Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET, has not taken well to the direction her network has been heading. She recently voiced her opinion about it;
"Don’t even get me started, I don’t watch it. I suggest to my kids [a 20-something daughter and a college-age son] that they don’t watch it… I’m ashamed of it, if you want to know the truth.
“When we started BET, it was going to be the Ebony magazine on television. We had public affairs programming. We had news… I had a show called Teen Summit, we had a large variety of programming, but the problem is that then the video revolution started up… And then something started happening, and I didn’t like it all. And I remember during those days we would sit up and watch these videos and decide which ones were going on and which ones were not. We got a lot of backlash from recording artists…and we had to start showing them. I didn’t like the way women were being portrayed in these videos.
“I just really wish—and not just BET but a lot of television programming—that they would stop lowering the bar so far just so they can get eyeballs to the screen. I know they think that’s what’s going to keep programming on the air; that’s what’s going to sell advertising. But there has got to be some responsibility. Somebody has got to take this over. Because with all the studies that are out there, this is contributing to an atmosphere of free sex, ‘I don’t have to protect myself anymore.'"
Yikes. She's right though. At this point in time I'm not even sure what channel BET is on. The network is nothing like it used to be, and its lost a lot of viewers and a lot of support. I dont watch the programs to know if they are complete garbage or not, but nothing on that network is interesting, and a lot of it's made to make black people look a fool.
Johnson founded BET with her husband Bob 30 years ago. The fledgling network started as a 4-hour block on the USA Network and eventually grew to be the premier network for programming centered around African-Americans. Then the Johnson's sold the network to Viacom in 2000, pocketing 1.3 billion and unknowingly sentencing the network to its doom. BET hasnt been the same since, and I dont think it ever will be.
What do you think about the direction BET has taken? Do you think the shows on there degrade women/black people? Do you not even care? Scream at me in the comment section below.
1 comments:
it's obvious they cater to the average teenager. i honestly don't know anyone over the age of 21 who watches that network unless they're drunk and need a good laugh.
it got sold to Viacom and the integrity of the network went with it. it's all about money and marketing, and they clearly don't care about catering to the African American community, instead of informing, inspiring, and educating, all they're doing is stereotyping, generalizing, and really a lot of the times just embarrassing.
Post a Comment