The Huffington Post and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson are launching a HuffPost section devoted to African-Americans. The new section will be called “HuffPost GlobalBlack,” and is expected to debut in early March. Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington says the goal is simply to cover more stories “of importance to the black community.” GlobalBlack marks the first of 27 sections in the Huffington Post that will be focused on race.
“We have the supreme irony of having the first African-American president, which is such a historic event and a milestone, while at the same time, conditions for African-Americans are deteriorating, in terms of unemployment, in terms of high school graduation, in terms of the number of African-American males in prisons.” — Arianna Huffington
Last year, we asked why so many Twitter users are black. Edison Research reported that 25% of Twitter users were African-American. The Media Audit reported that 32% of media consumed by African-Americans is from the Web. We also talk and text the most, outpace other ethnic groups in mobile app usage, and 35% of us choose to watch TV online.
Even as African-Americans adopt digital methods of media consumption and communication, Sheila Johnson believes the “African-American voice is really falling off the radar screen.” Johnson sold Black Entertainment Television to Viacom in 2000.
“We’re on other radar screens, with other digital sites, which is wonderful. But I really wanted to bring the real news, the storytelling — to really bring back the voice of the black community on some relevant news and views.”“We’re going to be able to fill that void,” Johnson adds.