Maynard Institute Launches AmericasWire.Org; New Wire Service Will Provide Comprehensive Stories on Structural Racism in America

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Maynard Media Center on Structural Racism

Oct 27, 2010, 09:45 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Maynard Institute's Media Center on Structural Racism today launched America's Wire, an innovative news service that will provide enterprising content for wire services, metropolitan newspapers, ethnic/community papers, magazines and websites.

In an effort to help the media better cover communities of color and the impact that structural racism has on the families who reside there, America's Wire will provide subscribers with professionally reported, written and edited stories that will help readers better understand the obstacles and challenges that people of color continue to face in America today.

"The news media in the United States has historically been a guardian of the public's interest," said Michael K. Frisby, president of America's Wire. "But there has to be a realization that the media have not accurately communicated the continued impact of structural racism in America. Public opinion polls repeatedly show that a majority of whites believe that racism and discrimination no longer exist. But those residing in communities of color know the reality. Their communities are devastated by high unemployment, poor schools, environmental dangers, inadequate housing and many other conditions that are caused by structural racism rooted in American society."

America's Wire will report on the people impacted by structural racism and their communities, hoping to improve awareness of the true conditions in communities of color.

As part of our introductory offer, all media outlets and the public can visit our website at http://www.americaswire.org/ and sign up for a free, 30-day subscription. During that period, subscribers can download and publish our stories free of charge in their media outlets. After the trial period, media outlets must obtain a paid subscription to access our stories. The rates, which vary according to outlet type and size, can be viewed at http://americaswire.org/catalog/5.

Our staff writers, Kenneth J. Cooper, a Pulitzer Prize winning-journalist, and Marjorie Valbrun, an award-winning writer, will add a new enterprise story to the wire each month. America's Wire will also have a selection of stories from freelancers. As America's Wire expands, we also expect to provide opinion columns from experts, as well as broadcasts ready for radio and television. Our stories are expertly edited by Bill Elsen, formerly an editor for The Washington Post.

Our initial offering of stories include articles on:

The impact of residential segregation on health outcomes
Conservatives blaming the poor for being poor
The declining number of black males at colleges and universities
Tim Wise, a white crusader against racism
States easing restrictions on ex-convicts
Commentary by University of Chicago Professor Cathy Cohen on African American youths and the midterm elections

"We are excited that America's Wire will bring a better understanding of communities of color and the challenges they face," said Dori Maynard, who chairs the America's Wire Advisory Board and is president and CEO of the Maynard Institute. "Our goal is to provide professionally reported, written and edited stories that can broaden the selection of articles that daily newspapers, magazines, ethnic media and websites make available to their readers. We urge media outlets to sign up for our trial offer and subscribe to America's Wire, and bring a wider variety of stories to your readers."

Other Advisory Board members include Bill Celis, an associate professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and a former reporter for The New York Times; Christopher Johnson, a freelance journalist who spent seven years with NPR as a producer, reporter, editor, commentator and manager; Keith Kamisugi, director of communications for the Equal Justice Society; Evelyn Hsu, a past president of the Asian American Journalists Association and former vice president of UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.; Beatrice Y. Motamedi, a teacher, writer and youth media advocate based in Oakland, Calif; Mark Trahant, a former columnist at The Seattle Times, who was publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in Moscow, Idaho and executive news editor of The Salt Lake Tribune; and Sally Lehrman, who is the Knight Ridder-San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair in Journalism and the Public Interest at Santa Clara University .