My Day
By Dr. J. Ester Davis
The Dallas Morning Newspaper is now in reset, recovery model, and gone. The sale of The Dallas Morning News to the Hearst Corporation Media Conglomerate was completed and announced to the global public recently. The rumors had strong circulation, especially after their home office on the west side of Downtown Dallas was vacated and sold.
So, why does this matter? The history of Downtown Dallas is a major part of this playbook. Briefly, and when I have more time, there was a ‘major league force’ in my young adult Dallas life. Her name was Mable Chandler. Chandler was a celebrated, brilliant educator, Superintendent of Sunday School at Greater New Zion Baptist Church, where every Sunday morning, I had to meet her promptly at 9:15 AM as the musician for the Sunday School. I said ‘promptly! Chandler incorporated the Sunday School lesson with the history of blacks in America. She often talked about ‘Frog Town’ in Dallas and the property black families owned on Elm Street in Downtown Dallas.
Sidebar: Now, this history is not factually recorded on or in any accounting of Dallas. Note my email address, where I will give you the oldest churches in South Dallas for a possible ‘true grit’ spoken word.
So, why does this matter? History Matters! Number one is access. The 145-year-old Dallas Morning News was located close to the African American, South, and West Dallas communities. The largest and most saturated target audiences were the Dallas communities. In ‘big business everywhere,’ it is the community, which equates to people and then money. These audiences (community numbers) were South Dallas and West Dallas. Having the Dallas newspaper close to South Dallas gave us access to the editorial board. I can remember being there on three(3)occasions (compliments of Edna Pemberton primarily), concerning and on behalf of the black community. And I am happy to say those visits were successful and are now etched in Dallas History. The Dallas Morning News had close ties to the community. It was family-owned for the lion’s share of its tenure.
What else matters? Dallas is unique in that there are several African American family-owned newspapers with credible tenure. Financial support of these businesses is what matters because there is so much history among us that we have not covered. If African Americans paid for ads in our papers and paid for subscriptions….that alone would promote African American businesses to higher ground. In addition, the illusion that we amplify the most is that ‘people do not read anymore’. That is a falsehood propelled by more cell phone ads. My thoughts are that the younger generation may not read or\ cannot read, but America’s population of older Americans records that we read.
And finally, the sale of the Dallas Morning News to Hearst Corporation has a boatload of wonder.
While there is a slate of mergers, buyouts, et cetera all across our great nation, there is consumer welfare first, and sometimes, despite the cost, it just does not fit. There is the observation that Dallas News Corporation will become a private company and its shares will no longer trade on Nasdaq.
Esterdavis2000@gmail.com
