A national organization of Black journalists is under fire after announcing that former President Donald Trump will attend the organization’s convention on Wednesday.
Leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists defended the decision to invite the 78-year-old Trump to speak at the Q&A, but the group’s rank-and-file members and other reporters slammed the invitation.
Trump was invited to attend in 2016 and 2020 but declined both times, but agreed to attend this year as he seeks to retake the White House as the Republican candidate.
“To say we’re disappointed in @NABJ would be an understatement,” said Supervising Producer Jasmine Ellis. I tweeted.
“This decision and announcement should have been handled with more care. It is short-sighted and self-serving, and the damage to the organization’s reputation will be significant.”
CBS Sports host Ashley Nicole Moss called the decision “extremely disappointing.”
“This should be a safe space for black journalists to come together and encourage current and aspiring journalists,” she said. I wrote it to X. “It’s just to remind each other that we belong here. There’s no need for him to be in a room like this at all.”
“You’ve made the only safe space Black journalists have potentially dangerous, all because you want to appear ‘smarter than everyone else,’ which is … stupid at best,” the former Deadspin writer said. Caron Phillips tweeted:
The association has consistently invited presidential candidates from each major political party to attend its conferences, association leaders pointed out in defending the invitations.
“I joined in on this call, which is consistent with the invitations NABJ has sent to every presidential candidate for decades,” Thea Mitchell, Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said in response to another tweet from Phillips. According to Page Six.
“But please keep the feed coming, and I will continue to work to create opportunities for journalists to interview the next presidential candidates.”
NABJ President Ken Lemon also defended the decision.
“As a journalism organization, NABJ does not endorse political candidates, but we understand the serious work our members do and welcome the opportunity to ask the tough questions that provide the real answers Black Americans want and need to know,” he said. Posted.
Symone D. Sanders Townsend, a former senior adviser to President Biden and now a host on MSNBC, agreed with the decision.
“Some of the best journalists in the country are members of NABJ. So why aren’t they interviewing Trump? He’s the Republican candidate. The journalists who complain don’t seem to understand that their job is to actually ask questions,” she explained. In a social media post.
“The NABJ did not defend Trump. Republican primary voters did. Like any candidate running for president, Trump deserves to be interviewed in a serious way and answer real questions, which he will do on Wednesday.”
Adding fuel to the controversy was Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, who skipped the convention on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
But the group declined an offer to host a virtual Q&A with Harris or hold it on a different date. A source told NBC News.
Fox News host Harris Faulkner, ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott and Semaphore reporter Kadia Goba will co-host the event with President Trump and will focus on issues that matter most to the Black community.
The Trump campaign said the 45th president was “grateful” for the invitation.
“The Trump campaign believes it is important to give Black journalists greater access to the presidential candidate so they can better inform Black voters,” Black media director Janiya Thomas told Page Six.
“President Trump’s message is resonating with Black voters, and all communities should hear what he has to say.”
