Media Diversity and Political Realities

CORRUPTION WATCH-The great hue and cry about the lack of Oscar nominations for the movie “Selma” (photo) has once again brought to life the lack of media diversity. Lack of media diversity has somehow come to be associated with the awards that a movie may receive. The lack of media diversity is about much more than simply awards. 

The greatest cause for the lack of media diversity is the lack of ownership of media. Such a simple statement but such a complex solution. For the last 30 years of my life, as an African American man, I've been hearing about the lack of media diversity as relates to the African-American community. The greatest impediment to media ownership by African-Americans has been black politicians and judges. 

Since the mid-1970s the Democratic Party and its minions, elected black officials, have fought against black media involvement. The City of Los Angeles, a media capital, has spent millions of dollars to prevent the ownership of media by African-Americans. The U S Supreme Court case of Preferred Communications vs City of Los Angeles displays the efforts to deny the First Amendment rights of African-Americans in the South-Central Los Angeles area. 

Where was the Democratic Party and black leadership when the constitutional rights of African-Americans were being valued at one dollar. A black U.S. District Court judge, Consuelo Marshall, made this determination. 

Now that the door has been closed I hear the cry of civil rights organizations that once again want to complain about the results of what they have set forth. Yes, the NAACP and the Urban League were complicit in the denial of the constitutional rights of African-Americans to control their own programming on television. 

Is it any wonder that the plight of black America is always in such dire straits.  The current crop of elected black officials in Los Angeles County are the same as they were 30 years ago when the same problem was brought to light. They changed offices but they are the same people. 

 Let's name a few names. Mark Ridley-Thomas is currently a Supervisor in Los Angeles County. He was on the Los Angeles City Council while Los Angeles was refusing to honor the rulings of the United States Supreme Court relative to media ownership in South Central Los Angeles. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke preceded Mr. Ridley-Thomas in the same Supervisor seat. Ms. Burke was representative of the company that would have control over cable television in South Central Los Angeles but would never do anything with it. No need to worry however, they both placed their children in the California state legislature. 

The most important impact of the lack of media diversity has simply been overlooked or ignored by those who spend their time whining about awards for one movie. The complete inability of the community to provide relevant and important information for itself is contrary to the United States Constitution and the First Amendment. Even the moniker of black programming, Black Entertainment Television, is in fact owned and operated by one of the largest media conglomerates in the United States, Viacom. 

The images that are delivered by television are key in determining the behavior of those who rely upon that information. The use of violent programming has been pushed as a cheap form of programming on urban minority communities. The lack of alternative sources of information gives television an even greater impact on urban minority communities that on the general population. 

"Selma" is an important piece of history in the United States and in the African-American community. One of the important components that made the march in Selma resonate in America was the power of television and media. Allowing the rest of America to see what was going on in a brutal racist South led to the passage of civil rights laws in America. 

The history of media ownership among African-Americans is also part of our history but the result has been vastly different.  Part of that history is detailed in my book "Anatomy of a Hustle: Cable Comes to South-Central LA". You cannot truly understand media diversity without understanding how the City of Los Angeles worked hard for years and spent millions of dollars to make sure that it did not happen. 

Those who do not understand history are destined to repeat it. Every year I hear a new cry about the lack of media diversity for African-Americans. For African-Americans the lack of media diversity will continue to repeat itself until they understand the root cause of it is black leadership.

 

(Clinton Galloway  is the author of the fascinating book “Anatomy of a Hustle: Cable Comes to South Central LA”.    This is another installment in an ongoing CityWatch series on power, influence and corruption in government … Corruption Watch. Galloway is a CityWatch contributor and can be  reached here. Mr. Galloway’s views are his own.) 

 -cw

 

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 8

Pub: Jan 27, 2015