Lawyer to Be Fired Over Executive Director Flap
From Astead Herndon, NABJ’s Journalist of the Year
China Helps African Journos Join NABJ Virtually
Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journo in Gaza Strike
From left, Walter Smith Randoph, Errin Haines, Roland Martin, Eva Coleman. (Credit: Richard Prince)
Lawyer to Be Fired Over Executive Director Flap
Errin Haines began her first day as president of the National Association of Black Journalists Sunday by announcing that the organization would review the process by which the previous administration chose NABJ’s new executive director. She also said NABJ would fire the lawyer who told the board it could face massive penalties if it tried to undo the choice.
The words of attorney Nat Jones at a fractious business meeting Saturday did not seem to be “in the best interest of the organization,” said Haines, editor-at-large of the 19th, who was elected Friday in a three-way race with 57 percent of the vote.
Questioning by members at Saturday ‘s hours-long meeting revealed that key members of NABJ, such as board treasurer Jasmine Styles and financial manager Nathaniel Chambers, were kept out of the loop when then-president Ken Lemon, just days before he was defeated in a bid for re-election, signed a contract with Elise Durham to become NABJ’s next executive director later this year.
Durham is a communications strategist and television news manager in Atlanta with a long history with NABJ. She has already resigned from her job, Executive Director Drew Berry told the group.
Lemon acknowledged that the full board of directors did not vote on the contract.
“Fractious” might be an understatement to describe the annual meeting that the organization announced minutes before midnight would be not be held in person after all the following day because of unspecified “security and liability concerns.” Instead, it would be a Zoom call.
More than 50 NABJ members, including veterans who opposed what they saw as a rushed selection process for the executive director, showed up anyway at the designated room at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland.
During a prolonged debate over whether there were a sufficient number of members to constitute a quorum, NABJ co-founder Sandra Long Dawson Weaver said, “I’ve never seen a business meeting handled in this manner” and that this was not what the founders had envisioned.
On Faceook, longtime NABJ member Eric Deggans, television critic at NPR called it “a truly dysfunctional membership business meeting filled with arguing, personal insults and overall confusion,” adding, “At a time when anti-DEI and anti-journalism crusades are threatening the jobs and careers of our members, the last thing we need is to paralyze NABJ with needless infighting and arrogance.”
Some 132 NABJ members were on the Zoom call.
Lawyer Nat Jones, bottom, right, was among those on the Zoom call, as were NABJ Secretary Rod Carter, top right, and NABJ President Ken Lemon, bottom left. (Credit: Richard Prince)
The convention attracted 3,096 registrants, Berry said on Sunday, but the organization’s financial status was subject to conflicting interpretations. The organization reported a shortfall of $700,000 to $800,000 for the convention, but Berry told the group, “We aren’t even close to getting into financial problems. Don’t let them freak you out. We are in really, really good shape” because of rainy-day planning.
However, Financial Committee Chair Rodney Brooks, a former treasurer, cautioned that a rainy-day fund “can disappear very quickly” and that NABJ should begin immediately to reduce costs, revise projections for 2026 and implement year-round fundrasing.
Stiles, the treasurer, said it would be unfair to compare revenue from the annual career fair held in Chicago in 2024 to this year’s. But she did not dispute a report from cleveland.com that said that last year, “about 75 entities signed up as sponsors at the NABJ’s convention in Chicago. This year, there are about 40 sponsors, despite the Cleveland event celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary.”
Stiles told Journal-isms, “I’d also say a changing media landscape. For example, Nexstar will most likely buy Tegna. Both of them are large exhibit booth buyers. Now that might be one less booth. And media companies just don’t have the money — lots of broadcast companies depend on elections for a revenue boost and the ad spending was definitely down because the ‘pie‘ is being cut in more ways with digital and social media.
“Again, just a terrible convergence of many things.“
Among the objections to the timing of Lemon’s announcement Tuesday of Durham to succeed Berry, who is retiring, was the prospect of board members to be elected days later, on Friday, preferring a different candidate.
However, attorney Jones, whom Berry repeatedly urged be given a chance to speak, told the gathering that NABJ could be subject to a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and defamation of character if it did not follow through with hiring Durham, regardless of whether the process followed NABJ’s own constitution, which many said it did not. That, Jones said, was “an internal issue within NABJ.”
On Sunday, Haines said the lawyer “did not seem to be acting in the interests of the entire organization.”
She also announced that she would be representing NABJ at the fall conventions of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association and Online News Association, as well as at the annual legislative meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus. NABJ also plans a fall board meeting in Atlanta, site of the 2026 convention, with a focus on board training.
From Astead Herndon, NABJ’s Journalist of the Year
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Members of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corp.
China Helps African Journos Join NABJ Virtually
China and the virtues of technology stepped in to allow journalists from Sierra Leone to participate Saturday in the Cleveland convention of the National Association of Black Journalists. The journalists had been denied visas by the U.S. government.
“Our four panelists joined virtually after being denied U.S. visas, showing that while borders can block travel, they cannot stop the exchange of ideas,” Djibril Diallo (pictured), who conducted the panel, “The Challenges of Radio Journalism in Africa, with Special Reference to Sierra Leone,” wrote Saturday on LinkedIn. Diallo is president and chief executive officer of the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network.
“From Freetown, we heard from Daniel Amara, Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Journalists Association, and Hassan Koroma, Vice President of the Sierra Leone Broadcasters Association.
“China awarded fellowships to Mariama Bah of Rise Radio FM and Michael Jamiru of Radio Democracy when the United States blocked their visas,” never granting them interviews after they applied and paid for their visas. “They joined the discussion from Freetown, the Sierra Leone capital.
“We explored the resilience of radio in Sierra Leone, which remains the most trusted and accessible news source for millions, especially in rural communities,” Diallo continued.
“We also discussed key challenges: limited resources, political pressure, digital disruption and the fight against misinformation.
“Looking ahead, we identified opportunities for stronger collaboration between Sierra Leone’s journalists and their peers across Africa and the diaspora. Organizations like NABJ and ARDN (African Renaissance and Diaspora Network.)”
On June 9, President Trump ordered restrictions on issuing visas to citizens of seven countries, nearly all Black and brown, and a complete ban on travel from 12 other nations where people of color dominate.
“According to the Overstay Report, Sierra Leone had a B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate of 15.43 percent and an F, M, and J visa overstay rate of 35.83 percent. Sierra Leone has historically failed to accept back its removable nationals,” Trump said.
The announcement for the NABJ session said, “Journalism is important to have an educated and engaged population. In countries across Africa television, radio and newspapers are consumed by people who live in the cities. However, roughly more than half of the population lives in rural villages where electricity is not reliable. The most important medium for this segment of the population is radio.
“But radio providers also face challenges with lack of access to reliable power and equipment. On this panel we’ll hear from radio station managers from Sierra Leone how they manage to provide information to their listeners despite these many challenges.”
- Alabama Public Radio: APR news team honored by the National Association of Black Journalists
- Melanie Eversley, NABJ Black News & Views: Haines of The 19th News elected president of the National Association of Black Journalists
- Justice Hill, LinkedIn: Now, I’m among the handful of journalists to get a Sam Lacy Lifetime Achievement Award. (Aug, 11)
- Martha’s Vineyard Times: Guardians of the Truth: NABJ and Report for America come to the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. (Aug. 14)
- Joel Mitchell, BET.com: Black Media Leaders Share Career Risks, Resilience, and the Power of Mentorship at NABJ 2025
- Danny Nokes, VPM [public media in Virginia]: VPM News wins ‘Salute to Excellence’ award from NABJ
- Dion Rabouin, LinkedIn: Lessons on a Presidential Loss (Aug. 18)
- Shernay Williams, Word In Black: WATCH: Think Journalism’s Dead? These Rising Stars Say Otherwise (Aug. 12)
- WJW-TV, Cleveland: Wayne Dawson inducted into National Association of Black Journalists hall of fame
Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journo in Gaza Strike
“The Israel Defense Forces said that it killed a man in Gaza who it claimed was posing as an Al Jazeera journalist, but the news network said that Anas al-Sharif was a journalist and that he and four other staff members were killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike,” Phil Helsel reported Sunday for NBC News.
“In its coverage, Al Jazeera termed the killings of al-Sharif and four other staffers murder.
“The network said that al-Sharif; another journalist, Mohammed Qreiqeh; and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were killed.
“The network reported that they died “in a targeted Israeli strike on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.”
“The Israel Defense Forces claimed that al-Sharif was “the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.”
“The IDF said in a statement about the killing that it had “previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip” that it said confirm that al-Sharif was a member of Hamas.
“Al Jazeera reported that al-Sharif was a well-known Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who reported extensively from northern Gaza.
“The network said that 10 of its staff have been killed by Israel since Israel launched the war in Gaza in 2023.. . .”
