Uncovering Race and Racism in America’s Newsrooms 

Left of Black Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by veteran journalist Amy Alexander, the author of Uncovering Race: A Black Journalist’s Story of Reporting and Reinvention (Beacon Press). Alexander, who has worked at the Miami Herald, Boston Globe, National Public Radio (NPR) and Africana.com, shares her inspirations and reasons for writing her book, and highlights the importance of a diverse newsroom.  Neal and Alexander also discuss the ways internet culture and social media have impacted quality journalism and they share the triumphs and pitfalls of the writer-editors relationship.  Alexander uses compelling personal stories to illustrate the challenges she faced as a journalist.  

Later, Neal is joined in the Left of Black Studios at Duke University by British filmmaker John Akomfrah.   A founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective, Akomfrah’s films include Handsworth’s Song (1987), Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993),  The Last Angel of History (1996), Urban Soul (2004), which features Neal as a commentator, and The Nine Muses (2010).  Neal and Akomfrah discuss the implications of migration across the Black Diaspora, the Black Cultural Studies movement and go in depth about the contributions of political leaders Malcolm X and Britain’s Michael X’s as critical thinkers.  

Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.