Yawu Miller reflects on his career at the Banner as a way of telling us he won't be sticking around under new management. But he says he'll remain in journalism and promises "I’ll soon announce my next assignment."
Update: Miller reports he was stopped outside the courthouse by cops who had never heard of his newspaper and because they thought he was photographing the nearby B-2 police station.
Yawu Miller, senior editor at the Bay State Banner, which covers Boston's black community, reports he was stopped and frisked at Roxbury District Court today: Read more.
Report for America, which "places talented, emerging journalists into local news organizations to report for one to two years on under-covered issues and communities," announced today that the Bay State Banner will get one of them - to cover "how state legislative and city hall actions affect Boston’s African-American communities."
Via Sarah Betancourt.
The Bay State Banner, which serves Boston's black community, is blasting the new Boston Guardian for using a name with historic significance for Boston-area blacks:
Is our history so unimportant that they would take this name to serve Back Bay residents?? Melvin Miller didn't even use the name when he founded the Banner as the legacy of the Guardian. We have a front page of the Guardian framed on the wall of our office. This is beyond disrespectful.
Fire destroyed the Plainfield, NH home owned by Bay State Banner publisher Mel Miller Sunday night and now fire officials are trying to figure out what caused the fire, the Valley News reports:
All that remained of the house on Monday afternoon was the stucco and stone foundation spanning the perimeter of the home and a massive chimney standing some 50 feet high.
The Bay State Banner waxes outraged about the recent House vote to eject state Rep. Carlos Henriquez following his conviction on a couple of domestic-violence charges stemming from what the Banner calls "an unseemly but private matter:"
Clearly, America has two serious social problems: the physical abuse of women and the unjust imprisonment of black men. Apparently, [Judge Michele] Hogan believes that intensifying injustice to black men benefits the cause of abused women. And, in a blatant appeal for the women’s vote, politicians have crassly supported Henriquez’s removal from office.
The Bay State Banner is very angry with a Globe story questioning whether the city should ever have loaned the weekly paper $200,000.
Commonwealth Magazine reports Mel Miller has put his "his stunning New Hampshire vacation home" on the market to repay the the $278,000 or so he owes the BRA for a loan that helped keep his Bay State Banner afloat in 2009.
The loan was for $200,000, but, you know, interest.
The Bay State Banner reports Gregory Groover, paster of Charles Street AME Church, admitted in bankruptcy court that he lied when he said the church had never missed a payment to OneUnited Bank when it was actually late on 43 of 56 payments and completely missed the last two payments before OneUnited moved to foreclose and the church filed for bankruptcy.
The Dig reports Banner Publisher Mel Miller sits on the board of directors of OneUnited Bank, a fact the paper failed to note in an editorial charging supporters of the church would set back civil rights in the US if they succeed in winning a new repayment plan for its mortgage.
Mel Miller stepping down from day-to-day operations at the Bay State Banner? The Banner is looking for a publisher (free registration required to see ad). Online experience a must.
Mel Miller says only fools would question his decision not to endorse, in reply to a question from Adam Reilly about the impression it had anything to do with that $200,000 loan Tom Menino got for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eI0ayglwZY&feature=channel_page
In the wake of the potential closing of the Bay State Banner Press Pass TV talks to Boston community members and media makers about the vital role that Ethnic and community media plays in creating a healthy community.
Bruce Mohl reports the BRA-controlled Boston Local Development Corp. agreed today to give Banner owner Mel Miller a $200,000, two-year loan - at 9% interest. Mohl provides some details of Banner finances and dishes how Tom Menino agreed to give the Banner a loan without ever actually consulting anybody on the non-profit corporation's board.
The Globe reports Tom Menino's decided to have the city loan up to $200,000 to investors in the Bay State Banner to help keep the paper going.
The money would come from a fund managed by the BRA. In April, the Banner called for Menino to resign because of the way the BRA was handling redevelopment of a parcel across from Boston Police headquarters - and said "no self-respecting African-American" could vote for him. However, Menino denied using city money to help prop up the Banner was an attempt to stifle criticism:
I will step up any time and help any business in this city. I'm trying to help a business survive. Tell me if that's wrong.
The Globe reports that Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree has rounded up 12 individuals and groups to put up enough money to keep the paper going. He didn't name them.
Adam Reilly reports on efforts by Charles Ogletree to revive the now defunct Bay State Banner.
When some newspapers fold up, they try to rebuild on the Web. Don't count on the Bay State Banner, which announced yesterday it's folding up as it tries to find new investors, to do the same. Read the comments last month from Sandra Casagrand, the paper's vice president of marketing, in a discussion on the future of freelancing. Casagrand basically says young people and advertisers made their Internet bed and now they'll have to lie in it.
The Banner, which serves Boston's black community, announced today it is suspending operations. Publisher Mel Miller's statement:
After careful consideration the Bay State Banner has decided to suspend publication. The severe reduction of advertising during this recession has placed an impossible burden on the resources of the 44 year old weekly newspaper. The Bay State Banner will resume publication only after satisfactory financial arrangements have been completed.
But! It may only be an attempt to interest investors; Miller says it's only for a couple weeks - although one advertiser reported getting back this response to a question about the paper folding:
I'm really sorry to report but the Banner is not publishing after this week's paper. We cannot remain in business in this economic climate and will continue to look for new owners/investors while we are closed so at some point it can reopen and continue on its mission. Until then, there is no Banner. Real bummer – and sorry for the inconvenience.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
