James Middlebrooks Jr., who started the Community Press and now serves as its publisher and chairman, explained the history of Black-run community papers have in Florida. “Most cities in the state of Florida and especially in the southern part of the state, there is a community paper basically for black people,” said Middlebrooks.
P.D Williams, the papers Art Director added, “We felt like we, weren’t getting a good shake, fair shake from the News-Press, and from the other media in town.” Williams went on to explain how the focus of The Community Press is different than a for-profit news organization. “We highlight positive news. We don’t do crime reports. You know, if you wanna hear the bad stuff go somewhere else,” said Williams.
This is not the first paper Middlebrooks has had a role in. He was the principal of Riverdale High School in Fort Myers back in 1972 where he felt there just was not an easy way to get the schools' news to parents. This, of course, was long before the internet and social media. He went to a weekly paper known as The Suburban Reporter with a proposition.
“I went to the office and said to him, it was a weekly paper, if you give me one page out of your paper I would guarantee you that I would increase your circulation at least 500%,” Middlebrooks said.
He delivered on that prediction when he got the page he needed in order to keep the schools’ parents informed.
Today, he runs the Community Press along with five others who split duties and are all equal to each other. The paper itself is a non-profit so the funding for it comes only from advertisers and subscribers, of which they have sixty. The only person who is paid is their delivery driver, who everyone says is worth the expense. Besides that, everything the paper makes goes straight back into it, putting out about a thousand copies a month.
The most recent issue focused on women who impact the community and on those who changed history, in honor of Women’s History Month. That issue spanned a whopping forty pages, four more than normal. All hard copies are distributed across southwest Florida and beyond.
“Our subscribers go all the way to Frankfurt, Germany, New York, California, Texas. It goes all
over this country.” explained Middlebrooks.
The Community Press’s story is one of a community using its own voice to speak for and about itself. It is a story about filling gaps left by mainstream media outlets. The small team at the community paper is looking ahead to continue representing the community for whom they report. To support the Community Press or become a subscriber, check out their website at thecommunitypressfla.org.
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