The Blackish Press: Journalism and Political Communication Unbound

In the new media age, the Black press has undergone significant changes in content, ownership, and audience. Some digital Black news outlets are foregrounding entertainment over hard news stories, others are not Black owned, many are attracting non-Black audiences, and audience engagement is primarily online. These developments raise the questions: How does entertainment content work for or against the goals of the Black press? In what ways does ownership affect the Black press' content? Who is the audience for the digital Black press? And how do journalists interact with their audience? The Blackish Press uses interviews with Black press journalists, focus groups with readers, and analysis of web metrics to argue that the digital Black press is adapting to meet the current needs of the Black community. Its content often counters mainstream news narratives and is filtered through a Black lens. Legacy and digital-native Black news publications are advocating for African Americans via both entertainment and hard news content. Readers and journalists prefer Black-targeted outlets to be Black-owned, but they still consider those that are owned by the mainstream as part of the Black press. Additionally, although the digital Black press has a significant non-Black audience, Black press editors intentionally target their Black audience and employ organizational codeswitching to signal authenticity. As such, the digital Black press operates both similarly and differently than its historical predecessors. The Blackish Press provides an in-depth analysis of what it means when the Black press acclimates to the new media landscape and questions what is gained and lost in the process.