Thousands of journalists, communications professionals and students are gathering in Cleveland this week for the 50th annual National Association of Black Journalists convention.
The a four-day event of career development and networking will be held at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland from Aug. 6-10.
NABJ advocates for Black journalists and students, providing them with educational training and support, said Helen Maynard, Vice President of Broadcast with the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists.
“One of the things that NABJ looks to do is to sensitize all media to the importance of fairness in the workplace for Black journalists, and also to work with high school students and colleges to identify and encourage young Black students to become journalists and communicators,” Maynard said during Tuesday's Sound of Ideas.
Black journalists only make up 6% of reporting journalists, according to a Pew Research study conducted in 2023, NABJ is working to make the workplace more diverse to better represent the community, Maynard said.
“Media’s mission is to inform or reflect the community,” Maynard said. “You may not get all the reflection of the community that you would get if you had a stronger Black staff.”
The convention will expose students and professionals to new career development opportunities with workshops, forums and networking events, Maynard added.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Maynard said. “And for a lot of people, they come in looking for a workshop, but they may find out about an area of journalism or area of media relations that they don’t know about.”
NABJ is expecting a similar turnout to last year’s convention held in Chicago, which saw nearly 4,400 attendees, according to the non-profit's website.
Having the convention in Cleveland will also support journalists in the city, Maynard said.
“Especially in Cleveland, in a market where you’ve seen jobs shrink, the idea of learning how you might create your own media path, I think is really important,” Maynard said.
More information about the conference and registration can be found at NABJ’s website and at the Cleveland’s ABJ website.
