Creating Our Own Opportunities in Communications

As opportunities decline in traditional media, new media forms and technologies have opened other doors for savvy students

By Nikki Bannister, Black College Wire

In an era of big media consolidation, convergence, and tightening opportunities for media professionals, new doors have begun to open elsewhere – in younger, often small-sized companies and in sometimes-non-traditional forms. As media technologies and distribution channels evolve, entrepreneurs have seized the opportunity to build a robust multicultural media sub-industry specializing in content by, for and about African Americans.

Some pioneers in the world of Black media, such as Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son Alfred Liggins III, the company’s president and CFO, have found success serving diverse Black audiences through multiple media formats, old and new.  It began by revamping underachieving radio stations, and now owns 70 radio stations in 22 of top 53 Black markets, the TV One cable station, and REACH Media, founded by radio personality Tom Joyner, BlackAmericaWeb.com, and other entities.

As chair of BET, Debra Lee heads a network responsible for delivering “Black Star Power” both online and offline, and helms a multimillion dollar division of industry giant Viacom.  With a law degree and master’s in public policy from Harvard, and bachelor’s in political science from Brown University, she is role model and strong symbol for students nationwide who are vying for that next internship or first job so that they too can one day shine as bright as Lee.

However, opportunities exist at smaller minority-owned media outlets as well. For example, according to the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters, African Americans own approximately 2% of all U.S. commercial broadcast licenses. Although this is a small percentage in proportion to the population, the numbers are increasing. In 1976, there were only 30 African American-owned broadcast facilities in the U.S., NABOB’s website observes, while today, there are over 220.

Preparing for “Hard Knocks”

So, what must Black students do to seize these opportunities and be prepared for what remains an extremely competitive and volatile field?

Walter Middlebrook, director of recruiting and community affairs for the Detroit News, believes that “Many minority students suffer from lack of exposure” to good journalism practices, role models, and career guidance counseling in journalism. As a result, he says, students are often not prepared to face “the hard knocks of this business, or to deal with the realities of daily journalism.”

Media companies are not putting in the time or resources other industries are, Middlebrook says.  Instead, “the smartest and brightest kids are being introduced to the worlds of business and science,” he says, “being shipped to camps where they meet scientists and business people and the like who become role models for these kids. There are newsrooms that frown on staffers going to spend a half-day in a classroom. There are reporters and editors who say they don’t have time to make those kinds of commitments. As a result, the students see those other industries and get excited about joining them.

“Those other industries also back up their commitment with money and job opportunities for those youngsters, he continues. “The Black MBAs, doctors, scientists, etc., are all over the schools. If the media industry doesn’t start making those kinds of commitments, Black kids will not become interested in this profession or see how they need to get themselves ready for the long haul.”

Middlebrook said he dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 to become a copy clerk at the Boston Globe. He got his journalism degree four years later at Boston University. Known for his to-the-point critiques and straight-edged recruiting sense, Middlebrook said that sometimes, students need to prepare for the real world and use what many would feel is a disadvantage, such as going to a small HBCU or small media outlets, and make it work for them.

“Those smaller newsrooms are where you’ll have the opportunity of a lifetime to cover anything and everything,” and practice a variety of jobs, he says. “You’ll do a lot of growing up there, and it’ll make you a better person in the long run. There are student newspapers that are published only once a week. But, those students found out about local workshops, and regional and national conventions, where they met and made impressions on working journalists, who then would take them under wing.” Some enterprising students work as volunteers to “get next to the people who could teach them about journalism and making an impact in the business,” Middlebrook says.

Nneka Odinga of Sinclair Broadcast Group also feels that not enough students are doing what it takes to succeed in media careers, and not enough educators are delivering. The Human Resources Information Systems and payroll manager at Sinclair’s corporate headquarters near Baltimore, Odinga also serves as a primary recruiter and says she takes a special interest in the talent of journalists of color. She attends every National Association of Black Journalists conference and job fair, and has worked with Howard University’s Media Sales Institute.

“I don’t think colleges are preparing many students for the realities of the world of journalism and multimedia,” Odinga says. “I have a B.A. in Mass Communications, with a concentration in broadcast journalism, and while at Xavier University (of New Orleans), I witnessed first-hand that not all professors and advisors are as honest with students as they should be. A school can’t tell someone that they can’t pursue a career in journalism, but students must be told things that can’t be taught such as appearance, speech and creativity. Those things play major role in them having successful careers.”

Odinga says she will often give advice and mentorship while at conferences and job fairs, so students can improve their tapes. Regrettably, when she reviews their work the following year, most recruits have the same issues.  “Many of the tapes are not representative of the students’ best work, but they attempt to use them to gain employment. Many students and working journalists forget that in this industry the first impression is a lasting impression,” Odinga says. “I have always felt that is my duty to be open and honest with them when reviewing their tapes and resumes with them.”

Commitment to the Story

Odinga’s younger brother, Sobukwe, has also committed himself to journalism and multimedia. Holding a bachelor’s in political science from Louisiana State University and a master’s in Africana Studies from New York University, he plans to begin working this fall on a Ph.D. at the City University of New York in political science. Though some who received comparable training participate in fellowships or internships at the United Nations, U.S. Congress or an embassy, Sobukwe has dedicated himself to multimedia projects including Black Renaissance Noire, a journal produced by NYU’s Institute of African and African-American Affairs. In 2004, he traveled to Dar Es Salaam to work on a documentary about youth politics and music in Tanzania. Currently, he is the executive editor of The Green Magazine, a periodical dedicated to the world of multicultural golfing.

Like Middlebrook and Nneka Odinga, Sobukwe feels that classroom training alone cannot fully prepare students to become journalists. It is more about the drive, he said.

“The industry is always changing, so I could imagine it’s difficult to comprehensively prepare college students to become journalists,” Sobukwe says. “In my experience, it’s not an ‘either-or’ question. Are they prepared or not? It’s a question of commitment. Is this person dedicated to the craft of journalism? Are they constantly working to build on whatever level of preparation they possess? So, from a professional and pragmatic standpoint, recognizing strong academic preparation in a potential hire is invaluable, but often it’s an individual’s commitment to producing penetrating and resonant work that makes you go out on a limb for them despite their academic background.”

Considerable challenges can face minority students as they transition from school learning to the practice of daily journalism and media work – especially those who aspire to cover certain stories outside a mainstream perspective.  “Though I had taken courses in documentary production, the project in Dar Es Salaam was my first attempt to put what I had learned into practice,” he said. “It has been difficult to coordinate a collaborative creative effort with part of the production crew based in New York and the other based in Dar Es Salam. But those logistical challenges are really secondary compared to questions of content and focus. More than anything else, we want to avoid simplistic, black and white depictions of poverty and hopelessness in Africa by focusing on the agency and ingenuity of the documentary’s subjects. But it’s difficult to market that type of project to an American audience that is constantly fed images of African barbarism and under-achievement that lack critical historical analysis or context.”

Recognizing the value of representing and reaching Black audiences, a number of organizations have invested in professional development for Black talent, and in promoting Black community news and perspectives. Newspaper groups such as the New York Times, Tribune and Gannett sponsor workshops and internships that target minority journalists. There are television groups that do the same. In film and TV production, groups such as the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) help fund, produce and support independent projects that focus exclusively on African Americans and African Diaspora. According to outreach and target marketing coordinator Brad Burford, NBPC has funded independent producers with over $8 million since 2001, supporting projects including Spike Lee’s A Huey P. Newton Story, The Murder of Emmett Till, Eyes on the Prize, The Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela and 2006 Sundance Selection Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.

For Sobukwe, it’s a challenge to balance funding needs and the art of true journalism. “It seems to be difficult to get advertisers to respect the buying-power of well-educated, middle-class African Americans who are not members of the hip-hop generation,” he said. “When advertisers do attempt to speak to that demographic, they tend to produce ads that traffic in patronizing cliché and parodies of Black culture. Obviously, no mainstream media outlet would survive without advertising revenue. But the way I see it, it’s important to keep in mind that as journalists our fundamental mission is different. The best journalism is all about seeking truth and speaking truth to power.”

The Black Media Foundation (BMF) in New York City assists particularly disadvantaged Blacks in communication arts fields to develop skills in creative writing, newspaper, video and Web production. Through programs such as summer workshops and do-it-yourself production opportunities, the foundation has reached out to over 30 local and national high schools, colleges and institutions with the assistance of media organizations like Knight-Ridder, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and the Open Society Institute. Since its inception in 1993, its students have participated at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals.

But while the BMF and NBPC are designed to give Blacks in media a boost and give students an edge in technological transitions such as convergence, older journalists are going to require training in order to keep up and stay in the game Middlebrook says.

“Convergence is more of a problem for the old heads like me,” he observes. “Young folks are pretty savvy about all of this talk about convergence. The only problem here is that our youngsters don’t know how to write, and if they don’t learn that skill, it doesn’t matter how much they understand about the tools (or) convergence. Young folks need to know how to make sentences and need to get a firm understanding of news judgment – what makes a good story and how to tell that story.”

For more detailed information about media-related career resources, visit the extended online edition of this feature at Blackcollegian.com.

Nikki Bannister’s previous contributions to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN include “Cuss Me Out and Cut My Hair,” “Katrina-Ravaged Colleges Determined to Overcome,” and the photo essay, “Welcome to New Orleans”.