JC Watts Planning Black Television News Network

Former congressman J.C. Watts is behind a major push to launch an all-news channel for black people.

The network, tentatively called Black Television News Channel and slated to launch in early 2009, already has an agreement with Comcast cable to be carried in several cities with large black populations including Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., Atlanta and Baltimore.

As yet, there is no deal to carry the channel in New York.

"I'm not so sure that you see anything on CNN or Fox News that specifically targets the African American community," Watts told The Post.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Adebukola]

As a black woman, I am not interested in anything JC Watts has to offer in terms of news.

[javagirl322]

Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley have already done this, right??

[DavidAF]

I find this idea pathetic. I thought Black Americans wanted no segregation and also that was one of Dr. King's main goals. From BET to this, it is simply segregated television! Its things like this that actually keep race division alive and well. It is so damn hypocritical.

[kesiac]

How aware are you of issues that occur in the black community? When was the last time that you saw a black woman reported missing by the MSM? The only stories that are told of the black community are related to crime and drugs or our athletic ability. Our diversity is not a story that is told. Currently, there is not segregation, African americans are effectively blacked out of national news. Even in the current campaign whites are split into working class, educated, conservative, etc. and then there is the black vote. The black vote, as if there is one mindset, one class of black people. If the news was more inclusive there would be no need for a black news channel, or a hispanic channel, or an asian channel. But today, there is.

[TimmySlagle]

"I thought Black Americans wanted no segregation "

Really? How well do you think a White family is treated when they move into a Black neighborhood?

Blacks are at least as racist as Whites, the difference is, that Whites have grown up being taught that racism is wrong. Black grow up, being taught that Racism is the natural reaction to their circumstance.

[kesiac]

You are blathering. You don't know what blacks are taught growing up. If anything we are taught to cope under the circumstance of racism. And Appalachia has taught us that all whites are not brought up learning that racism is wrong.

[Knowitall]

What??? I must have missed that day in class! Let me get this straight....Whites are taught that racism is wrong.....and Blacks are taught that racism is.....right??? What is a "natural reaction to their circumstance"??? What does that mean???

That's the problem with pre-judging a whole race of people, White or Black.
I'll be willing to bet that there could be a few Black people who have "grown up being taught that racism is wrong." In fact, I'll bet that more than a few of them grew up thinking that.

GEEZ!!!

By the way folks, there's a lot more going on in the Black community besides issues having to do with race or racism. (Why did everyone jump straight to that issue??? Interesting, huh??) Health, Sports, Entertainment, Education, Housing, Travel, Fashion, International Issues, Religion, Politics, Jobs and Job Training, on and on.....Many of these topics take on a different emphasis for Blacks, i.e., Health--there are some illnesses that require more focus for Blacks--diabetes, high blood pressure, sickle cell anemia, sarcodosis, etc. I don't think it's racist to want a place to go to where the emphasis is on those things.

My only thought when reading this article was that J.C.Watts may be an imperfect messenger in this case. During his unremarkable congressional career, he all but ignored the Black community. I don't think he'll be able to get much of an audience at this point.

[kentay305]

you know what davidaf.... lets try this....

how would you feel if black folks sit home turn on their tvs to the news and look at the crime of white men as if you were entertainment rather than a community issue .

for instance... im watching tv... and only get an initial 2 mins of national news... then all of a sudden i see a crystal methed up white guy having an anger fit and beating an elder person for a purse for no reason... followed by a boy being raped by a catholic priest... followed by a pair of white men described as goons running con games and stealing identies... instead of showing folks working together to solve crimes and other major issues in the city.

and all i can say is... those white people are CRAZY...

not much news going on there is it... thats just the culture of white people being displayed as monsters...

i have no problems with these visions because i am well grounded in history to know what exploitation of profit means. and coporate exploitation is no different. even michael moore displayed and tried to expose the news and the show cops in his movie bowling for columbine...or are we just stuck on farenheight (sp) 911...

im sure the show will be weekly and cut into by so many commercials that itll be over faster than it started but no matter what the perspective is... the local news is garbage and i know it

[sparkey]

I wonder of J.C. Watts would think it was o.k. to have a white news network or an indian news network? The American indians have been treated a lot worse than black Americans.

[kentay305]

when bet news was on they would actually put the issues on as well...
so was news in the carribean
africa
and even parts of india and the middle east

and i dont mean that AP coverage either ...

it was good until viacom brought bet and scratched the information

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

I'm sorry, but what with blacks being historically Democratic, and now overwhelmingly supporting Obama -- and Watts being a Republican -- I smell a rat.

Because there is such a big demand for Republican crap delivered by black talking heads.

[LeaveArtieAlone]

In an ideal world news with ALL communities would be reported fairly and diligently, however, this is not an ideal world and they aren"t!

kesiac wrote:

"Even in the current campaign whites are split into working class, educated, conservative, etc. and then there is the black vote. The black vote, as if there is one mindset, one class of black people. If the news was more inclusive there would be no need for a black news channel, or a hispanic channel, or an asian channel. But today, there is."

Hope that helps with the reasoning!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

You make a great point.

JC will get 10% of 13% of America. Should be a healthy tax write-off.

The kesiac quote raises a question: Can a "more inclusive" news program fairly represent multiple viewpoints without becoming homogenized?

Cheers.

[coolrepublica]

If my cable bill goes up because of this, I'm suing. Black news channel. What's next White news channel and Hispanic news channel. This is non-sense. If a white guy said he wanted a news channel for white, we all know what would be said about it.

[uheardme]

We have the white news channel, it's called Fox News. We have spanish-language television, Galavision and Univision.

I should sue.

[kentay305]

take a pick
cnn
msnbc
fox

sheesh EVEN NPR is more diversified in their reporting than any of these stations... AND THEY ARE ON THE RADIO LOL

[InformedAmerican]

You do have one...it's called FOXnews!

[DAVESEAN]

Finally,a voice for AA...all we c on T.V is R KELLY'S trial,16 people beating up a black guy and alot more negative portrayal by the MSM....before BO came on the scene ,positive black news was non-existent....now black pundits are in demand....Black ppl do need to find their voice...i hope their coverage is fair and balanced to an extent....atleast correct the erroneous view imbedded in our psyche, of every blackman being a criminal

[uheardme]

This is great news. I hope the network is ideologically balanced. I plan to support it.

[brwnizofmine]

I think it's an opportunity to expand on black news. Take the Rev Wright incident, to me it was never expanded on, mostly that one segment looped over and over. Sometimes things are misunderstood because it isn't presented correctly.

[uheardme]

I think the so-called Rev Wright issue is a perfect example of why we need a SERIOUS black news and entertainment network. Warner Brothers owned BET is garbage.

[GunnyJ]

Go JC Go!!! It will be nice to be a part of our national community!

[StewieGriffin]

So now black people are too stupid to watch other news channels? WTF is wrong with these people? Why do they keep trying to keep black people from joining in with the rest of society. This isn't about BET, this is about a black-only news channel. What will "black news" benefit? It's the same with affirmative action in colleges, and giving them extra points on SATs. They continually try to tell these people that you're too stupid to get in on merit. It's racism. Blacks should be outraged! This pandering has got to stop. This is merely another attempt to spread Right wing propaganda to the masses, and they are going to push it one group at a time. Enough is enough!

[realtalk]

Listen a black person can suggest something, it DOES NOT means that all black people are in agreement with the suggestion. It is important that people stop grouping the views of one or two black people with the views of the millions of black people across the country. Eachand every person in our society speaks for themselves. Just like all white people are separete, and get to make decisions for themselves, and be judged on their own words. One black person, who many black people have never heard of, like this guy, DOES NOT speak for the majority of black people. Black people individulayy speak for themselves, just like white people individulayy speak for themselves.

Black people don't all look alike, so why would you think that they all think alike. Thinking that they do is just dumb!!!

[Oridaman]

You live up to your screen name.

[robXdion]

STFU. This is about news, not your rants on minority programs. What you call "mainstream" is generated white centered. Pick up most magazines and look thru. Count the black faces or any ethnic faces.The MSM attacks black people as the blame for all of society's ills. Every other report is about how badly blacks are doing, how their health is failing. The "news" is all bad news for black people. The MSM has become propaganda for quasi white-supremacy. You would think whites never have ANY problems. THIS kind of subtle propaganda does more to further racism than anything. Even little kids believe in the inferiority of blacks because they get the impression from the news. We have an all-white panel discussing the particulars of black culture and it's people?? GTFO. Lastly, why do white males get so spastic at the idea of other groups advancing and controlling their destinies? What are you so insecure?

[GunnyJ]

This is like the Asian News, Euro News, Arab News, etc. This is simply an opportunity to expand an ethinic community. You paint too much hate with your emotional response though not really surprising. Actually your response comes from those who feel they are losing control? Calm down and let the world grow. You don't have the right to stop progress.

[Bobleblah1]

PS
If you think that being black means your supposed to fit into some stereotypical model of political thought, you need to wipe the haze from your eyes. Black people can and do hold as diverse a set of political beliefs as any other group of people. Its amazing that shit like this even has to be said, but its clear it still needs to. Black people are human beings just like you. That means they can be a republican if they want, they can be a liberal if they want, they can be straight, they can be gay, they can be smart, and they can be stupid. JC watts is no less black to me because he is a republican. He has a right to be, and I bet you your life that if he explained to you why he is, or was a republican , you would probably STFU real quickly. The idea that a African American is somehow an Uncle Tom because he holds conservative beliefs is beyond stupid. I guess every black man should just work on making the NBA instead of working to expand their world view. Maybe then some of you would feel everything was right in the world. Sounds like Geraldine Ferraro paid some of you to post today.

PS:
Despite conventional wisdom
Uncle Tom was a great man.............Maybe one day people who like to call others Uncle Tom might actually read the book and understand what they are calling people.

[Bobleblah1]

This is a good idea.
While on the surface it may seem like a tough thing to make successful, I think it
will serve a good goal. Educating people on issues related to politics and government as a whole.
If this station is honest in its desire to provide "Intelligent" news to a community that is very underrepresented within the cable news world, then good for him.
The bottom line is this, if this station puts on quality news programming with people of gravity and makes sure to have more journalistic integrity than the major cable news stations (which will not be hard to do), then they will carve out their place on the air. Cable news is SO FULL OF SHIT it blows the mind of every sensible person who puts eyes on it. These sensible people can very easily become JC's audience, If........he is serious about real journalism especially of the investigative kind.

The big three are waiting to get knocked off. they are a giant corporate clown show.

I never liked JC's politics, but the republican party totally diminished underestimated and wasted his talent. I wish him and more importantly his idea, the best.

[LulaB]

Good. BET sucks.

[GunnyJ]

BET does suck. They think we are all 15-32 years old and love hip-hop. They need to take the "B" off and just become the entertainment network.

[SonnyBono]

"I'm not so sure that you see anything on CNN or Fox News that specifically targets the African American community," Watts told The Post." - if JC is targeting anything - its the wallets of his audience.

JC Watts has built a career around being a quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners - when he was a member of the state board that regulated the oil industry - he admitted on "Sixty Minutes" that he collected envelopes from lobbyists for the oil industry with large sums of cash in them. He claimed that they were loans but he never stated how he was going to repay the "loans".

Since he left Congress, he has been a shill for the right wing whenever they need a "black" perspective - of course, most of the people that call on him don't really know the difference between a black perspective and an oreo perspective. Hint to the MSM - as Deep Throat told Woodward "Follow the money."

[Taaj]

J C Watts has no credibility, and has nothing to say I want to hear. But I must give him credit for an unique idea. Conservative progaganda to black folk, it worked when the Gay Community was demonized in order to get African Americans out to vote for Bush.

See racism is destructive no matter who does it. I think we are smarter.