Champions of Risk
Champions of Risk
Georgia Fort on Changing the Narrative (Season 3 Episode 6)
As an independent journalist and two-time Emmy nominee, Georgia Fort is committed to providing visual stories about race and culture that build equity. She's had plenty of material to work with right here in Minnesota. She was one of two reporters in the courtroom for the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, the former officer who murdered George Floyd. She's also covered the Kim Potter trial, and most recently Amir Locke, who was killed by police in a SWAT raid (happened on the day we recorded this podcast). The murder of George Floyd once again raised the issue of responsible reporting and the need for change. It also shaped Georgia's purpose to help change the narrative in media to include different perspective from the perpetual white lens. Still truth. Different perspective. Perspective mainstream media has often failed to include in its storytelling. Her reporting has been published on CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS affiliates. Georgia also started BLCK Press, an ecosystem for independent journalists to go to be equipped with what they needed to further the quality of their stories. Hear how Georgia got her start, the importance of all narratives being represented, and the opportunities media has to better represent the full story and the communities it serves.
Show Notes:
Georgia Fort website
BLCK Press
Exhibit
Follow Georgia on Instagram
Follow Georgia on Facebook
Hello, I'm Michael W Kithcart, high performance leadership coach and creator of winning your way. Welcome to champions of risk a podcast that highlights ways we tread through uncertainty with courage and confidence and champions those who are committed to making bold visions of reality. My guest today is Georgia Fort. She is a two time Emmy nominated independent journalist who is changing the narrative through visual stories about race and culture that builds equity. She was one of two reporters in the courtroom for the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who murdered George Floyd. Her reporting has been published on CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS affiliate. Most recently, she's produced a short documentary called "George Floyd, It Happened Here" and co-directed and edited the award
winning documentary "Rondo:Beyond the Pavement", which is now available on Amazon Prime. Georgia, also partners with her husband on their nonprofit Fight For Your Dreams. Georgia, welcome to the podcast.
Georgia Fort:Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Michael Kithcart:I was saying earlier, there's gonna be no shortage of topics for us to cover. But let's just start with how did you even get launched into journalism? What would drew you to the profession?
Georgia Fort:That's a great question, I actually started my career in radio. And I think after maybe seven years of being live on the air and doing a lot of entertainment focused work, I just kind of outgrew it. But I loved broadcasting, I loved having conversations with community about issues that were happening. And that affected not only my neighborhood, but you know, the city in the state that I lived in. And so I started to do a lot of self reflection before leaving radio, and asking myself, you know, what, what is it that I want in this next chapter of my life, seven years and radios, you know, I had, I felt like I had a great run. But, you know, post college, and now well into my career, I just, I wanted something that would have more substance. And at the time, I was a single mother. And I also wanted to have a career that could be something that my daughter would aspire to. And nothing is wrong with radio and entertainment gossip. I loved it, you know, the time that I did it, but for me, that just, it wasn't what I wanted anymore. And so I started to explore visual stories. And I, you know, throughout even my radio career had done a lot of on camera interviews with celebrities, a lot of video production and editing for social media and whatnot. And so I pretty much already was equipped with the tools I needed to do visual storytelling. I just needed to understand the format. And so I was in a unique position when I worked in Columbus, Georgia, to go in and shadow a reporter for a few weeks. Even though I wasn't in college, they allowed me to do this because we were a radio and TV partners. And so I shadowed a reporter and I just totally fell in love with the ability to sit down with people and community. Talk about issues that were happening now that affected everyone. And then to be able to share that on the five o'clock news and really make a difference. And so I transitioned, I transitioned into news, it was a faith walk, honestly, but I totally fell in love with telling stories. And there's there's just something healing about sitting down with someone and creating space for them to share what they've been through, or how something's impacted them. And then when you put that out for the public to hear on the receiving end, I feel like a lot of times that can motivate people who are watching to maybe overcome their own adversities.
Michael Kithcart:When you spend time with somebody. This is what just and we're talking about the news here for a minute, right? Like so you get a segment on the news and you spend an hour with somebody and you have to synthesize it down to two minutes. How do you even go about that process and still feel like you're capturing the essence of the story,
Georgia Fort:the most important part about editing in a way that accurately reflects how someone feels, I think is listening. You know, and so when I sit down with people, I really just try to listen, I try to hear them I try to ask the questions that will bring me clarity of what they're truly trying to convey. What is the essence of their message? What is what is it that they are truly trying to get people to understand? And if you approach every conversation with that level of you know, curiosity And, and you go in it with with that intention. I think it makes it easier. And and also, I think that there are tools and tactics I've learned along the way to try to streamline conversations so that you get to the core of it within 30 minutes instead of an hour. Because you know, Michael, the reality of news when I worked in mainstream media, we had to be Live at Five every single day. And it didn't matter what obstacles happened, it didn't matter if your hard drive crashed, it didn't matter. If you got reassigned to breaking news an hour before we were live, whatever the case was at five o'clock, you were live. And so you learn how to be more efficient in your communications with people so that you're not having to sift through an hour of footage that you now have to somehow dwindle down to two minutes. Right. But it is a challenge. And I do think that there in some regards for some specific stories, there's flaws to that format. Because there are some issues that deserve more than two minutes, there are some issues that deserve an entire hour to you know, really be explored and to be investigative. And so, you know, while the news is something people depend on every single day, they can count on it right at five every single day. There's definitely I think, sometimes, you know, there should be some leniency to to break outside of the mold when a story merits so that the public can have a greater understanding of more complex issues.
Michael Kithcart:Yes. And you took that kind of challenge for yourself, right. And as a reporter, you really started covering stories that other people weren't and you were getting recognized. You're a two time Emmy nominated reporter and so what was that period of time like and what was the result of it?
Georgia Fort:So the you're asking about the period of time when I became independent
Michael Kithcart:before that, even because you came back to Minnesota, right from from Georgia, and there were a lot I mean, there's plenty of stories here to cover that. Not everybody does.
Georgia Fort:Yeah, yeah. Well, when I came back to Minnesota, I really wanted to come back to the Twin Cities area. I'm from the Twin Cities area, but I couldn't get hired here. And so I landed with a station in Duluth, Minnesota. And you're right, there was a particular story that I did in Duluth that no one else had really done. And it was shocking to me because it was a really obvious story. The the current chief of police, he's still in the position today. He is a direct descendant of the woman who incited the lynchings 100 years ago. So Irene Tusken falsely accused these four black circus workers of rape. Three of them were lynched. Now her great nephew is the chief of police. And when I was living and working in Duluth, Minnesota it is it were it was rather when the Jeronimo Yanez case was happening and Jeronimo Yanez is the officer who fatally shot Philando Castile. He was found not guilty. And the relevance of that in Duluth, obviously, is not as significant as the relevance of that to the Twin Cities community. But at that time, being a black woman in a predominantly white community. I was curious, how how was the black community responding to this verdict? How did they feel? How is it impacting them? And furthermore, how was Duluth examining their relationship between their police department and communities of color? And so then that's when I discovered that the chief of police was a direct descendant of the woman who incited the triple lynchings. And I felt like, you know, I wanted to hear from him. I wanted to hear what this moment was like for him. While tensions are rising between police departments across the country. Here he is, in this very unique situation with this, this family history and, and so I got him to agree to sit down with me. We did an interview and the story aired and two weeks later, I was terminated, I was informed that I was not eligible for maternity leave my husband and I, we were expecting our daughter, who's now four. And so I didn't get maternity leave. And I was actually very optimistic that I'd be able to get hired in the Twin Cities area. But it almost felt a little bit like I was blackballed after that, and I'm just saying how I feel I'm not making any accusations against any of the employers here. But I did find it very peculiar that here at this point, you know, I was a two time Emmy nominated journalist with more than 10 years of experience in broadcasting. And I had a track record of breaking news, top stories, exclusive stories, and I just couldn't get hired, you know, it just it didn't quite add up. And so that is, you know, where I think that was the turning point for me into pursuing independent journalism.
Michael Kithcart:And just listening to your story. It doesn't add up, right? It just doesn't make sense when there are news outlets that are looking for top talent, and you had a great track record. So knowing that like still having to believe in yourself that you know, you're capable of doing quality news programming, even when others are saying maybe you don't have enough experience, right? How did you keep going when you were getting all those knows? How did that lead you to your own business?
Georgia Fort:Well, you know, it was a journey, it, I didn't keep going immediately, there, there was a period where I was defeated. And very, very depressed, to be just transparent. After that, you know, I remember six weeks after my daughter was born, just waking up and aggressively trying to get hired. And I did actually get a job offer in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is a similar market sizes here. And I think that was the first kind of glimpse for me, affirming that I was good enough. Because to get a job offer in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I know no one, I have no sources, I have no story leads, I have no historical context about the neighborhoods. And you know, what's important to the people there the culture, I really am bringing nothing but my technical skills as a storyteller. And so I was like, okay, I'm good enough to get a job offer in Charlotte, North Carolina, but not here. And then the second thing that was another little, you know, just, you know, piece of affirmation was meeting a young man who was employed at one of the stations. And, you know, getting to know him, I found out that he was a college student at St. Cloud State, who commuted to the Twin Cities every weekend to work at one of the stations. And so I said, huh, here you have this young man. And to him, I shared with him that I thought like this, this is a huge opportunity for him like to be in college to be able to work in a market this size. Like that's a an amazing opportunity. So like not nothing to him. But to the employers who gave me this feedback as a black woman with 10 years of experience a college degree, two Emmy nominations that I'm not good enough. I don't have enough experience yet. And still, you can go find a white kid who has no college degree yet no experience. You can give him employment, and you can groom and mold him. He's good enough. Right. So that was the other thing to me that it was like it didn't make sense. And so I was a little dormant with storytelling for maybe a year or two. I did the documentary Rondo Beyond the Pavement, which was a longer form of storytelling, something that was new for me. But I wasn't actively publishing stories for about a year and a half, maybe two years. I was working for a diversity, equity and marketing firm that really taught me a lot about the disparities here in Minnesota. That made me realize that my experience and coming back home and being derailed for my career was not an isolated experience. But the challenges around employment in communities of color was something that everybody in this state and the region has been struggling with. And when I realized that there was a larger issue, and I started seeing that it's not even it's not isolated to media is not even isolated, like these disparities are not even isolated to employment. There's disparities in Minnesota in education and healthcare and banking, in home ownership, then I think that started to fuel my desire to want to get out here and tell those stories. And so I just, I felt like I became emboldened at one point, especially after George Floyd was killed, that I didn't need anybody's permission. I didn't need anybody's platform. I didn't need their camera. I didn't need their microphone. I didn't need anything from them to be able to go out into my community and tell our stories.
Michael Kithcart:Yes. I get goosebumps as you're telling the story, and you're leading to this crescendo of like, I don't, I can just go do this. I don't need a network. So as my goosies are flaring there, tell me then how that influenced because your initiative really is to change the narrative? And how are you going about doing that? And what's feeling you?
Georgia Fort:Well, yeah, I mean, I had to do at that time, again, a lot of self reflection, about, okay, if I am going to go down this pathway of being an independent journalist, what does that look like? Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? And how do I sustain this work? You know, and so, I did a lot of journaling during that time. And I made a commitment that I would do three stories a week, I think, at the time, I had 13,000 followers on Facebook, just from, you know, the 10 years, I had been in radio and news. And so reflecting back on my first job in news, I was, my title was multimedia journalist. And I always tell people, it's just a fancy word for a reporter with her own camera. So I reflected back on those days when I would have to go out and film and edit and write and script and set up the equipment for my live shot and do all of this stuff and within an eight hour period. And so I was like, Well, I know how to do this, I can do this, I did this every day on my own. And I can just, you know, tap into the little audience I do have on social media and just published there. But I needed to have some direction, and some editorial, you know, guidelines for myself, like, what, what stories Am I picking? And so when when I really looked at the history of media, you know, and and the change I wanted to make, I think one thing that was consistent in Minnesota after George Floyd was murdered, was everybody knew something needed to change. And whether it was within an organization, a corporation, or just people asking themselves individually, what can I do to help be a part of this change? And so for me, knowing that my purpose is to tell stories, it's a part of my cultures, history, the Griot. When you look back at Griots, storytellers, oral history, there's a way that the African American culture has traditionally passed down information and histories through stories. And so I knew that that was my purpose of my calling. And so I'm like, Well, how can I utilize this as a tool in a way to contribute to equity, building equity for black Americans. And so I landed on changing the narrative because historically, number one, we haven't even controlled our own narrative. And then, in my experiences in mainstream media, I've had situations where information was omitted to create a narrative that felt very one sided and upheld white supremacy. And so I get accused a lot of times actually, with the, the mission of changing the narrative, I get accused of changing the truth. And it's not a matter of changing the truth. It's still truthful, it's still accurate. It's just a different perspective. And it's a perspective that mainstream media has failed to include in their narratives. Historically, looking back and Howard University is doing a fascinating job of documenting this. Now going back they have a research project called"Printing Hate" a going back and looking at newspapers in the early 1900s, and how they contributed to terror against black communities, and how they contributed to white mobs. Even in Duluth, the first headline about the accusation Irene Tusken made about the the circus workers in Duluth, said "Nab Negro Who Raped Woman". That's not unbiased. That's not objective. That's not telling both sides. That's a call to action. Newspapers, media outlets, historically in this country, we're giving call to actions, not just information. Where is the reparations for that? Where's the reconciliation for that? Where how are we reckoning with the way that media was used as a tool. And then now it's a fast forward modern day. When you look at the the outbreak of police killings that have happened, I feel like I was starting on those stories. Three years before George Floyd was killed, like even looking at, you know, the curiosity I had with the chief of police and Duluth. Having that story like examining the misuse of power that police departments had been exerting the excessive use of force against unarmed black men. And then also pointing to the way the media was used as a tool to help cover up some of this misconduct. It was very controversial before George Floyd, after George Floyd happened. And I could give you a dozen cases of women mothers I talked to who said before George Floyd, these were interviews I did before 2020 mothers who were saying the police lied and the media published their lives as though they were facts. When George Floyd happened, the police department, the Public Information Officer, John Elder for the Minneapolis Police Department released a press release that said George Floyd died of a medical complication. When you looked at the video from Darnella Frazier, you know, that was not true. And now in the court of law that has also been upheld as a lie. But the media, they publish that as though it was a fact. So changing the narrative is not regurgitating press releases from police departments or other government agencies. But it's getting into community and talking to the Darnella Frazier's of the world to get a firsthand account a different perspective of what happened to help find the truth.
Michael Kithcart:And just put into context how, with all of that happening, and the historical, you know, misinformation that spread? How brave was it for Darnella to provide that video to say like, No, this is not accurate, and I can actually prove it. I feel like that's almost like a defining moment.
Georgia Fort:It was extremely brave. For me, you're talking about a 17 year old child, who at the time, was responsible for her nine year old cousin. And, and if it had not been for her nine year old cousin who had pestered her to take her to the store to get some snacks, they wouldn't have even been there. And so it was extremely brave of her as this young teenage woman to stand there with her cell phone and not only document what was happening, but to witness that trauma. And you know, I, I think also, while so many people have, attacked the media, and even I know there is a part of my body of work that is very critical of the media. Darnella Frazier's video is the most powerful example we can point to, of the power of media. You know, what's documented cannot be denied. The same thing was true with Rodney King. You could not deny what happened to him. The same thing was true with Emmett Till, when his mother forced journalists to photograph his dead body so that America could see what had happened to her boy, you couldn't deny it, what's documented, cannot be denied. And so, media is a very, very powerful tool. I mean, it can it can be used, when used correctly, to really amplify the truth and uncover in justices. On the other hand, when used improperly, you can manipulate a lie. And people would believe it as the truth. And that's something that even Malcolm X talked about how powerful media is, but Darnella Frazier in modern day times, and her standing there and recording what happened. That gave us an undeniable account of what happened to George Floyd. Had that video not have existed, our society would have been at the mercy of this department being honest, and operating with integrity, and releasing the the body camera footage from the officers of what happened to George Floyd. Or they could have just released the one surveillance camera they had from across the street, which that angle that perspective, I don't know if you guys follow the trial. But when they showed the footage from across the street, it was such a wide shot, it was so far away, that you couldn't see Chauvin's knee on George Floyd's neck, you could just see these, you know, three officers there and one standing by on the curve, it didn't look like much was happening. But having that close up perspective, having that other camera angle, and having it in real time not manipulated an independent account. It allowed us to truly see what happened.
Michael Kithcart:How did you go from covering the story to actually be one of only two journalists in the courtroom? For the sentencing of Derek Chauvin?
Georgia Fort:Well, I had a history of being a court reporter. When I lived in Columbus, Georgia, I was always in court, I covered more than a dozen murder trials. And so I probably was the first person to make a request to have courtroom access. Almost immediately after it was determined that George Floyd was killed, I had submitted a request to have courtroom access. And so at that time, the Hennepin County court systems process was to give access on a first come first serve basis. And I remember of months later, when trial proceedings did start to get underway, that they sent out a request for people to you know, submit whether or not they wanted to have access. And so I took a screenshot of that previous message I sent and said, Hey, I sent my months ago. And I want that noted. And so I was able to get courtroom access to the Chauvin trial by I think being ahead of it. While a lot of people were in the streets, and they were covering the destruction as a mother of three. And at that time, my children were really young. I think my youngest was only one I didn't feel comfortable going out in the evening after curfew with my camera, especially when you saw Omar, the CNN reporter get arrested live on television, we saw another journalist who was shot in the eye. And lost one. I think she lost one of her eyes. We saw reporters cameras getting broken. And so I was asking myself okay, how can I how can Georgia Fort cover this story in a way that is going to be valuable and add you know, add something different than what mainstreams offering add something different than the other independent journalists and more or less build equity because that's my promise visual stories about race and culture that build equity. And so I knew having a seat in the courtroom and being able to document the pursuit of justice for this man was going to be extremely important and that I was uniquely positioned having experience as a court reporter to be that person. And so you know, it's interesting because Chauvin was so such a high profile case that comparing the process of getting access to that trial, to the process of trying to get access to Potter, getting access to the Potter trial was extremely more difficult. And I think it's because by that point, mainstream media was on to me. And by the time the Potter trial rolled around, I had become such a critique of the media that I almost feel like I'm like the thorn in their side, because I'm an independent voice that can hold them accountable. And I'm one person that is changing the narrative that is having access to a lot of the same stories that they have access to, but telling them in a very, very different way that builds equity. Right. And so for Potter, there was actually a lot of resistance for me to get access to that trial. But I did prevail. But that process was grueling.
Michael Kithcart:Wow. For everyone listening, we're talking about the the white female police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man saying that she thought it was her taser. So in that really disrupting not only the narrative, but the system in which narratives are told you've given some examples already. How can we be a part of disrupting that system? How can we what should we be looking for? What can we be participating in? How do we support because that's part of having that equity, right is like, the more people, the stories need to be told and be brought forth? And people need to see that?
Georgia Fort:Absolutely. I think the way consumers support changing the narrative is by finding the independent journalists finding the BIPOC owned media outlets, and reading, listening, watching sharing their stories is the easiest, cheapest way right? Outside of that, you know, when you when you watch mainstream media, just be critical about who is presenting the information. are they presenting all of the perspectives like consumers have to be critical thinkers, in order for us to change the narrative. We in society need to be critical. We need to ask the tough questions. I remember watching a story on WCCO. After the Jeronimo Yanez verdict came out the officer who fatally shot Philando Castile, and that verdict, he was found not guilty. Liz Collins, she was out covering the protest at the state capitol. And this is a white woman. And she had I think, two minutes of time, she interviewed all white people. And I was perplexed. You know, how? How do we have a two minute package about a protest for a black man who was killed by police and we don't have one black voice centered, and then you fast forward and come to find out Liz Collins is actually married to the president of the police union. So maybe that's why, you know, and the community ended up protesting WCCO behind her being allowed to cover issues of police, even though I believe WCCO said that she was not allowed to that was a time where she was right, a very serious police issue in the state. Yeah. And so we as viewers, when I saw that, you know, and I didn't have that context, at that time, I didn't know she who she was married to, I just knew that there was something off about that type of coverage. And so, we as news consumers need to you know, ask ourselves, is this a credible source, does this accurately tell the story and and not be lazy, reach out and and do some research on subjects before we formulate opinions or before we start regurgitating what we have seen or what we have heard or what we have watched, we should check other sources. Right? We should ask people in our community who have lived experience on the issue so that we can have a broader understanding of what's happening. You know, when you talk about disrupting, I think the the best example I can give and sometimes news consumers won't be able to, there's some things they won't be able to do just because they don't have the knowledge of the industry. And I think that's part of what has put me in such a unique position is because I do have the experience of working in the system. So I understand how it works. And when Winston Smith was fatally shot by a US Marshal in Uptown Minneapolis, shortly after Derek Chauvin was found guilty. You know, the first headline in Star Tribune said he was a murder suspect. And so in the community, what did that do for the public? What did that do? Most people were relieved, and they felt like law enforcement had done their job and that this killing was justified. Even people in the black community because there were children in North Minneapolis, who were being killed, right. And so if this man was a murder suspect, then the police were justified in what they did. And so a lot of people went on about their day and never thought again, about Winston Smith. That is the power of media. And that is how misinformation can also shape public opinion. But I followed that story and learned that he actually, in fact, was not a murder suspect. And there was never another headline that corrected that misinformation. There was never a report that was done by other news outlets to correct that information, because, hey, that's not their responsibility. But when you think about it, it kind of is, it's the media's responsibility to give the public accurate information. And so if you know that there is a lie that's out there, and you have this huge platform, you could use your platform to correct the lie that the public believes. But there's this kind of status quo, you know, this thing. And, you know, the media industry where we don't we don't say our competitors names. We don't we don't talk about our competitors. Right. But if that would benefit the public, why not? You know, or you don't even necessarily have to call them out. But you could say this man previously reported as a or falsely previously reported as a murder suspect, you know, well, they wouldn't do that what Star Tribune did do, they follow the industry standards for newspapers, which online is at the bottom of Article Two, go ahead and put the corrected information. And so they did that. That's the industry standard. But now think about news consumption. Michael, if you if you are so compelled, and drawn to a story that you read online that you shared on your Facebook page, right? Then the next day, there's a development. And so that's a new article, it's a new web link, right? Are you going back to the article you shared yesterday to reread it and look at the bottom of it to see if there's been a correction, nobody's doing that. Nobody consumes news in that way. And so how is this an effective way of correcting it misinformation, it's very ineffective. The standard should be that if there's been an inaccuracy, the next time you report on that story, you should put it at the top of the page so people can see it. And in addition to that, the correction is behind a paywall. So the public has gotten this misinformation. And the only way that they can get the corrected information is if they if they have access to get behind the paywall. So there's these things that the media industry needs to examine, in order to create more equitable narratives and to stop contributing to misinformation.
Michael Kithcart:It's such a great example of it kind of feels like it's come at this precipice of people want to be the first - you see something, you read the top line of it, and you want to be the first one to get it out there. But there's not the time that's being taken to actually see if what you're forwarding is accurate if it's the full story. So I feel like that's even worse. It's compounded because of what we have going on with social media. And then how people interpret things too, right? Because then that becomes news too. And it makes me think of with Brene Brown just recently saying that she's pausing her podcasts on Spotify, because there's all this, you know, talk about Joe Rogan and misinformation, right? Something completely different, but it's about the pandemic. And she's come out and said, What I just all I'm saying is I'm pausing. I'm trying to actually get more information, which is what I've done historically as a researcher is I want the information so I can make my own decision. How? How can you know that it's like a call to action, I feel like with what you're saying, and even just that, that brief example of like, we need to take responsibility for what we consume, what we share what we, you know how we're even forming our opinions?
Georgia Fort:Absolutely. We live in a society that has been groomed by social media, to instantaneously just say, whatever you're thinking, say, whatever you feel without analyzing the full consequence or impact of your words, right. And we, I think, should welcome people who want to pause and want to think and want to internalize and get all the information before making a decision, we shouldn't be penalized for that, that I feel like should be the norm.
Michael Kithcart:Yes, you founded BLCK Press. Tell me about that.
Georgia Fort:So BLCK Press is the platform I created after being an independent journalist for a few years, and realizing that there's not an ecosystem for people doing this work. And there isn't really a community, you know, as a journalist who worked for mainstream media, having access to an editor and equipment and station vehicles, you know, you had all of these resources that really enhanced the quality of your work, and wanting to have a place where independent journalists could go to be equipped with what they needed to further the quality of their stories. And I think that that is what is needed in order to truly allow independent journalism to be a real competitor with mainstream media. Oftentimes, you know, I bump into independent journalists, and they just don't have the resources they need. A lot of them may be using their cell phones telling great stories, but the quality of their work, you know, I mean, just for 720, you know, instead of 1080, instead of having HD footage, they have 720 footage, and it's blurry and it's pixelated. And so how could that individual's stories, how much further could they go, if they had access to equipment that would allow them to film or stream in HD. And so I founded BLCK Press to start to create that ecosystem, we are now actually at a point where we're trying to launch a product that will also disrupt distribution, you know, when you examine the amount of sources that are used by mainstream media that are white, I mean, it is it's daunting. It's, devastating, and there's there's no excuse for it, because people have access to social media, and they can connect with people all over the place who are experts on everything, you know, you just Google it. But the only company I know, that has actually examined itself, like from a statistic standpoint is NPR, National Public Radio, and they found out that like 80% of their sources were white, and I think 70% of them were men. So by large, not only were people of color being left out of their reporting, but even women were being left out of their reporting. And so if we can create a way to distribute stories by independent journalists, people who are out in community talking to experts, and researchers of color, and share that with mainstream media, you know, I feel like that's half the battle. So BLCK Press is, you know, still in its infancy, but there's a lot of things that we're working on behind the scenes to really advance media.
Michael Kithcart:I love that. And for people who might want to participate with BLCK Press and be part of the growing community there. How do they find you?
Georgia Fort:They can find black press at BLCK Press.com, or me at Georgiafort.com. And on both of those websites include all of our social medias.
Michael Kithcart:Yes, that's great. I really encourage everybody to check out Georgia Fort's website to because she's also a photo journalist. And I would love for you to share before we go, the exhibit that you've created that is currently traveling.
Georgia Fort:Yeah. Well, the interesting thing, you know, I, when I started publishing photos, it brought me back to remember I told you the fancy word multimedia journalist, yes. Where we had to do all of the things. And so for a very long time, as a journalist, I have had to do video, audio, photo and writing. And I know for some people, that's like, really overwhelming. But that that was how I was trained into doing this work. And so I have always done photography. I never consider myself a photographer. But after the Chauvin trial, I decided to publish some of the photographs I had taken over the last two years, including my trips to Washington, DC, following the January 6th attack when there was this historic amount of military stationed in Washington, DC. And so in sharing these photographs, I really only had planned to have one showing one exhibit in St. Paul. But every time that we've had an exhibit, someone has showed up and said, Oh, my God, we'd love to have this at our location, would you be open to it? And so I think it's now at its maybe six locations. It's in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. And from there, it will be going to Carleton College.
Michael Kithcart:That's great. Well, we'll put all the links in the show notes so that people can easily find you, Georgia. Just my last question. Like if you were going to complete this sentence, I am a champion...
Georgia Fort:of change. Yes, a champion of change.
Michael Kithcart:I love it. Thank you so much for sharing just a piece of your story with us. I really, really appreciate it and thank you for everything that you are doing. Your stories are amazing. Follow Georgia on Instagram. That's like a super easy way and Facebook because every day, I'm just reading everything that you're putting out. It's really amazing work. Thank you.
Georgia Fort:And thank you for what you're doing.
Michael Kithcart:Thanks. And thank you all for listening to the champions of risk podcast.