Why Black Media is So Undervalued and Important

Cheryl Thompson-Morton is the Black Media Initiative Director at the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY (City University of New York)

Did you know research shows: “Black audience-focused media outlets publish up to six times more coverage than mainstream media on major issues such as racism, healthcare, and public policy.”

The State of Black Media 2022 webinar interviewed three subject matter experts and the conversation intrigued and inspired me to seek out an interview to learn more.

Cheryl Thompson-Morton, one of the leaders on that panel, is the Black Media Initiative Director at the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY (City University of New York). She agreed to speak to Communication Intelligence about the important topic that might not be well known to the masses.

You have commented that Black media is more ethical and accurate in reporting through its use of language. Can you specifically describe and explain some differences and why it's so valuable and critical?

In our research, we found that ‘victims’ was a top 100 word in Black media related to the topic of police brutality. It was not a top 100 word in mainstream media, despite the fact that the two mainstream examples of that period of time, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, did nothing to warrant the force used by officers that ended their lives.

If these people died under similar circumstances but weren’t killed by the police, they would be called a ‘victim’ in all reporting.

For mainstream media to not use that language in this instance highlights a discrepancy that can lead the reader to assume the person was guilty of something and deserved what happened to them. That’s why ethical reporting is so critical, because it shapes how we view the world and has real world repercussions if we don’t do it right.

How specifically can Black media help set an example for ethics and accurate reporting?

The Black media agenda is a powerful example for media and the public on ethical reporting. Black media centers the community in their coverage. An example of this is the word ‘care’ being more prevalent in Black media’s coverage of COVID, mass incarceration, immigration and sexism.

Black media also talks about women, children and families more, and differently than mainstream media. Black media centers the humanity of people they are talking about, and that should be something all of media does well.

Black media also provides historical context to modern-day news events. The Tuskegee experiment is prominently featured in Black media’s coverage of medical distrust. Jim Crow is emphasized in coverage of mass incarceration. Lynching is frequently included in coverage of slavery and Juneteenth. Even the word ‘history’ itself is uniquely prevalent in Black media across a diversity of topics.

You communicated, if my notes were accurate (correct me if I'm off base) that the Black media provides coverage that is either otherwise unreported or incompletely reported. This clearly can create a myriad of problems. What types of problems do you see when this happens?

Based on our research, Black media reports on topics of importance to Black communities at higher levels than mainstream media such as: racism, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, disproportionate racial impact of COVID, essential workers, voting access, and Africa. We also see that they reported on topics like the disproportionate racial impact of COVID and Breonna Taylor earlier than mainstream media.

I think we would hope that mainstream media would cover these topics more and with more nuance than they did, but it shows why Black media continues to be so critical today.

How can Black media become more prevalent in the media industry and grow into an even more powerful arm of communication for the benefit of society and Black America?

Black media always has and always will be critical to Black America and the media industry. The industry has often taken Black media for granted, not valuing the contributions or the things media should learn from the sector.

I think that journalism should be working to do a much better job to learn best practices from Black media about humanizing subject in reporting, tying present-day news stories to the historical context, and embedding in the community you serve.

As we work to continue to reach Black Americans, especially younger audiences, we will have to adapt our products to be digital-first while still maintaining our legacy. This period of transformation is challenging, but Black media has been challenged since day one and thrived in spite of the odds. I am confident we will do it again.