Hiram Jackson looks at journalism differently than many news publishers. He considers himself something of an outsider, not a traditional newsman who came up from the J-school ranks, but from a marketing background. Even though he’s been a big part of the culture at Real Times Media (where he serves as CEO) and the Michigan Chronicle for about two decades, he still carries that non-traditional mindset.
Jackson is the publisher of the Michigan Chronicle, one of several Real Times Media publications located in metro areas in the U.S. that serve and write for Black communities.
Women of Excellence is an event the Chronicle launched in 2007. However, the event has morphed into a community of women who have had a relationship with each other and the Chronicle for 17 years. Pictured here is the 2024 class of Women of Excellence honorees.
That marketing background and leadership helped the Chronicle become early adopters of key strategies, which include events and newsletters.
“We’ve built up [a database of] about 750,000 emails and communicate well with people regarding digital news and breaking news. And that’s one of the things I’m most proud of — we’ve really built out our database.”
Upon stepping into roles where he could impact the business, Jackson quickly understood that the Chronicle and other publications brought a tremendous amount of respect from the communities they served.
Hiram, a brand builder at heart, set out to use and grow that strength in the business model. “One of the things that I realized very quickly was the reverence, the credibility, the trust that these respective brands had in their community. And not only with Black people but also with those in other communities who wanted to stay abreast of what's happening in the Black community, stay close to what’s happening in the Black community, or just had a strong interest — and maybe they worked, lived or played in an urban environment.
“But I felt like the brands were being underutilized, and so, because I don’t traditionally come from the industry, I’ve taken some liberties. I separate the brand from the journalism. Then, I have a broader definition of news, information and journalism, and I've also taken that liberty. I looked at the Michigan Chronicle as a way to communicate with Black people, motivate Black people, and entertain them. And, you know, I looked at how some of these other larger companies were evolving. Some of the telecom companies were becoming entertainment companies … I felt like, ‘Why couldn't the Michigan Chronicle be an entertainment brand where you can still maintain its position as a community leader?’”
These thoughts were floating in Jackson's mind in 2006 — before most of the news industry was thinking about events and newsletters — when the Chronicle launched Pancakes and Politics, a speakers’ forum where the community could meet political candidates and leaders and learn about their standing on issues. A year later, the Chronicle launched a Women of Excellence event. Then came other events, such as a 40-Under-40 event for emerging leaders. Today, The Michigan Chronicle lists eight separate types of events on its website.
While Jackson points out that the events serve as a personal connection with readers, the business value keeps churning long after the event concludes. This is where the Chronicle’s event strategy may outpace other publishers who arrived at the event strategy a little later. The key is using the events to start a lasting relationship.
“We built a whole community around Women of Excellence, and so now we’ve created a subcommunity of women who we’ve been building a relationship with for 17 years now. Our first class, I believe, was in 2007, and every year, we call back the alumni to welcome a new class of Women of Excellence. We created events just for that category and built out its own ecosystem. So, we provide forums, seminars and custom content newsletters just for African American women. These women are typically leaders in their community. I would say that other organizations do a great job at that one night with the logos and the people in the audience, but we’ve created these programs so they are sub-ecosystems we super-serve.”
The Michigan Chronicle is, first and foremost, a content platform, and the publication — both in print and online — covers the news in a specific way. It covers some tough government and policy topics affecting the Black community. But it doesn’t cover crime.Its content offerings include frequent features of Black entrepreneurs, artists, musicians and difference-makers.
“The Michigan Chronicle has always highlighted the good aspects of our community, highlighting success, highlighting Black organizations that are doing great work in the community,” Jackson said. “You’ll never see a Black man in handcuffs in the Michigan Chronicle; other people and other organizations do that really well. That’s not one of our areas. We want to be an inspiration. We want to get people excited about who they are in the community that they live in.”
That strategy has worked in building the community’s trust, according to Tanisha Leonard, who is the president of Pitch Black, Real Times Media’s strategic communications firm that operates a lot like an ad agency.
She said the Chronicle is “almost to some degree synonymous with how we perceive ourselves as a community. We are the undeniable, trusted source. We don’t consider ourselves as just reporters of the news. We’re an integral part of translating how all issues impact our communities. What it means to us is giving people and equipping people with as much information about the issues as possible. We aren’t just about reporting the facts; we go that next layer down to distill how it impacts our readers’ lives on a daily basis. We want to be that source where we can talk to the C-suite executive as easily as the new college grad coming back home to find their way in the city.”
The events, she said, help build that connection, as Jackson described. Leonard helps clients connect with the audiences they seek through the building of audiences and databases.
“It helps our brand shift and really shapes how we’re perceived among various audiences in the business community and beyond. We honor 50 African American women who have achieved professional success and contribute to the community. Over the years, the former honorees remain engaged with us, and they’ve become almost a sorority. They do things to support one another. That has given us a loyal audience, so when we have to do certain brand initiatives, or we’re working on behalf of a customer with particular needs, we have individuals that we can tap into to disseminate our message. They kind of become ambassadors for our brand. We can be very targeted for certain types of programs for certain types of clients.”
Leonard said these audiences become people willing to fill out surveys or help with brand research on behalf of clients.
The Chronicle does all this journalism, events and marketing with what Jackson calls a “small but mighty” staff. The Chronicle is supplemented by Real Times Media’s administrative help, as well as Pitch Black. The organization has about 75 employees — about 30 of whom live in Detroit. Their team includes graphic designers and video editors. It has become a digital content platform that also produces, as it has done since 1936, a printed newspaper.
Leonard and Jackson both encouraged editors and publishers to think beyond journalism in order to stop the bleeding that the industry has experienced over the last decade.
“Take the risk,” Leonard said. “And by that, we must be willing to step out of how we’ve traditionally done business and not be afraid to fail. And I know that’s a somewhat generic response, but we’ve got to take the risk to remain relevant. I want us to get out of this survival mindset and start to really figure out how we become thriving businesses.”
Added Jackson: “I think that we need to be a little more willing to create these external opportunities like events, custom publications, diversifying the brand platform, being more courageous about how you define journalism, and just expanding outside of that traditional lens.”
Bob Miller has spent over 25 years in local newsrooms, including 12 years as an executive editor with Rust Communications. Bob also produces an independent true crime investigative podcast called The Lawless Files.
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