Black Journalists Firings Should Motivate Independent Media

[ProfD]

Considering the number of Black journalists fired from their high-profile gigs, I'm curious to see if it will motivate them to start their own companies.

 

Roland Martin who was fired from TV One several years ago seems to be doing well with his own media company.

 

Instead of waiting on or looking for another mainstream media gig, the better move would be for fired Black journalists to join forces to create an independently Black-owned media company.

 

Don Lemon, Candace Owens, Angela Rye, Joy Reid, Jemele Hill, Marc Lamont Hill, etc., should have enough followers between them to consolidate into media platform. 

 

Black journalists might also want to consider covering issues that pertain to Black folks instead of having white employers mandate their coverage.

[Troy]

I’m not sure if what Roland Martin does is considered journalism. It appears to me that he shares his opinion on a variety of topics relevant to Black people. Also, Roland appears to target Black people as his audience. He is not in search of the “white co-sign.”.
 

What Roland is doing is not easy. I don’t get the impression that people like Don, Candice, and Marc are willing to do what it takes to build a platform they need someone else’s platform.

 

 

[ProfD]

Sharing opinions on current events and topics seems to be an entertainment form of journalism. 

 

All of the aforementioned folks have enough followers  to start a podcast if they haven't already. Joining forces might make it even stronger.

 

Someone like Joy Reid should be able to do something independent of white-owned media with decades of on air experience.

 

Getting fired from white media can be a blessing. Especially when some of these folks are already millionaires.

[Troy]

9 hours ago, ProfD said:

Someone like Joy Reid should be able to do something independent of white-owned media with decades of on air experience.

 

Agreed, but it won't happen. 

 

Generally, these platforms are built by business people. Ala Johnson, Hughes, etc.  The "talent" shows up does their thing. 

 

9 hours ago, ProfD said:

All of the aforementioned folks have enough followers  to start a podcast if they haven't already. Joining forces might make it even stronger.

 

Martin is not gonna join up with Reid and share his platform with her.  Now if some other entity built a platform and brought them both on board that could work, but it would be very hard to execute -- make profitable enough for someone to try.