Pag? 20 Portland Observer Section II Thursday, February 23. 1978
they did not disappear entirely,
A higher level of integration
between persons and within in
stitutions was achieved -- al
though, the level of integration
was hardly compatible with that
of a truly open society, but as im
perfect and as limited as this in
tegration was it raised some
questions as to whether Black
institutions - created out of
segregation - were any longer
needed.
The white press, as a direct
result of the civil rights move
ment and the changes it was
producing, began to give more
attention to Black affairs. No
longer was the Black press the
only medium telling the story of
Black people. The white media,
newspapers, radio, television and
magazines had joined in report
ing the Black experience. But
with the end of its monopoly
came a new challenge for the
Black press.
It had a new
competitor. The white media
which previously closed its doors
to Black journalists now wel
comed them. Soon the Black
press began to lose many of its
top people to other media. High
er salaries and professional re
cognition were the lure.
There were other factors that
also began to operate against the
Black press; the general decline
in newspaper readership as more
and more people turned to tele
vision; the dispersal of Black
persons outside the central-city
where the Black papers were
available; the continued indif
ference of major advertisers to
Black media (in 1974 Black media
received less than one percent of
the $13.6 billion in advertising
agency billings*; and a decline, in
some instances, of the quality
and quantity of the reporting.
With the exception of a few
Black magazines and several spe
cialized publications - like Mu
hammad S.teaks (recently re
named The Bilalian News) -- the
press has generally not exper
ienced any growth over the past
decade. In fact total circulation
has declined from the peak reach
ed after World War II.
The possibility that the decline
will continue has to be faced and
in so doing a basic question
emerges. If the decline continues
and the Black press begins to
disappear, what meaning will
this have for Black Americans
specifically and the nation as a
whole? What will we have lost if
the one constant voice that has
told our story over these many
years is allowed to disappear?
The words of a young news
editor of the Kansas City Call, a
Black newspaper, provide a clue
to the answers to those ques
tions. The editor, Roy Wilkins,
later to become executive direc
tor of the NAACP wrote in 1928:
“The Negro press was born of
a need for voicing a protest
against wrongs and proscrip
tions. first devoting itself to the
task of making Negroes free men
and citizens, and from that day to
this fighting the battles neces
sary to securing for them the
enjoyment of the rights of citi
zenship."
The battles about which the
young editor wrote nearly a half
century ago are not all won. The
“colored only" signs have come
down. Blacks are no longer lynch
ed and jobs formerly closed to
them have opened up. Racism is
not the omnipresent opponent it
used to be but it is still a
formidable foe.
For this reason alone. Blacks
continue to need a press that
speaks to their needs, their con
cerns, and is under their control.
They need a press that will
report their births, triumphs,
failures, deaths and all the other
events that shape and make up
their lives. They need a press
which is directly responsible to
them and which serves their
needs - a press to which they
have access and whose existence
guarantees that their voice will
be heard.
The'latter point is extremely
important because even if the
majority press wanted to expand
its coverage of Black affairs -
which is doubtful - there is a
limit beyond which it logically
cannot go. It is questionable
whether its general readership -
which is predominantly white -
would tolerate such a policy.
Currently, the general press is
evidencing a declining interest in
Black affairs, an att.tude induced
no doubt by the absence of
demonstrations, confrontations
and other manifestations of con
diet which were regarded as
newsworthy by the media a few
short years ago. Additionally,
while there has been some im
provement in the number of
Blacks employed in the general
media, the percentage is dis
Fred Meyer joins
the people of Oregon in honoring
the contributions of Black Americans.
THE CHARLOTTE
• W a ln u t P ark n . Killingsworth
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