Indiana Black Expo has ended its decades-long partnership with the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper.
Though I disagree with the organization’s stance, I respect their decision. The main issues I have with the recent developments are: the way I found out, the impact on the community, and the individuals who rallied for two historic Black institutions in this city to sever ties; the latter goes beyond like and dislike and hints to a cultural insensitivity that has devastated Blacks for generations. More on that later.
Integrity is a characteristic that is immensely important. As it relates to me personally and the Recorder professionally, journalistic integrity is and will always be at the very top of our list.
With that being said, our jobs here at the Recorder or those of any other media entities are not always the most favorable because we are tasked with telling the truth. In being conveyors of the truth, journalists are sometimes frowned upon by individuals, particularly those who may not agree with the news that we disseminate.
However, at the end of the day, the role of any good journalist is to educate the community and not to win a popularity contest. At the Recorder, we take our journalistic integrity even further as we are also advocates of the Black community. Part of our advocacy role is to be a voice for African-Americans who may not otherwise have a voice or a means to let their voices be heard. In being that voice, our news articles are always fair and balanced and we get perspectives from all sides.
Our Editorial page is different. On this page (and any other newspaper’s editorial page), readers get to read the writer’s opinion. And even though journalists are not obligated to be fair in writing opinion pieces, I always strive to write from a very authentic and honest space – even if it may rub some individuals or entities wrong. That’s my job as a journalist and that’s the role of this newspaper.
Only a few days prior to Christmas last year, the Recorder received an unexpected surprise. An anonymous source informed me that Indiana Black Expo’s board of directors voted to sever its relationship with the Recorder. We often receive anonymous tips and even exclusive information from credible sources in the community, so to be tipped off was not an anomaly.
As with any off the record information we receive, my team and I investigated and dug deeper. While I communicated with a couple of reliable sources, I knew the best way to find out if the information was true was to go directly to Black Expo President Tanya Bell. But before I went to Bell, I waited. “If this is true surely Tanya or someone on the board will notify me,” I thought to myself. So I waited…and waited…and waited some more.
I never received a call or a meeting request from Bell or an Expo board member. Our office did however continue to receive requests for coverage and promotion of their initiatives, but no word on the status of our longterm relationship.
I took matters into my own hands last month and scheduled a meeting with Bell. During our conversation, I told her of the anonymous tip and my desire to know the truth. It was then that she confirmed that the information was in fact true.
Bell and I had a very candid conversation. There were some things shared off the record that shall remain there, but we also spoke freely on the record. Bell told me that the board had an issue with the Recorder being a “partner” of Indiana Black Expo, yet wrote things in the paper that were not always favorable to the organization. I explained to Bell much of what I said at the beginning of this editorial: our news stories are fair and balanced, our editorial pages are opinions and that is industry standard across the country. I went on to remind her of the role of the Recorder in this community and how it is our responsibility to tell the truth and represent the voice of the minorities. News is news and our job is to report news. It’s that simple.
While neither Bell nor I were around when the Recorder and Expo initially formed a relationship, I feel confident in saying from the Recorder’s perspective that deal wasn’t made on the basis of this newspaper compromising its journalistic integrity by ignoring true aspects of news. If since 1895 the Recorder has been writing about wrongs and injustices and we’ve served as advocates of the community, why should we stop because a particular entity doesn’t like the things we report? I’m sure the KKK, immoral pastors, and crooked politicians haven’t liked what we’ve said over the years either, but guess what? The Recorder didn’t stop reporting the truth then, nor will we now. We write about the true realties of this community and if an entity, i.e. Indiana Black Expo doesn’t agree with that, then I respect their decision to walk away.
What I don’t respect (and I shared this with Bell) is the fact that no one informed me of the decision. That’s where integrity comes in: stand behind your decision and notify the appropriate people. Expo not mentioning this issue to me leads me to believe they were going to ride the publicity horse as long as they could, then probably notify me closer to Summer Celebration when the Recorder’s return on the investments of the partnership are due. That’s not integrity and that’s not ethical.
I told Bell the Recorder will not be swayed on the type of news we cover, nor will we allow anyone to censor us. I want IBE and all its initiatives to succeed, which is why I would often offer perspective and insight to the organization through my various columns and even in face-to-face meetings with Bell and other leaders throughout the organization including board members. If I did not care about IBE, I would not have put forth the effort over the years to help it improve. The same can be said about Recorder columnist Amos Brown who himself has offered his opinions and ideas of Expo via the Recorder and on his “Afternoons with Amos” radio show. If there is anything IBE should learn from this experience, it is that you can’t strong-arm people to do what you want them to do. That’s called being a bully and the Recorder doesn’t respond well to bullies.
It is unfortunate that things had to come to this, but because everything the Recorder has published about IBE came from an honest, genuine and pure space, there are no regrets from our perspective.
One last thing on this split: My own instincts (which I’ve learned to really trust) as well as some very credible sources told me that at least one of the main people who aggressively rallied to end the partnership between the Recorder and IBE is Caucasian. I bring up race for two reasons: The history of the Recorder and IBE dates back to Expo’s earliest years when the late Rev. Charles Williams and the other founding members endured so much to bring the organization to fruition. We were two entities who probably did not always agree with one another, but worked together to be resources for the Black community. Individually and jointly we worked together to enhance African-Americans. Again, we may not have always agreed, but we were always united. Because of the cultural differences, someone of another race or background may not be able to understand the significance of such a relationship – particularly in the generally conservative state of Indiana.
The second reason I bring up race is a more radical perspective to consider which is a white person(s) ultimately leading the demise of the relationship between two Black entities. The old phrase “United we stand, divided we fall” didn’t come out of nowhere. Nor did the phrase, “Divide and conquer.” Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
As I end this column, I want to reiterate the Recorder’s desire for IBE to succeed. My staff and I as well as Recorder Publisher Bill Mays, wish Expo well in its future endeavors. As journalists, it is our job to report the news and happenings in our community, so we will still cover IBE initiatives, just not as significantly and frequently as we previously did.
