January 3, 2013

Journal-isms | National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association
Unity’s board of directors has voted to officially change its name to Unity: Journalists for Diversity, Richard Prince reports.

Outgoing Unity President Joanna Hernandez told Prince that nine directors voted in favor with one opposed. Six did not vote.

In April 2011, the National Association of Black Journalists withdrew from Unity due to governance and financial issues. After the National Association of Lesbian & Gay Journalists joined the alliance months later, Unity decided to drop “Journalists of Color” from its name. NABJ President Gregory Lee said at the time that the name change was “most unfortunate” and just “makeup covering the problems that still remain.” Since leaving Unity, NABJ has expressed interest in rejoining, but the two groups have yet to settle differences.

A recent NLGJA poll shows 81 percent of the group’s members preferred the moniker “Unity: Journalists for Diversity.” 17 percent favored “Unity: Journalists of Color & Diversity,” while less than one percent favored “Unity: Journalists of Color.”

Previously: NABJ co-founder says Unity’s mission has changed since NLGJA joined | Unity president ‘immensely sad’ when alliance voted to drop ‘journalists of color’ from name | NABJ commission decides not to rejoin Unity | Unity attendance down after divorce with NABJ | With convention attendance down, time to rethink purpose of Unity?

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City…
Andrew Beaujon

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