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With insiders predicting that OWN will probably fold in a year, the media magnate faces some tough branding decisions if she wants to keep her “baby” from going under:

The Daily Mail reports:

Though ratings have seen a slight insurgence thanks to interview program “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” it has stumbled since the get go with ratings of just 308,000 daily. It is believed shows which do not feature the chat show queen herself are not popular with viewers.Discovery, which partnered with Winfrey to launch the network and has been underwriting its costs, has invested nearly $600 million in it since 2008, according to an extensive report in Businessweek magazine.

Since it started on the air in January 2011, it may have lost as much as $330million, according to the magazine.

Zaslav, who talked Oprah into the idea of OWN, is famously impatient with money-losing operations within his company and insiders say he will not put up with the ailing network’s losses for much longer.

Winfrey appeared before advertisers two weeks ago to ask for more time, telling them: ‘I am in the climb of my life. I am climbing Kilimanjaro.’

Although she doesn’t risk losing a lot of money from the channel’s failings, Oprah’s reputation is at stake.

Over her 39-year career, The Oprah Winfrey Show had as many as 12.5 million viewers. O, The Oprah Magazine had more than two million subscribers. And her Internet site, Oprah.com, draws more than three million unique visitors a month.

Her image as the most successful TV star of her generation is on the line.

E-mails to OWN and Oprah’s production company, Harpo, were not returned yesterday.

OWN’s reputation for scarce ratings went from bad, to worse, to desperate when she begged the Twittersphere for viewers  in February. In an attempt to compete with the Grammy Awards, Winfrey sent the following tweet to almost 10 million followers:

“Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box.”

Winfrey issued an apology for the tweet, saying “I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference.”

Citing a specific category of violation, titled, “Falsified Reporting or Attempts to Coerce Nielsen Panel Members,” the company issued a statement of it’s own, saying, “In accordance with our policies and procedures, Nielsen is reviewing this incident with out clients…We take any violation of our policy seriously and will work with clients to resolve the situation.”

Maybe Lady O’s issues can be solved with a change in programming; after all, it worked for her in 1994 when she made a conscious decision to separate herself from the “trash pack,” consisting of Jerry Springer, Ricky Lake, Montel Williams and others.

We would say that only time will tell, but time is apparently running out.

Still, regardless of what  happens with OWN, Winfrey will undoubtedly reinvent herself and bounce back. She always has.

Read more at the Daily Mail.

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See also: Fox News Host Apologizes For Obama “Hizzouse” Remarks

In one instance, the study found that Fox News watchers were 18 percent less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all.

By contrast, the most informed Americans were those who watched Sunday morning news programs and, to a lesser extent, read national newspapers and listened to NPR.

Read more at Good.is

Here are five incidents where we believe the media has exploited Black children.

4. The Gun-Crazed Kid

WBBM-TV in Chicago deliberately quoted a 4-year-old Black child out of context, turning him from a young child who had ambitions to be a police officer, into a young hoodlum-in-training. When the child said “I’m going to have a gun when I grow up, I’m going to be police,” the producers omitted the latter part about wanting to be police and only left his statement about the gun.

3. The Victim’s Wacky Brother Becomes The Story

Kelly Dodson was interviewed by WAFF-48 from Huntsville, Ala. after she claimed a man jumped into her bed and tried to rape her. Due to the mannerisms of her brother Antoine, the media quickly turned the story into comedy, ignoring that the story dealt with the serious issue of an underage girl claiming she was raped. Antoine Dodson would wind up buying a house from the proceeds from a song that used the newscast. The suspect was never found.

2.The Auto Thief

Latarian Milton was a 7-year-old boy with psychological problems who stole his grandmother’s car. The media usually doesn’t  name or show underage suspects, but WPBF, the ABC affiliate in Palm Beach, Fla., decided to interview the young man, not once but three times, turning the young troubled kid into an Internet sensaiton.

1. Too Little, Too Late To Care

Derrion Albert was a Chicago teen beaten to death in an afterschool fight. The media released his gruesome killing and ratings soared. Although the incident did bring a great deal of attention to Black-on-Black crime, the release of the gruesome killing seemed to exploit the memory of this young man.

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I UNDERSTAND how Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official who was forced to resign last week, must have felt.

 Last year I, too, resigned from an administration job, after I uttered some ill-chosen words about the Republican Party and was accused — falsely — of signing my name to a petition being passed around by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Partisan Web sites and pundits pounced, and I, too, saw my name go from obscurity to national infamy within hours.

Last year I, too, resigned from an administration job, after I uttered some ill-chosen words about the Republican Party and was accused — falsely — of signing my name to a petition being passed around by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Partisan Web sites and pundits pounced, and I, too, saw my name go from obscurity to national infamy within hours.

Click here to read more

Click here to see gallery of black political firsts

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NEW YORK – A conservative blog posts 2 minutes, 38 seconds of video clips of a black federal agriculture official saying she didn’t do everything she could to help a white farmer. The blogger labels it racism. Calls grow for the Obama administration to remove her. No one at the Agriculture Department or the White House checks further. The official is forced to resign.

Monday ends, but not the story.

A complete, 43-minute version of the video surfaces the next day, Tuesday, and casts a much different light on Shirley Sherrod’s comments: They were part of an NAACP speech about how she overcame her racial prejudice to help the farmer, not about prejudice that stopped her from helping him.

Now, the administration is criticized for wronging her by rushing to judgment.

By Wednesday afternoon, Sherrod is sitting at a studio in CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, watching on live television as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs apologizes to her.

She accepts and says: “Being afraid of the machine that the right has put out there that’s what’s driving this.”

A split screen shows her face and Gibbs’ in a surreal moment, concluding a whirlwind 48 hours in which conservative media had the Obama administration on the defensive.

Fox News Channel has been riding high in the ratings since Barack Obama became the nation’s first black president a year and a half ago. Commentators Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly offer a favorite destination for many administration opponents.The Sherrod story erupted after BigGovernment.com, a website run by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, posted portions of her speech at an NAACP banquet in March.

Breitbart’s story began: “Context is everything.” He said he offered “video evidence of racism coming from a federal appointee,” and followed with snippets of the speech.

On the video, Sherrod, hired last August as director of rural development for the U.S. Agriculture Department in Georgia, talked about her unwillingness to offer much help to a white farmer when she worked at a non-profit organization 24 years ago.

The story moved from the Internet to Fox News Channel on Monday night.

In seeking her resignation, Sherrod said, a USDA deputy undersecretary told her the story was going to appear on Beck’s program late Monday afternoon. Instead, Beck didn’t discuss it that day; it first appeared a few hours later on the top-rated prime-time show “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Host Bill O’Reilly showed the brief portion of Sherrod’s March speech where she explained that she didn’t give the white farmer “the full force of what I could do.”

“Wow!” O’Reilly said after the clip aired. “That is simply unacceptable, and Ms. Sherrod must resign. The federal government cannot have skin color deciding any assistance.”

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As he talked, Fox flashed the news on the bottom of its screen that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had accepted Sherrod’s resignation.

Fox’s Sean Hannity aired the same short snippet of Sherrod’s speech shortly afterward.

“This was at an NAACP dinner, and this was racist,” Hannity said.

CNN’s Rick Sanchez said producers there were intrigued by Biggovernment.com’s posting and immediately started reporting on it. But with all the questions involved — Was this a fair characterization of Sherrod’s full speech? Can she be reached to give her side of the story? — they wouldn’t be ready to discuss it on his afternoon show until Tuesday, he said.

By then, the story rushed by.

“As journalists, we have to protect ourselves the best we can,” Sanchez said. “It’s easy for it to happen to anybody, by the way — jump to a conclusion, get excited, look at the coverage. It’s kind of like creating a bandwagon effect. Once you get on the bandwagon, you can’t hit the brakes.”

By Tuesday morning, “Fox & Friends” headlined the story “Racism Caught on Tape.”

Commentator Laura Ingraham talked about “people who have burrowed their way into the Obama administration with radical outlooks, a radical agenda and, in this case, a racist sentiment. How many more like Ms. Sherrod exist in the Obama administration who weren’t so stupid as she was to actually explicitly state her views on the issue of race?”

When the full tape became available later, it was clear that Sherrod said the case taught her a lesson about the importance of helping all those in need, regardless of race.

“What’s happening here is that she’s guilty until proven innocent,” Beck said on his show. “They fired her and now they are back-pedaling. There’s no due process here. Doesn’t an American have a right to a fair trial? They have politically assassinated this woman. No one has heard the case for or against her, they just took her out. When did we stop having the right to face our accusers?”

It’s not clear when, or if, someone at Fox saw the full tape.

Fox spokeswoman Irena Briganti and David Tabacoff, executive producer of “The O’Reilly Factor,” did not immediately return calls for comment. Sherrod said that she wasn’t contacted by anyone at Fox until Tuesday, when she refused their requests for an interview.

After a video of her full speech was posted online by the NAACP, the White House called the Agriculture Department on Tuesday night, and it was agreed that her ouster should be reviewed.

As more came out Tuesday about Sherrod’s speech, Fox’s focus shifted. “Race Story Takes Strange Twist” was Wednesday’s headline on “Fox & Friends.”

“They may have acted without knowing the whole story,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said of the administration.

Breitbart did not immediately respond to an AP request for an interview.

But on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday, he said his story “was not about Shirley Sherrod.” Instead, he said, the video provides evidence of Georgia NAACP members applauding or laughing at racist behavior, at the same time national NAACP figures are criticizing the tea party movement for having members that express racist sentiments.”

Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com attracted attention last year for airing video of workers at the community group ACORN counseling actors posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend. This month, Fox News has aggressively reported the story about the U.S. Justice Department choosing not to pursue a voter intimidation cases involving the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia.

Paul Levinson, a journalism professor at Fordham University, said those cases — and the attention they received on Fox — were likely on the mind of Obama administration officials when Breitbart’s story on Sherrod first appeared.

“They panicked,” Levinson said. “They’re giving the media far more power than they should have.”

In issuing his apology, Gibbs said the government, media and interest groups on all sides made quick determinations without knowing all the facts involved.

“One of the great lessons you take away from this is to ask all the questions first and come to a full understanding,” he said.

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Mel Gibson has made big news again for a racist rant against African Americans saying to his ex-girlfriend that, and I quote, “If you get raped by a pack of niggers it will be your fault.” With that line he may have angered millions of people. But I ask you is this Mel’s fault alone?

Then this week on The View Whoopi came out and said “I know Mel, and I know he’s not a racist…He may be a bonehead. I can’t sit and say that he’s a racist, having spent time with him in my house with my kids.” I must say this before I go any further if this was a black man who had said such things about a white man or any other race his career would be over. I do not believe this the case for Mel Gibson.

Click below to view our gallery of famous racists:

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Whoopi just because he was in your home and around your kids doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking some choice words about you and your family. Now many folks, including my listeners, would say, “Whoopi, he used the N- word, it is clear that he is a racist.”

Now let me make this clear before I go on: I do believe that Mel Gibson and many other Americans have hidden racial tensions against other races but, I ask how much of a role the media plays in that? Let’s look at the statement Mel Gibson made “If you get raped by a pack of niggers it will be your fault.”

As a black man who grew up in the hood in Chicago I must say that I have never seen a pack of black men walking or riding around looking to gang rape a woman. The mere fact that Gibson would make such a statement tells me two very important things. First the influence the media has on us as Americans is so great that even the most affluent amongst us can be conditioned to believe a certain way about another race. Second Mel knows NOTHING about BLACK men.

Let’s look how the media portrays Black men everyday in TV, radio and print. In the movies black men have been reduced to either playing a thug, killer, drug dealer, singer, or any other role that’s has us as a cheater or a good for nothing bum. In fact Denzel Washington had to play a bad guy to win a Oscar although I would argue his role in Malcolm X was more deserving. The news in local cities shows us every night how much of a danger Black men are to the community and on the national news we are good enough to come on as pun dents but not good enough to have are on shows. Oh I forgot you cannot be OWB “opinionated while black” on TV because then you are an angry black man! And on radio in order to be deemed a success you must crack jokes or talk like a sex crazed person.

Now you may be saying Warren this is not always the case and I say don’t you see how we are being conditioned everyday to hate? We hate in this country because of race. We hate each other for religion. We hate each other because of class and education. Now ask yourself where did you learn all this hate? THE MEDIA that’s where.

It’s obvious to me that Mel Gibson has no clue about Black men with the statement that he made. For the record Mel as a black man we love ourselves and we are taught from birth to love and respect women. Most of us are very protective of women due to our relationships with our mothers, sisters, grandmothers and other family members. In our community one of the most disgraceful things you can do is rape a woman.

Now I personally think that Mel is just like many of us in this country. We think we have no racial distinction in us but we do we all do. It’s been planted in us from the first time we followed the media. Mel Gibson just has chosen to say it out loud.

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From OliverWillis.com:

Oh boy.

In defense of the GOP, just this one time, CSPAN callers are the nuttiest people in the world.

WATCH IT HERE:

Click here to read more.

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While minority journalists view the historic election of the U.S.’s first Black president as a positive step for race relations, many believe that their own industry has fallen down on the job in its coverage of race relations, according to the 2010 Journalism in Color Survey on Race and the Media.

The Journalism in Color Survey tracks the views of professional journalists of color on issues of race and media. Commissioned by theLoop21.com, an Black economic and political news website, in collaboration with UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc., the survey provides a unique perspective on racial coverage in the Age of Obama. The survey, conducted last month, received over 400 responses from a racially diverse group of media professionals.

Text continues after gallery …

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Journalists were surveyed on a variety of topics, including the quality of coverage of issues affecting African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans following the 2008 Presidential campaign as well as their professional experiences in mainstream media, perception of opportunities for advancement in their news organizations and suggestions to improve and increase coverage of issues that are important to people of color.

Among the findings:
- 95% of respondents did not think mainstream media adequately covered stories regarding racial issues in a multiracial society. Those who agreed with that assessment most often cited a lack of diversity in newsrooms and “lack of understanding by editors/producers” as reasons for the inadequacies.

- Speaking from personal experience, only 14% of survey respondents felt that their own producers or editors were very knowledgeable about the minority group that they were covering.

- Only 1 in 7 believed that coverage of racial issues by the mainstream media had improved U.S. race relations while nearly twice as many believed it had worsened race relations. And, with all the discussion of a post-racial society since the election, this year’s panel of journalists indicated that racial coverage by the mainstream media was just as likely to be “detrimental to the reality of a post-racial society” as it was to further that reality.

- A majority of respondents indicated that while “racial and cultural issues are more likely to be covered” the overwhelming majority do not believe that “journalists of color cover more high profile stories,” or that additional coverage translates into creating opportunities for newsroom advancement for journalists of color. Similar views applied to women and gender issues.

“The persistent lack of confidence in the journalism industry is startling,” said Darrell L. Williams, PhD., publisher of theloop21.com. “At this critical juncture in U.S. race relations, there is a need for discussion of standards for unbiased racial coverage. What decision-makers in media choose to report, how they report it, and what they choose to ignore affects racial perceptions.”

David C. Wilson, Ph.D., a political scientist and public opinion expert who worked on the project, noted that the inadequacy of the media’s coverage of race is not unique to the Obama era.

“It’s nothing new,” Wilson said, citing President Lyndon Johnson’s 1967 Kerner Commission. The commission, put together to determine the causes of the race riots that plagued major cities in the 1960s, reported that the mainstream media at the time failed to adequately cover issues of concern to Black Americans, instead maintaining a “white perspective” that failed to improve race relations.

Today, while a more diverse range of issues are more likely to be covered, Wilson said, “It’s possible that Americans, particularly African Americans, are generally fed up with the highly politicized and sensational nature of how racial issues are portrayed.”

Part of the problem may be the increasingly blurred lines between news and entertainment, fact and opinion.

“The entertainment line is kind of blurry now. Journalists tend to understand the difference, but the public doesn’t,” said Wilson. “And if the pub doesn’t, you lose control of the narrative, so you don’t know what’s fact and what’s not.”

As a result, media consumers are left with a choice between trusting the news they from increasingly polarized sources, or doing independent research to seek unbiased coverage. The former, Wilson says, is much easier and less-time consuming. However, he believes that if the public demands more from its news outlets, we may begin to see less politicized and more unbiased coverage of race relations in this country.

“I think it’s very important to hold the media accountable,” Wilson said. “It’s is a market-centered industry, and the public has to do the voting with their dollars.”

After all, as journalists of color indicated in the survey, poor coverage of diverse groups can actually be harmful to race relations.

Media images and language can prime subtle thoughts and beliefs related to stereotypes that can lead to bias and support faulty beliefs, Wilson said. Greater sensitivity through diversity of ideas among producers and editors is the key to improving the current situation.

“Diversity is not about ‘sheer numbers,’ it’s about highlighting the different takes on different issues,” he said. One of the goals of the survey was the give journalists of color a chance to join the discussion about how the media needs to move forward.

Other findings from the survey:
- Journalists also rated news outlets and selected types of media regarding objectivity and trust to provide “fair and unbiased reporting” of racial and cultural issues. CNN was the most trusted news outlet by journalists of color to provide “fair and unbiased reporting on racial and cultural issues” with 69% indicating that they “somewhat trust” or “highly trust.” FOX was the least trusted with only 3% indicating that they “somewhat trust” or “highly trust. Ninety-one (91%) percent distrusted FOX to provide “fair and unbiased reporting on racial and cultural issues.”

- Public Radio is the most trusted media type to provide “fair and unbiased reporting on racial and cultural issues” with 80% of journalists of color surveyed indicating that they “somewhat trust” or “highly trust.” Cable news (31%) and Internet bloggers (10%) were least trusted to provide “fair and unbiased reporting on racial and cultural issues.”

For more from the Journalism in Color Survey, click here.

To make your own voice heard on these issues, vote in TheLoop21.com’s “Truth in Media” Poll here.

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NEW YORK — MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer has apologized for mixing up civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

She made the slip-up Wednesday while introducing Jackson during a segment on homelessness.

Watch the video:

After the introduction, Jackson stared at the camera from a studio in Burbank, Calif., and said, “I’m Rev. Jesse Jackson.”

Brewer explained that her script read that she was to introduce “the Rev. Al Sharpton.”

She continued, “We all know who you are, Rev. Jackson. I’m so sorry.”

From BlackAmericaWeb.com:

Actor Samuel L. Jackson’s UppiTV – a television production arm of his company Uppity Films, has set up two series projects at CBS.

Both as-yet-untitled shows, described by the Hollywood Reporter as a comedy and a medical drama, are produced by CBS TV Studios, which has extended its deal with UppiTV for another year.

The comedy pilot, from writer Bob Kushell, is about the wife of a U.S. congressman who inherits her husband’s seat when he dies unexpectedly in the middle of his term.

Writer Andrea Newman’s medical drama centers on an emergency room doctor who uses unconventional methods to treat his patients.

Jackson will reportedly executive produce the projects alongside their respective writers.

As previously reported, Jackson’s TV producing sprouted last year when he signed a first-look deal with CBS Studios. His only previous stint as TV producer is with Spike TV’s animated series “Afro Samurai.”

To read more, click here.

Serena Williams is beautiful. And Black.

Dwight Howard is beautiful. And Black.

Adrian Peterson is beautiful. And Black.

The first step to truly appreciating beautiful Black bodies is to appreciate beautiful bodies that are Black.

RELATED: Serena Aces Naked Pic For ESPN Mag

Serena Williams, Dwight Howard and Adrian Peterson don’t need to feel anything but proud of the countless hours they’ve spent sculpting their instruments to be played at their highest level. Why not appreciate their sacrifice and the allow it to be appreciated? Why not appreciate their varied symmetry in its most natural state?

These bodies are art. Is there a sexual element? Certainly, but I feel less a tingle in my underpants and more an appreciation for these physiques which move with considerable grace.

RELATED: Candace Parker Pregnant on ESPN the Magazine

KING this ain’t. Maxim this ain’t.

These bodies look…achieved.

The voyeuristic gaze? It’ll never go away. Should we hide ourselves and the good work that we’ve done because someone might fetishize us? It seems to me that the question comes down to whether or not we fetishizes ourselves; whether we think our bodies are simply for the public consumption of other or if it is something that we are allowing to be displayed and admired. This is a matter of agency.

With agency–and integrity–you know the difference between exploitation and exposure; between being taken and giving freely.

And damn if Serena don’t look fine.

From the Washington Post:

A coalition of major African-American and Latino groups announced Monday that it is stepping into the health-care debate with a six-figure ad blitz aimed at promoting reform.

RELATED: Health Care Reform Bill: What’s In It For Us?

A half-dozen groups — the NAACP National Voter Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Campaign for Community Change, the United States Student Association and PowerPAC.org — are banding together to run television and print ads in four states with large minority populations: Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas. (Two of those four states have senators on the Finance Committee.) A spokesman for the group said the total ad buy would cost between $250,000 and $500,000.

The ads, which will run in English and Spanish, “are part of a grassroots effort to ensure that members of Congress appreciate the importance of reform to the people of color they represent,” according to a statement released by the coalition.

RELATED: Key Senate Panel Rejects Public Health Care Option

‘I’m not going to let special-interest politicians throw 46 million of us under the bus,” says the African-American narrator of the television ad, using a common estimate of the number of uninsured Americans.

Click here to read more.

From Black America Web:

Is Ebony magazine for sale? And is the legendary black-owned publication on the verge of being purchased by a white media company?

Business insiders say that Ebony, the 64-year-old black-oriented magazine founded by John H. Johnson in 1945, may be looking for a buyer – and soon.

RELATED: Report: Ebony Magazine Up For Sale

“Now it appears Johnson Publishing’s chairman and CEO, Linda Johnson Rice, has reached what must have been an agonizing decision: Johnson Publishing is seeking a buyer or investor for its flagship publication, Ebony, in an effort aimed at securing the survival of the nation’s oldest magazine devoted to African-American life,” Newsweek reported in last week’s edition.

Newsweek said that Rice has contacted Time Inc. and Viacom about a possible purchase of Ebony or a partnership. Time Inc. bought Essence magazine – a publication for black women – in 2000. Viacom purchased BET in 2000.

A source familiar with Ebony’s financial difficulties confirmed for BlackAmericaWeb.com that the magazine is being shopped to several potential buyers.

Executives with Ebony said the magazine is considering a myriad of possibilities.

RELATED: Vibe Magazine To Resume Publication

“As we’ve indicated previously, we are exploring a range of options to support our core media business. However, we are not in discussions with Time Inc. and Viacom,” Ebony said in a statement sent to BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Clem Richardson, a columnist with The New York Daily News, said he finds the prospect of Ebony and Jet no longer being black-owned both angering and frightening.

“I get angry because the company’s financial trouble is more testimony to the notion that African-Americans can’t be fiscally viable, despite our numbers, without white support,” Richardson told BlackAmericaWeb.com Tuesday.

“And I get frightened because Ebony has long shown its readers black Americans at our best, and in showing that, helped us through our worse,” he said.

Click here to read more.

On Sunday, the world witnessed history — Roland Martin became the first weekly, cable news show host to look at Washington through an African American lens. Premiering Sunday at 11am, Roland Martin hosts Washington Watch on TV One. But just why is this show so important? Get the facts straight from Roland (and a few others) right here:

To see video testimonials from Roland Martin, Maxine Waters, April Ryan and others, click here.

Submit questions & comments for Washington Watch HERE.

From Newsweek:

For 50 years, the Ebony Fashion Fair has been a glamorous social event in dozens of U.S. communities. The traveling fashion show has raised $55 million in college scholarships for African-American students. But this year the company behind the show, Johnson Publishing which publishes Ebony, pulled the plug on the event, citing lack of corporate sponsorship due to the recession. “This is devastating to us,” Ann Lee, publicity chairwoman for the Charmettes, a civic group that staged the event in Broward County, Fla., told The Miami Herald.

RELATED: Vibe Magazine Folds

It’s been a year of excruciating decisions for publishing companies—layoffs, pullbacks, closures. Now it appears Johnson Publishing’s chairman and CEO, Linda Johnson Rice, has reached what must have been an agonizing decision: Johnson Publishing is seeking a buyer or investor for its flagship publication, Ebony, in an effort aimed at securing the survival of the nation’s oldest magazine devoted to African-American life. It’s unclear whether the company’s other properties, including Jet, would be part of a possible sale.

According to media and investment executives familiar with the developments, Chicago-based Rice, the daughter of Ebony‘s legendary founder, the late John H. Johnson, has approached, among others, Time Inc., Viacom, and private investors that include buyout firms. Time Inc., the world’s largest periodical publisher, already owns Essence, a monthly lifestyle, beauty, and fashion magazine for African-American women. Viacom, meanwhile, owns BET (Black Entertainment Television).

Nothing has yet resulted from any of Johnson Publishing’s overtures, however. And it’s unclear whether negotiations are underway between the publishing company and any of the identified parties or other potential rescuers.

RELATED: Vibe Magazine To Resume Publication

Time Inc. declined to comment, as did Viacom. “Your facts are incorrect with respect to Time Inc. and Viacom,” a spokeswoman for Johnson Publishing said. Johnson Publishing likely made its overtures through the media giants’ properties, NEWSWEEK’s sources indicate. They also declined to elaborate much beyond acknowledging, on condition of not being named, that they were aware of Johnson’s efforts. According to one top magazine executive, Johnson Publishing is requiring potential bidders to sign a confidentiality agreement to access the company’s financial information, a standard practice in the dealmaking world.

Click here to read more.

I know, I know. My job is serious – seriously dangerous. I’m currently blogging from Afghanistan, in the war-torn ruins of ancient cities, trying as I might to find some peace in this, hell on earth. Lucky for me, I’ve come prepared: I’ve got the LAPTOP BURKA!!

…..Just kidding. But really, if I were, I’d definitely put this product on the company tab. After all, it’s only right that I am allowed to blog “in a glare-free, psychologically separate space.” Note the double entendre: “glare,” as in annoying & distracting reflection of light on a computer screen and “glare,” as in the pathological and psychologically troublesome, Freudian ‘glare’ of men towards women which consciously & unconsciously sexualizes females and contributes to all the social ills on this planet. Clever, no?

Anyway, while this “Laptop Burka” might have SOME (however obscure) redeemable usability, naming it the “Laptop Burka” probably means that the geeks responsible for this massive slip-up spend more time in their “portable private space” than out in the real-world.

Perhaps a better name would be the “Loser Cocoon.”

What do you think?

NB: Check out the comments in the link. The makers of said “Laptop Burka” have responded with a justification… groan.

From awe-inspiring gold medalist athlete on top of the world to traumatized young woman on suicide watch. That’s the journey we just sent Caster Semenya on—a whirlwind three weeks of cruelty, speculation, and outright invasions of privacy.

From the moment the questions surrounding Semenya’s sex became public, writers and pundits collectively tripped over themselves in the rush to weigh in. “Is it sexist that Semenya is being questioned?” many asked. “Would this be happening if she looked and acted more ‘girly’? What about racism? Would this be happening if she were white? Are the questioners right? Is she, or isn’t he?”

Semenya’s story was a goldmine for the 24-hour news cycle, hitting on all the hot-button issues folks love to bloviate about: racism, sexism, beauty. But in the rush to fit the story into a suitably familiar and inflammatory narrative guaranteed to maximize ratings and readership, the important questions were pushed aside. The big scandal here isn’t whether or not Semenya is intersex, or even whether or not the sex testing should have been conducted at all. It’s the fact that without her knowledge or consent, before any official confirmation of sex test results was made, before it was decided whether she would keep her medals, someone felt they had the right to tell the world her personal business, and the world felt it had the right to read, watch, and discuss. At this point, the only thing anyone actually needs to know is this: How and why were this sex inquiry and its results made public, and who is going to lose his or her job over it?

Because, while whoever leaked the elements of this story certainly did the media a huge favor by handing us what many view as a fascinating freak show to carry us through the August news doldrums, they also helped to tear Semenya down bit by bit, story by story. They ripped the clothes off of her and shoved her naked into the glare of media scrutiny, where we all proceeded to point, poke, and attempt to penetrate her with our speculations and such sensitive headlines as “Semenya Has Internal Testes.” Meanwhile, she was left to learn what should have been private details of her own body from the media, with the entire world watching.

As always with our 24-hour news cycle, though, the beat goes on: We’re off Semenya this week because we’re busy lamenting the loss of “civility” in American society, as demonstrated by the latest pair of buffoons: Kanye West and Joe Wilson. There’s no doubt that there’s something very, very wrong with the way people treat each other these days, but these latest outbursts are just the tip of the iceberg. Everything about the Caster Semenya story has been deeply indecent and uncivil, from the way she has been treated and lied to by the people in her life to the way the media and its consumers have picked over her.

I understand that this is the way the world works now—people make their way onto the national stage and we opine on and dissect the details of their lives. But even if we accept that we now live in a culture of instant celebrity and media feeding frenzies, Semenya is just a young athlete who was doing what she loves, and doing it well. She didn’t offer herself up for this particular flavor of scrutiny and shouldn’t have been subjected to it; certainly not before any official test results were released or made known to her. Unless both media and consumers become more critical about who we subject to our unrelenting gaze and what aspects of people’s lives we feel entitled to know, Semenya won’t be the last innocent person we humiliate and traumatize. Since this began, she has dropped out of a race, required psychological counseling, and is now reportedly so distraught that loved ones fear for her life. All of this because someone lacked the common decency to respect her privacy, and because we all lacked the decency to stop staring.

From the Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey is opening her talk show’s 24th season with a flourish. One week of programs include a Chicago block party with the Black Eyed Peas, an exclusive Whitney Houston interview, her first Dr. Phil visit in seven years and a trip to New York.

It’s hard to remember when it seemed more important.

RELATED: Whitney Tells Oprah “Bobby Spat On Me”

Winfrey is still the queen of daytime television, but the aura of invincibility is gone. The average viewership for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” slipped under 7 million last season, down 7 percent from the year before, according to Nielsen Media Research. One week during the July rerun season, the show had its lowest ratings since its 1985 debut.

There are many possible explanations for the fade, including some over which Winfrey has no control. Ratings declines are common with so many choices and demands on time, particularly during the day. It’s even rarer for programs that have been on the air as long as Winfrey’s to grow.

Click here to read more.

Here is the audio of Obama calling Kanye West a jackass

From the Huffington Post:

During a CNBC interview on Monday, President Obama called Kanye West a “jackass” regarding his behavior at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Obama’s colorful remark was actually made in an off-the-record portion of the interview that was tweeted — and then deleted — by ABC News reporter Terry Moran.

“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential,” Moran wrote.

Politico’s Michael Calderone has ABC’s statement apologizing for Moran’s journalistic breach.

Click here to read more.

RELATED STORY:

OPINION: Jesus No Longer Walks With Kanye

From the NY Daily News:

Dealing with her older brother’s death hasn’t been easy for Janet Jackson, but she’s finally ready to talk about it.

In the 43-year-old singer’s first interview since Michael’s June 25th passing, Janet opens up in the October issue of Harper’s Bazaar about her pain, the grieving process and how the ordeal made her a stronger woman.

“People can have rhinoceros skin, but there’s a point when something’s going to hurt you,” she tells the magazine. “Not everyone is stone, stone. I haven’t watched the news in weeks. I had to ask my chef, ‘How’s Obama doing?’ I haven’t read a newspaper.”

The last time Janet saw her brother alive was on May 14 at a family event two days before her birthday.

“We had so much fun that day,” she says in the interview. “We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was.”

Janet was in Atlanta, on the set of her upcoming Tyler Perry movie, when she heard the tragic news of her brother’s death.

Click here to read more.

Some people wonder where I get my material for this column. Frankly, it’s not that difficult.

This winner comes to us from Harlem, New York City. NEW YORK CITY!!! And what’s worse? This soda isn’t stocked in some obscure, back-alley corner shop. Oh no. It’s in… TARGET!

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, PEOPLE?!

Am I crazy for thinking THIS is crazy? Speak on it.

From PrintMag.com:

MAYBE THE TOBACKY isn’t so wacky after all. A number of 2009 polls have reflected a major shift in public attitudes about marijuana legalization-on average, more than 40 percent of Americans are now in favor, the highest number on record since the Just Say No 1980s. (A roughly equal number remain opposed.)
In March, the normally conservative Economist magazine declared the war on doobies a “disaster,” calling legalization the “least bad option.” A month later, even Time magazine joined in, arguing, “The hypocrisy inherent in the American conversation about stimulants is staggering.” In New York State, the strict Rockefeller drug laws are up for review, and in California, where medical marijuana is fairly easy to obtain, Governor Schwarzenegger has asked that the state study other countries’ policies and debate economic and judicial reform.

This new attention has converged from several angles: The capsized economy has provided a compelling financial argument for elected officials looking to find new taxable products, for one, and a judicial argument has arisen in light of violent Mexican gangs who profit from the U.S. market. And pot legalization-like gay marriage-has gained wider support now that there is evidence from other states and countries that have legalized and found that the world hasn’t, in fact, ended in a blaze of reefer madness. The statistics website FiveThirtyEight estimates that if public support continues to grow at its current pace, legalization could happen within 15 years.
With this in mind, Print contacted four firms: Lust, a graphic design practice in Amsterdam established by Thomas Castro, Jeroen Barendse, and Dimitri Nieuwenhuizen; the New York office of Base, which worked with its branches in Europe; the Oslo firm Strømme Throndsen, winner of the 2009 Award for Design Excellence for its flour packaging; and The Heads of State, a two-man operation run by Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers in Philadelphia.

The brief was simple: What would a legal pack of marijuana cigarettes look like?

To view gallery, click here.

RELATED:

OPINION: A Sober Man’s Defense Of Marijuana

Group Launches Pro-Marijuana TV Ad In California

]]> http://newsone.com/292987/humor-building-a-better-baggie/feed/ 1 HUMOR: Building A Better Baggie (thumbnail) ionesfontaine 6a00d83451c45669e20120a58cd577970c-500wi1 http://newsone.com/292567/essence-beats-circulation-declines/ http://newsone.com/292567/essence-beats-circulation-declines/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:55:05 +0000 Smokey D. Fontaine http://newsone.com/?p=292567 ]]>

From Mije.com:

Essence was one of the few magazines to record an increase in circulation for the first six months of the year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The monthly targeting African American women recorded increases in both subscriptions and single-copy sales at a time when the recession caused newsstand sales to plummet elsewhere.

Overall, Essence circulation rose by 4 percent, according to figures it supplied to the bureau.

Another winner was People en Español, which saw an increase in subscriptions, though it sustained a drop in newsstand sales.

Dana Baxter, a spokeswoman for Essence, which is owned by Time Inc., told Journal-isms, “The January issue (commemorating the Obama inaugural) was a top seller — which definitely contributed to the 1st half gains.”

To read more, click here.

From CNN:

BERLIN, Germany — A hoax video purporting to show Michael Jackson hopping out of a coroner’s van alive was produced by a German television station as an experiment, the broadcaster told CNN Monday.

It was made to show how easy it is to spread rumors online, said Heike Schultz, a spokeswoman for RTL, the leading private broadcaster in Germany.

“We sent out a press release before we did the video to alert everyone that it was fake, but once posted it spread really fast,” she said.

More than 880,000 people have clicked on the most popular version of the video on YouTube, posted by a user using the name “michaeljacksonhoax” under the title “Michael Jackson alive?! Seen coming out of coroner’s van!” Nearly 3,600 people have commented on the video.

“All the moves, his posture, the stepping out of the van, looks like MJ. He steps out very cautious, like a moonwalk. Also the slowly walking is just like Michael did,” one user wrote.

“I really hope he’s still alive….I could never forgive him for scaring me like that, but I could never hate him… :),” another said.

Click here to read more.

Watch the video:

]]> http://newsone.com/292427/german-tv-station-creates-mj-is-alive-hoax-video/feed/ 1 German TV Station Creates "MJ Is Alive" Hoax Video (thumbnail) ionesfontaine michael-jackson-neverland http://newsone.com/286207/opinion-7-groups-of-people-the-media-pretends-dont-exist/ http://newsone.com/286207/opinion-7-groups-of-people-the-media-pretends-dont-exist/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:31:03 +0000 NewsOne Staff http://newsone.com/?p=286207 ]]>

Writing about Black people is hard. There are more than 40 million of us in the United States alone, each running around with different ideals, interests, occupations, and income levels. With all of that going on, things are bound to get complicated. So how can the American news media—not renowned for its ability to cover nuance and complexity—engage with all of that?

Well, the short answer is that they can’t. Or perhaps won’t. Instead, the vast majority of coverage of Black people sticks to easily digestible narrative themes: Overcoming adversity, committing violent crime, engaging in secret elitism, complaining of real or imagined victimization by The Man, allowing the family unit to disintegrate, and so on—these are the types of Black people stories we’ve come to know and love.

And when some subset of people doesn’t fit into one of these pre-set narratives? Well, they get the Loch Ness monster treatment: Some kooky blog or other disreputable source might rant and rave about their existence and importance, but you won’t find CNN or the New York Times taking much notice. But we true believers, we know they’re out there. And so I present without further ado, 7 Groups Of People The Media Pretends Don’t Exist:

The Black Middle Class
Before anyone pipes up with a reference to The Cosby Show, try to remember that it ended more than 15 years ago. And the Obamas don’t count either—there’s nothing “middle class” about being the President of the United States. So what we’re ultimately left with is a case study in the coverage of extremes. CNN’s Black in America 2 offered a prime example of this in its choices of subjects: They showed the obligatory uplifting story of poor inner-city children being inspired to achieve their dreams, and later shifted gears to offer a peek into the world of the Black elite—mansions and debutante balls for all. Black families that fall squarely in between these two ends of the spectrum remain invisible.

Gay Black People
Did you hear? Bible-thumping, Obama-loving, and gay-hating blacks put the nail in the coffin of gay marriage in California. Yes sirree, according to coverage of Proposition 8 in several mainstream media outlets, all these black folks are very socially conservative and don’t hold with that same-sex relationship nonsense. Oh, unless they’re closeted gangsters on the down low or something, creeping behind the backs of their wives. Other than that, nope—no healthy, happy, non-dysfunctional gay or lesbian relationships among African-Americans. Move it along folks, nothing to see here.

Missing Persons Who Aren’t White And Female
Because only little white girls disappear, apparently. If you’re male, or a person of color—or to be honest, even just a brunette—and you have the misfortune of being kidnapped or otherwise going missing, good luck ever being seen or heard from again.

Non-Christian Black People
To hear the mainstream media tell it, black people are all just a-wavin’ our fans and catchin’ the Holy Ghost in the pews, like extras in a Tyler Perry movie. That’s why any politician who wants the black vote must give adequate attention to The Black Church by showing up at a Christian service or two. There are, of course, Black adherents to other faiths, not to mention (horrors!) Black atheists and agnostics. In fact, a CBS survey found that at least one-third of American Muslims are Black! But as usual, the compulsion to paint Black people as a monolith, combined with a dash of historical nostalgia—(The Civil Rights movement was centered in churches! Their strong faith in Jesus carried them through slavery!)—keeps coverage of Black people and religion safely insulated from such nuance.

Educated, Married Black Women
If the constant hysterical repetition of the scary statistics is to be believed, you’re about as likely to run into a happily married, educated Black woman with children as you are to be handed a pot of tax-free gold by a leprechaun riding on the back of a unicorn. The most recent incarnation of the “Black women with degrees are condemned to spinsterhood” article appeared on MSNBC earlier this month. It helpfully explained that “many” Black women with advanced degrees remain unmarried—no specific number, just the ominous “many.” The piece then went on to tell that 38 percent of highly educated Black women born between 1961 and 1970 are childless. The other way to say that statistic, of course, is that 62 percent of those highly educated Black women do have children. But I’m guessing a headline like “A Solid Majority Of Highly Educated Black Women Will Marry and Have Children” just wouldn’t get as many clicks, or be as fun to recycle and reprint several times a year.

Africans Who Are Not Poor, Starving, and Living in Small Villages
Did you know that nearly 40 percent of people on the African continent live in urban areas? That means cities, like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. No? Of course you didn’t. How could you, when most American news coverage of African countries looks like a bunch of extended “Save the Children” commercials?

Black Police Officers
No surprise here—the existence of black police officers is simply inconvenient, from a narrative standpoint. How else but by ignoring the existence of minority law enforcement officials could media outlets continue to crank out new spins on the old classic “Black Folks Have Historically Fraught Relationship With The (Racist) Cops” story? Don’t believe me? Take a look at this photo, from the recent racial dust-up surrounding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is, in fact, a black man wearing a police uniform in the bottom right corner of the photo. But the mainstream media pulled a Beyonce and directed everyone’s attention to the left, to the left, so that they could continue with their regularly scheduled programming.

Maybe someday the mainstream media will catch on and start covering these groups in a meaningful way. But until then, keep an eye out for these characters lurking in the background of the usual stories, hoping to be heard. Because seemingly imaginary people are people too.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Wall Street Journal editor may pursue a racial discrimination case against her one-time employer, after alleging that she was fired because she is black, a federal judge has ruled.

Judge Deborah Batts of the federal district court in Manhattan said a juror could conclude that the race of Carolyn Phillips, the paper’s first black assistant managing editor, was “at least one motivating factor” in decisions leading to her November 2002 dismissal after two decades at the paper.

“Plaintiff has produced sufficient circumstantial evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether intentional discrimination influenced the adverse employment decisions at issue,” possibly violating federal and state law, Batts said in her 45-page order dated Monday.

Batts’ ruling sets the stage for a possible trial. The judge rejected Phillips’ separate claim alleging discrimination on the basis of disability. Phillips originally sought compensatory damages and $5 million of punitive damages.

Read The Whole Story

ABC says comedian Steve Harvey is joining “Good Morning America” for reports on family and relationship topics.

Harvey’s first segment is scheduled for Wednesday’s broadcast.

The 52-year-old Harvey is author of the best-selling book “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man,” and he previously starred in his self-titled sitcom for seven seasons on the WB network.

His syndicated radio show is heard in 60 markets around the nation.

Damon Weaver has a new homeboy — President Barack Obama.

The South Florida boy finally landed his coveted interview with Obama, who fielded questions about his basketball skills, education funding, and whether students could have mangos for lunch everyday.

Weaver became an Internet sensation during the 2008 presidential campaign and has long sought an interview with Obama. He even went to Washington for Obama’s inauguration in January, but was unable to get through security lines for the ceremony.

In the interview, which was filmed at the White House and posted on YouTube.com on Thursday night, the 11-year-old asks Obama about bullying, how parents can improve their children’s education, and if the president could make school lunches better.

“I remember when I used to get school lunches, sometimes they didn’t taste so good, I’ve got to admit,” Obama said. “We are actually seeing if we can work to at least make school lunches healthier. Because a lot of school lunches, there’s a lot of french fries, pizzas, tater tots. All kinds of stuff that isn’t a well-balanced meal.”

Weaver then pitched his own plan.

“I suggest that we have french fries and mangos everyday for lunch,” he said.

Weaver, who already has a full scholarship to Albany State University in Georgia, created a buzz last year when he interviewed now-Vice President Joe Biden. Closing the bit, Weaver quipped: “Senator Biden is now my homeboy.”

At the end of his latest interview, Weaver asked Obama if he would also like to be his homeboy.

“Absolutely,” Obama said.

Weaver told Obama he noticed that he gets “bullied a lot,” and asked how the president handled negative comments.

“I think that when you’re president, you’re responsible for a lot of things,” Obama said. “A lot of people are having a tough time and they’re hurting out there. And the main thing I just try to do is stay focused on trying to do a good job, and try to be understanding that sometimes people are going to be mad about things.”

Weaver, son of a single mom, lives in the town of Pahokee, which is about 77 miles northwest of Miami and plagued with crime and poverty. He attends Kathryn E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary and is the lead broadcaster for their in-house KEC TV station.

“Unfortunately, a lot of times if you’ve got a community that is lower income, they don’t have as much money in their schools,” Obama told Weaver. “A lot of that is state funding. And I want to see states be more fair in terms of how they give money to various schools around their communities. But, I do think that it’s important to make sure that we can find help from the federal government from here in Washington, D.C., for those schools that need the most help.”

Weaver, who has also interviewed Dwyane Wade, told Obama the star Miami Heat guard had promised to play a one-on-one game with the commander in chief if Obama sat for his questions.

“Would you be willing to play him on a one-on-one basketball game?” Weaver asked.

“I would play Dwyane Wade … I’ve got to admit, though, Dwyane Wade’s a little bit better at basketball than I am,” Obama said.

Obama also told Weaver he used to be able to dunk, but no longer can.

“Well, I got an interview with President Obama,” Weaver said at the end of the online video. “He’s very tall and nice.”

From CNN.com:

An African-American man has pleaded guilty after being accused of impersonating a white supremacist in a fictitious Facebook account to make death threats against an African-American university student.

Dyron L. Hart, 20, of Poplarville, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt to one count of communicating threats in interstate commerce, according to a Department of Justice statement.

Hart admitted creating the fictitious account in November, pretending to be a white supremacist outraged by the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first African-American president, the statement said.

He then transmitted a death threat via Facebook to an African-American student at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, saying he wanted to kill African-Americans because of Obama’s election, according to the statement.

A court document provided by the U.S. attorney’s office said Hart told an FBI interviewer that he intended the threat to be a prank “to get a reaction.”

Click here for full report.

InteractiveOne, LLC, The Digital Connection for Black America and the digital division of Radio One, Inc. the largest African American multimedia company, today announced the launch of BlackPlanet Rising (www.blackplanetrising.com), the first comprehensive platform to provide tools, information and connections for African Americans to give back their time and resources to the community.  Interactive One will seek to activate African Americans through a broad cross-platform outreach program leveraging the Radio One stations, and its own robust online platform which reaches more than nine million monthly unique visitors and includes the original social networking site, BlackPlanet.com.

“This is the first platform that allows African Americans to connect around services for and by the community,” says Maria Weaver Watson, who as head of marketing oversees the community outreach program for Interactive One. “It also allows organizations, communities and individuals to tap into the largest African American audience across our various platforms to seek volunteers, board members, employees, and donations.”

In order to provide users with a vast number of volunteer opportunities that reflect their geographic location, skills, and areas of interest, BlackPlanet Rising has partnered with VolunteerMatch one of the Web’s most popular volunteer network (www.volunteermatch.org) with more than 68,000 nonprofit organizations to help Americans easily find where and how they can give back.  This will enable users to go onto the site, enter their zip code, skills and interests, including education, public service, etc., and secure a list of active local volunteering opportunities.

“Times are tough in our communities, but it’s clear that more Americans than ever want to help solve local problems. We’ve already seen an increase of more than 12% in community service activity this year alone,” said Robert Rosenthal, Director of Communications of VolunteerMatch.

“Our hope is that we are giving a community that is inspired to contribute the tools and information to make an impact on the causes that are most important to them,” said Tom Newman, President of Interactive One. “Community service is at the heart of Radio One’s mission and history and we felt that in these challenging economic times we needed to be front and center as leaders.  I am very excited to see how BlackPlanet Rising will mobilize the community further by introducing and encouraging acts of service and social change online.  There is really nothing out there like this.”

Additionally, BlackPlanet Rising will put a strong emphasis in the area of education by partnering with DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit website that connects users to public schools in need. This provides BlackPlanet Rising’s community with the chance to help build the next generation of future leaders, and provide funds to support critical resources, including books, computers, supplies, field trips, and much more. The user chooses an educational project written by a public school teacher to support and DonorsChoose.org delivers materials directly to the school.  In return, the user receives photos and thank you notes from the teacher and students whose lives were impacted.

“We are grateful that BlackPlanet Rising has chosen to highlight the importance of education and offer their users the opportunity to give back to their local schools and students,” said Yaritza Olmeda, East Region Associate Director, of DonorsChoose.org.

Other highlights of the site will include the Riser of the Month, which will profile individuals who have done exceptional work and made a difference in their community; a News section to provide briefs on community service; and an Upcoming Events section to highlight large scale and regional events that encourage users to get involved.  BlackPlanet.com will host the BlackPlanet Rising group for members to share stories, insights and personal recommendations for community involvement.