By ANGELA D. FOREST : The Herald-Sun
aforest@heraldsun.com Apr 29, 2002 :
http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/nccentral
DURHAM -- A decision by "Good Morning America" to highlight North Carolina collegiate life through the eyes of UNC, Duke University and N.C. State University students Monday drew criticism from N.C. Central University and others who said the show ignored blacks’ contributions to the region and state.
University officials and community leaders addressed a crowd of at least 200 students, faculty, staff and residents during an afternoon campus rally. They expressed frustration that NCCU, along with the state’s 10 other historically black schools, was left out of the ABC TV show’s coverage.
"This should not be interpreted by anyone to mean there are not significant activities going on on this campus," said Chancellor James H. Ammons.
He mentioned that the show’s co-host, Diane Sawyer, had asked a Duke student where the Black students on campus were.
"We are asking this question, ‘Why did the [university] segment exclude the only African-American university in the Triangle?’" Ammons said. "We are encouraging ‘Good Morning America’ during its tours to project and include historically Black colleges and universities in its coverage. Ninety percent of the African-American leaders in this country are graduates [of these schools]."
The show began its nationwide tour of all 50 states in North Carolina, stopping first at Duke University, where co-hosts Sawyer and Charles Gibson spent Saturday night hanging out and sleeping in students’ dorm rooms. The two then broadcast live from the UNC campus Monday.
Ammons and history professor Percy Murray said GMA producers included virtually nothing on how North Carolina’s Black or Native American residents have influenced the state.
"It’s an absolutely ridiculous situation … to come to Durham and leave out NCCU," said Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. [‘Good Morning America’ has] a total disregard for the history of this area."
Kian Brown, NCCU Student Government Association vice president elect, said he went to UNC to speak to GMA producers, who told him there was no way to add NCCU to the show. He then spoke with Gibson.
"He expressed to me that there is just more than my school in the Research Triangle," Brown said. "They were very nonchalant about it."
Lisa Finkel, an ABC News spokeswoman traveling with the show, said the restrictions of broadcasting a two-hour live news program kept producers from showcasing all of the important or interesting aspects of the state. On Sunday, ABC station affiliate WTVD heard from people upset that NCCU was not a scheduled stop on the show’s tour, however those complaints were never forwarded to national officials, Finkel said. :
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd
"There were many locations that were discussed within the context of a two-hour live news program," she said. "Unfortunately in giving people a snapshot you’re unable to focus on everything you would have liked."
ABC News will likely return to North Carolina to broadcast parts of the state that couldn’t be included the first time around, Finkel said. :
http://abc.abcnews.go.com/
"We tried as best as possible to give a broad cross-section overview of life in North Carolina … There are a number of issues that we want to revisit and life at N.C. Central is at the top of the list," she said. "By no means did we mean to offend anybody."
Richard Smith, president of the Durham-area NCCU alumni chapter, said alumni have been e-mailing both the local ABC affiliate and "Good Morning America" since Wednesday to express their outrage with the coverage.
http://durham_eagles.tripod.com
NCCU student government members also plan to contact historically black colleges and universities in Texas -- GMA’s next stop -- so they can make sure their schools and communities are adequately represented on the air, Ammons said.
"We hope that they will remember that there are several components of American society," he said. "I would hope that they would not make the same mistake in Texas and the other states as they have made here."