Boycott BET Campaign

To boycott is to abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion.. So I dont know if you should use the word boycott if you don't plan on taking any aggressive action. If you say that you are going to do this, then you HAVE to do it and not talk about it. BET has undergone drastic changes before 2000, the year of Viacom takeover. Trends in the music industry has largely affected BET programming. For instance, our generation of younger artists has poluted the mission of hip-hop, rap, and r&b by glorifying irrational and unacceptable behavior in their music videos.. Of course, we can use the argument of it being used in the 80's and 90's as well, but you also have to think about the target audience of those vidoos as opposed to today. Kids have easier accessibility to this stuff now. Basically, it seems as though the music videos on BET overshadows most of the TV programs they have on there now versus the TV programs of the late 80s early 90s. When BET was first created, its mission was to reflect the true perspectives of Black people WORLDWIDE. It seems as though in the past, BET kept trying to diversify, grow, and develop. Now it seems to be narrowing, dying, and becoming weaker. I mean, LOOK AT THE SHOWS NOW! I remember watching Teen Summit, BLack Agenda 2000, Inside Studio A, Personal Diary, On Stage, and Our Voices, all of which provided educational resources. Let's not forget Good Times, Whats Happening, Roc, and Frank's Place. Shows like these provided us with reflection of Black life and African American interests. It had options, vaiety, education, enetertainment, talent, love, and power. It seems as thought it is all fading away as generations shange. Now we see Coomic View, Where I Stay At, Bet UNCUT, music videos, comedy, negative this negative that. What is the real source of all this negativity? Is it BET's fault? Is it Robert Johnson, creator of BET, fault? Or is it the entertainment industry fault? Quwariona likw these really need to be answered, revised, and devloped in order to effectively "boycott" or protest this network. Changes in the socio-cultural environment needs to be examined and analyzed becuase I think it has a LOT to do with conntemporary BET programming. Email me if you have questions on my insight. JONC4384@YAHOO.COM

i personally think that if you were able to make this work and really push BET to the limits into modifying their programming, this would be the first step in changing entertainment for Blacks as a whole. No one really has confidence in their voice anymore which is why they back down from actually doing something. It would be nice if Communication majors from HBCUs united, developed a conference, and discussed this issue collectively to form a coalition for change in the media....White schools do it all the time why can't HBCU's? Just another thought I have.

This is back again?? I agree. It is not enough to boycott BET. Most people that have an issue with its programming don't watch it regularly anyways, and a slight drop in viewership probably won't impact Viacom too much. The bigger question is "what will replace it?" Are we supporting positive programs and entertainment? Do we support alternative artists, and are we buying their CDs and going to their performances? When we do, the demand will be there, and the industry will follow. In the meantime, go see a play or a concert for someone you do support - it'll make much more of a difference. www.baltimorerenaissance.org