the state of affairs across the landscape of black journalism today. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Significant opportunities are available to a new generation of black journalists who seek to tell important stories of black Americans in the 21st century. But in order to capitalize upon that opportunity as reporters and media entrepreneurs, today’s journalists must understand today’s new frontier.
Dean Baquet Story: Example of Missed Opportunity
Baquet’s appointment to lead The New York Times was overshadowed by discord following the departure of Baquet’s predecessor, Jill Abramson. Most media found the malcontent far more attractive than the historic ascension of a black man to the top post at one of America’s most influential media platforms. And not one black journalist at a major media organization anywhere in America thought perhaps Baquet’s appointment might be an opportunity to profile black leaders serving as industry leaders across America. That opportunity still remains. But if such stories were to be told, they would require a weekly episodic interview series ongoing for years due to the sheer volume of individuals whose stories warrant such a profile. Let’s start at the top:
Barack Obama: America’s First
Technology President
On the Richter scale of seismic activity occurring across the landscape of black America, there is no bigger reverberation than a black man ascending to the office of the President of the United States. Rightfully, justifiably and admirably the story of Barack Obama’s election to the highest office in America, and the most powerful seat of authority in the world, was covered like a blanket by black journalists looking to find an angle on a story with elephant-sized legs, each seeking to offer insights from a unique perspective. However, when President Obama appointed America’s first-ever chief technology officer to find new ways of creating 21st century jobs in an “Innovation Economy” and modernize a federal government that was too reliant upon obsolete 20th century technology, black journalists disappeared. Obama had been in office for just one day.
When Obama announced his “Strategy for American Innovation” to help industries create the jobs of the future, and declared his “National Wireless Initiative” to ensure all Americans had access to broadband, most black journalists missed those announcements. Today, those innovations in policy, and many more, have manifested in myriad opportunities within information technology and other industries that bolster a new economic era widely known as the knowledge-based, tech-driven, globally competitive Innovation Economy. Unfortunately, black America is largely disconnected from this new economic landscape. Widespread ignorance of its entry points and opportunities permeates every nook and cranny of black American life.
When Obama signed into law the JOBS Act in April 2012, hundreds of articles appeared in “mainstream” media, including many in The
Washington Post and MSNBC, which own The Root and The Grio respectively. Ironically, during a period of time when hundreds of articles appeared nationwide covering a monumental historic shift across the investment and entrepreneurial
landscape due to the JOBS Act, not even a whisper was heard out of the white-owned media platforms targeting black audiences. Unfortunately, The Root and The Grio are just the most obvious tip of the tremendous iceberg of negligence that balloons beneath the surface of an ocean of historic activity washing across Black America in waves of regularity. The entire landscape of black media, as well as black journalists ensconced in seats within "mainstream" media, and the venerable "black press,” appear to have lost the will to tell black America’s stories from a unique perspective: ours.
John Thompson: Technology Leader
Nearly 3,000 miles from Washington D.C. is the nation’s headquarters for technology innovation and entrepreneurial startup activity known as Silicon Valley. The reputation of this world-renown hub is inescapable. Yet, the reputation of John
Thompson, a technology leader who led Symantec for 10 years (1999-2009) during its rapid growth stage, and is today both an entrepreneur and
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