With the publishing of this week’s edition, African-American News&Issues turns 15 and as it readies itself for its “Sweet 16” celebration next February 2011., Its founders are convinced more than ever that the Black media in general, and Black newspapers in particular, must take a stand against bias news reporting and unfair practices that the majority media perpetrate on unsuspecting members of the public. Publishers Roy Douglas and Shirley Ann Malonson are especially concerned about unchecked and unwarranted attacks on President Barack Obama and his policies, led by Republican leaders who “conjour up boogey-men” to scare their constitutients and derail programs that are ultimately good for America.

The majority of African-Americans believe that there is a concerted effort by right wingers (those who generally support preserving traditional social orders) to keep America divided among racial lines—although they claim that are against Obama only because of his policies.  For example, when little known State Senator Scott Brown (R) recently won the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Senator Edward Kennedy for over a half-century, by beating Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) in an upset on Nov. 19, he ostensibly turned a  26-point deficit into a six-point victory and, according to some observers, gave the GOP a blueprint for victoryover the once unstoppable President Barack Obama for the next presidential election in 2012.

However, Patrick J. Buchanan, senior adviser to three presidents, and twice a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, recently showed the Republicans’ true hand. He stated on CNSnews.com which describes itself as a “news source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who put a higher premium on balance than spin and seek news that’s ignored or under-reported as a result of media bias by omission,” that “Republicans have won three major races—two of them upsets and one a Massachusetts miracle—because the White share of the vote in all three rose as a share of the total vote, and Republicans swept the White vote in Reagan-like landslides.”

 Buchanan asked, “So what have Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi been doing for a year? Crafting a federal takeover of health care with a vast plan that provides coverage for the uninsured—most of whom are minorities—while sticking it to Medicare recipients, 80 percent to 90 percent of whom are White.”

He concluded, “Immigrants are 21 percent of the uninsured, but only 7 percent of the population. This means White folks on Medicare or headed there will see benefits curtailed, while new arrivals from the Third World, whence almost all immigrants come, get taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. Any wonder why all those Tea Party and town-hall protests seem to be made up of angry White folks?”

Sometimes, like in this case, the media owned by other races allows the public to see what they really believe—it only matters what is best for them. Most of the time the majority media and its effects are more subliminal.

Over a decade ago, Stephen Balkaran  wrote about the issue in an article “Mass Media and Racism,” published in the Yale Political Quarterly.  Balkaran stated, “Mass media have played and will continue to play a crucial role in the way White Americans perceive African-Americans. As a result of the overwhelming media focus on crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior among African-Americans, the media have fostered a distorted and pernicious public perception of African-Americans.

“The history of African-Americans is a centuries old struggle against oppression and discrimination. The media have played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans’ continuing status as second-class citizens. As a result, White America has suffered from a deep uncertainty as to who African-Americans really are. Despite this racial divide, something indisputably American about African-Americans has raised doubts about the White man’s value system. Indeed, it has also aroused the troubling suspicion that whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow Black.”

Ironically, the description that CNSnews gives of itself, as a vehicle that allows people like Buchanan to spout their racist views, is the same reason Black newspapers came to the be in vogue. Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm, founders of Freedom’s Journal, the first Black newspaper in America declared, “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.”

And it is the sole reason Roy Douglas and Shirley Ann Malonson founded AAN&I 15 years ago this month. “A newspaper was the furthest thing from my mind,”  Roy Douglas Malonson stated as he reflected back on the reasons he entered the publishing business. “The other Black papers rarely if ever covered the news in the Acres Homes community. The majority papers aggressively made sure that every negative aspect of our area was published and almost never gave the community any positive  press.”

He said that he started what was at first called the Acres Homes Citizens News to simply fill a void in the area. “I wanted to see people in our community, who were doing some very positive things, get featured in a positive manner. I wasn’t too much interested in the movers and shakers; I’ve always had a heart for ordinary citizens, mom and pop business owners and students who might not be able to excel at sports,” he explained.

He pointed out the importance of writing “our own history from our own perspective.”  The National Newspaper Publishers Association, has a membership of more than 200 Black-owned  newspapers across the United States, although there was a time when there were thousands. Today with a state-wide circulation and an interactive Web site at www.aframnews.com, the strategy for growth includes expanding the paper’s voice to include more points of view representing communities of color. 

Malonson continued, “I want a statewide paper that’s a must read; one that deals with important issues concerning African-Americans.  I want a paper that tells the truth from a Black perspective; one that asks the hard questions and challenge leaders by holding them accountable to their constituents.”

“Everything is changing in the newspaper game. Most of us are fighting for the same advertising dollars while the cost of printing has skyrocketed. However,  although I’m a businessman, I believe that it is more important today that the Black media speak now or else  forever, hereafter, hold its peace.”