Hazel Trice Edney takes Black Journalism to a new future

By Carolyn Byerly

Timing is everything.
When I heard that Hazel Trice Edney was leaving the National Newspaper Association (NNPA) as editor in chief a few weeks ago to start her own electronic news service, I thought, “Why now?À But in my heart, I knew why. Her talent and vision for Black journalism had already moved into the future, and she needed the freedom to lead it to a new conclusion.

Hazel’s office and mine were only a hallway apart in the School of Communications at Howard University these last years and I have enjoyed talking to her about journalism and many other things.

On 19 November 2010, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the Trice Edney News Wire was officially launched. The service positions itself as “Provocative. Empowering. Unapologetically Black.À It intends to bring news stories about African Americans to national attention through hard news, features and commentaries. Commentators will include Julianne Malveaux, Jessie Jackson, Wilmer J. Leon III , A. Peter Bailey, and Barbara Reynolds. Trice Edney also has a small, strong core of journalists doing investigative reporting on issues affecting Black communities across the United States.

Trice Edney designed the service to serve 1000 plus Black newspapers, radio stations and websites; but mainstream newspapers and other news sources would be smart to subscribe, too – as would individuals like you and me.

To read more, click here.