By Alexis Taylor
AFRO Managing Editor
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has opened their all-virtual Midwinter Training Conference. With a theme of “The Black Press: Demanding Justice, Breaking Barriers, Ensuring Sustainability,” the conference serves as a way for member publications, their staff and leadership to come together and learn how to best serve as Black media professionals.
Bobby Henry, NNPA Chairman and publisher of the Westside Gazette in Fort Lauderdale, Fla, explained that the theme of the event “captures the core mission of the NNPA and the Black Press.”
Henry said that in “demanding justice,” members of the Black Press of America should be working to “amplify the fight against systemic inequalities in advocating for fairness in society.”
When it comes to “breaking barriers” and “ensuring sustainability,” Henry said the focus is on “overcoming challenges in media representation, innovation and access to opportunities for the Black voices,” and “building a resilient, future-ready Black Press that preserves its legacy while adapting to modern demands.”
Henry told viewers that “most of all,” the conference serves as a time to “to come together to understand our true mission.”
Dr. Benjamin Chavis, NNPA president and CEO, said that “2025 marks the 198th year of the Black Press of America. We’re proud of the progress, we are facing great challenges– but also, we have great opportunities.”
“We’re going to work together over the next couple of days to focus on how to move forward the Black Press of America and how to stand up for justice, how to remove the barriers and how to ensure the sustainability of our member newspapers,” said Chavis.
Day one of the annual event served as a time for board members to come together. On day two, attendees enjoyed a full day of programming that included workshops like “Strengthening Print Publications and Advertising,” and “Empowering Publishers in the Digital Age.”
In the “Strengthening Print Publications and Advertising” workshop, moderator Robert Walker-Smith, head of revenue for the Knight x LMA Bloomlab of the Local Media Association, spoke to helping newspapers innovate and sustain their print publications in the digital era.
“My recommendation to everyone…is to strengthen your print by integrating digital solutions and the best example of that– in my estimation– is integrating QR codes into your print publication. It’s a free solution, you don’t have to pay for it,” said Walker-Smith. “QR codes are very effective to drive traffic from print to an advertisers’ website. You can also drive that same user with a QR code to an advertiser’s social media page. You can drive them to an event where consumers can purchase a ticket.”
Day two also included remarks from famed civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, and a briefing on how to thrive using artificial intelligence (AI) as Black media.
Etan Horowitz, the global innovation programs manager for Google, spoke on an AI tool available to journalists called NotebookLM.
“It has a lot of uses and applications for journalists and news organizations,” said Horowitz. “You can think of it as a personalized AI research assistant. It can summarize facts and help you get to your insights faster connect the dots.”
Horowitz said journalists “often have a lot of information- maybe different research reports, or interview notes, recordings of meetings, previous stories that published–but the challenge can be making connections between those and doing the synthesizing. That’s kind of what NotebookLM does, it helps you make those connections.”
“The key thing with NotebookLM that’s different from other tools is that it’s based on the sources that you provide and you select. It’s not going to go out to the web in general, it’s only using sources you select,” said Horowitz.
Attendees were able to see a demonstration of the tool that Horowitz said can be used to “create FAQs, timelines trivia if you want to make a news quiz.”
A look ahead
The final day of programming will take place on Jan. 24. Workshops for the day include “Why It Matters: Building Equitable Health Solutions in Black Communities,” and a keynote address from Symone D. Sanders- Townsend on “The Importance of the Black Press.”
In addition, a session will also be held on “Strategies for Innovation, Sustainability and Growth” and “Empowering Publishers in the Digital Age.”
There will also be a virtual presentation of the NNPA Lifetime Achievement Award to Janis Ware-Washington, publisher of the Atlanta Voice.
The conference was sponsored by General Motors, American Petroleum Institute, American Heart Association, Diageo, Comcast and Wells Fargo. All workshops and briefings are available upon registering for the conference, via Eventbrite. Tickets are free of charge.
