A new nonprofit media enterprise focusing on Madison’s communities of color is in the works.
A. David Dahmer, former editor-in-chief of The Madison Times, will serve as publisher and editor in chief of Madison365 – an online news source that will provide coverage of minority issues produced by African American and Latino journalists.
“It’s going to be very grassroots,” says Dahmer, who has written for Isthmus. “We’re going to be a place where people can speak freely.”
Dahmer founded the news outlet in partnership with Henry Sanders Jr., a Madison entrepreneur and former candidate for lieutenant governor. There’s no official target date for the launch, but Dahmer says “it won’t be long” before the site is up and running.
Madison365 will join a media mix that includes minority-focused publications like Capital City Hues and The Madison Times, but Dahmer says his outlet will differentiate itself by providing daily multimedia content in areas like news, editorials, health and sports written from a minority perspective.
“There may be some awkward conversations, but tension and disagreement coupled with respect leads to positive change,” he says.
Though race issues have been at the forefront of national and local conversations in recent months, Dahmer says there was no particular event or issue that “triggered” him and Sanders to create Madison365.
“Madison has needed something like this for a long time,” he says. “This was needed 20 years ago.”
Fundraising will soon be under way, and Dahmer plans to meet with community members to get input on the direction of the fledgling news operation. He’s also reaching out to African American and Latino writers to build a staff of contributors. He hopes in particular to recruit young minority journalists — a group whose voices have been underrepresented in other media, Dahmer says. Writers will be paid, he adds.
Dahmer also hopes to forge partnerships between Madison365 and the other for-profit media outlets in the city.
“There’s a lot of talent out there,” he says. “We want to find it and help develop it.”
