African-American TV Channel Won't Cover GOP Convention

NEW YORK — TV One, the cable network aimed at African-American viewers, will cover Barack Obama's nominating convention but is ignoring John McCain's.

The network is telecasting live, prime-time coverage of the Democratic convention in Denver Aug. 25-28, followed by "TV One Live: DNC Afterparty," with political and social commentary from panelists. TV One is available in 43.7 million households, or about 40 percent of the nation's TV homes.

Obama's nomination as the first black to be a major party presidential nominee is an historic event for African-Americans, so it's important for the network to be there, said Johnathan Rodgers, the network's president and CEO.

"While viewers can get coverage of the convention from any number of networks, we plan to cover the convention from a uniquely African American perspective," he said.

The network has no plans to cover the Republican convention.

"We are not a news organization," Rodgers said. "We are a television network that is designed to celebrate African-American achievement. That is why we are covering this convention. If Hillary (Clinton) was the nominee, we would not be covering this year's Democratic convention."

Comments

[Tator]

More power to them. The have the right to cover what they wish.....now if we had the Liberal/moonbat backed Fairness Doctrine they would be forced to cover the Republican convention....see moonbats it cuts both ways.....another thing that would happen is NPR would suddenly have to free up 12hours a day for non-Liberal programming.....in addition non-Liberal groups would get half of all the time on NBC,CBS,CNN.......

[Cathexis]

If non-Liberal groups got HALF the airtime on NBC, CBS, and CNN that would entail a significant cutback. Thanks for being up to such a change!

I notice that you did exclude ABC (80% Republican) and FOX (110% Republican). Oh well ... w ehave to start somewhere. ;-)

[uheardme]

I wish we could go back to some of the comments by the white GOPers who cheered John McCain's, Romney's and Rudy's decision to ignore the Morgan State debate. I wish we could review the comments of the white GOPers who cheered Bush's decision to ignore invitations to the NAACP and other black organizations. The republicans told Blacks to f*ck-off a long time ago, it is time for Blacks to tell Republicans the same.

If black voters wanted to get a flavor of the Republican convention, all they would need to do is to take a gander at the hate-filled, hysterical, childish, and racist vitriol in the comments to this story on the story's website.

[Trogenhorse]

I'm surprised. I was told the head of the station was a STRONG HRC supporter.
I think McCain has bigger problems...his speech is the same time as NFL first game. I don't watch football but I know a lot of men who can't imagine life without it

[MoeSart]

It makes them a propaganda channel, if that's what they want to be known as.

[Cathexis]

A reasonable decision. The Food TV Network won't cover the conventions either ... unless their is a significant food aspect on which to focus. So what is so unusual about this station's decision? Their focus is on presenting an African-American perspective; it's painfully obvious the GOP convention has nothing to offer (although covering it to highlight that lkack might be an option). If a convention doesn't offer anything that speaks to a TV station's focus, why would anyone expect them to cover it?

I don't see a problem.

[sdskelton03]

I think it is a pretty low class move on the part of TV One, however it certainly is their channel and they can broadcast what they wish.

I think its wrong and they shouldn't do it, but hey, it's their game.

[Wildcatdiva]

imagine this in 78pt ....STFW?

[TrevorAlan]

I see their point, although I am not sure it justifies covering the whole Dem convention (still mostly whities) rather than just the stadium speech and I think it would be a good idea to do a token (hee, hee) coverage of the GOP, maybe with Chris rock reprising his coverage for one of the comedy shows from a few years back.

[UnknownSoldier]

Ok if TV One did cover the Republican Convention the channel would have gotten no Publicity. I'm black and I've never watched TV One I don't even know if I have the channel on my cable system. This is a marketing ploy by the channel to get their core demographic to watch their channel.

So for the people who are going to try to compare this to reverse racism, just don't go there.

1.) If John McCain publicly says he was TV One to Cover the Republican Convention the channel will do that, and it will also serve to get there channel more publicity. McCain wont do that because he doesn't care, and nor should he.

2.) If a channel like Lifetime or Spike were to say that they would not cover the Democratic Convention, but only the Republican Convention, the channels would be shooting themselves in the foot with significant portion of their audience.

Blacks watch more TV per week than any other racial group, and advertising does work. Blacks are the best consumers in the country, they just don't have the disposable income of whites.

[Desdemondo]

Thats your problem.

[rwe]

again Rationalization and Deflection .. the way prograssives explain away this blatant racism... Kind of similar to baracks speech in march.....right now , two of the most influential African Americans in the country happen to be conservative....Rice and Thomas ... So TV1 and you guys have now logic or facts to dispute the racist charges

[TrevorAlan]

Here's an idea, instead of covering the GOP convention they'll have a series on the great legal speeches and accomplishments of Clarence Thomas.

Ooh, but that might not be a very long show.

[Cathexis]

rwe: Um ... you assume they refused to cover anything with Rice or Thomas. I didn't read anything remotely implying that in the article. It seems to me that you may have made a knee-jerk generalization in your ire about suspected "reverse racism."

[NYC07]

We should all thank TV1 for doing the US a public service. They are freeing the airwaves of the sight of Violent and Greedy Republicans who like to send other people's children to be killed in phony wars for their own profit, and from pushing their agenda to elect another Violent Greedy Republican to continue and expand this killing process for another 4 years. We should applaud TV1 they're thinking of the children !!

[wayoutleft]

when matthews and fineman start doing the fist-bump- i'll be long since switched to TV-ONE

[richdoll]

i don't watch BET, however john mccain is not courting the black vote have you notice those town hall meetings the audience are white clean cut, middle class people who his campagin picks outs so who's the bigot? john mccain is not talking to the "working class " blue collar population. but his nomination is part of history should be covered if not for nothing the acceptance speech (yawn)

[TrevorAlan]

He's talking to those hard-working whites, the ones Clinton wanted.

[esgabel]

Unfortunately this will be used by people who want to underline the fact that Obama's black followers are "only" for him because of his race...and "nothing" more. Not that you necessarily send someone to cover either campaign, but you can't ignore Obama's interaction with Republican voters and John McCain.
What is the sound of one hand clapping...?

[kiki1966]

I'm sure I'm just restating everyone else's comments but TV One probably just doesn't want to broadcast several days of all-white programming. It's a business decision, yes, but also a political one, I would imagine. The GOP has no elected AA national representatives (I didn't research this recently but I'm pretty sure I'm right) so why should an AA channel broadcast a group that is not known for being very inclusive?

Beyond that, I worked for Johnathan Rodgers way back when at Discovery-he's fabulous! Go Johnathan!