Lack of ethnic press speaks volumes in Richmond
on December 30, 2009
The city of Richmond seems to have gotten its fair share of media attention over the past few months. Between a contentious lawsuit over a proposed casino and the rape of a high school girl outside her homecoming dance, Richmond has been the cause for much spilled ink. But is the coverage balanced or complete?
With the newspaper and TV reporters only coming into town during moments of crisis, who’s left to tell the ordinary – or even the extraordinary – stories of daily life in Richmond? No one, it seems. Elsewhere, that task can fall to the ethnic press. But in Richmond, a city where 66 percent of the population is non-white, there seems to be a void there, too. Richmond Confidential’s Ian A. Stewart reports on the effects of this lack of ethnic media in a town like Richmond.
20091216_ethnicpress.m4a|Without an ethnic press, who’s left to speak?|Despite a population that’s almost two-thirds non-white, Richmond has very little in the way of an ethnic press. Media professionals and analysts discuss the ramifications of its absence in a town like Richmond.
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So I listen to the MP3 and note, as I’m listening, that there isn’t, as there is in the Berkeley Daily Planet, an Events and Happenings section on the top of the main page. No obvious effort is made by THIS media to inform Richmond residents of what is happening in their town.
Tom Butt puts out a pretty good review of coming events in his newsletter, which I’m sure Richmond Confidential is welcome to glean from, if it isn’t already doing so…
(The transcript of the MP3 would be a good idea, since it could be read on the many many smartphones in Richmond)
I guess Richmond Confidential and CC Times are only for white folks.