A media entrepreneur is making the case for stronger investment in minority-owned news outlets, arguing that the advertising dollars flowing to these publishers fall drastically short of their market reach. The Black Owned Media Equity and Sustainability Institute (BOMESI) was founded to address what its leadership describes as a significant economic gap: Black-owned media outlets receive approximately two percent of total advertising spending despite serving a multicultural consumer market worth trillions of dollars. This disparity has remained largely unchanged for decades.
BOMESI operates by uniting hundreds of diverse-owned publishers into a collective network that reaches roughly 100 million households monthly. The organization provides shared advertising technology, sales support, and resources to help independent outlets scale their operations. Rather than framing support for minority-owned media as charitable work, leadership emphasizes that advertising investment in these outlets represents sound business strategy. Reaching audiences through the news organizations they already trust constitutes effective marketing and distribution.
The initiative emerged in 2020 following a period when many companies pledged support for diversity initiatives but later withdrew funding. BOMESI aims to create a more durable infrastructure by establishing contracts and ongoing business relationships rather than relying on temporary expressions of goodwill. The organization’s approach centers on treating minority-owned publishers as strategic business partners rather than special projects, positioning equitable media investment as both economically rational and necessary for accurate representation.
Originally reported by Mashable →
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