BAW Responds to BET's Most Messed Up Moments Show

[CrimsonTide4]

by Richard Prince
MaynardIJE.com

Black Entertainment Television is canceling two of its three regular news shows - "Lead Story" and "BET Tonight With Ed Gordon" - effective at the end of the year as it prepares for the acquisition of new programming, spokesman Michael Lewellen told Journal-isms today. The shakeup also means the future of the network's most well-known news personality, Ed Gordon, "is still to be determined," Lewellen said.

Effective immediately, approximately 40 positions across a range of company departments will be eliminated, or about 12 percent of the company's total workforce of 350 people nationwide, according to the network.

Gordon first started with BET in 1988. He is best known for conducting in 1996, for BET, the first one-on-one interview with O.J. Simpson after Simpson's acquittal on murder charges. Gordon returned to the network in 2000 to host "BET Tonight with Ed Gordon" after a stint with MSNBC.

The news panel show "Lead Story," which BET founder Bob Johnson has pointed to as "the only show in America where black policymakers confront black journalists . . . on issues important to African Americans," debuted with Gordon as host on Sept. 28, 1991. This season it has featured interviews with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican national committees. The show was also a showcase for African American columnists and commentators.

Of BET's three regular news shows, only "BET Nightly News" will remain, Lewellen said. News and public affairs programming will now focus on special shows such as single-topic specials and town hall meetings. The network had to "adjust its programming schedule and the staff that supports them" to make way for recent programming acquisitions that include movies and other entertainment shows, he said.

"When we announce our new direction, all of our programming genres are going to be affected," Lewellen said.

"Our new focus will strike a better balance between original programming and an increase in acquired shows," added BET President and Chief Operating Officer Debra Lee in a statement. "This new strategy required us to examine our entire corporate structure and get a better sense of the size and scope of organization we need moving forward. It's always difficult to lose people as part of a business process, but these changes are our effort to support our new programming direction at BET."

Owner Robert Johnson sold BET to Viacom -- the giant media conglomerate that owns CBS, UPN, MTV, VH1 and more -- in 2000 for $1.5 billion. With Viacom ownership, it was said, BET could take advantage of greater news resources and could shake its image as primarily a purveyor of music videos and little original programming.

BlackAmericaWeb.com Staff