by Marco Cerino TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Vice President Kamala Harris’ conversation with members of the National Association of Black Journalists, or NABJ, was a well-watched success for the hosting group and served as a sharp contrast from the combative session with former President Donald Trump at the organization’s convention in Chicago.
The NABJ is the country’s foremost professional organization for Black reporters, editors and other practitioners of journalism. The 45-minute session at WHYY’s studios in Philadelphia moderated by member reporters fulfilled a promise made to the organization, as Harris was unable to join their national convention in Chicago this summer due to scheduling conflicts.
At the convention, members hosted the Republican candidate in person, which became contentious as the former president took a bellicose stance against the panel, lobbing insults and lies during the session, and almost didn’t appear in protest against live fact-checking.
“As president, my job really is to put the best panel together,” Lemon told The Tribune in a phone interview Wednesday about choosing Tonya Mosley of NPR, Gerren Keith Gaynor of The Grio and Eugene Daniels of Politico as the interviewers on Tuesday. “Put the best producers with them, allow them to come up with questions that they think are important, and get to those.”
Harris took on complex questions about Gaza, the economy, gun control and other topics.
Philadelphia’s chapter president, Michael Days, attended the event and multiple members volunteered in operations. He was impressed with the vice president’s answers, notably her compassionate approach to the ongoing attacks on Springfield, Ohio, tied to erroneous social media posts propagated by Trump and other Republicans disparaging Haitian immigrants.
Harris pointed out how hurt she was that bomb threats canceled school on picture day, robbing students and families of that annual event.
“What impressed me was her ability to connect with everybody,” Days said Wednesday in a phone interview. “While she is a Black woman, and proud to be a Black woman, she has the ability to connect with all of us. She doesn’t go right to race,” referring to her answering about working to earn the vote of Black men after an NAACP survey in early August found Black men under 50 backed her only 49-26 against Trump.
Sarah Glover, vice president of news and civic dialogue at WHYY, was vital in helping the station host the event for the organization where she served as president from 2015 to 2019.
Glover spoke highly of Mosley, who co-hosts the award-winning show “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” from the station. Mosley pressed Harris on the issue of gun regulations, shifting the conversation away from assault rifles, which dominates national news and congressional debate, and toward handguns prevalently used for crime in cities like Philadelphia. Glover also complimented the panelists for asking excellent questions.
“The panelists’ questions in all were comprehensive, in the sense of what a good, nationally recognized journalist, who are also members of the National Association of Black Journalists, might ask on behalf of that body,” she said in a phone interview Friday. “They certainly were reflective of issues that are germane to Black communities across the country, but a measure of those questions were applicable to all people, all Americans.”
Another major element of Tuesday’s event was the attendance of college students who also belong to NABJ. The convention in Chicago brought student members into contact with their peers and professionals, and they also worked on in-house publications to chronicle the event. Lemon noted that college students are one of the fastest growing segments of NABJ’s membership.
“These are not only involved journalists, individuals who wish to understand how everything’s made, they got to be in an environment whereby they can see what a true Q&A looks like,” he said, differentiating the interview from a campaign rally.
A spokesperson for NABJ said 250 to 275 people attended the event at WHYY. The event aired live on MSNBC and was covered by major outlets, locally and nationally. For Days, it was a substantial moment for the organization and his local chapter, helping to gain name recognition with those outside the media community.
“I think it’s good for us to be recognized and that just means we have to be bigger and better,” he said, mentioning the event got attention from hotel workers where his wife was staying in Chicago. “We want our members to be exposed to a whole lot of different people, a whole lot of different issues.”
mcerino@phillytrib.com 215-893-5782
This story originally appeared in the Philadelphia Tribune
