The public outrage from the murder of George Floyd has, in the current lexicon, “woke” up the corporate leadership of the broadcasting and advertising industries. A veritable cascade of diversity initiatives has dropped like manna from heaven to civil rights organizations, educational institutions and community programs. Both industries have long been among the least committed to diversity and black representation among the ranks of senior management and board membership.

Past commitments to increase diversity and black representation were not voluntary, but were conditions imposed as terms of settlements for past discrimination and promises made to obtain regulatory approval of strategic mergers. Why did it take the most massive protest in modern American history for them to act? Are they afraid of protesters at their gates, or bad PR for some of their corporate clients who share a similar history of discrimination and prejudice?

The two industries are intertwined by their business models and money. Broadcast television is dependent on ad agencies for revenue. This revenue is generated by offering content to the public for free, content that can deliver audiences large enough to justify ad rates and the commissions that agencies charge their corporate clients. Cable television has the additional revenue source of subscription fees paid by consumers for programming and content over premium channels.

Black consumers over-index for the consumption of broadcast television, cable networks and premium channels. Similarly, these consumers over-index for numerous brands and product categories, as has been documented by Nielsen for decades. Yet these consumers and viewers who are so crucial to the performance and profitability of both industries have been devalued, disrespected and denied credit for their economic contribution. In addition, they have benefited from black talent and creativity which are the primary drivers of American and indeed global pop culture.

Truth be told, would the National Football League be the leading television franchise without black players? Would VH1 still be in business were it not for black reality shows? Would Fox have achieved standing as the fourth network without the black shows and the black audiences they attracted? Black viewers are the underserved audience whose critical mass has paved the road to success for every new network.

Do the corporate contributions and funding pouring forth even remotely begin to equate the generations of discrimination, exploitation and cultural appropriation? Before CEOs proclaim that black lives matter, they need to acknowledge that black dollars, black eyeballs and black talent have mattered for a very long time to their personal and corporate success. 

Sanford Moore has been a long-time ad industry critic, former agency executive and black talk radio co-host. He has also been an advocate for parity for African-American media with Madison Avenue and the ratings services. He can be reached atthecutmancv@hotmail.com.

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide protests related to the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, 2020 has been a virtually endless news cycle for the reporters tasked with covering these giant stories. Many have been on both with little to no time to rest in between. Covering either meant going into hazardous conditions, risking illness and injury.

RELATED: Enough Is Enough

While no story stays in the news cycle forever, news gatherers said they can’t quite envision more relaxed times arriving anytime soon for those on the front lines. “I feel like we lurched from one story of a lifetime to another,” said Scott Gordon, a reporter at KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth with 35 years in the game. “I’ve covered a lot of big stories in my time, but I’ve never seen anything like this. The sheer magnitude of what’s going on keeps me going. I want to be there to document the history that’s unfolding.”

Corona Crisis

The coronavirus story was elevated to headline news early in 2020 as the pandemic sickening spread, sentencing most people to their homes and shattering the U.S. economy. As one veteran reporter put it, it was the rare story that affected every person in America and beyond. In terms of daily coverage, the pandemic changed the rules of engagement for reporters. Successful reporting is based on the journalist forming a personal connection with sources, often in a matter of minutes. But reporters had to make do with their faces partially covered.

“It’s hard to communicate if you have a mask on,” Jeff Pegues, CBS News chief justice and homeland security correspondent, said. “In some ways, it changes the game for us, but you have to do what you have to do.”

Reporters have also had to contend with social distancing, which has also made establishing personal connections with sources far more challenging. “You can’t shake hands and you can’t put your arm around someone,” said Shimon Prokupecz, crime and justice correspondent for CNN. “It makes the job a whole lot harder.”

While many of us now work from home, reporters have been out in the field all the while, chasing down stories while trying their best to avoid an invisible enemy. “You play the day back: Was I safe, did I do everything I was supposed to do?” Prokupecz said.

Protests in Cities Large and Small

George Floyd was killed May 25, sparking perfervid protests in all corners of the country. In an online roundtable, former President Barack Obama said the protests are “unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime.” Many reporters shifted on the fly, stepping back from corona coverage to chronicle the protests, and at times the looting, in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and countless other cities large and small. “There was really no break in between, going from one massive, huge story, to another massive, huge story,” ABC News national correspondent Alex Perez said. “There really wasn’t time to think about them in between.” The days are long and reporters are exhausted. (“I can’t believe the impeachment was this year,” one said.) But instead of taking a few days off, they’re all over the latest giant story.

“This year feels like a decade so far,” said Bryan Llenas, Fox News national correspondent. “This is an exhausting time to be doing what we do; it’s physically and emotionally taxing. You feel like you can’t get out of bed, but there’s a lot going on and you hate to be on the sideline.”

Prokupecz said he and his crew walk 20 to 25 miles a day, covering the giant stories in New York. “The team is exhausted, but we feel it’s important to be out there,” he said.

Police Pushback

Making things even more challenging for reporters, many find themselves the targets of rough treatment at the hands of people on the street and even police. A mob of rioters turned on a Fox News crew, which included reporter Leland Vittert, pummeling the journalists outside the White House in late May. WAVE Louisville reporter Kaitlin Rust and photojournalist James Dobson were struck by pepper balls fired by police, causing Rust to exclaim on the air, “I’m getting shot!”

RELATED: BET'S Scott Mills on Providing a Platform

CNN reporter Omar Jimenez was arrested on live TV while working in Minneapolis. An Australian news crew on the street in Washington was attacked by authorities clearing demonstrators from the street near the White House. Freelance photographer Linda Tirado was shot in the eye by a rubber bullet in Minneapolis and is unlikely to regain vision in that eye.

Seven reporters contacted for this story said they’ve mostly been left alone by police and the public while doing their jobs, minus the occasional rocks thrown their way. Several did report people on the street approaching them to express their gratitude, which the reporters said is extremely uncommon in their line of work.

“People have said, I’m so grateful you’re able to tell our stories,” said Jericka Duncan, CBS News correspondent. “I don’t feel like we’ve met with a lot of tension.”

While some in the public echo President Trump’s cries of fake news, many more view reporters as vital to getting the facts out to the masses. “I feel like people are really seeing the value of what we’re doing,” said Garrett Haake, NBC News correspondent, who mentioned “unfailingly positive” feedback from people on the street. “It’s their story and they want it on TV.”

Normal Times Ahead?

Every news story loses its momentum over time, which suggests things may get back to normal for reporters on the front lines at some point in the future. Then again, the presidential election happens in less than five months, and the 24/7 news and social-media cycles are more a part of people’s lives with every passing day. “Like everybody else, I want to get back to normal,” KXAS’s Scott Gordon said. “But I’m not sure what normal is anymore.”

Much as they might like to spend a day in bed, resting after a breathless six months, the reporters on the street for these blockbuster stories said they’re getting by on adrenaline and a renewed sense of purpose. Haake spoke about journalists being there to write the first draft of history. He said, “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to tell this story, at this moment.”

Haake described it as “an inflection point” in the United States. “These stories matter and need to be told,” he said. “It’s a historical moment in this country. As a reporter, these are things you want to be part of.” 

The protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody have gripped the country and dominated TV news reports for weeks. Support for the African-
American community and calls for an end to systematic racism have come from all corners of the entertainment world through actions such as ViacomCBS’s 8-minute, 46-second blackout across all of its channels on June 1, signifying the time Floyd was pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis police officer with a knee on his neck.

BET Networks president Scott Mills recently spoke with Multichannel News to address the issues of police brutality and racial inequity facing the country and the role of the ViacomCBS-owned outlet, and the media in general, in providing a voice for African Americans and a platform to advocate for change. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation.

MCN: Over the years we’ve both seen protests over incidents of police brutality targeted at African-Americans, but George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests seem different. Why?

Scott Mills: I think it’s a fabulous question because I’ve been focused on that a lot myself and I think it’s a series of things. Part of me actually wonders if part of why society is responding to this differently has something to do with COVID-19. I think COVID-19 forced a lot of people to take a more human perspective on things and to think more about vulnerabilities, frailties, equity, inequality and disparities.

Coming out of that broad context, this extraordinary drumbeat of shockingly egregious murders that have been occurring recently has really influenced the way people have responded. We all know that the protests and the marches are a significant part of people wanting justice for injustices that have been perpetrated. But I also think they’re materially about people saying, ‘We want change.’ We’re seeing people act with such brazen impunity, and that leadership is completely absent on these issues. I think we’re seeing more people being more sensitive to the injustices that are perpetrated upon our community.

RELATED: Stories of a Lifetime for TV Reporters

MCN: Does the renewed discussion about the need for more diverse voices and representation within the media echo throughout the cable industry, even as distributors cut back their channel lineups?

SM: I think what we’re experiencing is a furthering affirmation of the importance of BET and scaled diverse media platforms. If you don’t have scale, you can program as much and as long as you want, but if you’re not reaching a large enough audience your message isn’t getting out there, and you may not have the standing to convene the people that you really need to convene. An example of that is BET’s securing of $17 million of commitments to COVID-19 relief efforts through [the April 22 special Saving Our Selves]. That was about BET using all of its resources and assets and extraordinary relationships with talent and advertisers. It’s not clear to me that but for BET, could any other platform have functioned at the scale we did that could get you to $17 million? We take that responsibility extraordinarily seriously.

MCN: How does BET take on the responsibility of not only bringing light to these injustices, but helping to facilitate change going forward?

SM: We understood that one of the important things was creating a platform that afforded African-American leaders the ability to communicate their views and perspectives around what was happening, why it was happening, what the failings were and what a course for a correction was. We sought to not have African-American leaders scattered across a bunch of different networks, but to be able to come together in a single place and speak to the African-American community. We’ve been able to do that with our news special Justice Now: A BET Town Hall, where we had the voices of leaders from the activist community, the political community in the political space and from the entertainment community.

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The second thing was this understanding that what we’re seeing on the streets is a function of people’s fear, anger, grief and anxiety. Our view was that we would have to create a safe outlet for that. We have to give people an opportunity to have a voice, to express their rage, to express their grief, to engage in community, as we did through our virtual town hall special.

The thing that we are particularly excited about is that we’ve invited President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to come to BET and tell our community what they’re prepared to do in a presidential forum on Juneteenth, June 19. It’s not a debate — they wouldn’t be speaking simultaneously — but a presidential forum where they will have the ability to speak to BET’s audience … We think the opportunity for our community to hear from each of them is going to be an important catalyst for how people think about the election in November.

MCN: Has ViacomCBS been on board with everything that BET has and will continue to do with regards to providing a voice for the African-American community?

SM: So far everybody’s like, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to do it.’ With the COVID relief effort, we explained that we wanted to go out and raise money for African-Americans because we had this insight before anybody else was talking about it. We knew that African-Americans were going to be disproportionately impacted by the COVID virus. When I said to them that here are the 10 things that we’re doing to address the current crisis, everybody said, ‘Awesome. That’s the role you guys are supposed to be playing.’ So we have really amazing support.

Calvin Coolidge is credited with saying “the Business of America is Business.” It is not.

The business of America is building a just society, where every life has worth.

America’s founding citizens agreed to be governed by a new Constitution on the express prerequisite that “all men are created equal … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” that could not be abridged by the state. The most precious of those rights was the right to life. On a street in Minneapolis, an officer of the law whose power derives from this very compact, casually snatched the life of George Floyd, an African-American citizen. It was murder in violation of criminal law. It was also attempted murder of the very soul of the American ideal.

A black life should not be worth less. A black life should not have fewer rights. As long as that is the case, America is cracked and deeply broken. I am anguished. My heart hurts. Tears well in my eyes. Because Mr. Floyd is dead, but also because America is critically wounded if it does not right itself.

Business is about business. Many believe that its only allegiance is to shareholders.

That is wrong, too.

Businesses hold an exceptionally important place in American life. They wield economic power and they also can wield important social power. They should turn to the mirror and examine themselves. They should heal the wounds that reside within their own walls and evaluate where they sit in the machinery of systemic racism. This moment, however, requires more than introspection. We need business leaders to stand; stand for their black employees, stand for their black customers, stand for all black citizens and use their formidable might to roar into the face of the monster that is racism in America. 

Michael Powell is president and CEO of NCTA: The Internet & Television Association and former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

On May 27, Dymanh Chhoun of WCCO Minneapolis was tear-gassed while reporting on protests in that city; on May 29, police shot pepper bullets at Kaitlin Rust of WAVE Louisville while she was covering a protest of the shooting death of Breonna Taylor there; and on May 29, Minnesota State Patrol officers arrested CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and his news crew in Minneapolis live on-air while on the same day, in the same city, freelance photographer Linda Tirado was hit in the eye with a tracer round.

[embed]https://twitter.com/KillerMartinis/status/1266618525600399361[/embed]

And that is only scratching the surface of the 300-plus documented incidents (at press time) that the Freedom of the Press Foundation called “freedom violations” by police and protesters against the journalists covering the nationwide protests, both peaceful and violent.

RELATED: Stories of A Lifetime for TV Reporters

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz apologized for the CNN arrest after it went viral, and said journalists must be given space to tell their stories.

“You see incidents of [police] pushing the press [and protesters] and you say, ‘Where are we, and who are we?’ ” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at one of his daily briefings. He said police must protect public safety and themselves, but that police abuses of power are also a fact. “And people are saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ ”

Journos in the Crosshairs

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the majority of the incidents appeared to involve police, though protesters have also appeared to target media workers, including Fox News crews chased and assaulted in Baltimore and Washington.

And journalistic organizations were looking for more than apologies.

In a letter to Walz, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said there had been improvements since that apology, but that even one assault or arrest when the police know it is a journalist is too many.

It called for the release of all arrests and interactions with police so the public could evaluate whether or not the conduct was legitimate.

And in an unusual move, the CPJ’s board sent an open letter to governors, mayors and the heads of law enforcement agencies demanding they stop police assaults on the press.

President Donald Trump has long attacked journalists as dangerous “enemies of the people,” leading to his being branded (while a presidential candidate) by the CPJ as a threat to press freedom “unknown in modern history,” as well as an ongoing threat to journalist safety.

The president was doing nothing to tamp down that inflammatory rhetoric during the protests, tweeting that the media were fake and slanted and corrupt and accusing them of inciting the violence.

[embed]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267132763116838913[/embed]

Joel Simon, executive director of CPJ, suggested the problem goes deeper than an incessantly attacking chief executive, though he has likely made a bad situation worse.

In a piece for the Columbia Journalism Review, Simon said the volume and severity of the attacks on journalists during the protests have no precedent in recent memory. But he said that ascribing blame to the president’s anti-media rhetoric was too easy an answer.

“The reality is that aggressive, militarized policing across much of the country, combined with a growing number of protesters who are hostile toward traditional media, has made covering protests an increasingly dangerous assignment,” he said.

Another contributing factor has been a decline in local media and the longstanding relationships between police and familiar beat reporters who had credentials that allowed them to cross police lines, Simon said.

RELATED: A Democracy Can't Afford to Lose Its Storytellers

But the president doesn’t get off the hook.

“While Trump didn’t make covering U.S. protests dangerous, he has made the situation worse,” Simon asserted. “It is certainly possible that the president’s anti-media rhetoric has emboldened local police, who are attacking and arresting journalists at a pace not seen in recent history.” 

Standing Together

The CPJ is getting together with other journalists’ organizations to send letters to police and law-enforcement agencies. They have already issued an open letter calling for police, mayors and governors to “halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field.”

Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told a Society of Professional Journalists webinar audience that there is “probably not an African-American journalist in the country who has not been the victim of racism” or had an interaction with police or knows someone who has, so they are covering a story that impacts them personally.

So while they are wearing their journalism hat, African Americans can sometimes be the target of law enforcement officers. The NABJ took an informal survey of its members and heard back from 96 journalists. Forty-two percent had been threatened by police, 10% had been arrested and 10% had been physically harmed, she said, adding, “It’s been a rough time.”

Where do journalists go from here?

Among the key takeaways from the webinar: News outlets need to focus more on putting the news in context. Reporters can’t be everywhere, which is becoming the province of “citizen journalists” with cellphones. Instead, they need to add the context and history of racial inequality, which leads to another key: More diverse newsrooms with journalists who view the struggle from a different lens, having lived the struggle and the context.

RELATED: BET’s Scott Mills on Providing a Platform

A contributing factor to the disconnect between the police and journalists doing their jobs also has to do with the cutbacks in local news, which means the police are not as familiar with the reporters covering the story. And sometimes it is not so much targeting of the press as indifference to whether someone is a reporter or not if the police are moving a skirmish line and the journalist is the impediment.

One factor that has contributed to the prominence of the debate over police treatment of journalists and protesters is that cellphones have been capturing the evidence, as was the case with the killing of George Floyd that prompted the protests.

Former Associated Press journalist Jesse Holland said the time to talk with police is now, before the next protest, and to ramp up training for both police and journalists to try and keep both sides safe.

Tucker agreed that outreach is important. She said news managers should be reaching out to law enforcement all across the country saying, “This is what is happening to our reporters.” Police officials need to talk to their officers and penalize those who violate the rights of journalists, she said.

Tucker also advised broadcasters to be careful with their language. Too frequently, she said, she heard reporters talking about “peaceful protests turning violent,” when the reality was that the peaceful protesters had gone home and the violence was coming from looters. The distinction is important, she said, and not doing so “is insulting to those protesting injustice.” 

LAYING DOWN THE LAW

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said law enforcement must do these things to help stop protest coverage-related attacks on credentialed journalists:

• “Instruct your officers and staff that the arrest or physical attack of a journalist who is compliant with reasonable police orders is a clearly established First Amendment violation;

• “Take swift action to discipline any officer who is
found to have arrested or assaulted a journalist engaged in newsgathering;

• “Inform your officers that they themselves could be subject to legal liability for violating these rights;

• “Ensure that crowd-control tactics are appropriate and proportional and are designed to prevent collateral harm to journalists covering the protests;

• “Continue to exempt members of the news media from mobility restrictions, including, and especially, curfews.

• “Release all information about arrests of or physical interactions with the press to the public to allow it to evaluate the legitimacy of police conduct.” — JE

As I wove among the thousands of protesters gathered in the streets around the White House over the past few days, I could easily pick out the journalists dotting the crowd. With press credentials hanging from their neck, a notebook in hand or a camera slung over their shoulder, they were there to chronicle the story of historic protests against police brutality sweeping the country.

Dozens of journalists rested on the front porch of the historic St. John’s Church, where just days before the attorney general had ordered peaceful protesters to depart, with chemical agents used to clear them out in advance of the president's photo in front of its boarded-up windows. It was pretty easy to pick out the journalists from the crowd, even with so many people wearing masks to protect themselves from COVID-19. We are currently in the midst of not just a historic civil rights movement, but also in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, so we cannot afford to lose our storytellers.

Over the past two weeks, though, we have seen those charged with upholding the law clash with those practicing their First Amendment rights, from protesters exercising their right to freedom of association and assembly, to journalists embodying the right to freedom of the press. Despite the fact that journalists and citizens alike have a right to document law enforcement and newsworthy events, they have been targeted and attacked by the very people charged with upholding the law: Police were responsible for about 80% of the reported incidents during the first two weeks.

Reporters Singled Out

Since May 26, when protests in response to the death of African-American citizen George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, more than 11,000 people have been arrested. Alongside the protesters, it appears that journalists have been specifically targeted for arrest and attack. By June 8, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, of which the Committee to Protect Journalists is a founding partner, had documented at least 327 press freedom violations. Among these were at least 54 arrests of journalists, the destruction of equipment and physical attacks on journalists with weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets.

For perspective, in 2019 the Tracker documented a total of 152 violations in the U.S. While the number of journalists affected may pale in comparison to the protesters, the implications are serious.

Journalists identifying as people of color are also particularly vulnerable. In the midst of protests about police brutality and systemic racism, among the earliest incidents reported was the on-air arrest of black Latino reporter Omar Jimenez, along with members of his CNN team. His white colleague, working one block over, was not detained. Journalists of color are forced to exist in a space of double jeopardy, targeted not only for their race, but now for their job as well. Journalism in the U.S. is still wildly uneven in representation, with the American Society of News Editors’ 2019 Diversity Survey revealing that only 21.9% of salaried newsroom staff are people of color. I won’t claim to speak for the experiences of these journalists, but our past reporting has shown that protests present additional threats for black journalists. We need their perspective; we cannot afford to lose their voices now.

The U.S. has long been a champion of press freedom, holding the First Amendment up as a model, a standard set for protecting and encouraging a robust free press. The Constitution protects both the right of civilians to protest, as well as journalists’ right to cover it. But as authorities across the country continue to disparage and allow for attacks on the press, that standing is now in jeopardy. And the
failure of U.S. leadership to protect even its own journalists will have direct consequences for journalists in danger around the globe.

Journalism Is Essential

Journalists are an essential service, and that’s a status explicitly confirmed by leaders around the U.S. and the world during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a critical role to play in these historic moments. To bear witness and to bring information not only to their communities, but the world. And even in the face of mounting hostility, they have not backed down nor turned the camera away.

The world is watching. It’s imperative for state and city authorities across the country to show the same courage and conviction. Police departments must allow journalists to work and cover this story as safely as possible, and failure to do so must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible held to account. If they don’t, we run the risk of losing the thread on a vitally important story. Communities — and democracy — will suffer as a result. 

Courtney C. Radsch, Ph.D., is advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists and author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change.  

A&E has cancelled Live PD, the high-rated documentary series that follows police from around the U.S. on patrol in real time.

The cancellation comes as protests against police brutality have swept the country, stemming from the death of George Floyd as he was in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25.

“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD,” A&E said in a statement. “Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”

The three-hour series, which follows police departments “on a typical Friday and Saturday night” across the country, is hosted by Dan Abrams, along with Tom Morris Jr. and Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin providing analysis. The show uses dash cams, along with fixed rig and handheld cameras, to capture the work of a mix of urban and rural police forces.

Live PD’s cancellation came on the heels of Paramount Network’s axing of long-running law enforcement series Cops.

Big Fish Entertainment produced Live PD, which premiered in 2016, for A&E Network.

For its fourth season, Live PD drew 1.8 million viewers, per A+E, with some 672,000 of those watchers aged 18-49.