By: E&P Staff The Congressional Black Caucus has lined up behind a proposal to direct economic stimulus into advertisements in black-owned newspapers and radio stations.
In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden and White House cabinet members, caucus Chairwoman U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said the money should be spent on ads with information about how to apply for economic stimulus funds.
"We write to bring to your attention the general concern among African American newspapers and radio station owners that they are not being given a fair opportunity to compete for federal advertising dollars," Lee wrote Biden. "Specifically, we seek your commitment that black-owned media outlets are receiving their fair share of advertising dollars in conjunction with the various activities associated with the disbursement of federal dollars."
The letter, first reported by Hazel Trice Edney in the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) newsletter, was inspired by a similar entreaty to the White House last spring by NNPA Chairman John B. Smith Jr.
In a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Rep. Lee asks for an accounting of how much the Treasury and private financial institutions that receive funding under the Trouble Assets Relief Program "have spent on African-American, Latino and Asian American-owned newspapers and radio stations."
In both letters, Lee said black-owned papers and radio stations are "uniquely positioned to communicate directly with segments of the population" that the government needs to reach with its stimulus package.
"African American owned newspapers and radio stations have historically captured and chronicled the hopes and history of the African American community when no one else cared," Lee wrote.
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