Rantings of a Black Polemicist

What has BET become?

Thursday, May 27th, 2004 | Culture | 26 Comments

For quite some time now, BET has been under fire for its lack of quality content. On Tuesday, cable talk show host Bill O’Reilly confronted BET’s vice president of communications, asking why kids are being exposed to Nelly’s “Tip Drill” and other softcore porn taking the form of music videos during daytime hours.

From "The O’Reilly Factor" 5/24/2005 Download Video Clip (Windows Media) 14.5 MB, 7min, 39sec

I think that the bigger problem is that BET is showing what its audience wants to see. If there was a demand for high-quality public affairs programming or black history documentaries, BET would show them. The fact that music videos, comedy and some religious programming seem to dominate the schedule says more about the audience than it does the execs making the schedule.

Did Bob Johnson sell out the very black people his sub-standard network was supposed to serve, becoming a billionaire in the process? No, I think he gave up trying to force-feed his audience something they apparently didn’t want: content with any real educational value.

Closing the wealth gap

Thursday, April 8th, 2004 | Culture | Comments Off

From Vision Circle:

An essential tool to bridge the “racial” gap of wealth, and help Black families “jump classes” within the span of one to two generations, is a sound plan to eliminate debt, curtail discretionary spending by delaying instant gratification, and saving. One of the best methods for Black folk to do this, in my opinion, can be found here. Read more…