Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - After filing for bankruptcy, the now-defunct Black News Channel is unable to pay some of its employees their earned wages, said a spokesperson. The channel, which was based in Tallahassee but broadcast nationwide, touted 24/7 programming dedicated to covering minority communities. It had been operating for roughly two years when on Friday its President and CEO Princell Hair announced to employees in an email that the company would be immediately ceasing live operations and filing for bankruptcy. Employees did not receive their scheduled paychecks that day. BNC spokesperson Tim Buckman told WCTV that payroll deposits that...

The more than 250 black journalists, including New York Times columnist Charles Blow and television personality Marc Lamont Hill, are now out of a job. Former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts, who compared Trump supporters to Klansmen, was the founder of the network. “We are more than athletes and entertainers, and on the hard news side, we’re more than crime,” Watts said, according to a Washington Times report. “For every 17-year-old African American male that you show me that’s being carted off in handcuffs on the 10 o’clock news … I can show you 50 17-year-old African American males that get...

The Black News Channel has delayed its launch until Black History Month, the network announced last week. Having been previously slated to launch on Nov. 15 and then Jan. 6, the minority-owned network aimed at an African-American audience will instead hit the airwaves on Feb. 10, after initial audience projections proved to be larger than originally expected, the channel said. “Black History Month is an appropriate time to launch the Black News Channel,” Bob Brillante, co-founder and CEO for BNC shared. “We are committed to make sure that when our viewers tune in they are witness to a quality viewing...