What is the New Black Media?

The New Black Media is a culture of independent journalists, commentators, and broadcasters who leverage the democratized nature of the internet to profess an unapologetic Black grassroots viewpoint of politics and current events to the masses. It is a relatively new phenomenon made possible by widespread high-speed internet access, economical recording equipment, and publicly accessible broadcasting platforms. Over the past decade, the prominence of The New Black Media has risen to the point that traditional media platforms as well as Politicians recognize its talking points and speak to them directly and indirectly.

Mass Communication Before the Internet​

Prior to the internet, mass communication took place via newspapers, magazines, television, and radio and access was tightly controlled by large corporations. People looking to use any form of mass media to communicate to the people would have to be vetted by representatives of these corporations first. Clearly, this is an issue if your message is counter to the agenda of the cooperation or to the nation at large. But not only was the distribution tightly controlled, the cost to produce content was out of the price range of the average American. For instance, a 4-track cassette tape recorder retailed for $899 in 1980 which adjusted for inflation equates to $3941 in today’s dollar.

The result of the tightly controlled distribution and high cost of production resulted in the defacto silencing of Black voices that were counter to the agenda of the often undiscernible government/corporate apparatus. But this also presented a unique opportunity, these entities were able to put people on-air that claimed to speak for the Black community but were really nothing more than controlled opposition. As time progressed, the voice of the Black community was turned from one of empowerment and self-sufficiency to one of “sacrificing for all”, "minority coalitions", "HBCUs" and ”voting blue”.

Examples of the Controlled Opposition Before and After the Rise of the New Black Media​

John Lewis Using Anti-Black Racism as a Scare Tactic to Get Black People to the Polls

Al Sharpton and Black Men are Insecure If They Don’t Vote for Stacey Abrams


Bought and paid for “Civil Rights Activists” such as Al Sharpton were front and center to direct the Black community away from “We’re coming to get our check” to “we need to vote for the Democrats”. Alumni of academic brainwashing institutions like Kimberle Crenshaw were lauded as champions of Black thought for brain-dead intersectionality theory that diverted the conversation from Black men and women fighting for freedom to one where Black women had more in common with White women.

Streaming Media Becomes a Reality​

In 1996, usage of the World Wide Web began to skyrocket with the rise of America Online within the USA. In tandem with the rise of AOL, companies such as Macromedia worked on technologies that would serve as the foundation for streaming media over the web. However it would take nearly a decade for it to become a reality due to the lack of high-speed internet access available in most homes. To illustrate the point, we’ll take a single 6MB MP3 file and analyze how long it would have taken to download at different time periods:


Sources:
http://xahlee.info/comp/bandwidth.html
https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/download-time
Wide scale deployment of DSL and Cable Internet in the early 2000's made it possible for entities such as RealNetworks, Ustream, iTunes, and YouTube to make viable and sustainable streaming media offerings over the World Wide Web. These new platforms gave a pathway for The New Black Media to bypass the mass media giants and communicate to a global audience directly.

The Conscious Era of The New Black Media (2009)​

The first incarnation of The New Black Media began circa 2009 and centered around the retelling of history and spirituality from the perspective of African/African descendant people. To understand this era, you must first understand the major ideological factions that were at play during the time:

• Hebrew Israelites – Believed that Black Americans are descendants of the Israelites and are NOT of African descent.
• Kemetic – Believed that Black Americans and many other African people are descendants of the people of Kemet now known as Egypt.
• Moors – Believed that Black Americans are descendants of North African tribes that conquered many European areas in the Mediterranean and Iberian Peninsula.
• Muslim – Proponents of Abrahamic faith and its tenets.
• Unaffiliated/Pan-African – Professed general African-centered doctrine without aligning themselves to a specific historic peoples.

The competing and often conflicting ideologies led to spirited debates which New York native Sa Neter began to document and release on his Black News 102 channel. The Black community took to the videos quickly making Sa Neter the preeminent content creator during this era. The rise of Black News 102 gave rise to many names who went on to make their own programs, books, tapes, and more:

It was also during this time that popular pick-up artist and television personality Tariq Nasheed released the first Hidden Colors DVD. In this series, Nasheed took Sa Neter’s formula and evolved it with higher production value and a widely available DVD release. Hidden Colors 1 was a success and further light on individuals who came to prominence via Sa Neter TV such as Sabir Bey, Phil Valentine, and Umar Johnson.

The Conscious Era Comes Under Scrutiny​

While the ideological debates were entertaining, this era began facing criticism for being detached from present day realities. Individuals such as Jason Black and Professor Black Truth became some of the larger voices casting doubt on Sa Neter’s formula for it being trapped in the past. The scrutiny increased as the Conscious Era began to stray from historic and religious debates into unsubstantiated and unverifiable supernatural and ethereal conversation. It is this time where individuals like Black Magik, Red and Blue Pill began gaining prominence for their programs on magic, mysticism, and metaphysics.

The Political Era of The New Black Media (2013)​

The Political Era of The New Black Media is the era where the predominate dialogue shifted from Black people in the past to the lives of Black people in the present and future. Creators during this era began to develop programming focusing on Current Events and the impacts of Racism and White Supremacy on the lives of Black people. This era gave rise to voices such as Dr. Boyce Watkins, Professor Black Truth, The Black Authority, Fly Nubian Queen, and many others. Many that began in the conscious era were able to make the shift such as Dr. Umar Johnson, Tariq Nasheed, and more.

Prominent Voices in the Political Era​

Dr. Umar Johnson - 2021 – 2M Views https://www.instagram.com/drumarjohnson/
Dr. Umar Johnson was born in Philadelpha, PA and is a trained child psychologist who has worked in the school system. Dr. Johnson is known for being a staunch supporter of Pan-Africanism and is currently in the process of making a school to teach young boys and girls the importance of being grounded in Black love and Pan-Africanism.

The Black Authority - 2009 – 7M Views
Born circa 1970 in Shreveport, LA the internet personality known as Jason Black is a man of mystery, wisdom, and entertainment. Due to his reclusive nature, not much is known about him but that hasn't stopped him from amassing a cauldron of devoted fans who view him as extended family.

Tariq Nasheed – 2017 - 81M Views (Started on UStream 2014)
Tariq Nasheed is an accomplished author, internet personality, and film producer born in Detroit, MI and raised in Birmingham, AL. At the age of 17 he moved to Los Angeles, CA. to expand his horizons and in hindsight may have been one of the single greatest moves he made in his adolescence.

Professor Black Truth - 2019 – 28M Views
Little is known about Professor Black Truth outside of his no nonsense professorial takes on Black American politics. Professor Black Truth started off as a weekly broadcast but pivoted to a 4-5x weekly series of short form programs known as the Moment of Truth.

Taharka Bey - 2016 – 4.7M Views
Taharka Bey is from Baltimore, MD and the proprietor of Moorish World TV, a weekly investigative journalism internet program. Bey is most known for diving into the past and motivations of individuals who claim to work to the benefit of those in the Black community. While many take issue with his form of reporting he always comes with his receipts and is open to being challenged.

Vicki Dillard – 2017 - 1.8M Views
Known for her gavel, Vicki Dillard is a content creator based out of Colorado that focuses on current events.

Additional Programs

• Dr. Boyce Watkins - 2012 – 86M Views
• Queen Ahmadiyyah Shakur - 2019– 5M Views
• LionessCrowned - 2008
• Urban X – 2017 – 10M
• Rizza Islam
• Tommy Sotomayor – 2019 – 3.8M
• Yash Qurah – 2013
• Gus T. Renegade – 2009 - COWS
• Black Talk Radio
• Meechee X

The Threats to the New Black Media​

Entities That Masquerade Themselves As The New Black Media​

Since the rise of The New Black Media, the corporate/government apparatus has taken a new approach to disseminating disinformation/misinformation to Black populations. In response, they have begun to finance alternative Black media that appear grassroots but promote government and/or corporate agendas. Examples of these publications are:

• The Root – G/O Media
• The Griot – Entertainment Studios
• Andscape – ESPN
• Word In Black - Local Media Association

See our article Black Media Entities That Promote Anti-Black Agendas for more detail.

Censorship​

One of the largest threats to The New Black Media is censorship that is starting to become more commonplace on popular Social Media platforms. The talking points of The New Black Media are often considered misinformation or disinformation and as a result the posts are either labeled or deleted with the user’s account being suspended or banned. Here are links to the new misinformation policies from the major platforms:

Facebook
Working to Stop Misinformation and False News

Instagram
https://help.instagram.com/1735798276553028

Twitter
How we address misinformation on Twitter