Trust & the Media: For Black People, the “Free Press” Has Never Really Been Free
By Sara Lomax-Reese | President and CEO — WURD Radio | @onWURD
The debate around trust in the media is as old as this nation. We can go back to 1776 when the foundational document for American democracy, the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the most transformative pieces of prose ever written, stated: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
The author of this beautiful, aspirational vision, Thomas Jefferson, was indeed a slave owner when he penned these powerful words. In fact, even as he wrestled with the morality of the “peculiar institution,” he owned more than 600 enslaved Africans over his lifetime. And he wasn’t alone. Twelve of the first 18 American presidents were slave owners.
For the victims of this ugly paradox, this is where it begins. For Black people, we can easily trace distrust of America’s institutions — including the media — to this original betrayal.
The need to justify the inhumanity of slavery — and later Jim Crow; and then legal segregation; and now mass incarceration — required the complicity of mainstream media. By shaping perceptions, reinforcing stereotypes, demonizing and dehumanizing Black men, hyper-sexualizing Black women, America was fed a steady stream of images, words, audio and video that reinforced a national narrative that Black people were inferior, not fully human. It permeated and distorted our national psyche, infecting perceptions that extend far beyond our shores. For over 400 years, this country has been deeply, deeply invested in promoting an insidious lie: White supremacy. Black inferiority.
By shaping perceptions, reinforcing stereotypes, demonizing and dehumanizing Black men, hyper-sexualizing Black women, America was fed a steady stream of images, words, audio and video that reinforced a national narrative that Black people were inferior, not fully human.
But there was one important mitigating factor. Black people have always known that this was completely and totally untrue. This is why independent Black media has long been a refuge and place of trust for the African-American community. In 1847 when Frederick Douglass was about to launch his North Star newspaper, he wrote about the importance of owning our own media and telling our own stories:
“We are now about to assume the management of the editorial department of a newspaper, devoted to the cause of Liberty, Humanity and Progress. The position is one which, with the purest motives, we have long desired to occupy. It has long been our anxious wish to see, in this slave-holding, slave-trading, and Negro-hating land, a printing-press and paper, permanently established, under the complete control and direction of the immediate victims of slavery and oppression.”
This year, as we celebrate Frederick Douglass’s 200th birthday, I am reminded of his courageous commitment to media ownership. One hundred and seventy one years after the launch of the North Star newspaper, I see my work with WURD Radio, Pennsylvania’s only Black-owned talk radio station (and one of only 3 in the nation) as a continuation of this legacy. As an owner/operator, I know, as Douglass did, that ownership matters. And I believe it is a fundamental element of trust. This is especially true against the backdrop of a media industry dominated by mass consolidation. We see it in the radio industry, which has shifted dramatically since 1996 when President Bill Clinton passed the Telecommunications Act.
This law changed the limits on the number of radio stations one operator could own. Prior to the Telecommunications Act, companies were not allowed to own more than 40 radio stations. Yet, since its passage, Cumulus Media for example, the second largest radio owner in the country, currently owns 445 stations –10 times more than congressional regulation previously allowed.
We see it with the most recent revelations about conservative leaning Sinclair Broadcasting, exposed for synchronizing scripted propaganda decrying “fake news” across dozens of stations throughout the nation. Sinclair currently owns 193 television affiliates with plans to acquire Tribune Media, which would add 42 more to the fold. In order to meet the FCC requirements of no owner reaching more than 39 percent of US households with TV’s, Sinclair had agreed to sell some of its stations. However, with the Tribune deal some experts say that Sinclair will actually be hitting over 70 percent of households. There are obvious dangers to this, as HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver recently highlighted.
[I]ndependent Black media has long been a refuge and place of trust for the African-American community.
So what does this have to do with trust? Mass consolidation matters because the public understands that in large corporations, profit often comes at the expense of people, purpose and the public good. In many radio stations owned by conglomerates, profitability is found by stripping down the staff to its bare minimum, using syndicated programming and national play lists which leads to a homogenized sound print. That is why you hear the same 10 songs played on every station, everywhere in the country. We see similar trends in other media, especially at the local level where downsizing has become the norm.
There are far-reaching consequences stemming from this mass, corporatist consolidation of media. Mainstream news media considers itself a “fourth estate,” a “free press” acting as a safeguard against the tyrannical whims of government. Yet, over the years, public confidence in media has waned. According to Gallup’s annual tracking, only 27 percent of Americans have either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers compared to 51 percent who did in 1979; in 1993, 46 percent of Americans expressed great confidence in television news, but that was down to 24 percent in 2017.
But when you are independently owned, you have choices. It is not just about your investors or shareholders. It’s also about the people. At WURD Radio, we have invested in a live, local, talk format that provides original programming from 6am-10pm every weekday. It’s an expensive, labor intensive business model, but we are committed to this format because, in a city like Philadelphia that is almost 45% African-American, there is no other place where our community can speak and be heard in their own voice. And in a moment when we are overwhelmed with disinformation that extends from the White House to Silicon Valley, we need independent voices that can speak truth to power.
Purchased by my father, Walter P. Lomax Jr. M.D., in 2003, we have always been clear that WURD is a mission-based media company. I think this clarity has earned us the trust and respect of our community. People understand that when you turn on 96.1FM or 900AM, you are going to hear a wide range of voices — sometimes raw, at times angry, and sometimes filled with humor — but always showing the diversity, complexity and humanity of the Black community.
[I]n a crowded, noisy, sanitized, often homogenized mass media culture, with a 24-hour news cycle, and non-stop social media — people are looking for authentic connection. They don’t necessarily want everything polished and perfect. They want to hear the voices of people who are experts because of their lived experience not only because they have degrees and titles. Authenticity cultivates trust.
I believe in a crowded, noisy, sanitized, often homogenized mass media culture, with a 24-hour news cycle, and non-stop social media — people are looking for authentic connection. They don’t necessarily want everything polished and perfect. They want to hear the voices of people who are experts because of their lived experience not only because they have degrees and titles. Authenticity cultivates trust.
Accountability matters. Over our 15-year lifespan, WURD has served as a bridge to connect the people with information, resources and the powerful. Once a month we host an on air Q & A with the Mayor, the Governor, the District Attorney, the State Attorney General and other elected officials so that our community can engage with them directly. This is our way of demonstrating that these public servants must answer to the public that they serve. This is especially important during a time when local news outlets, particularly newspapers, have been disappearing, along with deeper coverage of local politics, elections and policymaking.
We have also found that in a world that is highly digital and siloed, people still crave connection. They want to feel like they are a part of a family — a community. So in addition to our on air programming, we produce a variety of events on an almost weekly basis. This allows us to provide ongoing, consistent, in-person engagement with our audience. Whether it’s a live broadcast at a local café, a partnership with another media outlet or one of our signature events about education, social justice or health disparities, we are constantly curating experiences for our listeners. Our audience understands that our events seek to deliver substantive content designed to educate, empower and engage. This consistent community presence matters too.
This year, as WURD celebrates our fifteenth anniversary, we will continue as a place where Philadelphia’s Black community can speak about the issues that matter most to them: in their own voice, in an interactive format that’s hyper-local and in real time. I wholeheartedly believe that independent Black media provides an essential space for diverse voices — something as important now as when Frederick Douglass launched the North Star newspaper in 1847. This, however, does not eliminate the need for mainstream media to honestly address the trust deficit that has existed in communities of color since the founding of this nation.
History matters. And at the end of the day, it all goes back to the beginning. The most important, and perhaps most difficult aspect of cultivating trust, is that you have to genuinely love your readers, listeners, viewers and community. You have to believe in the full humanity of all people…that all men (and women, of course) are truly created equal.
SARA LOMAX-REESE is President & CEO of WURD Radio. She can be reached via Twitter @slomaxreese
