Call and Post: Blood and tradition

By Fernando Venegas Traba (Chile)

One of the main things that the general public, and a pretty respectable amount of journalists thinks about our profession, is that we have to be objective. We should check the facts, organize the information and communicate it to the public. Well, I have never agreed with this point of view, don´t get me wrong, I believe that we must be accurate, that we must pursue the facts to built a good non-fiction narrative that gives an idea of what is going on in our societies, that we must contrast sources,but I don´t think that objectitivity is possible.

Basically because we are always making decisions, when we choose to cover this instead of that, when we choose to use a source over another one, when we took a photo, we use an adjective or even when we decide the headline, we are, at all time, using our own experience and subjectivity. 

This doesn´t mean that we are blind, or we are slaves of our own perceptions, what it means is that we are always, talking from somewhere, from our experience, culture, religion (or non religion), values and even political point of view. When we acknowladge this, we can start to compromise, to take a stand, not to lie, but to be real honest in our approach to reality.

Constance Harper (Associate Publisher/Editor)

This is what I saw in our visit to the Call & Post, a niche newspaper, founded in 1916 by the inventor Garret Morgan, centered in informing the black community of Cleveland, from a black community point of view, and they are blunt honestly in recognizing this.

As you may have deducted, by seeing the photographies and reading the texts at this blog, we are quite a colorful group, and in the day of our visit, the questions and subjects that we rise were pretty direct, most of them not very politically correct in a society like this one (U.S.), but importants and necesaries to understand the culture and the focus of this publication. Racial issues, editorial focus, salaries, subjectivity and objectivity were discuss by our group and a number of the staff at the Call & Post. It was at least refreshing to see the honesty and how up front they were with their answers. They declare themselves as a commit newspaper, interpreting the reality from an african american point of view, because it is necessary, because the history of the USA has been hard with the black community, and is part of their job to give voice and opinion to those, that in many times, has been abused or forgot by the goverment or the society.

Felicia Haney, Journalist C&P

It was really interesting, and certainlly makes sense that in a place like Cleveland, with a population integrated by a 51% african american, the Call & Post is a very important media. With a circulation of 20 thousand, this newspaper reviews al of the topics that this particular community needs to know, and also, the ones that they are interested in.

This paper is made of flesh and spirit, of real truth, not only the one supported by facts, but the one that is achieved when you are clear in your point of view, in your way to see the world. The Call & Post is ink and blood.