Sydney G. Barnes
By Sydney G. Barnes
We sat down with living legend Jerrel W. Jones, a civil rights warrior and unparalleled media pioneer, in celebration of a 60 year long and meaningful career. A Milwaukee native, and recipient of a 2022 honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Cardinal Stritch University, Jones’ largest looming accomplishment is the founding of historical Black newspaper, Milwaukee Courier.
While Jones is modest about his legacy, his 60 years of activism have been integral to the civil rights of Black americans. The impact of Mr. Jones’ work and influence cannot be understated. Through his leadership of the Milwaukee Courier and WNOV, he helped develop multimedia communications industry professionals in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Many within the African-American community have long recognized that the Milwaukee Courier and WNOV give voice to their culture. The Courier went on to earn the prestigious Russurm Award presented by the National Newspaper Association (NNPA).
Given his strong presence in the Black community over the last six decades, he has played a major role in shaping politics and culture. Mr. Jones’ interest in print media came from his mother, Dr. Mary Ellen Strong, who owned the Milwaukee Defender weekly newspaper — the only newspaper “of and by” the African-American community during her time. When asked why it’s important to continue the tradition of Black news by and for Black people Jones passionately expresses how often the majority mainstream media can become clouded in ignorance, both willfully and otherwise.
He noticed how often Black people were the subject of scrutiny in news media, while rarely being the commentators. “We are the news. We are everywhere, in everything.” he declares definitively. “We need to be the ones to tell our stories.”
Jones knew from a young age if he wanted to do something right he’d have to do it himself. As soon as he garnered readers, he used his influence for political campaigns from local offices to the presidency for decades, and shared his insight and perspective with leaders from every business sector and civic and social organization. This attitude is emblematic of his paper’s motto, ‘The newspaper you can trust’. He wanted to impact his community with the plain and simple truth.
Despite maintaining print through the rise of electronic distribution, Jones is not op-posed to the use of techno-logy in his reporting, stating the effect of the internet in news is simply evolution. “We used to paint on rocks.”
Jones embraces a lot about the new age of news media, however he does feel we’ve strayed from core values on a global scale. While frustrations with outlets more for profits than meaningful impact or sharing the truth with the general population are not unfounded, he still has hope for the next generation of young and hungry Black journalists around the country, “We make the world go round. Don’t let them tell you you don’t.”