Reconceptualizing Journalism as a Care-Based Institution: The Historical Black Press as an Exemplar of Care Ethics

This project combines historical analysis with theory explication to characterize the Black press as an exemplar of care ethics able to inform current journalistic practice. Beyond advocacy, the Black press developed rigorous methods for discerning truth, played robust social roles, and facilitated the democracy of everyday life. More personable than the detached reporting of dominant media, it addressed a larger range of human needs, operating by principles of care to consider the intellectual, emotional, aesthetic, psychological, and joyful aspects of individual experience and public life. It invited all Americans into a good faith conversation and epitomizes how contemporary journalism might facilitate the sincere empathy, social solidarity, and honest dialogue necessary to meet our present moment. Ultimately, this project reconceptualizes journalism and argues it view itself as a social institution that contextualizes facts, situates truth, and amplifies care.