The Time Is Right Now: A Call to Action for Antiracist and Just Local News
This report highlights ways that local newsrooms and foundations in Colorado can better serve and reflect the needs, realities and concerns of Black community members.
In early 2021, News Voices: Colorado — a collaboration among the Colorado Media Project, the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) and Free Press — convened the Black Voices Working Group. The group, made up of Black leaders, storytellers, journalists and funders, focused on how to improve access to trustworthy news and information for Black residents throughout the state.
The working group sought tangible ways for communities, philanthropy and newsrooms to acknowledge and address the harms — historic and ongoing — local media coverage has inflicted on Black communities. The group's recommendations reflect these discussions and are aimed at creating opportunities for Black Coloradans to continue to build on the power of their communication networks:
- Name and acknowledge how local-news coverage and media institutions have negatively impacted Black Colorado communities.
- Use existing platforms to gather and amplify the voices and perspectives of Black Coloradans.
- Contribute to the growth of a vibrant Black Colorado press corps and equally robust community of Black storytellers in other media.
- Build power in Black communities to hold news media accountable.
- Dedicate more resources for reporting that uncovers, examines and provides solutions for issues that disproportionately impact Black Coloradans.
Download the report.
WEBINAR: A Community Conversation
Four Black Voices Working Group members discuss these five recommendations, followed by a conversation about how communities, newsrooms and funders can put these guidelines into immediate action. (2021)
Want a shorter recap?
On this episode of Free Press Live, we talked with Free Press News Voices Program Manager, Diamond Hardiman, and working group member, Ammiee Brown, about the report and their experiences organizing in Colorado. (2021)