NABJ and the Great White Whale

 

Early this month Donald Trump appeared at the National Association of Black Journalists (NJAB) conference for an interview. He was questioned by three Black women journalists for about a half hour. It was supposed to be an hour, but equipment problems caused a delay. After hearing about the interview and seeing some negative clips, I decided to watch the whole thing on YouTube.

 

I have to say that I think Trump did a pretty good job. For the most part he was calm, relaxed, and conversational. He was not aggressive or bombastic. More than his words it was his manner that made him appear genuine. Like him or not, you would have to admit that Trump is genuine. Although most commentators fail to understand, Trump appears real and not like an ordinary politician. Certainly, this was the way he appeared in this brief interview. 

 

In the first place he showed up to face the music. President Biden, and Vice-President Harris had also been invited but found reasons to excuse themselves from participating in an unscripted interview. Moreover, Trump accepted the challenge despite the fact that it might be a hostile audience, and that the interviewers might be out to nail him. Indeed, in the first question, the journalist indicated that many felt that Trump was not welcome at the conference and went on to give a lengthy rehash of Trump remarks that Blacks might find offensive. 

 

Trump calmly took offense at her statement and called it rude. Was this the kind of intro he deserved? Didn’t he rate even an hello or how are you, or thanks for coming even though the others had bowed out? What about the fact that he was there taking questions when only a month before, he had escaped death by less than an inch from an assassin’s bullet? Of course, there was no apology.

 

After that, I thought that Trump handled the questions pretty well. Readers can watch the video and make up their own minds. I would just like to comment on the type of questions these journalists asked. Journalists deal in words. They do not make things; they do not fix or repair things. They do not build things. They deal in words. And so, they concentrated on what Trump said, and not on what he actually had done in his four years as President. 

 

The first journalist asked if Trump thought Vice President Harris was a DEI candidate? Another asked if he thought a white policeman should have immunity if he shot a black person. One asked what he would do for the Black community if elected. Apparently, none of these journalists had ever bothered to investigate what Trump had actually done for blacks during his Administration, or else, they did not want to bring up the substantial increase in black wages and employment that his policies had created. 

 

The media is called the media because it is a medium through which a politician or other newsmaker can be revealed to the public. No matter what the color of their skin, journalists should not inject their own bias into an interview. They should give the subject a fair hearing so that people can make up their own minds. 

 

 

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