I thought BET News still came on.:confused: BET. BET. BET. What are we going to do with you? :( I need to get my digital cable back so I can have TV One.


Commentary: Absent from BET's Most 'Messed Up Moments?' The End of its Own News Shows
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2006
By: Gregory Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com

You have to hand it to the folks at Black Entertainment Television: they never shift out of "Funny Negro" gear. They don't even do it during Black History Month.

So how did the folks at BET celebrate Black History Month? Why, by coming up with a show called "The 25 Most Bleep-Bleeped Moments in Black History," of course.

I guess those bleeps are substitutes for the words "messed up." Except that the word "messed" should really be replaced by the dreaded F-word that never has and never will appear on BlackAmericaWeb.com. So we'll have to settle for "messed up."

Comedian Paul Mooney hosted the show, and on it's scale, "messed up" was defined as black folks who went above and beyond the call of duty in bringing shame on the race.

"If they acted the fool," Mooney said, "they made this list."

That sounds more like "The 25 Most Embarrassing Moments in Black History" to me. When I think of "The 25 Most Messed Up Moments," I think of moments that were really messed up.

How about the "Mississippi Plan" of the 1870s, when white vigilantes, terrorists and Ku Kluxers shot their way into power in several Southern states, overturning Reconstruction governments in the process?

How about the terrorist uprising in Wilmington, N.C. in 1898, when white supremacists took over a city where black folks had achieved significant economic and political power? How about the race riots that destroyed Black Wall Street in Tulsa in 1921? What about the one that destroyed Rosewood, Fla., in 1923?

Hey, stop me anytime here. This list could go on a piece.

What about the one that didn't even happen in the United States -- the 1912 massacre in Cuba of 6,000 Afro-Cubans who were trying to form an independent black political party?

"This was a significant bloodletting," said USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham on the "American Legacy" show on TV One. "It is probably the largest massacre of people of color, of people of African descent, in the American hemisphere throughout the history of our time here."

Those, dear readers, are truly "messed up" moments in black history. But when it comes to the embarrassing ones, the folks at BET still didn't get it right.

Mooney's choice for number one was Halle Berry's "make me feel good" scene from the movie "Monster's Ball." Mine would have been our invention and perpetuation of the Willie Lynch fiction.

The one those masterminds at BET chose was former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry getting busted for smoking crack cocaine. But since BET was so determined to highlight embarrassing moments in black history, how did the network's canceling all its news and public affairs shows not make the list?

Talk about embarrassing. And downright insulting. "Lead Story" was a BET news talk show that regularly featured Wickham, columnist Clarence Page and George E. Curry, the former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine. It was an excellent show, but honchos at BET canceled it anyway.

Then BET bigwigs did the unforgivable: they deep-sixed "BET Nightly News," which aired at 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Now, I'd like to tell you the main reason I watched the show wasn't to ogle pulchritudinous anchor Jacque Reed, but you all know I'd be lying. I WAS watching mainly to ogle Jacque. But, as fine as she is, there was a lot more to the show.

This show gave actual news. There were times when I got good column material from watching "BET Nightly News." And where else could black folks see Congress of Racial Equality spokesman Niger Innis, a supporter of the Bush administration, debating black liberal Democrats?

When Hurricane Katrina hit and we needed a black television network to give us news about what was REALLY going on inside the SuperDome, there was no "BET Nightly News" to tell us. Cameras from a "BET Nightly News" crew might have caught police from suburban New Orleans forcing blacks and a smattering of whites back into the flooded city at gunpoint.

We need a black television network news crew to give us the skinny on the race war Latinos are waging on black inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system. White networks are either ignoring or underplaying the story.

When it comes to "embarrassing" or "messed up" moments in black history, folks at BET need look no further than their front offices for those who should be at the top of the list.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site....itloud/kane223

Amen to the brother that wrote that! This is the same network that shows porn at 2:00 in the morning, then shows a religous show at 3. WTH?? BET has completely fell off. It perpetuates every single stereotype about black people, and on top of that it axed the shows that were constantly fighting and BEATING those labels about us. I don't watch the channel unless I can catch some soul food reruns and that's about it. They need to start over...we went back into time, def not forward.

Now I admit my memory isn't the best, but I seem to recall BET commercials featuring Jacque Reid and the idea of BET going to the "next level." The commercial had flashes of a remodeled news set and I thought it mentioned BET news programming along with other shows that would debut during the fall season.

Instead of full-fledge news, we get little vignetted versions. Pitiful.

Ah, but this is by design...this is what happens when 1) (white)Corporate media takes over, and 2) there is no "Fairness Doctrine." It's like what happened in ancient Rome: "Give us bread and circuses." In other words, don't give people anything of substance where they can make informed decisions and judgments about the world. Just keep them entertained. And ignorant.

I mean, all of cable TV "news" is like this. The corporations behind the media ownership daily tell Americans what should be important to them, instead of letting people figure it out for themselves. Which is why it's all Natalee Holloway, all the time. It's also why during Katrina, white people were "finding" food, while black people were "looting." They get to frame everything.

That's why I watch the BBC for news. I learned more about Darfur watching BBC than watching anything else.

Please note that BBC is the tool of the former British Empire and is presenting international news in that context. While it does give viewers a different view than the network news stations in the US, it is still not free from bias and propoganda.

Every news outlet is subject to bias and propaganda of its parent company. The well-informed person is one who takes his/her information from a variety of news outlets, analyzes it, and makes their own conclusions.

...either that or just hangs out at the barbershop on Saturday morning and let the ole heads run it down for you. :)

That may be, but IMHO it is the BEST medium for news in the world. Between the BBC and NPR, all my news needs are fully met. I don't care for news presented by Bugs Bunny (CBS), Woody Woodpecker (NBC), or Mickey Mouse (ABC), and definately not from Rupert Murdoch (FOX) or CNN. I want real news from real news sources. Most American news is IMHO at least 50% bulljive with a biased slant I can do without.

Besides, with BET news being canceled, I can't get my daily eye candy fix on with Jacque Reid (man, she could rock a denim jacket and still be professional) *wipes sweat off brow* :p :D

First time in a long time I thought about a pretty woman.

Anyhow, carry on...

Sho' nuff got THAT right....
 

So right. There may be some bias at BBC from a few 'propagandists' (Katty Kay, anyone?) but that's the exception and usually not the rule. ITN may be less biased (Independent Television News) and they're quite competent, too. Even The National on CBC (Canada) has news that's more reliable (though also not totally bias-free).

They've cancelled the news in this country. IMHO your only American sources for reliable news MIGHT be the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS (except on Fridays when I'm throwing stuff at the TV when David Brooks is on) or C-SPAN. My concerns about the News Hour are relegated to who some of their "sponsors" may be (oil companies, big pharma, etc.).

I don't have cable so I can't watch C-SPAN NEARLY as often as I would like. I heard the Black State of the Union was on this past week on C-SPAN and it was on point.

^^^ C-SPAN is the reason I pay my cable bill every month! I absolutely love that channel!