E109: Celebrating 60 years at the Washington Informer

Rebecca Snyder sits down with Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of The Washington Informer, to celebrate the newspaper’s incredible 60-year legacy. Denise shares stories about the paper’s history, its impact on the community and the vision that has guided it for six decades. Join us as we honor this milestone and the power of community journalism!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and introduction
• 5:12 The legacy of The Washington Informer
• 15:30 Challenges and triumphs in journalism
• 27:45 The impact of black press on communities
• 40:20 The future of The Washington Informer

Transcript

0:01

I'm excited to have in the studio today, Denise Rolarch Barnes, the publisher of The Washington Informer. So welcome to the program, Denise. thank you. I really appreciate this opportunity to spend some time with you. Well, and it's always fun to spend time with you and especially around a celebratory aspect. So the paper and the news media organization has a really special anniversary that you're going to celebrate soon. tell us, tell us more about first. We'll take a step back. Tell us about the Washington Informer because that, that publication is in your blood. It's been around for a long time. Well, you you almost said it. You almost said it in just a couple of words when you went from the newspaper to the news media organization, because that's where we are. In 1964, my father, late Dr. Calvin Rolarch, and his wife, my stepmother Wilhelmina Rolarch, co-founded the Washington Informer here in Washington, D.C. And for many who may remember D.C. history, this was all during the time of the 5-4 Home Rule. you know, we're still in the middle of that fight. We're still there. But it was important for him at that time to establish a newspaper. We had others in the city, but a lot of them dealt with entertainment and sort of social issues, targeting the African-American community. But they were more focused on the politics and the economics of the city and what people were doing to fight the powers that be. that wanted to keep DC sort of a non-voting jurisdiction that didn't have control over its own resources, couldn't create its own laws, all of that. that's how the Washington, that was the climate within which the Washington Informer was established. And my dad stayed very, very active with the newspaper. Many may know that my stepmother went on, she was an attorney, but she went on to become the council member for award aid in DC where she served for 16 years. time he started the United Black Washington Informer, then later on started the United Black Fund, which is an organization that supported nonprofit organizations in the DC region, DC, Maryland, Virginia. And so the paper sort of laid language, know, sort of language for a while until I went to Hampton, came home to DC, went to Howard and Next thing I know, I'm learning journalism during the day and publishing a newspaper in the evenings, afternoons and evenings. And went on to law school and really discovered my passion for the work when I became the editor of the law school newspaper. I was doing that during the day, going to law school in the day, but still running to get the newspaper done, you know, as well. So once I left law school, I came and started working for the paper full time. and my dad was always there to support what we were doing, but he was growing the UBF. And in 1994, he died. And so that's when I, there's no doubt what I was gonna do. So I decided to take the reins and I've been running the Informer ever since. And we stay pretty much focused on our issues. Again, we leaving. expanded. you know, not only are we focused on the District of Columbia, but now we're in Prince George's County, Montgomery County, parts of Northern Virginia, and even expanding now to Charles County. As you said, news organization. So like all of us in this media, we've transitioned from that. Just, well, we're still publishing a weekly newspaper. Still publishing a weekly newspaper. But we're also, we have our website and our newsletters and our social media pages and a show similar to Five Dubs that we do. I called it our COVID baby. It grew out of COVID. And so here we are still now 60 years later, continuing to keep folks informed. Well, and I think that's so impressive. mean, when you think about sort of how you started in the mid 60s and just sort of a passion for the maybe the social justice issues or highlighting the black community in D.C. that didn't have a voice and honestly still doesn't have a voice because you don't have I mean, I don't want to rub it in, but you still don't have home rules. So it's it is one of those situations, I think, where the news outlets really are. informing and speaking for the community. And so what, when your father was thinking about starting the newspaper, what did he do previously to, and how did he make that leap? Because it's not insignificant. It's difficult to start a weekly newspaper. It's hard to keep it going. So tell me a little bit about kind of how it gelled. and the backdrop that it gelled against. But that's a very interesting story because my father came to DC in 1950, right after he got out of the war. He was in the Korean War and he came to DC because his brother was here. And when his brother got out, they're both from Texarkana, Texas. And so they came to DC and some people think I'm like, what generation Washington are you? I'm a first generation Washington. So anyway, yeah, and so when he came here, he was an insurance salesman, you know, and he did work at the Pentagon for, he used to always say, you know, I was the first black to work on the third floor of the Pentagon. And I never understood what that meant until I studied the history of the Pentagon and that, know, the jobs that black people got when they worked at the Pentagon were always, you know, either, you know, maintenance or, you know, jobs that took them in the lower floors. never, the higher the floors, the more the higher positions. So we weren't in those positions. And so that's what he meant when he would say, you know, he got to the third floor. And, but, you know, he also sold insurance and, you know, he lived, he and my mother, my mother came here actually from Detroit. Michigan and but their marriage didn't last long. I mean long enough to produce me and then that was that that ended. But around that time he also started working for a newspaper called the New Observer. Anybody that knows the stories about you know U Street that was sort of the the black business corridor the forget what they called it but the Black Wall Street of D.C. So all the, not only the entertainment outlets, the Howard Theater and all the places where people could go for entertainment, it's also where the Black lawyers were, the Black accountants, the Black, all Black professionals were sort of all aligned in that area on the street, including my stepmother, whose law office was at 9th and U. And so it seems they met at a funeral director's picnic. You Good. didn't, people meet in all different places, I love that. do. do. Funeral directors do have to get together and socialize from time to time. And of course, the lawyer was there. mean, it's a great place for lawyers to be. because he was working with the New Observer newspaper, which was, like I said, more or less a social publication. But, you know, he was the managing editor. So I think that was his forte into some of the politics of the city. And so they met there and I think evidently things clicked and they had the same kind of passion about the city. And I guess he said, you know, I'd love to start a newspaper. She actually wanted to start a newspaper. It was her idea, but he did it and she supported it. so, yeah, $500, they got the first publication. I don't know if you remember the Times Crescent newspaper in La Plata. No, I don't recall that one. Okay. there was a judge there who owned the Times Crescent and it was a newspaper as well as a printing press. And so the son, Orville Davis, started running the newspaper component and they contracted out printing. So I don't know how my father and I don't know how they connected, but they printed our paper for years. And yes, I mean, before internet, I went from DC to La Plata at least four times a week, sometimes twice a day. Actually, yeah, when you think about sort of getting it and putting it on newsstands and getting the pages down, that's a lot. You're a hearty one for sure. yeah. And still going to school and in a car that just didn't quite want to make it all the time. So it was cool. that's, and this is so true of many family businesses, but I think also I'm thinking of family owned newspaper businesses or news organizations. Like there is such dedication, there's such commitment to the community. And so tell me a little bit about the effect of the publication on the community. Cause I'm thinking, you you're in the mid sixties, there's a lot of change going on. And then, slowly the community kind of goes out in a diaspora. Once there's not as much redlining, once there's more economic opportunity, know, those bastions of black businesses and those sort of black main streets kind of break up a little bit. So I want to first understand sort of what the publication meant to the community in those starting times, and then how you shifted and changed as the community kind of went out. to Prince George's, to Montgomery, to other parts of DC and Northern Virginia. Right, right. Well, you know, we always again, going back to the home rule piece and the voting rights, you know, when the paper started, we didn't have elected officials. We couldn't vote for president of the United States here in the district. So a lot of the papers focus was along with the dailies because there was the daily news, the Washington Post, the Washington Star, you know, all these daily newspapers we had in D.C. So we were all sort of zeroing in on changing the political landscape of the city. And then of course, Walter Washington was appointed mayor, then became our first elected mayor. Then Marion Barry came in and became mayor. And a lot of the issues that existed prior to the assassination of Dr. King exploded when he was killed in DC. So we all talk about what my dad used to call the rebellion. He didn't like the word riots. Mm-hmm. rebellion and just how the city pretty much fell apart after that. Interestingly enough, our paper was located in downtown DC in Chinatown. We were at 7th and G streets Northwest. And so as a kid growing up, I knew all the Chinese business owners on one end. I knew all the other mainstream business owners that were down on the other end as I would traverse through the neighborhood. It was my playground. So I was doing work and all of that. yeah, after the after the rebellion in 68, probably the 70, that's when folks started moving out. You know, like you said, they dispersed and most of. You know, district residents, you know, particularly if they work for the district government ended up in Prince George's County, which, you know, made it one of the richest black counties in the country. and there's a good government DC job. But we were still dealing with local politics. I think he, and then of course my stepmother was on the council. So he had a great relationship with them. And also just trying to, using the newspaper as a platform to help grow. or sustain, support some of the changes that were happening in the city. Helping to, know, nonprofit organizations, small ones, regardless of race, could not participate in the combined federal campaign. You know, they weren't getting money because of, you know, just having, not having a lot of legal things in place. So that's why UBF was created to support, you know, organizations that have really grown large today. But the newspaper actually helped to tell those stories. Yeah. so it sort of is finding the bright spots in the community, bringing them, highlighting them and helping them grow. Right. And helping them grow from a marketing standpoint, PR standpoint, and financial. Because, you know, they got, they were funded through United Black Fund. So that really, was, and that work really did help the newspaper as well. Because when you say, you know, you have 100 and some odd organizations now. that are serving the community in all kinds of ways, from feeding programs to school programs, all kinds of things, drug programs, housing programs, what have you. And they're featured in the publication. That meant that that helped to grow the newspaper. We were still struggling because we weren't getting advertising. And that's, I feel like that's a through line for so many small independent newspapers. So, so what, what was kind of, is it just like just dollars or what was holding, holding back the advertising support? You know folks again, you have a look at the DC was saturated with media it was saturated and You know, my father was a racism that period he would just cut to the chase but in my opinion that coupled with the Saturation of media at the time. I remember one year I pulled together all of the publishers at the black owned media print media in DC There were 12. Yes, 12 of us. And none of us were getting much advertising, you know, with the Afro being the oldest, you know. But, you know, it was just a hard sell to let people. remember once, I don't know if you remember Hex, never heard of Hex department store. I went in there once and talked to the, because they could advertise locally and I talked to the. gentleman about doing some advertising with us and he said, you know, nobody reads your newspaper. And I'm like, how do you know that? So he, went out to the receptionist area. He asked his receptionist who happened to be a black woman, do you read this newspaper? That was his test. And of course, not of course, but She did read it, right? Darn, no, she was an Afro reader or she just wasn't a newspaper person? That was my question to her. What newspapers do you read? She said none. So I looked back at him and said, well, you know, we both have work to do. So we did finally get Hex. It took a little work. Never got Woody's, never got into the others, but we did get the Hex company. feel like you are a scrappy individual. I, and, and obviously, you know, you have a lot of, a lot of talents. You went to, Hampton. and so tell me about coming back to the paper, because it sounds like you came back to a lot, going to law school, running the paper, caring for older, older family members. What, what were you thinking when you came back? how much I enjoyed it. You know, I mean, I was able, first of all, my father didn't believe in paying writers. And I told him, which I understood we didn't have the money, but I told him, I said, you didn't spend money for me to go to college to get a journalism degree so that somebody out there would not pay me. So we, got to change this, right? And so I found little bits of money, but I found writers, most of my peers, writers, photographers, this became like a club, you know, and every week we would get together, we'd try to figure out, you know, who was the smartest to come up with the best stories, who was the most creative to come up with the best photographs, who was, you know, had the most gas to make sure that we could get the papers out to the locations that we wanted to distribute them to. And then using my dad to make connections with people that he used to tell me. when you call people use my name because they don't know you, they won't answer the phone for you. And he was right, they wouldn't. But they would if I used his name. And so we just worked really, we worked really hard, but it was, it was still really tough. And, you know, my, my dad just, I always said he was our, he was our banker. He loaned us money all the time, you know, just to make sure that I could pay people where I could pay the printer. I loved Orville and those folks down there at La Plata because they were struggling, we were struggling, but none of us wanted to give up on this. Well, really feels like you were all in it together. Like it just sounds like a strong time of camaraderie and sort of, you know, working for the community. Exactly, exactly. And not long after my father passed, there was a moment when I said, this isn't going to work. I can't do it. couldn't pay anybody, including, I had a long argument with a bill collector and it got so heated. We were hollering at each other on the phone. I don't even know why I was still on the phone, but I couldn't hang up on her because that would have made it worse. So finally she said to me, I said to her, I said, you I don't know, we got to a point in the conversation when she understood my challenge. And she said, you know, I'm not, this is not personal and I know what you're going through. And I'm just, let's just end this conversation now and I'll call you in a couple of weeks and we'll see where you are. Yeah. It was fantastic. I didn't know this woman. don't know where she was calling from, but I just know I couldn't pay her. I couldn't pay that bill, whatever the bill was. And so I got an offer. I've told this story a lot of times. I know you know Don King, the boxing promoter, who wanted to buy some black newspapers. And he made an offer. Or I went to him to see if he would be willing to buy ours. And you know, this went back and forth and we were almost there and until he told me, said, you know, Denise, if I body informer, the first thing I'm going to do is change the name. Yeah, that was my, your, your response was, my response was no. Well, what was he gonna change it to? I don't know, but he didn't like the name Informer. He didn't like that. He just thought it was, I don't know, you know, that people wouldn't trust it or that we were some, you know, I don't know what he thought. I can't put words in his mouth, but he didn't like it. And I said to myself, I can't let this happen. I can't. So, you know, I had to drop to my knees at that point and say, you know, I need help from afar. Please help me. And all of a sudden, you know, well, not all of a sudden, it took a lot of work. It took a lot of work building a new team, trying to make sure that people knew the name. That to me was really important, branding the publication. And so it's been a slow but steady climb uphill since probably 19... since 2000, since 2000, yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you're so smart because, you know, your father is an important man in DC history and his name carries a lot of weight. But, you know, that's only one person. And when you can build the brand of the informer, that that makes a difference. But I think also, you know, just surviving, you know, when when there were a dozen black publishers in in DC and now there's there's probably two or three. I mean, there's not two. I was hoping there was another one there that I just didn't know about. I was going to say. Well, and maybe that'll come up because you have done, I think the 2020s have been kind of a resurgence for Black media with Word in Black. you've been, I don't know if it's fair to call it a founding member, but you've been really active in that arena. Tell us a little bit about kind of that shift to being that news media organization and some of the partnerships that you've been able to contribute to. Well, one that I'm most proud of is the relationship I've been able to develop with MDDC. I say that because, you know, we are a member of several, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which is the association of black-owned newspapers. And, you know, I'm looking at a couple of others that we are. know, members of, but none that I've really been as active and engaged with and have a commitment to be engaged with as NNPA and MDDC. And that's important to me because the more I've been in this business, the more, like you said, I can relate. I think all of us that run smaller publications, you know, we may be in different cities, we may have different markets, we may look differently, we may be male, we may be female, but we're all fighting the same fight. And it's better if we can kind of do it together and collaborate with one another through an association like MDDC than to try to be out there on our own. I don't like that feeling. So that's why I like that. And then of course, you know, everything seems to get born out of something. And the word in black was a birth. that came out of the murder of George Floyd. know, someone had some money in New York and wanted to figure out how they could support Black media. And they called our, I call it our sister paper, but the Amsterdam News, the publisher Eleanor Tatum, who's a second generation publisher of the Amsterdam News. Mm-hmm. She said, well, you can do something with us, but they wanted more. They wanted to do something else. Eleanor and local media association and LMF picked five publications and then that five became 10. And out of that, we created this digital platform called Word in Black. So there are 10 really legacy publications. I'm 60. But most of the publications are much older than the Informer, including the Amsterdam News, the Afro, which is 130-some years old now. There's another publication, Atlanta Voice. think there's 60. There's Houston Defender, which is 95. Yeah, so they're all, you know, and most of us are second-generation publishers. That's amazing. It really is. And, you know, I'm thinking just so much of news media right now is how you can find your audience where they are. so having that digital platform and working together to present news, because you're all small operations, like there there is no like massive black publisher out there. You know, so you're all kind of covering your neck of the woods. But when you come together, It creates a platform that you can share content where, and I think, you know, people move around a lot more than they used to. And so people want to know what's going on because they have family, they have friends, they've lived in other places as well. And social media has connected us a lot, know, something that happens in another place and it goes viral because people all over are reading and listening and paying attention to that. So that's why we exist on those platforms as well to try to keep the news straight because it's not always, you know, accurate, you know. But yeah, all of that, I think, has helped to make the world a lot smaller. Mm-hmm. and connect us a lot more. Same word in black, you you use the term we speak for, but we tend to use the term, we amplify the voices, because our voices, people are doing and saying a whole lot of stuff, positive, negative, it's a whole lot going on, but nobody's hearing them. So that's why we exist. You know, I think media exists to let people know that, to amplify. what communities are saying about the issues that are impacting them. So I've stopped using the voice of because journalism told me we're not supposed to have a voice except on our editorial pages. No, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I also feel like having more voices and different voices gives you a fuller picture of any particular incident or any times. It's not just one perspective, it's all of them. So I like that to amplify. Yeah, I might just share one thing I was talking to me at an editorial meeting a few minutes ago, but I looked at a statement that the White House press secretary state, you know about the process now of who they're going to let into or exclude, you know, these White House news conferences. So it's a photograph of all East Indian, mostly East Indian journalists that are in this room. And I thought about that because when they excluded, and I'm calling people out, but when they excluded AP from participating, a reporter from AP said, now that we're not there, people, journalists will be coming in that won't ask the hard questions. I found that offensive, as if they're the only ones that can ask the hard questions. Well, we should all be asking hard questions. we all do, and we represent community. Of course, I might have a question that you don't think is important, but to my community, it is important. So, you know, if that door is open, gonna be more open to more people, I welcome that, you know, to more media organizations as opposed to the ones that we've been seeing there that have occupied those seats for decades. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think opening it up can have a lot of benefits. Yeah, yeah, if we can just get in, that's all. It's all about getting in access that DEI is the A that's really important in that the access is what we all want is access. Yeah, because you can all you can always a spouse, you know, we want the diversity we want to include. until you actually open the door and say, come on in, that's that access makes all the difference in the world. And so I'm also thinking now you're second generation publisher, but there's a third generation coming up. And I feel like you've been trying to lure your son in. So tell us a little bit. And you also you hosted an MDDC intern. And I know you do a lot. with young journalists. So tell me a little bit about how you're kind of passing on the legacy. Not that you're going anywhere, but that there's a new generation. Rebecca, I am trying. But anyway, yeah, I do have two sons who've grown up in the business and I knew early on I would not do with them what my dad did with me, which was the only place I could work, you know, growing up. But anyway, with them, I wanted them to find their way. You know, this is what you want to do is here for you. And so, you know, both of them work with the paper. One, We gave birth to a millennial facing publication called The Bridge. And my son Lafayette is the publisher of The Bridge. And it just celebrated, it's hard to believe, its 10th anniversary last month. Yeah, yeah. It took him a while to come. had a couple of other people that edited it, but finally he has taken that on. it deals more with local creatives, arts, fashion. you know, sports, you know, sort of non, non. culturally newsy, but not politically or economically newsy, but it's a great publication. And so he's been doing that. And yes, DeMarco, who was our intern from MDDC last summer is still with us. He's still with us. Yeah, as you all know, we're all trying to do more video and that really is his forte. And so he's working with us and we're working with him to try to create more video storytelling for the Informer. And my editor who came to us from the Baltimore Sun, Misha Green, but she was formerly at the Afro. And it is. So, you know, we welcomed her. And so our team has really grown much younger. And You know, I'm either Miss Denise or Aunt Denise, whatever they call me in the office. It's real weird, but you know, we have that tradition where we don't really use first names in our culture. So even though it's okay with me, but it's not with them. It's still jarring though to hear, to be a miss or an auntie sometimes. And you're like, I don't see myself as that, but okay. Yes, we know my godson who is very tech savvy. So he's, you know, working with me as well. So there's a lot of family, a lot of young folks, a lot of Howard graduate students, University of Maryland. So our team is growing, but it's younger. And I think, you know, we still... need direction, but these young folks, I'm really happy because they're coming here telling me one, they definitely want to work for Black Press, two, they definitely want to cover news. A lot of them want to do this social stuff, but no, they definitely want to cover news. They're definitely interested in politics and or economics or whatever or health. And, know, we have a environmental issue. section that we do every week, but they're interested in environment. So I'm pleased. And we've also tried to diversify our team and we had a wonderful young lady, Kayla Benjamin, who came to us from the University of America, I'm sorry, American University, worked with us for a couple of years. so we used to joke because Kayla was our diversity reporter. you That's so funny. know, but she was really her focus was on environmental racism. And that's what she felt and was very comfortable covering. You know, even where we are over here in Southeast, people love their, know, because they knew what her focus was and what the stories were that she wanted to tell. And and they trusted her. And that's the biggest thing, you know, with us. And when I say us, I mean journalists in general. is to gain the trust of the people we're reporting on. Yeah. Well, and it sounds like the work is its own attraction and it's speaking for themselves. So it's speaking for itself. And what a great legacy. mean, to start out with your father wanting to tell the stories of the Black community and amplify those voices and to have that stay constant for 60 years. That's, mean, there's always ups and downs, but you're still here. So tell me how you're going to celebrate, because I know you've got a little celebration coming up. So it took me two years to come up with an idea. I started thinking about this when we turned 58. And I just couldn't figure out, what do you do for a 60th anniversary? To me, it wasn't a major number. 50 is, 75, 100, but 60 is kind of in there somewhere, right? So I finally decided that what I thought I could really embrace was looking at I say black owned and black serving organizations in the DMV that were 60 years or older. So yeah, so we're honoring and that are run by generational family members. That really harkens back to what your dad was doing with highlighting nonprofits. Yeah. So, Lease Florist is a black flower company that is in its third generation. Vince Chili Bowl is in its second generation. Industrial Bank is in its third generation. Lofton's Tailoring Shop, which was started by Cheryl's great grandfather. and went to her grandfather and her father, and now she runs Lofton's, know, because she wants women to know that tailoring shops are for them too, right? And then there is, I don't know, I keep forgetting the name because I didn't go there, but it was a music store in DC that was owned by trying to think this is, this must be the third generation. It's Levi, I don't know why I'm forgetting the name again. Gosh, it'll come to me in a second. But they're not black owned, you know? And when I say the name, everybody's gonna know what I'm talking about. And I feel really bad that I'm having a moment right now. Chuck Levins, Chuck Levins Music Store. And so Chuck Levins was on 14th Street and so many older black Washingtonians that I talked to, when I mentioned Chuck Levins, they all have a story to tell about how the store supported them when they were in music school or taking music, or they brought their child or grandchild there. And Mr. Levins would give them discounts on instruments. And one man said that he just gave his granddaughter. the instrument that she needed in school. And so everybody has positive feelings. Chuck Levins burned down during the riots, but they moved to Wheaton and now the, I believe it's the grandson who is the co-owner of Chuck Levins. And they still have a reputation of supporting schools and children in schools across the region. So, and actually my sons were the ones that told me. you need to call them, they need to be honored. And then the last person is, it's a career. My dad used to always say, had a saying, lawyers beget lawyers and doctors beget doctors. And I used to wonder what does beget mean? And so we're honoring a young man whose father was the president of the DC school board, his grandfather, his uncle, I'm sorry, was the president of the DC school board. His father was... a member of the DC School Board and a teacher. And he is now an educator. He teaches in local public schools. And we don't often see, especially, you know, maybe Black males who are, or males in general, who are following that teaching legacy. And so that's, so we're honoring these six businesses and we're gonna do a conversation. We're gonna have a reception, have this brief kind of, you know, conversation with them about why, what it means to sustain their family business. Same kind of questions you might be asking us, asking me. And then we're gonna have a party. So it's all in one night at the Martin Luther King Library. 28th, yeah. if people are interested in joining you, do they just go to your website? You want to give them the URL? Yes, the website is win60legacy.com. Wonderful. And if they want to just read the news and catch up on what you're doing, it's just washingtoninformer.com, correct? Okay, great. Well, I can't wait to, I mean, you and I won't be here for the next 60th anniversary, the 120th, but I really hope, it sounds like you have set the organization up for success and there's passion and commitment. and strong journalism which will carry it through. So I really, really appreciate you coming to speak with us today. It's been terrific to hear more about how the Informer started and where it's going. And I look forward to talking to you again. Thank you so much, Rebecca. I appreciate the time. All right.