I have a column up today on The Retort about black media outlets complaining about access issues. I wish they'd stop complaining and get online with the rest of us where the real action is.

Here's a sample:

The Black Informant recently published a post critical of the "Black Press" in the complaints of black owned and operated publications upset over issues of access surrounding both the president and things like the memorial service for Michael Jackson.

Many black media outlets, reporters and editors have been outspoken when they feel that they are being slighted, but have been extra vocal about perceived slights when they involve fellow African-Americans. Case in point -- the president.

After the first black president completed his first prime-time press conference, the black press was red hot.

“We were window dressing,” said Hazel Edney, a reporter with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America. “We were nothing more than window dressing.”

The Black Informant points out that this attitude permeates whether discussing problems with advertising revenue or competing with bloggers. But rather than complain that these issues are because of race, TBI argues this has much more to do with their low circulation numbers, an over-reliance on a dying medium and their own unwillingness to embrace technology.

Read the rest at The Retort!