Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Lewis.
Jason, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The first edition of The Los Angeles Standard Newspaper came out in August of 2016. After a combined ten years of working at two other African American community newspapers (Los Angeles Sentinel and Our Weekly), and at FOX Sports, I decided that I wanted control over content, I wanted to control my work life, and I wanted to increase my earning potential.
I started my career in media as a sports photographer while I was a student at UCLA. My older brother Jeff, who is now the Los Angeles Rams team photographer, had just gotten his first steady photography job shooting youth sports in Orange County. His employer needed an extra photographer, so Jeff asked if I was interested in some weekend work. I took the job, and I learned how to shoot portraits for picture day and action photos during baseball, football, basketball, and soccer games.
As a big sports fan, I was always arguing with people online, and I’d write really long posts to prove my point. It was like I was a sports writer. Also, my mother always told me that I was a good writer, and she’s never steered me wrong. So I decided to that I wanted to become a sports writer. I wrote a few articles and submitted them to a few local newspapers. I also submitted some sports photos. After not hearing back from anybody, I decided to put on my suit and go to those newspapers, just to see if I could talk to somebody. My timing must have been perfect because Our Weekly just had an opening for somebody to manage their sports page. When I told the managing editor who I was, she got really excited and said that she liked the articles that I submitted. She asked me to come back the next day for a job interview, and I ended up getting the job. At Our Weekly, I was able to cover the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, UCLA, USC, and high school sports. They liked me because I could write the article and take the photos.
After two years, Our Weekly decided to downsize their staff. Since it was pretty rare that they had ads for the sports page, they decided to get rid of it, which meant that I was laid off. Two weeks later, I ended up at the Sentinel, which is the largest African American newspaper in the western region of the U.S. I started off in general news and then became the Sports Editor. I also taught myself how to manage websites while I was there, so I took over those duties.
While I was at the Sentinel I grew as a journalist, but at some point, I hit a glass ceiling and my views of what a community newspaper should be was different from upper management’s views of what a community newspaper should be. Seeing that I was not going to be promoted into a position where I could really affect the entire newspaper, I felt that it was time for me to move on after working there for five years.
I ended up back at Our Weekly part-time, and I was also working at FOX Sports at the same time. Two years later, I was laid off from FOX Sports, and I struggled to find another job. After being frustrated for a few months by the process of applying for jobs online and not getting called back, I decided that I needed to control my own destiny. I didn’t want to continue looking for work, and I wanted my vision of what a community newspaper should be to come to life. I felt that a community newspaper should tell the stories that mainstream media and the larger publications do not. There are many local newsworthy stories that go untold, and many people are unaware of businesses, community organizations, services, and events that are right in their own neighborhood. And as an African American, I am frustrated by the way that my race is portrayed in mainstream media. Typically stories from African American communities are about violence, unemployment, poor education, and unhealthy lifestyles. I’ve lived the bulk of my life off of Crenshaw Blvd., and I frequented the same areas that Boyz n the Hood was filmed in. There are a lot more positive aspects of these communities than negative aspects, but the media typically covers the negative aspects. That leads to these narratives that African Americans live in a war zone, as President Trump said.
To launch the newspaper, I had to learn how to do layout, because I couldn’t afford to pay somebody to do that. I put together some local stories, then laid the newspaper out. After figuring out where to get it printed, I launched the first edition. When I loaded up my SUV all the way up to the ceiling with stacks of newspaper, I then had to figure out how to get rid of them. Two years later, I’m still putting the newspaper out, and the public loves the positive community stories that I publish.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve come to learn what every new entrepreneur learns. It’s very hard. My skills was as a content producer, and it was easy to learn layout. So I could create the product. But creating the product is just one aspect of the business. I had to figure out distribution and I had to learn how to do sales. Creating the newspaper became the simple part. Everything else was difficult. And with a very small budget to work with, that meant that I needed to do most tasks myself. If I didn’t know how to do it, I had to quickly learn how to do it. I’m nearly a one-man show, which needs to change for this newspaper to grow. As of right now, I’m the lead writer, lead photographer, production designer, distribution manager, marketing manager, and sales rep. Just about everything that gets done with this publication, I most likely did it. And the tasks that don’t get done is because I didn’t have time to get to it, I just haven’t figured it out yet, or I couldn’t afford to do it. So my next goal is to hire a sales rep. More revenue will solve most of my problems because I’ll be able to hire people. That will make my workflow much more efficient.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Los Angeles Standard Newspaper specializes in original, community-driven stories. That may sound like any community newspaper, but it’s really not. Most community newspapers fill up their pages with wire service stories. It’s a quick and easy way to fill a hole on a page. Many community newspapers have very limited community news. Those stories, a journalist has to actually get out of the office and find stories. They have to talk to people. It’s much easier to just use Google to research a story and then pop it in the newspaper. Or just pop in a press release or wire service story.
At the Standard, every story is original. An interview was conducted, and pictures were taken. That’s a lot of work, but that improves the quality of the publication. Wire services writers don’t spend much time in local communities. They usually cover the mainstream stories. But that doesn’t really fit with a community newspaper. People should be able to open the local newspaper and see people that they know and places that they normally go to. That happens all the time with the Standard.
As an African American newspaper, original content is very important. Typically the mainstream media goes to South Los Angeles and Inglewood to tell stories about crime, high unemployment rates, low test scores, and things of that nature. Too many stories showcase some type of struggle. That creates a narrative that African American communities are all bad. But there are way more positive things going on than negative things. With the Standard, I’ve taken on the task to tell the positive stories that go untold.
Besides original stories, photography is extremely important. At many community newspapers, they do not have the budget to hire photographers. So they rely on people sending in photos, which usually does not work. Or they’ll just take photos from Google searches, which is kind of illegal. I started off in media as a photographer. When I was working at the other newspapers, I’d tell them all the time that they should run the photos bigger. But they typically didn’t have good enough photos to do that. So when I started the Standard, I made it a point to run the photos as big as possible and run the entire newspaper in color. Each page is a piece of art, and I use pictures to make the page pop. Nobody wants to look at a sea of text. The photos draws people in to read the articles.
What really sets the Standard apart from the typical community newspaper is that I simply try to produce a high-quality product. I don’t settle for good enough. I don’t just put anything on the page just to get the job done quick and easy. I want every page to look great, and I want every article to be impactful. I want the Standard to be extraordinary, and that takes effort. Putting out a high-quality newspaper isn’t rocket science. It just takes work.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
South Los Angeles and Inglewood are great places for a business like the Standard Newspaper. It’s because there are so many great things happening. There are monthly festivals. Sometimes weekly. There’s live music and art are all over the place. I have an endless supply of positive stories to write in these communities. And the public is appreciating it. A lot of people tell me that they’re happy to see a newspaper that has so many positive stories, opposed to the other newspapers that can be too political. People want to feel good about the communities that they’re living in, and the Standard Newspaper provides those good feelings.
Pricing:
- The newspaper is free.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2415 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
- Website: https://lastandardnewspaper.com/
- Phone: 3238214577
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la_standard_newspaper/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Los-Angeles-Standard-Newspaper-1594304357549998/?fref=ts
Image Credit:
All photos by Jason Lewis
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