HBCU Students Hear Boyd, Sulzberger at NABJ Convention

Leah L. Jones/NABJ Convention Online Staff Former New York Times Managing Editor Gerald Boyd told black journalists, "I was not a mentor to Jayson Blair."

The New York Times reinforced its ties to students at historically black colleges and universities by meeting in Dallas with participants from its Student Journalism Institute.

Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., newly appointed executive editor Bill Keller, institute director Don Hecker and other Times professionals held an informal luncheon with participants in the two-week workshop who came to the Aug. 6-10 convention of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Sulzberger restated the Times commitment to assembling a more diverse newspaper staff. He chatted informally with the students on issues raised by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at the convention; and on such other topics as the justification for the war in Iraq; the conflict in Liberia and the Episcopal Church’s confirmation of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as a bishop.

“Amazingly, he was a down-to-earth person who was very personable,” Rashida R. Rawls, a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, said of Sulzberger. “Often, students and young professionals are intimidated by higher executives. This was not the case today.”

The institute took place May 18-31 at Dillard University in New Orleans. It brought together 30 promising journalists from HBCUs across the country and Times staff members. After intensive reporting, copy editing, photography and graphics training, the students collaborated on a newspaper, producing a print version and an online edition as well.

The workshop provided a realistic newsroom setting that allowed students to cover breaking news such as the May 27 capture in Atlanta of South Louisiana serial-killing suspect Derrick Todd Lee, who is accused in the deaths of six women.

Derick Hackett, director of Southern University’s Office of Student Media, and Dr. Jinx Broussard, a journalism professor at Dillard and Louisiana State universities, also attended the luncheon. Both worked with the students at the institute, providing additional assistance.

“The workshop was a lot of fun. It was inspiring being around so many intelligent students,” Times culture reporter Lola Ogunnaike, said of the program.

Institute attendees who were at the convention also heard from former Times managing editor Gerald Boyd and who was forced to resign in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. Executive Editor Howell Raines was forced to leave the newspaper as well.

Blair resigned under pressure from the Times after the newspaper found multiple cases of journalistic fraud and plagiarism.

“I was not, not a mentor to Jayson Blair,” Boyd, the 2001 NABJ Journalist of the Year adamantly exclaimed to the convention audience. “To suggest that I played favorites not only diminishes me as a journalist and a manager, it also diminishes all of the people I have tried to help and teach."

In addition to explaining what was fact and what was fiction in the reporting of his role in the Blair chain of events, Boyd accepted responsibility for his mistakes, but added, “If we had known how deeply troubled he was, Jayson Blair would not have been writing for the New York Times.”

Sulzberger said it was time for the newspaper to learn from its mistakes and move forward. He said that he would miss Boyd, but said he was confident in the leadership that Keller will bring.

As for minority recruiting, the institute is only one step in the process, Sulzberger and Keller stressed. They both have pledged to promote diversity in the newsroom.

Others at the convention said the industry wasn’t working hard enough to meet its stated diversity goals.

One was 2003 NABJ Journalist of the Year George Curry, editor in chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service.

“There needs to be a lot more non-traditional recruiting. It’s not enough to just recruit them, you have to keep them,” he told the NABJ attendees.

Nikki G. Bannister, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest. She attended the New York Times Student Institute.

Posted Aug. 11, 2003