By Shecodes, WAOD Contributor
Let the Battle of the Billionaires begin!
Most of us who have been talking about media ownership and the portrayal of Black women need to be seriously high-fiving today. The Black Media Queen has made her move!
“In an unprecedented deal, Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans today to create OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new multi-platform media venture will be designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN will debut in 2009 in more than 70 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel. The venture will also include the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com.”
I don’t watch her show, but Oprah is DEFINITELY my kind of woman. Homegirl thinks BIG… and is a master strategist. She flicks away the beef industry, and steamrolls over a bevy of critics and TAKES what she wants. I ain’t mad at the sister!
“OWN's mission is to create multiple platforms for women, men and their families with a purpose and a passion: to celebrate life, to inspire and entertain, empowering viewers around the world to live their best lives, and by doing so, lift the lives of those around them in ever-widening circles.”
“In addition to providing her talent, and personal commitment, Winfrey will have full editorial control over the joint venture and will be responsible for OWN's programming, branding and creative vision.” SOURCE
While this channel is going to be for people of all races, I have a serious feeling that there will be a strong showing of positive black women appearing on this network.
Haters beware! You done made Celie mad and now she’s coming after your market share. And to all of those whining, sniveling hip hop artists who were cracking her because she wouldn’t allow them to peddle their minstrelsy on her talk show, Oprah says:
TALK TO THE HAND, BABY!!BWWAHAHAHA.... Somehow I don’t think that Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” is going to be in heavy rotation! Gyrating video vixens looking for the next degrading job? Ummmm, don’t think so.
And I don’t think that Bob “Beelzebub” Johnson will be sending her congratulatory flowers either!! (evil laugh).
I’m not gonna lie. This new move, among a couple of other things, have made me think much more seriously about voting for Barack Obama. One of my primary concerns is the collective image and reputation of Black women, so I am very interested in what alliances are being made in this election. While I have already decided that I will not publicly endorse any candidate, I will simply present the facts as a I know them best.
So here are the facts for those of you who are concerned about stereotypes on television:
DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS….
