Posted on 06/11/2008 4:30:46 PM PDT by SmithL
Oklahoma City (AP) -- J.C. Watts thinks the uproar over statements by Barack Obama's one-time pastor illustrates the need for a national black TV news channel.
Watts, who hopes to get one running by the summer 2009, tells The Associated Press that the voice of blacks is often missing from political debates, including the one over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"We hope to be the single destination for reliable, credible, informational resources for the African-American community," Watts says. "The critical thing is to allow the community to create a platform to be involved in the economic, social and political debates taking place across the country."
He said the Black Television News Channel will be added to Comcast cable systems in Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington, and would be available nationwide on Dishnet.
He's trying to raise $20 million to build studios in Washington as well as a "coast-to-coast high definition news gathering infrastructure."
Watts objects to some of the criticism Obama has received for his long association with Wright, who accused the government of creating AIDS and shouted "God damn America" in a speech posted on YouTube.
"I've not seen anything in his writings, in his speeches, in his books, in his public appearances, that would encourage me to believe that he views the world through the Rev. Wright's prism," said Watts, the last black Republican to serve in the U.S. House.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What a waste of HDTV.
Sounds like JC Watts is a marxist/obama supporter. Another republican turned socialist.
J. C.! Tell me it isn’t so! Have you not read the man’s books, for crying out loud?
My respect for J. C. just took a dive, kind of like the stock market did within the last week.
Where’s Rupert Murdoch?
This could be huge for the conservative voices in the black community to get some well deserved face time and national exposure.
Imagine it.
The Walter Williams Factor.
JC Watts News Hour.
Jesse and Al have been shaping the “black voices” for way too long.
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I guess he never heard of BET. So much for his VP aspirations.
I like JC Watts. But not sure about the concept of a Black News Network.
None are so blind as those who will not see.
And who has claimed that Wright actually believes the conspiracy theory about the White Amerikkkan government creating AIDS to kill the black community in America and mother Africa? Or the conspiracy theory about how we did not really land on the moon?
The man is a race baiter and a button pusher.
He probably no more believes his own bullsh** than the black supremacists who preach as fact that the White Man/Devils are the result of an African science experiment one wrong thousands of years ago.
But Barack Hussein Obama has found company to proudly stand alongside Wright AND Pfleger for 20 years and call Wright his mentor who BROUGHT him to Christ (so his claims of being a Christian as a small boy do not ring so true).
They could bring back that one Alan Keyes show too, I liked that show when it was on.
He will do far more harm to the black community than he will do to help them. And he will be downright horrible for race relations in this country. By his own pen and his own voice he does not like white people, including his own ancestors or heritage. He called a black friend of his who dated a white woman an Uncle Tom. That is the same paired relationship his own parents engaged in.
He is a bigot and a demagogue.
When I was a kid, there was a guy named McCreary on the old WNEW (Channel 5, which evolved into the flagship station for the Fox Network), who hosted a show called “The Black News”, which came on at 11:30 on Sunday nights.
What ever happened to “E Pluribus Unum”?
I think it’s racist now.
A BNN could post nightly stats about the number of blacks killed in urban conflict around the country each day, much like Walter Cronkite did with US troop deaths during Vietnam.
If it’s done with a coservative slant, i’m all for it.
If it’s leftist Tavis Smiley, Juan Williams diatribe, I say hell no.
Sheesh, what exactly is “black” news? What nonsense.
Isn’t that racist?
We have gone right past diversity, into fragmentation.
Oh my goodness. All the people on this thread trashing Watts are so totally missing the point that it is getting embarrassing.
Use your common sense. The guy is in the process of putting together a $20 million round of financing for a big enterprise. Is it likely that he just started this entrepreneurial endeavor in the last few weeks? No. He has been building this for awhile. Did the Wright/Osama stuff come along and cause the press to want to make a story out of it, and to ask his take on that? Apparently so.
Now, as mentioned elsewhere on this thread, imagine that there is a channel kinda like BET, but designed for news and serious topics, and headed by a black Republican.
Of course he is going to sound a conciliatory note to the Wright/Obama crowd. THOSE ARE THE AUDIENCE OF HIS FUTURE ADVERTISING CUSTOMERS. Why should he tell them how stupid he may think they are?
Think of how cool it would be if there was a channel that a lot of black people tuned into that wasn’t just a bunch of victocrat stuff. Imagine Dr. Williams being treated with respect. Better yet, imagine black people interviewing white people and not making a big deal about race.
Wow. I really like that.
But I am not sure that it is a perfect match. Cronkite wanted to influence American policy and abandon the people of South Vietnam who had asked us for our help. I am not sure that I agree with a parallel mission to abandon American inner cities. Mostly because I think all of the problems in those places were caused by our federal government, and I think we should fix them.
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