A national organization for black journalists is under fire after it announced that former President Donald Trump would appear at its convention on Wednesday.
Leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists defended its decision to have Trump, 78, speak during a question-and-answer session, while many of its members and other reporters criticized the invitation.
Trump was asked to attend in 2016 and 2020, but turned down the association both times before accepting this year as the Republican nominee seeks to retake the White House.
“To say I’m disappointed in @NABJ would be an understatement,” tweeted supervising producer Jasmine Ellis.
“This decision and announcement should have been handled with much more care. It feels short-sighted, self-serving, and the damage to the organization’s reputation will be significant.”
CBS Sports anchor Ashley Nicole Moss called the decision “extremely disappointing.”
“This is supposed to be a safe place for black journalists to connect/network. it’s a space to lift up current and future journalists,” she wrote in X. “to remind each other that we belong. he has absolutely ZERO business being in a room like her/this.”
“You’ve just made the only safe haven black journalists have, potentially unsafe, because you all want to look ‘smarter than everyone else,’ when that’s….idiotic at best,” he wrote tweeted former Deadspin writer Carron Phillips.
The association consistently invites presidential candidates from each major party to attend their conference, its leaders said in defense of the invitation.
“I helped to realize this call. And it’s consistent with the invitations NABJ has sent to every presidential candidate for decades,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution Washington correspondent Tia Mitchell said in response to another tweet from Phillips, according to Page Six.
“But keep going on your feed. I will continue to work to create opportunities for journalists to interview the potential next President.”
NABJ President Ken Lemon also defended the decision.
“While NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization, we understand the serious work of our members and welcome the opportunity for them to ask tough questions that will yield the real answers Black Americans want and need to know,” he posted. . .
Former senior adviser to President Biden and current MSNBC host Symone D. Sanders Townsend also agreed with the decision.
“Some of the best journalists in the country are members of NABJ. So why wouldn’t they interview Trump? He is the Republican candidate. It seems the journalists who complain don’t understand that it’s their job to ask the questions,” she explained in a social media post.
“NABJ did not platform Trump. Voters in the Republican primary did. Like anyone else running for president, he needs to sit down for serious interviews and answer real questions. That’s happening on Wednesday.”
Adding to the controversy, Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, declined to appear at the convention because she will attend Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s funeral on Wednesday.
But the organization declined Harris’ offer to create a virtual Q&A or hold it at another date, a source told NBC News.
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba will moderate the event with Trump, which will focus on the issues most important to the black community.
Trump’s campaign said the 45th president was “grateful” for the invitation.
“Team Trump believes it’s important to give black journalists more access to the presidential candidates so they can better inform black voters,” Black Media Director Janiyah Thomas told Page Six. .
“President Trump’s message is resonating with voters of color, and all communities deserve to hear what he has to say.”
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