it, who will? Who else will stand for the readers? Who else will stand against wrongs and corruption in this city? I know it sounds corny, but I believe what we do matters in the lives of our readers.
"Somewhere in the city, someone is putting a dollar on a counter and walking [away] with what should be our best efforts. They don't care how hard it was to get the story, how crappy our software is or how mean your editor was to you. They choose us because they trust us to tell them what is important. It is a trust that has been built for nearly 100 years. That is why I did this job.
"These last six years and seven months were not always easy or fun, but they where always good. They were good because I spent them you, the staff of The Detroit News.
"Much fondness,
"Mark"