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Associate members’ voting rights at riskBy LEVI LONG Monitor Staff Voting members of the National Association of Black Journalists will be asked on Friday if the size of the 19-member executive board of directors should be reduced. If members vote yes, they will be given three options of where to make delicate cuts. The three options before the voters in Friday’s election would reduce the size of the board to 11, 13 or 14 members. Proposal “A” sets a 13-member board of directors, proposal “B” a 14-member board, and “C” an 11-member board. According to an article in the December 2002 edition of the NABJ Journal, it costs $76,000 to maintain a 19-member board. The proposals to reduce the size would result in savings that range from $20,000 to $32,000 a year. Proposal C - the choice that eliminates the position of associate board member - is the one that has angered many members who are not working journalists, but consider themselves linked to the profession. “Associate members believe in the mission of the organization and support the programs and can address the issues. ... This should not be one,” said Meta J. Mereday, the outgoing associate representative to the executive board. Mereday, a media consultant, said some members resent the associate board position, labeling it a post for “PR people.” For years, the issue has been a source of bitter debate. Will Sutton Jr., immediate past president of NABJ, said associate members are valuable at the local chapter level. However, he said associate members should not have the right to vote on who will be president of the organization. It was a mistake to include associate members as voting members at the board level because they aren’t journalists, he said. Sutton said he was not suggesting that associate members leave NABJ but said the organization has to be true to its goals to promote black journalists Associate members are defined as those who make less than 50 percent of their income by reporting, writing or taking photos for a news organization. Mereday said at last count there were 538 associate members of NABJ. Associate members include some journalism professors, media consultants and those who work in public relations. Mereday said she thinks streamlining the NABJ board can be a good idea and is always an option for an executive board but that it is dangerous to eliminate a segment of the organization’s voice that represents a cross-section of media professionals. She said if the constitutional amendment were approved, the associate board position wouldn’t be eliminated for two years. There are three associate members running for the associate board position. They are: Dina Martin-Anderson, director of public relations for National-Louis University; Angela McClendon, communications specialist for the San Antonio Convention and Visitor’s Bureau; and Christy Poindexter, a free-lance journalist from Memphis, Tenn. Levi Long can be reached at levinabj@hotmail.com. |
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