A Second Act For BET's News Hound

Q&A With Journalist Ed Gordon

By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 8/24/2010 5:37:02 PM

TV-news personality Ed Gordon will return to Black Entertainment Television next month, after an absence of nearly a decade, to host a quarterly interview show and a weekly Sunday-morning news show. Multicultural News editor R. Thomas Umstead talked to Gordon about his return to the African-American targeted network as well as the changing face of television news.

Multicultural News: How does it feel to be back at BET?

Ed Gordon: It's funny ... I have not been there in some time, but people have always thought of me as a BET family member. Years after I'd gone on to do other things, I would see people in the street and they would say, 'Hey, Mr. BET,' or often say `I just saw you on BET last Sunday,' even though I hadn't been on there in a decade. But it is like coming back home and we're excited about the possibilities.

MCN: I know you already have a couple of shows in development at BET -- what do you want to accomplish in your return to the network and what kind of shows do you want to develop for BET?



MCN: Do you think that you can appeal to a large and broad audience -- particularly among African-American viewers -- with more topical and informative news content?

EG: I do believe that we'll have an audience every week, because typically America is talking about something every week. I don't want to be only talking about Beyonce or Drake or Jay-Z -- we will talk about those stories as well, but it won't be to the detriment of some of the important things that don't get covered by mainstream media that are of import to Black America. My tagline for the show is `If you're talking about it, we're talking about it,' and that could be anything. My hope is that we will sustain an audience in that way.

MCN: Has the overall cable news business changed in the decade or so between your stints at BET?

EG: Absolutely. The media has changed -- Tom, you've seen it, I've seen it -- even from five years ago, it is a completely different industry than what we were used to. For someone who has been in the business as long as I have, you have to tell yourself that what I knew coming in is no longer what it is. With the advent of the Internet becoming a major source for many for news; with tweeting, Facebook and all of those things, it's become completely different. Certainly, with the 24-hour news cycle, we've seen the diminished power of the nightly newscast because you don't have to wait until 6:30 to get your news.
I think we've also seen tremendous change in just what news is. I remember when I started, Lindsay Lohan would not lead a newscast or certainly get the minutes that she has gotten; Kim Kardashian would not be in mainstream news no matter what happened. Today, pop-culture news has become as big as what we call hard news, and sits on the same shelf.
You have to understand that the audience has an appetite for that whether you like it or not.  I just want to make sure we prioritize everything correctly to know that a jobs bill really is more important than what Lil Wayne does on a day-to-day basis while he's in jail. But people still want to know what Lil Wayne does, so that becomes news and it's covered. Many stations were live with Lindsay Lohan going to a courtroom- 15 years ago [a station] doesn't go live there because it's not news.

MCN: Will social media play a major part of your shows on BET?

EG: Absolutely. You cannot have a program and be in media without those components. There's an entire generation that knows very little about the world without that and frankly, I have friends in their 40s and that's all they do. So it's become a huge part of the media today, so there will be a strong component for both shows in relation to that.

MCN: Will you develop other projects for BET?

EG: We're certainly going to do specials throughout the year. One of the things that I talked about in coming back to BET is managing expectations. I think in the past, BET took some hits because people were expecting a certain kind of news coverage -- they wanted to see the "black CNN." But that kind of newsgathering takes a tremendous amount of money and staff.

Our corner is going to be more perspective -- looking for topics of import to black Americans that haven't found their way on the radar screen of mainstream media. Our corner will be the voice of African-Americans -- if you have a subject and want to hear what "black America" is thinking, you're going to want to go to our weekly show or the specials that I'm hosting. That is my goal here.

MCN: Of the interviews that you've done over the years, is there one that particularly stands out for you?

EG: Everybody assumes it's the O.J. Simpson interview for me, because that obviously catapulted me to heights that most people don't get to travel in, and that was a surreal experience. But for me, it was really the first time I sat down with Nelson Mandela. I am not awe-struck easily, but traveling to South Africa and sitting down less than a month after his release [from prison] in his home was, for me, without question [most memorable]. I'm not a mystical person, but if ever there's a point where you feel this person is a little different, I felt it that day.

MCN: If you had a choice of anyone to interview today, who would it be?

EG: It depends. Any given week, it's someone different in the headlines, so I always like to be topical and try to be one of the first to get people who are out there and who everybody wants to hear from. When  I was at BET we were in the mix, and often beat the big boys to the interviews. If I can just get back into that mix I'm good to go.