WASHINGTON – “Reporting While Black: Covering 9/11” will offer the unique perspectives of six noted journalists who chronicled this historic event on the ground, behind the scenes and in the air with President George W. Bush. This captivating discussion will be held virtually from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, September 9, 2021.

The panel discussion, which commemorates the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, is being sponsored by the Department of Media, Journalism and Film in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications. Here is the stellar lineup:

• As a White House correspondent for Associated Press, Sonya Ross was the print pool reporter aboard Air Force One with President Bush as he was evacuated during the terrorist attacks. She is now founder and editor of BlackWomenUnmuted.com.
• Hazel Trice Edney, founder of the Trice Edney News Wire, was the Washington correspondent for the National Newspaper Publishers Association and covered the Pentagon as it burned after the plane crash.
• Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Keith Alexander covered the airline industry for the Washington Post, where he now reports on crime and courts. 
• Independent journalist Melanie Eversley reported from New York as a Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Cox Newspapers.
• Surrounded by multiple monitors of raw footage in the control room at CNN’s headquarters, producer Jennifer Thomas distilled the harrowing images to bring the story into the world’s living rooms. She is now an associate professor and Journalism Sequence Coordinator at Howard.
• Independent journalist Clem Richardson was a columnist at the N.Y. Daily News, working near the Brooklyn Bridge, which was choked with thousands of frantic people fleeing lower Manhattan.

The moderator is Yanick Rice Lamb, a professor of journalism and co-founder of FierceforBlackWomen.com.

“It was a beautiful, balmy fall day in September 2001, shattered by the terrorist attacks that struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania,” said Ingrid Sturgis, associate professor and chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film. “Those who worked to cover that tragic day survived with emotional scars and sorrow over the lives lost. They share their largely untold stories in ‘Reporting While Black.’”

The "Reporting While Black" series features Black journalists who cover major stories. Some sessions highlight special issues that these journalists face on the job because of their race and ethnicity, such as being arrested while covering protests despite displaying their news credentials. The 9/11 session is open to the Howard community and the public. To register, please visit https://bit.ly/RWBSept11

For a half-century, Howard has been the leading producer of journalists such as Alexander and Thomas. The Cathy Hughes School of Communications is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. 

In addition to the “Reporting While Black” event, the award-winning Howard University News Service is posting and distributing multimedia stories about 9/11 by journalism majors. HUNewsService.com provides content to more than 200 publications and websites around the country.

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About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 14 schools and colleges. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

About the Department of Media, Journalism and Film

The Department of Media, Journalism and Film is the largest unit in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University. Its faculty and alumni include award-winning, internationally renowned filmmakers, journalists, media producers, documentarians and research scholars. The department offers one of the top MFA programs in film and the only one at an HBCU. It was named as having one of the best university cinematography programs. USA Today and College Factual has ranked the journalism program among the top 20 nationally, and the National Association of Black Journalists ranked the program as No. 1 in the United States. The Broadcast Education Association honored WHBC student radio with the Signature Station Award. Howard is one of two universities in Washington and among seven HBCUs accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Media Contact: Aaliyah Butler, aaliyah.butler@howard.edu