|
|
Updated: Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Published: Tuesday, November 1, 2005 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
NABJ salutes BETs Robert L. Johnson for 25 years of media innovation and entrepreneurship
Billionaire and network honored in special celebration
WASHINGTON The National Association of Black Journalists has issued a proclamation in honor of Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson, who at the end of the year is leaving the network he created in 1980.
The network celebrates its 25th Anniversary this month with 25 STRONG: THE BET SILVER ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL, a three-hour telecast airing on BET.
We lacked a news and entertainment venue for black people on major television until Mr. Johnson started BET, said NABJ President Bryan Monroe, assistant vice president/news at Knight Ridder. He saw through the fog and led the way, and for that we are all grateful.
President Monroe and KNBC-TV President and General Manager Paula Madison were among the NABJ VIPs and 5,000 others who attended the taping of the anniversary special last Wednesday, October 26 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Other notables at the celebration included Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Arsenio Hall, Donnie Simpson, Sean Diddy Combs, Mary J. Blige and MC Hammer.
While BETs occasional practice of featuring controversial music videos has become a lightning rod of debate among some in the black community, its broad efforts in covering the black community through shows such as BET Nightly News and Lead Story have served to highlight stories that otherwise may not have been told about African Americans and blacks around the world.
In 1989, BET joined with Time, Inc. in the launch of Emerge magazine, an issues-oriented black publication. In 1995, BET hosted extensive coverage of the Million Man March. In 1996, BETs Ed Gordon was the first to interview O.J. Simpson following the football stars acquittal in the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The network has since cut back on its news programming.
In many cases, they broke news, and pulled no punches, said Monroe. On TV, they told our stories when no one else would. We hope that practice continues.
In 2000, Johnson became the nation's first black billionaire when he sold the network to Viacom. As part of the deal, he will leave BET at the end of the year and will be replaced as president and CEO by Debra Lee, who has been with the network for more than two decades.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
|
