Bob Johnson and Civil Rights Industrial Complex Conspire to Destroy Minority Broadcasters-(Broadcasting Sharecropping)

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

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