The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Pius Kamau of Denver doesn’t think so. Here is some of what he has to say on the subject.

(denverpost.com) To understand the value of community support, all one has to do is listen to the Spanish-language stations on the radio dial and watch the many Spanish-language TV stations. As the national black media fade, the numbers of Hispanic radio stations and TV companies continues to grow. And even when some Hispanic media properties change hands, they maintain their Spanish voice. The Hispanic community more robustly and actively supports its media than the black community supports its own media presence.

The way information and news are delivered reflects on a community’s mental health, how it views itself, and how the majority deals with it. As the Hispanic community grows in numbers and influence, it’s getting more attention from broadcasters: Clear Channel, NBC, etc. Without expecting parallel growth between the black and the Hispanic media, it’s still painful to realize how little American media, both locally and nationally, have to offer the black community; worse is how little the community seems to care about this lack of interest. The place where KDKO once reigned on the AM dial is today a dark hole of radio silence.

BET, the black television network, continues to be the one source of black entertainment: a fountain of foul-mouthed, hypersexual and intellectually bereft content. Cynically, Viacom, BET’s owner, shows no intention it’ll change its winning, money-making format.

According to Tamara Banks, a longtime Denver TV and media personality, the weak black community support of black media is a symptom of community fragmentation and lack of cohesion, not a lack of black capital or leadership. “Lots of good people are doing good things, but they’re disoriented and uncoordinated,” she says. “To support the black media, they need a greater focus.”

Bee Harris, publisher of the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper, thinks that the black community could, financially and morally, be more supportive of the black radio, print and electronic media. They mistakenly believe black media will always be here without their active support or participation. She says many black businesses and concerns could, like Hispanics, play a pivotal role in growing the black media. Sadly, they don’t. (more…)

While I think one could make a case that there are Black media venues such as radio and print that have been strongly supported by the community for years, overall I think that he made some valid points here.

What I have noticed over the years that for a significant number of Black folks, it is a lot easier to complain about programing than it is to offer suggestions and/or drum up support behind programing that has potential. When the Black Family Channel was showing signs that it was struggling financially, I did not see the same level of enthusiasm to get folks to support it as I did when BET broadcasted the very embarrassing show “Hot Ghetto Mess/WGTDB.