While there have been great strides in race relations over the past few decades, there still exists a sharp cultural divide between what constitutes “white news” and “black news.” Even though there’s general recognition that all races have the same desires, needs, and humanity, there still exists cultural differences due to environment. This means that what interests one population won’t interest another. It has less to do with race and more to do with culture. For example, people who live in large cities have little need for news about farming. Likewise, farmers don’t wake up and keep tabs on urban news. For this reason, there has been a gradual recognition that urban or “black” news needs to be more prevalent because it’s not represented in mainstream media.
Fewer representatives in mainstream media
Black entertainment news channels and websites appeared because black actors, actresses, and musicians simply don’t get the same kind of press coverage in mainstream media. Even when they are covered prominently, it’s a different slant than if someone from the same culture had written it. It’s black news from a white perspective. Black writers and journalists recognized this emptiness and lack of representation in mainstream media and now offer up a healthy supply of black news to an audience hungry for stories.
Filling a need
Some people will argue that black news doesn’t need to exist separate from mainstream news. That’s assuming that mainstream news represents black and white people the same way, which is doesn’t. Few people recognize that fact. If white audiences woke up one day and saw a few scarce stories about white actors while thousands of black actors were covered, they would want to see more stories about people who share the same cultural background. It’s natural. For this reason, black news sites fill a need among a population that’s underrepresented. The end result is a healthy amount of news stories that serve up the same kind of news but covers people in urban and black cultures.
As more of these sites and channels appear, people realize that there’s no racial divide growing. It’s simply that people want customized news these days and it’s human nature to want to see stories about people that share similar experiences. It’s the news from the point of view of people that have been ignored for far too long.
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