The Second Draft Project

“Journalism is the first rough draft of history,” Philip L. Graham once said. Graham was the legendary president and publisher of the Washington Post, and believed that strong news media bolsters our democracy. What if, however, journalism’s first draft was flawed? What happens when journalists get things wrong? What happens when bias seeps into news coverage? What should journalism owe the people when it falls short? This podcast proposes a way forward: The Second Draft Project.  The Second Draft Project is brought to you by the University of Southern California’s first Black media studies research center, The Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab. Founded by Dr. Allissa V. Richardson in 2022, the center is dedicated to saving, studying and sharing the work of prominent and hidden figures who have been central to Black social justice movements in America. The Lab’s namesake, Charlotta Bass, was the first Black woman to own and operate a newspaper on the West Coast. She was also a nominee for the US Vice Presidency in 1952. In her spirit, the Second Draft Project revisits Black news stories that were misreported due to incomplete or false narratives, to center Black storytellers — just as Bass would have done.