Black and read all over

When two newspapers go head-to-head in one community, they generally strive to differentiate themselves from each other. That's not always the case, though, with the Twin Cities' two African-American weeklies. They may have different business plans, but their objective is the same: report on and reflect the black experience in 2009 urban America.

That helps explain why, at a time when the nation's newspapers are seeing declines in readership and advertising, two weekly papers, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and Insight News, are surviving the downturn.

"We both have the mission of talking about the experience of black folks and relaying that to black folks and to the rest of the world," said Al McFarlane, publisher of Insight News.

"The critical thing is that you are the voice of the community," said Tracey Williams, publisher and president of the Spokesman-Recorder. "We believe we know what our community wants to read and see and hear. I would hope that a little bit of light has been shed now that we have a black president, but I'm not going to bank on any miraculous outcome with people's thinking. And as long as people don't change, the need for the black press to exist will still be here."

That has been the role of African-American newspapers ever since the Freedom's Journal was launched in New York in 1827. The Twin Cities has a rich history of such publications, thanks in part to two iconic figures: John Quincy Adams, editor of the St. Paul-based Western Appeal from 1885 to 1922, and Cecil E. Newman, publisher of the Spokesman-Recorder from its 1934 founding until his death in 1976. Carl Rowan and Gordon Parks were among those who started their writing careers under Newman's tutelage.

Newman's legacy is so powerful, said Williams, his granddaughter, "that there are times you almost feel him in the room. I find myself following in his footsteps without even knowing it."

The Spokesman-Recorder has been family-owned and -operated for three quarters of a century (its anniversary arrives in August) -- with Newman, his widow Launa (who died this month) and Williams as the only publishers. Photos of Cecil Newman are ubiquitous in the newsroom, and Williams' office walls are adorned with black art and an enormous 1960s map reflecting the African diaspora.

And apparently the Twin Cities area is big enough for both of them: McFarlane and Williams said their papers were profitable in 2008. Being smaller and more focused than the mainstream media helps in that regard, said University of Minnesota journalism professor Catherine Squires: "Both the Spokesman-Recorder and Insight News adhere to their function in terms of public service pretty clearly. So their expectations of profit are probably different from mainstream newspapers."

Divergent business plans

Although both publications have about a half-dozen full-time employees and rely largely on freelance writers for their content, they diverge in many ways on the business front. About half of the Spokesman-Recorder's 10,000-copy press run goes to paid subscribers ($60 for two years). The rest are distributed free every Wednesday. Insight News comes out on Mondays, and its 35,000 free copies land in 600 newsstands throughout the metro area.

McFarlane also is being more aggressive on the non-print front. "We were one of the first black papers to go online," he said. "We are seeking to reconfigure our business model, to see ourselves as a 24/7 news and information service whose products include a weekly archival piece called a newspaper."

Because it has no subscriber income, the Insight News' business model is built entirely on "bringing eyeballs to advertisers," McFarlane said. "Our mission and challenge is to talk about and demonstrate the vitality of the black consumer. Black people have a lot of money. We buy a lot, spend a lot. "

Both papers garner advertising from smaller businesses targeting the African-American communities. There are advantages to having an audience that is "unique and identifiable," McFarlane said -- and also one that is growing, thanks in part to the influx of more African immigrants. That's one reason Insight News covers Somali, Liberian and other immigrant communities.

"They're African-Americans, too," McFarlane said. "Even though they might be newly arrived, they are joining an experience that we have been living. They have said to us, 'You have created space for us to know a freedom and an opportunity that we have not had at home.'"

On a mission

That type of shared experience always has been a big part of all black newspapers' missions, Williams noted. So has "uplifting the community." For her paper, that means anything from profiling a young woman who fought tremendous odds to earn a college degree to providing a forum for ex-convict James Davis.

"He tells his story in our pages, and he has inspired several ex-felons," Williams said. "He hears all the time from people whose lives he has touched, even people from out of state. He has given hope to the hopeless. Unfortunately, even in 2009 the mainstream media still doesn't depict the positive images in the African-American community.

McFarlane has a slightly more philosophical take. "What we have learned is that several realities can exist in the same place at the same time," he said. "And that no truth is the only truth, that my truth could be very different from the person sitting next to me, and we're both right."

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643