S. E. Williams
At Black Voice News we are committed to telling stories of communities that are typically undercovered, underserved and/or overlooked.
Although main stream media will turn the lens on these areas at times, this often occurs when what’s being reported fits the stereotypical narrative regarding how our communities are too often perceived.
Our goal is to broaden that lens and tell stories that not only matter to you, but to do so in ways that reflect the truth of your experiences in all of its diversity.
As such, we understand the significance of including your voices in the stories we tell. How else can we report with honor and integrity?
In addition, history teaches that those whose voices are heard create the historical record for for future generations.
This is why who we talk to in our reporting is so essential to our mission as a newsroom. We know and we want you to know, that who we talk to in our reporting matters.
Whether we are interviewing you one on one, garnering your feedback in one of our listening sessions, receiving your comments via social media or directly through email, we want you to know we hear you and are working to ensure our stories reflect what matters to you in the Black community and the inland region. This is why we are participating in a cohort of news organizations selected by the American Press Institute to track the demographic backgrounds of people quoted in stories using a tool called Source Matters. This practice, often called a source audit, can show newsrooms like ours where the diversity of their sourcing falls short, help them set goals for improvement and measure progress over time.
We’re looking at race and ethnicity, age, gender, as well as how we select sources for our stories. The purpose is to gather data and find gaps in our coverage. We do this to demonstrate that we are determined to do more than just listen to our community’s concerns, we want to demonstrate through our actions and data that we take them seriously.
Historically, newsroom have failed to present a full picture of those they serve and we are determined to rise above that vulnerability by striving to produce coverage that is not only factually accurate but also demographically representative.
We want our journalism to better serve the Black Community and the inland region and we know that means doing the work to make sure the people we talk to for our stories reflect this. Our editorial team is committed to the process, and we are on our way to setting goals that will help us get there.
If you value the independent, truly local news that Black Voice News and IE Voice provide, and want to help us better serve and reflect the community we share, will you click here to support us with a donation today? Your financial contributions directly support our journalism and efforts like this one.