Community Image

COMMUNITY IMAGE

People from these communities view themselves differently than how the media portrays Black and Brown people and spaces. Public Narrative hosted listening sessions with community members and Black and Brown journalists to better understand their perspectives on media and their communities. These journalists and community members discussed how they view media and its coverage of Black and Brown people and what narratives on Black and Brown communities are missing from mainstream media. They also raised possible solutions to resolve the inclusivity issues in news and media production.

Testimonies from participants during our listening sessions and from the report include:

“Part of the solution is working to support local news organizations that are working to improve representation as well as newer organizations that explicitly serve Black and Brown communities.” — Jennifer Kho, author of “The Story of Us: Community Image in the News and Other Forms of Media” “I believe the narrative that boys and young men of color are brave, courageous, beautiful and gifted.” — Vondale Singleton, CEO of C.H.A.M.P.S Male Mentoring “We need people to tell “the truth about what it’s going to take so that we don’t have to keep having these stories. There’s some real truth and there’s some real solutions but it takes a certain level of bravery and courageousness to really upend this system to make a real change.” — Bradly Johnson, former director of external affairs at Build Chicago