URL Media
A network created to
uplift, respect and love
the communities we serve.
uplift
respect
love
We’re building a decentralized, multi-platform network of high-performing Black and Brown media organizations. We’ll share content, distribution, and other resources to enhance reach, expand revenue and build long-term sustainability.
Our inaugural members are eight exceptional news outlets representing a diverse mix of culture, format, geography and audience.
Inaugural Network Members
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this work?
- We distribute content through social media, newsletters and each other’s platforms.
- We are a for-profit company and generate revenue through sponsorships, advertising, syndication and partnerships.
- We share those profits with the members of the network. Everything we do is with an eye toward their sustainability.
- We intend to spend the next few months sharing and distributing our content, securing advertisers and sponsors, and forming partnerships with mainstream media outlets. And testing and learning a lot.
Who are the creators of URL?
We are!
I’m Sara Lomax-Reese. I believe deeply in the power and importance of media ownership, especially for Black and Brown people. I have been a media entrepreneur for almost 30 years, building, shaping and growing organizations created by, for and about Black people. I am the CEO of WURD Radio, one of the few remaining Black-owned talk radio stations in the nation. I am also the Program Lead for the Facebook BIPOC Sustainability Accelerator and a coach in the Major Metro Table Stakes program. And I believe now is the time to radically reinvent the media industry by supporting Black and Brown owned/led organizations that serve communities that have been overlooked and undervalued for far too long.
And I’m S. Mitra Kalita. It feels like I’ve worked everywhere (CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, launched brands like Mint and Quartz), always with the purpose of trying to make coverage more inclusive and accessible. Over the last decade or so, as my career veered more into digital, I realized the most successful content on the internet is bottom-up, decentralized, rooted in a place or a people. It has a view from somewhere. I’m the publisher of Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter created to get my beloved community through the pandemic. I’m spending the next few months as a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation to research different models for URL.
URL Media is a culmination of our journeys so far.
Why now?
As the U.S. enters a new chapter, we offer an alternative to business as usual. URL Media co-founder Sara Lomax-Reese wrote recently: “We must prioritize and support Black-owned media that have been doing this work for decades. …radical change is required. Continuing to pour money and resources into large white-owned/led media companies that target Black consumers but don’t empower them is unacceptable.”
We know that it’s going to take years (maybe never?) for mainstream media to diversify staff and content quickly enough to meet this moment. We recognize the great work our partners already do and believe we are stronger together.
The next 4 years cannot look like the last 4 — or 400…
How can you get involved or help?
Thanks for asking! So many ways. Bottom line: Write to us at hello@url-media.com.
If you are a mainstream newsroom and would like to learn more, let us know.
If you are a community media outlet who would like to join our network, drop us a line.
If you are an advertiser, sponsor or funder who’d like to be aligned with our mission, we welcome the opportunity to tell you more about ourselves.
Finally, importantly, if you’d like to join our URL community, sign up for our newsletter and updates here.
Funders
Special thanks to a grant from the
International Women’s Media Foundation
to power this beta site.
