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Kansas City's Black-focused media outlets are teaming up to better serve their communities

Three men sitting around a table inside a radio studio sit at microphones. The man on the left is gesturing and talking at his microphone.
Carlos Moreno
/
KCUR 89.3
From left: Jason Joseph, Ryan Sorrell and Carlos Nelson, Sr. talk about Black-owned media organizations collaborating in the metro.

Kansas City's longest-operating Black newspaper, The Call, is partnering with other Black-focused media organizations like the Kansas City Defender and Cascade Media Group to diversify voices and increase digital engagement.

The Call newspaper is celebrating 104 years in Kansas City, which is impressive considering the state of the newspaper industry and lack of publications hyper-focused on Black communities.

But with each added year comes a need to adapt and modernize how content is delivered. The Call is doing just that through a new partnership with multiple Black-owned media organizations and columnists in the region.

The Kansas City Defender, founded by Ryan Sorrell, and Cascade Media Group, founded by Carlos Nelson Sr., will be among the partnership to share content across platforms

"Our readership is a little different than Ryan's. It's also a little different than Carlos. And if we could get those different voices out to the community as a whole it helps us all together," says Jason Joseph, operations manager for the Call.

Ryan Sorrell, founder of The Kansas City Defender, called the partnership "revolutionary."

"Part of the reason that we started the Defender was because over 95% of counties in the United States don't have access to Black news outlets," Sorrell said. "And so for us to be able to enter into relationship with Black news organizations that have been doing this for a very long time in Kansas City was very important to us."

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