"We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. … From the press and the pulpit we have suffered much by being incorrectly represented.”

- Freedom’s Journal, the first African American owned and operated newspaper in the U.S., declared in the paper’s founding mission statement 1827

Everyone needs quality information to lead healthy lives and be active members of a community. But for a long time, the voices and perspectives of those with wealth and power have been overrepresented in the media. It’s been 50 years since the Kerner Commission called out that the news media “contributed to the black-white schism in this country,” and that “[t]he journalistic profession has been shockingly backward in seeking out, hiring, training, and promoting Negroes.” While the Commission focused on the Black community, many of the findings can be applied to a broader range of marginalized communities. And the “readjustment” this Commission called for has yet to be fully realized.

Today, journalists of color comprise only 16.6%, and women 39.1%, of the workforce in U.S. newsrooms — and those figures are lower when looking at leadership where editorial decisions are made. The data for TV is similar but for radio is even worse. And ownership of TV and radio outlets by people of color (and women) is especially low due to a long history of policies that created inequitable access to ownership opportunities. While there has been a rich history of Black, Latino, Arab American and other community newspapers owned by people of color, these outlets have been historically under-resourced and ignored by philanthropy.

In short, Black, brown and Indigenous people, women, the LGBTQI+ community, people with disabilities, and youth have factored far less in what is covered, how it’s covered, and from what perspective. 

How underrepresentation harms communities 

A lack of diversity on staff and in decision making positions is a problem in and of itself, but It also has a real impact on what we, consumers of media, see, hear, and “learn.” For example:

Skewed or stereotypical coverage such as the examples above are not necessarily done so with the intention to harm.  But “[e]ven well intentioned coverage can suffer from bias when we only tell a story through one lens,” notes the Democracy Fund.

We must recognize that harm is done to communities when they are portrayed poorly and inaccurately in the media.  Examples are abundant across our history and range from inciting lynchings of Black people to perpetuating segregation. But it is not an artifact of our history alone. It continues today with more contemporary harms, for example, the media’s tendency to depict racial misperceptions contributing to public support for harsher punishments for people of color. 

Examples drawn from Media 2070: An invitation to dream up media reparations

Another example of how skewed media coverage influences public perception can be found in coverage of people with disabilities. The media has a propensity to cover claims made to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) involving “extreme, dubious, or outlandish conditions” and not enough attention to the “many cases involving conditions that fall foursquare within the ADA's definition of disability.” This influences public perception that the ADA permits frivolous lawsuits by persons who should not be protected by the Act, when in fact most of these cases are dismissed at preliminary stages.

It also has a negative impact on public trust in the media.  When communities do not see the realities of their community accurately reflected in the stories being told, or the stories that affect them are not being covered, their trust in the media declines. For example, a recent study by the Center for Media Engagement found that Black Americans do not see journalists as trusted storytellers.

An antidote to misrepresentation

Amidst this context, news and information by and for historically marginalized communities are vibrant!  They have a deep understanding of their communities, which allows them to create content that serves those communities. Many have long modeled engaged journalism that creates a dialogue between journalists/storytellers and the communities they are a part of and serve. This is important for building relationships of trust between journalists and the people they are reporting with.

Source: The State of Community & Ethnic Media in California.        

The importance of media by and for marginalized communities has been recognized. For example, when the government needed to disseminate accurate and timely information during the COVID-19 pandemic, they turned to ethnic and community media — media by and for a particular ethnic groups or communities — which played a critical role in reaching communities of color.  Similarly, to encourage completion of the Census, for which an accurate count was crucial for funding for the state, California placed $30 million of Census ads in ethnic media outlets, advertising dollars that dried up soon after.

But community and ethnic media have not been immune to the crisis in local journalism. Indeed they are local journalism: 68% of content on ethnic media platforms is dedicated to local stories. Just one example can be seen among indigenous media. In 1998 there were 100 magazines serving Indian Country. Today there are approximately eight magazines. And COVID hit these media outlets hard as well: a quarter of ethnic media outlets in California reported a revenue loss of more than 70% due to COVID-19, and 14% are at risk of shutting down before the end of 2021. 

Invest in news and information created for and by historically marginalized groups 

Philanthropy has underinvested in news and information serving historically marginalized groups. Approximately 10 percent of overall journalism philanthropic dollars from 2009-2015 were serving either racial and ethnic groups, women and girls, or LGBTQI populations. We are interested in funding diverse forms of information and fact-based storytelling serving these communities, from online news to podcasts, radio and video to SMS and WhatsApp. 

Battery Powered is also interested in investing in youth media. Organizations and programs that hone the skills of young journalists and storytellers create career pathways for future generations. They also tell stories important to youth, from a youth perspective, and champion young voices on key societal and policy issues.

Importantly, we want to invest in outlets that are owned and run by the communities they are serving.  While direct investments will be in nonprofits, there is also opportunity to invest in for-profit outlets owned by people of color through pooled funding mechanisms like the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund. 

Enable diversity in newsrooms through more equitable environments 

All media outlets should represent the tapestry of their constituent communities both in their staffing, sources and leadership. But hiring alone will not create an equitable environment that retains and promotes journalists of color. While we recognize the necessity of individual outlets diversifying their newsrooms, we are most interested in programs led by journalists of color that address retention, mentorship, promotion, leadership, safety, and community-building for journalists of color.