FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Contact: Lisa Goodnight
NABJ Communications Manager
(301) 445-7100 ext. 107
lisa@nabj.org

 July 28, 2004

BIGGER THAN EVER: NABJ HITS
RECORD NUMBER AT 4,695 MEMBERS

WASHINGTON – The National Association of Black Journalists, an advocacy and training organization founded by 44 men and women in 1975, announced today that a year of unprecedented growth has driven its membership roster up by 43 percent, to a record 4,695.

Going into next week’s UNITY 2004 convention in Washington, NABJ, the oldest and largest organization of journalists of color, had 2,656, or nearly 40 percent, of the 6,930 delegates already registered for what will be the biggest gathering of journalists in U.S. history.

NABJ went into last year’s convention in Dallas with 2,200 delegates pre-registered and closed with a total of 2,669 having attended. As for the July 2004 membership numbers, they compare remarkably with 2,673 and 2684 in July 2002 and July 2003, respectively.

"This is amazing news. I’m still finding it hard to believe,” NABJ President Herbert Lowe, a courts reporter at Newsday, said of the record growth. “Certainly, the excitement about UNITY 2004 played a role. But we also believe black journalists are responding to our efforts and priorities – first and foremost, that NABJ is a year-round organization fighting for them every single day.”

NABJ Vice President-Broadcast Barbara Ciara said it was “no accident” the numbers increased.

"Our president, Executive Director Tangie Newborn and the entire Board of Directors made membership a priority and I’d like to personally thank all of our members for getting behind this and making it happen,” said Ciara, managing editor/evening anchor at WTKR-TV in Norfolk.   

NABJ Vice President-Print Bryan Monroe called the news fantastic and said it reinforces the fact that the association serves an invaluable need for journalists in America.

“If there was any doubt about a reason for an organization championing newsroom diversity and black journalists, these new numbers dispel those doubts,” said Monroe, an assistant vice president/news for Knight Ridder.

Newborn said NABJ created its first-ever membership department last year and charged it with increasing the roster by 10 percent annually over a three-year period.

“It is obvious the membership department’s new recruitment and retention plan for 2003 and 2004 has been very successful,” she said.

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the world, with more than 4,600 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.