Black PR Wire Power Profiler on John Jacob Oliver

John Jacob Oliver is instantly recognized nationally as a prominent leader in the newspaper publishing industry. He is relentlessly working to increase people's knowledge and understanding of the Black Press through his series of established publications and in his role as President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the nation's largest Black newspaper publishing organization. Mr. Oliver is also an accomplished attorney licensed to practice law in two states as well as the Chief Executive Officer of the Afro-American Company of Baltimore Inc., whereby he also serves as publisher of the historic Afro-American newspapers: the Baltimore Afro-American, the Washington Afro-American and Every Wednesday.

The newspaper business is an integral part of Mr. Oliver's family history. In 1892, his great grandfather, John Henry Murphy Sr., founded the Afro-American. "At a time when many African Americans could neither read nor write, the idea of starting a newspaper was a daring task" says Mr. Oliver. Although issues facing Mr. Oliver are a bit different from the battles for basic human rights taken on by his great grandfather, he recognizes there is still much work to be done commenting "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

When no succession had been planned in regards to the family business, Mr. Oliver decided to leave the legal world and take over the paper, "I changed the paper, came up with some new ideas and got fired by my uncle who was chairman of the board. It was ugly at the time but we haven't looked back since."

Mr. Oliver saw it as his mission to showcase the economic clout of African American newspapers as a serious marketing vehicle. He believed advertisers were overlooking the importance of the African-American dollar. "You are challenged to defend your product and everybody wants the same group of dollars. White males head corporations and they have generalized notions of the entire black press. This is the environment that we are dealing with."

Mr. Oliver also noticed advertisers viewed the Afro American newspapers as they do the daily newspapers, where as he saw the need for them to understand that different marketing strategies are needed for the Afro-American community.

Mr. Oliver's increased economic clout has been instrumental in the political arena as well. His papers aggressively showcase and support the issues that pertain to the African-American community. This is a calling Mr. Oliver takes very seriously, "It is critical to support and give coverage to the candidate that supports African-American issues. It's constant hard work," he said. His papers often feature deserving candidates on the front page setting his publication apart. With preparations for the 2004 presidential elections already underway, Mr. Oliver is currently working in conjunction with the NAACP. Together, they are coordinating strategies to stress the importance of voting to the African-American community.

The transition to the 21st century hosts a new set of challenges for Mr. Oliver. In today's era with the Internet, wire services and instant messaging, the challenge for this publisher is to recognize the new and vastly different opportunities these new technologies present. As president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Mr. Oliver initiates the efforts to facilitate the African- American publishers' transition to the Internet, "There are so many opportunities that the Internet offers the black press. With the Internet, we can become a collective voice," says Oliver.

In addition to technological advances, Mr. Oliver is also in the process of revising his newspapers to make them more attractive to the "hip-hop" generation. Some of his ideas include having Russell Simmons and Sean Puffy Combs write columns in order to reach the youth. Plans are also underway to update the graphics and syntax in order to create a catchy look and feel for the younger generation of readers. "I have to get content that can ignite the hip-hop generation. We recognize they are part of us and we are part of them."

In short, Mr. Oliver is constantly generating new ideas for the next generation. Providing intriguing, dependable news motivates him to continue to work towards creating a reputable community. He states, "The black press is probably one of the last honest bastions as far as I'm concerned."