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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNITY Announces Move to Prime Time for Presidential
Candidates’ Forum at UNITY ‘08
Forum will be broadcast live on CNN

McLean, VA, June 4, 2008 - UNITY: Journalists of Color and CNN will broadcast live in prime time a historic discussion with the presumptive presidential nominees at the UNITY ’08 Convention in Chicago on July 24.

The forum, which had been slated for a late-afternoon time slot, will be moved to 8-10 p.m. ET (7-9 p.m. CT) on Thursday, July 24, and is expected to reach more than 2 million viewers around the country and worldwide.

“As an organization representing journalists from a diversity of backgrounds, UNITY’s forum will reflect a different brand of questions than the public has heard so far in the campaigns,” said UNITY President Karen Lincoln Michel.  “Going prime time will show America what the future looks like in terms of the diversity of the press corps that should be covering U.S. politics and the race for the most powerful position in the free world.”

The fourth quadrennial convention, which is themed “A New Journalism for a Changing World,” is expected to draw thousands of journalists during the five-day event and Career Expo to be held July 23-27 at McCormick Place West.

   UNITY – an alliance representing the nearly 10,000 members of the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association – will host a dynamic lineup of events, speakers, workshops and discussions relevant to issues and change happening nationwide and globally.        

The forum, co-sponsored by CNN and TIME Magazine, will provide attendees a rare look into the candidates’ positions on a wide variety of topics.  During the forum, the presidential candidates are expected to address questions from a panel of working journalists representing all four alliance partners.  The presidential candidates from both parties have been invited and UNITY is working with their staffs to arrange for their attendance.
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“The live broadcast of this major event is unprecedented for UNITY,” said UNITY ’08 Convention Chair Bryan Monroe, vice president and editorial director of Ebony and Jet magazines in Chicago.  “The forum will bring the major candidates to the stage shortly before the DNC and RNC conventions this summer, and give readers and viewers a unique chance to hear where they stand on issues facing an increasingly diverse America.”
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NOTE:  Members of the working press who wish to cover this forum will need to obtain press credentials.  The process for acquiring credentials can be accessed through the convention website at www.2008unity.org.  For additional information on obtaining credentials, contact UNITY at info@unityjournalists.org.

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About UNITY: Journalists of Color
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity. UNITY, representing more than 10,000 journalists of color, is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.

In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY develops programs and institutional relationships that promote its mission. For more information on UNITY, visit www.unityjournalists.org, email info@unityjournalists.org or call (703) 854-3585.