Commentary: Kerner and the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists

Abstract

African Americans were fewer than 1% of the national media in 1968, leading to the Kerner Commission calling the industry “shockingly backward” with “a White man’s view” of the country. The commission called on media companies to train, hire, and promote Black journalists. Shortly thereafter, in 1969, Fred W. Friendly, a former president of CBS News with a distinguished history in public service broadcasting, was moved by the Kerner Report to establish a fast track program to train Black journalists during the summer at Columbia University. This commentary explains how the program provided African Americans from all walks of life with not only the tools to become journalists, but also a guaranteed job at the end of the summer. The program produced not just qualified reporters, but also stars like the late Michele Clark, Vern Smith, and Geraldo Rivera. Renamed the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists, the program lives on as part of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

Keywords:

• Fred Friendly
• Kerner Commission
• media
• Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists
• race

 

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an award-winning journalist and author. After integrating the University of Georgia, she began her career at the New Yorker and New York Times. She was also a CNN bureau chief in Africa, international correspondent for NPR, and anchor and correspondent for PBS NewsHour.