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Baltimore Beat editor Lisa Snowden: How Baltimore uprising changed journalism for good

Baltimore Beat co-founder and editor-in-chief Lisa Snowden. Photo: Schaun Champion
schaun champion
Baltimore Beat co-founder and editor-in-chief Lisa Snowden. Photo: Schaun Champion

Ten years ago this week, protests filled the streets in Baltimore. They were the continuation of protests that had ignited even before the April 19th death of Sandtown-Winchester resident Freddie Gray, from injuries inflicted in police custody. Baltimore was in the national focus. Images of peaceful marches, fiery violence, armed national guardsmen, and clashes with police filled news programs across the country. In many ways, that period changed Baltimore forever -- yet in many other ways, the City has not changed.

We talk with Lisa Snowden, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the digital and print-based Baltimore Beat, to explore the effects those events had on journalism for her, and how they uplifted Black creatives and activists in Baltimore.

Ashley Sterner is the co-host of WYPR’s On The Record. With co-host Sheilah Kast, Ashley interviews artists, scientists, community leaders, and others.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'