Contact: Toni Laws, (703) 854-7178
Media Advisory
Annual Conference Features NY Times Editor Dean Baquet and DNC Chair Gov. Howard Dean
(Washington, DC – July 31, 2007) The National Association of Minority Media Executives (http://namme.org) elected a slate of four new officers and board members, and has set an aggressive agenda to raise the group’s profile and better prepare leaders for digital media.
At its 14th Annual Conference, “Architects of the Future: The Vision! The Leaders! The
Strategy!”, the board elected Neil Foote, a 25-year media veteran who is president of Foote Communications LLC, as board chair, J. Wendy Thompson, Vice President of Operations, ZGS Communications, Washington, DC’s Telemundo affiliates as vice-chair; Michele Duke, Diversity Services & Development Director of the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF), as secretary and Digby Solomon, President/Publisher/CEO of The Daily Press, as treasurer. Additionally, the four new members joining the board are: Shaunice Hawkins, Vice President, Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives, Magazine Publishers of America; Retha Hill, former vice
president of content for BET Interactive and now, the newly named Director, New Media
Innovation Lab, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication,
Arizona State University; Francisco “Frank” R. Montero, co-managing partner, Fletcher,
Heald & Hildreth, the DC-based communications law firm; and Shabnum Norling, Director of Digital & Emerging Media, CMP Media/Tech Web.
“NAMME is setting out to make sure we are preparing diverse leaders who have all the tools to lead change during a period of rapid transformation from analog to digital,” said Foote, who has worked as a newspaper reporter, diversity executive, internet strategist and public relations professional. In the fall, he joins the University of North Texas Journalism Department to teach and develop a more robust electronic media curriculum. “There’s not time to waste. All I say is, ‘Get Ready’ because over the next couple years, you’ll get to know NAMME like you’ve never known it before.”
The Annual Conference, held at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC., kicked off with the
reception at the Washington Post with the release of a report urging more media companies to consider creating affinity groups to promote better working relationships, generate new revenue ideas and improve community ties. The report, “Divide – and Prosper? How Media Companies Can Use Affinity Groups to Promote Diversity”, conducted by NAMME and Larry Olmstead’s Leading Edge Associates, can be downloaded at the NAMME website.
Olmstead’s findings were validated during a panel hosted by Barbara Frankel of Diversity Inc. Magazine who hosted a general session on its annual study of ‘The Nation’s Best Diverse Companies”. Executives from Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, The Coca-Cola Co., Pepsi Bottling Co. and Sodexho Education Services described their aggressive diversity efforts involving compensation incentives, mentoring and affinity groups.
During a wide-ranging speech, Dean Baquet, the New York Times’ assistant managing editor, eloquently explained the crisis of budget cuts, their impact on daily journalism and the continued need for more public service journalism.
Gov. Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, offered a fiery – speech
attacking President Bush’s Iraq policy and extolling the need for the Democrats to get younger voters more engaged in political process. Dean said the younger voter turnout improved significantly in the 2004 elections, particularly with Blacks and Hispanics.
At NAMME’s first Capitol Hill Breakfast, sponsored by National Association of Broadcasters and NABEF, Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA) described how her mainly East LA district is a perfect example of how residents can’t afford internet access – dial-up or broadband and could be left out of the DTV transition. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein shared his concerns about the need for more minority employees in the broadcast industry and his on-going concern about media consolidation. Adelstein asked that groups like NAMME become more involved and vocal in calling for greater oversight, studies and action on this issue.
During NAMME’s ‘Digital Media Boot Camp’ sessions, Rob Curley of Washington Post-
Newsweek Interactive urged all media companies to invest in ‘hyper-local’ content that caters to the full-range of readers’/viewers’ interests from detailed community events calendars to 360-degree views of churches, schools and local venues. The Digital Spin’s Mario Armstrong, heard on XM Radio and NPR, demonstrated several gadgets to help business executives work more efficiently, including an online tool that allows callers to leave you a voicemail that becomes a text file that’s emailed to you.
NAMME Board member Shabnum Norling moderated a panel that shared the ins and outs of the mobile market in which all the presenters, including Ken Singer of MobiTV and Michael Young of The New York Times Co., pointed to real-life examples of how they’re using cell-phones to build audience and loyalty among younger listeners/viewers. Download Shabnum’s primer on mobile lingo from http://namme.org.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house after the viewing of Carolyn McDonald’s “P.N.O.K” [Primary Next Of Kin], a 20-minute film that featured heart-tugging vignettes about two U.S. Army soldiers making their daily rounds to notify families of loved ones killed in the War on Iraq. That was followed by Fox Searchlight’s “La Misma Luna”, a poignant profile of an immigrant mother and son separated by the U.S./Mexico border and their quest to reunite. The Silent Auction, organized by the event’s sponsors Fox and News Corp., generated $8,680 for the NAMME Foundation.
NAMME’s sponsors for this year’s conference were The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times Company, The Boston Globe, Fox & News Corporation, the NAB and NABEF, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, NBC Universal, Lockheed Martin, LatinEVision and the Washington Convention & Tourism Corporation.
To set up interviews or to get additional information, please contact Nancy Osborn,
nosborn@namme.org or 703.854.7179.
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