To reach future audience, ONA and minority journalists must unite

The overwhelmingly white attendees at the Online News Association convention in San Francisco this month reveled in using the latest technology, but they didn’t look like their future audience. The overwhelmingly Asian, black, Latino and Native American journalists attending their respective summer conventions look like their future audience, but they are largely clueless about the latest technology.

Can we talk?

Bobbie Bowman (October 15, 2009)

The far-reaching implications of the 2010 Census

Addressing the National Association of Black Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke outlined what's at stake with the 2010 Census.

A letter of thanks to D-Day survivors

Don Null was 20 and Gale Garman 23 when they landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, as two privates in the 29th Division. I met them in 2004 when they returned to Omaha Beach and the French towns they liberated to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the beginning of the liberation of France from Nazi Germany.

Don and Gale are now granddads in their mid-eighties. Neither felt up to attending the 65th anniversary observances in June. Below is my letter to tell them what they missed.

2010 Census: It's About Power and Money

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Bobbi Bowman

In less than a year, every household in the country will receive a short questionnaire from the Census Bureau, asking about the name, sex, age, date of birth, race, and ethnicity of individuals living in the home, the relationships among them and how long they’ve lived there.

These questionnaires are the prelude to the best story of our lives --- the story of America in the 21st century.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the census, offered as reminders that this great story looms.

Obama campaign shows newspapers how to reach readers

Newspaper editors and publishers looking for survival solutions could learn a few things from Barack Obama’s winning campaign. (04/02/09)

 

A look at Washington DC: Facts & People in Black History

Welcome to my hometown. You move to Washington, D.C., as the city undergoes its third historic population change in 50 years. (01/27/09)

Migration of Diverse Populations to South Creates Shift in Political Stronghold

The Democrats crossed the Mason-Dixon Line just in time for the 2010 Census. The traditional divide between North and South has come to have a new meaning: the demarcation between stagnant America and surging America.
(12/09/2008)

Ensuring Diversity in Voter Turnout for Election 2008

Journalists are finally beginning to focus on the people who will decide this election — the voters.
(10/15/08)

Starbucks as Demographic Indicator

Whenever someone asks me to speak to a news staff or college class about covering the New America, my first move is to check out the Starbucks locations. (09/11/08)

The Value of Sudoku

I am a Sudoku-ista. Every weekday night, I solve (or try to solve) the Sudoku puzzle in my hometown newspaper, the Washington Post.

Diversity Abounds in the Millienial Generation

The twin themes of the nation's future were on display as I witnessed this American rite and waited for my niece, Robin, to grasp her diploma. Journalists need to understand these themes because they will explain unfolding demographic news and add context and texture to stories. (07/11/2008)

Deceptive Percentages in Journalism Misrepresent Diversity in North Carolina

All the signs of yet another Big Brown Invasion were there. Headlines had trumpeted a doubling of the population in North Carolina and three other Southern states.

Newspapers crippled by lessons unlearned after 40 years

Only two score years ago, a little more than a generation, a presidential commission handed up a stinging indictment of the nation's news media.

The Importance of Educating Immigrants

Illinois Shows How Today's Young Immigrant Families Will Support Tomorrow's Senior Citizens (12/20/2007)

The Benefit of Crosswords

Crosswords can improve journalistic skills (11/9/2007)

The Meaning of Numbers

Numbers Only Have Meaning if You Compare Them to Something (9/10/2007)

The Graying of New England

Demographics Shift to Much Older Population (7/17/2007)

The Meat Packing Industry

Changing the Face of Middle America (6/13/2007)

Download the Oakland Tribune Community Journalism Project's Community Correspondent Form.
JOIN OUR BLOG DISCUSSION
Come join Sally Lehrman, a professor and journalist who writes regularly on race, gender and identity issues and Maynard Institute President Dori J. Maynard as we talk about the best and worst of media coverage and diversity. Add comments and give us your thoughts.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The Maynard Institute gears up for its coming celebration of Black History Month

Much of today's media coverage breaks the country into black and white, North and South, male and female. Doing so fails to capture the complexity of American life that journalists need to portray.

Based on the late Robert C. Maynard's belief that the five fault lines of race, class, gender, generation and geography are the most enduring forces shaping lives, experiences and social tensions in this country, the Maynard Institute's Fault Lines framework helps journalists build a more diverse source list, have more voices in stories and determine which fault lines are at work in complex issues.
[more...]
Black History Project
Stories of the African American journalists who broke into media during the '60s and '70s.
Caldwell Journals
An account of the pioneers who broke the color barrier in America's newspapers
Ed Bradley
View video from his interview as part of the Black Journalists Movement Project

Black History Month and Beyond documents and preserves the stories of those courageous African American journalists who broke into general circulation media during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. [more...]

Martin Reynolds
View an interview with Martin Reynolds, Managing Editor at the Oakland Tribune.
Media Academy
View video from the Maynard Media Academy at Harvard University
Chauncey Bailey
View video and more from the Chauncey Bailey Project
History Project
Stories of the African American journalists who broke into media during the '60s and '70s.
Caldwell Journals
An account of the pioneers who broke the color barrier in America's newspapers
Ed Bradley
View video from his interview as part of the Black Journalists Movement Project