From the President’s Desk …

EDDIE LARD

Eddie Lard, BABJ President

Despite being an organization of communicators, sometimes we don’t do a good job of communicating what we are and what we are doing. Improving that has been one of my top goals since I was elected president of BABJ nearly two years ago. The launch of this newsletter, BABJ Newsdesk, we hope, will be a useful and important vehicle in informing the greater Birmingham community of some of the things this organization is doing and what we are about. In other words, BABJ Newsdesk will help us tell our story.

Telling that story begins with paying tribute to our past. A lot of dedicated journalists, broadcasters and public relations professionals who sincerely care about our profession as well as this community helped formed and shaped BABJ some 25 years ago. Through the pages (both print and online) of Newsdesk, we will tell you a little about these pioneers. Our premier edition honors a radio newsman I came to know and admire during my early years in Birmingham, Jesse Champion Sr. Mr. Champion died last year at age 80, leaving behind a legacy both in radio news and in music. He was the first black news reporter for WERC radio, and his musical talents earned him a spot in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Please read Birmingham News staff writer and BABJ member William Singleton’s “Farewell” tribute to Mr. Champion, which ran last December in the newspaper.

Of course, I remember the integral role Mr. Champion played in a then-fledgling BABJ. Many of our early planning meeting were held at his Omega Psi Phi fraternity house in west Birmingham. Mr. Champion’s son, the late Jesse Champion Jr., also was a radio journalist and an officer and active member in BABJ. Our organization is extremely grateful for the contributions of this father and son.

On the subject of contributions, one of the goals of BABJ is to contribute to public discussion by being a catalyst for community dialogue. Last year, BABJ, along with our media partners, put on a Town Hall Meeting on Violence. The event, held at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, was historic — the first time any event was simulcast by all four Birmingham television stations with news departments. The Town Hall Meeting event provided a forum for elected and other public officials to discuss the city’s crime problems and what was being done about it, and for citizens to question those officials and give their take on what they believe need to be done. The event was a hit, and won BABJ the Rufus N. Rhodes Leadership in Media Award from the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.

This year, BABJ is planning a Town Hall Meeting on Education for this fall. Check future issues of BABJ Newsdesk for more information on that event.

Be sure, too, to check out the other features in this first edition of Newsdesk. We hope it gives you a better understanding of BABJ.

Leading our team of professional and student journalists in publishing Newsdesk each quarter is Rahkia Nance, a young, talented, enterprising reporter for The Birmingham News. Rahkia comes from a great reporting bloodline; her father, Roscoe Nance, is a retired NBA beat writer for USA Today. Read in this issue about the seminar on internships Rahkia co-planned and will co-host at this month’s Unity ’08 Convention in Chicago, where 10,000 journalists of color — African-African, Native American, Hispanic American and Asian-Americans — are expected.

If you have any suggestions for us, or perhaps want to submit something for inclusion in Newsdesk, drop us a line at president (at) babj.net.

Eddie Lard, an editorial writer for The Birmingham News, is president and a founding member of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists.