The NABJ, the National Lawyer’s Guild, the National Bar Association, the NAACP, Rainbow PUSH and other “Civil Rights” groups who know little to nothing about broadcasting or cable signed up to be Bob Johnson’s foot stools to create the MYTH that there was widespread support for approval of Johnsons’s underhanded proposal to crush other minority broadcasters and turn them into broadcasting share croppers.
Two weeks ago, we were at the lead of the pack (ok it was a ‘pack’ of one), to publicly come out and voice opposition to Bob Johnson’s Urban Television. Most members of the media like Broadcasting & Cable merely reprinted press releases from RLJ, Bob Johnson’s holding company.They left the impression that Bob Johnson was championing the cause of “diversity” but we all know better.
We spoke out in the face of almost unanimous cowering from the Civil Right Industrial Complex because it was the right thing to do. Instinctively we knew something was anti-competition about the whole thing and turns out we were right. Unlike groups like the NABJ and the NAACP, minorities who actually are involved in broadcasting have come out against Johnson’s proposal to create a broadcasting sharecropping channel.
Community Broadcasters Association (CBA), filed comments noting that this “share-time” approach is not the ticket to achieving greater minority and small-business access to media; rather, the ION/Urban approach would merely establish Urban as a new “gatekeeper” with whom minority programmers would have to deal to gain access.
The Africa Channel, Gospel Music Channel, and SiTV (a Latino cable network) filed a joint petition arguing that the ION/Urban deal is a gimmick to get around must-carry restrictions. If it succeeds, they observed, it will be the smaller minority programmers who will suffer, as cable capacity will be used up by subdivided full power stations and become unavailable to smaller minority programmers. They said that the proposal for “amoeba-like” subdividing of a TV channel is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the limits of the must-carry rules.
They also noted that: the Urban/Johnson programming proposal is vague (a point which even the supporting parties were forced to acknowledge), while existing minority programmers have existing schedules that are real; and the traditional FCC “share-time” concept involves two separate stations subdividing the hours of the day, not one station subdividing its spectrum.
Entravision – the prominent Spanish-language media company – chimed in with comments asserting that the proposal is an attempt to circumvent must-carry rules and give big business another foot in the door to cable carriage. Communications Law Blog
So why is it that all of these people who actually have television stations are in opposition, but the NAACP and the NABJ offered their unconditional support even if that meant a decrease in diversity by crushing smaller competitors. Why did the Civil Rights organizations take up the cross for the corporate behemoth instead of the little guys? Why did they lend their name to this FARCE? When is the media going to go beyond reprinting Bob Johnson’s press releases and doing some actual reporting on this Urban Media scam and digital land grab?
Bob Johnson is good at being FIRST. He is TERRIBLE at being the FIRST of MANY! When Bob Johnson walks through a door, he swiftly shuts it closed behind him and charges confiscatory rates for all who wish to enter in behind him. That is his M.O. it has always been Bob Johnson’s M.O
Why don’t y’all ask the NABJ, the National Bar Association, and the NAACP, why they are rushing to sign other minority broadcasters up to be the indentured servants of Bob Johnson and Ion Media???
I tried to tell y’all two weeks ago, that this MESS was blogable. Just because it involved mass communications law doesn’t mean its boring. This is a modern day David vs. Goliath story and Bob Johnson is so not DAVID!
Previous Post
Bob Johnson’s “Urban Television” Sham-Black Leadership’s Shame- Totally Blogable!
WAOD Exclusive:Common Cause’s Opposition to Bob Johnson’s Urban Television
4 comments ↓
I’ve lost respect for Mr. Johnson a long time ago. He’s been about his own self-interests for a while now and damn the rest of us.
I find his special kind of negro disturbing … but what can we expect from the one who sold out BET to what it is today … trash.
I’ve been mad since your first post about this. This is insanity. This man is the creator of the Modern Day Minstrel Show and took it global. Keep on it.
I am working on a piece for LA Weekly on this right now. There is not much interest in it from editors or folks at tv and radio. Most people hear “Bob Johnson” and they think “why are you complaining, he is a legend!”
Honestly, Bob’s image has been so well-crafted that those in white media really do believe he was a gift to black America. I was talking to an editor the other day about this and he was all, “but if he has the NAACP and the Urban League, how do you expect anyone to challenge him?” In this white man’s eyes, those groups ARE black people. If they are involved there is nothing anyone can do. They have created a wall around the community that cannot be penetrated. I keep telling him that the internet is where the real community foot soldiers are. Unfortunately the market for Johnson’s station is not part of this online family of activists so he still has a leg up on “us”.
My strategy is to work with non-black minority groups on this. In Los Angeles there are tons of spanish-language and asian media that have a stake in Johnson’s sabotage. So I have been in touch with folks at those stations but correspondence hasn’t been as swift as I’d like. If enough “minorities” ban together there is nothing the NAACP can do.
Great post Gina…and Blkhollywood that’s a great idea to work with the other “minorities”. Now my question is how can the average person help? I noticed in your last post Gina, that there was a comment period. I just tried calling the FCC. What a joke. First they ask me for my name and address stating that I was calling a “Federal Agency”.
Anyway, I ironically worked in a “docket” before and witness how many organizations would bombard the comment section through e-mails and letters (I always felt sorry for those who had to sit there read those cards and count them).
I called the FCC docket and tried to get more information regarding if another comment period would be open for the public as well as to see if Obama’s halt on pending regulations would affected this specific docket. Oh course I didn’t get an answer nor did the voice mail provide a name.
Anyway, I wasn’t sure if those truly interested would be interested in at least starting an email/letter writing campaign to expressing our concerns. At the very least our concerns would be on the record forever.