North News is a neighborhood newspaper that covers North Minneapolis, a community that’s often marginalized in larger mainstream news coverage. Founded in 1992, North News is a monthly print newspaper with 400 drop sites throughout the neighborhood, as well as an online media outlet. In 2016, the nonprofit Pillsbury United Communities bought and rebranded the newspaper, turning it into an independently owned franchise.
Run by Editor and Reporter David Pierini along with Youth Coordinator and Reporter Azhae’la Hanson, the paper serves the people of the North Side by addressing social issues and highlighting positive stories in the community. Hanson says her interest in journalism began at North High.
“This community gets a bad rep for the violence and the negativity, larger media outlets consider it a hot ticket to see our community in pain,” said Hanson. “In high school, I remember I was angry at the way our community was being perceived. As a community member and as a North High Polar, I really began to see the importance of what it means to have an image and what representation means.”
In 2016, North News partnered with Samuel Wilbur, a journalism and social studies educator at North High School in Minneapolis to create a journalism class. Hanson was given a camera and began taking photos at school events while also reporting for the paper.
“I went to a football game and I remember seeing so much joy. I would see it when I walked to the bus, I would see it on the bus, I would see it in the hallways and at Cub Foods. I was thinking to myself, why is this not celebrated?” said Hanson.
Hanson became the reporter and youth coordinator for North News in 2022 after graduating from the historically Black college Xavier University in New Orleans. Alongside Wilbur, she now runs the same program that turned her into a journalist and photographer. The youth program at North High school is a year-long internship that involves students in the paper. Students are able to create content for the paper and be compensated for it. Hanson is able to create the curriculum and help her students become better writers. Meanwhile, her own work has received recognition; Hanson won both first and second-place awards for her photography and her reporting from the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists this past year.
Her boss, Dave Pierini, also won an award for a set of photos made during a vigil for Ricky Cobb II, who was killed by a state trooper during a traffic stop. Pierini, a longtime photographer, began as a volunteer for North News in his spare time.
“Covid hit and digital advertising tanked, and I lost my job. An hour later [Editor Kenzie O’Keefe] said her two part-timers were leaving, I remember they both left at the same time. So I started full time as a reporter/photographer. Then she left the job of editor… and so they hired Harry Colbert from Insight News and I worked for Harry,” said Pierini.
Pierini continued to work alongside Colbert to develop the content of the paper through the pandemic, until Colbert took a job as managing editor of MinnPost. Pierini, who describes himself as an “ink-stained wretch,” jokes that at that point he’d run out of excuses.
“So I said alright I’ll be the editor,” Pierini chuckled.
Community members speak highly about the way the paper tells their stories. Shvonne Johnson is an educator and author. She was featured in the paper in May 2017 for her book of poetry titled “Release,” which led to other coverage of her work.
“When people write our stories, they are truthful and I appreciate that,” said Johnson. “When I read the article about my brother Sammy Mcdowell, whom I adore and care for still, they wrote about him the way he was supposed to be written about. He's a good man,” said Johnson. For her, it’s important to see the people of the North Side lifted up. “I think it has so much integrity, when I go to the grocery store and I see my friend on the paper, that’s integrity.”
“This paper allows you to have a stronger connection with people, and people have a stronger connection with you. I think that forms the content of the paper” Pierini said.
With the help of the community, North News will continue to create stories that represent the cultural wealth of the North Side
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