''The Kansas City Defender'' is a news outlet primarily by and for African-American youth, especially in the

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

and the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

more generally. They won the 2022 Community Engagement Award from Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers for "engaging Black youth both in digital spaces, and real-life community events. Their stories on racism in schools sparked national coverage and conversations. Among other things, they work to understand the differences between the different audiences on different social media platforms and how to tailor their content to maximize the engagement of those different audiences. ''Kansas City Defender'' founder and publisher, Ryan Sorrell, insists, "young people are not unreachable. They are very interested in news. It just has to be produced and packaged the right way for them to be interested in consuming it". ''Defender'' community engagement efforts have included basketball park takeovers and grocery buyouts. Among other things, they speak directly to high school age youth, writing about them and their concerns and inviting them to contribute content.

Disappearing women

On September 23, 2022, ''The Kansas City Defender'' published a video on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

claiming that Black women had been disappearing off Prospect Avenue, and nothing was being done about it. The following Monday the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department said they had heard nothing about this. News outlets in Kansas City and across the nation, including ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' and the ''

Atlanta Black Star The ''Atlanta Black Star'' is the largest black-owned digital publication in the United States. The publication is based in Atlanta, Georgia which focuses on the African American perspective on politics. It was founded in 2012 by Neil "Jelani" ...

'', chastised ''The Kansas City Defender'' for irresponsible journalism. Two weeks later, before 8 AM on October 7, 2022, a woman began running around

Excelsior Springs, Missouri Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 10,553 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately northeast of central Kansas City, Miss ...

, knocking on doors and crying for help. She said she had been held against her will, beaten, and sexually assaulted. She also said there had been other victims. Police found the house in which the woman said she had been confined and staked out the place. An hour later, the owner, Timothy Haslett, Jr., returned and was arrested. Haslett was charged with crimes involving multiple women and charges including rape and kidnapping. In 2024, after a body was found, he was indicted for murder.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://kansascitydefender.com Newspapers published in Missouri Newspapers established in 2021 2021 establishments in Missouri