The Bugaboo That Is Advocacy Journalism

Tonight at 7 p.m. EST Brooklyn Independent Media is airing a new episode of Straight Up, a quirky show that brings together journalists to discuss current events while drinking beer or cocktails at Emerson Bar in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. BRIC is on Cablevision (channel 70), Time Warner (756) and Verizon FiOS (46) in New York City. If you don’t have […]


Tonight at 7 p.m. EST Brooklyn Independent Media is airing a new episode of Straight Up, a quirky show that brings together journalists to discuss current events while drinking beer or cocktails at Emerson Bar in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. BRIC is on Cablevision (channel 70), Time Warner (756) and
Verizon FiOS (46) in New York City. If you don’t have New York cable television, you can watch the whole show online here.

I had the privilege of being on with Mic’s Derrick Clifton and host Jarrett Murphy as we talked about the news media’s coverage of Baltimore, the role race plays in said coverage, and that big bugaboo “advocacy journalism.”

Jarrett Murphy asked me if I saw myself as a journalist or an advocate and I replied (as seen in the excerpt above): “I see myself as a journalist, but also an advocate for changing the condition of black Americans. Neutrality is a privileged position … and if anyone has a problem with that, they can pick a number, get in line and kiss my black ass.”

(This post is from our blog: Unofficial Sources.)

This post has been updated since publication with the channels on which BRIC airs.

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