Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 42. The Negro Press - 5. Outlook
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
924 An American Dilemma
classes—as all these closely interrelated processes are proceeding, partly
under the influence of the Negro press itself, the Negro press will continue
to grow. With larger circulation, there will be increased possibilities of
getting advertising. With a fortified economic basis the Negro press will
be able not only to buy better equipment but also to engage better-trained
journalists and to organize a better national news service. When the Negro
press can produce a better product than now, it will sell even better. The
Negro newspaper will probably remain a weekly, though perhaps in some
regions it will become possible to launch Negro dailies. This is the prospect
we see for the Negro press. It will flourish and become more conspicuous
when the foreign-language papers die out. We are assuming that American
society will not rapidly become so thoroughly reformed that it will be of
no importance whether a man is black or white. We believe that there is
a trend in America away from racial discrimination, and in Chapter 45 we
shall summarize the reasons why we believe that this is so. But there is a
long way to go before the Negro will be secure in enjoying his full
constitutional rights. It will probably not happen in this generation and,
perhaps, not in the next. Meanwhile, gradual improvements will only
strengthen Negro concerted action as they will seem to prove that the
Negro protest is effective. All improvements will give the Negro press
more big news and important issues to discuss.
In the South the white press has been undergoing a great change in its
treatment of the Negro problem. Most liberal white newspapers arc today
more generous in reporting favorable news from the Negro world than
white newspapers in the North and often open their columns for Negro
letters to the editor. Northern newspapers arc frequently more liberal in
their editorials, especially since the outbreak of the War, but give only scant
space to Negro news. This process of change in the white press is continu-
ing. The present war emergency seems only to have speeded it up. But
—
aside from the Southern “black star” editions—this change does not mean
serious competition for the Negro press since the latter serves to give
“additional” news on the Negro. No feasible widening of the reporting of
Negro activities in the white press will substitute for the Negro press.
What happens to Negroes will continue to have a relatively low “news
value” to white people, and even the most well-meaning editor will have
to stop far short of what Negroes demand if he wants to satisfy his white
public. It is likely also that with increased race consciousness among
Southern Negroes, the “black star” editions will lose in popularity.
Whether or not this forecast of an increasing circulation for Negro papers
comes true, the Negro press is of tremendous importance. It has rightly
been characterized as “the greatest single power in the Negro race.”
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
