First BET insists on playing a certain kind of hip hop and now in a like-minded fashion, TV-One covers a certain type of politics. More on this (and the prior post) in a few:
This just in, courtesy of the New York Daily News:
TV One's political coverage will be unconventional
By CRISTINA KINON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, July 9th 2008, 4:00 AM
Johnathan Rodgers
LOS ANGELES - TV One will air live nightly coverage of the Democratic National Convention, followed by "TV One Live: DNC Afterparty," an hour-long show of panel discussions on the issues. The network, however, does not have any plans to cover the Republican side of the presidential race.
"We are not a news organization, we're a television network that's designed to celebrate African-American achievement," TV One President and CEO Johnathan Rodgers told members of the Television Critics Association yesterday. "That's why we're covering this convention.
"If Hillary were the nominee, we would not be covering this year's convention. My audience is 93% black. I serve my audience."
The straightforward convention coverage, starting Aug. 25, will be led by radio talk-show host Joe Madison and CN8 News' principal anchor Arthur Fennell, while "TV One Live: DNC Afterparty" will usher in a slew of politically savvy commentators including TV and radio reporter Jacque Reid; the Rev. Marcia Dyson and her husband, Michael Eric Dyson; TV One commentator Roland Martin; the Rev. Al Sharpton, actor Hill Harper, and comedian Sheryl Underwood.
"Sen. Obama running for President is a huge deal for TV One, as it is for the African-American community," said Rodgers. "It's not normally part of what we would do, but we will be covering the Democratic convention all the time. It's going to be a ceremonial, historical, irreverent and celebratory look at the process and look at Sen. Obama and what this means to the African-American community."
Reid, who will serve as "Afterparty's" main anchor, emphasized that despite the show appearing on an African-American network, it will discuss all aspects of Obama's candidacy, not just the race-related ones.
"There's something for every group," Reid said. "We're not just going to get on the show and talk about black issues. Yes, Barack Obama is the nominee, but there are several issues that black people care about, and the beauty is that there's a black perspective that can be reflected upon any of them."
Alrighty then....back to the issue at hand. This latest dust-up with TV-One (a media outlet that is slowly becoming BET's soror in shaping a truncated image of Black America), is proving that profit wins over information and substance at every turn. Thankfully, with former congressman J.C. Watts' latest Black news network initiative, perhaps the current single-mindedness displayed in African-American politics and media will be ameliorated. Profit driven excuses are wearing thin when the fate of communities of color hangs in the balance. This is the very reason why neo-minstrelsy as entertainment reign supreme in the Black community and conversely it should not be tolerated in the political arena as well. As a right of self-determination, Black folk should be at least be exposed to conservative rhetoric so that they can come to their own conclusions. What do you guys think? Is TV-One acting like BET on this matter?
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