Bob Johnson’s “Urban Television” Sham-Black Leadership’s Shame- Totally Blogable!

“Never did we dream that in our lifetimes we might have an opportunity to witness this, the birth of the nation’s first over-the-air African American television network. But this year, so many things once thought impossible are taking place.” Source

Its irritating when the Black Elite Establishment sells the rest of Black America Down river for their own self enrichment, but its exponentially more annoying that they sell the rest of us down river for such a low price, or what I like to call “a two piece and a biscuit.” If you are going to sell your soul to the Devil, shouldn’t you ask for something more than dinner and promises of rainbows and ponies from Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television? Not content with his latest venture as the producer of “Who’s Your Caddy”, Bob Johnson.

I’ve written about five different unpublished posts about Bob Johnson’s attempt to launch BET II, but each time I peel away a lawyer of the onion, I discover something else. So instead, I want to encourage you to do your own analysis and investigation and send your own comments to the Federal Communications Commission, because the thoughts and views of most African Americans are being intentionally distorted by Bob Johnson, with the help of the Black Elite Establishment.
If you’re a Black blogger and you’re looking for a story to cover affecting the African American community, the launch of BET II, or Urban Television LLC, is a story you should seriously look at covering. Here are some reasons why:

First, the “Black press”, isn’t really covering the story so much as they are reprinting the press releases put out by Bob Johnson’s RLJ Companies and Ion Media. As you know investigative journalism is basically dead. They just don’t have the time or the resources to do this so they are basically relying on Press releases from Bob Johnson for their information.

Second, most of the information related to the REAL story related to Urban Media is publicly available because Johnson needs approval from the FCC. If you like searching, then you can find it all.

Third, the opinion of the Black Elite Establishment, is likely  inconsistent with the opinion of large swaths of the Black community, which they purport to represent. Its likely that most of what they are predicting is absolutely untrue and intentionally misleading the FCC based on Bob Johnson’s history.

Fourth, Bob Johnson’s application involves a bunch of contortions to get the FCC to depart from established practices to grant him a competitive advantage he would not otherwise be granted if he wasn’t Black ( To those whom that statement offended, I remind you that not too many months ago, Johnson said Barack Obama would not be the Democratic nominee if he wasn’t Black).

Fifth, while some mass communication’s reporters are doing more analysis of application than most Black media outlets, their coverage is still lacking historical perspective related to Bob Johnson’s past public assertions and why they are contrary to what he is saying now. I found so many past inconsistent statement, it would take me weeks to post about them

Last, and perhaps more important, Black bloggers and blog readers comment EVERYDAY on the issues related to this application, but many of them are not aware that they can and should send their comments to the FCC. If ordinary African Americans don’t counteract the damage done by the Black Elite Establishment, Johnson will likely be able to craft the fiction that his latest venture enjoys the unqualified support of the African American community.

Want some ideas about where you might start digging?

1. Compare and contrast the behavior of the Black Elite Establish with the behavior of other media access advocates like Common Cause and the Media Access project.

What should distress you the most is the stark contrast between the comments of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, the National Association of Black Journalists, National Bar Association, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH compared to the comments of Common Cause and the Media Access Project. The CRIC and the BEE were placated after Bob Johnson invited them to “Lunch” :

NABJ joined a coalition of other supporters after a Dec. 16 luncheon meeting with Johnson at a Washington restaurant, Ciara said. The others — not all present at the meeting — were the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, the International Black Broadcasters Association, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the NAACP, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, National Bar Association, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Video Access Alliance. Johnson made a presentation and anticipated their concerns, David Honig, executive director of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, told Journal-isms. Journalisms

So, their support came literally after receiving a “two piece and a biscuit.”

Unlike the Black Elite Establishment and the Civil Rights Industrial Complex, Common Cause and the Media Access Project were looking out for the best interests of the American public, but making their support for Urban Television contingent upon benchmarks which insure that Johnson keeps his promises.

2. Take a gander at the comments filed by these civil rights organizations on behalf of Bob Johnson where they compare FCC approval of Johnson’s application to Rosa Parks sitting down on that bus, or other historic events int he Civil Rights movement. Here are a few outtakes from their comments:

Instead of railing about what they don’t want on television, citizens will be able to produce broadcast, and own programs they do want, including an unprecedented amount of local and national public affairs programming. David Honig, Joycelyn James, Joseph Miller of the Minority Media Telecommunications Council{no guarantees that Johnson will do this once approved and his history is inconsistent with this assertion- he will likely charge prices that keep ordinary “citizens” from ever having access to his channel}

3. Take a more nuanced look at diversity and media ownership. Is ownership really “diverse” if the same Black person owns and constructively controls all of the televisions stations targeting those with an African American “affinity” (not my words, BET’s)? Should the analysis of diversity in media ownership end at the color of the applicant’s skin?

4. The purported motivations of Urban Television aren’t really why Johnson is doing this. This isn’t about making broadcast history, its about forcing his way back on to cable television.

5. Johnson and Ion are seeking a “share time” license, but Johnson’s station is goign to run 24-7. They aren’t actually “sharing time”. You might ask what Ion’s motivations are in all of this.

Here is some info to help you with your investigation, should you choose to dig deeper. (I KNOW I AM)

1. Federal Communications Commission Homepage choc full of contact information and some of the electronic filings.

2. Relevant FCC docket numbers ( so far, they change) DA 08-2772 and DA-08-2621

3. Some really good background on the Communications Law Blog.  ION The Prize ( analysis of initial application) and ION The Prize: Update(analysis of the FCC change int he status of the application)

4.Richard Prince’s post on Journalisms where he interviews the NABJ President and asks her why she supported Johnson’s efforts unconditionally and additional info on how Johnson wooed “Civil Rights” organizations. She talks about “negotiating” with Bob Johnson, yet they aren’t planning on doing that when their hand is strongest, when he actually needs them. NABJ Backs Johnson’s Bid for New Network.

5.Broadcasting and Cable’s article chronicling how the Media Access Project and Common Cause, wisely did not give their support without conditions ( in other words, they believe in negotiating before the fact and not relying on “hope” ie the NABJ):

But MAP/Common Cause’s support was conditioned on a number of things, including assurances Ion, which will be compensated by Urban for its use/stake in the multicast channels, does not exert excessive control for access to its channels or charge too high a fee.

They also want the FCC to establish benchmarks for public affairs programming. Urban has promised at lest seven hours a week, but the groups want the FCC to better spell out the programming requirements, including finding that a lineup devoted primarily to infomercials wouldn’t cut it.
In fact, they said that the application should be denied unless those issues were addressed. Broadcasting and Cable

If you contact Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, the National Association of Black Journalists, National Bar Association, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH, you might ask them the following questions:

1. The Black Elite Establishment had the opportunity to procure guarantees and benchmarks on behalf of their constituencies that would have insured the Bob Johnson kept his promises this time, and they did not. Instead they chose to offer unconditional support to a man with a track record. Why didn’t they take the position of the Media Access Project and Common Cause and offer “conditional” support? Why did they characterize their support as “with the greatest enthusiasm” when they’ve aired public reservations about whether Johnson will keep his promises?

2. Were the interests of their constituents best served by not seeking legally enforceable guarantees consistent with Johnson’s promises?

3. What if any amount has Johnson donated to your organization in the last 5 months? (I’m not saying he did, I’m just curious)?

For those of you who made resolutions to do more than read this year, this is your opportunity. This time Johson isn’t limiting his distorted values and unique form of urban exploitation to cable, he wants a broadcast station PLUS he is asking you and me to give him a competetive advantage by forcing cable companies to carry his 24-7 infomercial channel and he is doing all of this IN. OUR. NAME.

Marinate on that.