media nowadays readers often complain
that not only does it control the
narrative remove voices from the
discourse but that is also extremely
biased in fact about 20 years ago
about 55% of Americans actually trusted
their news but today that number is down
to about 40% and undoubtedly media
conglomeration contributes directly to
this because now more of our news is
actually owned by fewer people so in
1980 50 companies owned 90% of our media
already that’s not that great of a
number but it just gets worse from there
in about 10 years this is down to just
23 companies and today just fixed
companies own 90% of our media and that
includes Comcast some of you may know GE
used to be part of this list but now
it’s Comcast News Corp disney viacom
Time Warner and CBS and maybe our
readers are onto something because when
President Obama and President Castro
went to a ballgame moments after the
game concluded this happened and I’m
sure some of you can’t hear but
basically I can just explain it really
quickly there is an ESPN broadcast and a
political protester he actually comes on
and he takes over the broadcast what do
you believe this day accomplished he
well the safety of bobbly obviously is
the most important thing and there was a
protest there right behind him sent it
back to Bob Bob are you okay
absolutely Carl what we had here a few
moments ago everywhere this a few
moments ago in Sports Center I was
beginning getting the throw from Sports
Center in Connecticut gentleman jumped
up next to me I thought it was an error
because we’re right here on the street
we’ve had no problems whatsoever began
yelling there were others at least four
or five other individuals clearly in the
dissident class if you will what was
amazing was the speed of the police
response there were three marked cars it
came literally out of nowhere unmarked
our plainclothes policemen those also
were in uniforms there were a number of
these pamphlets thrown up in the air
here and astonishingly as soon as it hit
the ground they made several arrests
they were taken off here dragged off one
dissident was taken off police service
training him by the neck putting him in
a car so they’ve been taken away and
then the police descended on our
position right here very politely but
immediately scooping up all of these
pamphlets for the rights and liberties
calling for a meeting calling for
reforms in Cuban law for new laws for
amnesty having to do with the very clear
however American reporters focused on
Obama and Castro doing the wave in the
audience New York Times was one of the
only outlets to do comprehensive
coverage as we’re used to and
conservative outlets while they did have
their questions they were more focused
on why Obama wasn’t dealing with the
Brussels attack that had recently
happened so still no focus on Cuba and
locally we’re not without our own faults
very few cases of police brutality
actually make the local news and I think
that contributes directly to why not
only are we not on the same page about
what police brutality is but why we
don’t agree on what we need to do about
it and I open mic Rochester where I work
we recently covered the story of a
protester who charged that the U of R
was complicit in the cover-up of his
son’s 2011 death and while we were
unable to corroborate those exact claims
which we were very open about in our
reportage we did discover that testimony
given at the trial was actually
falsified and this is information that
wouldn’t have come out any other way
because we were actually the only outlet
to give him any platform so I’m kind of
hinting at it now however I really do
believe that investing in minority media
can be an excellent way to push back on
those issues we have with control and
bias and I like to dispel almost
immediately when I say minority media I
don’t just mean racially minority media
although I open like we are a black
magazine I believe that it’s just any
media that is created by and focuses on
a co community so there’s also empty
closet for the LGBT community locally
and there’s talkback for teens which
focuses on youth and at face value it
seems that this news would only benefit
the people it covers however we know
that people who are on the outside of
this community can really benefit from
reading it as well they get a very
genuine and very rare look inside and
not only what the people believe the
issues are facing their community but
even sometimes was solutions they want
advocated for so if done correctly
minority media can actually serve as a
way to start a discussion between our
communities so that we can work together
to finally actually address some of the
issues that are plaguing us and when
balance with mainstream news consumption
it is a phenomenal way to balance those
biases to fact-check and to just really
alter how many perspectives you are
getting so some people already know this
but Frederick Douglass actually started
one of the first black newspapers in the
entire nation in this region and I say
that because despite this minority
journalism locally especially racially
minority journalism is struggling I mean
if you think print journalism is already
on its last breath we especially need
CPR however we know that it’s necessary
it’s not just beneficial communities of
people across America are looking for
information that allows them to empower
themselves as voters and now more and
more we are all asked to make decisions
that will impact the daily lives of
people we need to vote on legislation
policies and program that dictates how
people live
journalism provides the first draft of
history and so not only do we have a
responsibility to be fair and accurate
I believe journalists have a
responsibility to be inclusive as well
because when we leave out those
perspectives those angles those stories
we are actually constructing an
incomplete first draft of this history
of art today Meishan excuse me minority
media is a worthwhile investment because
it pushes back again on those issues of
control and bias which is clearly
something that more than half of
American readers want but more
importantly it finally allows us to
include perspectives and voices that
have traditionally been spoken for or
left out all together
and not only include them but prioritize
them just as heavily I believe that if
our true goal is to be a melting pot we
need to not only vote and live like one
we need to speak and digest our news
like one thank you [Applause]