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"Committed
to the Cause:
A Salute to NABJ's Presidents"
DeWayne
Wickham
1987-1989
Essay by
Sheila Brooks
For DeWayne Wickham, the third time was the charm.
 After
losing bids for the NABJ presidency in 1977 and 1985, he won the 1987
election - by the widest majority in NABJ history. He inherited the leadership responsibilities of an organization
whose basic structure had been firmly established by his predecessors.
His task: to move us forward into areas that were largely uncharted
by NABJ.
The
early losses fueled Wickham's drive to lead the organization, and he won in 1987, he says, because he was "the
best-prepared candidate."
In the four years before, he attended every regional and
national board meetings but one - the board meeting prior to the 1987
national convention, which coincided with the weekend he married his
wife Wanda, owner of a Baltimore-based public relations and production
company.
Wickham
made a personal commitment to visit local chapters and meet both print and broadcast journalists and black college
students. In his travels across the country, he was also instrumental
in bringing new chapter affiliates into the NABJ fold. By 1987, he knew
the membership and its concerns, as well as the board's strengths
and weaknesses.
Besides
being well prepared, Wickham rose to the presidency with specific goals for NABJ. He had a burning desire to grow the
membership and increase opportunities for its members, helping
them to advance in their workplaces and linking them to other employment
opportunities. Under Wickham's leadership, NABJ strongly challenged the
industry's notion of workplace opportunities.
When
employers said, "We can't find any qualified
blacks," Wickham saw it as a problem of demand, not supply,
and rejected the notion of newspaper and television associations conducting
more studies. He urged media organizations to hire more people rather
than limiting their diversity efforts to investing in more scholarships
and internship programs.
He
calls it a "diversity rip-off" for news organizations
to limit their diversity efforts to giving $25,000 to $30,000 for
scholarship. Many times, he says, it's how they buy time to continue
their bad employment practices.
"The truth of the matter is that they're giving you
less money than it costs to hire an employee with salary and benefits," Wickham
says. "If they do what's right, they show their commitment to diversity."
The
recent decision by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) to
abandon its Year 2000 diversity goals underscores his assertion that, when
it comes to really supporting diversity, the industry has not put its
heart or its money where its mouth is.
"It's not enough for media managers to voice a commitment
to the hiring and promotion of African-American journalists," Wickham
says. "Anything short of real gains is an empty promise."
Wickham
brought a new level of independence to the NABJ presidency. Rather than tethering to media organizations the way
others had been accused, he got up close and personal in challenging
industry leaders to create more opportunities for NABJ members.
He even had the nerve to bite the hand that fed him.
Early
in his presidency Wickham, a columnist for Gannett and USA Today, complained
at the low level of funding that the Gannett Foundation (now the Freedom Forum) gave to NABJ. While some managers
at Gannett were upset, the foundation soon increased its funding
to NABJ.
Wickham
brought his look-you-in-the-eye and shake-your-hand style to raising
funds for the organization, joining NABJ regional directors on visits
to the Knight Ridder Foundation, the Times Mirror Foundation,
the Gannett Foundation and the Chicago Tribute Foundation to
strengthen relationships and increase awareness of NABJ's role in
the industry.
He
also took many of his board members to meetings with publishers of major metropolitan newspapers and general managers
of television stations in major markets. The result: financial
support for NABJ conventions, scholarships and internships increased
substantially, along with the organization's reputation as a force
to be reckoned with.
In addition, Wickham has donated thousands of his own
dollars to support NABJ scholarships, both at the national and local
levels.
One
of his biggest challenges as NABJ president, Wickham says, was to get
NABJ's financial house in order and get the organization to operate within a structured budget, and he also instituted board
approval of budgetary matters. He upgraded NABJ's financial review process
to a formal annual audit to ensure a sophisticated method of checks and
balances. The newly instituted financial management systems resulted
in the 1988 convention netting what was then the largest profit in our
organization's history, approximately $190,000.
Not
only did Wickham raise more money for NABJ than any previous president,
but he also left the organization with a greater net profit at the
end of his two-year tenure.
Money wasn't the only thing that grew under his leadership.
Membership
more than doubled. According to the first-ever published membership report compiled by the national headquarters
in October 1987, NABJ had 845 members. When his term ended in August
1989, the total was 1,939.
Wickham's
vision helped create the Unity Board and first Unity convention in 1994. He created the Council of Presidents
for a second tier of leadership within NABJ that combines expertise with
institutional memory. He led the move to computerize the organization's
balloting process to make national elections more efficient, and he expanded
what had been an awards reception into the full-fledged ceremony that highlights
each year's conference. And the gospel brunch that he created as
1985 convention chair has become a favorite mainstay.
"DeWayne Wickham always had a vision for NABJ and
he helped us move to a new level," said Pam Moore, former
NABJ vice president-broadcast and anchor at KRON-TV in San Francisco.
"He was very focused and directed about what he wanted
our organization to accomplish," she said. "He helped us gain
national standing as a professional organization. He helped to
get our operational systems working in a more businesslike fashion.
He really helped us grow up. And he helped to build NABJ into a position
of respected leadership, both in print and broadcast, throughout
this industry."
The
man's strong no-nonsense leadership style drew mixed reviews. Some who weren't part of the process complained that he
was a dictator. But most board members say he was effective throughout
his tenure and every motion he introduced was approved.
"Wickham's unique leadership style was to make each
meeting the most productive it could be," says John Hanson, a former
board member who is general manager of the Longhorn Radio Network in
Austin, Texas. "In doing so, he provided you with all the information
you needed to make a knowledgeable decision. He expected you to
have read the information before the meeting. If you hadn't, there
was hell to pay!"
A
natural leader, Wickham also founded the Trotter Group, a coalition of black newspaper columnists. The group has been called
upon by the White House for consultations with Vice President Al
Gore, Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman and then-United Nations
Ambassador and current Secretary of State Madeline Albright.
The
fire for leading others into change still burns brightly in Wickham,
as does his love for and commitment to NABJ.
His advice to future NABJ presidents?
"To be true to our founding convictions," he
said. "We have steered away from those founding principles.
We have not made them the centerpiece of our efforts as much as
we should have."
Sheila
Brooks is president and chief executive officer of SRB Productions
Inc. in Washington, D.C. She is a former broadcast journalist who served
as NABJ secretary from 1986-1991.
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