Media in Colorado and across the country has a long history of harming communities of color. In the 19th and 20th centuries, newspaper reporters sometimes used racist language or reported crime stories in a way that assumed the guilt of people of color.

Even in the 21st century, that’s still happening. When Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd in the summer of 2020, conversations around racism in media came to a head. Some outlets had been quick to publish a law enforcement account of what happened, which later proved to be a gross misrepresentation of Floyd’s death. When a citizen video of the murder circulated online and in the news, some questioned why a graphic depiction was necessary to bring justice for Floyd. Others likened it to photos of lynchings, and worried the video’s pervasiveness only served to retraumatize Black people.

A group of Colorado journalists and community members of color have been working to understand and correct systemic harm of traditional local media here. In 2019, a group of local organizations including Free Press, Colorado Media Project and the Colorado News Collaborative launched a project that is now known as The Voices Initiative. They’ve conducted separate gatherings between journalists and Black and Latinx community members to collect perspectives on racism in local media, and recommendations to better serve those communities going forward.