NABJ president Errin Haines comes home at a pivotal moment for Black journalists
Errin Haines moved back to Atlanta two years ago. But she’s hardly been home this summer.
As a political journalist and president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Haines has spent much of the year navigating two turbulent worlds: American politics and an industry confronting layoffs, artificial intelligence and continued attacks on the press.
The Grady Baby has spent more than two decades covering race, gender and politics for major outlets including The Washington Post, The Associated Press and The 19th.
She also provides commentary for MS Now and is one of three co-hosts of the new six-episode docuseries “Long Play,” which zooms in on six Southern states to explore the region’s role in American politics.
The reporter’s travel schedule will likely remain hectic through the midterm elections, but this week she’ll be back in Atlanta as NABJ hosts its national convention here for the first time since 2005.
Last year, Haines was elected president of the NABJ, the largest organization for journalists of color in the country.
The annual event, which boasts panels featuring acclaimed journalists, authors and creators, alongside programming produced by tech companies such as OpenAI and TikTok, will be something of a homecoming for Haines.
Leading NABJ through an uncertain moment
Haines attended her first NABJ convention 26 years ago as a college student.
NABJ returns to Atlanta with Haines at the helm during one of the most uncertain periods in the organization’s 51-year history.
Publications such as NPR, The Washington Post and The AP have had layoffs this year. Journalists are increasingly publishing independently and have been forced to contend with the impact of artificial intelligence within their industry and communities.
As the industry contracts, Haines said she realizes attending conventions may be a major financial sacrifice for many reporters.
Still, roughly 4,000 people are expected to attend this year’s convention.
Haines said the organization has prioritized making programming that is worthwhile and offers critical networking and professional development opportunities.
“People need to understand that there are also a lot of possibilities, even amid these challenges,” she said. “There’s so many possibilities for us to keep telling stories. And that may not look the way it’s always looked.”
For local Black journalists, NABJ’s time in Atlanta will also serve as yet another opportunity to showcase the city’s cultural and media legacies.
The convention’s opening ceremony will take place at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. And the convention will also host civil rights and entertainment tours throughout the city. All three events have already sold out.
“Not every president gets to have a convention in their hometown. It is absolutely something that is very special. I don’t take it for granted, and I hope that people leave feeling like we gave them a convention that was not only worthy of the organization but worthy of the city that I love so much,” Haines said.
Condace Pressley, president of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and director of community and public affairs at Cox Media Group, has known Haines for nearly 30 years.
NABJ has had three presidents hail from Atlanta, including Haines and the late Sidmel Estes, who served as the first woman elected to the role in 1991.
When Pressley was elected president of the national organization in 2001, it was Haines who wrote a feature on her for the organization’s student-run publication The Monitor.
Today, Pressley proudly calls Haines “Madam President,” and believes her national profile, commitment to advocacy and Atlanta roots make her particularly suited to lead NABJ during a difficult period for journalism.
“Her service as our president only elevates even more the role that this city and our community play in the field of journalism,” Pressley said. “Not only as the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement and all of the advocacy that comes from this city that is in the cradle of the South.”
Nicole Carr, an investigative reporter and assistant professor at Morehouse College, said the convention’s return to Atlanta feels particularly relevant this year.
“It may be by happenstance, but I don’t believe it is, that we are called to this place in this moment to rethink what journalism needs at a time when we are facing clear atrocities against humanity,” she said.
Carr said she voted for Haines last year because her experience across different areas of journalism prepared her to advocate for Black journalists navigating an increasingly turbulent industry.
“We needed a leader who understood the digital landscape, the misinformation [and] disinformation landscape,” Carr said, “and who had a heart for leadership with young people and pipeline building. [Haines] has been all of those things.”
The Atlanta roots that shaped her journalism
Haines grew up in Fairburn, but regularly visited her grandparents’ home in Collier Heights, less than two miles from where she purchased a home two years ago.
“I loved visiting that neighborhood when I was growing up,” she said. “I just thought it was so beautiful, and the houses and the yards were just as stately as anything you would see on the other side of town. Except everybody was Black.”
As a child, she frequented the Atlanta University Center, where her grandfather taught at Morehouse College for roughly 50 years, and watched the city’s first woman and Black news anchor, Monica Pearson, deliver the news on WSB-TV.
“Journalism wasn’t something that I necessarily grew up thinking that I would do, but it was a thing that I knew that I could do because I saw her on TV every day,” Haines said.
After graduating from Oglethorpe University, the reporter interned for the Atlanta Daily World covering local politics and culture. The role helped shape her voice and perspective early in her career. It also made her unapologetic about wanting to center Black communities, too.
In 2002, she interned at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I got to go ask questions on behalf of my community, and they needed me to get answers for them,” she said. “A bunch of the stories that I wrote when I was there went on the front page of the newspaper, and what that taught me was that stories about Black people were important, and that I should never have to justify why I was telling a story about my community.”
Bringing Black Southern voices into politics
She’s still passionate about elevating the voices of Black Southerners today, through the docuseries “Long Play” and as the editor-at-large of the 19th, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on gender and politics, where she publishes the newsletter The Amendment.
“What is missing in political journalism right now is really a chance to do nuanced, long-form, compelling journalism that is not just for people in a box talking to or at each other, but really just hearing from the American people in a way that feels meaningful, and in a way that helps them see themselves,” Haines said.
Haines knows journalism and her role as NABJ president will continue to keep her on the road. But wherever the work takes her, Atlanta remains home.
“Ambassador Young told me once that Atlanta is always a place that is waiting for you to come home,” she said.