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Gambia: Citizen Excels as Top American Newspaper Editor
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Freedom Newspaper (Raleigh, North Carolina)
30 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
Bankole Thompson is a household name in the media fraternity in Michigan. The Gambian-born American trained editor is currently serving as Senior Editor of one of the largest and most influential African American newspapers in America, the Michigan Chronicle (www.michronicleonline.com) founded in 1936.
As Senior Editor, Thompson directs the editorial expression of the Michigan Chronicle on local, national and international issues. He is responsible for assigning front page stories to reporters and writers of the Michigan Chronicle. In addition to his demanding editorial duties Thompson writes a popular column on the front page of the newspaper.
Thompson's articles are syndicated by BlackPressUSA.Com reaching 15 million readers.
In 2003, Thompson directed lecture series on Third World issues for the Washington-based foreign policy think tank, the Africa Faith and Justice Network at the Brookings Institute, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the National Press Club.
In 2006, the University of Iowa described Thompson as a "distinguished lecturer" following an invitation as keynote speaker for the university's Africa Week. Thompson spoke on the theme "The Media and the African Poverty Crisis."
That same year, his first book, Ignoring The Underprivileged, a critique of the news media's coverage on race and class in America hit the book stores. The book, with a foreword written by veteran Michigan journalist Cliff Russell, host of American Black Journal on Detroit PBS Television, received glowing endorsements and became required reading at Eastern Michigan University School of Journalism and Wayne State University Department of Africana Studies. Jet Magazine called the book a work on "mainstream media's poor coverage of inner cities."
His second book, A Matter of Black Transformation, released in 2007 pushes the frontiers of African and African American socio-economic relationships in the light of China's heightened interest in Africa.
In writing the foreword to the book, University of Rhode Island's Bernard LaFayette who coordinated the 1968 Poor People's Campaign with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said Thompson "ponders the most important issues of our time and explores the theoretical as well as the practical application of concepts that can indeed lead to a matter of Black transformation."
At 28, Thompson is a sought after media personality and one of the youngest editors of a major publication in the country.
He has testified before august bodies such as the Kerner Commission, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, whose current chairman Senator Fred Harris and Eisenhower Foundation President Alan Curtis described Thompson in a testimonial as a "courageous voice on behalf of the dispossessed and disenfranchised, a shining example of journalism for the public good."
U.S. Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee called Thompson "an esteemed editor with integrity."
Detroit Third Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong added, "Thompson is a journalist whose opinion many of us respect in this community," while introducing him as a speaker before the Wolverine Bar Association symposium on presidential politics.
WWJ-CBS Radio's Tim Kiska said Thompson "represents the best and most noble instincts of journalism," while introducing him as a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Communications.
A former City Editor at the Michigan Citizen, Thompson who was named Senior Editor of the Michigan Chronicle in 2006, is a regular commentator on the Sunday morning television and radio shows in Michigan like Spotlight on WXYZ-ABC, Flashpoint on WDIV-NBC, American Black Journal on WTVS-PBS, Mix 92.3FM-Clear Channel Radio etc.
He has met with world leaders like Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and has interviewed notable socio-political leaders such as presidential candidate Barack Obama, civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson, Kwanza founder Dr. Maulana Karenga, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader among a host of others.
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Most recently, Thompson was interviewed on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show, WBAI 99.5FM-Pacifica Radio in New York, and Comcast Newsmakers which aired on CNN Headline News.
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