National Association of Hispanic Journalists Leaves Unity

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists voted overwhelmingly in favor of leaving Unity: Journalists for Diversity.

Of the 18 board members, 13 voted to leave, two voted against, and three were not in attendance. “It’s a bittersweet decision,” NAHJ president Hugo Balta said. “The board believes in the concept of Unity but feels the organization needs to reform to meet the new challenges minority journalists are facing in an industry that is continuously changing.” Unity, which calls itself “a strategic alliance advocating fair and accurate news coverage about people of color and LGBT issues,” now only has ties to the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association. The Hispanic journalists’ concerns echoed those of the National Association of Black Journalists, which left the organization in 2011, citing problems with its accounting and governance. In the meantime, Unity president David Steinberg said that Unity will seek out new partnerships with other minority journalists associations -- the South Asian Journalists Association, for one -- and hopes to work with diversity taskforces housed within other journalist groups to broaden its outreach and purpose.