Wilson II, Clint C. Black Journalists in Paradox: Historical Perspectives and Current Dilemmas. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Clint C. Wilson II is Associate Dean of the Howard University School of Communications. He co-authored Minorities and Media; Racial Diversity and the End of Mass Communitation. He has also held faculty and admministrative positions at the University of Southern California, California State University, and Los Angeles University. Wilson II holds an A. A. degree in Jornalism from Los Angeles City College, the B. A. degree in journalism and public relations from California State University, Los Angeles, and the M. A. in jounalism from the University of Southern California. He earned the doctorate in higher education administration from USC. Wilson II has written extensively on the relationship between people of color and general audience media. His scholarly work has been published in such periodicals as Journalism Educator, Columbia Jounalism Review, Quill and Change. As a professional journalist, Willson II has been a reporter or editor with various news organizations including the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Pasadena Star-News, St. Petersburg Times and the Los Angeles Sentinel.

Clint C. Wilson II offers a comprehensive study of the historical heritage and current role of African-American jounalists in both the Black press and mainstream media. He outlines the historical development of black communicaions from pre-slave trade Africa to the 1990s. Wilson presents a series of chronological chapters which demonstrate the transition from pulpit to press in the 1800s, explore the development of Black media through the civil rights protests of the 1960s, and focus on a paradoxical world that many Black jornalists lived in. They were living during the time of integration an at the same time working for white-owned media. In additon, Wilson II shows how Black journalists struggled at the beginning to find unity while facing additional struggles of being heard. Since Black jounalists were restricted from using existing media, many opted to create their own. The Black press eventually fell due to the lack of direction, economic support, and the services that were not offered to them.

During the time of integration, Black journalists were coming in the newsrooms with different cultural perspectives along with college degrees, but even thier education was not warranted; their perspectives were unwanted and unappreciated. Very few African Americans could get the job of editor, executive editor, news director, news manager, or news producer. White males held the overwhelming majority of such positions. Executive and middle management level news people shared the assessment of news from the perspective of the audience. It was thier role to evaluate the various stories turned by reporters (Wilson II 121). The questions they asked of a story were: "Will this story serve to inform, entertain, or benefit our audience? and "Is this a story our audience wants to know about?" (Wilson II 121-123). Wilson II then evaluates newsroom dynamics and explores "the illusion of inclusion" which he feels characterizes the situation of many Black journalists today.

"Compounding the paradox is the fact that the personal economic fortunes of Black journalists are tied to the practice of thier craft in organizations that, by thier very nature, limit the range of their expression" (Wilson II xiii). In other words, the mainstream media was more lucrative to work. However, the main question that this book tries to answer is the question, "Am I a journalist first, who happens to be Black, or am I a Black person first, who happens to be a journalist?" (Wilson II xiii). The author begins to answer this question by giving a historical perspective on the issues at hand. Being familiar with the past, a person must also know how he or she arrived to the present. Besides writing about Black journalists and their hardships, the author also presents many Black Americans who sought out different occupations and were equally disappointed with the lack of progress integration was doing.

Subsequent chapters address the current situation faced by Black journalists. Here Willson II assesses the impact of the Kerner Commission Report of 1968 which increased the hiring of Blacks in the mainstream press. "When the Kerner Report was published, most estimates placed African-American journalists at less then half of 1 percent of the mainstream journalistic work force" (Wilson II 103). The Kerner Commission requested training programs for high school and college students. ".... the Kerner Commisssion also challenged traditonal journalism education programs in colleges and universities to do thier share in correcting the racial inequities in American newsrooms" (Wilson II 105). In 1978, Blacks held approximately 900 newsroom jobs out of 43,000. As the years past, the percentage of Blacks in newsroom jobs increased (Wilson II 110). Another important step by Kerner Commission was to help Blacks advance into decision making and executive level positions.

Although Wilson II does not give the history of the Black press, he makes sure to include information on many Black journalists who have contributed greatly to the rich history of black news communication in this nation. The end of the book offers suggestions on how African-American journalists may profitably direct their abilities and creative talents in the direction of ethnic media communications while at the same time gain professional fulfillment that is unavailable to them through the mainstream organizations. For instance, Wilson II writes that African Americans must continue to develop their own mass communication systems. "The Black newspaper press must be revitalized, enhanced, and supported. Also, newly developed communicatons technologies should be utilized to tap a young Black generation whose media use habits will differ substantially from their parents" (Wilson II 168).

An important contributin to the study of journalism, Wilson's work offers new insights into the historical roots and current experiences of African-American journalists. The reader really gets a lot of knowledge about African-American journalists because Wilson II did a grat job of presenting their struggles and achievements.

By Catherine Sobolewski (Edited by Hamest Tarkhanyan)