openentrance – What’s Really Going OnWhat’s Really Going On

BET suffered another setback this week when several advertisers pulled spots from popular network programs due to images of violence and profanity.

According to Pauk Porter of media watchdog group, Industry Ears, CNN, Proctor & Gamble, Pepsi, and General Motors pulled their ads from Rap City and 106 & Park after the companies viewed “The Rap on Rap,” a content analysis of BET and MTV programming.

The study found that children were exposed to violence, profanity or obscenity once every 38 seconds.

According to a CNN report, BET Chairman and CEO, Debra Lee dismissed the study, saying the network pays attention to the content it airs and edits videos.

Porter also asserts that responsibility for monitoring content should not solely rest on parents of minors. “The standard excuse is about parents, but there’s supposed to be corporate responsibility too.”

He goes on to add that the images of black people on networks like BET effect more than just the young people exposed to the content. “We’re the only ones presented like this in the world. It effects you globally, on your job, with the police.”

While Porter—a former media executive himself—is a harsh critic of the network, he is not without solutions for the Viacom network.

“Balance,” he says of the solution, adding that every video shown does not have to be about violence, sex, or materialism.

“We’ve been stuck on this fake gangster stuff. Black people have so many different shades and nobody is talking about lifting each other up. I listen to the same crazy shit in my car,” he says before adding, “but I’m not going to play it for a nine-year-old.”

The most interesting thing is I can not find any information about sponsorships being pulled from MTV as well.