Yesterday, Chinese telecom giant Huawei was pleased to announce an upcoming webinar on combating “the rise of misinformation” in America regarding COVID19 with the National Association of Black Journalists.
Huawei is sponsoring a conference on misinformation, with the National Association of Black Journalists. https://t.co/ZCbhsTo4Bg
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) May 11, 2020
The webinar would feature prominent black media personalities like Roland Martin and Van Jones.
Well, we regret to inform you that the webinar is off:
NABJ Pulls Out of Webinar, Cites Distraction to Priorities. The webinar scheduled for tomorrow with #Huawei has been canceled. Here is why: https://t.co/7NgDnNSqje
— NABJ Headquarters (@NABJ) May 12, 2020
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From the NABJ’s press release:
NABJ has canceled a webinar scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET, entitled “The Rise of Misinformation” because it has become a distraction from other priorities. It had come under attack because controversial technology giant Huawei was planning to sponsor the webinar though it had no editorial control. NABJ always retains editorial control over all such content along with final say over moderators and panelists. Huawei knew all of this in advance. Additionally, Huawei officials were not part of the scheduled webinar. Seasoned journalist and CNN’s Van Jones was a panelist and NABJ’s Roland Martin was the moderator for the webinar. They were to be joined by panelists will.i.am, musician, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Dr. Ebony Hilton, a noted medical professional at the University of Virginia. They were all poised to talk about the purveyance of information regarding COVID-19.
“A distraction from other priorities”? Well, suppose that’s one way to put it … we’re more inclined to believe that they backed out in response to the blowback they received after announcing that they were teaming up with Huawei to have a discussion on COVID19 misinformation.
For what it’s worth, Van Jones thinks the NABJ made the right call:
I accepted invite to participate in NABJ webinar, warning black community about #COVID misinformation. I said “yes” without knowing sponsor. Glad NABJ canceled; I wouldn’t have participated. I’ll keep raising alarm about pandemic’s impact on vulnerable people. #StaySafe #StayHome https://t.co/CtIodwQfzZ
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) May 12, 2020
That’s great and all, Van, but it’s also not terribly reassuring.
So you speak at panels and don’t know who sponsor them
— tobie (@tobie18229260) May 12, 2020
Saying yes without knowing the sponsor is a questionable decision in itself despite ultimately doing the right thing here. https://t.co/NNJFoUnG1R
— neontaster (@neontaster) May 12, 2020
This is why it’s important to do your homework.
