What Happened at the Black News Channel? How Toxic Content, Lawsuits, and Low Ratings Led to a Promising Network’s Collapse

Juwan HolmesMar 26th, 2022, 11:25 am
 
Black News Channel

Black News Channel co-founder J.C. Watts and investor Shahid Khan.

When the Black News Channel (BNC) launched in February 2020, it was touted as a necessary and refreshing approach to cable news, “by black people, for black people.”

The network’s launch was welcomed, coming at a period when a series of Black media outlets were folding or stopped publishing while the industry as a whole continued to struggle (but also underinvest in Black audiences and publications.) Legacy brands such as Ebony have faced financial struggles, while digital outlets like The Root have also seen drastic staffing and content woes that have alienated audiences and talent.

On television, Black journalists, analysts, and commentators have had fewer opportunities. Between the three major cable news networks Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, CNN’s Don Lemon is the only Black host in prime time. Despite increased coverage and recognition of racial issues in media over recent years, there remain limited opportunities for Black people and insufficient representation of marginalized communities throughout the industry.

Considering these issues, BNC had the potential to fill a crater in the media industry. In the two years it was on the air, however, it fell short. Not only is the network being sued by journalists who worked to bring it to life, but it struggled in the ratings as the on-air product became just as much of a vehicle for toxic commentary as any other cable channel – if not arguably more.

On March 24, BNC’s human resources chief Nicole Collins told staff the payroll deposits for the week would be delayed. The next day, March 25, veteran television journalist Roland S. Martin obtained the email and shared it online, saying on Twitter, “@BNCNews staffers are angry and demanding answers after getting [the] email.”

Within hours, the Los Angeles Times reported that the network was filing for bankruptcy and shutting down. Its 230 staffers no longer have a job.

To understand how BNC came to fall, it’s worth exploring the unusual story behind the company’s founding. BNC was started by J.C. Watts, a Black politician who served as a Republican congressman for Oklahoma. Watts co-founded the network with Bob Brillante, a veteran TV executive, who is White. A majority share is owned by Shahid Khan, a Pakistani entrepreneur who also owns the All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) league and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

In June 2020, Brillante stepped down, and Princell Hair, a former top executive at CNN, took over as chief executive. Khan continued to fund the network as Hair attracted good press. In a Tallahassee Democrat profile of Hair in September 2021, BNC was described as “thriving” under his leadership.

Watts told the paper, “I am more bullish on BNC today than I ever have been, and everything that Princell has brought to the network has a lot to do with that.” The article touted the network’s availability in American households and growth in staff, particularly during the pandemic, as evidence of its success. Other outlets would follow suit in their analysis.

In the last year, though, the network’s content offering and corporate decisions began proving directly antithetical to their goal to “celebrate black lives, culture, and history” and “give voice to an underserved community.”

In an article published in the Times in November, BNC was described as aiming to “give a voice to an underserved audience” and praised for its expanding workforce and programming. Hair told the newspaper, “The most important currency to the Black audience is authenticity.”

By December, though, the network laid off an undisclosed amount of employees right before Christmas. In January, 13 current and former women employees sued the network, alleging gender discrimination and pay inequity. The class-action suit stemmed from a lawsuit first filed by two women against the network in August.

“Women at Black News Channel are routinely paid less than men in equivalent positions, and forced to conform to sexist or misogynistic stereotypes about how women are supposed to behave,” the plaintiffs said in a statement. BNC is currently moving to dismiss the lawsuit, but the plaintiffs’ lawyers have accused the network of retaliating against their clients.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) said in a statement that they were “disgusted by the allegations” laid out in the lawsuit. The network has since met with the group privately to assure the journalist organization that they “continually build upon the character of our culture.”

What’s more, throughout its existence, Black News Channel struggled to draw an audience.

BNC had drastically expanded its availability in recent months, claiming to reach around 50 million households and 250 million OTT platforms and online devices (up considerably from its initial reach of 2 million). The network also launched a streaming service, aimed at millennial and Gen Z viewers, called BNC Go.

Yet, BNC was tied with Comedy.tv for second-to-last place in ratings amongst all cable networks tracked by Nielsen during the year of 2021, averaging just 4,000 viewers. For comparison: BET averaged 365,000 viewers last year, 92 times BNC’s viewership. TV One averaged 109,000 (both networks boast much less news or daily original content than BNC). There is an audience out there for news and Black-centric content, but BNC never won it over.

Despite its roster of mostly liberal hosts, the network drew most attention for giving airtime to controversial conservatives, like radio host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, Trump sycophant Ben Carson, and activist CJ Pearson. BNC’s airwaves have also featured Bill Cosby and his spokespersons, accused grifters Umar Johnson and Shaun King, and anti-social justice activists such as Christopher Rufo, allowing them to launder their reputations and promote beliefs or actions that critics argue harm Black people. Such commentary made the network appealing to the Republican Party, which made a five-figure ad buy in February.

Most of these guests appeared on Black News Tonight, the network’s premiere primetime offering led by former CNN contributor and BET News host Marc Lamont Hill. Whether by his own design or otherwise, Hill’s show became a protracted offering of the arguments that Hill had on his Twitter. Many of his guests appeared to defend themselves against backlash for problematic remarks or beliefs.

In July, former reality TV court Judge Joe Brown appeared on Hill’s show and called the conviction of Bill Cosby an example of “mob rule, mob justice,” before comparing Cosby’s prior prosecution to the lynchings of “Emmitt Till and every other Black man lynched in this country.” Brown also compared inebriated rape victims to drunk drivers.

That same month, Hill had far-right podcast host Liz Wheeler on his show to “debate” Critical Race Theory while a sign for her own show (flagged by Facebook and multiple fact-checking organizations for false claims or misinformation) loomed in the background.

In June, television personality Benzino appeared on Black News Tonight with Hill to “explain” comments he made condemning Lil Nas X for his BET Awards performance. Benzino went further on the show, claiming has “many gay friends, gay family members” as proof he’s not homophobic, but then argued that some in the LGBTQ community, like Lil Nas X, “just want to bully their lifestyle on people.”

https://twitter.com/BNCNews/status/1410403277422960640

In May, Umar Johnson appeared on Hill’s show and suggested that Black men “who had admitted to homosexual behavior or identity” were the result of parents needing “to do a better job.”

“I blame sexual abuse as being one of several triggers that can lead to a homosexual lifestyle,” he said.

Johnson has faced allegations that his goal to create a private academy for Black male students is a scam, but Hill defended Johnson instead of grilling him on it – admitting he had donated to Johnson and arguing that “there’s a heftier skepticism for Black folk than White folk,” misconstruing concerns about the project.

BNC News tried targeting younger and more diverse audiences (Hair’s target demographic for the network was African-Americans between the ages of 25-54), and its proponents claimed the network was going to have “programs that will benefit teens, women, and HBCUs.” While their inaugural HBCU Journalism Project program is reflective of that aim, the allegations of discrimination levied by women who worked at the network dampened it.

BNC didn’t have the excuse of being an older or more established network like CNN and Fox, which have certainly had their own issues with personnel and content as of late. Between their carriage deals, viral social media clips, and puff pieces across media, there wasn’t a lack of availability or promotion either.

Ultimately, it was the network’s majority owner that reportedly made the decision to stop funding the first Black 24-hour news network. The Times reported that sources said “Khan was no longer willing to invest further,” which came the same week that BNC said it posted its highest viewership numbers in its history for the Senate confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court if confirmed.

BNC had the opportunity to forge a different path where the other cable news networks failed – especially in journalistic responsibility to, and representation of, marginalized people. Its coverage of the large terrain of issues the Black community, though, was a mixed bag – limited by a tendency to promote harmful rhetoric and polarizing debates. In the end, it seems the network’s failure to attract viewers proved fatal.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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