By Jordan Coburn
Ten years ago, aspiring journalists at Spelman College crossed the street to write for The Maroon Tiger at Morehouse College. That’s because Spelman’s student newspaper, The Blueprint, had stopped publishing in 2016.
Spelman isn’t alone. Student news organizations at some HBCUs have gone dormant or disappeared, depriving aspiring journalists of a place to develop reporting experience and leaving campuses with fewer independent sources of information about university decisions, according to Jean Norman, a professor of journalism and emerging media at Weber State University who researches student media at HBCUs.
Wesley Wright, who leads an organization working to rebuild HBCU student media, estimates that only five or six HBCUs currently have strong campus media operations.
Wright launched the “ReNews Project” in 2021 to help HBCU students start or restart campus news organizations. The project provides journalism training and professional advisers and has helped publications obtain websites, hosting, advertising support, and printing resources. So far, he’s helped rebuild and strengthen student publications at Clark Atlanta University, Bowie State University, and more.
“Our mission is to prepare more Black students for the changing media world,” Wright said. “There’s no other way for these students to really learn unless they’re cutting their teeth in school.”
Grace Edmonds, the editor-in-chief for Bowie State’s school newspaper The Spectrum, is one of many students who have benefited from the ReNews Project.
The ReNews Project has honestly been one of the most helpful resources that we’ve had at The Spectrum, Edmonds said. “After COVID, a lot of HBCU newspapers died down; Wesley gave the tools and opportunity to have a fresh start, and we’ve grown since then tremendously.”
Bowie State laid off nearly 80 staff members in May and is still dealing with financial struggles, but that hasn’t stopped Wright from finding a way to positively impact the university.
“Wesley is actually looking to our state’s sunshine laws and is that shield we need as far as protection,” Edmonds said.
For student publications built around a small group of committed journalists, graduation can threaten the progress they have made, particularly when the newsroom lacks permanent infrastructure or institutional support.
After two students brought back the Spelman Blueprint in 2023, ReNews began working with the publication to ensure it would be here to stay.
“We gave them a website to get them started, and they’ve really flourished since,” Wright said. “I saw they interviewed Sterling K. Brown; now they’re a very robust campus media outlet.”
In addition to working with multiple HBCU media sites, he teaches at Florida Atlantic University and helps bring these different schools together.
“ReNews and Wesley helped us connect with different HBCUs in the area… [Morgan State] and [Howard University] so that was very helpful,” she said. “I would love to see even more networking opportunities so we’re all connected.”
The organization also connects students with professional journalists.
“We had different journalists from the Baltimore Sun come in and do a panel for some of our journalism majors at our school,” Edmonds said.
To maintain its success in the future, Wright encourages all who can to support the ReNews Project.
“We’re always looking for funding,” Wright said. “What that will take is a lot of people who care about the students; as long as there is a demand for student journalism, we will find a way to help students one way or the other.”
He already has his eye on his next project.
“We may get to do Morris Brown this semester,” he said.
Be the first to comment