Black Entertainment Television (BET) is the first and only television network in the United States primarily devoted to the attraction of African American viewers. Robert Johnson started the nation’s first and only black owned cable network. From the very beginning, the heart and soul of BET programming was the music video. Black youth are the focus and main audience of BET’s videos. MTV premiered one year before BET but, “BET offered as much as eighteen hours of music videos a day, prompting many to perceive the 24-hour network as essentially a black-oriented music video service.” The stereotype given to the black race as a result of these black artists is a disturbing one. If BET were to be turned on right now, one would see the black race living the life of violence, sex, drugs, and money. One would not see the status Black Americans have strived for after hundreds of years of inferiority.

Black Entertainment Television constructs the black race in a degrading way. Mainstream rap, which is the primary music aired on BET tells the story of expensive cars, alcohol, violence, drugs, promiscuity, and just about everything one doesn’t want their child to see. Rappers such as

Music Television, better known as MTV, has been BET’s competing cable channel since the networks started in 1983. While MTV was being criticized in the 80’s for excluding black artists from its play list, many viewers were tuning into BET for such offerings. MTV, back when it began, only catered to White artists with few exceptions. Tina Turner, a very light skinned African American, was one of the few Black Artists with airtime on the network. MTV was very reluctant to air any type of media with the label “Black” attached to it in fear of losing its audience. But it is understandable that MTV did not want the image of gangs and violence on their network. It is not that the rock in the 80’s was not rebellious, but it was not the same type of vibe that the artists on BET portrayed. Rap in the 80’s told the story of blacks being held down by whites. Rappers, such as Public Enemy, told their life’s struggle through music. MTV obviously did not want to air this music because it gave a bad connotation to Whites and this would not be attractive to the White audience.

According to BET, their mission is to provide entertainment to predominantly the African community. BET is a bad influence on not just the Black population, but the whole population. The images and videos displayed on the network are disrespectful

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