A Message from NABJ President Ken Lemon:
NABJ has been in talks with both the Democratic and Republican parties since January. NABJ was in contact with Vice President Kamala Harris’ team for an in-person panel before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July.
However, we were advised by her campaign at the time that her schedule could not accommodate this request. The last update we were provided (earlier this week) was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during our Convention. We are in talks about virtual options in the future and are still working to reach an agreement.
I consulted with a group of our Founders and past NABJ Presidents Tuesday on-site in Chicago, and as a group, we affirmed that the invitation to Former President Trump was in line with NABJ’s usual practices since 1976. It has always been our policy to ensure that candidates know that an invitation is not an endorsement. We also agreed that while this race is much different — and contentious — so are the consequences.
While we acknowledge the concerns expressed by our members, we believe it is important for us to provide our members with the opportunity to hear directly from candidates and hold them accountable. We also want to provide our members with the facts. We have partnered with PolitiFact for live fact-checking using the hashtag #NABJFactCheck.
