Oral history interview with Charles Moore, 1971.

Biographical Note

Charles (Chuck) Moore was born and raised in Harlem, New York. He attended Columbia University and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Moore served as director of Third World Media News, a national news service launched in 1971 which was staffed by people of color and catered to their communities. Moore authored I Was a Black Panther, a book which narrated the experiences of Willie Stone, the first Black Panther in New York.

Scope and Contents

Moore begins this interview with a discussion of the mainstream media's ambivalence towards minority issues and how that led him to establish Third World Media. Moore outlines his strategy for the service, including its international expansion. Moore discusses: his education and professional background; the race riots in Cairo, Illinois; how the mainstream press can ease racial tensions; the absence of black presenters on network television; how black radio has not empowered black voters; and the financial- and personnel-related struggles facing the black press. He mentions black newspapers' community-building role and explains why black journalists should build relationships with other minority media. Moore explains the need for a strong minority media voice by demonstrating how Angela Davis was misrepresented by the white press.

Subjects

• African American journalists.
• African American press.
• African Americans--Civil rights.
• Columbia University--Alumni and alumnae--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Journalism--Political aspects.
• Journalists--Interviews.
• La Brie, Henry G., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Moore, Charles--Interviews.
• New York (N.Y.)--Newspapers.
• Newspaper publishing--Economic aspects--United States.
• Newspapers--Circulation.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• United States--Race relations.