Black media face balancing act with historic candidacy of Obama

By Lisa Caurso
National Journal
(August 27, 2008)
Covering the historic candidacy of Barack Obama, journalists with the African-American media face particular challenges. They must address their readers' and audience's concerns, which are often ignored by the overwhelmingly white mainstream media. But they also strive to present a broader perspective while holding both candidates and both parties accountable -- even when it's not popular.

"We are definitely trying to focus on issues that affect the African-American community," said Kevin Chappell, senior editor and chief political correspondent for the country's pre-eminent magazine for African-Americans, Ebony. At the same time, he says, "we understand that if he's elected, he's not going to be president of black America. It's a delicate balancing act. We have to serve our readers but we [also] want to be a one-stop shop for issues pertaining to all Americans."

BET News political correspondent Jeff Johnson, host of Black Entertainment Television's new half-hour weekly program "The Truth With Jeff Johnson," is similarly committed to addressing matters that affect his African-American viewers while presenting sophisticated political analysis of where both parties stand.

"It's important for me that as an African-American community we don't follow this trend of thinking that we only have to listen to what comes out of the [Democratic National Committee]," said Johnson, who supported black Republican Kenneth Blackwell's 2006 run for Ohio governor. "I got my butt beat by the hip-hop community for that," he noted.

Commentator Tavis Smiley, host of "The Tavis Smiley Show" on independent radio and the nightly PBS talk show "Tavis Smiley," came under fire from Obama diehards in the black blogosphere for his sometimes critical coverage of the first African-American presidential candidate on a major party ticket.

"I'm just trying to make sure that the candidates are held accountable, Mr. Obama included," Smiley told Convention Daily. "Obama does not get my vote, nor should he get anybody's vote who is black, just because he is an African-American. I think we make a mockery of democracy when we don't hold people accountable."

At the same time, the black media is keenly aware that African-Americans count on them to deliver in-depth coverage of their issues. Although BET's audience is multicultural, Johnson said, "we still need to make sure we have a level of integrity and are true to the purpose the network was created for."

For Johnson, that meant his coverage of Michelle Obama's speech Monday night focused on the message it sent about the black family when Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha warmly greeted their husband and father by video linkup. He also delved into the dilemma that Michelle Obama -- and all African-American women -- face to be strong without being stereotyped as angry or aggressive.

Despite the significance of Obama's candidacy for the black community and the Democratic Party, the African-American media is still fighting for respect and equal access, Chappell said. In fact, the DNC didn't even give Ebony an assigned seat in the convention hall initially.

"I had to make a few phone calls and explain to them that we have done this" before and have always gotten a dedicated seat in the past, Chappell said. "Everything is still a battle for us. We have to tell them every so often that we have 20 million readers and that anything we put in the magazine will be seen by 75 percent of black America. I think we still have a long way to go."


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