Now, you know I feel strongly about Black media. It’s so important that we have our own platforms — not just a segment of someone else’s platform like Black Twitter but platforms we own, manage, and run.
This mess with Twitter is just a part of it. What happens if Facebook blocks your account or Instagram bans your posts? A change in their algorithms can ignore a topic, silence you as a person, or even erase us as a people.
If you know what I’m talking about (and especially if you don’t), then you’ll get a lot from my talk with Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of The Washington Informer and Howard University alumna.
Listen in for: how Denise inherited the newspaper from her father, its founding publisher, and the newspaper she launched with her son — yes, that’s 3 generations of Black Media! We also cover why it’s important to share your story plus the best places to share it, 5 ways to support the Black Press (4 of them are free) … and more!
"It’s important for us to make sure that the history of our community is not lost, that it’s not buried.” – Denise Rolark Barnes
Highlights From This Episode:
- Where to find stories worth telling (they’re closer than you might think!)
- Black media businesses go multi-generational
- Pop Quiz! How big is the Black consumer market (in US dollars)?
- True Story: Collaboration is better than competition
- The challenges in switching to “digital first” news publishing
- 3 ways COVID destroyed print newspaper sales
- Meet The Washington Informer’s COVID baby
- True Story: A young Black female reporter’s “baptism by fire”
- Pro Tip: How to get Millennials to read the newspaper
- How to get your story into The Washington Informer
- 1 hot news area The Informer needs stories for
- OpEd = Opportunity
- 5 ways YOU can support the Black Press (4 of them are free!)
- What you need to ask yourself about digital media
- A special message about sharing YOUR message
Resources:
- Dr. Pam Perry’s Ready Set Go Speak! program
- Speakers Magazine
- The Washington Informer — Official Website
- The Washington Informer BRIDGE — Official Website
- Word In Black — a collaboration of the nation’s leading Black news publishers
- Report for America
- NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists)
- NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association)
- United Black Fund
- The Barrister — Howard University’s School of Law
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