THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508190044
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
I have gathered here with reporters, editors, photographers by the hundreds for the 20th anniversary of The National Association of Black Journalists. It is at once serious and a celebration.
The corridors of the Marriott Hotel bustle with rookies eager to learn and a little nervous about the future of newspapers and television.
NAACP Chair Myrlie Evers-Williams, Princeton University professor and black scholar Cornell West, and O.J. lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. are on the program.
In every room, there is passionate talk about the craft of journalism in general and the work and worries of African-American reporters in particular: Do stories about black pathologies help or hurt images of blacks? Are black columnists under fire?
Down the corridor comes Arthur Fennell, anchor at WCAU, the CBS affiliate here. You know Fennell from his days as an anchor at WAVY-TV, Channel 10.
As NABJ's newly elected president, he's talking about this year's conference theme ``Looking Back: Moving Forward.''
When Fennell looks back, he sees men like James Wright, men who paved the way for blacks in journalism by laying the foundation for NABJ.
Wright is not here. He's home in Norfolk on Glenoak Drive. After two strokes, Wright, 55, doesn't get around like he used to. He's probably sitting by the window in his easy chair, scrutinizing the newspaper and TV news at the same time.
In the late 1950s, Wright was the son of a Norfolk Naval Base worker growing up on Princess Anne Road. From his Booker T. Washington High School yearbook, magazines and newspapers, he figured out early that a man with a camera is a powerful man. For the lens determined what people see and how they see it.
He worked 11 years as a photo lab technician at the old Haycox Photoramic, mastering all there was to know about still photography. Thoughts of TV danced in his mind, but for a long time, there were no ``coloreds.''
In 1971, he was hired by WTAR (now WTKR), as a TV cameraman. At the time, he could count on one hand the blacks in local television and newspaper newsrooms.
Immediately, Wright jumped on opportunities to bring more positive images of African Americans to the TV screen and to present a more balanced picture of social issues.
``In the past, all shots of welfare lines only showed blacks. So I filmed the whites as well,'' Wright recalled. ``At city council meetings, only whites appeared in the news most of the time. I panned the scene and showed the blacks who came.''
He caught flak for it but he persisted. He won awards in his own right. Soon other blacks came into the newsrooms as reporters, producers, editors, photographers. Barbara Ciarra, Regina Mobley, Ava Hurdle, me and so many others looked up to Wright.
Sometimes you would bump into Wright while gathering news. If you were feeling lonely in the newsroom where most faces were not the same color as yours, he'd tell you to keep on trucking and give you a big hug.
In the TV newsroom, he was fearless in pointing out inequities in assignments for black reporters. He moved on to WAVY, where he urged minority reporters to unite and speak out. In time, Wright came to believe that an organization uniting area African-American journalists - print and television - would benefit reporters and community.
In 1982, Tidewater Media Professionals was born with Wright at the helm. Renamed Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals in 1988, HRBMP aligned its goals with those of NABJ:
``To strengthen ties between blacks in the white media and blacks in the black media.''
``To sensitize the white media to the institutional racism in its coverage and employment practices.''
Wright quickly handed leadership over to young folks. Fennell stepped in as president and made the organization high profile, providing professional development and mentoring local students.
And every February, HRBMP's Echoes of Excellence media awards ceremony raises thousands in scholarships for aspiring journalists. In 1990, HRBMP was recognized as the NABJ Chapter of the Year.
Recently HRBMP, now guided by Barbara Hamm, WTKR news director, honored Wright.
In the hotel lobby, Ted Heck, former WTKR photographer and HRBMP past president, said: ``He doesn't bust down the door to opportunity. He picks the lock.'' Fennell nodded.
``But once he gets the door open,'' Heck said, ``he stands aside and lets others go through.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
James Wright of Norfolk was a pioneer for black journalists,
beginning in the 1970s as a television cameraman.
by CNB