- 4 days ago
Media is changing faster than ever, and the consequences are not just cultural, they are economic. From newsroom layoffs and platform shifts to misinformation, creator economies, AI, and the decline of trusted local outlets, the stories that shape public opinion are increasingly shaped by new power players and new incentives.
This session will explore how communities, leaders, entrepreneurs, and institutions can reclaim their narratives in a fragmented media landscape. Panelists will discuss what these shifts mean for visibility, credibility, business growth, civic power, and long term economic opportunity, and how individuals and organizations can use media more strategically to protect their livelihoods, build influence, and tell stories that move people to action.
Charles Blow, American Journalist, Commentator And Former Op-Ed Columnist For The New York Times And Political Analyst For Msnbc
Ashley Allison, Cnn Commentator, Owner Of The Root, And Ceo And Watering Hole Media
April Ryan, Reporter, author, White House Correspondent for Contrarian News, and Host of The Tea with April Ryan
Ebony Mcmorris, White House Correspondent At American Urban Radio Networks
Elizabeth Booker Houston, Lawyer, Public Health Professional, Stand-Up Comedian, And Political Commentator
Errin Haines, Editor-At-Large And Founding Mother At The 19th.
This session will explore how communities, leaders, entrepreneurs, and institutions can reclaim their narratives in a fragmented media landscape. Panelists will discuss what these shifts mean for visibility, credibility, business growth, civic power, and long term economic opportunity, and how individuals and organizations can use media more strategically to protect their livelihoods, build influence, and tell stories that move people to action.
Charles Blow, American Journalist, Commentator And Former Op-Ed Columnist For The New York Times And Political Analyst For Msnbc
Ashley Allison, Cnn Commentator, Owner Of The Root, And Ceo And Watering Hole Media
April Ryan, Reporter, author, White House Correspondent for Contrarian News, and Host of The Tea with April Ryan
Ebony Mcmorris, White House Correspondent At American Urban Radio Networks
Elizabeth Booker Houston, Lawyer, Public Health Professional, Stand-Up Comedian, And Political Commentator
Errin Haines, Editor-At-Large And Founding Mother At The 19th.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Up next, we have Reclaiming the Narrative, the Shifting Media Landscape and what it means for your livelihood.
00:10Joining us on the Global Black Economic Forum stage, American journalist, commentator, former op-ed commonalist for the New York
00:19Times and political analyst for MSNOW, Mr. Charles Blow.
00:26Owner and publisher, The Root, Ashley Allison.
00:33Reporter, author, White House correspondent for Contrarian News and host of The Tea with April Ryan, April Ryan.
00:43White House correspondent, American Urban Radio Network, Ebony McMorris.
00:50And lawyer and political commentator, Elizabeth Booker-Houston.
01:06Hello. Hello, everyone. How are you?
01:14So we have a big discussion today about media reclaiming narrative, the current state of media and how it is
01:25splintering on the one end and consolidating on the other.
01:31The title is Reclaiming the Narrative, but the first question I'm going to ask to my panelists, each of you,
01:38is whether or not we ever had that narrative and how do we establish it in the first place if
01:48we didn't.
01:49I'll start with you, Ashley.
01:51Hi, Charles.
01:52Hello.
01:53Hi, y'all.
01:56That's a great question, and I think I don't know if we've ever or even in this moment have had
02:04the full narrative, but we have had ecosystems for our narrative, whether it was the Pullman Porters delivering the news,
02:13whether it was Ida B. Wells making sure our stories were documented, whether it was the black press ensuring that
02:20we got into the homes in every community,
02:23telling the localized story, whether it was Jet Magazine showing the face of Emmett Till to wake up the consciousness
02:31of the society.
02:33That's how we owned our narrative.
02:35But then at times, we have, as a people, have also done interventions for narrative, like crossing the Edmund Pettus
02:42Bridge in Selma to show the draconian approach, the barbaric approach that they were taking to black people.
02:51So, have we owned the whole thing?
02:53No, but have we been thoughtful in every way possible to make sure that our stories are documented?
02:59Yes.
02:59And do we have an opportunity now to own it?
03:02We sure do.
03:06April.
03:06Thank you, Charles.
03:08You're welcome.
03:08It's good to be with all of you on the panel.
03:11Let me say this, and I want to piggyback off of what Allison said.
03:16The bottom line is we never had the narrative in mainstream news, and we know that, right?
03:26Like it was just said about Emmett Till, it took the black press and Mamie Till Mobley to show that
03:34horrific picture of racism splashing across the world for people to pay attention to racism in Mississippi,
03:43still considered the most racist state in the nation, but think about this.
03:47We have been beating the drum.
03:49They're always the last, they're always the last to get it.
03:53We've been talking about it.
03:54We have been in oral tradition since they brought us here.
03:59They stole us from Africa.
04:01We have been doing oral tradition for the longest time.
04:04But here's the next piece I want you to know.
04:07When it bleeds, when it's a big issue like a crescendo moment, when it's George Floyd, when it's Eric Garner,
04:16when it's Freddie Gray, that's when white media wants to come in.
04:19But always remember this as well.
04:21It has never been balanced, and there was an attempt by LBJ in that Kerner Commission report.
04:28Remember that?
04:29To try to balance it.
04:31The Kerner Commission report at the very end talked about putting people who look like us in high spaces to
04:39quell the tension in the atmosphere, to ask questions, to get answers, so people can understand what's going on.
04:46It's gotten worse, because look at what's happening today.
04:49It's 100-some degrees in Washington, D.C., and these white nationalists are walking with ski masks on their heads
04:56trying to show us something.
04:58And everybody's saying, I hope they get a heat stroke or something.
05:01It's too damn hot to be racist, okay?
05:04But at the end of the day, we are here to tell the story.
05:07And I'm so glad that this one got her own news organization, because you know what?
05:13Yes.
05:15Because, and I'm glad you are.
05:17Charles is out of his mind, and I love it on the Internet.
05:20But what they're doing to a lot of these black news organizations and even white organizations, they're making them get
05:29rid of us.
05:30They're not allowing advertisers to advertise on our news organizations.
05:36So we need your support.
05:38And so we can tell the stories that they won't tell, that they're too scared to tell, because Donald Trump
05:44is a bully.
05:44I think that's so key, because right now we're talking about the 250th of this country, but I also want
05:52people to keep another date in mind.
05:54And that is next year we will be celebrating 200 years of black press.
05:58So while there is celebration and fireworks for that, I do need you to understand, we have always told our
06:05story, right?
06:06We haven't always had the funds.
06:08We've had to save our own community.
06:10We've had to invest in our own.
06:12And we see, as April said before, this is an administration that since they have attacked DEI so hard, advertisers
06:19have pulled left and right.
06:21And so where are we again?
06:22We have to continue to fund and save our own narrative.
06:27And so that also isn't just with the journalists here and influencers here, but that's you in your own home.
06:32That means I always ask people, what diet, what is your news diet?
06:37Where do you get your information from?
06:39If you wake up every morning and your diet starts with MSNBC and ends with the CNN, and I'm not
06:45knocking that at all.
06:46MSNOW, MSNOW, MSNOW.
06:47Sorry, MSNOW, right?
06:48MSNOW.
06:49And in between that, you're not looking at The Root or A-U-R-N or looking at April, the
06:55contrarian, or looking at what Elizabeth Booker is putting out.
07:00Or you're not looking at people who you know we keep the truth of the community in our mouths.
07:06Then you're doing a disservice, not just to yourself, but to your family.
07:10We have got to teach and tell our story.
07:14And it is very important in a day and age where this administration wants to change the story.
07:20Erase it.
07:21Take it down.
07:22We see it, and then the American taxpayer pays for the lie.
07:27I don't think that we've necessarily owned the narrative, but we've owned the strategy.
07:31We always have been able to break through.
07:33And the white supremacists, the white nationalists who have been running media and all of our stories for so many
07:40decades are, quite frankly, spineless.
07:43They're cowards.
07:44They're weak.
07:44And they don't actually know how to fight and break through.
07:47And so I'm always very proud because, despite us being in smaller numbers, less funding and everything else, black media
07:54always has a way to push forward.
07:56And what I love about us, and when I say we own the strategy, is we don't act like white
08:00people.
08:01And I will say, as a digital content creator, what I mean by that is a lot of white digital
08:05content creators in my space are fighting with traditional media every other day.
08:09And meanwhile, I have a partnership with the Washington Informer, black-owned newspaper in D.C.
08:14I am doing things with The Root and watering whole media with Ashley Allison, April.
08:19Ryan and I are talking about things we're going to do together, right?
08:21We are collaborative.
08:23We have a community mindset that they don't have, and they're always trying to not just divide and conquer us,
08:30but they're trying to divide and conquer their own.
08:32And that's something that we've always known how to take advantage of and then break through.
08:36I want to follow up on that because, as April said, you got your first wave of true integration after
08:44the current report.
08:45You got your first wave of, you know, like a surge of women reporters in newsroom after the women's rights
08:55movement.
08:55You got your first wave of LGBTQ people after Stonewall.
09:00We got a second wave of blackness with the rise of the first black president, rise of Black Lives Matter,
09:09but now you see that crashing.
09:12You see so many people losing jobs, being displaced, moved around.
09:17Where do you see the greatest opportunity for growth for black journalists and for black journalistic entrepreneurs in this climate?
09:32Well, I'll start.
09:35You know, I think everybody has an assignment and a role for the moment that we are in.
09:44And in 2020, I started Watering Home Media in 2009, actually, when Barack Obama was elected.
09:54And I started it for the same reason why I relaunched it in 2023.
09:58And that was because I was living in Bedside, Brooklyn.
10:03I was a high school special education teacher, and my students were on fire for this man.
10:08And the media was not telling the story that they cared to look.
10:12And I was like, there's something happening, and we should tell our stories.
10:15Life happens.
10:16I shut it down.
10:18I was 26, didn't know what I was doing.
10:20But a dream deferred is not a dream denied.
10:24And in 2023, you know, after the election in 2024, everybody was like, the Internet, the manosphere.
10:31It was like, if you were awake, you would have known that was happening.
10:33And so I tried to catch the tidal wave before, and I started working with people like Elizabeth Booker Houston
10:39and other creators.
10:40We went into production.
10:42And that connects to entrepreneurship because there's one thing.
10:48In 2023, I was like, you know what?
10:49I'm going to go for it.
10:50I'm going to try and get my show.
10:52And my friend was like, that's great.
10:54But what happens when they cancel your show?
10:57Because they cancel us all the time.
10:59You don't own the show.
11:01You don't own the chair, Ashley.
11:04It is rented property.
11:06What are you building for that is bigger than yourself?
11:09And so I took this leap of faith and started going around and telling people for years I was going
11:15to buy properties.
11:16And the root is the first purchase, but it surely is not going to be our last purchase.
11:20Come on.
11:20Come on.
11:21We have a full roll-up strategy.
11:23We're in hot deals right now thinking about how we build our own conglomerate in our way.
11:30And I thought I was like, look, if I go and buy this, my personal footprint is going to shrink
11:36for a moment because it's hard to buy something.
11:39You know how hard it is to buy a house, a car, all the paperwork?
11:43Buying something else from someone is a lot.
11:45Getting investors is a lot.
11:47And so I took the sacrifice.
11:49I realized that, like, once you own it, you can have whatever show you want.
11:53I can give everybody here a show if I want, right?
11:55It's just like people say run it up the flagpole.
11:58I am the pole.
11:59You know what I'm saying?
12:00I don't got to ask anybody.
12:01I'm the pole.
12:02I'm the flag.
12:03I'm the man and woman that puts it up.
12:04So I say that because it's like you have to decide when you're about to be an entrepreneur in media,
12:09maybe something has to sunset for a moment so you can build the thing that then really gives you the
12:15ability to launch the way you want to launch.
12:18And then the most important thing, and this is my final point on this, is, like, once you learn it,
12:23I'm an open book.
12:24I'm not keeping no secrets on how I did that.
12:26If you want to buy something, baby, let's talk because I'll tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly
12:31and everything I don't know still as I'm going through it.
12:34But we can't – what I did is, like, people were really surprised, but I'm not the only person that
12:38can buy media.
12:40I'm really not.
12:40If you want it, go get it.
12:42I want to – thank you, Ashley.
12:45And I want to piggyback off of something you said about the manosphere and all of that and about not
12:49owning things because I always think about that, right?
12:51There's some white man that owns the social media platforms that I post on.
12:55700,000 whatever followers on Instagram don't matter.
12:58I don't own it, you know, at the end of the day.
13:00And I knew from the beginning that – and I've said this to people all the time.
13:04They say, how do we fight the manosphere?
13:06I said, we don't.
13:07We don't.
13:08The manosphere is designed to make people isolated in their phones all day weird and scary, okay?
13:14It's to make white men very weird and scary specifically.
13:17And we don't do that.
13:18We are community builders.
13:20And so one thing that I know I focused on was making sure to build bridges and make impact in
13:28person as much as or more than I do on the internet.
13:32So coming to things like Essence Festival but also the comedy clubs, the stuff I do there, going to have
13:39pop-up town hall events.
13:40She's real funny, y'all.
13:41I think so.
13:42Hilarious.
13:43I think so.
13:44Hilarious.
13:46So, but, you know, making sure that we understand that the digital strategy does not get divorced from the in
13:54-person community strategy because the less we are with each other and in community with each other, also not everything
14:00belongs on the internet.
14:03Stop.
14:04Don't put every thought, every plan, everything on the internet.
14:08It's not safe, right?
14:09But we have to make sure that we are using that as a way to build community in person.
14:14So let me say this.
14:16We have more power than we know.
14:19We have so much power.
14:22When Twitter went to X, they shook black Twitter.
14:25Black Twitter was leading the conversation.
14:31Digital is now king in media.
14:33A lot of these mainstream organizations are now watching what is happening on our shows digitally.
14:40And I'm going to tell you, this thing is real.
14:44I mean, we've seen the delivery systems change.
14:47Newspapers are obsolete.
14:49Watching the three stations, ABC, NBC, CBS, look, I don't know which one y'all are picking in or liking
14:56today, but that's changed.
14:58Cable is even obsolete.
15:00Everyone is streaming.
15:02Everyone is streaming.
15:03So at the end of the day, what we need to understand is this is the system for now.
15:09There will be a change in another 20 years.
15:11But while we are here, get your story out.
15:15We don't know unless you tell us.
15:18Don't be scared.
15:19Scared money don't make no money.
15:21Come to us.
15:22Well, it's the truth.
15:24Because I'm going to tell you something.
15:25They're not going to tell your story.
15:27People are watching streaming services.
15:31And I'm going to tell you, I have been in the business for about 40 years.
15:36Been at the White House 29.
15:38And I'm going to tell you something.
15:39I'm no spring chicken even though I look like I'm 17.
15:42But, dang, everybody laughed hard on that one.
15:46But, no, I have had to, and I know Charles has, it has been a shift.
15:51And in order, this is not a, and I don't think it's up here, everyone up here, it's about us.
15:56It's about the power of the pen and informing the community.
15:59It's not about us.
16:00It's about you.
16:01And that's some of the reason why being at the White House and telling those stories is so important.
16:06I don't go in the White House every day because they're looking for me.
16:08Every time I go, they want to start a fight.
16:11Every time I go, they want to start.
16:12And I'm going to tell you something.
16:13I'm from Baltimore.
16:14I will get with you.
16:17Am I lying?
16:18I'm a witness.
16:19I'm a witness.
16:20Every time they come after me and I'm like, I can't do this.
16:23But here's the thing.
16:25They don't like the fact that I know the truth and I'm telling the truth still no matter what.
16:30And this is a community.
16:31We have a community.
16:32This is so serious.
16:34We're a community, before Donald Trump came into the second term, a community with the
16:37highest numbers of negatives in almost every category.
16:40Now we have rollbacks and laws and freedoms.
16:43If we don't report it and if you don't look, you're missing out.
16:47This ain't just about the Blacksonian losing this or losing that or the Michelle Obama piece
16:53is not the National Portrait Gallery anymore or the fact that those slave ship pieces are
16:58out of the museum.
16:58This is about your life, the tariffs, your groceries, your rent that's too damn high.
17:04This is about us.
17:05And you've got to pay attention to these organizations and people.
17:09He's sitting up here every other night on CNN going off, going the hell off, going the hell
17:16off and posting it.
17:18And if you're not watching, you're missing out.
17:21You've got people who are standing up here who are not afraid of the fire because you
17:26need to know.
17:27Let me just say this also really quickly.
17:30And one of the-
17:31Let them clap first.
17:32No, go ahead, go ahead.
17:36Now you can talk.
17:37Go ahead.
17:38You're so funny.
17:39All day, every day.
17:40I love this one right here.
17:42I always tell people one of the most important things that you can own.
17:46Many of you are using it and pointing it right now is your cell phone.
17:52I need you to understand it's not just us up here, but you can be your own town crier.
17:58Because people aren't waiting for the evening news to break to figure out what's going on
18:03in their community.
18:05Right where you are, there is something happening on your block.
18:10And I need us to all be responsible to pick up that cell phone, pick up whatever media you
18:15tool, whatever media tool that you use to spread information.
18:20But I also need you to also report it.
18:23What it took these companies, and there are about just five major companies that really
18:27control all of the news that you watch.
18:29And they are not interested in you or your development at all.
18:33But I need you to understand that what you do with that device and recording and putting
18:39it on these platforms is important.
18:41The reason why we are seeing what has happened in some of these detention centers, the reason
18:46why we're knowing what's happening in some of these communities that we can't always get
18:50to is because you now also play a role in this.
18:54This isn't just about, oh, I'm up here and I have this title.
18:57This is about saving our communities, right?
19:00So when we talk about the narrative, you're also involved in that.
19:03It can be scary going in that place sometimes because there is a bullseye on your back.
19:08But guess what?
19:09It's one on your back too in your community, right?
19:11Just for being black, there's a bullseye because they automatically assume that you don't
19:18think the way they do.
19:19But whether you're not, Donald Trump just called, what did he call you?
19:23Obnoxious.
19:23Called me obnoxious.
19:24I said, no, I'm not.
19:25I didn't think it was that serious.
19:26But when we talk about there's no pushback because, and I know you are.
19:30And they don't come together with any of the reporters there to keep pushing.
19:35No, they don't.
19:36And so that's why you have to help us amplify these voices as we also amplify yours.
19:42Black media has always represented the voices of the unheard.
19:46Rachel Scott from ABC asked a question about your money, about your groceries.
19:53Those little white eggs or brown eggs that you get from the store and the gas prices.
19:58And he called her a B.
20:00Oh, you didn't know that?
20:02And he's calling, he's going after every black woman.
20:05And if they would, if the media, if our colleagues, our white colleagues and our black colleagues would have gotten
20:12together and banded together in that first term, when I had a bomb come to my house, the bomb squad,
20:20the FBI, we wouldn't be dealing with this mess now.
20:23It takes you, the we, the people, you are not excluded from this equation, even though the 4th of July
20:28for us is different than it is for them.
20:31You are not excluded from the conversation.
20:34You are a part.
20:36Retweet or re-Instagram, re-gram, whatever the hell you do, re-post.
20:41Support us.
20:42I'm sorry, I'm hyped.
20:43I don't normally use those words.
20:46Like, share, comment, follow.
20:49Like, share, comment, follow.
20:51And subscribe.
20:53And to point out, before I had any kind of a platform, that's how it started.
20:57Somebody pissed me off talking sideways at a black woman and I cussed him out on the internet.
21:01And what happened?
21:03The platform blew up.
21:04I guess people like me cussing out white supremacists.
21:06I don't know.
21:07Well, I will say this.
21:09So, I was on CNN for two years and it was just like, blase, blase, blase.
21:14And then one pop-off happened and it went, like, wildfire.
21:19You went viral, yeah.
21:20And I went viral.
21:21And it was like, nobody saw it on CNN.
21:24They were like, you're that girl in the shade room all the time.
21:27I said, what am I on the shade room for?
21:29Wait a minute.
21:30And they're like, no, you that girl from CNN.
21:33And I'm like, oh, you watched?
21:34I said, no, I see it on this clip, on this clip.
21:36And so, it is like, I always say, content is king, but distribution is the emperor.
21:41And if we don't get it out, people won't see it.
21:45How many of you repost?
21:46Let's stay on that topic.
21:47But wait a minute, Charles.
21:48How many of you repost?
21:50Oh, my God.
21:52How many of you just look and keep scrolling?
21:55This is a safe space.
21:57Oh, Lord have mercy.
21:58Just hit the heart.
21:59Just hit the heart.
22:00Yeah, give a heart.
22:01Do something.
22:02I want to stay on this because I think it's really important.
22:05And a lot of people out here may even be dealing with this issue.
22:09How do you turn that engagement that a lot of you have talked about?
22:14You said the most powerful thing people have is their phone.
22:17You know, you talked about your viral moments.
22:21How do you, in the journalism space, turn that into sustainability, profitability?
22:28Do you, how do you become a brand and create a market for what you want to deliver and get
22:37it out there and become a working journalist?
22:40So do you know, it's not just visibility, though.
22:43You have to give people what they want.
22:45You have to have the pulse of the people.
22:47And at the end of the day, right now, back in the day, I remember Facebook said, oh, do
22:53you want to monetize?
22:54And I was like, oh, you can't, as a journalist, you're not supposed to, you know, you can't
22:58do that.
22:58Let me tell you something.
22:59Right now, we're independent journalists, and I done turned that monetization on, and
23:03that gentleman right there who just sat down taught me, he said, look, you are a brand.
23:08Turn it on.
23:09Because we are independent journalists like Don Lemon.
23:12A lot of us have gotten, the people who have names have gotten pushed out of mainstream
23:19newsrooms.
23:20And now, in order for us to continue the service, we, look, even on Facebook, that little one
23:26penny that you, that you press for the heart, that penny adds to another penny that adds
23:31to another penny.
23:32And if you want to keep getting the news, you guys are sitting here, and more people are
23:36coming in because we are saying something that you feel.
23:40And we are reporting things that you need, and you know that we have integrity, and you
23:45believe in us.
23:45So if you believe in us, hey, Barack Obama had $25 from each person pretty much to become
23:52president.
23:53You know, I ain't asking for, well, I could ask for $5,000, but you know, but it doesn't
23:58take that much to support, to keep getting the news.
24:01We are on the front line and under five, and this sister owns an organization.
24:05She's out there when Don Lemon was let out of jail in L.A.
24:10She is down in Alabama.
24:12I was too, a lot of us are moving around, and that movement, it ain't, we just, it's
24:18not, I wish there was a money tree we could shake.
24:21Joining us for the last portion of our panel, Erin Haynes, President of the National Association
24:27of Black Journalists.
24:29Hey, Erin.
24:30Oh, here comes the queen, all hail, all hail.
24:33In yellow, looking beautiful.
24:35Hang out in your yellow.
24:37Hey, your chartreuse.
24:38Listen, believe it or not, I'm actually in a deadline-oriented profession for work.
24:41Sorry.
24:42Hi.
24:44Where were we?
24:45Talking about journalism, but I want to-
24:47Can I talk a little bit about what we do together?
24:49Yeah, because I want to point out, I want to make it very clear, I respect so much everyone
24:54on this stage.
24:56I am not a journalist, right?
24:58I make that very clear as, that's why I said she a political commentator.
25:02That's what I do.
25:03It's not journalism, honestly, for me to go to Mitch McConnell's office and ask if he's
25:06dead yet.
25:07That's just me playing pranks.
25:08Ooh!
25:09But, but there is a symbiotic relationship that I mentioned earlier that is really important.
25:16And so, um, I was approached by Miss Ashley Allison to be part of her creator cohort with
25:23Watering Home Media in 2024 was the first one we did.
25:25And I'm still with them now and now doing, you know, collabs with The Root.
25:30Yes.
25:31Absolutely.
25:31And you did segments for some of our shows we've produced.
25:34Yes.
25:34You did our person on the street.
25:36And we compensate her.
25:37And I want to say this.
25:39We compensate her because her time is valuable.
25:42We don't compensate her to say what we want her to say.
25:46Right.
25:46We have never given you a script.
25:48We have said, here are some topics we care about.
25:51And you get to do what you, you do.
25:53Also, it's just topics that you just picked.
25:55You picked topics that black people care about, honestly.
25:57Yeah.
25:57It is a symbiotic relationship, though.
25:59Because here's the thing.
26:01Not all creators are messengers of truth.
26:04But all of you are trusted messengers.
26:06You are a messenger of truth.
26:07What you are doing, so much of the information that you are getting is from journalists, from black journalists, in
26:14so many cases that you are sharing with the community that is trusting you to bring them honest and accurate
26:19information.
26:19So there absolutely is a place and a space and lessons on both sides to be learned.
26:25Journalists from creators and creators absolutely from journalists.
26:28But, I mean, all of us are in the business of getting trusted information to black communities in an age
26:34of missing disinformation that we know is being disproportionately targeted to us.
26:37Aaron, I'm going to give you a little bit more time because you're sure it is.
26:42I want to explore for us what it means to be a trusted messenger in a news environment and with
26:51a creator economy, how they fit into that.
26:55Because for a lot of creators, brand partnerships are part of how they make their money.
27:01For a journalist, that's problematic.
27:05For a lot of creators, having access to get the big interview, they may make certain compromises that the traditional
27:14journalist would not make to get the same interview because they would think it compromises them.
27:19How do we navigate that so that we do draw the best from both worlds and get as much information
27:26as possible to the audience?
27:28Yeah, I mean, I think I would say a couple of things.
27:30One, the black press, as you may not know, is turning 200 years old next year.
27:36200 years old.
27:37And I point that out to say that black people, black journalists, have always been the ones who have had
27:43to tell the truth for our folks and to show the fullness and the dignity and the humanity of black
27:48communities all across this country.
27:49When we know that that was not something that mainstream legacy publications were willing to do, right?
27:54And so that tradition continues through folks like Ashley, through folks like April, through folks like Ebony.
27:59But now through folks like some of these creators who are sharing the stories that we are producing with their
28:05communities to get them the information that we need.
28:08A lot of times information that we are reporting on, right?
28:11That they can amplify that message to audience who may not otherwise find the work, find the stories that we
28:17are telling.
28:17So I think that that's really, really important.
28:19I also think, though, that so many of you out here in the audience, how many of you, you're scrolling,
28:26you see a story, you share it on one of your platforms.
28:29Raise your hand if you're doing that.
28:32Well, that's a couple more hands than the last time we asked this question.
28:37Now they got Shane.
28:37But I'm cheating because the president of the NABJ is here.
28:40No, thank you for doing that, though, because, look, folks see folks like us up here on TV, maybe you
28:47see us on the Internet, maybe you see us on your platforms, but it's you all.
28:50You all are the people that the people in your family, your friends, your coworkers, you all are the people
28:56that they trust to share something.
28:57If you share something that I wrote or that April is posting or that The Root is reporting on, if
29:03you share that, that means so much more than anybody that somebody doesn't know just because they're seeing us on
29:10a screen or hearing our voice on the radio or on a podcast or on a social media platform.
29:15So I would say it is incumbent upon all of you, if there's one thing that I could ask folks
29:21to do leaving from this room, it is to find trusted, honest, accurate sources of information and to be sharing
29:28those.
29:28Black journalists are among some of the most trusted messengers in our profession.
29:33And we do this because we know that our communities need that information and because we have to tell an
29:38honest and accurate story about this country.
29:40How many people are following somebody on the stage?
29:43That's not enough.
29:45All right.
29:46All right.
29:46So, okay.
29:47Call out your handle.
29:49It is Booker Squared.
29:51My name is Elizabeth Booker Houston.
29:54If you Google it, everything comes up.
29:55My name.
29:56For me, it's at Ebony McMorris and also at A-U-R-N News.
30:04So please follow at E-Marvelous.
30:08That's my profile on Instagram.
30:09Erin Haynes on, you know, Blue Sky, the platform for all of us.
30:14It's normally known as Twitter.
30:15But at 19th News is the platform that I worked for that I helped to start six years ago.
30:21We are focused on the intersection of gender, politics, and culture.
30:24It is free to consume.
30:26It is free to share.
30:28I write a newsletter for it.
30:29It's called The Amendment.
30:30You can subscribe to that newsletter for free.
30:33So this is free nonprofit journalism that we are producing for the communities that we know need it.
30:37So that's at 19thnews on Instagram.
30:42I'm on all platforms at April D. Ryan.
30:47But on Instagram, it's ADR1600.
30:50But on Substack, that's where I do my show, The T, every Tuesday and Thursday at 530.
30:56Charles is going to be coming on, and so is Ashley soon.
30:59And Erin's coming on definitely for the White House.
31:02Breaking news.
31:03For the White House Correspondent Association.
31:04Breaking news.
31:05Oh, no, we talked about it.
31:06We're hanging out.
31:06Yeah.
31:07We're hanging out.
31:08Very soon.
31:09Yes.
31:09I'm committing on stage.
31:10Y'all heard it here.
31:11So stay tuned.
31:12Go to Substack and subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
31:15Yes, that means so much to have that support.
31:18Subscribe to her Substack.
31:19And we're at the root on all the platforms, and I'm Ashley R. Allison on most of the platforms.
31:26But if I could just pick up, because the root is a business.
31:30This is like, if the money does not come in, people do not get paid,
31:34and we lay people off.
31:36And I think everyone has seen the stories of the massive layoffs, the gutting of newsrooms,
31:43and particularly of black journalists.
31:46And when those stories, I'm not going to name the names of the publications,
31:49because you probably already know what they are.
31:51When that was happening, we had to make a choice,
31:54and we decided to double our newsroom by the end of this year.
31:58Now, we're not as big as The Post, but why do it if you're not going to do it?
32:03You know, run through the tape.
32:05But I want to just talk to you about why we're saying follow, subscribe.
32:09Because those likes, those, the little square where you can just reshare,
32:14those comments actually aggregate to business avenue in dollars and revenue.
32:20That gives us the opportunity to go to sponsors that are all,
32:25the corporations that are all out here, and say,
32:27we connect with the black community.
32:30The black community trusts us, and we are responsible as those trusted messengers.
32:35And when, I don't get rich when y'all do that,
32:38but what we get to do is we get to triple our newsroom.
32:41And so if we want to keep black journalists and creators and do show networks
32:47and tell our story, this is a symbiotic relationship.
32:51So we're in, we're, this is a community.
32:54We all, it's an ecosystem.
32:56If you don't support us, then I can't support her,
33:00and then she can't tell the truth to you.
33:02And so at some point, the links broke.
33:07People stopped picking up black newspapers.
33:10They're struggling.
33:11They're struggling right now.
33:13At the 200th anniversary of the Black Press, where are we?
33:15And where are the people that can support one of our oldest and most trusted institutions?
33:20We need you.
33:21We need you at this milestone.
33:23I mean, we're talking about, you know, the 250th anniversary of this democracy.
33:27No, the 200th anniversary of black journalism is something that we must also not only celebrate,
33:32but we commit to as a community.
33:35Another 200 years.
33:36And I wanted to jump in on the creator economy piece, just as the creator.
33:42Because the support from my followers is definitely like how I get the sponsorships
33:47and the collabs and the things.
33:49And I will tell you what happened last year is when some of the white people in this space
33:53found out that I, as a black woman, was getting some contracts that they thought were a little
33:57too much money, they started throwing slanderous, defamatory comments and saying I was being
34:04paid by all of these nefarious people.
34:07The biggest one that they said, it was Congressional Black Caucus PAC.
34:12They said me being paid by CBC PAC as a black woman political creator was somehow nefarious.
34:19And these were not right-wingers, these were white people who claimed to be woken on the lift.
34:24So I really just want to reiterate my, like, what Ashley has said, but also my just extreme
34:31gratitude to our community because a lot of white people got mad.
34:34I tell them, you can go screw yourself.
34:35My target audience is black people anyway.
34:37I don't care.
34:38And so for black people to continue to support me, I want to thank everybody that did,
34:42but also say continue to support me, but other black creators as well.
34:45Because once we do find a way to financially support ourselves, they come at us so fast
34:51and try to take us down and try to, like, slander our names, our integrity, and what we
34:56do as far as telling the truth because they know we're impactful.
34:59They know that we're effective, and they know that that's how they can go after us.
35:03So let me say this real fast.
35:04I have been in Washington for 29 years.
35:07Change jobs.
35:08Do you know they will not give me a credential anymore in Capitol Hill, which is ridiculous.
35:14They know me by name.
35:17But you know what?
35:18The great thing is a lot of these, when we build a brand and a name, these congressional
35:23leaders say, oh, yeah, I want to have an interview with it.
35:25They'll let them in.
35:27They'll let us in.
35:28But see, here's the thing.
35:29You guys don't know what it takes to cover the stories for you, what the fire that we
35:33go through to make sure that you get the pictures, to make sure you stand outside the
35:38hospital waiting to see what's going on with Mitch.
35:40Yeah, I'm going to find out if Mitch is dead, y'all.
35:42I'm going back to D.C. tomorrow.
35:44I'm going to find out if that man.
35:45I think he went to the lower room.
35:49Allegedly.
35:49I will find out.
35:50Allegedly.
35:51I said I think.
35:52I didn't say I know.
35:53I said I think.
35:54But I feel like what April is speaking to is something that matters.
35:58People like Ebony.
35:59People like April.
36:00They are on the front lines doing this work day in and day out.
36:04And that should matter to every single person in this room.
36:06You don't have to be a black journalist to care about what is happening to black journalists
36:11right now.
36:11And I am telling you, black journalists, black women journalists in particular, are under
36:15attack right now.
36:16Preach.
36:16For people.
36:17I also want people to know some of the numbers behind it.
36:21Because when DEI got attacked, there was almost 80 percent, I believe, decrease in funding
36:26to black media.
36:28Eighty percent decrease in funding.
36:31For NNPA.
36:31Absolutely.
36:31Right, for NNPA.
36:33So when you're talking about why don't I see certain things or you're wanting to figure
36:37out, you know, why don't I see more investigative news, it takes money for that to happen.
36:44It takes money.
36:45And that's why I love, Ashley, what you're saying, what you're doing, creating a newsroom.
36:48It takes a lot of work and people behind the scenes to go fact find, do the information,
36:53do the digging, pay for these platforms that allow us to be able to do that.
36:59And that's why it's important for this work to be collaborative with the people that are
37:03here.
37:04When I was looking at the numbers of how many people get their news from traditional media
37:08versus TikTok and a lot of these other platforms, for younger people, under 30, it's like 63 percent
37:16of them get their information, not from traditional, but from these services like that.
37:22And so with that is a...
37:23How can we meet them where they are?
37:24We have to go, we have to come to those platforms, but that takes resources.
37:28It takes resources in order to do that.
37:31So I'm sure everybody in here probably, you are subscribing to a whole lot of stuff.
37:35You look at your bank account, you got $5 here, $8 here, $6 here.
37:39Don't even know what to subscribe to.
37:40Don't even know what to subscribe to.
37:4225 cents.
37:42Right, right, right.
37:43What is that subscription?
37:44Don't know.
37:45To do that.
37:46But I want you, and I said this earlier, I want to look at the, I want you to examine
37:49the
37:50diet that you have when it comes to news.
37:53Where are you putting your money?
37:54Where are you putting your resources?
37:56And do an evaluation.
37:58Am I supporting black news in my own community?
38:00Because even local news, there's a huge decline in local news in our areas.
38:05There's such a desert when it comes to truth.
38:07And this is an administration who said, oh, I just love uneducated people.
38:12I love...
38:13And so he is counting on people to not be woke.
38:17He's counting on people to not fact check.
38:19He's counting on you to be asleep in your own community while America is being robbed.
38:25He's counting on you not to read like he doesn't read.
38:28That's right.
38:28He sure don't.
38:29I want to just say one thing about what you may be hearing here.
38:33And I've traveled the country for the last two years with MacArthur and the Press Forward
38:41working on the issue of local news, disappearance of local news.
38:45And there's a gap that happens sometimes.
38:47So you may hear us up here talking and people are saying support.
38:51And a lot of times people in the public hear that and they think,
38:56why are you as an industry not working just like Apple iPhones work?
39:00Make a better product.
39:01People buy it.
39:02That is not...
39:04That is not...
39:07What's up?
39:09Charles, it's not about you.
39:10Go ahead.
39:10Keep talking.
39:11Okay.
39:12I didn't hear what was happening.
39:14So the thing...
39:19Charles, keep talking.
39:20I don't know what's happening.
39:21It's something else.
39:21It's not about you.
39:22I don't know if somebody worked for the conference.
39:25But the difference is news is a public good.
39:28It's a utility.
39:29The only reason that you know your neighbors is because of trusted sources.
39:34It's because somebody put the death notice and you found out that the person down the block was in the
39:40war.
39:41It is because somebody published a wedding announcement and you found out that the bride or the husband had an
39:49advanced degree that you didn't know before.
39:50It's because some local journalist went to the garden club and found out...
39:56Or that the city council is going to do something that you need to know about.
39:59Utility rates are about to go up in your community that you don't know about.
40:03This is what local news...
40:04It is the fabric of our communities.
40:06And it's so important.
40:07And also every photo you have from the civil rights movement, the ones you think move you so much, some
40:15person who is a paying photographer.
40:18This was his life.
40:19This is how he fed his kids.
40:20That's the only reason you have documentation of that.
40:23Every photo from Emmett Till's funeral is because that person was paid to travel and went and took those pictures.
40:32If you want to have documentation of the black experience in America and know what it means and what is
40:41happening, you have to invest in making sure that someone is paid to go do it.
40:47It won't happen otherwise.
40:49And I just want to say this.
40:51There are no other people that folks think should do stuff for free except for black people.
40:57Woo!
40:58Thanks.
40:59And combine that with journalism that they have expected to be free.
41:03Okay, like, this is work.
41:05It's fun because I love it because I'm a storyteller.
41:09But it's hard.
41:11You...
41:12Elizabeth fact-checked.
41:13I was actually...
41:14She has a family.
41:15She travels here.
41:16We sent 22 creators when the Supreme Court decision happened two months or so ago around gutting the Voting Rights
41:24Act.
41:24And then seven days later, they gutted a generation of work.
41:32Seven days.
41:34And it wasn't breaking through on the news.
41:38It was covered just like everything else, and the page was turned.
41:42They took our rights away.
41:44They took black people's rights away.
41:47They started chopping up districts so we could...
41:51In this state, it is Louisiana v. Calais.
41:54That is the Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act.
41:59And it wasn't being covered properly on mainstream news.
42:03And so, as someone who owns a black media outlet, I was like, well, what are you owning a black
42:09media outlet if you're not going to tell the story?
42:12I got to be Jet in this generation.
42:15So, we sent 22 content creators down to Montgomery in nine days' notice to the All-Rows-Lead-to-The
42:24-South activation.
42:27And when we did what we saw, and it wasn't free, because guess what?
42:32The airlines didn't say...
42:33I didn't ask the airlines not to pay the pilot.
42:36I didn't ask the airlines not to pay the flight attendant.
42:39I didn't say it to the person who checked them in at the hotel and the Uber driver not to
42:43get paid.
42:44So, we had to pay our content creators.
42:46We had to fly them down there.
42:48That took money.
42:49But that investment actually changed the arc of the story around redistricting.
42:55It finally broke through.
42:57And we looked at the data on the internet.
43:00It broke through because black people invested in black people.
43:04But then we have to be invested in.
43:06But you know what?
43:06And I want to say this really fast.
43:08Yes, you're right about that.
43:09I was there.
43:10You were there.
43:11And I'm going to tell you something.
43:12A lot of mainstream media had not been there.
43:15They've moved on.
43:16They did not want to cover us.
43:18And this is one of the main pieces we're trying to tell you.
43:21It was a powerful moment.
43:23We were in Selma in the church and then went from Selma to Montgomery.
43:27And mainstream media did not want to cover this issue because it was about racist gerrymandering
43:33against black folks.
43:35They're not telling the story.
43:37It costs money to go out there and do it.
43:40This is not myth.
43:42It's not conjecture.
43:42It's a business.
43:43But it's a business that we care about to make sure you're informed.
43:46It's about you.
43:47It's about we, the people, who are still forming a more perfect...
43:50I'm going to give our last question because we're over time and I don't want to make sure
43:53the next panel can get onto the stage.
43:56April's going to kill me if I don't get my handles, Charles M. Blow, on everything.
44:01I just want to know, because this is impacting everyone in this audience as well,
44:05how is AI impacting your work and your journalism?
44:09Man, you just asked.
44:10Look.
44:11I'm like, that's the last question.
44:13I just left the Young, Gifted, and Green event where we...
44:18I was monitoring a fire set to talk about data centers in my hometown of Memphis,
44:22ex-AI, Elon Musk.
44:25That was a big question to end on.
44:27But I will just say this.
44:28AI has made it so hard to fight disinformation and misinformation.
44:31If I don't stop seeing people sharing videos that are not real,
44:36images that are not real, audio that is not real,
44:38it is very, very frightening.
44:40And that's why it makes it even more important for the investments we're talking about here.
44:43Because if Ashley can fly us out and we can physically stand somewhere
44:48and say this is what we saw with our eyes and capture video, that is so important.
44:54People have become so isolated and separated on the internet,
44:56and AI has allowed for people to be so easily tricked and misled.
45:01And we have got to make sure that we learn how to spot it.
45:03I was the AI before I was forced out of my federal job.
45:06I was a privacy lawyer at the Food and Drug Administration,
45:09and I was the AI point person.
45:11And I left because that entire administration went completely past my office
45:15and put in an AI system called ELSA that I do not trust
45:18and is now being used to review every food, drug, whatever product,
45:2220% of the GDP coming into the country.
45:24And I left because I knew I was being forced out.
45:27And they were coming for our next.
45:29AI is such a problem.
45:31It can be a beautiful thing,
45:33because I want to point out there is ethical AI,
45:36there is good AI,
45:37there is AI and science and research and all these tools that work,
45:40but there is very, very scary, scary, misleading, misinformed,
45:45generative AI that is not only tricking us,
45:48but also completely destroying our ecosystem,
45:50our water, our air, and everything else.
45:51Why did you make this the last question?
45:53I'll just say, look,
45:54I might have a slightly different take
45:56as someone who is trying to create a lot of content at scale.
46:00AI is here.
46:02It's here.
46:02It's the future.
46:03It's here.
46:03And it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
46:05And as a community,
46:07we have an obligation to understand what impact it has.
46:11When the internet came,
46:12when social media platforms came,
46:14people were like, oh,
46:15and they never did anything to regulate it.
46:17They didn't pass 2.30.
46:18And now kids are committing suicide,
46:21getting drugs,
46:23having eating disorders
46:24because we didn't do what we needed to regulate it.
46:27So I think it's a both-and approach.
46:29Well, it's three things.
46:30I would say you need to wrap your hands around it.
46:32You need to learn to test it and play with it
46:35and get an understanding of it
46:36so that it doesn't leave you in the past.
46:38Then we need to work to make sure there's regulations
46:41so that AI could actually also be a public good
46:44and we could have some ownership over it.
46:46And then I would just say,
46:47also be mindful of what harms is doing in our community.
46:51But I just don't think we can just be like,
46:53AI bad, people good,
46:56because we won't win in that way.
46:58We have to engage in it a little bit more.
47:00I wouldn't have done the job I did
47:01if I thought AI was just purely evil.
47:04And what Ashley is saying is so true.
47:05This is how we harness it for good.
47:07We have got to harness it for good.
47:09Yeah, and because the bottom line is,
47:11just to the points that have already been made,
47:13AI is here
47:14and we don't want it to be something
47:16that is happening to us.
47:17We want to be shaping
47:19what the future of AI is going to look like,
47:21not just in our communities,
47:23but absolutely also for journalism
47:25because AI is not going to be the thing
47:27that takes jobs in journalism.
47:29The people who know how to use AI
47:30are the people that are going to be taking the jobs
47:32in journalism.
47:33That's right.
47:34So it is incumbent upon us
47:35to figure out how this is beneficial
47:38to our profession,
47:39but also how it is harmful.
47:41And in combination with that,
47:43because we are black folks,
47:44before I ever had a journalism credential,
47:46I must also think about the benefits
47:48and the harms for black communities
47:51as I am doing that work.
47:53So I'm going to say this real fast.
47:54AI is forever changing.
47:56It churns.
47:57Even as we're speaking,
47:58something new has come out every second.
48:00We are behind the curve when it comes to AI.
48:03We need to learn it.
48:04I'm not saying do papers on it,
48:06but we must learn it.
48:07And it is helpful for management issues,
48:10like charting your logs
48:11for what you have to do a day or what have you.
48:14But I'm going to tell you one thing.
48:15In journalism,
48:16as a White House correspondent,
48:18I'm confronted with AI almost every other day
48:20because Donald Trump likes to post
48:22these dumb AI pictures of fakeness.
48:25The AI,
48:26he was reposting the AI thing
48:27with Michelle and Barack Obama
48:29and Hakeem Jeffries.
48:30And we got to report on it.
48:32So that,
48:32it's ridiculous.
48:34But when put to good use,
48:35it could be a helpful thing.
48:37But when put in the hands
48:38of the president of the United States,
48:39you see what you get.
48:40Which is why everybody,
48:42what everybody on this stage does
48:43is so important.
48:45You've heard me talking about trusted messengers.
48:47Truth is going to be such a valuable currency
48:51in this AI environment.
48:52The people who are telling you the truth,
48:54the people who you know
48:56are showing up on these platforms
48:57as real folks
48:58that are giving you real information,
49:00that matters.
49:02And so following people like us,
49:04following other black journalists
49:05that you trust,
49:06sharing those people
49:07with the people in your networks,
49:09these are the folks
49:09we need to be listening to.
49:10And by the way,
49:11when somebody in your families,
49:13one of your friends,
49:14one of your coworkers,
49:15is sharing something
49:16that you recognize
49:16to be missing disinformation or AI,
49:20please lovingly correct them.
49:22I'd lovingly encourage them.
49:23Ebony, you are our last.
49:24Do not continue to amplify this.
49:25Sorry.
49:26Ebony, you are our last on this.
49:27I just want to say this really quickly
49:28because I love the fact
49:29what April said.
49:30If you don't think
49:31that you need to be a part of it,
49:33we are in an administration
49:34that is using it on a daily.
49:36But I just want to end on it,
49:38right, to weaponize.
49:39But I just want to say this
49:40before we end.
49:41Just bringing the Bible just quickly.
49:43When the Bible says,
49:43we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
49:45but powers and principalities
49:47and rulers of darkness
49:48in high places,
49:49I want you to understand
49:50that it doesn't matter
49:51whether this orange one is in
49:53or somebody else gets out.
49:55That's the flesh and the blood.
49:56The powers and the principalities
49:58are systems and governments
50:00that we have.
50:01So they will always be in place
50:03if we don't push back.
50:05You have the power.
50:07We have said it.
50:07While we are utilizing ours,
50:09I need you to utilize yours.
50:11It is not just about
50:12that flesh and blood
50:13that you see every day.
50:14It is a system
50:15that has been in place
50:16called white supremacy
50:18and it can ship-shape
50:19in AI or anything else.
50:21But it has always been
50:22after the greatness
50:23that is in you.
50:25It has always been
50:26a part of what has created
50:28us to survive.
50:29Always tried to attack
50:30the black women as well.
50:32So I just wanted to give you
50:33a little good word
50:34so when you leave here on today,
50:36you understand
50:37that your hope is built
50:38on nothing less.
50:40And for those who know, know.
50:42And let the church say amen
50:44and we're about to go.
50:45Thank you so much
50:46for coming out.
50:46I appreciate it.
50:48Pass the collection plate.
50:50I need it.
50:55Yeah, I'd rather be with you.
50:59I'd rather be with you.
Comments