NEW YORK, April 12 -- BET is canceling its "Nightly News," saying it instead will offer news briefs throughout the day, specials about newsworthy events and an urban affairs show, "The Cousin Jeff Chronicles," that will run four times a year.
Robert Johnson, founder of the leading cable channel for black viewers, said the change does not represent a reduction of BET's news commitment. He said it would improve how BET offers news.
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"With 24-hour news networks and everyone getting news off the Internet, our audience doesn't want to wait until 11 p.m. to find out what the news is," said Debra Lee, BET president and chief operating officer.
As its executives explained in a sales presentation to advertisers here on Tuesday, BET targets black viewers ages 18 to 34, with music programming as its primary offering. Lee said the network had not decided what would replace "BET Nightly News" when it ends this summer.
In recent years, BET has canceled other public affairs programming such as "Lead Story" (now replicated by host Ed Gordon on National Public Radio) and "Teen Summit," noted Richard Prince, who writes the online column "Journal-isms" for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
BET also fired "BET Tonight" host Tavis Smiley in 2001 after a dispute about Smiley offering a newsworthy interview to ABC instead of BET.
Lee said that "hopefully people will work with us and we'll find a way of doing the news in a way that works."
