PTC, Enough is Enough, National Congress of Black Women, and Industry Ears Praise Cancellation of BET's Rap City

October 9, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kelly Oliver (ext. 140) or Megan Franko (ext. 148) at (703)683-5004

PTC, Enough is Enough, National Congress of Black Women, and Industry
Ears Praise Cancellation of BET's Rap City

LOS ANGELES (October 9, 2008) - The Parents Television Council, the
Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility, the National
Congress of Black Women, and Industry Ears jointly praised the
announcement that BET has cancelled the music video show, Rap City.
This move comes on the heels of a recent announcement that BET President
Reginald Hudlin resigned.

Earlier this year, the PTC, in partnership with the Enough is Enough
Campaign, undertook a research study regarding BET's and MTV's daytime
music video programming. The study concluded that as recently as March
2008, children who watched BET's Rap City and 106 & Park and MTV's
Sucker Free on MTV were bombarded with adult content - sexual, violent,
profane or obscene - once every 38 seconds. PTC and the Enough is
Enough Campaign announced the findings of the study at the National
Press Club in Washington DC with the participation of Industry Ears and
the National Congress of Black Women.


The following is a joint statement by PTC President Tim Winter; Enough
is Enough Campaign Founder Dr. Delman Coates; National Congress of Black
Women Chair Dr. E. Faye Williams; and Industry Ears Co-Founder Paul
Porter:

"We are heartened by the recent changes at BET, and we are gratified
that our collective efforts were a catalyst for this positive change.
It is apparent that our voices were heard by the public, by the
corporate sponsors who underwrite television programming and by BET
network executives. Parents across this country want a cessation of
marketing harmful, graphic and offensive images to children. But let us
be clear about our goal: we are not trying to get a particular show
cancelled or a particular executive fired. Rather, our goal is a
reduction in the harmful and offensive messages on BET and MTV
programming - especially when the programs are targeted at children. We
have called for the networks to take responsibility for their products,
and this program's cancellation is evidence of a step in the right
direction."

To see more results from the BET/MTV study, please visit
www.parentstv.org.