Little known fact: When black newspapers were in their hey day, being a journalist was the third most respected and aspired for career behind celebrity and musician. When this was stated in the video, my mouth literally hung open for a solid 10 seconds. I never knew that the black community ever thought so highly of the journalism profession.
Two points come to mind when I think about this fact: one, that the journalism profession as a whole was viewed as respectable and two that there were an abundance of black journalist and that they had a pretty big influence on societal changes.
The journalism profession is currently viewed as skeptical, shady, and manipulative. According to many polls, journalism is usually rated among the most untrusted of professions. The public doesn't trust the content of the media nor the methods of which the media receives the information. In the 1950's though, the print media was one of onluy three sources a person could recive news. There was much more trust in those times. Journalist were respected, they citizens weren't so skeptical of the content.
I had no clue that black journalism was so huge and financially successful. I thought it was just a few mom and pop papers that really made no significance or impact on America. My was I wrong. I like to think about if I had been born in 1930's how I personally could have made an impact on the black journalist movement. I hope that Black newspapers make a nostalgic comeback. I would love to be involvved in that part of history.
Plus I absolutely love the "Double V" slogan :)
No comments:
Post a Comment