Our Path Forward To 2027

By Brenda H. Andrews
Publisher and Owner
New Journal and Guide

I am pleased to announce that on January 1, 2026 the New Journal and Guide media company launched a 15-month campaign with the intent to reimagine the 126-year-old news business for sustainability.

The campaign, “Who Will Tell Our Story?” is built on expanding digital offerings while honoring the New Journal and Guide’s print storytelling; boosting community engagement; and forging strategic partnerships that compliment our existing deep, historical and empathetic understanding of what audiences deserve from Black-owned media, expressly the New Journal and Guide.

Last month, the CEO of Axios, a news website company, made a declaration that mirrored the sentiments of, I dare say, all of us in the media industry when he said “America’s information ecosystem is badly broken, deeply polluted and increasingly dangerous.”

Large daily and small community and Black-owned newspapers are wrestling with the significant loss of advertising revenue – once the core of print business models such as the NJG. At the same time, circulation has dropped, production expenses continue to rise, and digital competitors dominate the speed of the news cycle.

Small newsrooms operate with limited staff, making it difficult to provide any deep or investigative reporting, as well as offer the rapid updates modern audiences expect.

Reaching younger readers remains a special challenge, especially as these audiences are relying more on digital and social media outlets to receive and consume what is being presented to them as “news,” often shared without factual accountability. A recent study we reported on in the NJG found that most teens surveyed viewed news media as “dishonest.”

Many news outlets also lack the technical infrastructure and training needed to keep up with the changing times.

But it was the devastating assault on the nation’s DEI policies in Trump’s 2025 that carried an additional economic hit for Black-owned media, including the new Journal and Guide. Financial support for Black media, after all, is rooted in fulfilling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. Trump’s unexpected anti-DEI mandates curtailed and influenced federal, state, and local governments, major corporations and businesses, large and small, in their execution of diversity, fairness and equity policies which included advertising with Black-owned media outlets.

Yet, I concur with Axios’ CEO that he felt more confident about the future, even in these trying times.  In an interview, he said, “I actually go into next year probably the most bullish I’ve been for high end media in five years.”

Likewise, for me as it became increasingly clear to me that if the New Journal and Guide were to survive the “post news” era and Donald Trump’s anti-media assaults, there would have to be a major pushback and a new approach that would combine our historic mission-driven public service to the African-American community with our revenue-generating enterprise. Only then would we ensure editorial independence, community accountability, and long-term sustainability.

Thus evolved the 15-Month Campaign that began January 1, 2026 and continues to March 15, 2027.

The beginning and end dates are significant as  the imagery of a new year offers hope for a new beginning. The end date, March 15, 2027 is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the first Black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal in New York. It was on March 15, 1827 that Publishers John Russworm and Rev. Samuel Cornish laid out the mission of the Black Press: “For too long others have spoken for us; now we wish to plead our own cause.”

That mission endures.

Our campaign, “Who Will Tell Our Story?” is being developed to ensure that on March 15, 2027  the New Journal and Guide is stronger in its role as a recorder of Black history, a storyteller of diverse voices, and an advocate for community self-empowerment.

Overall, I am pleased with the New Journal and Guide’s work in 2025. Despite the odds, we created measurable evidence of our vital mission and our purpose as we continued to publish a weekly print and digital newspaper edition, began a podcast, sponsored a major community event to honor citizens, donated time, talent and money to community events. Significantly, we introduced AI technology to enhance our newsroom production. New and expanded plans are being developed for 2026. We are still building bricks without straw. (Exodus 5:7-19)

The New Journal and Guide is not a trend – it is a tradition. Rooted in Black resilience and innovation, our advocacy mission is driven with enterprise to preserve autonomy and build generational strength. We are not a charity nor a non-profit; yet we place supreme value on our responsibility to serve as a beacon of light and a guide to our community, as our founding Publisher P.B. Young, Sr. instituted.

And so, we welcome 2026 with its promises. We remain committed to amplifying African-American and diverse voices, committed to building civic engagement and advocacy, and committed to enhancing the lives of our New Journal and Guide family and community of support. This is the legacy that has sustained us for six generations of families, 13 decades, and 126 years.

You’ll hear more about our 15-month campaign, and I invite you now to help us make March 15, 2027 a very special anniversary in the overall history of Black America and the New Journal and Guide.

Thank you for your continuing support.