Achievements of UNITY alliance partners since last fall

Native American Journalists Association
* September 2003: Dispersed over $32,000 in scholarships to Native American students studying journalism.

* October: Hired a full-time executive assistant, taking NAJA to 2 full time employees).

* November: The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a resolution supporting a Free and Independent Press in Indian Country.

* December: NAJA decides to hold is annual convention during the second week of August each year, instead of June. NAJA’s next convention after UNITY will be in Lincoln, NE in 2005, to be hosted by NAJA’s Great Plains chapter.

* NAJA receives seed money to develop an internship program at tribal media newspapers

*Completed first phase of Many Nations-Lewis & Clark project – NAJA partnered with the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers in a project that captured news about tribal preparations for the Lewis and Clark Trail bicentennial celebration. 15 stories and a little over 20 photos were written and taken, respectively. Many stories of the past were written from a non-Native perspective, where this project captured many stories and images from a Native American point of view.

* NAJA president Patty Talahongva participated in the UNITY/RTNDA Broadcasting Summit at Columbia University in January, which included the presidents of news at ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN and two dozen other local radio and television news executives.

* On February 24, 2004, NAJA issued a press release in reaction to a musical performance done by Outkast during the Grammy awards, broadcast on CBS. The performance made a mockery of Native American song, dance and dress, including an opening parity of a traditional Navajo song, mixed with stereotypical traditional dress of the Great Plains peoples. As part the reaction statement, NAJA recognized the admirable efforts of many tribal media outlets and called for better and increased coverage by mainstream media on news events relating to Native Americans communities.

* February & March: NAJA’s Executive Director traveled the state of South Dakota with the Executive Director of the Freedom Forum, recruiting Native Americans students for journalism training projects, including student projects at NAJA’s annual convention. The trip included stops at nine different Reservations and seven urban Native American communities.

Asian American Journalists Association
• Launched drive for $2 million endowment culminating in 2006, AAJA's 25th anniversary.
• Continued drive on the Challenge Grant, exceeding AAJA’s goal by 50 percent.
• Achieved AAJA highest ever membership with 1,999 members in 2003 -- a 20 percent increase over 2002.
• Organized J Camp for high school students to be held immediately before UNITY 2004.
• Launched broadcast mentor program and created DVDs to feature video of Asian American male anchors to be distributed at the RTNDA/NAB convention in Las Vegas in April.
• AAJA held its most recent mini-conference in New York City March 27, attracting more than 150 participants and a discussion with Jill Abramson, managing editor of The New York Times.
• AAJA this month unveiled its five-year strategic plan that focuses on strengthening relationships with the media industry and the Asian American community as well as financial stability for the organization.

National Association of Hispanic Journalists
• More than 300 people attended scholarship the annual banquet in New York in February. NAHJ offered a tribute to Frank Del Olmo, Associate Editor of the Los Angeles Times, who passed away on that same day, Feb. 20.
• Launched Parity Project programs in seven markets to increase the numbers of Hispanic journalists in communities with large Hispanic populations. Numbers of Hispanic journalists in the program's first two sites increased by 11 percent at the Rocky Mountain News and 17 percent at the Ventura County Star. NAHJ reports it is seeking a partner for possible Parity Project at a local television broadcast outlet.
• The Spanish language stylebook, Manual De Estilo, was published in March with more than 400 advance orders. Sessions have been held in several cities for the rollout, including in New York and at the University of Texas-El Paso, with more planned.
• Launched a study of Spanish-language media in the United States.
• Released "Brown-out" report in December, 2003, analyzing coverage of Hispanics by television news, which showed continued underrepresentation of Latinos in national TV broadcasts.
• Development is underway to launch the NAHJ Leadership Institute to provide management training for Latinos.
• Planning is underway for the annual awards banquet, which for the first time will be held separately from the annual convention banquet. This year’s will be on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C.

National Association of Black Journalists
• Launched new marketing campaign, including a redesigned Web site with new features, more news and information for members.
• Added more than 600 new members since last summer, pushing the association’s total membership of 3,648. Much of the new membership came from students.
• NABJ was honored by the National Urban League in a special reception held in March in New York City.
• NABJ moved quickly to the defense of student journalists at Hampton University when the school president seized copies of The Script newspaper during a dispute. With NABJ’s intervention, the administration reached a compromise and agreed to recommendations made by NABJ.
• Began building database of black journalists, so it can be provided as a recruitment tool to managers who complain about an alleged lack of qualified black journalists.
• Began renewed fundraising campaign in advance of the association’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2005.
• Revamped the NABJ Media Institute, by creating new training programs for membership.
• Planning is underway for the NABJ National Awards banquet, Oct. 9 in Washington, D.C.

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