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Black media owners encourage their audiences to fight for change and
control
(February 9, 2012) At the recent Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project
Economic Summit, African-American media owners sound the alarm on the
economic threats to their survival. During a panel entitled "Equity and
Ownership in the Media," the panel shared examples of the dire
circumstances being faced by black radio, TV, publication and Web site
owners.
"We are all struggling today," said Steven C. Roberts, President,
Roberts Broadcasting Co. The firm at one time owned 15 TV stations and
now owns four. "If you think it's hard to find a job, or hard to get
lending, can you imagine going to a bank and saying I want to open up a
TV station or create a newspaper, or buy a radio station. But we all
can, through our economic pressure, make a difference."
Some panelists suggested that it's time to take action through the legal
process.
"I love being a local broadcaster." said Melody Spann Cooper, President
of Chicago-based Midway Broadcasting and WVON-AM. "I'm there to be a
public service and for us to have a voice. We have got to look at this
thing in a different way. Everything that impacted change for us has
been through legislation. We have got to look at the possibility of some
kind of legislation to ensure [our survival]."
Seeking relief, however, through the courts and Congress won't happen
soon enough to change some situations, especially among African-American
radio owners.
"Now we find in 2007 with the Great Recession, that what was a slow
decline in minority broadcasting ownership has now become a precipitous
decline, said Jim Winston, executive director of the National
Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. "As a result of the recession
and a number of other events that have come to pass, Inner City
Broadcasting has been forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
A court hearing is schedule for February at which time it is anticipated
the control of ownership of ICBC will pass away from the family of
founder Percy Sutton and the African-Americans that own the company to
the banks that have taken control of their debt.
"This is a blow to the entire African-American owned broadcasting
community. And a loss of broadcast control is a loss to the entire
community," said Winston. "It's not just a business matter, it's a
community empowerment matter." Innercity Broadcasting, the heritage
media company in this country that was started by Percy Sutton 40 years
ago, currently owns 13 radio stations including WBLS-FM in New York
City.
"The issue is just not about advertising dollars, but advertising jobs,"
said Munson Steed, publisher of rolling out weekly and head of the
Madison Avenue Initiative. "A company like BMW can say to their
advertising agency, ‘don't advertise to African-American people,' and
our community didn't riot, our community didn't send 10,000 e-mails.
We've gotten so passive about getting our share of anything."
Some speakers insisted the African-American consumer, which a recent
study released by the Nielsen Co. stated is approaching $1.1 trillion in
buying power, has to be the front line for bringing about change.
"The reality is the only pure way to combat this, the only way it's
going to work is if we affect the financial bottom line of these
companies," said Len Burnett, Jr., Group Publisher, Vibe and Uptown
magazines. "Change is not going to come unfortunately through a lot of
conversation, a lot of salesmenship, a lot of new media -- that will
help but change is only going to come when we know our worth. Until we
stop buying from companies that do not want to advertise to us, it's not
going to change."
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