Black Entertainment Television's 'Lifestyle' Choice

"Five years, four sentences," is how television anchor Tavis Smiley summed up the terse dismissal note he received from Black Entertainment Television (BET) on March 23. The response from viewers and fans was heartfelt and immediate. BET and its new parent company, Viacom, were deluged with calls, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and others helped organize protests in Los Angeles and at BET's Washington offices. The outcry, which continues, is a testament to the power and reach of Tavis Smiley, and the widespread sense among African-Americans that BET has betrayed us.

If this were a Movie of the Week it would boil down to two characters: the heroic Smiley, Los Angeles preacher's kid (his mother is the minister, thank you), who moved through the black political machine of former LA Mayor Tom Bradley to become one of America's most influential commentators; and the villainous BET CEO Robert Johnson, a kind of Vernon Jordan of media, who leveraged his extensive business connections (including a stint as a top lobbyist for the cable industry) into a billion-dollar business. The foundation of his success has been more than 60 million viewers, reaching the vast majority of African-American cable households.

Whereas Smiley used his perch at BET to advance black political and economic concerns, Johnson's political activity, save his high-profile support of the Million Man March and financial backing of a few black political candidates, has focused on advancing his business interests. In fact, Johnson has taken positions widely thought of as anti-black--such as, most recently, supporting the Bush estate-tax repeal. Now that Johnson has "sold out" to media giant Viacom, the fight has moved beyond an internecine squabble where everyone's trying to "keep it in the family." The dirty laundry's on the line.

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