Yet more interesting reactions

This from Epidemix- a blog that deals with “trends, technologies and other contagions in medicine and health.”

“I just heard about The Root, a “Slate for black readers,” according to founder Henry Louis Gates Jr. Since Slate is one of my favorite sites, this is a cool development. So what’s that got to do with public health or genetics or medicine? Well, right there smack on the prime front page real estate is an unexpected service – a link to Gates’ AfricanDNA.com, Gates’ effort to bring some substance to the DNA ancestry market. There is a disclaimer that notes AfricanDNA.com is a separate company, but the link is otherwise seamless – here’s what it looks like on the home page (the DNA is on the right side, under “Roots”).

I have no criticism here – I’m not saying there’s a conflict. I find it noteworthy simply because it’s the first explicit combination of journalism and genetic services I’ve seen. These don’t seem like obvious complimentary partners, but with a little thought it actually makes sense.”

http://epidemix.org/blog/?p=227

“Journalism and Society,” a blog from Temple University, raises some thoughtful, mediacentric questions:

“Are we deciding what people should know based upon their skin color? Or is this a way of serving a community that has traditionally been ignored by the mainstream media?

And will an online “national black newspaper” erode the circulation of traditional black newspapers like The Baltimore Afro-American, the Philadelphia Tribune or the Amsterdam News?”

Chris Banks comments:

“While I believe that most news is relevant to everyone, I think that this is a way for stories that normally get edged out of mainstream news to still get published within their niche markets.”

And Victoria H agrees:

“It’s not like white, or any other ethnicity group can’t buy that newspaper or look at it’s website. I think The Roots, and other black newspapers, provides information for a group that sometimes get’s lost in the ‘mainstream’ of news that may center on the majority of Americans (’white Americans’).”

http://j1111.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-online-magazine-targets-specific.html