Fwd: "Hip Hop Culture, Media, and Public Policy" A Conversation with Lisa Fager of Industry Ears
Maryland Media Collective
From: Tyrone Stewart <tste...@mail.academy.umd.edu>
Date: Nov 14, 2007 12:12 PM
Subject: "Hip Hop Culture, Media, and Public Policy" A Conversation
with Lisa Fager of Industry Ears
To: avan...@umd.edu, md.mediac...@gmail.com, ad4...@yahoo.com,
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University Community,
Lisa Fager, the Co-founder and President of Industry Ears will be
giving a talk on November 19th at 4pm in the Nyumburu Cultural Center,
Multipurpose Room. The event is open to the university community.
Lisa Fager, an alumni of the University of Maryland, has worked in the
media industry as a marketing and public relations constultant for
over a decade. Concerned with the impact of media on children and
people-of-color, she has testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce
Committee in regards to FCC standards and independently consults a
wide range of clients, from the Congressional Black Caucus to Def Jam
Records, on community health and civic issues...
"Lisa Fager has always come hard and correct with no compromise when
it comes to speaking on these issues. Her testimony at yesterday's
hearings on Hip Hop was searing especially when she explained to the
committee exactly why David Banner was 'pressured' to do the song
'Play' by his record label. This essay which she handed in for the
official Congressional Record is even more compelling. It should be
required reading as she breaks down alot of stuff... --Davey D
A flyer is attached. Please Disseminate Freely!
This event is Co-sponsored by the Academy of Leadership
(www.academy.umd.edu) the Nyumburu Cultural Center
(www.nyumburu.umd.edu/)
Questions? e-mail Tyrone Stewart at tste...@umd.edu
"From Imus to Industry:
The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images."
Testimony written by Lisa Fager of Industry Ears
for Congressional Hearings on Hip Hop
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today on the Business of Stereotypes and
Degrading Images. My name is Lisa Fager Bediako, and I am the
President and co-founder of Industry Ears.
Industry Ears is a nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent organization
which has focused on the impact media has on communities of color and
children since 2003. My co-founder, Paul Porter and I have,
collectively, more than 40 years of experience working for media and
entertainment companies including Black Entertainment Television,
Clear Channel Communications, Emmis C! ! ommun ications, Discovery
Communications, CBS radio, Capital-EMI records, Def Jam Records, AOL,
NBA Entertainment, Radio One, Discovery.com, and Inner City
Broadcasting.
Using our insiders' knowledge, we created Industry Ears and
industryears.com to address the myths and misconceptions about how
media and the entertainment industry operate; and, more importantly,
to develop effective means to combat the negative consequences of
harmful media messages and images on children, particularly children
of color.
My testimony today will focus on the following: 1) the fallout
following the Imus incident, including the identity of the real
culprits, and their roles in perpetuating stereotypes; 2) the
disproportionate impact of negative media on the African American
community; 3) the beneficiaries of negative and stereotypical media
messages; and finally, some Industry Ears recommendations to address
these problems.
The now-infamous "Imus Incident" is intriguing in that it has created
strange bedfellows: it has unified both conservative and liberal media
in invoking Hip Hop music as the veritable poster child of all that is
wrong with society. That is, a popular argument made in the throes of
Imus' oft-repeated "nappy-headed hoes " comment is that such language
pales in comparison to the content of most commercialized Hip Hop
music. The idea is that if radio stations and Viacom music channels
can play the "bitch, ho, nigga" content of gangsta rappers, then what
is so bad about Imus' comment? If the Black community apparently
accepts such language from its own, then why get upset when Don Imus
says it?
It is easy for me to understand why Black folk would be in an uproar
over a White man referring to young Black women as "nappy headed hoes"
on a nationally syndicated radio show, as a Black woman, that part
should be intuitive. However, what appears to be more difficult to
understand - especially to our friends in the news media - is that
ther! ! e exi sts a large cadre of individuals and organizations that
represent communities of color that also are in an uproar when media
permits content that is degrading to women and people of color to be
broadcast. Note that, unlike the conservative and liberal media hypes,
our concern is not simplistically directed at the artists who produce
such material; our concern is also directed towards the record labels,
radio stations, and music video channels (i.e., the corporations) that
are profiting from allowing such material to air.
This is the fact that often gets overlooked in the mainstream media.
Not all Black people and not all lovers of Hip Hop endorse the
materialism, violence, and misogyny that characterize commercial rap
music. Organizations and campaigns such as Industry Ears, Enough is
Enough, Social Action Coalition, Youth Media Council, Third World
Majority, Woman's Coalition for Decency and Dignity, REACHip Hop, Fre!
! e Mix Radio and many individuals have been challenging such content
for years, but their visibility has been blocked by the mainstream
media.
For example, during the week in which Imus was suspended and
subsequently fired by CBS, I was called by three national news outlets
to speak about the hip hop music issue. However, each outlet only
wanted me to defend the commercialized Hip Hop industry; no one was
interested in the fact that I also agreed that "bad" content applies
across the board and should also be dealt with. The message is clear:
If you do not fit the "role" media has created for ratings you lose
your opportunity to be heard.
It is time to wake up and see the real issue - that media
conglomerates are the gatekeepers of content and in essence control
what opinions receive airtime. The deletion of the Fairness Doctrine
and passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act helped to create
incredibly powerful, big media corporations by eliminating ! ! the r
equirement that balanced viewpoints be presented, and by relaxing
rules placing limits on how much media a single corporation could own.
Further, by repealing the tax certificate program, which successfully
- if temporarily - increased ownership of media outlets by people of
color, we have ensured that these big media corporations do not
represent the diversity of society. Then, with control of so much
media concentrated in the hands of the very few, we are at the mercy
of big media and rely on companies to serve in the best interest of
the public while also serving their bottom line.
As might seem obvious, what best serves the public, and what best
serves the bottom line are not always the same. This is evidenced by
the fact that CBS fired Imus only when corporate sponsors started to
pull out; Imus has made offensive and derogatory statements before.
Commercialized Hip Hop has flourished in this environment, giving
public perception that what you see and hear on ra dio and TV has been
set as community standard. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
states that it is a federal violation to broadcast indecent or
sexually explicit content between the hours of 6am and 10pm. However,
songs that discuss explicit sexual situations including oral sex,
rape, casual sex and gang sex receive daily spins on radio stations
and video music channels that cater to the 12-17 year old demographic.
Freedom of speech has been spun by industry conglomerates to mean the
b-word, n-word and ho while censoring and eliminating Hip Hop music
that discusses Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, Jena 6, dangers of gun
violence and drugs and songs that contains words like "George Bush"
and "Free Mumia."
In 2005, MTV and radio stations around the country self-regulated
themselves to remove the words "white man" from the Kanye West hit
single All Fall Down. The lyrics demonstrated the far reach of
capitalism by exclaiming /Drug dealers buy Jordans, crackheads buy
crack/ And a white man get paid off of all of that/. When asked why
they decided to dub "white man" from the lyrics the response from MTV
was "we didn't want to offend anyone."
Today, Hip Hop is bombarded by the demeaning images of the black male
thug and the sleazy video vixen. Record labels and their executives
choose to support and promote these images for airplay solely as if
these are the only images that represent black people. I understand
that payola is out of the scope of this subcommittee, however I think
it is important to mention, because it is a major contributor to how
music receives radio and video airplay.
Former Attorney General Elliott Spitzer, now Governor of New York made
deals with four major record labels - Sony BMG, Warner, Universal and
EMI totaling $30.1 million as well as with two broadcasters, CBS and
Entercom, for another $6.25 million in his state-wide payola
investigatio! ! n tha t also implicated many outside of New York.
Meanwhile, the FCC settled with a consent decree that stopped the
federal investigation of payola and allowed broadcasters to avoid a
finding of liability for this violation by entering into a settlement
agreement costing them a measly $12.5 million in combined fees.
All over the country you have identical playlists from station to
station no matter what the radio format and it's no coincidence.
Payola is no longer the local DJ receiving a couple dollars for
airplay; it is now an organized corporate crime that supports the lack
of balanced content and demeaning imagery with no consequences.
Broadcaster claims that this is what listeners want to hear is not
honest. Radio stations only research the songs that are currently
being played on the radio (i.e. songs that are paid for). New artists
with new songs do not get tested. This explains the identical
playlists and the exclusion of local and regional artist airplay on
ra! ! dio s tations.
Stereotypes and degrading images in both radio and television
disproportionately impact the African American community. There are a
wealth of shows on networks like Viacom that capitalize and profit
from demeaning women and black people, including the following
examples:
" Flavor of Love , which stars former Public Enemy artist Flavor Flav,
as a modern buffoon, focused solely on the objectification of women
" Where My Dogs At is an animated program which includes an episode
where a rapper leads black women on leashes, like dogs, down a red
carpet, where one of the women defecates on the floor.
" Yo Momma pits teens against each other to yell disrespecting and
sometimes racist insults, and
" We Can Do Better aka a Hot Ghetto Mess demeans and makes fun of
every day people all in the name of entertainment. The cumulative
effect suggests to the targeted audience that this is the way things
are and how ! ! they should act.
A good example of records, radio and corporate partnerships includes a
song on Virgin Records label called, "Ms. New Booty." This song,
performed by a white rapper was silly and tasteless, but the promotion
by the record label and partnership with Girls Gone Wild was truly
offensive. A local Washington DC DJ at 5pm promoted the tune by
suggesting he likes to visit the MsNewBooty.com website to masturbate.
The website created by Virgin Records asked girls to enter a contest
for the "best new booty." Girls were required to take photos of their
butts and post them online. Each week people would vote for the best
"booty" of the week with the winner receiving a chance to be in a
music video.
It was obvious that girls under 17 were entering the contest (some
even listed their myspace accounts making it easy for child
predators). The Girls Gone! ! Wild partner was listed at the top of
the website and linked making it easy for pre-teens and others to
access. I wrote an open letter to Virgin records and Jermaine Dupri,
President of urban music responded by saying, "it was all in fun and
it wasn't about sex." Later that same month Jermaine Dupri appeared in
an article in Billboard magazine and stated "Southern Hip Hop is
inspired by strip clubs."
It is important to note, that African American children listen and
watch more radio and television than any other demographic. Although
Top 40 and Hip Hop radio stations claim to target the 18-34
demographic their largest audience share are the 12-17 year old
segment. Recording companies, radio stations and Viacom networks are
aware of their audience but have chosen to put the bottom line above
the welfare of their audiences.
In the documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a group of white
teens are asked what they think about Hip Hop. They explained! ! , "Hi
p Hop gives a better insight into black culture and what its like to
grow up in the ghetto," as if all black people had the same
experience.
Bakari Kitwana, professor and author of several books dealing with Hip
Hop and politics said when he was researching information for his next
book he asked white women from all of the country what they felt about
rappers who used the b-word to describe women? The overwhelming
majority responded by saying, "they were not offended because the
rappers weren't describing them, they were only talking about black
women."
These perpetuated stereotypes and demeaning images are reflective in
the behavior and attitudes of children and specifically children of
color. We see an increase in risky sexual behavior - black girls 15-24
years old represent the fastest growing segment of HIV patients,
devaluing of education and rise in the dropout rate - reports show as
high as 75% dropout rate among black 9th grade boys, unhealthy int! !
erper sonal relationships, increase in aggression, a normalization of
criminal activity and materialism.
In sum, because I'm sure the industry will shrug at the notion that
their actions have led to or influenced any of this behavior; I
strongly suggest that a research study look at the direct impact of
degrading and stereotypical images on children and adults. This study
will help us understand the direct implications and back up the policy
and regulations that need to be implemented and enforced.
Thank you, I will be happy to answer your questions.
..................................................
Tyrone Stewart
Program Coordinator
Rawlings Undergraduate Leadership Fellows Program
--
Maryland Media Collective
College Park, MD
www.umcp.org
www.ThatFreshRadioPiece.com
md.mediac...@gmail.com