By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
More than 250 news professionals representing nearly 150 media outlets attended the annual Ethnic Media Conference, Expo, and Awards held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento on Aug. 27 and 28.
Hosted by Ethnic Media Services (EMS) and California Black Media (CBM), the awards ceremony recognized journalists for their outstanding reporting in different topic areas, including health, politics and culture.
The conference sessions leading up to that event included panel discussions featuring state officials, government agencies, lobbying firms, advocacy organizations and more. It also provided networking opportunities for news media owners and professionals from the Black, Native American, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Eastern European, North African, Caribbean and LGBTQ press.
“Last year, the inaugural convening in the state capital focused on ‘meeting the decision-makers,’” said Regina Wilson, Executive Director of CBM. “This year, the emphasis is on strengthening those connections. Key decision-makers have expressed their appreciation for our return, recognizing that at a time of deep budget cuts, our community ties and communication skills are more essential than ever for building new, more equitable messaging,” Wilson added.
State leaders who attended the event included Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
In addition to state government officials, business leaders, communications firms, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations also participated in the conference organized to highlight the crucial role ethnic media play in California’s diverse communities.
“California is home to the largest concentration of multilingual news outlets serving immigrant and ethnic communities in the U.S.,” said Sandy Close, Director of EMS. “This breakthrough public-private partnership to support local journalism brings welcome recognition of the ethnic media sector’s indispensable role in connecting these diverse communities to each other and to the wider public realm.”
Thurmond discussed the ethnic media’s role in reporting on education in the state and why articles from ethnic media outlets have an advantage in reaching targeted audiences in underserved communities.
Thurmond, who is running for the governor of California in 2026, spoke at the opening luncheon where CBM and EMS presented Communications Champion Awards to key stakeholders representing organizations across the state’s communications infrastructure.
“We can’t get the right information out about education without the ethnic media in our state,” Thurmond said. “We need to get people to understand that if a student is not reading at a third-grade level in the third grade we will lose them, and they could end up in the prison pipeline.”
On the first day of the conference, Bonta sat down with Larry Lee, the publisher of the Sacramento Observer, to have a fireside conversation, titled “Stop the Hate – Spread the Love.” Focused on the impact of California’s “Stop the Hate” effort, the conversation focused on state government policy and programs created to prevent hate crimes and hate incidents and provide resources to victims and survivors.
“Our goal is to not have hate crimes,” Bonta said of the Department of Justice’s objectives. “In California, we believe everyone belongs, no one should be targeted or attacked, hurt or harmed because of who they are, where they are from or how they look, who they love, and how they pray.”
In conclusion, Bonta said “There are signs of progress (decreasing numbers of hate crimes) but still too many tragedies. We still have work to do.”
The conference’s workshops, plenaries and breakout sessions focused on concerns such as health care, artificial intelligence, public education, climate change, misinformation, hate crimes, equity in government procurement, and more.
Google provided training workshops on some of its digital news tools and panelists discussed the impact of AI on the future of journalism.
“Our unique strength lies in our deep connection to the audiences we serve,” Wilson said. “We are high touch as well as high-tech media, embedded in our communities and committed to delivering impactful, culturally relevant content.”
The conference ended with the Ethnic Media Awards. Winners were recognized for their reporting in nine different categories. Over 300 entries were submitted that included 12 different languages.
This year’s conference coincided with the announcement of the historic $172 million public-private partnership in California aimed at supporting journalism. That agreement brings together state government and high-tech companies led by Google to support local newsrooms.
The deal, supporters say, serves as a national model for strengthening the traditional role of journalism in providing checks and balances in government and business affairs. At a reception held the first day of the conference, CBM and EMS honored Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) with the “Legislator of the Year” award. The organizations also thanked Wicks for brokering the deal with Google and for her ongoing support for news media.
“We’ve worked long and hard to gain this recognition as a multilingual, multiracial, multimedia sector,” said Wilson. “We extend our deepest thanks to our sponsors, speakers, media partners, and all our attendees for supporting this collective effort.”
