Page 2 The Skanner August 24, 2016
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Opinion
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Enhancing Black Newspapers in the Age of Social Media
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
T
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Arashi Young
Reporter
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Oice Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2015
MERIT
AWARDS
WINNER
The Skanner has received 20 NNPA awards since 1998
The Skanner Newspaper, es-
tablished in October 1975, is a
weekly publication, published
every Wednesday by IMM Publi-
cations Inc.
415 N. Killingsworth St.
P.O. Box 5455
Portland, OR 97228
Telephone (503) 285-5555
Fax: (503) 285-2900
info@theskanner.com
he National Newspaper
Publishers Association
(NNPA) salutes the irst
class of the Discover the
Unexpected (DTU) NNPA
Journalism Fellowship pro-
gram and congratulates the
students on taking the next
successful step in their pro-
fessional careers.
The NNPA and Chevrolet
ofered students from the
Howard University School of
Communications the unique
apprentice opportunity to
work at NNPA member news-
papers in Chicago, Atlanta,
Washington, D.C., and De-
troit.
As the NNPA member news-
papers shared the legacy of
the Black Press with the stu-
dents, the journalism fellows
were able share their knowl-
edge of social media and rec-
ommended a number of strat-
egies for reaching a younger
audience.
Black-owned newspapers
are not opposed to the digi-
talization of our content or
to the digital distribution of
the trusted, vibrant, prophet-
ic voice of the Black Press of
America. In fact, as Black-
owned media companies, it
makes good business sense
for our newspapers to em-
brace digital and social media
platforms that have the power
to enhance and increase the
value and proitability of our
Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr.
NNPA
President
and CEO
publications.
One mutual beneit that
emerged this summer during
the NNPA/DTU Journalism
Fellowship program was the
students’ ability to increase
the daily utilization of social
media as an integral compo-
nent of their reporting on be-
“
dition to writing front-page
news stories pertinent to
improving the quality of life
of Black America, all of the
NNPA fellows were actively
engaged on Facebook, Twit-
ter, Instagram, Snapchat and
Youtube.
Most of the 209 Black owned
newspapers that are ailiat-
ed with the NNPA now have
active websites with various
degrees of interactivity and
digital capabilities. But the
challenge of linking social
media with the world of Black-
owned media, while formida-
ble, will be a growing oppor-
the NNPA Digital Network.
Again, the digital network
will not replace or supplant
the NNPA’s existing network
of 209 Black owned newspa-
pers. The digital network will
help to increase the market
value of the trusted content of
NNPA member newspapers.
We are living at a time when
candidates to be President of
the United States routinely
communicate to their con-
stituents and supporters via
Twitter, Facebook, Google
and Instagram. The national
and global news cycles are
now ten seconds in length.
Yet, there
is still mar-
ket demand
from mil-
lions of peo-
ple across
the United
States and
throughout
the world for more in-depth
and detailed news accounts of
what is happening in a rapid-
ly changing and challenging
world.
Black-owned newspapers
in print and their online edi-
tions provide in-depth news
coverage and uplit the cul-
tural genius of Black Ameri-
ca as part of the long unique
and respected tradition of the
Black Press of America.
As Black-owned media companies, it makes
good business sense for our newspapers to
embrace digital and social media platforms
that have the power to enhance and increase
the value and proitability of our publications
half of our newspapers. It was
a summer of news reporting.
It was a journalistic “Freedom
Summer.” It was a print, digi-
tal and social media summer.
Brandi Montgomery and
Brelaun Douglas were at
The Atlanta Voice; Briahnna
Brown and Mckenzie Mar-
shall at the Chicago Defender;
Victoria Jones and Rushawn
Walters at The Washington
Informer; and, Tatyana Hop-
kins and Sidnee King were at
the Michigan Chronicle. In ad-
tunity to enhance the future
economic sustainability of
Black-owned newspapers.
One goal that the NNPA is
now actively planning and
researching is how to efec-
tively and eiciently establish
the NNPA Digital Network
(DigitalNetwork@nnpa.org).
The truth is that by having the
DTU fellows working at some
of our member newspapers
has helped to crystallize the
need and the opportunity for
the timely development of
Read more at TheSkanner.com
www.TheSkanner.com
The Skanner is a member of the
National Newspaper Pub lishers
Association and West Coast Black
Pub lishers Association.
All photos submitted become
the property of The Skanner. We
are not re spon sible for lost or
damaged photos either solicited
or unsolicited.
©2016 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in
whole or in part without permission prohibited.
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Consumers Save $2.2 Billion a Year Without Big Loans
N
ews — we read it, talk
about it, even complain
about it from time to
time. But if you look
close enough, the good news
can still be found – like Olym-
pic gold medalists of all colors
winning in Rio, or a series of
voter suppression laws ruled
unconstitutional in several
states.
And there’s even more good
news on the inancial front.
New research inds that 90
million consumers are saving
$2.2 billion each year. These
savings didn’t come from pay
raises or bonuses, or new
jobs. Instead, these inancial
gains came when a pernicious
form predatory lending be-
came illegal.
Let’s call these locales
“shark-free” states, where in-
terest rates on small-dollar
payday loans are legally limit-
ed to no more than 36 percent.
Instead of living on inancial
tightropes from one payday
to the next, these consumers
are paying of bills and even
saving some money on a reg-
ular basis.
Call me old-fashioned, but
when bills are paid and I’ve
still got money to call my own,
I feel like things are going OK.
I’m betting others do too. As
one of my colleagues recently
remarked, “When $2.2 billion
of fees go away, who wouldn’t
feel better?”
Charlene
Crowell
NNPA
Columnist
That colleague’s name is
Robin Howarth, and she’s a
senior researcher with the
Center for Responsible Lend-
ing (CRL). She and anoth-
er colleague, Delvin Davis,
“
dustry supporters, consum-
ers are satisied with the re-
spective state bans. In North
Carolina, 9 out of 10 low and
moderate-income consumers
expressed that payday lend-
ing was not in their best inter-
est. “They’re there basically
to rob people that need mon-
ey,” noted one North Carolina
consumer.
According to another focus
group participant from Ar-
kansas, “I found that I really
could do better without them
Studies have shown that in states
allowing payday lending, such as
Florida and California, Black and
Latino neighborhoods have twice
the concentration of payday stores
than their white counterparts
also a senior researcher are
co-authors of the policy brief,
“Shark-Free Waters: States
are Better Of without Payday
Lending.” Working together,
the two of them found that
consumers in payday-free
states have found multiple
ways to manage temporary
cash shortfalls and at a frac-
tion of the cost of payday
loans. Their conclusions were
informed by a series of aca-
demic studies, surveys and
focus group results.
Contrary to the claims of in-
[payday loans]…I have actual-
ly paid of debts by a little at a
time.”
As shared in earlier col-
umns, consumers of color
are especially hard hit pay-
day lending’s debt trap. Ear-
lier studies have shown that
in states allowing payday
lending, such as Florida and
California, Black and Latino
neighborhoods have twice
the concentration of payday
stores than their white coun-
terparts.
On the positive side, other
states now beneitting from
consumer-friendly
payday
loan reforms are Arizona, Ar-
kansas, Connecticut, Georgia,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Montana, New Jersey, New
York, North Carolina, Penn-
sylvania, Vermont and West
Virginia. Among these states,
12 also limit interest rates for
car-title loans, thereby fur-
ther boosting consumer sav-
ings even further each year.
For example, in New York,
the most populous state of the
14 with rate caps, consumers
save a total of $789,995, 328
in combined fees for payday
and car title loans. Lower,
but substantial savings were
also found in Pennsylvania
($489,497,834), North Caro-
lina ($457,729,960) and New
Jersey ($346,587,204).
By contrast, where payday
loans remain legal, borrowers
pay fees of over $4.1 billion
annually, with the average
customer taking out 10 loans
a year. The repeat borrowing
cycle creates a debt trap for
consumers that is easy to ac-
cess, but extremely diicult
to retire.
Imagine what could happen
if all communities and states
became inancially free of
fees that bite your inances
just as hard as a shark could
in the ocean.
Read more at TheSkanner.com