I ask a serious racism question

But I believe NBC did have to move a football game on of the nights.

 

Is TV One going to have the same access and use the same areas as "legitimate journalists?"

And how might that be justified if they are an entertainment company that defines their audience almost solely on race?

Perhaps they should rent corporate space?

 

There would be an outcry because Fox holds itself out as a journalistic organization. A "fair and balanced" one, even.

If BET had a one-hour feature on Obama but didn't have one on McCain, it wouldn't generate the same outcry, for obvious reasons. BET is a black entertainment network.

That said, I'm conflicted about this decision and how it was presented. It's true that the mere fact of Obama's candidacy is news. It's extremely significant to African-Americans. On the other hand, only showing one party's convention runs counter to many within the black community who have argued that it's important that their votes are not taken for granted, etc.

 

Please. Let's just be honest. All the TV networks have an agenda, they're going to slant stories a certain way, responsibility doesn't matter and neither does journalism. If that random station only wants to cover the Dems, then fine. Sit them right next to Katie Couric and everything will stay the same.

 

And as for racism... who knows. I see it more as a station appealing to its market. Now, I'm sure many would play the racist card the two times I was covering events and they asked everyone to sing the Black National Anthem, and I didn't.

 

And when demands are made for parity with networks such as NBC, CBS, CNN and CBS, do you think the Democrats or Republicans are going to say "no, you're not journalists?"

 

This reminds me of the small little blip of controversy some political douche was trying to ring up in California a couple of years ago. The guy was going up against Governor Terminator and argued that since The Tonight Show was having Arnold as a guest then it should have this dude.

Yeah, after pondering it for a second I thought "Who the fuck are you?" and immediately threw the argument about "fair coverage" out the window.

After all, Arnold made Terminator. This other guy? Shit, I don't even remember his name.

 

But why throw the equal time requirement out the window just because one is a star and the other isn't?

 

Because the show had nothing to do with politics and Arnold was promoting Terminator 3.

 

Doesn't matter - if he is a politician running for office while making the appearance, it still falls under the equal time rules.

 

Does this mean it's not appropriate to rip on blogs?

 

West Wing had something like this in Season 3 -- when the networks got together and cut nearly all the coverage of the conventions.
Regardless, the Networks can pretty much cover whatever they want. All the speeches, PR, etc., is not really newsworthy. Obama's nomination is.
And while I don't believe McCain's long-sewn-up nomination to be is all that newsworthy, I do believe this is extremely biased politically.
Dumb, dumb decision.