April 15, 2024 • 54 mins
Tiana Mañón from Mañón Media Management joins us to discuss the impact of the media industry on communities and the power dynamics at play. We talked about funding challenges faced by minority-led media projects and the need for more diversity and equity in the industry. We also highlighted Mañón Media Management's dedication to amplifying local voices and meaningful content creation. Our conversation emphasized the importance of empathy and active listening in narratives, a safe and united community, and the need for fair representation in media.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Welcome to the only one mic podcast called jabra
brooklyn.
Dre j-rob is in the building.
We also got a special specialguest from manna management
media management, tiana manon,this long overdue interview it
is.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I feel like we've been talking for like a minute
For a good minute We've beencorresponding.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You send us a lot of people you represent.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I know some cool people.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I know you do, you do and I got to give you a shout
out we actually had, like a lotof people that you represent
come on the show talk aboutthings that they're doing within
the community.
You know a lot of upliftingstuff.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, you know what?
I appreciate that?
Because one thing that alwaysstands out is how much time you
guys take on the interview.
So there's a reason we keepcoming back.
You know like our folks alwaysfeel so taken care of on the
show.
So yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But yeah, I say you know what.
We talked to everybody that yourepresent, but we didn't get a
chance to talk to the personbehind the curtain.
You know what I mean.
So we're going to give you anopportunity to come on and talk
about you, talk about thecompany, talk about how you got
started and everything, becauseyou once started off as a
journalist.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, yeah.
News is like my heart, so thatwas definitely how I got my
start, but I'm gone.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That's how we're going to talk about that too,
how I got my start, but I'm gone.
We're going to talk about thattoo.
So let's start with that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Let's talk about how young Tiana began Like a little
baby Tiana here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, we're going to go all the way back to the crib,
but we can talk about theintrepid reporter you have
become over time.
And what was that like?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I've wanted to be a reporter for like a long time.
So even in high school, college, I was kind of always gearing
myself towards that.
So my major journalism andpolitical science.
So I really went intojournalism with this idea of you
know, news is for the people,it's really to shine a spotlight
(02:28):
on injustice and, I guess, youknow, arm people with the
information they need to makewhatever changes in their
community.
Lot of political work, a lot ofhelping folks understand how
different laws impact them.
And then I started switching alittle bit more into looking at
(02:49):
how systems impact communities,really just exploring how much
of this is just sheer design.
You know, this is so.
Much of this is on purpose.
And so I was in DC at the timeand there was like a mass
shooting at the Boys and GirlsClub back home and so I moved
(03:10):
back home.
I did a lot of work around thatand I've been in Rochester
since, but as much as this is myhome base, the work has kind of
grown out of this to where, youknow, most of my clients are
across the nation and this isjust where I call home, kind of
thing.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
OK, OK.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
What was?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
like the first story that you kind of broke when you
started off.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
There was some crazy stories, interesting stories I
did even back in college, whereyou know everything from looking
at like weed culture on campusto mental health and access.
For that I wrote a front pagestory for my newspaper our
(03:53):
hometown newspaper, I think whenI was about 19.
And it was just looking at howif you're adopted, you can't get
your birth certificate and howthat led to so many different
health issues and people whodidn't know that things ran in
their you know lineage orwhatever.
So definitely, even since thebeginning, my stories have been
very much like what's happeningto people kind of thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So what did you find out as far as exploring like the
different systems, like I mean,when you talk about systems,
are you talking about likesystemic racism, different
things like that, or you know?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
just government, that , or you know, just government
assistance, especially when itcomes to politics.
You know, I think about likeelection years and how much of
this is designed to make youwant to stay home.
You know, like um, and it'stough.
When I was first pursuing mymajor, I was very much like a
you got to get out and vote kindof person.
We need the caravan there, andI think over time I've kind of
(04:44):
started to understand thatdesire of people who are like I
want to stay home, you know.
So when it goes back to thosesystems, it's everything from
how difficult it is to registerto vote, even though they make
it seem like it's not.
You know it should be automatic.
You should have to opt out, andin states where you see bigger
white populations Oregon that isthe norm.
(05:07):
And so I think about everythingand you know I'm very much like
that.
There's issues on both sidespolitically.
You know, just thinking aboutNew York State, and we have we
had some of the craziest, mostpunitive laws when it came to
drugs and Rockefeller drug laws.
So I think about the fact thatyou know they're doing so many
(05:28):
different things from a healthperspective, from a housing
perspective, from a jobperspective to make it super
difficult for anyone to getahead.
And when you're dealing with somany issues across systems, I
think it becomes verydemoralizing to try and fix one,
because you start to realizehow intertwined everything is
(05:48):
and there's that period of likewhere do I, where do I go from
here?
Kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I gave up on it a long time ago.
You know, I mean, you know, Imean when you just think about
the things that happened back inthe days, like as far as like
poll tax and like you're talkingabout, even like criminals and
how they, you know, aren'tallowed to vote, and it seems
like every time we think thisvoting thing is going to help us
out, it's like it seems likethey come up with something to
make us not even seem like weeven have a dent at the poll at
(06:14):
all.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know that's kind of, I mean, you know, the
electoral college, the wholeother crap that comes.
Yeah, so I mean, we didn't eventalk about redistricting and
drawing lines certain ways, ormaking sure that this county
only has so many blue seeds orred seeds, you know, and I guess
and that's even before we getinto the news and how they cover
politics, and do you even havethe information that you need to
(06:37):
vote according to your values?
Um, and so I think there's alot of people who, even though
they're passionate to begin with, it is and it's designed to be
so exhausting that you findyourself checking out.
You know, and I think it's alsoa layer of so much of the onus
is on the people.
We're a democracy, you can dothis, you can do that.
(07:00):
Really comes to any, any issue,whether that's voting, whether
that's gaza, whether that'sliterally anything.
Most people start to realize,oh, I don't have as much agency
as I thought I did, and so itstarts to break down from there.
Um, you're sitting here andyou're saying you know, this is
on you, where democracy, you cando things, but then you've
limited every, every little bitof power that we have to make
(07:21):
any impact and I'm big, big onpandering, so like whether it be
Trump with some sneakers orBiden talking to Glorilla,
instead of somebody that canpossibly change some policies.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I look at stuff like that and I say, well, none of it
.
Seems like it has our people'sbest interest at heart.
None of it does.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Every time we seem like we're voting, it seems like
we're voting for the lesser oftwo evils.
Me personally, it doesn't everfeel like anybody is actually
representing me at the polls oranything that I feel that would
affect my life.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You know what this?
is my biggest issue, because I'mactually a registered Green
Party member and I have beensince 18.
And it's just like I feel, likeevery election cycle I am
sitting here like the people arewaiting for someone to actually
come up and say what we alreadyknow, and I've been
disappointed by so many thirdparty alternatives who they
(08:18):
don't step up and they're justnot able to grasp the kind of
intersectionality of this.
And so I think what you see alot of times is, when we're even
paid attention to it, is justthe pandering it is.
Oh, you know, I'm gonna go onthe Breakfast Club real quick.
You know they're not going toask you anything serious.
Charlamagne ain't got that rage.
(08:39):
So I often wonder, you know,and it's not for a lack of
desire.
People say all the time thatthey want them to come into
their communities and speak, andI think so much of it is that
it's designed to where, for themost part, they need a certain
group of Black voters, but in alot of areas they can do it
(08:59):
without us.
You know, and it's designedthat way.
Why do I need to do anythingmore than pander to these voters
?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Not to mention we're just the most disrespected, you
know.
I mean like, as far as like,when it comes time to, uh, you
know, seek out somebody to talkto the back, you're like who
would go to like the, you know,the local country singer to?
You know to come?
I mean they do go to differentartists and stuff like that, but
but you know they also don'tlike exactly what you're saying,
not how they do our community.
(09:29):
You know what I mean.
Like I don't want to hear you.
I don't want to hear Joe Bidentalk to Cardi B.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Exactly.
They make it seem as if thoseentertainers are the leaders of
our community.
And it's one thing to say, well, I want to talk to their
audience and their fan base.
It's another thing to say, well, I'm talking to basically the
leaders of this community andit's a whole bunch of rappers
and entertainers.
Well, you know, it's very dick.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Gregory said that disrespectful and he was saying
like why does it seem like whenthey do want to and this is way
back, it's like 60s or so likewhen they do want to sit down to
talk to somebody thatrepresents us?
We always go to a comedian, wego to a singer or whatever, but
on the other side of town youdon't see that like they don't
have when they talk aboutanybody.
That's their political leaders.
(10:10):
You know you won't see themgoing to talk to brad pitt to
represent what you know theythink right, well, they're not
going to anybody.
You know that's known for anyform of entertainment except for
our people.
So let me ask you because wekind of went into, um, this
whole thing and I could seewhere you kind of felt a little
jaded by news what kind of, Iguess, if I can use such a term,
(10:34):
turns you off from coveringnews and not in that form.
What was the thing?
That was like destroyed.
I broke the camel's back withyou to say you know what I?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think this is the first time I've talked about
this publicly and I'm going totry and protect people as much
as I can in this.
Uh, I was working at a stationand we we had like a young black
kid.
He was presumed missing.
No one could find him and Ihate even telling this story.
(11:07):
I'm sorry I'm taking so long.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
This is triggering, but basically, do we need to put
a trigger warning on thisbefore you say anything?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I honestly probably a little bit of one, because it
was really f***ed up.
Can I say?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
that we don't want to put too much profanity on this
show.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I wasn't sure, because I listened and I was
like y'all talking about somecrazy stuff to not curse, but
okay, okay all right, sorryy'all.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
No problem, here's your trigger warning folks.
Just beat that one.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, it will happen, go ahead um, yeah, so I guess I
was trying to like distractmyself for a second there, um,
but yeah, so I was in charge ofthe story and just to veer off
for a second.
This is one, but yeah, so I wasin charge of the story and just
to veer off for a second.
This is one of my frustrationwith being like a black reporter
in any station is that as soonas a community story come up or
a story about black folks, it'syour story.
(11:56):
You know, they don't even wantto try, they just like, oh no,
you can do it, you know, and Iget it to some extent.
But it also means that a lot oftimes you get the hardest
stories in the newsroom, um, soin this case, there, you know,
the kid was missing and ithappened quite a while.
He was only like eight, nine,10 years old, um, and I remember
(12:18):
our first press conference.
We were going there and I wasjust charged with like getting
the details.
What do the police know?
What does the family want thecommunity to know?
And my editor, who was thiswhite guy and I presumed I was
working for a very liberal kindof NPR-y kind of place that was
my naivete and he makes thisjoke like well, you need to
(12:41):
figure out how to really saythis kid's name.
And I'm like, okay, it's notthe hardest name, but okay, okay
, I'll double check with his mom.
Like I'm very much like how themama says his name is the way
to say his name, right, right.
So when I came back to thestation he goes oh yeah, I've
been telling everyone while youwere gone this joke that like
(13:01):
maybe if he had a more normalname he'd be easier to find wow,
yeah, wow, wow and I was justlike what did you just say to me
?
it's a wake-up call, yeah it was, and you know it was just such
a flippant remark.
It wasn't something that waslike, oh, this family deserved
it, or anything, but I think itwas very much a maya moment
(13:22):
where it's like when people showyou, you know you've got to
believe them.
And so that was just one in astring of really flippant
comments that let me know thatif this was a newsroom that
prided itself on its attentionto diversity, we in trouble.
So I was working simultaneouslyfor a black magazine at the
(13:42):
time.
I was the editor of it and Ijust I stepped fully into that
role.
I loved traditional news and Idid that for a while.
I didn't own the magazine, so Ilearned that issue.
But yeah, that was kind of thestraw right there, where it was
like a sequence of so manydifferent things across the
newsroom, being told thatcertain stories didn't matter as
(14:05):
much, or I needed to diversifyand cover suburban stories more,
you know, being told that, well, that source needs to be
balanced out, and so I reallyhave not looked back.
I don't.
I don't miss it in thattraditional format.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
OK, and let me ask you about traditional formats
because, as you said, if this isa I'm assuming a smaller you
know newsroom that you dealtwith in the beginning, so it's
not like a huge national.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
This one isn't, but they're part of and I'm trying
to be careful here they're partof a national, they're just one
of the stations.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, one of the stations, All right, so it's an
affiliate station.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Exactly so.
Our stories went national allthe time.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They went national all the time.
However, it's just like, ifthis is what is being said in
this particular corner of thisnews corporation, can you
imagine what we're looking at onthe scale of and will say this
a cnn or msnbc, the way thatthings are covered?
So, going into from that tothis, what do you think about
(15:10):
the new media?
Because I've had theopportunity to sit on a lot of
your town hall meetings now,thank you for inviting me by the
way and of course, and, um, Ioften said, like during the town
hall, we have the comments andeverything like that, and you
say well, what?
do we need to do to make thisbetter.
And I'll be honest with you.
At one point I had said in thecomments listen, we're sitting
here talking to a bunch ofreporters.
(15:30):
What do you mean?
What do we do?
Do you start your own thing?
We have enough people herethat's having the same gripe, if
I could use that, that wordthat you had in terms of how it
is to be black in the newsroom.
So what do you think about thisnew if I can say, quote-unquote
urban media or, you know, livemedia?
I see everybody pivoting to itnow, so I don't think it's as
(15:51):
urban as it used to be when yousee, like Don Lemon and these
guys, you know, getting on liveyeah.
So what do you think?
You?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
know, my frustration with these kinds of things is
that sometimes I feel like ifother people were to do them,
they would get the funding theydeserve.
But because we're the onesdoing them, you know people just
steal the idea.
Sometimes.
My frustration you know thishas been my frustration for a
long time for black outlets isjust the lack of funding a long
(16:23):
time for Black outlets is justthe lack of funding, and that
can be everything from like avery serious county state budget
or even just where do you takeyour advertising dollars.
And so I think about this a lotlike what are the next steps?
And so you mentioned our townhalls and everything, and we've
been so careful about actuallycreating that reparations model
because we want to includeeveryone.
(16:44):
It's like the last thing wewant is to design something that
doesn't go far enough.
You know the folks out therewho are still running incredible
outlets in Tulsa, or you knowall of these different pockets
of incredible Black history.
They need to see that fundingtoo.
And so I think about the folkswho have been toiling, you know,
(17:04):
episode after episode, printafter print, and I really,
really do believe that, as muchas we're kind of preaching to
the choir right now.
Some of that, at least for thisfirst phase, is to show each
other the numbers.
You aren't alone in this, andthere's a level of solidarity
here If you can see how manyother people want the same thing
(17:25):
as you.
So I would say my, my biggestthing is I don't and this is
something we really debated alot Do we integrate into this
burning house.
News is dying as it currentlystands.
Are we about to walk up in thishouse and try and help them,
knowing that they don't want ourhelp?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, that's.
The tough conversation rightnow is as we start to
acknowledge that news doesn'tserve us.
What do we build instead, andhow do we support?
What does support us for now?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You see what the whole situation at one point,
where Mark Lamont Hill and allthese reporters had what was it?
Bnn or something, it was like,yeah, and come to find out that
was owned by a foreign entity.
It wasn't even owned by blackfolk.
So you know, I can understandyou saying that, wanting to have
that, you know have the funding, no matter where you're getting
(18:22):
it from.
I can understand you sayingthat, wanting to, to have that
you know, yes, and what'sfunnier is that you can be mad
profitable.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know your show could be paying for itself.
The second they feel like theywant to put that money somewhere
else, or the there you're notgetting enough of an audience.
They're pulling the rug outfrom under you and my
frustration is that I feel likeour community operates
differently.
You know, like, okay, yes,there's clicks, there's views,
that matters, but we're a verycommunal type of people.
(18:50):
We talk to each other and Idon't think news can measure
that right now.
You know, like I might put outa story that only gets 300
clicks.
I might put out a story thatonly gets 300 clicks, but
everybody in the hood wastalking about it at dinner, you
know, and like you can't measurethat, no, matter how much I try
(19:13):
and tell reporters and stuffthat these community stories
matter, they look at the numbersand they go from there.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
When you look at like a lot of these new urban media
guys I mean I'm just talkingabout the entertainment stuff
like the Dream Champs, thewhat's the camera on them guys,
the sports show and everythinglike that now, and I think even
Gillian them guys went out ofPhilly and it seems like a lot
of these major news networks aretaking information from those
guys and promoting it.
(19:37):
You know what I mean andthey're talking about it.
It talks like if they're thefirst one with this information.
You know what I mean.
So it's kind of funny when Isee a lot of this stuff.
I mean I kind of like urbanmedia because I'm looking at it
now and I'm like you know, it'sthe only place where somebody
can ask somebody a real hardquestion.
Now it seems like all the othernews websites and other stuff
(20:00):
like that is following thescript.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
You know, it's always been yeah, people get pissed at
me when I say this, but Ifirmly believe, like if aliens
were to come down right now anda reporter was to ask the
pentagon and the pentagon saidno, they would print that, and
so like there's this crazyreality warping that we're
seeing, that, you're right, alot of only urban media or newer
(20:25):
blogs and reporters can stepinto, and so much of it is
because we have to be objectiveand that's a that's a whole
different conversation.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You mentioned, like Charlamagne.
Okay, you have a lot ofpolitical cats come on and you,
you know and you're not thefirst one with this argument
when it comes to outlets likethe breakfast club or certain
talk shows and things like that,that says, well, you have these
people on here, but you're notreally hitting them with those
questions and not understandingthat these guys are under
contract.
(20:55):
They have bosses they gotta theygotta listen to and they got
people that's telling them thisis what you should say, no
offense, but they havepublicists that they deal with
to tell them this is what youneed to say and things like that
and it's you know, it's allcontrolled.
But, like you said, when itcomes down to urban media and I
use don lemon as an example,because when his thing went left
with elon musk, it's like, okay, now I'm taking that interview
(21:19):
what you know is going to getlike a thousand clicks and views
I'm using a thousand loosely,but you know millions of clicks
and views and things like thatwhich you know that interview is
going to build his network whenhe takes it online, when you
see I think Rachel Maddow isdoing the same podcast thing and
all, do you think?
that eventually, like when yousee all these major people who
(21:40):
already had their audiencealready jumping on the same
platforms that we're jumping on,like you said, you know, to my
brother's credit is that they'regoing to take these stories
that we already put out thereand it'll be bigger because it's
coming out of their mouth andnot out.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I think it already is an issue, to be fair, and I
think there's a lot of creativesand hosts, and I wouldn't even
say bloggers.
I think there are smaller scalejournalists who just don't work
at these mainstream papers, whoare still having their stories
lifted, and I think what itboils down to and I'll be
totally honest is a lack ofrespect for outlets that don't
(22:15):
look like the mainstream screen,and sometimes I worry to take
this further is that, as youleave this big outlet and you
bring your audience with you andyou you know you're on these
platforms as well Are you justbringing that culture here or
are you actually stepping fullyinto this new role?
Because you know there's somany people as they leave these
(22:37):
bigger outlets, they are hiredthere for a reason.
They still practice that kindof journalism.
They may be a little bit moreradical, or maybe just left or
right of the bell curve, but Idon't fully believe that they
step into that kind ofradicalness insofar as the
audience allows.
You know they're radical enoughto get the likes, but not so
(23:01):
radical to actually push thisconversation further.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And now that you mentioned it, because you're a
journalist and I have to throwthis on the table to you Candace
Owens.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Why are we doing this ?
Because it goes back tointerest.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
It goes back to interest.
And when she got fired off ofDaily Wire for mentioning her
thoughts on the whole Palestinesituation, it was cool when she
was talking about black folksand you know, saying what she
was saying and you know, I haveto say, I have to say I don't
agree with everything that shesays.
There were some things that youmight have been right in terms
(23:38):
of, you know, A broken clockright, Right.
How people represent it in theindustry and things like that.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's one of my favorite sayings, so.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I hear a lot of people basically saying well I,
well Candace can't come backhome, no more.
And I?
You got your argument with that.
However, is it any differentthat if she said like free
Palestine and got fired from theDaily Wire, if Charlamagne said
it and got fired off of theBreakfast Club?
So I tell people all the timethat no matter who it is, that
(24:11):
pendulum still swings the sameway once you go against the
actual interests that own thesecompanies.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And nobody's allowed to say it.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Nobody's allowed to say it.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You say anything about the Jewish community,
you're going to have a problembut any community that's not our
community.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm going to just put it out there, which is the
truth.
Any community that's not ourcommunity, as you often say to
your credit.
The black community is one ofthe most disrespected
communities across the globe atthis point, because you can say
whatever you want and get theinterest that you need to get
out of it, but the minute thatyou veer off of that, you know
everybody.
You know what I mean.
(24:47):
So what's your, what's yourthoughts upon that?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know I'm gonna take this off of Candace just a
little bit, and I get thesentiment here where it very
much is who is allowed to speakout on certain things.
Now, I'm not going to lie, Ididn't expect Candace to have
that ideology.
I was surprised by it.
But I think there's also, likeyou were saying, once you go
(25:12):
against the interests of thepeople who own the station, you
know everyone is at risk, right?
I do start to wonder,especially, like you said, the
Black community is the mostdisrespected and so as soon as
we do anything that deviatesfrom what they want from us,
it's an immediate problem.
Candace still can't come to thecookout, she's not invited, but
(25:36):
at least she's not 105% wrong,but I think there's also a
hundred and five percent wrong,right.
But I think there's also alevel of when you really do
stand up for your values andwhat's right or wrong.
An industry that's supposed tochampion the underdog, the
little guy, the people who arenot in power, to be pushed out
of it, is really interesting.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, most definitely .
So let's jump into ManningMedia Management.
Yes, like I said, you've sentus a lot of people who've done a
lot of wonderful things on, ifI can dare say, a local level.
Reason why I say that isbecause not too many people know
what these people are doing andthis is why you know we give
(26:20):
them a voice, if we can.
You know, if you can pleasetell the listeners about the
management company, what it isthat you're and if you have
anything that's coming up thatwe should all be aware of.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah.
So our firm specializes andreally working with folks who
are trying to make change.
So a lot of times that'sworking with clients right on
the precipice of making thatchange.
It's folks who dreamed of a newsystem, you know, they've
started implementing it and nowthey need to bring it to the
mainstream, and so that's what alot of this work is.
(26:54):
If you have, like, I'm notreally interested in product
publicity or things like that,really interested in product
publicity or things like that,I'm more so.
Wow, you have this reallyfringe idea for how the courts
could work better.
Okay, let me help youdisseminate that in a way that
actually brings people on, andso that's what we specialize in
(27:14):
is, over time, how do you createa sustainable movement?
How do you make real change inthe world that you want to see,
instead of feeling burnt out andthen just withdrawing back to
your home?
So that's a lot of work that wedo.
So much of our work right now islike media reparations and
figuring out a reparative model,and the crux of that work, if
(27:36):
I'm going to be honest and thisis something that I haven't
really another I guess kind ofexclusive for you guys is having
a discussion on what is Blackjournalism.
You know, journalism andstorytelling is in our blood.
All the way back we have hadpeople who pass stories on, who
have folks.
You know all of these tales andeverything like that, and so
(28:00):
I've played around with thisidea that it's not Black
journalism, isn't Blackreporters doing American
journalism.
It might be something thatlooks entirely different.
You know, it's something wherewe're one, not scared to ask the
tough questions.
Two, we also know there is nosuch thing as objective.
Two, we also know there is nosuch thing as objective.
(28:21):
I think that's something thatBlack folks have known for a
long time.
You can't be objective.
You have a stake in everything,and so I think there's also a
certain flair.
But that's with everythingBlackness, whether it's how we
get dressed, how we talk aboutthings, everything has a certain
flair.
And so I think white journalismis very eh eh eh.
(28:49):
It's supposed to like be smartand heady, and I think and you
see a lot of this with the styleof black bloggers and hoax
where there's more personality,there's identity.
That I'm bringing into this,and so I've been playing around
with that and that's a littlebit more of a long term project
where we are revolutionizingnews entirely, but then, like my
more short term work is justworking with outlets everyone
(29:11):
from Gannett and USA Today toMother Jones you know just cool
folks to figure out how they cando better stories right now.
So, yeah, it's a lot of workand a baby.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Right, I'm wondering how the landscape of things are
going to change, because whenyou look at news now, like you
know, like just I'm using thecamera on them again, I don't
even really watch ESPN anymore.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
There's a lot of people that are like ESPN was
had had a cornerstone for a longtime.
You know people will leave thatall wake up at 2 am and watch
analysis.
So I think when you're startingto see the shift turn, even on
like sports news, it really doeshighlight there's a big issue
in the industry.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, and again, I think it's just a fact of them
just saying things that peopleare thinking like no more you
know, can you look at ESPN or alot of you know, cnn, or you
just can't have a realconversation and I think that's
just boring they allow you tohave as a real conversation.
Yeah, they boring.
People don't want to hear thatboring talk anymore.
(30:18):
They actually want to hear yourreal opinion.
People don't want to hear thatboring talk anymore.
They actually want to hear yourreal opinion.
I wonder how they're going tokeep up with that, because I
think right now, even some ofthe white podcasts.
That's why they got Pat McAfeeRight right, right right.
So they're doing a lot, but I'msaying that they're doing a lot
of different.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
You know a lot of podcasters are doing things that
people now are is is as aproduct of like a bygone era, to
be honest with you, like theystill focus on, you know,
terrestrial radio and they stillfocus on television, which is
the crux of what they do, but itwas never something where it
kind of elevated and said, okay,well, this is where where the
trend is going now and insteadof us getting people to follow
(31:00):
the trend.
You know we can.
We can hire podcasters or wecan hire, you know, people to do
things on youtube and all.
But they'll stick with the samemodel, because that's just what
the institution was built on,not knowing this you know
sinking the ship at this pointand there's also a level of
exhaustion in news.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You know like it takes a very purposeful change
to see anything long term, and Ifeel like everybody in news
from the reporters to the newsleaders they're so exhausted
they just want to go home.
They just put out the story andthey go home, and you'd be
surprised how many people innews don't watch the news either
.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I often wondered about that because you being a
journalist yourself is like what.
I mean, you can speak toyourself personally, but how do
you, kind of like, detachyourself from all of this
information?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, I think the news being 24-7 and constant has
completely devalued it.
I think they're just alwayschasing like that short story to
fill content.
So I typically engage in likelonger form stuff.
I'm a magazine kind of girl.
I still get subscriptions.
Um, you know, I very much, Istill.
(32:10):
I still see documentaries asnews.
You know like I want a deeper,yeah, a deeper dive and, um, I
think there's a bit offrustration with everything from
like wow, this story was only aminute and a half and I heard
from a community resident forfive seconds.
And then there's framing likeI'll watch the local news and
(32:31):
I'll be like, oh yeah, and therewas like a homicide on the
city's east side.
And then the next story is thesuburban lilac festival or the
fire.
You know like, wait a minute,y'all.
It's sad to say that's the onlytime you get to see the brothers
and sisters man when thehomicide, you know, because
they'll sing you out in the hoodand let you do the commentary
(32:52):
out in the hood, you know, inthe middle of the street
somewhere, or you got to be soexceptional you got to be the
high school student who got afull ride into 18 colleges and
it's blackness exists on such abeautifully diverse spectrum and
I don't know.
I I think the news is notequipped to tell a lot of
different stories, butespecially a lot of our stories
(33:14):
I think.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I think that's why there's some more revamping
things.
I don't know exactly wherethey're going to go with it, but
you know, you know, if younotice, most of these news
outlets are, you know, firingmost of their, like the old cast
and everything like that.
So I don't know if they'recoming up with something new to
change things.
I know ESPN fired a lot ofpeople, I think CNN, I believe,
got rid of a lot of people onetime or another.
So I think it's coming down thepipe that, to talk to people,
(33:39):
we don't even do good interviewsanymore.
Nobody goes and asks a person atough question anymore.
This has been going on for thelast, so many ever years.
Now it seems like these localpodcasters are forcing people to
answer some tough questions.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
I also want to point out, at the end of the day and
this is a struggle I've hadsince college when I asked the
professor this what recourse dowe actually have if someone lies
to us?
You can do your research, youcan file a million different
FOIAs, you know, you can try andfind the paperwork, but at the
(34:14):
end of the day, I'll be honest,it's a lot easier to lie to
journalists, and especiallyoverworked, exhausted
journalists, and I think that'sa lot of the political climate
right now, where you know thisreporter is just trying to put
out their end of day story.
Let me give them the the biteand let them go on.
So it is, uh, it is tough and Idon't think it's sustainable,
(34:39):
um, but I also I think there's alot more floundering.
I think there's a lot of hopethat maybe they're figuring out
the next thing, but havingspoken to a lot of news leaders,
I know that they're kind ofjust floundering so let me ask
you uh, is journalism dead?
Speaker 3 (34:57):
I asked.
Uh, I had an interview with umcarlos beltrane from nbc and we
had this discussion on the showsome time ago was with the.
You know, at this time, youknow, urban media was just kind
of like really picking up, likehow you see it is now and it's
like okay.
Well, I told him that if you seepeople now where urban media
(35:19):
will probably give you access toplaces that you can't go as an
nbc reporter amen people youcan't talk to as a as a nbc
reporter, but they'll talk to me, even though this is a guy
who's been talking like drugkingpins and stuff like in
Columbia and stuff.
I give him credit for that.
But it's just like, all right,you might be able to do that,
but you might not be able to getinto this trap house or
(35:41):
something or talk to the peoplethat's in the street.
Now the question I asked him.
I said can anybody be ajournalist with these cameras,
with this podcasting things ofthat nature?
there are people who know how towrite, who never been to a j
school in their life okay sohe's, he kind of counted it like
well, no, with certain thingsthat go into it, and I said I
(36:03):
get that.
However, you know, I mean youcan't downplay the fact that
people are putting out betterstories than you guys are right
now I'll take it even further.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Journalism can't die because it is so integral to
humanity.
I firmly believe the big mamaon the porch who watches the
street all day, that's a newsperson.
You know when she goes and shetells people about different
things.
She is a news teller, a newsperson.
You know when she goes and shetells people about different
things.
She is a news teller, anewsmaker.
She is a journalist.
This is journalism.
(36:35):
You know, when you talk aboutthese bigger issues and you
share perspectives and you shareinsights.
Um, I think the Americanized,very 1950s version of who gets
to talk is dead.
Um, 50s version of who gets totalk is dead.
(36:56):
Um, but I think journalism justas an ethos.
Like you, you can't existwithout news.
As a people, you know, there'salways that relay of information
among people right, right,right.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I just have to bring this up wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
What you about to ask me?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
wait for it.
News but not news.
Okay, just want to get yourthought and opinion and, guys, I
want to get your opinion onthis.
Billy Dee Williams justrecently said on Bill Maher's
podcast that it's okay to doblackface now.
I know this can't believe whathe off bucked with.
Look at her face.
It's okay to do blackface now.
This is a man of a very, veryhigh age and has been in the
(37:30):
movie business for quite sometime.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Back on the Colt 45s man.
He need a check Drinking thatold gold.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
God man.
So not only did he say it, hesaid it on Bill Maher's podcast,
who has a track record ofseeing some really crazy racist
stuff.
So on Bill Maher's podcast whohas a?
Track record of seeing somereally crazy racist stuff.
Gentlemen and lady, what isyour thoughts?
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'll let y'all go first the iconic Billy Dee
Williams.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
He need a check.
Blackface is okay.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
He just need a check.
He was looking for a check Atthis point in his life.
He just say anything for acheck, Anybody can get it.
Billy D can get it too.
Yeah, it's disappointing, butit's the truth.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
This is, what say you , tiana?
What do you think Billy Dgetting it?
Speaker 2 (38:24):
If you can't be funny without resorting to them kind
of things, you probably ain'tfunny.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I'm sorry, no, sorry no, it's 2024 man, you know?
I mean, like, what makes youthink you can feel comfortable
saying something like this?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
look.
I don't even like when igmodels use too dark foundation.
Okay, I don't like it stopapproximating Blackface and you
know what?
The people he's givingpermission to use Blackface,
people who use Blackface.
Come on, they are the worstkinds of people to begin with.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yeah, oh my gosh, if you really look at it though,
and the reason why I bring thisup is because we talk about kind
of policing our own, and Ihaven't seen too many people
reason why I bring this up isbecause we talk about kind of
policing our own, and I haven'tseen too many people say too
much about this statement.
I know a lot happened news-wisebetween now and then, focused
on Billy D Billy.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
D is pretty old man, he might be slipping.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
You think he's quacking out?
He might be slipping.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Something's wrong with him.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
They say his logic is that it was an actor back in, I
believe, the 50s or so I couldbe wrong that played Othello,
which was a white man playing awhite character.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I thought you were about to say he's a fan of Al
Jolson or something.
Well, you might as well be atthis point.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
He played Othello and he said he respected the guy so
much he didn't see what was theproblem with actors putting on
blackface.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
That's retarded Well you can't use the R word.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Bleak that one out too if Ican't use the F word.
I never knew he was sensitive.
He's special.
Let me just change it he'sspecial.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I think there's also a level of in our culture.
We're very respectful of ourelders and some of that you know
.
You can feel how you feel aboutthis comment, because that was
wild.
Ain't nobody even asked himLike he should have just whooped
, but like at the same time hislegacy is incredible.
And so I also want to make aspace for white people who ask
(40:33):
us real dumb stuff.
You know, and it's very unfairto us, billy d isn't a leader of
this community, so what if you,if you want to wear blackface,
go home, go do what you want.
Um, but I do have this issuewith, I think, to some extent
within our own community, asmuch as we're not afraid to ask
the tough questions.
Sometimes our elders do get alittle bit of a pass.
(40:57):
That just goes back to how wewere raised to treat our
grandmas and stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Oh yeah, you can give them a little pass, but you can
tell the truth about where yougot your line he bugging out.
We can give him a pass on thefact that we not going, you know
.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
We not going to go crazy on him.
Yeah, he tripped.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
He definitely tripped .
I told you he on them Colt 45sman.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Is it the fact that he said it?
Would it make a difference ifhe said it on Bill Maher Club,
Shay Shay.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Would.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I wouldn't care what he said I wouldn't, care what he
said, I bring up no Club Shea,shea.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
I wouldn't care what he said of that.
You got to bring it up at thispoint.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
You do, you do.
Club Shea.
Shea is a very interestingturning point in journalism.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Let's unpack this for you Say the least yeah, wait,
wait, leah, I'm not going to letyou go right now.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Now you got to unpack that one.
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
I'm not being no hold on, yeah, yeah.
Go on, I know where she's going.
I seen Shannon Sharp in Queen'sBitch Project the other day.
I was like where is this going?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
yeah.
You know what, though, when hesaid he made more money off of
where you come from.
Sometimes in this industry themoney speaks Um, and sometimes I
feel bad because I think Katwent on that show, I was, he was
tripping sometimes, but he wasreally bearing a lot too.
(42:20):
My frustration with outletslike club Shay Shay is that they
come on the scene after yearsof people are already doing this
and then these bigger names gostraight to them instead of
going somewhere.
That has been, you know, toilingbuilding their show up episode
by episode, and then they'resurprised when Shannon ain't
asking like real questions.
(42:41):
And so I think the wholepodcast industry, or like kind
of the more speakery part ofjournalism, could be taken a
little bit more seriously.
But when you have, like we weresaying earlier, these big names
, whether they're from themainstream news or they're
celebrities, they come into thiswithout understanding the
culture of what they're joining.
You see them kind of undermineexactly what the podcast is
(43:07):
supposed to be and instead of adeeper conversation, an hour
long conversation that you can'thave in any other outlet, now
it's these long conversations aspurely for shock value.
It's a who should who shouldpay for the first date, type
stuff.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, yeah, and that's what I was going to say.
Once you hit those certainamount of numbers and you got
that stride on your show, don'tyou think it's almost like a
responsibility, if you can, tojust say all right, let me shine
a light on something that'sgoing on community-wise.
You have the audience at thispoint.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, I think there is, and I think there also needs
to be.
You know, having worked in thisfor so long, I know there's
also a level of bandwidth youneed to have.
You cannot just step intocommunity issues and think that
you're going to lead a goodinterview without showing how
stupid you are.
And so I liken it to whenLeBron posts one of his books
(44:02):
that you know he ain't reading.
You know he just opened it up.
Or when he posts and he'ssinging a song and he don't know
the lyrics.
It's kind of like that.
And so I think sometimespodcast hosts take the easy way
out and they say you know, I'llpost something about Black Lives
Matter, but I don't have theability to take this to a deeper
(44:23):
conversation.
Whether that's a conscious orunconscious belief, they're
saying instead I'm going to gowith this celebrity.
There's a little bit more moneyover here, even though a lot of
these people don't even needmore money.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
And it's funny you mention that because and I know
where you're probably going withthis is that we often say on
this show we take the road, lesstravel, we can easily get on
here and talk about rappers andall kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Well, let me say this , let me flip it, because this
is something we struggled withtoo, cause I I tend to kind of
criticize, like blackentertainment outlets, without
giving that same weight topeople magazines.
You know, does every singleblack journalist have to carry
the weight of the community, orcan they just want to tell
stories, and I don't know theanswer to that.
That's why I'm pushing it backon y'all.
You know, does Shannon have aresponsibility to this community
(45:13):
?
Does every Black podcast?
You know, what does thisactually look like when we start
to push people and hold themaccountable?
Speaker 1 (45:21):
I'm not sure if you were saying this earlier, but I
kind of got.
I get this from Shannon Sharpit's a lot of foot shuffling.
To me it's not a lot of bootscratching, you know, I mean is
that where you were going withthis earlier?
Speaker 2 (45:36):
I mean, do you feel that way?
I feel it's like a second step.
I think for someone who has ateam, I'm still always
interested in the lack ofsubstance.
It's only substantive, likewhen his guests bring something
to talk about.
Very rarely is his team able toreally like pull something out
of them.
They bring the conversation andthat's important journalism.
You know, you guys ask somecrazy questions, some
(45:56):
harder-hitting questions, butthat's what journalism is,
instead of just depending onyour guests to bring their
audience in the hoopla.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
And it's funny you mention that because, to answer
your question, you summed it upin word of substance, you know.
So when we do have people onthe show, we can have our light
conversation, have fun, justlike we did.
However, you know we might notsay, well, we're taking it upon
ourselves to save the world, butI might spotlight the person
that's trying to do it.
(46:24):
You know you might be goingfurther than me in a situation
to say, all right, well, thisperson is doing something within
their community, or this personwrote a book that might be
important.
Or, you know, this person mighthave had an experience in their
life that, if the person islistening to the show, might
change their life or changetheir view, or something like
that.
So, even in everything that wedo, we have to.
(46:47):
You know the puffy thing ishappening.
You have to I'm so glad y'alldidn't ask me about that no, you
know, I'm actually tired oftalking about puff, to be honest
and uh, what it is is that youhave that situation and I'm
gonna be honest with you as a aspodcasters here, we can say
something about puff and we willget hundreds thousands of views
(47:09):
on something like that right,and that's a fact.
However, you can't interviewsomebody opening a views on
something like that right, andthat's a fact.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
However, we might Interview somebody opening a
school or something like that ina.
Black community and get 16views.
16 views we Black people likethe Negro stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
You know what I mean.
I hate to say it, man, butthat's what it is man.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
You know what I mean.
I remember the old people usedto say, man, you gotta put
applesauce around the pill inorder for them to get it.
Man, you know I mean, uh, Ithink that's what I think.
We gotta kind of find a, abalance too, because you gotta
put the, you gotta put themedicine in it.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
You know I mean because, because we, as black
people, we like foolishness asmuch as we don't want to say I
mean as mean as a whole.
I'm not going to say it in anygiven community, but I've also
(48:08):
just been doing a lot ofthinking about the fact of how
many initiatives are reported onthat disappear or they go away.
And so I also wonder sometimesif our folks are tired of
another school opening, you knowif they want to hear instead
how that school is performingfive years from now.
But at the same time weliterally can't deliver those
(48:34):
stories because our initiativesaren't being funded to last that
long.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
I mean even like something as simple.
I mean like I thought this wassomething that was huge.
You know what I mean Taking youknow Black history out of
school.
You know what I mean theaverage Black person doesn't
even know that this is going on.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
Yeah, and it's a slow burn because, if you notice,
february's are coming and goingand you still kind of see, I
feel like this was the yearexactly where you're seeing way
less black history month stuff,and I know firsthand from
experience.
I would pitch a bunch of storiesand usually february is like an
easy month, like we're doingtoo many interviews, and it was
(49:11):
interesting how many peoplestill turn down our stories.
Um, you know, I'm very openabout the fact that a lot of my
friends are journalists and sowe're still talking about
everything, and I have friendswho would pitch stories to their
editors that they wanted to doand had them turned down, and so
it's like, well, this is blackhistory, mom, we're not telling
these stories now.
(49:31):
When are we going to do this?
So I think there's thatfrustration both outside and
inside the newsroom.
And to go back to yourstatement of us being so
disrespected, it's almost as ifit doesn't matter, like they
hired a ton of Black reporters,you know, after the whole George
Floyd thing, black Lives Matterprotests and things like that,
(49:52):
and then over the past few yearsthey've just systematically
laid them off or closed thosesections.
So I'm definitely with you guyson a lot of this.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
Yeah, yeah, because you got to keep the candle lit
on a lot of things that's goingon and not just focus on the
foolishness, and you know youknow like you've been exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
You've been working all day, you're dealing with
other issues of racism in yourown community, and now I feel
like so much of the news puts iton you to make change.
I don't want to do somethingelse.
I'm sorry I don't got home, Idon't work all day.
I got to take care of this babyand now y'all want me to make
changes in systems that I didn'teven design.
(50:36):
So I think there's also alatent frustration with people
who, for the most part, are justkind of corralled through these
systems, but then they'reexpected to change them, but
then when they start to getinvolved, they're ignored.
So it's just a very unfairsituation.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Regular black people stuff, stuff we've been dealing
with since the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Before I really let you wrap, because I know you got
to get back to the little one.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
I'm free for the night.
I'm about to go watch someNetflix.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
You still got to get back to that.
You need your time.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
What.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
I wanted you to do was just let everybody know
where they can reach you at andyour handles and all.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, for sure, I would say.
The best way to keep in touchwith us is on Instagram.
We post about a lot of thedifferent work that our clients
are doing.
For example, we have NationalBlack Authors Day, may 4th.
Um last year that was our firstyear and it was huge, so it was
.
It was like I'll be back on theshow um, nice, it's just getting
(51:41):
huge, like there were all theseblack authors posting about
their books.
So, yeah, you can look for uson instagram at M-A-N-O-N media,
m-e-p-i-a, and that's just tosee everything that we're doing,
whether you want to be a partof this work or you just want to
just have your spirit uplifteda little bit, and you know you
(52:03):
always got an open invite here.
I appreciate that, but wheny'all want to ask me about crazy
people again, I don appreciatethat.
Speaker 3 (52:10):
for when y'all want to ask me about crazy people
again.
Speaker 1 (52:13):
We didn't really ask you about crazy people.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
We could throw some crazy people out, See now I'm
worried for next time I'm goingto need a glass of wine with me
for next time yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
And by the time you come back it might get a lot
deeper.
Yeah right, we got a lot ofnuts in our community names
added to that list.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
We got a lot of nuts in our community.
Man, we could talk about thatand outside the community,
definitely outside the community.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
You need to be able to have these spaces where we
can talk about ourselves, butnot like the white folks, the
white gays.
Well, hey, listen.
Speaker 3 (52:53):
We all come from, you know New of fashioned the show
to say listen, this is the stooptalk, you know.
So, whoever comes, on the showwelcome to the stoop.
This is what we're going totalk about.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
Everything all right we got, the shop we got the
stoop, you know I mean.
Speaker 3 (53:06):
So that's how it works, all right.
So we thank you once again.
Tiana Manning, thank you.
We really appreciate everythingthat you do for us.
You know, I mean in terms ofSending us the right people to
talk to.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Let's get them out there.
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
Listen.
If 16 people listen to thatepisode, then that's 16 people
that hopefully Gain somethingout of it.
That's how it works, alright,so I'm going to give us our
handles Away real quick alrightpeople to hopefully gain
something out of it.
You know what I mean.
I believe that that's how itworks.
That's how it works All right.
So I'm going to give us ourhandles away real quick.
All right, check this out.
The Only One Mike podcast isavailable on all platforms to
stream your podcast on.
Also, check out our Only OneMike podcast YouTube channel to
(53:43):
catch up on the past and currentepisodes, and please don't
forget to rate the show andsubscribe.
You can catch us on Instagramand x slash, twitter at the
OnlyOneMikeP1, facebook andLinkedIn at the
OnlyOneMikePodcast.
You can email us attheonlyonemike00 at gmailcom or
call us at 302-367-7219 to haveyour comments or questions
(54:06):
played on the show.
We thank you, the audience, onceagain for your time.
We thank everybody here fortheir time.
Tiana, thank you once again,and we encourage you, please, to
speak your truth quietly andclearly and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant,because they too, have their
story to tell.
So until next time, please keepin mind.
Before I go, I wanted to saythis you know, condolences to
(54:29):
everybody that was was shot outthere in philly during their um
e celebration.
You know, gotta get better withthis stuff, folks.
So check this out.
Until next time.
Please keep in mind that wenever had to run from the klu
klux klan, so we shouldn't haveto run from a black man.
Peace, tiana.
Thanks again, thanks againpeace.
Brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Welcome to the only one mic podcast called jabra
brooklyn.
Dre j-rob is in the building.
We also got a special specialguest from manna management
media management, tiana manon,this long overdue interview it
is.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I feel like we've been talking for like a minute
For a good minute We've beencorresponding.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You send us a lot of people you represent.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I know some cool people.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I know you do, you do and I got to give you a shout
out we actually had, like a lotof people that you represent
come on the show talk aboutthings that they're doing within
the community.
You know a lot of upliftingstuff.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, you know what?
I appreciate that?
Because one thing that alwaysstands out is how much time you
guys take on the interview.
So there's a reason we keepcoming back.
You know like our folks alwaysfeel so taken care of on the
show.
So yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But yeah, I say you know what.
We talked to everybody that yourepresent, but we didn't get a
chance to talk to the personbehind the curtain.
You know what I mean.
So we're going to give you anopportunity to come on and talk
about you, talk about thecompany, talk about how you got
started and everything, becauseyou once started off as a
journalist.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, yeah.
News is like my heart, so thatwas definitely how I got my
start, but I'm gone.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That's how we're going to talk about that too,
how I got my start, but I'm gone.
We're going to talk about thattoo.
So let's start with that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Let's talk about how young Tiana began Like a little
baby Tiana here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, we're going to go all the way back to the crib,
but we can talk about theintrepid reporter you have
become over time.
And what was that like?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I've wanted to be a reporter for like a long time.
So even in high school, college, I was kind of always gearing
myself towards that.
So my major journalism andpolitical science.
So I really went intojournalism with this idea of you
know, news is for the people,it's really to shine a spotlight
(02:28):
on injustice and, I guess, youknow, arm people with the
information they need to makewhatever changes in their
community.
Lot of political work, a lot ofhelping folks understand how
different laws impact them.
And then I started switching alittle bit more into looking at
(02:49):
how systems impact communities,really just exploring how much
of this is just sheer design.
You know, this is so.
Much of this is on purpose.
And so I was in DC at the timeand there was like a mass
shooting at the Boys and GirlsClub back home and so I moved
(03:10):
back home.
I did a lot of work around thatand I've been in Rochester
since, but as much as this is myhome base, the work has kind of
grown out of this to where, youknow, most of my clients are
across the nation and this isjust where I call home, kind of
thing.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
OK, OK.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
What was?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
like the first story that you kind of broke when you
started off.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
There was some crazy stories, interesting stories I
did even back in college, whereyou know everything from looking
at like weed culture on campusto mental health and access.
For that I wrote a front pagestory for my newspaper our
(03:53):
hometown newspaper, I think whenI was about 19.
And it was just looking at howif you're adopted, you can't get
your birth certificate and howthat led to so many different
health issues and people whodidn't know that things ran in
their you know lineage orwhatever.
So definitely, even since thebeginning, my stories have been
very much like what's happeningto people kind of thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So what did you find out as far as exploring like the
different systems, like I mean,when you talk about systems,
are you talking about likesystemic racism, different
things like that, or you know?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
just government, that , or you know, just government
assistance, especially when itcomes to politics.
You know, I think about likeelection years and how much of
this is designed to make youwant to stay home.
You know, like um, and it'stough.
When I was first pursuing mymajor, I was very much like a
you got to get out and vote kindof person.
We need the caravan there, andI think over time I've kind of
(04:44):
started to understand thatdesire of people who are like I
want to stay home, you know.
So when it goes back to thosesystems, it's everything from
how difficult it is to registerto vote, even though they make
it seem like it's not.
You know it should be automatic.
You should have to opt out, andin states where you see bigger
white populations Oregon that isthe norm.
(05:07):
And so I think about everythingand you know I'm very much like
that.
There's issues on both sidespolitically.
You know, just thinking aboutNew York State, and we have we
had some of the craziest, mostpunitive laws when it came to
drugs and Rockefeller drug laws.
So I think about the fact thatyou know they're doing so many
(05:28):
different things from a healthperspective, from a housing
perspective, from a jobperspective to make it super
difficult for anyone to getahead.
And when you're dealing with somany issues across systems, I
think it becomes verydemoralizing to try and fix one,
because you start to realizehow intertwined everything is
(05:48):
and there's that period of likewhere do I, where do I go from
here?
Kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I gave up on it a long time ago.
You know, I mean, you know, Imean when you just think about
the things that happened back inthe days, like as far as like
poll tax and like you're talkingabout, even like criminals and
how they, you know, aren'tallowed to vote, and it seems
like every time we think thisvoting thing is going to help us
out, it's like it seems likethey come up with something to
make us not even seem like weeven have a dent at the poll at
(06:14):
all.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know that's kind of, I mean, you know, the
electoral college, the wholeother crap that comes.
Yeah, so I mean, we didn't eventalk about redistricting and
drawing lines certain ways, ormaking sure that this county
only has so many blue seeds orred seeds, you know, and I guess
and that's even before we getinto the news and how they cover
politics, and do you even havethe information that you need to
(06:37):
vote according to your values?
Um, and so I think there's alot of people who, even though
they're passionate to begin with, it is and it's designed to be
so exhausting that you findyourself checking out.
You know, and I think it's alsoa layer of so much of the onus
is on the people.
We're a democracy, you can dothis, you can do that.
(07:00):
Really comes to any, any issue,whether that's voting, whether
that's gaza, whether that'sliterally anything.
Most people start to realize,oh, I don't have as much agency
as I thought I did, and so itstarts to break down from there.
Um, you're sitting here andyou're saying you know, this is
on you, where democracy, you cando things, but then you've
limited every, every little bitof power that we have to make
(07:21):
any impact and I'm big, big onpandering, so like whether it be
Trump with some sneakers orBiden talking to Glorilla,
instead of somebody that canpossibly change some policies.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I look at stuff like that and I say, well, none of it
.
Seems like it has our people'sbest interest at heart.
None of it does.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Every time we seem like we're voting, it seems like
we're voting for the lesser oftwo evils.
Me personally, it doesn't everfeel like anybody is actually
representing me at the polls oranything that I feel that would
affect my life.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You know what this?
is my biggest issue, because I'mactually a registered Green
Party member and I have beensince 18.
And it's just like I feel, likeevery election cycle I am
sitting here like the people arewaiting for someone to actually
come up and say what we alreadyknow, and I've been
disappointed by so many thirdparty alternatives who they
(08:18):
don't step up and they're justnot able to grasp the kind of
intersectionality of this.
And so I think what you see alot of times is, when we're even
paid attention to it, is justthe pandering it is.
Oh, you know, I'm gonna go onthe Breakfast Club real quick.
You know they're not going toask you anything serious.
Charlamagne ain't got that rage.
(08:39):
So I often wonder, you know,and it's not for a lack of
desire.
People say all the time thatthey want them to come into
their communities and speak, andI think so much of it is that
it's designed to where, for themost part, they need a certain
group of Black voters, but in alot of areas they can do it
(08:59):
without us.
You know, and it's designedthat way.
Why do I need to do anythingmore than pander to these voters
?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Not to mention we're just the most disrespected, you
know.
I mean like, as far as like,when it comes time to, uh, you
know, seek out somebody to talkto the back, you're like who
would go to like the, you know,the local country singer to?
You know to come?
I mean they do go to differentartists and stuff like that, but
but you know they also don'tlike exactly what you're saying,
not how they do our community.
(09:29):
You know what I mean.
Like I don't want to hear you.
I don't want to hear Joe Bidentalk to Cardi B.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Exactly.
They make it seem as if thoseentertainers are the leaders of
our community.
And it's one thing to say, well, I want to talk to their
audience and their fan base.
It's another thing to say, well, I'm talking to basically the
leaders of this community andit's a whole bunch of rappers
and entertainers.
Well, you know, it's very dick.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Gregory said that disrespectful and he was saying
like why does it seem like whenthey do want to and this is way
back, it's like 60s or so likewhen they do want to sit down to
talk to somebody thatrepresents us?
We always go to a comedian, wego to a singer or whatever, but
on the other side of town youdon't see that like they don't
have when they talk aboutanybody.
That's their political leaders.
(10:10):
You know you won't see themgoing to talk to brad pitt to
represent what you know theythink right, well, they're not
going to anybody.
You know that's known for anyform of entertainment except for
our people.
So let me ask you because wekind of went into, um, this
whole thing and I could seewhere you kind of felt a little
jaded by news what kind of, Iguess, if I can use such a term,
(10:34):
turns you off from coveringnews and not in that form.
What was the thing?
That was like destroyed.
I broke the camel's back withyou to say you know what I?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think this is the first time I've talked about
this publicly and I'm going totry and protect people as much
as I can in this.
Uh, I was working at a stationand we we had like a young black
kid.
He was presumed missing.
No one could find him and Ihate even telling this story.
(11:07):
I'm sorry I'm taking so long.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
This is triggering, but basically, do we need to put
a trigger warning on thisbefore you say anything?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I honestly probably a little bit of one, because it
was really f***ed up.
Can I say?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
that we don't want to put too much profanity on this
show.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I wasn't sure, because I listened and I was
like y'all talking about somecrazy stuff to not curse, but
okay, okay all right, sorryy'all.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
No problem, here's your trigger warning folks.
Just beat that one.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, it will happen, go ahead um, yeah, so I guess I
was trying to like distractmyself for a second there, um,
but yeah, so I was in charge ofthe story and just to veer off
for a second.
This is one, but yeah, so I wasin charge of the story and just
to veer off for a second.
This is one of my frustrationwith being like a black reporter
in any station is that as soonas a community story come up or
a story about black folks, it'syour story.
(11:56):
You know, they don't even wantto try, they just like, oh no,
you can do it, you know, and Iget it to some extent.
But it also means that a lot oftimes you get the hardest
stories in the newsroom, um, soin this case, there, you know,
the kid was missing and ithappened quite a while.
He was only like eight, nine,10 years old, um, and I remember
(12:18):
our first press conference.
We were going there and I wasjust charged with like getting
the details.
What do the police know?
What does the family want thecommunity to know?
And my editor, who was thiswhite guy and I presumed I was
working for a very liberal kindof NPR-y kind of place that was
my naivete and he makes thisjoke like well, you need to
(12:41):
figure out how to really saythis kid's name.
And I'm like, okay, it's notthe hardest name, but okay, okay
, I'll double check with his mom.
Like I'm very much like how themama says his name is the way
to say his name, right, right.
So when I came back to thestation he goes oh yeah, I've
been telling everyone while youwere gone this joke that like
(13:01):
maybe if he had a more normalname he'd be easier to find wow,
yeah, wow, wow and I was justlike what did you just say to me
?
it's a wake-up call, yeah it was, and you know it was just such
a flippant remark.
It wasn't something that waslike, oh, this family deserved
it, or anything, but I think itwas very much a maya moment
(13:22):
where it's like when people showyou, you know you've got to
believe them.
And so that was just one in astring of really flippant
comments that let me know thatif this was a newsroom that
prided itself on its attentionto diversity, we in trouble.
So I was working simultaneouslyfor a black magazine at the
(13:42):
time.
I was the editor of it and Ijust I stepped fully into that
role.
I loved traditional news and Idid that for a while.
I didn't own the magazine, so Ilearned that issue.
But yeah, that was kind of thestraw right there, where it was
like a sequence of so manydifferent things across the
newsroom, being told thatcertain stories didn't matter as
(14:05):
much, or I needed to diversifyand cover suburban stories more,
you know, being told that, well, that source needs to be
balanced out, and so I reallyhave not looked back.
I don't.
I don't miss it in thattraditional format.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
OK, and let me ask you about traditional formats
because, as you said, if this isa I'm assuming a smaller you
know newsroom that you dealtwith in the beginning, so it's
not like a huge national.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
This one isn't, but they're part of and I'm trying
to be careful here they're partof a national, they're just one
of the stations.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, one of the stations, All right, so it's an
affiliate station.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Exactly so.
Our stories went national allthe time.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They went national all the time.
However, it's just like, ifthis is what is being said in
this particular corner of thisnews corporation, can you
imagine what we're looking at onthe scale of and will say this
a cnn or msnbc, the way thatthings are covered?
So, going into from that tothis, what do you think about
(15:10):
the new media?
Because I've had theopportunity to sit on a lot of
your town hall meetings now,thank you for inviting me by the
way and of course, and, um, Ioften said, like during the town
hall, we have the comments andeverything like that, and you
say well, what?
do we need to do to make thisbetter.
And I'll be honest with you.
At one point I had said in thecomments listen, we're sitting
here talking to a bunch ofreporters.
(15:30):
What do you mean?
What do we do?
Do you start your own thing?
We have enough people herethat's having the same gripe, if
I could use that, that wordthat you had in terms of how it
is to be black in the newsroom.
So what do you think about thisnew if I can say, quote-unquote
urban media or, you know, livemedia?
I see everybody pivoting to itnow, so I don't think it's as
(15:51):
urban as it used to be when yousee, like Don Lemon and these
guys, you know, getting on liveyeah.
So what do you think?
You?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
know, my frustration with these kinds of things is
that sometimes I feel like ifother people were to do them,
they would get the funding theydeserve.
But because we're the onesdoing them, you know people just
steal the idea.
Sometimes.
My frustration you know thishas been my frustration for a
long time for black outlets isjust the lack of funding a long
(16:23):
time for Black outlets is justthe lack of funding, and that
can be everything from like avery serious county state budget
or even just where do you takeyour advertising dollars.
And so I think about this a lotlike what are the next steps?
And so you mentioned our townhalls and everything, and we've
been so careful about actuallycreating that reparations model
because we want to includeeveryone.
(16:44):
It's like the last thing wewant is to design something that
doesn't go far enough.
You know the folks out therewho are still running incredible
outlets in Tulsa, or you knowall of these different pockets
of incredible Black history.
They need to see that fundingtoo.
And so I think about the folkswho have been toiling, you know,
(17:04):
episode after episode, printafter print, and I really,
really do believe that, as muchas we're kind of preaching to
the choir right now.
Some of that, at least for thisfirst phase, is to show each
other the numbers.
You aren't alone in this, andthere's a level of solidarity
here If you can see how manyother people want the same thing
(17:25):
as you.
So I would say my, my biggestthing is I don't and this is
something we really debated alot Do we integrate into this
burning house.
News is dying as it currentlystands.
Are we about to walk up in thishouse and try and help them,
knowing that they don't want ourhelp?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, that's.
The tough conversation rightnow is as we start to
acknowledge that news doesn'tserve us.
What do we build instead, andhow do we support?
What does support us for now?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You see what the whole situation at one point,
where Mark Lamont Hill and allthese reporters had what was it?
Bnn or something, it was like,yeah, and come to find out that
was owned by a foreign entity.
It wasn't even owned by blackfolk.
So you know, I can understandyou saying that, wanting to have
that, you know have the funding, no matter where you're getting
(18:22):
it from.
I can understand you sayingthat, wanting to, to have that
you know, yes, and what'sfunnier is that you can be mad
profitable.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know your show could be paying for itself.
The second they feel like theywant to put that money somewhere
else, or the there you're notgetting enough of an audience.
They're pulling the rug outfrom under you and my
frustration is that I feel likeour community operates
differently.
You know, like, okay, yes,there's clicks, there's views,
that matters, but we're a verycommunal type of people.
(18:50):
We talk to each other and Idon't think news can measure
that right now.
You know, like I might put outa story that only gets 300
clicks.
I might put out a story thatonly gets 300 clicks, but
everybody in the hood wastalking about it at dinner, you
know, and like you can't measurethat, no, matter how much I try
(19:13):
and tell reporters and stuffthat these community stories
matter, they look at the numbersand they go from there.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
When you look at like a lot of these new urban media
guys I mean I'm just talkingabout the entertainment stuff
like the Dream Champs, thewhat's the camera on them guys,
the sports show and everythinglike that now, and I think even
Gillian them guys went out ofPhilly and it seems like a lot
of these major news networks aretaking information from those
guys and promoting it.
(19:37):
You know what I mean andthey're talking about it.
It talks like if they're thefirst one with this information.
You know what I mean.
So it's kind of funny when Isee a lot of this stuff.
I mean I kind of like urbanmedia because I'm looking at it
now and I'm like you know, it'sthe only place where somebody
can ask somebody a real hardquestion.
Now it seems like all the othernews websites and other stuff
(20:00):
like that is following thescript.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
You know, it's always been yeah, people get pissed at
me when I say this, but Ifirmly believe, like if aliens
were to come down right now anda reporter was to ask the
pentagon and the pentagon saidno, they would print that, and
so like there's this crazyreality warping that we're
seeing, that, you're right, alot of only urban media or newer
(20:25):
blogs and reporters can stepinto, and so much of it is
because we have to be objectiveand that's a that's a whole
different conversation.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You mentioned, like Charlamagne.
Okay, you have a lot ofpolitical cats come on and you,
you know and you're not thefirst one with this argument
when it comes to outlets likethe breakfast club or certain
talk shows and things like that,that says, well, you have these
people on here, but you're notreally hitting them with those
questions and not understandingthat these guys are under
contract.
(20:55):
They have bosses they gotta theygotta listen to and they got
people that's telling them thisis what you should say, no
offense, but they havepublicists that they deal with
to tell them this is what youneed to say and things like that
and it's you know, it's allcontrolled.
But, like you said, when itcomes down to urban media and I
use don lemon as an example,because when his thing went left
with elon musk, it's like, okay, now I'm taking that interview
(21:19):
what you know is going to getlike a thousand clicks and views
I'm using a thousand loosely,but you know millions of clicks
and views and things like thatwhich you know that interview is
going to build his network whenhe takes it online, when you
see I think Rachel Maddow isdoing the same podcast thing and
all, do you think?
that eventually, like when yousee all these major people who
(21:40):
already had their audiencealready jumping on the same
platforms that we're jumping on,like you said, you know, to my
brother's credit is that they'regoing to take these stories
that we already put out thereand it'll be bigger because it's
coming out of their mouth andnot out.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I think it already is an issue, to be fair, and I
think there's a lot of creativesand hosts, and I wouldn't even
say bloggers.
I think there are smaller scalejournalists who just don't work
at these mainstream papers, whoare still having their stories
lifted, and I think what itboils down to and I'll be
totally honest is a lack ofrespect for outlets that don't
(22:15):
look like the mainstream screen,and sometimes I worry to take
this further is that, as youleave this big outlet and you
bring your audience with you andyou you know you're on these
platforms as well Are you justbringing that culture here or
are you actually stepping fullyinto this new role?
Because you know there's somany people as they leave these
(22:37):
bigger outlets, they are hiredthere for a reason.
They still practice that kindof journalism.
They may be a little bit moreradical, or maybe just left or
right of the bell curve, but Idon't fully believe that they
step into that kind ofradicalness insofar as the
audience allows.
You know they're radical enoughto get the likes, but not so
(23:01):
radical to actually push thisconversation further.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And now that you mentioned it, because you're a
journalist and I have to throwthis on the table to you Candace
Owens.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Why are we doing this ?
Because it goes back tointerest.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
It goes back to interest.
And when she got fired off ofDaily Wire for mentioning her
thoughts on the whole Palestinesituation, it was cool when she
was talking about black folksand you know, saying what she
was saying and you know, I haveto say, I have to say I don't
agree with everything that shesays.
There were some things that youmight have been right in terms
(23:38):
of, you know, A broken clockright, Right.
How people represent it in theindustry and things like that.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's one of my favorite sayings, so.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I hear a lot of people basically saying well I,
well Candace can't come backhome, no more.
And I?
You got your argument with that.
However, is it any differentthat if she said like free
Palestine and got fired from theDaily Wire, if Charlamagne said
it and got fired off of theBreakfast Club?
So I tell people all the timethat no matter who it is, that
(24:11):
pendulum still swings the sameway once you go against the
actual interests that own thesecompanies.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And nobody's allowed to say it.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Nobody's allowed to say it.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You say anything about the Jewish community,
you're going to have a problembut any community that's not our
community.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm going to just put it out there, which is the
truth.
Any community that's not ourcommunity, as you often say to
your credit.
The black community is one ofthe most disrespected
communities across the globe atthis point, because you can say
whatever you want and get theinterest that you need to get
out of it, but the minute thatyou veer off of that, you know
everybody.
You know what I mean.
(24:47):
So what's your, what's yourthoughts upon that?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know I'm gonna take this off of Candace just a
little bit, and I get thesentiment here where it very
much is who is allowed to speakout on certain things.
Now, I'm not going to lie, Ididn't expect Candace to have
that ideology.
I was surprised by it.
But I think there's also, likeyou were saying, once you go
(25:12):
against the interests of thepeople who own the station, you
know everyone is at risk, right?
I do start to wonder,especially, like you said, the
Black community is the mostdisrespected and so as soon as
we do anything that deviatesfrom what they want from us,
it's an immediate problem.
Candace still can't come to thecookout, she's not invited, but
(25:36):
at least she's not 105% wrong,but I think there's also a
hundred and five percent wrong,right.
But I think there's also alevel of when you really do
stand up for your values andwhat's right or wrong.
An industry that's supposed tochampion the underdog, the
little guy, the people who arenot in power, to be pushed out
of it, is really interesting.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, most definitely .
So let's jump into ManningMedia Management.
Yes, like I said, you've sentus a lot of people who've done a
lot of wonderful things on, ifI can dare say, a local level.
Reason why I say that isbecause not too many people know
what these people are doing andthis is why you know we give
(26:20):
them a voice, if we can.
You know, if you can pleasetell the listeners about the
management company, what it isthat you're and if you have
anything that's coming up thatwe should all be aware of.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah.
So our firm specializes andreally working with folks who
are trying to make change.
So a lot of times that'sworking with clients right on
the precipice of making thatchange.
It's folks who dreamed of a newsystem, you know, they've
started implementing it and nowthey need to bring it to the
mainstream, and so that's what alot of this work is.
(26:54):
If you have, like, I'm notreally interested in product
publicity or things like that,really interested in product
publicity or things like that,I'm more so.
Wow, you have this reallyfringe idea for how the courts
could work better.
Okay, let me help youdisseminate that in a way that
actually brings people on, andso that's what we specialize in
(27:14):
is, over time, how do you createa sustainable movement?
How do you make real change inthe world that you want to see,
instead of feeling burnt out andthen just withdrawing back to
your home?
So that's a lot of work that wedo.
So much of our work right now islike media reparations and
figuring out a reparative model,and the crux of that work, if
(27:36):
I'm going to be honest and thisis something that I haven't
really another I guess kind ofexclusive for you guys is having
a discussion on what is Blackjournalism.
You know, journalism andstorytelling is in our blood.
All the way back we have hadpeople who pass stories on, who
have folks.
You know all of these tales andeverything like that, and so
(28:00):
I've played around with thisidea that it's not Black
journalism, isn't Blackreporters doing American
journalism.
It might be something thatlooks entirely different.
You know, it's something wherewe're one, not scared to ask the
tough questions.
Two, we also know there is nosuch thing as objective.
Two, we also know there is nosuch thing as objective.
(28:21):
I think that's something thatBlack folks have known for a
long time.
You can't be objective.
You have a stake in everything,and so I think there's also a
certain flair.
But that's with everythingBlackness, whether it's how we
get dressed, how we talk aboutthings, everything has a certain
flair.
And so I think white journalismis very eh eh eh.
(28:49):
It's supposed to like be smartand heady, and I think and you
see a lot of this with the styleof black bloggers and hoax
where there's more personality,there's identity.
That I'm bringing into this,and so I've been playing around
with that and that's a littlebit more of a long term project
where we are revolutionizingnews entirely, but then, like my
more short term work is justworking with outlets everyone
(29:11):
from Gannett and USA Today toMother Jones you know just cool
folks to figure out how they cando better stories right now.
So, yeah, it's a lot of workand a baby.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Right, I'm wondering how the landscape of things are
going to change, because whenyou look at news now, like you
know, like just I'm using thecamera on them again, I don't
even really watch ESPN anymore.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
There's a lot of people that are like ESPN was
had had a cornerstone for a longtime.
You know people will leave thatall wake up at 2 am and watch
analysis.
So I think when you're startingto see the shift turn, even on
like sports news, it really doeshighlight there's a big issue
in the industry.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, and again, I think it's just a fact of them
just saying things that peopleare thinking like no more you
know, can you look at ESPN or alot of you know, cnn, or you
just can't have a realconversation and I think that's
just boring they allow you tohave as a real conversation.
Yeah, they boring.
People don't want to hear thatboring talk anymore.
(30:18):
They actually want to hear yourreal opinion.
People don't want to hear thatboring talk anymore.
They actually want to hear yourreal opinion.
I wonder how they're going tokeep up with that, because I
think right now, even some ofthe white podcasts.
That's why they got Pat McAfeeRight right, right right.
So they're doing a lot, but I'msaying that they're doing a lot
of different.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
You know a lot of podcasters are doing things that
people now are is is as aproduct of like a bygone era, to
be honest with you, like theystill focus on, you know,
terrestrial radio and they stillfocus on television, which is
the crux of what they do, but itwas never something where it
kind of elevated and said, okay,well, this is where where the
trend is going now and insteadof us getting people to follow
(31:00):
the trend.
You know we can.
We can hire podcasters or wecan hire, you know, people to do
things on youtube and all.
But they'll stick with the samemodel, because that's just what
the institution was built on,not knowing this you know
sinking the ship at this pointand there's also a level of
exhaustion in news.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You know like it takes a very purposeful change
to see anything long term, and Ifeel like everybody in news
from the reporters to the newsleaders they're so exhausted
they just want to go home.
They just put out the story andthey go home, and you'd be
surprised how many people innews don't watch the news either
.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I often wondered about that because you being a
journalist yourself is like what.
I mean, you can speak toyourself personally, but how do
you, kind of like, detachyourself from all of this
information?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, I think the news being 24-7 and constant has
completely devalued it.
I think they're just alwayschasing like that short story to
fill content.
So I typically engage in likelonger form stuff.
I'm a magazine kind of girl.
I still get subscriptions.
Um, you know, I very much, Istill.
(32:10):
I still see documentaries asnews.
You know like I want a deeper,yeah, a deeper dive and, um, I
think there's a bit offrustration with everything from
like wow, this story was only aminute and a half and I heard
from a community resident forfive seconds.
And then there's framing likeI'll watch the local news and
(32:31):
I'll be like, oh yeah, and therewas like a homicide on the
city's east side.
And then the next story is thesuburban lilac festival or the
fire.
You know like, wait a minute,y'all.
It's sad to say that's the onlytime you get to see the brothers
and sisters man when thehomicide, you know, because
they'll sing you out in the hoodand let you do the commentary
(32:52):
out in the hood, you know, inthe middle of the street
somewhere, or you got to be soexceptional you got to be the
high school student who got afull ride into 18 colleges and
it's blackness exists on such abeautifully diverse spectrum and
I don't know.
I I think the news is notequipped to tell a lot of
different stories, butespecially a lot of our stories
(33:14):
I think.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I think that's why there's some more revamping
things.
I don't know exactly wherethey're going to go with it, but
you know, you know, if younotice, most of these news
outlets are, you know, firingmost of their, like the old cast
and everything like that.
So I don't know if they'recoming up with something new to
change things.
I know ESPN fired a lot ofpeople, I think CNN, I believe,
got rid of a lot of people onetime or another.
So I think it's coming down thepipe that, to talk to people,
(33:39):
we don't even do good interviewsanymore.
Nobody goes and asks a person atough question anymore.
This has been going on for thelast, so many ever years.
Now it seems like these localpodcasters are forcing people to
answer some tough questions.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
I also want to point out, at the end of the day and
this is a struggle I've hadsince college when I asked the
professor this what recourse dowe actually have if someone lies
to us?
You can do your research, youcan file a million different
FOIAs, you know, you can try andfind the paperwork, but at the
(34:14):
end of the day, I'll be honest,it's a lot easier to lie to
journalists, and especiallyoverworked, exhausted
journalists, and I think that'sa lot of the political climate
right now, where you know thisreporter is just trying to put
out their end of day story.
Let me give them the the biteand let them go on.
So it is, uh, it is tough and Idon't think it's sustainable,
(34:39):
um, but I also I think there's alot more floundering.
I think there's a lot of hopethat maybe they're figuring out
the next thing, but havingspoken to a lot of news leaders,
I know that they're kind ofjust floundering so let me ask
you uh, is journalism dead?
Speaker 3 (34:57):
I asked.
Uh, I had an interview with umcarlos beltrane from nbc and we
had this discussion on the showsome time ago was with the.
You know, at this time, youknow, urban media was just kind
of like really picking up, likehow you see it is now and it's
like okay.
Well, I told him that if you seepeople now where urban media
(35:19):
will probably give you access toplaces that you can't go as an
nbc reporter amen people youcan't talk to as a as a nbc
reporter, but they'll talk to me, even though this is a guy
who's been talking like drugkingpins and stuff like in
Columbia and stuff.
I give him credit for that.
But it's just like, all right,you might be able to do that,
but you might not be able to getinto this trap house or
(35:41):
something or talk to the peoplethat's in the street.
Now the question I asked him.
I said can anybody be ajournalist with these cameras,
with this podcasting things ofthat nature?
there are people who know how towrite, who never been to a j
school in their life okay sohe's, he kind of counted it like
well, no, with certain thingsthat go into it, and I said I
(36:03):
get that.
However, you know, I mean youcan't downplay the fact that
people are putting out betterstories than you guys are right
now I'll take it even further.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Journalism can't die because it is so integral to
humanity.
I firmly believe the big mamaon the porch who watches the
street all day, that's a newsperson.
You know when she goes and shetells people about different
things.
She is a news teller, a newsperson.
You know when she goes and shetells people about different
things.
She is a news teller, anewsmaker.
She is a journalist.
This is journalism.
(36:35):
You know, when you talk aboutthese bigger issues and you
share perspectives and you shareinsights.
Um, I think the Americanized,very 1950s version of who gets
to talk is dead.
Um, 50s version of who gets totalk is dead.
(36:56):
Um, but I think journalism justas an ethos.
Like you, you can't existwithout news.
As a people, you know, there'salways that relay of information
among people right, right,right.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I just have to bring this up wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
What you about to ask me?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
wait for it.
News but not news.
Okay, just want to get yourthought and opinion and, guys, I
want to get your opinion onthis.
Billy Dee Williams justrecently said on Bill Maher's
podcast that it's okay to doblackface now.
I know this can't believe whathe off bucked with.
Look at her face.
It's okay to do blackface now.
This is a man of a very, veryhigh age and has been in the
(37:30):
movie business for quite sometime.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Back on the Colt 45s man.
He need a check Drinking thatold gold.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
God man.
So not only did he say it, hesaid it on Bill Maher's podcast,
who has a track record ofseeing some really crazy racist
stuff.
So on Bill Maher's podcast whohas a?
Track record of seeing somereally crazy racist stuff.
Gentlemen and lady, what isyour thoughts?
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'll let y'all go first the iconic Billy Dee
Williams.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
He need a check.
Blackface is okay.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
He just need a check.
He was looking for a check Atthis point in his life.
He just say anything for acheck, Anybody can get it.
Billy D can get it too.
Yeah, it's disappointing, butit's the truth.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
This is, what say you , tiana?
What do you think Billy Dgetting it?
Speaker 2 (38:24):
If you can't be funny without resorting to them kind
of things, you probably ain'tfunny.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I'm sorry, no, sorry no, it's 2024 man, you know?
I mean, like, what makes youthink you can feel comfortable
saying something like this?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
look.
I don't even like when igmodels use too dark foundation.
Okay, I don't like it stopapproximating Blackface and you
know what?
The people he's givingpermission to use Blackface,
people who use Blackface.
Come on, they are the worstkinds of people to begin with.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yeah, oh my gosh, if you really look at it though,
and the reason why I bring thisup is because we talk about kind
of policing our own, and Ihaven't seen too many people
reason why I bring this up isbecause we talk about kind of
policing our own, and I haven'tseen too many people say too
much about this statement.
I know a lot happened news-wisebetween now and then, focused
on Billy D Billy.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
D is pretty old man, he might be slipping.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
You think he's quacking out?
He might be slipping.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Something's wrong with him.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
They say his logic is that it was an actor back in, I
believe, the 50s or so I couldbe wrong that played Othello,
which was a white man playing awhite character.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I thought you were about to say he's a fan of Al
Jolson or something.
Well, you might as well be atthis point.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
He played Othello and he said he respected the guy so
much he didn't see what was theproblem with actors putting on
blackface.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
That's retarded Well you can't use the R word.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Bleak that one out too if Ican't use the F word.
I never knew he was sensitive.
He's special.
Let me just change it he'sspecial.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I think there's also a level of in our culture.
We're very respectful of ourelders and some of that you know
.
You can feel how you feel aboutthis comment, because that was
wild.
Ain't nobody even asked himLike he should have just whooped
, but like at the same time hislegacy is incredible.
And so I also want to make aspace for white people who ask
(40:33):
us real dumb stuff.
You know, and it's very unfairto us, billy d isn't a leader of
this community, so what if you,if you want to wear blackface,
go home, go do what you want.
Um, but I do have this issuewith, I think, to some extent
within our own community, asmuch as we're not afraid to ask
the tough questions.
Sometimes our elders do get alittle bit of a pass.
(40:57):
That just goes back to how wewere raised to treat our
grandmas and stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Oh yeah, you can give them a little pass, but you can
tell the truth about where yougot your line he bugging out.
We can give him a pass on thefact that we not going, you know
.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
We not going to go crazy on him.
Yeah, he tripped.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
He definitely tripped .
I told you he on them Colt 45sman.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Is it the fact that he said it?
Would it make a difference ifhe said it on Bill Maher Club,
Shay Shay.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Would.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I wouldn't care what he said I wouldn't, care what he
said, I bring up no Club Shea,shea.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
I wouldn't care what he said of that.
You got to bring it up at thispoint.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
You do, you do.
Club Shea.
Shea is a very interestingturning point in journalism.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Let's unpack this for you Say the least yeah, wait,
wait, leah, I'm not going to letyou go right now.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Now you got to unpack that one.
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
I'm not being no hold on, yeah, yeah.
Go on, I know where she's going.
I seen Shannon Sharp in Queen'sBitch Project the other day.
I was like where is this going?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
yeah.
You know what, though, when hesaid he made more money off of
where you come from.
Sometimes in this industry themoney speaks Um, and sometimes I
feel bad because I think Katwent on that show, I was, he was
tripping sometimes, but he wasreally bearing a lot too.
(42:20):
My frustration with outletslike club Shay Shay is that they
come on the scene after yearsof people are already doing this
and then these bigger names gostraight to them instead of
going somewhere.
That has been, you know, toilingbuilding their show up episode
by episode, and then they'resurprised when Shannon ain't
asking like real questions.
(42:41):
And so I think the wholepodcast industry, or like kind
of the more speakery part ofjournalism, could be taken a
little bit more seriously.
But when you have, like we weresaying earlier, these big names
, whether they're from themainstream news or they're
celebrities, they come into thiswithout understanding the
culture of what they're joining.
You see them kind of undermineexactly what the podcast is
(43:07):
supposed to be and instead of adeeper conversation, an hour
long conversation that you can'thave in any other outlet, now
it's these long conversations aspurely for shock value.
It's a who should who shouldpay for the first date, type
stuff.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, yeah, and that's what I was going to say.
Once you hit those certainamount of numbers and you got
that stride on your show, don'tyou think it's almost like a
responsibility, if you can, tojust say all right, let me shine
a light on something that'sgoing on community-wise.
You have the audience at thispoint.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, I think there is, and I think there also needs
to be.
You know, having worked in thisfor so long, I know there's
also a level of bandwidth youneed to have.
You cannot just step intocommunity issues and think that
you're going to lead a goodinterview without showing how
stupid you are.
And so I liken it to whenLeBron posts one of his books
(44:02):
that you know he ain't reading.
You know he just opened it up.
Or when he posts and he'ssinging a song and he don't know
the lyrics.
It's kind of like that.
And so I think sometimespodcast hosts take the easy way
out and they say you know, I'llpost something about Black Lives
Matter, but I don't have theability to take this to a deeper
(44:23):
conversation.
Whether that's a conscious orunconscious belief, they're
saying instead I'm going to gowith this celebrity.
There's a little bit more moneyover here, even though a lot of
these people don't even needmore money.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
And it's funny you mention that because and I know
where you're probably going withthis is that we often say on
this show we take the road, lesstravel, we can easily get on
here and talk about rappers andall kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Well, let me say this , let me flip it, because this
is something we struggled withtoo, cause I I tend to kind of
criticize, like blackentertainment outlets, without
giving that same weight topeople magazines.
You know, does every singleblack journalist have to carry
the weight of the community, orcan they just want to tell
stories, and I don't know theanswer to that.
That's why I'm pushing it backon y'all.
You know, does Shannon have aresponsibility to this community
(45:13):
?
Does every Black podcast?
You know, what does thisactually look like when we start
to push people and hold themaccountable?
Speaker 1 (45:21):
I'm not sure if you were saying this earlier, but I
kind of got.
I get this from Shannon Sharpit's a lot of foot shuffling.
To me it's not a lot of bootscratching, you know, I mean is
that where you were going withthis earlier?
Speaker 2 (45:36):
I mean, do you feel that way?
I feel it's like a second step.
I think for someone who has ateam, I'm still always
interested in the lack ofsubstance.
It's only substantive, likewhen his guests bring something
to talk about.
Very rarely is his team able toreally like pull something out
of them.
They bring the conversation andthat's important journalism.
You know, you guys ask somecrazy questions, some
(45:56):
harder-hitting questions, butthat's what journalism is,
instead of just depending onyour guests to bring their
audience in the hoopla.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
And it's funny you mention that because, to answer
your question, you summed it upin word of substance, you know.
So when we do have people onthe show, we can have our light
conversation, have fun, justlike we did.
However, you know we might notsay, well, we're taking it upon
ourselves to save the world, butI might spotlight the person
that's trying to do it.
(46:24):
You know you might be goingfurther than me in a situation
to say, all right, well, thisperson is doing something within
their community, or this personwrote a book that might be
important.
Or, you know, this person mighthave had an experience in their
life that, if the person islistening to the show, might
change their life or changetheir view, or something like
that.
So, even in everything that wedo, we have to.
(46:47):
You know the puffy thing ishappening.
You have to I'm so glad y'alldidn't ask me about that no, you
know, I'm actually tired oftalking about puff, to be honest
and uh, what it is is that youhave that situation and I'm
gonna be honest with you as a aspodcasters here, we can say
something about puff and we willget hundreds thousands of views
(47:09):
on something like that right,and that's a fact.
However, you can't interviewsomebody opening a views on
something like that right, andthat's a fact.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
However, we might Interview somebody opening a
school or something like that ina.
Black community and get 16views.
16 views we Black people likethe Negro stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
You know what I mean.
I hate to say it, man, butthat's what it is man.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
You know what I mean.
I remember the old people usedto say, man, you gotta put
applesauce around the pill inorder for them to get it.
Man, you know I mean, uh, Ithink that's what I think.
We gotta kind of find a, abalance too, because you gotta
put the, you gotta put themedicine in it.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
You know I mean because, because we, as black
people, we like foolishness asmuch as we don't want to say I
mean as mean as a whole.
I'm not going to say it in anygiven community, but I've also
(48:08):
just been doing a lot ofthinking about the fact of how
many initiatives are reported onthat disappear or they go away.
And so I also wonder sometimesif our folks are tired of
another school opening, you knowif they want to hear instead
how that school is performingfive years from now.
But at the same time weliterally can't deliver those
(48:34):
stories because our initiativesaren't being funded to last that
long.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
I mean even like something as simple.
I mean like I thought this wassomething that was huge.
You know what I mean Taking youknow Black history out of
school.
You know what I mean theaverage Black person doesn't
even know that this is going on.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
Yeah, and it's a slow burn because, if you notice,
february's are coming and goingand you still kind of see, I
feel like this was the yearexactly where you're seeing way
less black history month stuff,and I know firsthand from
experience.
I would pitch a bunch of storiesand usually february is like an
easy month, like we're doingtoo many interviews, and it was
(49:11):
interesting how many peoplestill turn down our stories.
Um, you know, I'm very openabout the fact that a lot of my
friends are journalists and sowe're still talking about
everything, and I have friendswho would pitch stories to their
editors that they wanted to doand had them turned down, and so
it's like, well, this is blackhistory, mom, we're not telling
these stories now.
(49:31):
When are we going to do this?
So I think there's thatfrustration both outside and
inside the newsroom.
And to go back to yourstatement of us being so
disrespected, it's almost as ifit doesn't matter, like they
hired a ton of Black reporters,you know, after the whole George
Floyd thing, black Lives Matterprotests and things like that,
(49:52):
and then over the past few yearsthey've just systematically
laid them off or closed thosesections.
So I'm definitely with you guyson a lot of this.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
Yeah, yeah, because you got to keep the candle lit
on a lot of things that's goingon and not just focus on the
foolishness, and you know youknow like you've been exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
You've been working all day, you're dealing with
other issues of racism in yourown community, and now I feel
like so much of the news puts iton you to make change.
I don't want to do somethingelse.
I'm sorry I don't got home, Idon't work all day.
I got to take care of this babyand now y'all want me to make
changes in systems that I didn'teven design.
(50:36):
So I think there's also alatent frustration with people
who, for the most part, are justkind of corralled through these
systems, but then they'reexpected to change them, but
then when they start to getinvolved, they're ignored.
So it's just a very unfairsituation.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Regular black people stuff, stuff we've been dealing
with since the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Before I really let you wrap, because I know you got
to get back to the little one.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
I'm free for the night.
I'm about to go watch someNetflix.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
You still got to get back to that.
You need your time.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
What.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
I wanted you to do was just let everybody know
where they can reach you at andyour handles and all.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, for sure, I would say.
The best way to keep in touchwith us is on Instagram.
We post about a lot of thedifferent work that our clients
are doing.
For example, we have NationalBlack Authors Day, may 4th.
Um last year that was our firstyear and it was huge, so it was
.
It was like I'll be back on theshow um, nice, it's just getting
(51:41):
huge, like there were all theseblack authors posting about
their books.
So, yeah, you can look for uson instagram at M-A-N-O-N media,
m-e-p-i-a, and that's just tosee everything that we're doing,
whether you want to be a partof this work or you just want to
just have your spirit uplifteda little bit, and you know you
(52:03):
always got an open invite here.
I appreciate that, but wheny'all want to ask me about crazy
people again, I don appreciatethat.
Speaker 3 (52:10):
for when y'all want to ask me about crazy people
again.
Speaker 1 (52:13):
We didn't really ask you about crazy people.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
We could throw some crazy people out, See now I'm
worried for next time I'm goingto need a glass of wine with me
for next time yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
And by the time you come back it might get a lot
deeper.
Yeah right, we got a lot ofnuts in our community names
added to that list.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
We got a lot of nuts in our community.
Man, we could talk about thatand outside the community,
definitely outside the community.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
You need to be able to have these spaces where we
can talk about ourselves, butnot like the white folks, the
white gays.
Well, hey, listen.
Speaker 3 (52:53):
We all come from, you know New of fashioned the show
to say listen, this is the stooptalk, you know.
So, whoever comes, on the showwelcome to the stoop.
This is what we're going totalk about.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
Everything all right we got, the shop we got the
stoop, you know I mean.
Speaker 3 (53:06):
So that's how it works, all right.
So we thank you once again.
Tiana Manning, thank you.
We really appreciate everythingthat you do for us.
You know, I mean in terms ofSending us the right people to
talk to.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Let's get them out there.
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
Listen.
If 16 people listen to thatepisode, then that's 16 people
that hopefully Gain somethingout of it.
That's how it works, alright,so I'm going to give us our
handles Away real quick alrightpeople to hopefully gain
something out of it.
You know what I mean.
I believe that that's how itworks.
That's how it works All right.
So I'm going to give us ourhandles away real quick.
All right, check this out.
The Only One Mike podcast isavailable on all platforms to
stream your podcast on.
Also, check out our Only OneMike podcast YouTube channel to
(53:43):
catch up on the past and currentepisodes, and please don't
forget to rate the show andsubscribe.
You can catch us on Instagramand x slash, twitter at the
OnlyOneMikeP1, facebook andLinkedIn at the
OnlyOneMikePodcast.
You can email us attheonlyonemike00 at gmailcom or
call us at 302-367-7219 to haveyour comments or questions
(54:06):
played on the show.
We thank you, the audience, onceagain for your time.
We thank everybody here fortheir time.
Tiana, thank you once again,and we encourage you, please, to
speak your truth quietly andclearly and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant,because they too, have their
story to tell.
So until next time, please keepin mind.
Before I go, I wanted to saythis you know, condolences to
(54:29):
everybody that was was shot outthere in philly during their um
e celebration.
You know, gotta get better withthis stuff, folks.
So check this out.
Until next time.
Please keep in mind that wenever had to run from the klu
klux klan, so we shouldn't haveto run from a black man.
Peace, tiana.
Thanks again, thanks againpeace.
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