OCTOBER 19, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Once Again, It’s Time to Protect Our Public Media I grew up watching public television. I’ve spent the balance of my professional career helping media makers create content for distribution on public media stations, And I am a public media donor. I cannot …
OCTOBER 12, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Photo Courtesy of IATSE, Burbank Fighting for Worker Respect in the Film Industry I’m sure many of you are aware of the contentious negotiations going on between the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the film and television industry. IATSE is …
October 5, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz The Media Imperative of Making BIPOC Talent Visible Last month, I noted how people of color secured more nominations than ever at the 73rd Emmy Awards. The run up to awards night was promising, but in the end, none of the BIPOC performers nominated …
September 28, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Trauma Porn: A Media Obsession Worth Eradicating What Can Black Storytellers Do About It? Trauma porn is ubiquitous in today’s media. Footage of Haitian refugees living in squalid conditions beneath Texas’ Del Rio International Bridge. Images of desperate Afghan families risking everything …
September 21, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz What We Can Learn from the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards This weekend’s Primetime Emmys made it official: streaming networks are now television’s dominant player. We all saw this coming. But it’s worth noting that subscription services have eaten network TV’s lunch at breakneck …
September 14, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz A New Era’s Dawn? New Peabody Awards Recognize Digital Storytellers When BPM launched its New Media Institute more than a decade ago, we knew we were on the front edge of what would become a storytelling game changer. At the time, our program …
BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA GUEST DISPATCH September 7, 2021 By Michèle Stephenson Photo from the 2011 short film series Haiti: One Day, One Destiny, Goudougoudou: Will We Learn from the Past? When the 2010 earthquake — now infamously called Goudougoudou by locals — hit Haiti, Facebook was my lifeline. For weeks, it was how I stayed …
September 7, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Leveling the Still Tilted Playing Field A couple of weeks ago, I and several dozen other New York City nonprofit arts leaders worked with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York Arts Foundation to select the final group of grantees …
August 31, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Photo by Mary Taylor from Pexels Back to School With Public Media The 2021 Back to School season is missing some of its usual rhythm. Yes, most students and teachers are excited to finally be back on their campuses. But the pandemic’s ominous cloud continues to …
AUGUST 24, 2021 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Where Are OUR Climate Change Stories? ‘Tis the season to be mindful of hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina, 2005. Hurricane Maria, 2017. Hurricane Harvey, 2017. These high-profile environmental disasters had a disproportionately harmful impact on BIPOC communities. Throw in the everyday toll that climate change …