Board and Officers

 
president of the Texas publishers Association
 

Mollie Finch Belt - Co-publisher  The Dallas Examiner

1516 Corinth Street  Dallas, Texas 75215
214-428-3446       Email

     A native of Dallas, Mollie Belt assumed the role of publisher of The Dallas Examiner after her father’s untimely death.

            Her father, Fred J. Finch, Jr., founded The Dallas Examiner in 1986.   Mr. Finch’s vision was to publish a quality publication with news from an African American perspective. He was a charter member of Newsfinder, the Associated press wire for weekly newspapers.  The Dallas Examiner was the first African American newspaper in Dallas to use four-color processing.  Many residents were pleased to have a paper where trained, professional African American journalists practiced their craft, reporting on breaking news and relevant issues.  It was a newspaper with excellent editorial content and few ads.

            In March 1986 Mr. and Mrs. Finch were murdered in their home.  Mollie was determined not to see her father’s vision die. She and her husband, Attorney James C. Belt, Jr., put their resources in the newspaper to keep it alive.

            The Dallas Examiner has won numerous national, state and local awards including the prestigious Katie Awards.  In April 2002 The Texas Publisher’s Association awarded The Dallas Examiner Best Weekly Newspaper. In March 2004 the regional chapter of NABJ awarded The Dallas Examiner 12 awards including Best Newspaper and Best Practices.

            As publisher of the newspaper, Mollie has continually taken steps to improve the publication and keep up with technology.  The Dallas Examiner can be found on the Internet every week. She has continued her father’s dream for Dallas to have a quality newspaper that accurately reports issues concerning African Americans in this community, state and nation. 

            In 1998 with a grant from AT&T, Mollie and James started Future Speak, a training program for young journalists. This program has provided am opportunity for many young journalism students in the Dallas area to practice their craft.  Future Speak, the newspaper, they published won numerous awards. Students who participated in the Future Speak Program have gone on to earn degrees in journalism and become journalists throughout the United States.

            Mollie as publisher of The Dallas Examiner has been a media partner for many community organizations and events i.e. Black Dallas Remembered, the Martin Luther King Community Center, Celebrating Life Foundation, African American Women Fighting Breast Cancer, and University of Texas Southwestern’s Youth Angle.

            The Dallas Examiner has always been committed to informing our community of health issues.  In 1999 The Dallas Examiner published PROBE, a health supplement that explored diseases adversely affecting African Americans.  In 2003 The Dallas Examiner published “Battling AIDS in Our Community," a 12 page broadsheet supplement.   Mollie received the prestigious Community Service Award from the National Association of Black Journalists in August 2004 because of the sacrifice she made in order to start the conversation and increase awareness in our community of how HIV/AIDS is affecting our community.  Additionally, executive editor Sharon Egiebor, was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Women Journalists.

            In August 2003 The Dallas Examiner sponsored a town hall meeting on HIV/AIDS with Danny Glover at Inspiring Body of Christ Church, where over 2500 persons attended and 200 were tested on-site.  Also, in August 2003, at their annual Salute the Black Press event, The Dallas Examiner brought Sheryl Lee Ralph and “Heroes in the Struggle” exhibit to the African American Museum. This was the first time that the “Heroes in the Struggle Exhibit was exhibited in Texas.

            On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004 The Dallas Examiner co-sponsored with Youth Angle, a public meeting/luncheon at Paul Quinn College, where 300 attended and 200 plus students were tested. The Dallas Examiner’s second supplement on HIV/AIDS, “Innocence Lost,” which looks at the rising rates in 13- to 24-year-olds, was published December 23, 2004

            The Dallas Examiner has consistently published a voter roll call on the online edition found at www.dallasexaminer.com to encourage voter participation in the African American community in Dallas.

            Mollie is a member of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church and a Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the NAACP and the National Parent Teachers Association.  She is a member of the National Association of Bench and Bar Spouses, the Texas Publishers Association and the National Newspaper Publishers Association.  She currently serves as Vice President for the Texas Publishers Association and secretary of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.  She is past vice president print of The Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators and she has served on the advisory boards for The Peabody Health Center (a center in South Dallas serving persons living with AIDS) and Dodd Education and Support, Inc. 

            She has been married to Attorney James C. Belt, Jr. for thirty-nine years.  They have two children, James C. Belt, III, advertising manager at The Dallas Examiner, and Melanie Belt, M.D, an OB/GYN practicing in Austin, Texas.

 

 

 
     
 

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