Bay State Banner
Ever want to be a newspaper publisher?
By adamg - 1/15/11 - 7:39 amMel Miller stepping down from day-to-day operations at the Bay State Banner? The Banner is looking for a publisher (free registration required to see ad). Online experience a must.
Bay State Banner publisher gets testy when asked why he didn't endorse anybody for mayor
By adamg - 9/29/09 - 5:55 pmMel Miller says only fools would question his decision not to endorse, in reply to a question from Adam Reilly about the impression it had anything to do with that $200,000 loan Tom Menino got for him.
Ethnic Media and healthy communities
By presspass - 8/30/09 - 2:47 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eI0ayglwZY&feature=channel_page
In the wake of the potential closing of the Bay State Banner Press Pass TV talks to Boston community members and media makers about the vital role that Ethnic and community media plays in creating a healthy community.
Bay State Banner gets its loan
By adamg - 7/23/09 - 5:55 pmBruce Mohl reports the BRA-controlled Boston Local Development Corp. agreed today to give Banner owner Mel Miller a $200,000, two-year loan - at 9% interest. Mohl provides some details of Banner finances and dishes how Tom Menino agreed to give the Banner a loan without ever actually consulting anybody on the non-profit corporation's board.
BRA loan to Bay State Banner: Hush money?
By adamg - 7/16/09 - 11:11 pmThe Globe reports Tom Menino's decided to have the city loan up to $200,000 to investors in the Bay State Banner to help keep the paper going.
The money would come from a fund managed by the BRA. In April, the Banner called for Menino to resign because of the way the BRA was handling redevelopment of a parcel across from Boston Police headquarters - and said "no self-respecting African-American" could vote for him. However, Menino denied using city money to help prop up the Banner was an attempt to stifle criticism:
I will step up any time and help any business in this city. I'm trying to help a business survive. Tell me if that's wrong.
Investors to keep Bay State Banner going
By adamg - 7/16/09 - 6:31 amThe Globe reports that Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree has rounded up 12 individuals and groups to put up enough money to keep the paper going. He didn't name them.
Harvard Law prof to rescue Bay State Banner?
By adamg - 7/13/09 - 7:29 pmAdam Reilly reports on efforts by Charles Ogletree to revive the now defunct Bay State Banner.
Bay State Banner isn't looking to the Web for salvation
By adamg - 7/7/09 - 1:22 pmWhen some newspapers fold up, they try to rebuild on the Web. Don't count on the Bay State Banner, which announced yesterday it's folding up as it tries to find new investors, to do the same. Read the comments last month from Sandra Casagrand, the paper's vice president of marketing, in a discussion on the future of freelancing. Casagrand basically says young people and advertisers made their Internet bed and now they'll have to lie in it.
Bay State Banner suspends publication
By adamg - 7/6/09 - 4:16 pmThe Banner, which serves Boston's black community, announced today it is suspending operations. Publisher Mel Miller's statement:
After careful consideration the Bay State Banner has decided to suspend publication. The severe reduction of advertising during this recession has placed an impossible burden on the resources of the 44 year old weekly newspaper. The Bay State Banner will resume publication only after satisfactory financial arrangements have been completed.
But! It may only be an attempt to interest investors; Miller says it's only for a couple weeks - although one advertiser reported getting back this response to a question about the paper folding:
I'm really sorry to report but the Banner is not publishing after this week's paper. We cannot remain in business in this economic climate and will continue to look for new owners/investors while we are closed so at some point it can reopen and continue on its mission. Until then, there is no Banner. Real bummer – and sorry for the inconvenience.
A blog apology
By adamg - 4/22/09 - 10:08 amLast month, Candelaria Silva decried what she called the Black-on-Black crime of the eradication of Black cultural businesses and institutions in Boston. She ended by fretting about the fate of the Bay State Banner, whose owner has a white wife.
Last night, Silva posted an apology:
... The words I wrote have been running through my mind again and again. If I was the Black wife of a White business owner and someone wrote about what a shame it would be if the business were to fall in my hands because it would no longer be White-owned, there would be a hew and cry. The difference would be that in this case some people might assume that as a Black wife I wasn’t qualified to run whatever White business. In the case of the Bay State Banner, the competency of the White wife would never be a question, or at least not in my mind. ...
