At an April 30 panel discussion, the National American Arab Journalists Association (NAAJA) is scheduled to take on the topics of Helen Thomas and Octavia Nasr’s firings and “the anti-Arab backlash that followed in the mainstream media.”
The Society of Professional Journalists also “retired” its award in Thomas’ honor in January. Thomas criticized the SPJ for not having “the courtesy, nor the courage, to inform me personally of the decision,” Chicago Reader reported.
The panel will include Lloyd H. Weston and former SPJ president Christine Tatum. Tatum wrote a “guest commentary” for the Denver Post in which she criticized the SPJ’s ending the award and accused the SPJ of “defending free speech — just not Helen’s.”
See StinkyJournalism’s coverage of the debate between NAAJA’s Ray Hanania and the SPJ president Hagit Limor about the SPJ’s ending the Thomas award here.