Media 2070 is a project of Free Press.

Friend —

The Media 2070 project — founded and led by Free Press’ Black staff caucus — has been deepening our efforts to document the history of racism in the media and dream up a future where justice is real. 

We addressed the first part of that goal — exploring the history of racism in the media — when we released our 100-page essay, Media 2070: An Invitation to Dream Up Media Reparations, late last year. Ever since then, we have focused the learnings from this report and 150% of our energy into organizing for real change.

The past few months have been particularly exciting for our team, and we wanted to give you an update on just a few of the things we’ve been up to in the fight for abundant Black media power:

• We have taken strong steps toward realizing an antiracist media system in Philadelphia alongside grassroots Philadelphians and our partners in the Shift the Narrative project. We’re collectively working to “hold newsrooms accountable, and tell their own truth and stories that promote community-based solutions that envision public safety beyond the cycles of abusive policing, punitive sentencing, and criminalized reentry.”

• Alicia Bell, director of the Media 2070 project, wrote an op-ed for NBCU’s Equity Lab that makes the case for media reparations. From ads for enslaved people to alerts about lynchings, the press has long profited off — and contributed to — Black suffering. Reparations are one way to create a more just industry.

• Alicia also appeared on the Mission Partners podcast to speak about anti-Blackness in the media and Media 2070’s work to hold federal policymakers and newsrooms accountable for harms inflicted on generations of Black people.

• We have continued our campaign to demand that the FCC conduct a full investigation into how its policy choices and actions have harmed Black people and other communities of color through history. And we’re creating a plan to take this work even further — so stay tuned.

Friend, your support of Free Press is what fuels our work. If you can, please consider making a donation today in support of Media 2070 and all of the essential work Free Press does to fight injustice in the media.

Thank you for fighting alongside us.

In solidarity,

Collette and the rest of the Media 2070 team
media2070.org