| Telling stories The black press needs to be reborn published April
9, 2001 |
| In the first half of the twentieth century, talented black journalists reported the news across America. These reporters and editors brought important stories to the public consciousness, on issues ranging from lynchings to segregation to voting rights. They wrote about black people in all their complexity, as people who not only suffered from racism and poverty but also overcame those barriers to achieve American success. But when the civil rights movement arose in the fifties and sixties, suddenly African American issues turned up on the front pages of mainstream newspapers. These white-owned papers, which had ignored the black neighborhoods, finally found it necessary to hire black journalists to explain race issues to their readers. As mainstream news organizations made inroads into the community, the circulation numbers of black newspapers seriously declined. It was as if black papers outlived their usefulness. Today, black newspapers are mere skeletons of their former selves, often operating with only a few reporters. While readership for major black papers like the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, most have dwindled to a tiny fraction of that. And no serious black news organizations have emerged to replace them. If Oprah Winfrey's media empire and a few other black-owned ventures have gained clout, they are not producing the investigative news reports that the community needs. As a result, African Americans now depend on white-owned news organizations to tell their stories. They wait on others to develop the sensitivity to their communities that only they have. And yet the need for in-depth coverage of black issues has not gone away. Take a look at the headlines. One in three black males in their twenties are charged with crimes. A majority of African American children live in single-parent families. Black people are the target of unwarranted police stops and searches throughout the country. In times like these, black people need to start telling their own stories again. They must rebuild their news organizations, and offer alternative sources of news. They must find ways to cover their communities aggressively and thoroughly, without promoting stereotypes. And rather than waiting for black journalists to rise through the ranks of mainstream media outlets, they need to work today to produce quality news that actually reaches their people. A vibrant black-owned press is within their reach. After all, the success of other ethnic newspapers serving various immigrant groups proves that smaller news operations can thrive, even in this period of media consolidation, if they cover their communities well and build loyalty among readers. African Americans can also take this route--the very route they pioneered earlier this century.
Telling stories |