On Winning the North Star News Prize
I am, of course, honored to accept the North Star News Prize. In a democracy there is probably no more important task a foundation can take on than that of supporting grassroots groups committed to social justice. And in an economic depression, such as we are now experiencing, that task becomes even more crucial. Just as poor folks are the most vulnerable in a time of economic crisis, the grassroots groups that advocate on their behalf are also particularly at risk. So it is an imperative in this time of distress that foundations reaffirm the importance of such work and their commitment to such groups.
This is also an important time to support good journalism. At no previous point in my life has the press in America been in such a precarious position. Newspapers and magazines across the nation are cutting back--laying off staff, reducing areas of coverage, and increasingly demanding that news justify itself in economic terms. This is not just a consequence of the economic downturn, but is rooted in a fundamental transformation of the information business. It, of course, should come as no surprise to anyone reading a blog that more and more eyeballs are turning to the internet as their first source of information. The problems is that so far no one has figured out a way to make internet revenue approximate even a fraction of what print publications once generated. So news publications are bleeding gallons of red ink. And that is a dangerous place to be--not just for the press, but for democracy, which is strengthened by a healthy and vigorous press.
The North Star Fund is in no position, of course, to solve that problem. What it can do, however, it to emphasize the importance of covering communities that are often marginalized in so-called mainstream America. And it can shine a light on those journalistic efforts to promote social equity and upward mobility. It is with an acute awareness of the value of that role that I accept the North Star News Prize.
Dear Mr. Ellis Cose, Contributing Editor and Columnist, Newsweek and fellow bloggers or readers, I want to congratulate you on winning this prestigious award and would like to make some comments on your observations in your entry on this blog. The financial crunch that you speak of and its affects on poor people is real although I would say that poor people are always used as a scapegoat to explain society's inequities even though it is not the poor who use up the most or control most of the earth's resources. We are always under attack and as a African or Black American, I intimately and socially understand the meaning of the words, "the struggle continues". I live in public housing and recently sent an email to a Howard Husock, contributing editor of City Journal and vice president of policy research and director of Social Entrepreneurship Initiative at the Manhattan Institute. He equates public housing with welfare and has overlooked the fact that the original tenants were war veterans and their families, public housing was built to replace the squalor and disease of slums, and most importantly, the reason why the population of people who live in public housing in New York City and I imagine in other places is due to the policy of "redlining" which systematically discriminated against people of color to receive government loans and grants for private housing. So, once again, when tough times fall on society, it is the poor to blame. Even the constant appeal to the so-call "middle class" is a major concern of mine because as a class middle class has never had true stability and the cause of the continued economic woes is the inappropriate devices used to first of all define the cause of poverty and furthermore eradicate it. Like wealth, poverty is something that is inherited and the majority of people born into poverty do not break through "the glass ceiling". This is a misnomer that is constantly fed by such things as "a dollar and a dream" by NYS Lotto.
The aforementioned issues that I speak to is one of the reasons why more people are turning to the web for news. I for one refuse to be inundated with opinions from "news" casters which gloss over the real issues. Yes, a healthy and vibrant press is needed for a healthy and active democracy. It is time that the press realizes this and make a decision, continue to support the status quo with its erroneous ideas and concepts in service to cultural hegemony, or speak real truth to power!
Sincerely Yours,
Pearl