What does it mean for a newsroom to owe a debt? Culture strategist Tia Oso joined the Lurie Daniel Favors Show on SiriusXM’s Urban View to explain media reparations, a framework arguing that mainstream media outlets historically profited from slavery, trafficking, and anti-Black tropes, and now owe repair to the communities they harmed.
What Media 2070 Fights For
Oso leads Media 2070, a project that launched in 2020 out of Free Press in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. As she explained, the effort moved beyond simple acknowledgment of media racism toward a demand for actual structural repair.
The project’s name signals a 50-year horizon: Media 2070 aims to secure the resources for Black people to own and control their own narratives, from ideation through distribution, by the year 2070. It now operates as an independent nonprofit, fiscally sponsored by Allied Media Projects, after spinning off from Free Press at the end of last year.
Research, Education, and Imagination
Oso described three core tactics driving the work. First, Media 2070 partners with existing reparations commissions, including state-level bodies, to document the specific role media has played in perpetuating racial harm.
Second, the project works directly with journalism schools and students to reshape how journalism itself is taught, a practice Oso calls “reparative journalism.” Third, the group uses imagination-based tools, including a 100-page essay titled An Invitation to Dream Up Media Reparations and a traveling pop-up art installation called the Black Future News Stand, to help people picture what a media system built to serve Black communities would actually look like.
The Legacy of Freedom’s Journal
Host Lurie Daniel Favors connected the conversation to Freedom’s Journal, the first African American-owned newspaper in the United States, founded in 1827 by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm. Its motto, “We wish to plead our own cause,” approaches its 200th anniversary next year.
Oso pointed to this history as proof that Black media institutions have long shaped Black identity and civic life, citing outlets like the New York Amsterdam News, which has served its community for more than 150 years.
Where to Find Credible Black Media
Both Oso and Favors emphasized media literacy as a practical starting point, noting that roughly one in five Americans now get news from TikTok, a platform Oso described as ultimately controlled by interests unaligned with Black communities’ interests. They urged listeners to diversify their news diet toward independent, Black-owned outlets.
Specific recommendations included Capital B News, a nonprofit hyperlocal newsroom with sites in cities including Gary, Indiana, alongside Push Black, the Kansas City Defender, and the Baltimore Beat. Favors also connected the conversation to the broader push for state-level reparations commissions, noting her own prior service on New York’s Community Commission on Reparations and Reconciliation.
5 Key Takeaways
- Media reparations targets a specific, documented harm. Media 2070 argues mainstream outlets profited financially from sensationalized anti-Black coverage, from slavery-era ads to modern crime-beat tropes.
- The movement operates on a 50-year timeline. Named for the year 2070, the project treats media repair as a long-arc structural transformation, not a short-term fix.
- Black-owned media has a 200-year documented legacy. Freedom’s Journal, founded in 1827, set the template that outlets like the New York Amsterdam News continue today.
- Media literacy is a practical entry point for supporters. Diversifying news consumption toward independent Black-owned outlets directly “trains the algorithm” toward better representation.
- Media 2070 is nonprofit and donor-supported. The project accepts monthly sustaining donations directly through its website.
Track this and every active reparations program at the Reparations Tracker