'Television Still Airs In Black and White' By Paul Porter, Industry Ears

Another very on-point and timely article by Paul Porter from Industry Ears.
~LT

Television still airs in black and white
Written By: Paul Porter 14 Jul 2008

www.industryears.com

Is it me or have you too noticed the abundance of Black people on cable TV? The primary season included a long list of African Americans, analyst and pundits. And now the general election race is primed to change flat screen sets back to the 60's black and white tubes.

Black faces on cable news for over a decade has been limited to the negative perceptions of the Black male. America has been inundated with OJ Simpson, Mike Vick, Michael Jackson, Reverend Wright and what Bill O'Reilly calls "victimization" stories with Black America's two anointed leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

A recent search on Google of "black leaders" to my surprise found the first search result with "this site might be harmful to your computer" triggered my questioning of cable's recent trends.

We've all been deceived for decades on who Black Americans truly are. WLBT in Jackson, Mississippi had it's license revoked in the late 60's after years of racist coverage of the civil rights movement.

MSNBC recent special "My Black is Beautiful" was the first in depth look at Black America. And CNN's upcoming "Black in America" promises to be a four hour look that reveals another side of Black culture rarely revealed.

Hopefully, America will be for warned that not much has been changed since WLBT. The equity of power and ownership in television is still laden with white males. Decision makers remain untouched by the issues and stories Black America needs and it's not their fault.

A recent study by the Parent's Television Council focused on the adult content that Black children watched daily on Viacom outlets BET and MTV. Nielsen ratings noted that over two hundred thousand viewers were Blackkids age 2 to 17.

Not one white reporter from television, radio or a newspaper covered the story. For some that thought might seem racist, but the truth is it's simply fact.

Diversity is simply today's new code word that replaces the real need of equity and power.

Paul Porter
Industry Ears