Dear Melvin Miller:
We honor you for your 58 years of service to the Massachusetts community. Since 1965, the Banner has been a sober, uplifting voice committed to advancing the interests of Black and other people of color in the greater Boston area. The paper is already one of the best Black-owned weekly newspaper in the country.
We thank you tonight for entrusting us with sustaining the newspaper representing your life’s work. I want you to know that we will continue the best practices established by your staffers and yourself over the decades. The paper’s value and quality can be seen in its service to the Banner’s readers and its alums, including the late PBS News Hour anchor Gwen Ifill and former New York Times reporter Lee Daniels.
Mel, we plan to build upon the strong foundation that you created. We will return to many of the elements in your original paper, bringing back sections like the “Roving Camera.” We will stream select local high school and college games online for our new sports section. We are also going to add some new areas like food, travel, and an Art Gallery hosted by notable artists like Paul Goodnight.
Mel, we will also expand our news coverage into all of the New England states, ultimately producing three additional regional editions for Rhode Island, Connecticut, plus a combined issue for the states north of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
In addition, we are bulking up the Banner’s website with short videos to accompany stories. We are also transforming the site into an interactive online resource for the community, by adding direct links to multiple jobs, businesses, and educational opportunities. The Banner will attract more digital advertising in different forms to support our expanded coverage. We look forward to serving the Banner readers and broadening the newspaper’s audience and impact.
