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Description
Black Entertainment Television (BET) is a TV network that is being watched by millions of households across the globe. Apart from providing specialized cultural programming, which is a topic of great importance as such, BET draws additional attention due to the personality of its former CEO – Debra Lee. The company’s history can be divided into two periods: pre-merger and post-merger with Viacom, which occurred in 2001 (BET LLC, 2023). Pre-merger BET had mainly focused on jazz music and various social issues related to Black Americans. However, after the merger and Lee becoming the CEO in 2006, the network established a number of new digital cable networks, which included Centric, BET Hip Hop, and BET Gospel (BET LLC, 2023). In addition to music programming, the channel has launched several comedy and drama TV shows.
Analysis
Executives of television networks are ultimately in charge of the representations and pictures that viewers see on the screen. In this context, if executives themselves come from inclusive and diverse demographics, their creative processes can produce appealing and captivating representations that can be considered genuinely accurate. Prior to becoming BET’s CEO, Lee had a long experience with the company. In 1986, Debra Lee started working at BET as legal affairs vice president, becoming a CEO in two decades (Cunningham, 2019). Thus, Lee had a chance to evaluate the channel content and performance in order to make respective changes. Moreover, Lee herself belongs to the racialized minority, and she utilized her insights on contemporary social trends in order to reach more consumers. Consequently, content diversification under Lee’s supervision elevated BET to the point that in 2010, it was among the most well-known television networks aimed at attracting young Black Americans, and it was the top source of programs with Black American cultural and recreational themes (Black Entertainment Television LLC [BET LLC], 2023). Overall, the media company has developed under Lee’s guidance into one of the most influential companies worldwide.
Interpretation
The channel showcased stable growth and worldwide acknowledgment while having Lee as a CEO. Partly, it was achieved through wise decisions in terms of content diversification (Cunningham, 2019). Moreover, the image of Lee as a Black woman properly leading the company became of utter importance in terms of racialized women’s emancipation. However, there was a potent critique of promoting the wrong values among Black youth and accusations of Lee’s poor guidance due to that (Williams, 2023). Apart from that, it remains unclear whether the decisions regarding the channel’s future are solely attributable to Lee in light of BET’s merger with Viacom.
Summary
If the leader’s success were to be measured solely based on what is left behind after they leave, Lee’s career as a CEO could definitely be considered successful. According to the interview conducted with Lee regarding her past experience in the BET’s CEO position, the channel’s growth was achieved due to a deliberately small but precise volume of cultural programming (Williams, 2023). In particular, Lee comments on that by stating the BET’s mission as “respect, reflect and elevate the community” (Williams, 2023). I believe that Lee made decisions regarding new content based on her own vision of contemporary societal trends. In this context, the channel’s growth is perfect proof of the correctness of those decisions. Overall, the positives do seem to outweigh the negatives, portraying Lee as an exemplary leader and, in many ways, an exemplary contemporary woman.
References
Black Entertainment Television LLC. (2023). BET. Web.
Cunningham, A. (2019). Turning the tables: Black women’s representation in television. Resources for Gender and Women’s Studies, 40(4), 1-2.
Williams, A. P. (2023). Debra Lee on being BET’s boss and elevating the Black experience. The Washington Post. Web.
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