The Journey from "Just Us" to Some "Justice": Ideology and Advocacy, the New York Amsterdam News, and the Central Park Jogger Story

In its coverage of the Central Park Five case of 1989, the legacy black press newspaper the New York Amsterdam News carried out its historic mission of protecting the civil rights of the black community. In so doing it recast the narrative established by the mainstream press, even as it also performed the same kind of ideological work as the mainstream press. This case study about the reporting conventions of a legacy black press newspaper reveals insights into the reporting conventions of these advocacy-minded publications, which have represented the voices of marginalized black communities as far back as 1827's Freedom's Journal.