Building a Movement for Black Storytellers
Black Journalist Collective partners with PopViewers for major media event, building community and amplifying Black voices.
Black News 
When ViewerCon 2026 opens its doors on Saturday, July 18, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, thousands of fans, journalists, creators and entertainment insiders will gather for what organizers describe as the ultimate celebration of television, film, digital media and pop culture. Presented by STARZ, the inaugural event features celebrity conversations, exclusive panels, fan experiences and appearances by stars including Joy Reid, Taye Diggs, Bevy Smith, Patina Miller, Mekai Curtis, London Brown, and Sascha Penn, along with leading voices from across entertainment and media.
Among the organizations helping shape the experience is the Black Journalist Collective (BJC), which will host a dedicated media lounge, creating a space where Black journalists, photographers, content creators and storytellers can network, collaborate and cover one of the year’s biggest entertainment gatherings.
For founder Jajuan Malachi, the ViewerCon partnership marks another significant milestone in a movement that began not inside a newsroom, but with what he describes as a calling.
“We’re going to be in collaboration with PopViewers this upcoming July. We have ViewerCon coming up, which is a huge festival that’s going to be taking place in Jersey. We’re going to have a media lounge,” Malachi told Radio and TV personality Jazmyn Summers. “We’re going to have a ton of prominent guests in the building. We’re really excited about that.”
He also credited PopViewers founder Chris Witherspoon for opening the door to the collaboration.
“Shout out to Chris Witherspoon, my big brother, my mentor, opening the door for us to work together on his huge flagship event for his entity, PopViewers.”
For the rapidly growing Black Journalist Collective, ViewerCon isn’t simply another event to cover. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate exactly what the organization was created to do: bring Black storytellers together, foster collaboration and amplify voices across every platform where culture is being documented.
For founder Jajuan Malachi, the ViewerCon partnership represents another milestone in a vision that began not inside a newsroom, but with what he describes as a calling.
“In 2022, I was at home with my family in Augusta, Georgia,” Malachi recalled. “I just feel like a divine message came from God… God was telling me, ‘Jajuan, start a community, start a collective, galvanize your people together.’”
That vision became the Black Journalist Collective (BJC), an organization dedicated to creating an inclusive home for Black journalists, photographers, content creators, videographers and storytellers across every corner of media.
Radio and television personality Jazmyn Summers recently sat down with Malachi for Radio One to discuss the organization’s rapid growth and why its mission has become increasingly urgent.
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Born From Isolation
Malachi says the Collective grew out of a feeling many Black journalists quietly understand.
“A lot of it stemmed from this sense of isolation and seclusion that I felt as a Black man in media,” he said. “Not always finding community in the predominantly white media spaces that I was occupying… I just never wanted anybody to feel like how I felt.”
Rather than simply accepting that reality, he decided to build something different.
“I was going to create this space, this safe space, this inclusive, accessible space for fellow Black storytellers like myself.”
Today, that community welcomes everyone from established national journalists to students still finding their footing.
“We’ve had people from Vogue show up, The New York Times… News12… OKAfrica,” he explained. “But then we also value the young novice journalists trying to find their way… There’s space for everybody here.”
More Than Journalists
Unlike many traditional journalism organizations, the Black Journalist Collective intentionally blurs the lines between legacy media and today’s creator economy.
“Whether you’re a photographer, whether you’re a content creator, whether you’re a journalist, there’s a home for you here.”
That philosophy reflects the dramatic changes happening across the media landscape, where many of the biggest stories now gain traction long before television news ever arrives.
“There’s been so much banter about content creators versus journalists,” Malachi said. “I think that some content creators do follow journalistic integrity. And so we are trying to bridge that gap as well.”
He believes independent media is no longer the future. It’s the present.
“There’s been so much merging, consolidation in the media space… The middleman is being cut out.”
Instead of competing with one another, members of the Collective are encouraged to collaborate.
“If you need a videographer or you need a content creator… you can find those people in this space.”
Replacing Competition With Community
One of the organization’s biggest goals is dismantling the scarcity mindset that has long existed in many newsrooms.
“I feel like in the media space… we’re kind of pitted against one another,” Malachi said. “There can never be more than one Black person at a particular company.”
The Collective aims to rewrite that narrative.
“We don’t have to be divided. We can come together and we can love on one another. We could actually collaborate and work together, see how we could get to this next level, see how we could make some paper.”
Networking isn’t treated as an occasional conference event.
It’s the foundation.
Recent BJC gatherings have brought together alumni from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism alongside professionals from major news organizations, allowing early-career journalists to build relationships with experienced reporters, editors and producers.
Filling a Growing Void
As newsrooms continue shrinking and diversity initiatives face increasing political and legal challenges, Malachi believes organizations like the Black Journalist Collective have become even more necessary.
“With the wiping away of DEI initiatives, I feel like I’m fulfilling a void that’s very palpable right now.”
He also worries about growing public distrust toward journalism itself.
“There’s been a rise of anti-intellectualism,” he said. “People have very pejorative opinions about journalists nowadays.”
Despite those challenges, he remains steadfast.
“I still find utility and value in the work that I do.”
Journalism as Public Service
Malachi sees journalism as more than a profession.
It’s a responsibility.
“I don’t think that that is means to demean the craft because the craft is ever so important, maybe even most important today with the rise of misinformation and so many different avenues to disseminate the wrong information nowadays.”
“So it’s our duty to ensure that we’re holding power accountable and that we’re disseminating the right stories and giving the right narratives to everything.”
That mission extends beyond headlines.
It’s about preserving truth while creating opportunities for the next generation of storytellers.
A National Vision
ViewerCon may be one of the Black Journalist Collective’s biggest public appearances yet, but Malachi says it’s only the beginning.
“I feel very honored… I just can’t wait to see the collective continue to grow.”
“My ultimate vision… I want it to be a national entity and then eventually become international.”
The upcoming media lounge at ViewerCon offers a glimpse of what that future could look like: journalists, creators, photographers and digital storytellers working side by side, covering culture while building community.
As media continues evolving at breakneck speed, the Black Journalist Collective is making a simple but powerful argument.
There is still tremendous value in journalists coming together, sharing resources, opening doors for one another and ensuring that Black voices remain at the center of telling Black stories.
And if Jajuan Malachi has his way, that community is only getting started.
Watch the full conversation below
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Article by Jazmyn Summers. Photos and video by 7Spontaneous of The Revenue Entertainment You can hear Jazmyn every morning on “Jazmyn in the Morning “on Sirius XM Channel 362 Grown Folk Jamz. Subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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