Colored Press Club

Earlier this month, Richard Prince celebrated the 10th Anniversary of his online column Journal-isms. If you don’t know Richard, think of him as Jim Romanesko for colored people. Prince’s column began as series of briefs in the NABJ Journal, the National Association of Black Journalists newspaper that Prince was co-editing at the time. After spending seven years in print, Prince brought his product to the website of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which is devoted to expanding diversity in the media. Jackie Jones had a nice piece on the journey for BlackAmericaWeb.com last February:

After reading a May 2009 Journal-isms item titled “Think Twice About Using Term ‘Reverse Discrimination,’” which described how the term was being loosely – and inaccurately – thrown around, a television critic wrote to Prince: “I appreciate the info, Richard, and I’ll refrain from using that term in the future.”

“When we were producing NABJ Journal, I could not have predicted that the column would evolve into this clear and unique voice that cuts through the din of contemporary media and reminds us of how important inclusiveness is in the journalism of a free society,” Williams told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“Richard’s column,” she said, “is helping us keep our bearings.”

Prince also convenes a monthly dinner gathering in Washington, DC for some of the heavyweights of minority journalism, where they discuss topics of relevance to the black community and efforts to nurture coverage of minorities and their issues. The tone is upbeat and collegial, but there was also talk at a recent meeting that things are worse for minority journalists now than they were 40 years ago during the Movement. Many organizations admittedly pay lip service to the need for diversity among their ranks, but the decision-makers are still largely white. The general shift away from serious news toward infotainment has also not helped coverage of social welfare issues, which often disproportionately impact minorities.

This is a fitting post for us to also welcome you to the Colored Press Club, which will hopefully be open from now until there is no longer a need for such designations. We’re not holding our breath. Our goals are similar to those of Mr. Prince, who we could never hope to replace anyhow. But Richard has been fighting the good fight for 17 years and it’s about time someone stepped up to help out. Plus, just as Romanesko chugs on despite the spawning of a dozen young rivals, we’re sure a little friendly competition will only add to Journal-ism’s appeal, especially since we’ll be linking to the site often. Besides, you can never have enough coverage of journalists of color, a fact we plan on proving in the coming months.

Thanks for tuning it. It should be interesting.