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click to enlarge COURTESY PHOTO Taylor Tiamoyo Harris, who recently left the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, wants St. Louis media outlets to do better.

Every month, week, day and time of the year is the time to critique St. Louis media outlets on their coverage of Black people and retention of Black reporters and newsmakers. I’ll take Black History Month though. This may be the only time my opinion is deemed valid or newsworthy. Buy. Eat. Support Black-owned businesses. 

Yes,I must sheepishly admit my shopping habit is fueled by themed sales in February, capitalizing on Black plight and perseverance. And yes, repost, like, share, snap or clap for all content celebrating contributions to American society by Black people. I’ll continue to. It’s deserved and overdue, every time. But I think we can do better. After all, coverage of Black lives and culture seems to be quite lucrative for St. Louis media outlets. 

Certainly, we can respect and value the backs of those from whom we benefit. 

This is blunt and forthright. I fear it may even come across as gauche. Forgive the staccato. First-person writing isn’t my forte, but a lack of tact is a necessary sacrifice considering the subject at hand. I only have a few weeks left for Black History Month anyways. 

Let me continue. The tenacity of Linda Lockhart is what I personally admire. Linda and I are both Black women, and now former reporters from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But Linda has excelled as a reporter, editor, news executive and every other position in between in several St. Louis and Midwest newsrooms in her notable 40-plus-year career.What better way to end Black History month than paying respect to a Living Legend? I sat in the audience February 1 as Linda was inducted in the St. Louis Media History Foundation’s Hall of Fame, rightfully so.

Days after I moved to St. Louis in 2019 at age 25 to take a job with the Post-Dispatch, it was Linda who spotted me walking home from a meeting for Black journalists. She informed me she was driving me home, but not before an impromptu tour of the city. I happily obliged. 

Her warmth and reassurance was needed in order for me to acclimate myself to a new city through a role that branded me a devil’s advocate, nuisance and skeptic. Quintessential titles I considered a badge of honor as a pursuer of justice. 

Often, we discussed the nuanced tasks of fairly and accurately portraying Black people that did not exploit. How best to address headlines, quotes, pictures and irrelevant facts that unnecessarily depicted Black people in a negative light. Diplomatic, but not docile. This was advocacy simply for integrity. It spanned beyond the Post-Dispatch newsroom, and thankfully some battles were won that the general public will never know about. But I often felt my pleas fell on deaf ears. 

The void between the Black community and mainstream St. Louis media outlets will not be filled without acknowledging the predatory and faulty reporting of the past. Or by continuing those practices. Those angry reader and viewer calls and emails are prompted by the irresponsible sensationalization of bleak realities of continuously deprived people. Missing vital data, facts and other context inevitably renders coverage unbalanced. Or maybe it’s both-sidesing of ethical and moral issues, invoking objectivity as a defense, a fallacy in itself centered around a white point of view.

Let’s Cook

Sprinkle parsley on a meal for garnishment. 

That’s how I see St. Louis media news outlets typically address race. Some reporters, even Black, plead a colorblind approach. I don’t have time for the ignorance. 

As human beings, we are all our lived experiences, including reporters. Often, I report and interview people about incidents I also survived. I know others have as well. 

The journalistic methods are objective because the reporter can never be. Marty Baron of the Washington Post referenced this concept from Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, authors of The Elements of Journalism. The journalism process is designed to eradicate those intrinsic biases as much as possible. Inquisitively approach each topic with an open mind. Due diligence in researching, interviewing and understanding the topic from all points of view aids the reporter in this process. Another check and balance arrives through an editing process and engagement with community members. But the system fails,coverage lacks, when there is little diversity in demographics such as race, gender and social class in newsrooms. 

Blackness, race moreso, might be regarded as a social construct, but it’s quite a visible one. 

I probably covered 100 actions, demonstrations and protests in my four years at the Post-Dispatch. That visible social construct grouped me along with the other droves of protesters. As a “print reporter,” only my badge and lanyard divided us. I don’t have a problem admitting at times my press badge was my only shield from harm. 

My shield upended me to approach protesters of all races and backgrounds, police and whoever was willing to simply have a conversation to permit me to pick their brain. 

St. Louisans who have an appearance, vernacular and cadence that mirrors my own friends and family are not a detriment to me as a reporter who is also a Black woman. I embrace it. I utilize it. I take great pride in the connections and rapport I’ve built with St. Louis leaders, changemakers, troublemakers and community. 

That connection thrives, I believe, because of my love and dedication to the craft of journalism and experience reporting on Black and marginalized communities in Washington, D.C., Dallas, New York and New Jersey.

Or maybe they just like the Southern drawl I let slip every now and then. Who truly knows. 

There is no other Taylor Tiamoyo Harris. But local news leaders should know there are plenty of Black voices within the region of St. Louis capable of telling their own stories. Look for them. If you can’t find them, develop them. Train and listen to them. Or you will lose them. 

Unfortunately, the job simply won’t get done if we only leave it to the heads of white men, the main demographic controlling St. Louis news media. Reluctantly, I rose to the occasion myself, serving as vice president and president of the Black journalism association where I met Linda. In those roles for the St. Louis chapter for the National Association of Black Journalists, I also served as education chair, heading the scholarship program and program director for the high school journalism workshop, serving in my role to increase the pipeline of Black students in journalism. I’m proud to remain a member of the local and national organizations and serve as a mentor to youth from all backgrounds interested in journalism. 

All in the media must play their part — the intern, producer, editor, reporter and anchor. If our role is to fairly and accurately capture society, we must all learn, incorporate historical factors and systemic inequalities that play a role in the communities on and for which we report. Analyze the types of pictures we use, questions we ask, people we choose to interview and voices we highlight. Steadfastly monitor and watch our reliance on single sources, especially government and law enforcement. 

Anything less than is a disservice to the people we expect and plead to tune in, read and subscribe to our content every day. 

I ended my stint at the Post-Dispatch in December 2023. I’m happy to remain in St. Louis. Still learning. Still listening. Still reporting on this region’s clashes and perils of racism and classism that harm our public and personal safety. 

So, let me remind you. Race is not a garnish. It is, in fact, a main ingredient in the stories we cook every day. Our roles as storytellers demand us do better. 

That is a very doable concession. The RFT welcomes concise, well-reasoned essays on topics of local interest. Contact [email protected] if you’ve got something to say.

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