From West Virginia to Chicago: Black By God Joins National Conversation on Independent Media

By Traci Phillips | Black By God – The West Virginian

CHICAGO — I went to Chicago representing a newsroom rooted in West Virginia, but the conversations happening there were much bigger than any one state. Black By God – The West Virginian joined independent newsrooms and media leaders from across the country for the 2026 URL Media Partner Convening, a gathering focused on the future of community-centered media and what it will take for independent outlets to continue serving their communities. For me, the trip carried an additional purpose: making sure Black West Virginia is part of that national conversation.

The convening brought together members of the URL Media network for candid discussions about advertising, changing media business models, marketing and sustainability. Those conversations matter in West Virginia. At Black By God, our journalism is rooted in communities whose stories have historically been overlooked, misunderstood or told by people outside of them. Being in a room with journalists and media leaders doing similar work across the country was a reminder that while our communities may be different, many of our challenges are shared. How do independent newsrooms remain sustainable? How do we reach audiences where they are? And how do we make sure local stories aren’t left behind as the media industry continues to change?

Looking for West Virginia at the Obama Presidential Center

As part of the gathering, URL Media partners visited the Obama Presidential Center. At the start of our tour, Megan Finnerty, Senior Director of Editorial at the Obama Foundation, encouraged the journalists gathered there to think about the stories we would tell after our visit.

“Your communities, I think, have important stories to tell.” — Megan Finnerty, Senior Director of Editorial, Obama Foundation

Those words stayed with me as we walked through the center because the West Virginia reporter in me immediately started looking for home — and I found it. Among the campaign memorabilia was a “West Virginia for Obama Biden” button featuring the state. It was a small discovery, but another West Virginia connection was much bigger: Katherine Johnson.

Born in White Sulphur Springs, Johnson became one of the pioneering Black mathematicians whose work at NASA helped make America’s human spaceflight program possible. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Seeing her represented there felt significant. I had traveled more than 500 miles from West Virginia to join journalists from around the country in conversations about why our communities and their stories matter. Then, after hearing that our communities have important stories to tell, I walked through a national institution and found a Black West Virginia woman whose work helped change American history. There was something fitting about that.

West Virginia’s Black population may be relatively small, but the size of a community has never determined the significance of its stories. That is part of why Black By God’s presence in national media spaces matters. We’re not simply bringing national media conversations back to West Virginia; we’re bringing West Virginia into those conversations. I left Chicago with new ideas, new relationships and another reminder that the stories we tell from these mountains don’t stop at the state line. Black Appalachian stories are American stories. Sometimes you just have to know where to look for them.