Posted On: September 20, 2022
Contributor
Media Organization: New York Amsterdam News
Company Description
The New York Amsterdam News was started more than a century ago, with a $10 investment. It has gone on to become one of the most important Black newspapers in the country and today remains one of the most influential Black-owned and -operated media businesses in the nation, if not the world. On Dec. 4, 1909, James H. Anderson put out the first edition of the Amsterdam News with six sheets of paper, a lead pencil, a dressmaker’s table and that $10 investment. The Amsterdam News was one of only 50 Black newspapers in the country at that time. Copies were sold for two-cents a piece from his home at 132 W. 65th St. in Manhattan. The paper was named after the avenue where Anderson lived in New York’s San Juan Hill section of Manhattan.
By 1910, as Blacks began the Great Exodus from the South, moving into big cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and New York’s Village of Harlem, so grew the success of the Amsterdam News, so much so that An- derson soon moved the paper uptown to 17 W. 135th St. Still growing, the AmNews moved again in 1916 to 2293 Seventh Ave. The next move came in 1938 to 2271 Seventh Avenue until, in the early 1940s, it relocated to its present address at 2340 Frederick Douglass Blvd. in Harlem. In 1926, publisher Edward Warren’s wife, Sadie, purchased the paper. It struggled for survival until 1935, when it was bought by two of the nation’s foremost Black entrepreneurs, Dr. Cielan Bethan Powell and Dr. Phillip M.H. Savory of the Powell Savory Corporation. Powell assumed the role of publisher. During Powell’s tenure, the Amsterdam News expanded its reach, reporting not only on local stories that were important to the Black community, but national news stories as well. The AmNews reported on the fight for equality during the Jim Crow era, the events of the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Freedom Riders, among other stories, making it by far the most influential and most frequently-cited Black weekly in the country.
The Amsterdam News was one of the first publications to focus its attention on Malcolm X and began publishing his column, “God’s Angry Man.” A host of the most influential Black leaders in the nation who have appeared in the Amsterdam News include scholar W.E.B. DuBois, activist Roy Wilkins, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, NAACP President Ben Jealous and Rep. Charles Rangel. In 1963, the New York Times credited the Amsterdam News with inspiring a crackdown on the drug and crime epidemics that gripped Harlem, saying, “The Amsterdam News has always had a great deal of persuasive power in Harlem and other Black communities.”
On May 1, 1971, Powell announced his retirement and sold the paper to the Amnews Corporation, which currently retains ownership. In August of 1982, Wilbert A. Tatum, who was chairman of the board of the Amews Corporation and publisher, broadened its reach still further by extending the editorial perspective into international affairs. This wider scope resulted in increased interest and readership within local, national and international communities. In July 1996, Tatum gained complete ownership of the Amsterdam News. The future of the storied publication was now solely in the hands of the Tatum family. A year later, Tatum stepped down, handing the reigns of publisher and editor-in-chief to his then-26-year-old daughter, Elinor Ruth Tatum, who retains those positions to date.
Job Description
The Blacklight, the NY Amsterdam News’ investigative unit, is looking for experienced freelance journalists.
Currently we are accepting pitches for stories about the impact of COVID-19 as well as gun violence on Black and brown communities, esp. in NYC.
Send story ideas to blacklight@amsterdamnews.com along with a brief introduction as well as your CV/resume and some clips.
In your pitch please answer the following questions:
What is the story about? Who is being impacted? Are there solutions to the challenges that you are writing about?
Has anyone else covered this story? If so, what makes your story different or deeper?
Who are the main subjects/sources that you will be interviewing/profiling? Are they willing to go on the record and be identified?
What do you see as the ideal length for your story and what is your proposed timeline for reporting and submitting a first draft?
Here are our pay rates!
Fact Checks – $250+
500-1000 words
1-2 interviews
1-2 days of research
Medium length Articles – $1 a word
800-1500 words
2-4 interviews
Research 2-5 days
Long form Articles – $2 a word or flat commission fee
1500+words
4+ interviews
5+ days of research
Data Visualizations $250-$500+ per piece
1-3 days of work
May or may not require data cleaning
To Apply
Send story ideas to blacklight@amsterdamnews.com along with a brief introduction as well as your CV/resume and some clips.
In your pitch please answer the following questions:
What is the story about? Who is being impacted? Are there solutions to the challenges that you are writing about?
Has anyone else covered this story? If so, what makes your story different or deeper?
Who are the main subjects/sources that you will be interviewing/profiling? Are they willing to go on the record and be identified?
What do you see as the ideal length for your story and what is your proposed timeline for reporting and submitting a first draft?