For Black and brown communities, news coverage too often arrives in moments of crisis, reducing lived experiences to fragments, soundbites, and headlines that feel incomplete and extractive.
Capital B is working to change that.
Source: Black Media Report, Capital B News, The Washington Post, Pew Research
Founded as a nonprofit newsroom by and for Black communities, Capital B is building a new model of journalism, one that starts not with breaking news alerts but with listening. At the heart of their approach are Community Engagement Editors, who are not reporters but facilitators, trusted neighbors, and bridge-builders. Based in their local newsrooms in Atlanta, Georgia, and Gary, Indiana, they hold office hours in local coffee shops, organize listening sessions, and create feedback loops that shape what gets covered and how the story is told.
The result is journalism that makes space for community-led narratives that equip people with information they can use, including guidance on accessing public benefits, enrolling children in school, or navigating voting processes. A recent Capital B reader study found that 25% of Capital B readers have taken civic action after engaging with their journalism, from casting a vote to volunteering locally. That’s not a statistic you see in most newsrooms. It’s a model of journalism as civic infrastructure.
