http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/arts/05enou.html?ei=5065&en=82a2e22...

November 5, 2007
Protesting Demeaning Images in Media
By FELICIA R. LEE
Wearing white T-shirts with red stop signs and chanting "BET does not
reflect me, MTV does not reflect me," protesters have been gathering
every Saturday outside the homes of Viacom executives in Washington
and New York City. The orderly, mostly black crowds are protesting
music videos that they say degrade women, and black and Latino men.

Among other things the protesters want media companies like Viacom to
develop "universal creative standards" for video and music, including
prohibitions on some language and images. Video vixens and foul-
mouthed pimps and thugs are now so widespread, the protesters
maintain, that they infect perceptions of ordinary nonwhite people.

"A lot of rap isn't rap anymore, it's just people selling their
souls," Marc Newman, a 28-year-old car salesman from New Rochelle,
N.Y., said on Saturday. He was among about 20 men, women and children
from area Baptist churches marching outside the Upper East Side
residence of Philippe Dauman, the president and chief executive of
Viacom Inc.

The protests, by a group called Enough Is Enough, began in mid-
September outside the Northwest Washington home of Debra L. Lee,
chairman and chief executive of BET, a unit of Viacom. (Viacom also
owns MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.) On Oct. 20 protests
also began outside Mr. Dauman's home. The rallies in Washington have
sometimes attracted hundreds of people, many belonging to the church
of the Enough organizer, the Rev. Delman L. Coates, as well E. Faye
Williams, as the chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women
and members of other civil rights and advocacy groups. The three
rallies in New York have been much smaller.

"In the wake of the Imus affair, I began to think that the African-
American community must be consistent in its outrage," Mr. Coates said
in an interview, referring to Don Imus, the radio personality fired by
CBS in April for racist and sexist comments. (Mr. Imus was recently
hired by Citadel Broadcasting for a job that starts in December.)

"Why are these corporations making these images normative and
mainstream?" asked Mr. Coates, 34, a pastor of the Mount Ennon Baptist
Church in Clinton, Md. "I can talk about this in the church until I am
blue in the face, but we need to take it outside."

The rallies are taking place as civil rights leaders, cultural critics
and others use the moment to debate how to represent the diversity of
black life while minimizing offensive words and images. A big issue is
the distinction between standards and censorship. Some charge that
what Enough Is Enough does is censorship.

BET sponsored a town-hall-like forum on the cultural impact of rap,
which turned into a three-part television program in September called
"Hip-Hop vs. America." It began the same day as the Congressional
hearing "From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and
Degrading Images," called by Representative Bobby L. Rush, Democrat of
Illinois. It included performers, scholars and activists, as well as
Mr. Dauman and media executives.

The N.A.A.C.P. and the National Congress of Black Women are among the
groups campaigning for more corporate responsibility for the music and
images in videos and on television. Ms. Lee of BET also met recently
with women from Spelman College in Atlanta, and with groups of
ministers to hear their concerns.

"The campaign is not anti-BET campaign nor an anti hip-hop campaign,"
Mr. Coates said, but a broader attack on damaging stereotypes. Viacom
has been the first target because of its visibility, he said, and
because BET is the premier channel for black content.

Viacom's standards for language and images already prohibit some of
the most common racial and gender slurs, gang symbols, gratuitous
violence and drug use in music videos, said a spokeswoman, Kelly
McAndrew. A statement from Viacom said in part the company was
"concerned about negative portrayals of African-Americans in the
media" and takes a "positive pro-active approach" with programming
that respects freedom of expression and serves an audience with
diverse interests. On its Web site (enoughisenoughcampaign.com) Enough
Is Enough says it wants companies to develop standards that include
prohibitions on: racial and sexual slurs; the promotion of illegal
activity like drug use; as well as content that "objectifies,
degrades, or promotes violence against women" or shows black and
Latino men as pimps or gangsters.

Critics of Enough Is Enough see its efforts as plain old censorship of
a musical genre that has long been scapegoated. In recent years many
groups, like the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, started by the music
executive Russell Simmons, have worked with rap artists on issues of
language and social responsibility.

"Standards is a coded way of exerting control on free expression,"
said Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the School of
Cinematic Arts at University of Southern California. "People are less
interested in broad representation than in hand-picking the images
they approve of."

Julian Bond, the chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., said in an interview that
he applauded Mr. Coates and defended him against critics like
Courtland Milloy, a Washington Post columnist who called Enough Is
Enough's methods "Taliban-ing."

"I believe everything is permissible in speech and imagery," Mr. Bond
said. "It doesn't mean that I can't object to it." In a still-
segregated society, he said, people often get their ideas about other
groups from what they read, see and hear.

Ms. Lee said she understood how fraught the question of black
representation could be.

"We have different segments of our community," she said. "People want
to see different things." The 27-year-old BET, which reaches about 85
million households, has long been criticized for showing raunchy music
videos and a narrow view of black life. This year it began to widen
its scope with new shows intended to offer a broader look at black
life, including contests for gospel singers and a reality show about
affluent teenagers.

Ms. Lee met recently with Mr. Coates and said she remained baffled by
what it would take for him to end the rallies. "What I took away from
it, he wants to program the network," she said.

"Rev. Coates is not the final arbiter of taste in the black
community," she added.

Mr. Coates said that Viacom was not upholding its own standards and
that the rallies would continue until his group can see results.

Gina McCauley, a lawyer who used her site
WhatAboutOurDaughters.blogspot.com to help force a name change for the
BET program "Hot Ghetto Mess" (to "We Got to Do Better"), agreed that
Mr. Coates had not articulated "an endgame to proclaim victory." She
said she had heard from people who didn't like the idea of marchers
outside Ms. Lee's home. But Enough Is Enough, she said, has tapped a
hip-hop generation's rage about negative media images.

"I'm just glad people are mobilizing," said Ms. McCauley, 31, who
lives in Austin, Tex.

The Enough Is Enough leaders in New York - the Rev. DeQuincy M. Hentz,
33, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in New Rochelle, and the Rev.
Roger Williams, 39, pastor of First Baptist Church in Glen Cove, N.Y.
- said they saw a long battle ahead.