WASHINGTON – After considering an appeal from its Detroit chapter and new information from the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the largest organization of journalists of color, will now turn its sights to Indianapolis for its 31st annual convention and career fair in 2006, passing on Detroit as the event’s host city that year.

The NABJ Board of Directors, citing space limitations, logistical challenges and an inevitable negative financial impact, stands by its recent decision to consider another city for its 2006 convention, NABJ President Herbert Lowe said today. This re-affirmation comes after a review of an extensive and thorough appeal from Detroit Chapter-NABJ, together with the convention and visitors bureau.

“Clearly the city of Detroit wanted to host NABJ in 2006 and NABJ wanted to meet in the city of Detroit,” said Lowe, a criminal courts reporter at Newsday in Queens, N.Y. “We were overwhelmed with the chapter and the city’s sincere effort to make this work. But in the end, NABJ must do what is best for the association, its mission and its members.”

Earlier this year, NABJ’s staff began to work with representatives from the convention bureau and Marriott Detroit Renaissance Center to finalize a contract. Negotiations stalled because of several logistical and financial concerns that arose during a site visit and subsequent discussions.

NABJ conducted extensive talks with the Marriott, considering it as a primary site for its career fair and exhibit hall. However, NABJ and Marriott management now agree that the site would drastically impact key programming, logistical and financial tenets of NABJ. Specifically, NABJ concluded the meeting space would not accommodate the required space for on-site registration and exhibit booths needed for the career fair and exhibits, the largest of its kind in the industry.

“Based on the meeting objectives … it is clear that the Marriott cannot physically accommodate all of NABJ’s meeting, banquet and exhibit needs without the use of Cobo exhibit space,” Bob Nee, the Marriott’s director of marketing, wrote in a letter sent today to NABJ Executive Director Tangie Newborn.

Lowe said hosting the 2006 convention at the Marriott could cost NABJ well over $100,000 in lost revenue, something the association simply cannot afford to risk. The president also said utilizing the Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center would essentially mean moving the entire convention there, a logistical challenge given its distance from the hotel.

“NABJ will next identify potential host cities for its annual conventions in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and we certainly hope the city and our Detroit chapter will bid again,” Lowe said. “I want again to express our deep appreciation to Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and all of their constituents, for their support of our members’ efforts.”

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.

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