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MARGARET MAREE
Age: 39
How Long in Atlanta: Bom here
Relationship Status: Married 6
years and 3 weeks
Last Book Read: “Saint Joan of
Arc” by Vita Sackville-West
Pet Peeve: Cowardice, particu
larly when it leads to the abuse of
power by bullies
Margaret Maree is very excited about the
National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Asso
ciation. She just returned from their national
conference in New York, and her energy level
is high. But then, her energy level is probably
high more often than not.
Besides being a journalist for the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, she is the coordinator
for the Atlanta chapter of NLGJA. She is also
finishing up a masters degree in communica
tions at Georgia State University, and in her
spare time, she reads, gardens, and is co-par
ent to eight cats.
After growing up in Atlanta, Maree spent
the first two years of college at the University
of Northern Colorado in Greeley. “Colorado
didn’t have much of a journalism school, but
it was great for siding,” she says. She came
back to Georgia to finish her degree at the
University of Georgia, “in an actual journal
ism school.”
From UGA, Maree -
started her career in jour
nalism at WSB Radio as
a newsroom assistant. “I
did it backwards,” she
says, referring to the fact
that her career pro
gressed from broadcast
media to print media.
She went from WSB
Radio to WSB-TV,
working in production,
to three years at CNN as
an associate producer. At
this point, her career
took a side road when
she decided to investi
gate law.
“I decided to be a paralegal for a year to
see if I liked it before I went to law school,”
she explains. But, after being recruited by a
corporate law firm, she says, “I knew after
about a year and a half that I didn’t want to do
law as a profession.” Her stint in law was a
valuable education for her, however. “A lot of
journalists don’t understand how the three piece
suits work,” she says.
Maree missed the newsroom, so she went
to work for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
where she has been for a year. She works in
the North Metro Bureau, writing primarily for
North Fulton and Gwinnett counties. “They’re
drastically different,” she says, “different de
mographics.” Recently she has particularly
enjoyed doing interviews with Congressmen
Don Johnson and Newt Gingrich.
After the March on Washington in April,
Maree was among those who decided that
Atlanta journalists needed the support of
NLGJA. In May, she and others had the first
meeting of the Atlanta chapter. The organiza
tion currently has 10 members and welcomes
all others interested. NLGJA’s members are
“anybody in news media whose primary source
of income is in journalism,” according to
Maree. But they also have associate and stu
dent memberships. “We’re starting to do some
student mentoring nationally,” she says.
The goals of NLGJA are to make news
rooms across the country more hospitable to
gays and lesbians and to insure fair and accu
rate reporting. Toward that end, their projects
include working cooperatively with other me
dia organizations to aid lesbian and gay mem
bers of those organizations. The Atlanta chap
ter helped to set up a panel on covering les
bian and gay issues with the local chapter of
the Society of Professional Journalists for an
upcoming SPJ meeting. They are also plan
ning to offer a similar panel at next year’s
Unity ’94, a joint national conference of the
four ethnic minority
journalists’ organiza
tions. Unity ’94 will
be held in Atlanta in
July, 1994.
One of the big
gest issues for gay
and lesbian journal
ists is the degree of
involvement a jour
nalist can have in ac
tivism. According to
Maree, it was a big
part of discussions at
the NLGJA confer
ence and is an ongo
ing discussion
among her peers.
“It’s something that every journalist wrestles
with individually,” she explains. They must
stay out of politics to avoid a conflict of inter
est. “But there’s also the argument that you
can’t deny journalists to be who they are or
what they are,” says Maree.
In the past, conflict of interest consider
ations have often meant that editors have kept
openly lesbian or gay journalists from cover
ing gay or lesbian issues. “It’s opening up,”
says Maree. She explains that editors are mak
ing better use of the diversity in the news
room. “That’s one of the things I think are
shifting around. Gays are starting to be better
utilized. But we have to be squeaky clean,”
she adds.
Maree is obviously a very dedicated jour
nalist, one who is not above taking her work
home when necessary. But she does know
how to relax and have fun. She recommends
checking out the Clit Club when you’re in
New York.
NLGJA’s members are
“anybody in news media whose
primary source of income is in
journalism,” according to
Margaret Maree. But they also
have associate and student
memberships. “We re starting to
do some student mentoring
nationally,” she says.
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