Black Journalists’ Move Seen as Financial Threat
Disney Cuts Hit ESPN, National Geo, Film Studio
Ryan Clark Learns Fate During Commercial Break
EEOC Votes to End Collection of Race, Gender Data
Jan Martínez Ahrens, editor of Spain’s El Pais, at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention in New Orleans Wednesday with Mari Torres, Ginger Thompson, Alfredo Corchado and journalist Paola Ramo. (Credit: Aggi Garduño, Patricia Clarembaux)
Black Journalists’ Move Seen as Financial Threat
A decision by the National Association of Black Journalists to move up the dates of its 2027 convention puts it in competition with the already-scheduled gathering of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, threatening its ability to raise money, and prompted NAHJ’s vice president of broadcast to declare bluntly: “We expect NABJ to change their dates.”
But doing so could mean penalties for NABJ, which has financial issues of its own.
“Organization leaders said that NAHJ already booked its hotel and signed venue contracts for its Minneapolis event, and pulling out of those deals could cost the organization,” Angela Osorio reported Wednesday for the Latino Reporter, the NAHJ convention’s student newspaper.
“It puts undue pressure and undue financial burden on NAHJ for us to be changing our dates at the last minute when we have had our dates finalized and signed and publicized,” said Julio-César Chávez (pictured), vice president of broadcast.
NABJ President Errin Haines (pictured, below) did not respond to a request for comment, but the student publication said Haines told them she was not aware of the scheduling conflict until the Latino Reporter contacted her this week.
“NABJ had originally planned its conference to begin Aug. 18, according to the organization’s president, Errin Haines. But the group’s leadership decided about four months ago to shift the event’s dates “in the best interest of our membership and in the best fiscal interest of our organization,” Haines said.
“The previous conference dates were ‘badly misaligned with our traditional conference window of early August,’ she said. The earlier dates would allow college students, parents and other members to have greater flexibility to attend, she said.
“NABJ, NAHJ and the Asian American Journalists Association typically notify each other of their conference dates years in advance to avoid scheduling conflicts, NAHJ leaders said.”
Drew Berry, former executive director of NABJ, “informed leaders of NAHJ two years ago that the group would be hosting its 2027 Houston conference from Aug. 18 to 22, according to emails obtained by the Latino Reporter.” That decision “informed NAHJ’s subsequent date selection,” Chávez told Journal-isms.
Haines, “who was elected to her role last summer, said her group signed amended contracts changing its Houston dates in March,” the Latino Reporter continued.
“Chávez said NAHJ leadership found out about the scheduling conflict in mid-June. NAHJ executive director Yaneth Guillén-Diaz reached out to NABJ’s interim director at the end of June but had been unable to reach a resolution by the start of this year’s annual conference. . . .”
In a statement, NAHJ said, “The scheduling change creates financial, contractual and operational challenges that ultimately impact our members.
“Our priority remains serving our members while protecting the long-term health of our association. NAHJ has asked NABJ to adjust its 2027 conference dates to avoid the overlap and remains willing to engage in a productive dialogue to explore a mutually beneficial solution.”
The Latino Reporter added, “The two organizations, which have historically hosted joint conferences, have stopped collaborating in recent years, spurred, in part, by a decision by NAHJ in 2023 to pull out of a planned 2024 joint conference,” in order to have its own convention to commemorate its 40th anniversary, a circumstance that still generates resentment by some in NABJ, in part because of the financial issues it created.
As it turned out, the appearance by then-candidate Donald Trump at that NABJ convention generated unprecedented attention to that Chicago event.
Journal-isms is not attending the NAHJ conference, now underway in New Orleans. The association last year imposed a policy breaking from traditional and prevailing practice by requiring members of the press to pay registration costs of up to $625 to report on its four- or five-day conferences.
Meanwhile, NAHJ found itself in a scheduling conflict this week with the Indigenous Journalists Association, which is meeting at the same time in Portland, Ore. NAHJ announced its 2026 dates in January 2025, while IJA’s declared its choice of dates in December.
IJA Executive Director Rebecca Landsberry-Baker attributed the conflict to a “total oversight on our part.”
NAHJ did not respond to a request for attendance figures, but IJA opened its conference with 444 registrants, a record, Landsberry-Baker said at a Tuesday board meeting. That did not include any on-site registrants.
IJA’s biggest sponsor was the Confederated Tribes of the Umaayilla Indian Reservation. Comcast NBCUniversal, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Confederated Tribes of Sileta Indians, the Inatai Foundation, The New York Times, AARP, ABC News and the MacArthur Foundation were major donors, and the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CCNY, NPR, the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University had tables, as did exhibitors promoting books, jewelry and other products aimed at Indigenous people.
From left, Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb; Melissa Greehe-Blye, IJE Education Committee chair; Tristan Ahtone of Grist and Medill Dean Charles Whitaker discuss “What Journalism Schools Need to Learn from Indigenous Newsrooms.” (Credit: Richard Prince)
IJA’s difference in focus from traditional journalism groups was illustrated at a Wednesday panel on “What Journalism Schools Need to Learn from Indigenous Newsrooms,” which featured Medill Dean Charles Whitaker, Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb, Melissa Greehe-Blye, IJE Education Committee chair; and Tristan Ahtone, editor at large at the environmental publication Grist.
Amid this summer’s 250th anniversary commemorations of the Declaration of Independence, Ahtone declared that the United States had seen “250 years of journalism” that echoed the govenment’s determination to exterminate Indigenous people and promote imperial expansion.
On the same panel, Whitaker discussed efforts to have Indigenous languages added to the list of those accepted for study by the university, only to have the administration plead that it did not have academics with sufficient credentials to do so. The university should have found a way to accomplish the goal, Whitaker said.
Members of Ke Kai O Kahiki, a men’s hula dance company from Oahu, perform at the opening night reception at the Indigenous Journalists Association conference in Portland, Ore. They are the subject of a film, “Hula,” previewed at the convention. (Credit: Richard Prince)
At a session on “The ‘Psychedelic Story and Indigenous Communities,” speakers complained that too many outsiders approach the issue without an appreciation for the time-tested role the substances have played in Native communities, including the adoption of precautionary safety measures.
Other sessions promoted the association’s goals of increasing the number of Indigenous journalists in mainstream media, and covered fact-checking, data collection, climate change and best practices for covering Indigenous communities.
- Indigenous Journalists Association: Work from Indigenous Student Fellowship
Disney Cuts Hit ESPN, National Geo, Film Studio
“The Walt Disney Co. is cutting hundreds of jobs across the company as it continues a corporate streamlining that began in earnest earlier this year,” Alex Weprin reported Monday for the Hollywood Reporter.
“Some corporate functions, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and film studios are expected to be impacted, with Pixar said to be the film studio seeing the most cuts, and Nat Geo most heavily impacted at DET, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
“Pixar has released two films this year: the original film Hoppers and Toy Story 5, which is among the biggest movies of the year so far. The cuts also include some notable on-air talent at ESPN, including longtime SportsCenter anchor and Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech, who has been with the channel since 1993, and Ryan Clark, a former NFL player who has been an analyst for the channel’s football coverage for over a decade.
“That being said, most of the layoffs at ESPN are behind-the-scenes staff, connected to its acquisition of the NFL Network earlier this year. . . .”
Samantha Masunaga added Monday for the Los Angeles Times, “At National Geographic, dozens of people have received layoff notices, though many will have an opportunity to move to a different role, according to another person familiar with the matter. Affected positions are across National Geographic’s television section, as well as editorial and digital.”
Ryan Clark was on air shortly before he learned of his dismissal from ESPN. (Screenshot via ESPN)
Ryan Clark Learns Fate During Commercial Break
“The cuts at the Disney-owned network exposed mounting tensions inside its Bristol headquarters, Status has learned, with network management scrambling to notify talent and staffers of their fate as news leaked,” Natalie Korach reported Wednesday for Status.
“On Monday afternoon, shortly after Ryan Clark went on air for ESPN’s ‘NFL Live,’ journalists were firing off emails to the network on reports that the analyst was about to be laid off.
“ESPN had planned to inform Clark the following day as part of a broader round of cuts.
“Instead, executives were suddenly faced with a choice: move quickly to tell Clark personally during a commercial break, or risk him learning he’d lost his job from someone else.
“Leadership at the Disney-owned network ultimately decided Clark should hear it from them first. So during a commercial break, a manager called to explain both the decision and why it was happening in the middle of a live broadcast.
“Clark and ESPN then mutually agreed he would not return to finish the on-air segment. Shortly after, around 5 p.m. ET, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand broke the news that Clark had been cut, a day before ESPN had planned to notify employees as part of broader layoffs.
“The leaked reports dramatically accelerated ESPN’s urgency, Status has learned, with executives fearing that if they didn’t move quickly, employees slated to lose their jobs might learn their fate from outside reporting before hearing it directly from the company.
“That led to an unusually frantic Tuesday morning inside ESPN. Some staffers received calls from an unfamiliar phone number, I’m told, only to answer and hear editor in chief Roxanna Scott (pictured) informing them they were among the cuts.
“One laid-off staffer told Status they had just returned from a reporting trip and had another scheduled later this month, forcing them to immediately scrap travel plans and cancel interviews. Hours later, several employees were still waiting for basic information about next steps, and even collecting their personal belongings from their desks at ESPN headquarters in Bristol.
” ‘It felt really haphazard and random,’ the staffer told Status. While the on-air departures dominated headlines on Tuesday, the front-facing layoffs represented only a small slice of the cuts, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“The overwhelming majority of those affected were behind-the-scenes employees tied to the integration of NFL Network, following ESPN’s acquisition of the league-owned media asset earlier this year. In a memo to employees Tuesday morning, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro acknowledged that integrating the NFL assets had required the company to evaluate its ‘collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future,’ adding that ‘most of the job cuts are tied to the acquisition,’ though employees elsewhere across the company were also notified.
“Indeed, the Disney-wide layoffs were not isolated to ESPN. Across the Josh D’Amaro-led conglomerate, several hundred positions saw the axe, including hard hits at National Geographic and Pixar.
“ABC News also saw about a dozen positions eliminated, Status reported. The broader cuts reflect the continued reshaping of Disney’s media business as the company navigates the decline of the traditional television bundle, invests in streaming, and searches for efficiencies across its sprawling entertainment empire. . . .”
- Andrew Marchand, the Athletic: Once the ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports,’ ESPN’s latest layoffs cement its new identity
- Charlotte Tobitt, Press-Gazette: Journalism job cuts in 2026 tracked: Latest from National Geographic, ESPN and Sherwood News
- Kristen Wong, si.com: Ryan Clark Clarifies How ESPN Let Him Go During ‘NFL Live’ Episode: ‘I Wasn’t Forced?’
EEOC Votes to End Collection of Race, Gender Data
“How many women hold executive-level positions at top U.S. companies? What is the racial and ethnic breakdown of those roles? What is the gender and racial breakdown of the lowest-paid roles at those companies?,” Alexandra Olson and Claire Savage asked Tuesday for the Associated Press.
“The Trump administration is making it harder for the public to know, moving to toss aside a 60-year-old requirement for tens of thousands of private sector employers to submit workforce demographic reports each year to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.
“The EEOC’s Republican majority voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind the data collection requirement, submitting the proposal to a 30-day public commentary period before final approval. The proposal is a quiet but profound salvo in President Donald Trump’s shake up of civil rights enforcement, ending a practice that has endured through 10 Republican and Democratic administrations.
“EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity and inclusion practices who has urged white men to come forward with discrimination complaints, argued that requiring companies to submit the annual demographic reports risks encouraging companies to justify discriminatory practices to diversify their workforce.
“ ‘It may promote racial stereotyping at work, and it may encourage employers to engage in discrimination,’ Lucas said during a hearing ahead of the vote. . . . “
