'It was a lot': Attendees of Black journalists convention react to Trump appearance

CHICAGO — When Donald Trump attended the opening day of the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in downtown Chicago on Wednesday afternoon, the former president and Republican party nominee’s appearance was met with opposition from NABJ members.

Trump was interviewed by ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News correspondent Harris Faulkner and Kadia Goba, a politics reporter at Semafor. Many attendees and NABJ veterans said the rhetoric was expected and the conversation did not move things forward.

“It is important for us to reassert the primacy of journalism and the defense of democracy,” said Jelani Cobb, journalist, author and dean of the Columbia School of Journalism.

Cobb has been vocal in his opposition to the way the event happened.

“I do not think you interview someone like that in a format like that because you tend to get rhetoric, not facts. It does not add anything to the conversation,” Cobb said. “How do we handle misinformation and disinformation? How do we handle candidates that call the press enemies of the people?”

Cobb said that must be at the forefront of the approach to teaching journalism.

“It was a lot,” said Ralph Lee, a student attending his first convention. “I found it peculiar that he was even here at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention.”

Lee attends the University of Alabama at Birmingham and said he did not appreciate the way Trump was riling up the audience and displaying ignorance that would cause a reaction. The atmosphere eroded the safe space that Lee expected to find at NABJ, putting a lot of things in question, he said.

Lee felt that the journalists should have brought up Project 2025 at the beginning rather than the end.

“It’s such a big thing, they should have brought it up first,” he said. “It was all just weird.”

Melanie Eversley, executive editor of Black News & Views, a news organization owned by NABJ, said she was a bit surprised by the things Trump said at the conference. She noted that most candidates, when speaking before a group, try to connect with them by sharing policies the group might care about or “say things that show they have empathy for issues that affect that community.”

“Right out the box, the former president had the exchange with Rachel Scott, suggesting she is rude and even blaming her for equipment failure,” Eversley said, noting the disrespect to all the moderators of the panel on Wednesday afternoon.

Eversley said she thought it was unfortunate that there wasn’t much opportunity to dig into the issues.

“There was nothing different he said today … he suggested immigrants were taking Black jobs and that just seemed tone-deaf because at least among Black social media, the phrase ‘Black jobs’ became the subject of memes and jokes,” she said.

Justin Madden, deputy West Coast bureau chief for The Guardian in Los Angeles, is an NABJ veteran. Madden emphasized that NABJ has extended invitations to Democratic and Republican candidates every year.

“It was an opportunity for NABJ and the reporters to ask questions. It was an opportunity to be impartial,” Madden said.

Madden understands the anger and frustration of NABJ members over the way Trump views people of color, immigrants and others.

“As journalists and media individuals, we have to step into our roles — do justice in the roles that we have,” he said. “Here at NABJ, we are all in a professional setting. This is a place where news happens. We will report the news if something happens at this hotel or in Chicago — we should be the ones reporting it.”

Madden said this was an opportunity for journalists to ask harder questions, be direct and intentional and teach the student journalists at the convention.

Attacks against NABJ escalated, according to Eversley, because the assumption was that NABJ was giving Trump a platform.

“This made it clear that there is not a relationship between former President Trump and NABJ,” she said.

Counter-protesters wearing "Vote 4 Kamala" shirts stood outside the Hilton Chicago downtown Wednesday afternoon, protesting former President Donald Trump’s appearance at NABJ24. pic.twitter.com/rTHdt0JAvc

— Shaylah L. Brown (@shaylah_brown) July 31, 2024