Co-opting Consumers of Color

CO-OPTING CONSUMERS OF COLOR
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Makani Themba-Nixon]
[Commentrary] Big corporations reaching consumers of color is something they say we should celebrate. However, this market penetration has gone hand in hand with decreasing media ownership by people of color, resulting in loss of industry voice and jobs. Flagship properties that were once trumpeted as success stories in black ownership--BET and Essence magazine--have become little more than shadows of their parent companies. Television-staffing diversity has also been taking a real blow, especially since the merger of UPN with WB. According to a forthcoming study commissioned by the Writers Guild of America west, before the merger UPN had the single highest concentration of writers of color--63 percent of television writers of color in 2005-06 were employed by UPN. This was part of a conscious marketing strategy aimed at cornering the young black market to carve out a bankable niche. Some of the most controversial black programming on the air, including a short-lived, much-protested sitcom on slavery, was on CBS-owned UPN. But UPN is merging with WB to create a new network called CW. CW's fall scheduling plans show a safe mix of both networks' main stalwarts, which bodes deep cuts in UPN's black programming.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/thembanixon