NABJ Elects New President

NABJ wrapped up their convention in Orlando and they now also have a new President. 

The Root reports that Bob Butler, a multimedia reporter at KCBS radio in San Francisco and two-term vice president/broadcast of the National Association of Black Journalists, was elected president of the organization Friday as members learned that NABJ ran a deficit in 2012 and that its finance committee projected one for 2013 as well.

Butler, 60, defeated Sarah J. Glover, social media editor at WCAU-TV, the NBC-owned and operated station in Philadelphia, 251 to 229.

In other races, incumbent Errin Haines Whack, a reporter for the Washington Post and vice president/print, defeated Denise Clay, writer/proofreader and copy editor at the Philadelphia Sunday Sun. She won 286 votes to Clay's 165.

For vice president/broadcast, Dedrick Russell, a reporter at WBTV-TV, Charlotte, N.C., and a current regional representative, defeated Lisa D. Cox, producer at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and current NABJ secretary, 255 to 208.

For secretary, Corey Dade, contributing editor at the Root and a current regional representative, defeatedMichael Feeney, a reporter for the Daily News in New York and president of the New York Association of Black Journalists, 233 to 222.

For parliamentarian, incumbent Cindy George, reporter and Houston Advocate blogger at the Houston Chronicle, defeated Caleb Wilkerson, supervising producer and director at Discovery Communications and former board member, 272 to 171.

Treasurer Keith Reed, senior editor at ESPN The Magazine, was unopposed and garnered 393 votes.

Overall, about 493 of NABJ's 1,316 full members voted, Elections Committee Co-Chair Mike Woolfolk said, about 37.5 percent of those eligible. When those in other categories are counted, NABJ membership stood at 2,986 in July, down from a high of 4,119 in June 2008 but greater than a recent low of 2,578 in September 2010, Executive Director Maurice Foster said.