It’s no news that both newspaper readers and radio listeners have declined over the last few years.
Pew Research says that from 2005 to 2021, 2,200 newspapers closed in this country. From 2008 to 2020, the number of American journalists fell by more than half.
On the radio side, about one in five Americans say they often get their news from radio.
At the same time, 48% of Black Americans say they get news from radio at least some of the time; that’s 42% for Hispanic adults and 37% for Asian adults.
Yet in a very diverse market like Las Vegas, radio stations and print media cater to many different communities. At a time when news can come from so many different sources, how do they stay in business, and what’s their support from listeners and readers look like?
LAS VEGAS BLACK IMAGE MAGAZINE
15 years ago, Charles and Kimberly-Bailey Tureaud founded Las Vegas Black Image Magazine, a lifestyle and culture magazine, shortly before Barack Obama’s presidency. They were inspired by President Obama and the nation’s embrace of the first black U.S. president and founded the magazine to showcase and expand the black image in Nevada with Kimberly as publisher.
“We [needed] something to keep the positive imagery of the black community alive and as an inspiration, not just to black people, but as education to people who maybe [were] not in our community and not culturally familiar,” said Tureaud. “I tell people all the time, it’s not color, it’s culture. And sometimes people get hung up even when we call the magazine black image. We get calls, “you know, I’m gonna do a white image magazine as well.” But, I just feel as though there was a void and it needed to be filled.”
Kimberly says that 15 years later, the magazine is growing, but she still feels like the black community is still not getting the awareness and help it needs; especially when compared to other communities.
“I do believe there are a lot of systemic things that’s caused…
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