Criticisms Of BET
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_E...ent_Television
Many prominent media critics, including Public Enemy rapper Chuck D [1], journalist George Curry[2], Howard University [3], writer Keith Boykin [4], comic book writer/artist/editor Christopher Priest [5], filmmaker Spike Lee [6] and writer/cartoonist Aaron McGruder of The Boondocks, have protested BET's programming and actions. One of the most commonly-heard complaints is the fact that BET's programming is mostly music entertainment, particularly Hip-hop and rap music, and does not focus on the public affairs of the black community. This criticism expanded in the light of Viacom's cutbacks of BET's public affairs department, which resulted in the firing of BET Tonight talk show host and social commentator Tavis Smiley in March 2001 [7] [8], and the cancellations of the youth panel forum Teen Summit and morning news broadcast Lead Story in 2002.
Eminem was one of the first artists to have one of his videos banned on BET after protests from Michael Jackson, Steve Harvey and others after the release of "Just Lose It", a video that parodied and mocked Michael Jackson's numerous alleged plastic surgeries and sleepovers with children. The response backfired after critics stated that Eminem's video parody is far tamer than Nelly's "Tip Drill", a video that makes derogatory references as well as degrading images of women, although this video airs after-hours on BET Uncut along with more provocative videos. In 2005, BET banned Little Brother's video "Lovin' It" from the album The Minstrel Show. BET's program director commented that this was because the video was "too intelligent" for their target audience. However on the music section of their website BET decided to show the video as part of the group being a new and upcoming group.[1]
The channel has been scrutinized by members of the Black community who feel that the channel perpetuates harmful Black stereotypes by primarily airing hip-hop videos that often have misogynistic, materialistic, and/or violent themes. As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses removed from certain rap videos. Detractors are also quick to point out the irony they see in the network's choice to also show strong religious programming once a week, although they fail to realize that religious programming actually airs Monday through Saturday on the network from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. (EST) in addition to the Sunday programming. Not long ago people began referring to acronym BET standing for "Black Exploitation Television".
A 2004 incident on Fox News Channel noted BET only aired an increasing number of raunchy music videos played during a continuous time period on Saturdays, where more viewers of the younger generation are known to watch, and forced host Bill O'Reilly to discuss the issue with a host, who had been let go by MTV in its takeover of BET, in a debate with BET staff members.
BET has been criticized by some Christian evangelicals not for music videos, but for its morning religious lineup. Each morning, BET broadcasts evangelical TV shows, and hosts include Robert Tilton, Don Stewart, and Peter Popoff, who have been criticized for their money-brings-miracles theology and who have had spats with the law (Popoff's ministry's tax-exempt status was recently revoked in Canada).
BET was also criticized in 2005 for naming its "Man of the Year" Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam.[9]
In 2005, BET allegedly released to employees a list of banned music videos and artists deemed "too intelligent" and not relevant to its intended audience of young black teenagers. This list included Hip-Hop acts such as Dead Prez, Little Brother, Talib Kweli, and others. Ironically, BET has given airplay to the Nas song "Hip-Hop is Dead", which is critical of modern trends in hip-hop, and the song was performed live on 106 & Park on December 18, 2006. [10]
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Originally Posted by *Robbydigital*
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