Akron is celebrating the contributions of the longtime publisher and editor of the city’s Black newspaper.
Bill Ellis, who died June 21, 2024, at the age of 74, ran "The Reporter" for more than 30 years.
Ellis’ mission was to lift up the Black community in Akron, former Akron City Councilmember Russ Neal said.
“Mr. Ellis was an institution in his community," he said. "His business had been in business for over 50 years, documenting every story along the way.”
Carrying on a legacy
Ellis’ father started "The Reporter" in 1969 with a focus and passion for telling positive stories about the Black community.
"His dad originally started the paper," "The Reporter" photojournalist Judith Lynn Lee said, "because he felt that Black people was not getting their just due when it comes to media that we were only being recognized when we did something wrong."
Ellis carried on this passion, Hiram Akeem, a writer for "The Reporter," said.
"He wanted to be able to show an alternative, almost in a celebration narrative of how our people are in real life," he said.
The paper "made us feel like we were somebody," Lee recalled. "The Reporter" is "the one trusted source in the Black community," Neal said, adding that it is much more than a place to get news and information.
"It becomes a way for people to receive information but also to get information out," he said.
"The Reporter" often highlights events important to the Black community that aren't often otherwise covered, Rev. Marc A. Tibbs, Senior Pastor at Centenary United Methodist Church and a columnist for "The Reporter," said.
"Events like sorority debutantes or maybe even something as benign as a family reunion found space in Bill's paper, when they could never get that kind of attention in the 'Beacon Journal' or the 'Plain Dealer' or any other mainstream organ like that," he said, adding that mainstream media can often miss nuances in the Black community.
Ellis was a detailed editor, always trying to improve and build on the paper's stories, Lee remembered.
State Sen. Vernon Sykes first met Ellis when his wife, Barbara, currently on the Akron Public Schools Board of Education, served as a secretary for the paper.
"He was very conscientious. He was a kind person but very thorough,'" Sykes recounted. "I'd sit with him for hours going over an analysis of an election, going over analyzing different aspects different government policies might have on the community, the Black community and the community at large."
I was saddened to hear of the passing of William “Bill” Ellis Junior. Bill was the Editor and Publisher of The Reporter Newspaper here in Akron for over 5 decades. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/L7VHdWqNi5
— Mayor Shammas Malik (@AkronOhioMayor) June 25, 2024
"The Reporter" and Ellis by default are engrained in daily life in Akron's Black community, Akeem said.
"I go to to the barber shops, it's in the barber shop. I go to the corner store, it's in the corner store," he said. "I go to the mom and pop shops, the records stores, the places you buy clothes - it's everywhere, because he wanted to make sure that people saw it. And people saw the news that we need to see."
And the paper has impacted more than just the Black community in Akron, Tibbs said.
"It's where white politicians go to find out what's happening in the Black community or what issues are important to us," he said.
A staple in the community
Neal can't remember the first time he met Ellis, because it seemed like he was everywhere in the community, he said.
"If you were at a community event, Mr. Ellis was there," he said. "Even when his health started to wane, he would have somebody assist him to get to different events."
It was at one of these community events that Tibbs first met Ellis, he recounted.
"Bill was in a wheelchair," Tibbs said, "and yet he was covering this event as a reporter and as a photographer."
Ellis was also passionate about education, allowing a college class to come tour the paper's office every year, Akeem said.
"He would work hands on giving those kids pretty much hands on with an editor of a newspaper and thus generating another generation of independent writers and hopefully passing on that passion as well," he said.
Ellis was a mentor for Lee, she said. He helped her improve her writing and reporting with every story and taught her how to take and edit photos.
"He would actually send me to out of town events," she remembered. "I was always covering the NAACP national convention where I was interviewing entertainers, actors, singers, political people - which is one of the ways I got into politics."
Lee became the first Black woman on Norton City Council in 2024, and Ellis was instrumental in helping her win, she said.
Ellis served as president of the Cleveland Minority Publishers’ Association and worked with Black Media Inc., a coalition of national weekly Black newspapers. He was the first newspaper journalist inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2009, according to his obituary. Additionally, he received the Ohio Public Images Award of Merit in 2012.
"He was willing to be the voice of the community, to be the voice of the people," Lee said.
Ellis’ brother, Carlton, is now running "The Reporter," with help from the community that has contributed and read the paper for decades.
"His legacy is carrying on in the tangible form and beyond," Akeem said.
