Yesterday, the National Association of Black Journalists launched its annual convention and career fair in Chicago, Illinois. The multi-day event – viewed by Black journalists as an invaluable safe space – brings together thousands of members from across the nation to train, network and socialize.
The conference’s opening day, however, was overshadowed by an unexpected guest: Donald J Trump. The former president was invited by the NABJ board to participate in a panel interview and his attendance was announced just two days before the event. The interview was fraught, hostile and brief. And it confirmed many NABJ members’ fears that Trump’s interaction with three Black women moderators – Rachel Scott from ABC News, Harris Faulkner of Fox News, and Semafor’s Kadia Goba – would be a farce. The discussion ran afoul of any attempt to use journalism to speak truth to power.
