The Answer to BET: Start a New and Responsible Cable Channel

The fury of some African American fraternities and sororities over Black Entertainment Television’s rap videos (“Brouhaha Over BET Continues,� by Greg Braxton, Nov. 28) strikes to the heart of a debate that has raged among African Americans for years over the mission and vision of the channel.

The fraternities and sororities demand only that BET exorcise the worst of the worst sexually titillating rap videos from its airwaves. But BET’s more hard-line critics go much further than that. They claim that BET, with its endless parade of foulmouthed comics, celebrity gossips and obnoxious videos, is nothing more than a cheap, buck-chasing carbon copy of mainstream TV’s flighty entertainment and daytime talk shows. They want the channel to put on programs that inform and educate black viewers on the vital issues of the day.

BET founder and President Robert Johnson’s answer to that is always the same. BET, he claims, is not PBS or Fox News; it’s in the business of entertainment, and the rap videos that the critics want to dump in the ashcan help pay the bills.

Still, in the era when dumb and dumber is the mantra for much of what passes for TV news, African Americans should want and demand more substantive news and reporting of issues and events. And BET can do much more than it’s doing to provide that meatier content.

The channel is on the air 24 hours, seven days a week. Its profits would not plunge and its ratings would not spike if it refused to air the more disgusting of the rap videos and added a few more hard-hitting news and public affairs shows to its program lineup.

Johnson should do this not because it’s morally or racially correct but because it makes good business sense. The fact that so many African Americans have dogged him to clean up BET’s act indicates that there is a bottomless hunger among many African Americans for good shows. If BET took the cue and put more quality shows on, it would probably make the channel an even better sale to advertisers.

But since it’s painfully evident that BET can’t and won’t be the channel that’s all things to all African Americans, BET critics should stop wasting their time trying to make it into that. Instead they should do what Johnson did: bankroll their own cable outlet. Then they could air the type of news and public affairs programs they want to see.

The financial potential of African Americans to do that is enormous. According to recent census figures, poverty among African Americans has dropped to near record lows. African Americans now own more homes and businesses than ever.

In the last two decades, they have made quantum leaps in the professions. The annual sales of the top 100 companies listed in Black Enterprise Magazine’s annual survey of black businesses topped $2 billion in 2000. A private study estimates that black buying power will soar to nearly $700 billion in the next five years.

The fraternities and sororities that signed the letter knocking BET for its awful rap videos have thousands of members who are financially well-heeled and politically well-connected. They could raise millions within their own ranks to get another black-themed channel up and running.

There is also a huge pool of talented, media-savvy African American newscasters, reporters, producers and technicians who can ably provide accurate and informed coverage of news and events. And, most important, there are huge numbers of African Americans who appreciate quality programming and will support the sponsors of such programs.

The fraternities and sororities may ultimately succeed in their campaign to get Johnson to rid BET’s airwaves of its more offensive rap videos. This won’t transform the channel into a paragon of news and information enlightenment. But it may motivate and inspire other African Americans to try to create a medium that can provide that enlightenment.

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Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of “The Disappearance of Black Leadershipâ€� and hosts a talk show on KPFK-FM (90.7), Tuesdays at 7 p.m. He can be reached at [email protected].

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