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I See Black People

The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio

Kristal Brent Zook
December 2007     ISBN: 156025999X

People of color, a group that makes up 33 percent of the national population, own just 3.6 percent of the 1400 commercial broadcast television stations in America. And worse, that number is dwindling. In I See Black People, Kristal Brent Zook examines the place of African Americans within the television and radio industry, focusing on the precipitous decline of African American-owned stations. Profiling ten key figures, Zook’s interviews reveal this ceaseless struggle from the mouths of those who have lived it. Along the way she tells the story of Catherine Liggins Hughes who faced overwhelming challenges establishing Radio One but became the first black woman to own a publicly traded company, and of Booker Wade who currently operates one of the last two African American-controlled public television stations in the country.

Zook contrasts the successes of these few with the failures of so many other black television enterprises. By offering insights into the breakdowns of public policy that have impeded black access to ownership over the past 30 years, Zook explores the current state of the media and questions what direction it will take in the future.

Zook got one of the last interviews with Chauncey Bailey, - published in her book - the crusading reporter who was killed on the job and was posthumously awarded the 2007 George Polk Award for Local Reporting.

What readers are saying

A powerful comment on how black media has gone from the reflective voice of the under-mass to the dictated programming that we hear and see today. Rarely does the complex business runnings, history and politic of multimedia get diagnosed in simple easy to understand terms for the public. Kristal Brent Zook's I See Black People does exactly that while shedding light on the heroes, heroines, allies and adversaries fighting, in essence, invisible wars for our collective attention.

-Chuck D, Public Enemy

About the Authors

Kristal Brent Zook, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University in New York and an award-winning contributing writer with Essence magazine. She is the author of Color By FOX: The FOX Network and the Revolution in Black Television.
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