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Mathis and Women's Group
Engage
Media Execs For Dignity AND
Diversity
(Atlanta, GA – June 21, 2007) Janice L. Mathis,
Esq., Dr. E.Faye Williams and leaders of several
other women’s groups met for more than an hour with
CEO Debra Lee on June 20th at BET
headquarters in Washington, D.C. to present a
constructive agenda, including the establishment of
a viewer advisory panel, more public affairs
programming, a BET-lead dialogue on decency and
diverse senior staffing, mentorship and contracting.
While Lee would not commit to an external advisory
council, she responded to the grouop’s concerns by
indicating that Teen Summit (the most
requested BET program) would be revived, that a town
hall meeting on decency and other issues was in the
works, that BET’s staff is 95% African American, 60%
female and the company annual has 60 college student
interns. BET execs also directed the group to
consider the positive impact of programming such as
“Meet the Faith” and “Baldwin Hills.” Senior
leaders of BET in the meeting included chief of
staff Tom Reynolds, Jenine Lyburd and BET General
Counsel Byron Marchant.
BET
denied that it was honoring outspoken proponent of
gansta rap Snoop Dogg at its upcoming awards show,
indicating that the award Snoop is nominated for is
based on votes from the industry. Lee resisted that
idea that BET should be judged based on the most
explicit music videos that aired on BET Uncut,
a late night program that has been discontinued.
The parties agreed to keep the dialogue open.
The women’s coalition will conduct
additional meetings beginning on Friday, June 22nd,
with media executives to press the case for dignity
and diversity.
Following the BET session, An all-star lineup of
activist women met at the historic Washington D.C.
offices of Dr. Dorothy Height on Wednesday to plot
strategy for their campaign to improve dignity and
diversity in media. Film and television star Sheryl
Lee Ralph attended the entire session, stressing the
need to involve more young women and indicating that
no other group existed to defend the image of women,
particularly women of color, in media.
There was great consensus among those in the room on
several issues, including: the coalition must be
prepared to work for at least 25-50 years; following
the money is critical to influencing media content;
censorship is not the goal. Educating young women
to become better media consumers, establishing new
standards of decency, raising public awareness with
a media scorecard were how the women present said
they would define the group’s success.
During a three-hour strategic planning session
facilitated by Melanie Campbell of the National
Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the group
addressed such basic questions as whether to confine
their efforts to media (yes – media touches
everything), whether to accept corporate support
(yes, with limits), whether to incorporate a new
organization (no- the coalition message is
important) and whether to seek censorship (no – the
guarantees of the First Amendment are important.)
With
perseverance and a little luck, historians may look
back fifty years from now and see the efforts of the
DD coalition as the beginning of a trend away from
the most negative images of black women in media.
USA TODAY reported on June 20, 2007, that hot new
rapper Kingston says he's trying to make feel-good
music and won't use profanity in his songs. "People
don't want to hear that from a kid," he says. "I
want to make music for everybody."
In
addition to Janice L. Mathis, Esq. VP of Rainbow
PUSH, Dr. E. Faye Williams, National Director of the
National Congress of Black Women, Melanie Campbell
of the National Coalition on Black Civic
Participation, Kim Gandy, NOW President and Ellie
Smeal from the Feminist Majority, others in
attendance included Dr. Barbara Skinner and Diane
Babineau. The group is open to those interested in
achieving dignity and diversity in media.
The
coalition for dignity and diversity formed in the
wake of the Imus scandal, meets weekly by
telephone. Previously, the group protested at the
Viacom shareholder meeting, participated in the
Rainbow PUSH Women’s Luncheon featuring Debra Lee
and Linda Johnson Rice, publisher of Ebony and Jet,
and succeeded in getting Chicago Congressman Bobby
Rush (Chair of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee) to schedule hearings on Capitol Hill in
July.
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