Members and friends of the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists:
It's always a struggle to get started in a New Year, and I apologize for taking so long to reach out to you regarding the activities of the local chapter. TBABJ officers met early this month by telephone, but our membership meeting has been delayed by lots of busy stuff occupying officers in early 2009.
I'm happy to announce, however, that we have settled on dates and times for our next three meetings: the first is scheduled at 3 p.m. Saturday -- Jan. 24 -- at The St. Petersburg Times Tampa office, 1000 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. We plan to schedule our February meeting at 11 a.m. Feb. 7, in the Times building in St. Petersburg, 490 1st Ave. South, St. Petersburg.
Our March meeting will be, as it has been over the past two years, a multimedia seminar, featuring several speakers offering tips on how to turn traditional TV and print reports into award-winning multimedia presentations. We hope to schedule this meeting for 11 a.m. March 7 at the Tampa Tribune, as we have in the past. But that date and time has not yet been confirmed.
Anyone who is interested in being part of the multimedia presentation, please contact me at this email address or using the information in my signature below.
I'm also pleased to announce that St. Pete Times reporter Camille Spencer has agreed to take over as membership coordinator, relieving former coordinator Demorris Lee. Demorris has a lot on his plate leading the student projects for the NABJ convention in Tampa this year, so it's great that Camille could step up and help give him some breathing room. If you have any questions about your membership, please feel free to contact Camille or myself.
As always, these will be crucial meetings. We are planning events for the national convention in early August and deciding which projects we can take on for the rest of the year. we particularly need help securing sponsorships for a fund raiser we will hold on Aug. 7 during the convention.
Please try to make one of our next two meetings if you have any ideas on how we can proceed there.
Our goal is to make meetings more predictable by holding them on the first Saturday of each month at 11 a.m., scheduling them a month or two in advance so you and we can plan for them better.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You don't have to be a member or a person of color to attend our meetings -- if you're interested in networking with journalists of color or getting involved with our activities, we want you in the house. It doesn't matter how long it's been since you were last at a meeting, whether or not you are a member, or whether you're even a journalist.
If you'd like to help make area media more accurate and diverse, we'd love to have you at our meetings.
Hope to see you Saturday or soon....and feel free to check out http://www.tbabj.com/ for updates!
Eric Deggans
President, Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists
Chair, NABJ Media Monitoring Committee
TV/Media Critic, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
(727) 893-8521
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