Black ownership of commercial t.v. stations nonexistent?!
Wilson and Chock reported that African American-owned full power commercial TV stations decreased from 19 to 8 between 2006 and 2007. I wanted to see how to numbers currently stand for Black commercial TV owners and I was shocked to find none.
According to a December 2013 article published in the Los Angeles Times, there are now zero black-owned and operated full-power TV stations in the U.S. Zero.
What happened?
The L.A. Times reported that in early December 2013, Roberts Broadcasting sold three TV stations to ION Media for $7.75 million. These Roberts Broadcasting stations were the last Black owned and operated stations left in the country.
Joseph Torres and Derek Turner of the media watchdog Free Press, blamed FCC regulations, which allowed massive consolidations in the broadcasting industry. "This policy shift crowded out existing owners of color and ensured that it would be nearly impossible for new owners to access the public airwaves," said Torres and Turner to the New Pittsburgh Courier (L.A. Times).
Who is to blame?
Torres and Turner point out President Obama pledged to “encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media.” But can Obama himself change the face of ownership of broadcast media?
But there's still hope. Although Black ownership of broadcast television stations is nonexistent at the moment, we cannot forget the importance Black-oriented television programming. R. Thomas Umstead predicts that with plenty of bandwidth due to broadcast expansion will give existing national broadcast networks geared towards African Americans the opportunity to gain distribution and reach target audiences (Umstead).
External Sources Referenced:
Number of Black-owned TV stations plummets to zero (Pittsburgh Courier)
Black ownership of commercial TV stations nonexistent, watchdog says (L.A. Times)
The State of the News Media 2013: African American: A Year of Turmoil and Opportunity
According to a December 2013 article published in the Los Angeles Times, there are now zero black-owned and operated full-power TV stations in the U.S. Zero.
What happened?
The L.A. Times reported that in early December 2013, Roberts Broadcasting sold three TV stations to ION Media for $7.75 million. These Roberts Broadcasting stations were the last Black owned and operated stations left in the country.
Joseph Torres and Derek Turner of the media watchdog Free Press, blamed FCC regulations, which allowed massive consolidations in the broadcasting industry. "This policy shift crowded out existing owners of color and ensured that it would be nearly impossible for new owners to access the public airwaves," said Torres and Turner to the New Pittsburgh Courier (L.A. Times).
Who is to blame?
Torres and Turner point out President Obama pledged to “encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media.” But can Obama himself change the face of ownership of broadcast media?
But there's still hope. Although Black ownership of broadcast television stations is nonexistent at the moment, we cannot forget the importance Black-oriented television programming. R. Thomas Umstead predicts that with plenty of bandwidth due to broadcast expansion will give existing national broadcast networks geared towards African Americans the opportunity to gain distribution and reach target audiences (Umstead).
External Sources Referenced:
Number of Black-owned TV stations plummets to zero (Pittsburgh Courier)
Black ownership of commercial TV stations nonexistent, watchdog says (L.A. Times)
The State of the News Media 2013: African American: A Year of Turmoil and Opportunity
Why Representation Matters
Why am I so passionate about African American representation on commercial television? Because I'm sick of watching the misrepresentation of African Americans everyday on television.
As writer Charing Bell put it best, "Why is it that the black guy always dies in most horror films? How come that most successful relationships we see black characters in, happen to be interracial relationships? And more importantly, where are the black people on The Bachelor?" Just because we have Tyler Perry making "Madea" movies, does that negate the fact that there have been only 53 nominations for actors of color in the 37 years of Emmy history? The video on the right is a student documentary that perfectly summarizes the history of African American images on TV and the depictions of African Americans on contemporary television. |
Video Created by Bradinn French
Music by Reza Ahmadi |
Charing Bell article on Madame Noir