Morgan’s own at annual Black journalism conference
Morgan’s journalism professors and alumni were active at this year’s National Association of Black Journalists conference.
The first National Association of Black and Hispanic Journalists conference in three years.
August 8, 2022
The National Association of Black Journalists joined forces with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in Las Vegas to host its first in-person annual conference in three years.
Thousands of journalists participated in the week-long conference with dozens of reporting workshops, a career fair, and career coaching.
Morgan’s School of Global Journalism and Communication was well represented at the conference by faculty and alumni participating in panels and students active in the organization’s multimedia projects.
E.R. Shipp, journalism professor, hosted a book signing Q&A session with author Audrey Edwards on her NABJ award-winning novel, American Runaway: Black and Free in Paris in the Trump Years.
Shipp spoke with Edwards about her venture across the world to Paris during the years of Donald Trump’s presidency and her experience as a Black journalist.
At the conference, Shipp was also joined by journalism professor Wayne Dawkins, Terrance Smith, 2017 graduate in multimedia journalism and mobile notifications editor at Yahoo Sports and DeWayne Wickham, founding dean of the journalism school.
Several NABJ student members had the opportunity to report on local projects while attending the conference. Zakiya Jennings, a senior multimedia journalism student, and Kenya Capehart, a senior strategic communication student, were selected to participate in the program.
Jennings produced a newscast on the student projects, covering the conference as well as the ins and outs of sex trafficking in Las Vegas. The student media completed daily broadcasts throughout the conference, covering events and other news that took place in the city.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the 35th White House Press Secretary, also joined attendees on Saturday, the final day of the conference.
The first black and openly LGBTQ+ White House press secretary joined NABJ president Dorothy Tucker and NAHJ president Nora López for a sit-down Q&A session Saturday morning.
At one of the largest conferences for journalists of color, Jean-Pierre spoke on the importance of diversity and representation in the journalism field, the White House administration and all workforces.
“It is important to have representation,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is important to have people to look like me and people to look like all of you.”
Ashlyn Wilson, Ashanti Fernandes, Kiara Smith and Osaretin Iyare contributed to this report.