Unlike its white counterpart, the black press has historically exceeded its role of information source. Specialized black media were founded to decry racial conflict and gain civil rights. Only rarely, and secondarily, have black papers achieved commercial success. The purposes of black papers have changed with the society they serve. Ideologies evidenced in "Freedom's Journal," for example, were pro-abolition and anti-colonization; they acquiesced in certain aspects of the status quo and promoted self-improvement strategies among blacks. These ideologies are still seen in the contemporary black press along with a continued militance. Today, however, emphasis is on black heritage and news of African nations. Idealogical differences among black leaders across time can also be linked to the black press. For the vast majority of American blacks living in inner cities, the general media still fail to provide either sufficient black news or a black perspective on the news. That failure explains the development and continued significance of black newspapers. It also explains why the black press can be expected to take a path apart from the general media, as it has throughout black history. (HOD)