NAHJ’s Parity Project at The Virginian-Pilot

Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Virginia

NAHJ has a unique Parity Project partnership with The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, VA. Instead of just focusing on Latinos, the Parity Project in that city is multicultural.

African Americans make up almost half of Norfolk’s population. That city played a key role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, especially its history-making series of sit-ins at lunch counters to protest segregation.

In October 2007, a multicultural version of the Parity Project was launched at The Virginian-Pilot. Help was provided by members of the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). That would be Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals, Inc., which has its website at: www.hrbmp.us.

The Virginian-Pilot formed a community advisory committee made up of a cross-section of leaders from the area who come from diverse backgrounds. These leaders have worked with the top people in the Pilot’s newsroom to find ways to improve coverage of people of color and to work toward including diverse voices in all of its stories.

Since then, The Virginian-Pilot has become a corporate member of NAHJ.

Hampton University multimedia journalism student Thaisi Da Silva Velasquez takes a look at the Parity Project at The Virginian-Pilot, focusing on managing editor Maria Carrillo, a member of NAHJ, and director of newsroom operations Denise Bridges, a member of NABJ: