Tupac
Released just two months after he was fatally shot, the rapper’s The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory album famously had him depicted on the cross like Christ.
Kanye West
Before doing an entire album and tour called Yeezus, the rapper was also famously on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine depicted as Jesus with the crown of thorns, bloody face and the title The Passion of Kanye West.
This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.
Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.
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