The Baltimore Association of Black Journalists and SNEABJ were the other two finalists for this year’s award.
In 2016, PBMF hosted a media diversity summit at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation, and included the release of the federation’s own study on local media diversity. The long-standing group also held its 28th annual Robert L. Vann Media Awards, which recognized excellence in journalism coverage of African American communities and issues, along with its 33rd annual Bolden Multimedia Workshop, which provides media-related instruction to local high school students.
“People of color, especially Black journalists, are underrepresented in media,” Parrish told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview. The multimedia workshop’s mission is to “inspire (the high school students) to pursue a career in media.”
Some students in the program who didn’t enter a media-related field inform Parrish that the skills acquired in the workshop greatly helped them in their current occupations.
Parrish said the yearly multimedia workshop is open to students of all ethnicities.
Other 2016 accomplishments, according to a news release provided by PBMF, included presenting or co-hosting a 15th anniversary panel on 9/11’s impact on media coverage, an event about changes to right-to-know laws, a panel on transferring ideas and writing skills to book publishing, and a discussion on media coverage of water issues in Flint, Mich.
Parrish told the Courier she ran for PBMF president four years ago because “I thought that I would be able to bring some fresh ideas to the organization, and I greatly respected the veteran members who had worked so hard for years to continue PBMF’s mission.”
Those ideas included the organization becoming more “transparent with everything we do, from accounting, to how we make decisions about programming,” she said. “I also wanted to put a full board in place; a stronger board makes a stronger organization as a whole.”
She also created quarterly programs that provided information on mobile technology, social media, and tax preparation for journalists.
Parrish’s tenure as president ends Dec. 31. “I’m so honored to have been along for this fantastic ride with such a wonderful group of people.”
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