UNITY 2004 - Oh the Shame!

So this past week was the first time I attended a journalism convention without being a journalist. Quite interesting, especially since the UNITY 2004 convention was historic in other ways: it was the largest meeting of journalists ever (reportedly more than 8,000 people registered), and we graciously hosted presidential candidate John Kerry and President George W. Bush.

Well, the "graciously hosted" part is in dispute. I may have been one of the biggest offenders of journalistic decorum at this year's convention in Washington D.C., where we so warmly received John Kerry and snickered, rolled our eyes, laughed and heckled George W. Bush.

I was loving it. See, this is the freedom I was looking for when I left the journalism business not even three months ago. The freedom to support any political candidate of my choosing, the freedom to use my very limited funds to influence some policy, the freedom to volunteer for a political or advocacy group. The freedom to not just document abuses, but fight against them. Not just to report injustice, but to join forces with people to ensure justice. And most importantly, the freedom to decorate my car with the bumper stickers of my choosing and stake signs in my lawn without fear of being castigated!

I've read dozens of articles questioning the political bias of the journalists at the convention, whether the convention attendees should have cheered when John Kerry said he would have left that Florida classroom immediately or laughed at George W. Bush as he stumbled over a non-answer. But I have to reveal one very important fact: we were not all journalists.

A working journalist just three months before, I left the business and now work for a very prestigious public university. So I felt no guilt when I raised my hands above my head to applaud Kerry's denouncement of media consolidation. I felt no guilt when I screamed at the top of my lungs at the end of his speech. Likewise, I felt no guilt when I rolled my eyes at Bush's recounting of his alleged successes with the unfunded No Child Left Behind act.

I was free.

I hate to break it to the people looking to use the convention as evidence of a clearly partisan, liberal media, but I'm not a journalist and I wasn't the only one. There were public relations practitioners in attendance. There were advertisers, television talent agents, marketing professionals, volunteers, Democratic Party officials, exhibitors, merchants, partisan columnists and reporters.

I would like to offer some insight into why I left the business and why that is so closely linked with the events at Unity last week. It's very personal and by no means am I preaching. I applaud most individual journalists; I can't applaud the industry as it stands now, but that's another topic.

For me, after some time, my "journalist" identity became an obstacle to my development as a full participant in society. I had concerns as a journalist; I just found my concerns as a woman came first. My concerns as a taxpayer. As a black woman. As a Puerto Rican woman, and as a multicultural woman. As a friend of gays and lesbians, as a registered voter, as a believer in justice and American goodwill.

All of those identities have been offended by President Bush and the rest of his clan. I'm going to evoke a bit of Barack Obama now, but when Bush props up a constitutional amendment discriminating against gay marriage, I take it personally. When he wins an election at the cost of 1 million African Americans having their voting rights squelched, I'm offended. When those in his administration seek the medical records of women who have gone to Planned Parenthood for abortions, I'm offended. When innocent Arab and Muslim men are locked up for more than a year, I am extremely offended. When we're paying for a war using a government credit card and the rich get to keep more and more of their money, I'm offended.

And as a former journalist, I would venture to say that many of those reporters, editors, producers, broadcasters, publishers, researchers, writers, whatever, were offended as journalists by the Bush administration. Offended by the lies they told in order to lead us into an awful, questionable war. Offended by the limited information coming out of daily press briefings. Offended by the president and vice president testifying about one of the worst disasters in history behind closed doors. Did you all forget that? Maybe they are offended by a White House clan that questions the ethnicity of a photographer before allowing the women to take photos. As a former journalist, I am very offended.

So to all you holier-than-thou journalists who think my behavior and that of others was embarrassing and shameful, do your job and take the time to analyze a complex issue instead of staking out a position and not hearing out the other side. I happen to know more than a few people in the industry who believe that newspeople should be more forthcoming about their true ideological leanings instead of feigning an unattainable level of objectivity. It's like the guy who makes Black and Puerto Rican jokes at home and then smiles in my face at work. I'd rather he tell the jokes to my face. At least I know where he's coming from.

Maybe the journalists and other communications professionals at the convention were making a statement. In laughing off President Bush, maybe we were saying we are sick of him misleading us - lying to us - as journalists, women, people of color, defenders of civil liberties and human rights. In cheering John Kerry, maybe we were sending a message to him that we're looking for an administration that does not hide behind lies and use the media to promote wedge issues and divide Americans when we are most vulnerable.

It's obvious minority journalists are mad at Bush for something. Do your job and ask why.