WHITHER URBAN JOURNALISM'S FUTURE?
shuttered for good?
"Urban" Journalism's Shrinking Shores, Somebody Send A Lifeline - The Parker Report
Parker raises some good issues here and this has been something I've thought a lot about over the last few years, not the least of which is because I wrote an essay on the history of hip-hop journalism, but one that ended before the media implosion began in earnest.
One thing that I think needs to be said - the fortunes of "urban journalism" (and I agree with Erik - I'm not sure what the better term is even if it is a bit of euphemism) have any number of parallels to other industries, in particular the recording industry, and more specifically the hip-hop economy. All three got ridiculously flush and fat with cash in the 1990s, grew at a remarkable rate but also suffered from irrational exuberance and a lack of long-term strategy. The costs of this short-sightedness are being felt now.
I should stress, these are hardly unique to the hip-hop world, but what stings in particular is that urban journalism created opportunities for many writers for whom access to mainstream journalism was limited for a variety of reasons, race included (but not exclusively). I do think MSM has become more inclusive over that time - how could it not be, if it wanted to stay on top of where pop culture was headed? - but it's hardly the case that integration has reached anything resembling parity. Now that the entire journalism world is shrinking in terms of paid work, urban journalists are likely to be the most vulnerable to finding their services no longer needed.
Personally, I think there is still a future for urban journalism but it will be substantially downsized. I also hope it will be more, for lack of a more articulate term - relevant. That's a dangerously vague term I know but given that so much of rap writing --> celebrity journalism (and really, in some of the most crass ways imaginable) and yet it's still collapsing, maybe it's time to reconsider the priorities of what urban journalism can represent and strive for. It's notable that some of the more successful examines of print journalism still surviving and thriving are ones like ProPublica and it'd be worth seeing if that model could take root elsewhere. I don't think such a thing as "hip hop journalism" has to survive, per se, but I do think the kinds of talent that pool has nurtured over the years deserve more opportunities to grow and flourish.
By the way, Ernest Hardy wrote on this very topic last year - far better than I probably am doing here.
<< Home