by Eric Ture Muhammad
Staff Writer

WASHINGTON�Black Entertainment Television (BET), once the powerful Black-owned media enterprise of founder and current CEO Robert L. Johnson, now owned by white corporate media giant Viacom, abruptly slashed a third of its current workforce between its New York and Washington, D.C., bases and fired its award-winning talk show host Tavis Smiley of BET Tonight.

"After a five year relationship with Tavis Smiley, we have terminated the remainder of his contract immediately," announced Mr. Johnson. "There are a number of public and private concerns which led to my decision. Recent actions by Mr. Smiley left us little recourse but to make this move," he said in a statement.

At Final Call press time, Mr. Johnson appeared on an hour-long version of the show with guest host Cheryl Martin. Mr. Johnson said he was solely responsible for the firing and that "this is not the first kind of incident" that has caused problems between the network and Mr. Smiley.

Primarily, however, he said the firing came because of a recent exclusive interview Mr. Smiley conducted with Sara Jane Olson, who was wanted for more than 20 years on charges that included conspiracy to murder a police officer. The interview with Ms. Olson, who reportedly was then known as Kathleen Soliah as a member of the �70s group the Sybionese Liberation Army, appeared on ABC�s newsmagazine Primetime Live.

And although that act helped to prompt the firing, Mr. Johnson said Mr. Smiley was within the guidelines of his contract to sell the interview.

The firing has sparked a debate about whether Mr. Smiley was really fired for his recent actions�going on the syndicated Tom Joyner morning radio show to tell listeners that he planned to work until the end of his contract in September�or whether white media giants who own Black-oriented mediums are curtailing the kind of information being delivered to the Black community. Some also are wondering whether a voice like Tom Joyner is next.

"In Tavis Smiley, we have an independent Black voice who mobilizes people," said Raymond Winbush, director of the Fisk University Race Relations Institute. "There soon may be no such thing as an independent Black assertive voice in our community. It shows that the white establishment can organize itself to kill off our most powerful independent Black voices. Emerge (a BET publication) is gone. Tavis is gone. All Black newspapers should be fearful. All Black-owned broadcast stations should be very, very afraid," he said.

Viacom completed its buyout of BET Holdings II, based in Washington, D.C., for nearly $3 billion in January. This transaction included BET, which reaches over 62 million households in the United States and14 countries worldwide; BET on Jazz: The Cable Jazz ChannelTM, a 24-hour network devoted to jazz; BET InternationalTM, and BET Books, the leading publisher of Black romance novels under the label of Arabesque Books.

Viacom also purchased BET�s interest in BET.com and 360hiphop.com, two online portals providing content and community experiences tailored to the overall Black and hip-hop communities, respectively. In February, 360hiphop suffered mass layoffs and the closing of its politics department. The brainchild of entertainment mogul Russell Simmons, the much-celebrated website launched last summer boasted nearly 100 employees. It is now down to five.

In addition to Mr. Smiley, on March 16 BET fired approximately 70 employees between the D.C. and New York offices. Employees speaking to The Final Call under conditions of anonymity said they witnessed security guards escort executives and other employees to their former work areas immediately after they received notice of their termination and stood guard while they removed their belongings. Once their desks were cleared, the guards then confiscated their ID badges before the employees tearfully left the premises.

People were standing in the halls crying and others wondered if they were next, one employee said.

Chief Operations Officer Debra Lee said through a memo that Viacom plans to give severance packages, benefit extensions, outplacement service and other assistance, including opportunities to pursue positions elsewhere among Viacom companies.

In the last year, many mainstream media companies have purchased or collaborated with Black or Hispanic content providers. Black companies, in particular, have sold company interests to gain greater access to capital and new markets. Mr. Johnson, for example, has recently purchased three hotels and is currently bidding for a Washington, D.C.-based airline route.

During his remarks the morning of Mr. Smiley�s statement, Mr. Joyner encouraged listeners to protest BET�s decision by calling, faxing and sending emails to Viacom offices and their executives. He told Mr. Smiley and his listening audience, "If they can get you, Tavis, they can get any of us. Mainstream media has long tentacles. We�ve got to let Viacom know that we will not accept just anything they toss at us."

This kind of advocacy is what many think got Mr. Smiley in trouble and could threaten Mr. Joyner�s syndicated radio show. Both men have sparked successful boycotts of corporate America, were successful in forcing Hollywood to extend seasons for some Black television programs and gathered the nation�s top leaders for a meeting.

"In this kind of (Republican) climate, how long can we expect white folks to allow a person like Tom Joyner to use their airwaves to boycott CompUSA and bring Black leaders to D.C. for a summit?" asked Melody Spann-Cooper, owner/CEO of WVON, a Black radio station in Chicago with a talk-show format.

She suggested that such a program one day might have to be syndicated through a network of Black-owned stations like the Radio One network owned by Cathy Hughes of Washington. "We don�t do enough to work with one another. It might come down to that," Mrs. Spann-Cooper said.

A "committed" owner of a Black station, she also noted that money is a big factor in whether a Black station decides to sell or stay Black-owned. A challenge, she said, is her competition with conglomerates like Clear Channel radio network and attracting the same advertising dollars they go after with their much larger audience.

"You get to a point where you are fighting to hold on to your entity, but you can lose because of the lack of support from the advertising industry. It�s almost like a Catch 22 in some way.

"If somebody waved $30 million in front of me, I�d have to think about it," she said, adding that many Blacks are faced with deciding whether to sell at a time when they can get the best offer or to ride out the wave and ultimately have to sell anyway.

"The question is, why now?" said Final Call editor James Muhammad. "Tavis� award winning show has been on five years. Now, when BET is sold to Viacom, there�s no room for a voice that will motivate a mass of people to react.

"Tavis is paying a price for his, and Tom Joyner�s, ability to bring corporations to the table to address real concerns of the Black community. As the media is increasingly being monopolized by white corporations, where will there be room for a Black voice that cannot just give information, but deliver it with a passion that causes the information to empower the people?" he said.

Activist/publisher Steve Cokely said Mr. Smiley�s program in 215,000 homes per night, according to Nielsen ratings, represents the listening audience of a good Black radio station. And to white Republicans that is a real threat.

He said the firing of Mr. Smiley and the threat to the security of Mr. Joyner�s syndication is an example of "Negroes, fighting for what they don�t own."

"Whether it be Viacom/CBS/Johnson and Smiley or Disney/ABC and Tom Joyner, both (Smiley and Joyner) are fighting for something they do not own. If we fight for anything, let�s fight for our own television network and bring both brothers on the side of a war worth winning," he said.

Black and independent media truly represents the "fifth estate," said Raoul Dennis, managing editor of the National Newspaper Publishers Assn., the Black press of America.

The first three are the federal, judicial and legislative branches of government and the unwritten fourth state is journalism that serves as a watchdog of the first three, he said. "However, that fourth estate has already been bought. It is more corporate now and more dependent, instead of independent, of government," Mr. Dennis said. "I submit that Black and independent media are probably the last official watchdogs. Corporate media goes after whom they find to be an enemy or an adversary" of the status quo, he said.

In his official statement aired on the Tom Joyner show, Mr. Smiley said that after five years with BET, the only notice he got that his contract wouldn�t be renewed is a four line memo faxed to his agent. Nevertheless, he said he would complete the contract, partially because of his concern for his staff and audience.

"Quite frankly, I have had it with all this greed, masking as corporate downsizing that places people in unemployment lines after years of dedicated service," asserted Mr. Smiley in a statement made March 22 on the Tom Joyner show. "What ever happened to loyalty."

But all was not necessarily rosy between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Smiley, according to one source who asked for anonymity. The source said Mr. Smiley�s contract was finalized after he walked off the set just before the first broadcast of his show and that Mr. Smiley�s moving his show to Los Angeles caused great strains.

"I love Tavis to death," the source said, "but dealing on the business side with some of these personalities is some kind of test."

"On one hand, I�m clear that Viacom and BET are really on the wrong path," said media observer, Makani Themba-Nixon. "The way they dealt with 360hiphop.com�which was, incidentally, more interesting politically and graphically than anything BET has done to date, really bothered me. They bought the site from Russell (Simmons) and then cut it off without ever integrating it into their main site," she said. "And with the canning of Tavis, things seem to be getting worse."

Photos:
#1-Tavis Smiley, right and Tom Joyner accept NAACP Image Awards last year
#2-Bob Johnson