Ken Lemon On How The NABJ Is Raising Important Issues For Black Journalists

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Ken Lemon, a longtime TV reporter for WSOC-TV in Charlotte and vice-president for broadcast for the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Ken talked about his career as a reporter, how he comes up with story ideas, a recent feature he did on an incident that happened at a baseball game many years ago, and a TV show he recently hosted, Conversations With 5 Black Men.

Ken also talked about his work with the NABJ and how the organization is trying to raise awareness for issues that Black journalists face. He discussed the recent awful comments reportedly made by a CBS executive disparaging a prominent Black journalist and how the organization is trying to convince ABC News to hire a Black president. He also talked about work he’s spearheading – The Black Male Media Project and shared thoughts on what people can do to help the organization’s causes.

To end the show, Ken gave tips to journalists who want to cover weather-related issues (he has considerable experience!) and named 3 Black journalists from history, and multiple media organizations that he wanted to salute.

Mark also shared the work of another Black organization doing important work in the field of play-by-play broadcasting.

As always, don’t forget to rate and review the podcast, and share it with your friends. Thank you for listening. Stay safe and stay well.

Important Links

NABJ website

NABJ Twitter

Ken Lemon bio

A Conversation With 5 Black Men – Part 1, 2, 3, 4

Feature on baseball game canceled by Springfield team

Black Play-By-Play Fund