FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Contact: Carolyn Wheeler,
301-445-7100 ext. 110
Carolyn@nabj.org
Jan. 12, 2004

New NABJ Region VIII director named

ADELPHI, Md. (Jan. 12, 2004) — Vickie Newton -- an award-winning anchor/reporter at KMOV-TV in St. Louis and formerly of Atlanta, Detroit, Kansas City and Little Rock -- is the new NABJ Region VIII director, NABJ President Herbert Lowe announced today.

Newton, who joined KMOV two years ago, will represent NABJ members in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska on the association's 19-member national board of directors, Lowe said. She will be joining the board at its winter meeting this weekend in Miami, he said.

After an exhaustive search, the president appointed Newton to fill a vacancy left when no Region VIII member sought the position in last year's NABJ election. Lowe appointed Neal Scarbrough of ESPN.com and V.W. Vaughan of the Arizona Daily Star to represent members in Region I and Region IX, respectively, for the same reason in September.

In October, Newton won the Emmy Award for best anchor from the National Television Academy Mid-America chapter, which includes Missouri and parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas and Iowa.

"Vickie has assured me that she will have contacted each of her chapter presidents and discussed their mutual goals by the time we meet in Miami," Lowe said. "She and I have had several conversations about this appointment and what it means to NABJ and her new constituents in Region VIII and across the country. I am confident that she will be a great board member."

Newton said she was grateful for the chance to represent other black journalists and to lend her voice to the cause of helping them to not only survive in the industry, but advance in their careers and gain influence.

"It is my pleasure to join the Board of Directors for the National Association of Black Journalists as the representative for Region VIII," she said. "I look forward to working with the organization's leadership as well as all of its members for the continued progression of the ideas espoused by those who founded NABJ 28 years ago."

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An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the world, with 3,600 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.