Barack Obama is a huge news story. His campaign generated unprecedented levels of media attention. Every move during his transition is being chronicled and analyzed by press from all over the world, in every format imaginable. And when his presidency finally begins, more media will be watching and following the President than at any point in history.
Because Obama will be the first African America the interest level is at its highest among the nation’s black press. And the publications and programs that serve the black community are planning to take advantage. As Politico noted earlier this week “Barack Obama’s election as president is prompting major changes in the nation’s black press, ushering in a series of firsts that editors say will reshape print, Internet, radio and television coverage aimed at African-American audiences.” But the article only highlights a few changes including magazines like Ebony and Essence assigning reporters to the White House for the first time, and BET expanding its news coverage — none of which seem groundbreaking.
There is, it seems, a far greater opportunity for media serving the African American community than simply increasing the amount of its coverage. There is plenty of coverage of the President from a variety of other news sources that will surely satisfy the needs of their audience. What is missing, from news coverage of the president as a whole, and particularly from media that serves a particular audience or community, is the opportunity to connect people’s interest to real action and participation.
The relationship between traditional media and the public is changing. Media should be a bottom-up, grassroots fueled, emergent — a way of thinking and acting that can be applied to the production and distribution of news or the organization of people in support of real action. Media should provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging, and relevant information as well as create ways for the community to participate, take action, and expand our democracy.
People want a place, digital or otherwise, where they can gather and learn about the community in which they are a part, a place where they can get in touch with the issues. News organizations can host and foster that community with the tools available to them online. In short, when news operations act as information hubs for the communities they serve, the audience responds and the community prospers.
The Obama campaign turned the internet into a gateway for millions of ordinary Americans to participate in the political process, and now they fully expect them to continue on their own, acting locally, to bring about change in our communities. At all levels, but especially on the local community level, the media should be a part of the community, taking direction from individuals about what issues are important and what changes must be made. Where the news organizations can’t find resources to cover an issue, they should ask the community to contribute. Instead of going alone, they should collaborate to demand action.
This opportunity exist for all media, but the potential to act is highest within the African American community, and black media. As most in the media industry is changing — shrinking, fragmenting, focusing, trying to adapt — this is an opportunity for the black press to grow, expand, and lead.
Brian is Managing Director of little m media which provides strategic guidance and support to organizations around the use of the internet and technology to facilitate communications, engagement, education, and mobilization.