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Black Headline News Virtual Reality Center soft launch is big success with 'Black Press Experience'

Forum co-hosts and publishers, Rina Risper (New Citizens Press) and Dana James (Black Iowa News) feature two guest news publishers with winning determination

By Black Headline News


This year, the Black History Month kickoff for AMPTV's Black Headline News was celebrated virtually thru the, 2023 Black History Month Virtual Reality Experience ...


Black Headline News Cohort members, Rina Risper, publisher of The New Citizens Press and Dana James, publisher of Black Iowa News, welcomed the “virtual reality” (VR) experience as they talked about the "Black Press Experience" with featured guest publishers, Charlene Rhinehart of Chicago Southsider and Kenneth Miles of the Trenton Journal.


VR technology, summarized from the online Oxford dictionary, is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person. This can be done using external apparatuses or via computer simulated 3D VR simulations for easy-eye viewing—no equipment needed.


Risper and James complimented budding publisher, Rhinehart, for her swiftness in gaining an online digital audience so fast.

Rhinehart is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Financial Journalist and former Ms. Corporate America.She’s a Chicago-based media personality who had appeared on many podcasts, panels and platforms.She had also interviewed hundreds of celebrities, community influencers, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and high-net-worth individuals who have revealed their secret to success.Rhinehart has published thousands of articles and has worked with various organizations, including Investopedia, Black Enterprise, The Motley Fool, Black Doctor and American Express.


Launched in August 2021, Chicago Southsider is on a mission to unlock the best of Chicago’s South Side. Within the first 12 months, they accumulated over 5,500 subscribers who were ready to explore the best of Business, Beauty, Books, Brunch, and Beverages on Chicago’s South Side.


Chicago Southsider's top priorities include:

•Expanding our reach to over 25,000 residents

•Employing content creators from the South Side of Chicago

•Changing the narrative of Chicago’s South Side by highlighting the best of what our community offers



Risiper and James reviewed the astonishing endeavors Miles has been able to accomplish through all trials and tribulations.


Miles is a dedicated publisher in New Jersey whose work has appeared in the New York Times Syndicate, Interview, Black Enterprise, Industry, Paper, The Source, and WBGO.org. Miles has managed award-winning film director Jerry Lamothe and has handled public relations for actress and producer Tami Roman. Miles holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from Bloomfield College and mentors students from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy in Newark. Miles is currently working on his memoir and an e-book about event production.

The Trenton Journal is an independently owned and operated multimedia platform that aims to address the information gaps and amplify voices in New Jersey’s capital city through solutions-based journalism. The Trenton Journal is the recipient of the NABJ Black Press Grant and the NJ Civic Consortium grant to help train local community residents to tell their stories.


The discussion centered around the accomplishments and challenges the Black press seem to collectively endure, from lack of funding from local sources to lack of supportive community understanding.

After featured publishers, Rhinehart and Miles, Risper and James invited publisher and executive producer, Julia Dudley Najieb to join the candid discussion about their own current experiences in publishing--print and online. The riveting discussion highlighted such issues as: gatekeepers, legacy grand standing, and political pressures. James, Risper and Dudley Najieb also commented on solutions to these issues, letting the community know how they, too, can support the Black press.


Supporters and interested viewers can watch an encore of this online discussion in the BHN Virtual Event Center now or at their leisure. Support the Black press through the online BHN store.

AMPTV launched the BHN Virtual Event Center, February 3, 2023, and will be featuring several other online VR events throughout the year using the same platform. Online audiences will be able to interact with the VR BHN event center 24/7; they can visit the rooms freely on their own--there is no charge. People will be asked to login with their emails to also be able to engage in the live chat feature.



This week's VR Town Hall features a clean energy discussion

This week's live forum to be featured during the 2023 Black History Month Virtual Reality in the Town Hall Room (Friday, February 10, 2023) is the: The Roots of Environmental Justice; Where do clean energy products fit in the lives of Black families? This event begins at 4:00 PM PST/6:00 PM CST/7:00 PM EST.

BHN Cohort member, Julia Dudley Najieb, will address the facts followed by a lounge discussion with publishers, Dana James of Black Iowa News and Rina Risper of The New Citizens Press.


The BHN Cohort will discuss clean energy issues in their states and the affect it is having on people of color.



About Black History Month

The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week". This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and that of Frederick Douglass on February 14, both of which dates Black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century.


Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State a year later, from January 2 to February 28, 1970.


Six years later, Black History Month was being celebrated all across the country in educational institutions, centers of Black culture and community centers, both great and small, when President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month in 1976, during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial. He urged Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."



About AMPTV

As an online network of channels and a production company, AnnMariePro TV (AMPTV) has over 25+ years experience in mass media, mobile and social media marketing. AMPTV has grown its own media outlet influence, reach, and exposure, displaying the expression of real issues and solutions related to African-Americans and the urban neighborhoods through its 24/7 online television programming, in the process, assisting content producers in sharing their talents and expanding their audience.


AMPTV provides over nine, curated channels of content on the network which feature national news breaks, news shows, movies & documentaries, business, technology, health, comedy and original content.


AMPTV niche online TV programming is broadcasted and watched by diverse audiences through smart TV devices, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, online partner websites, public access TV, and in cars via third-party audio-podcast apps.



About Black Headline News

The Black Headline News Channel is a 24/7 stream to inform viewers of the latest news headlines featured in Black news outlets from across the world. These news headlines include breaking news, elections, sports, world, national and regional news, and special feature reports.

The channel also broadcasts docu-stories, talk radio news shows, and trending syndicate shows.

The channel is managed and distributed by Info Media Distribution, a media production and online distribution company that produces and provides original news content and docuseries from a Black perspective.



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