BET Network Adding Trio of Brooklyn-Based Intellectuals
and Trend-Setters As Producers, Writers and Talent to Expanded
News Production Team
Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) - Each one has carved
a noteworthy reputation as an intellectual trend-setter and
cultural expert, and they're now bringing that expertise to
BET. Today BET News announced the hiring of ex-CNN pop culture
correspondent Touré; former Editor-in-Chief of The Source
magazine Selwyn Hinds; and writer and filmmaker Nelson George.
BET President of Entertainment Reginald Hudlin describes the
hiring of the Brooklyn-based trio as pivotal to the next phase
of BET News and Public Affairs programming.
Roles managed by the three will touch multiple aspects of
BET programming. Touré draws a multi-level assignment as host,
writer and Consulting Producer for BET News, including serving
as host on such specialized programming as the recent BET
25TH ANNIVERSARY POST-SHOW. Hinds will assume the role of
Interim Executive Producer for the daily BET News Briefs,
periodic BET News Specials and BET's soon-to-be launched Sunday
news magazine show. George becomes Consulting Producer on
all BET News and Public Affairs programs. All three gentlemen
either hail from or reside in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
Touré
joins BET with a well-established reputation as a writer
and correspondent. He was CNN's first Pop Culture Correspondent
and was the host of MTV2's talk show Spoke N Heard.
He has appeared on many television shows including NBC's
The Today Show, Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor,
and CNN's Paula Zahn Now, Anderson Cooper 360°, and
CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown. He is also the author
of a novel entitled Soul City; The Portable Promised
Land, a collection of short stories; and Never Drank
the Kool-Aid, a collection of his magazine works over
the past 12 years. Touré has been a Contributing Editor
at Rolling Stone for 10 years, and has penned articles
for the New Yorker, New York Times, Playboy, Tennis
Magazine, Best American Essays of 1999, Best American
Sports Writing of 2001, and the Best American Erotica
of 2004.
"Touré
can debate the politics of race with arch-conservatives
on news shows; he has written insightful articles on
everyone from Lauryn Hill to Jay Z to the White Stripes;
and has written brilliant surrealistic novels," said
Hudlin. "He's a triple threat that will broaden and
deepen our coverage of the entertainment landscape.
He's a dynamic presence on screen with a strong perspective
our viewers want."
Hinds is an internationally recognized expert on popular
culture and urban media. As a writer, commentator and
teacher, his commentary has appeared in print, television
and radio, including BBC, CNN, BET, ABC, NBC, MTV, New
York Times, and Los Angeles Times. He is a well-traveled
lecturer, conducting forums at institutions including
Princeton University, Brown University, The S.I. Newhouse
Communication School at Syracuse University, and Northwestern
University. Hinds is perhaps best known as the former
Editor-in-Chief of The Source magazine in its late 1990s
heyday, during which the publication doubled its circulation
to become the top-selling music magazine in the country
and the most-respected print media voice for the hip-hop
culture. He also formerly served as Chief Creative Officer,
Executive Vice President and Editorial Director of 360hiphop.com,
the Internet firm founded by music magnate Russell Simmons
which was later acquired by BET Interactive and BET.com.
Hinds has two critically-acclaimed books to his credit
- the memoir Gunshots in My Cookup, Bits and Bites of
a Caribbean American Life (2002), and To a Young Jazz
Musician: Letters from the Road, written with Wynton
Marsalis, which won a 2004 Blackboard Literary Award
for Best Music Book.
"Selwyn
Hinds was the defining voice of The Source magazine,
and like Nelson and Touré, is equally comfortable covering
both hard news and pop culture," said Hudlin. "His wealth
of relationships has already expanded the reach of the
network."
George is a writer, filmmaker and cultural critic with
more than 25 years of professional experience, and directed
the BET Arabesque Books made-for-TV film One Special
Moment. While an undergraduate at St. John's University
in the 1970s, he regularly wrote for the Amsterdam News
and Billboard magazine, where he later served as Black
Music Editor from 1982 to 1989. During that time, George
published several influential music books, including
Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown
Sound (1986); and The Death of Rhythm & Blues (1988).
George also as an impressive film pedigree, having invested
in Spike Lee's landmark film, She's Gotta Have It. He
went on to become associate producer for Just Another
Girl on the IRT and co-wrote the screenplays to two
Hollywood features - Strictly Business (starring Halle
Berry) and CB4 (starring Chris Rock). George would later
serve as consulting producer on HBO's The Chris Rock
Show in the late 1990s. He also executive produced HBO's
critically-acclaimed film Everyday People, which aired
in June 2004 and was recently released on DVD.
"Nelson
George is not only the 'Dean of Black Pop Cultural Criticism',
but has been at the forefront of every important major
art movement in the past 20 years," Hudlin said. "He
was with Russell Simmons at the Disco Fever when Rev.
Run was known as the Son of Kurtis Blow. He pulled money
out of the ATM to keep the negative for She's Gotta
Have It from being dumped into the street. He taught
a young stand up named Chris Rock how to write a screenplay.
'The Death of Rhythm and Blues' and 'Hip Hop in America'
are just two pieces of required reading that he has
written. Getting Nelson on board at BET was one of my
top priorities once I got this job."
Hudlin concludes, "Individually, these guys raise the
level of the game at any news organization. Together,
it's enough intellectual firepower to level a city.
And we're just getting started."
ABOUT BET
BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B),
is the nation's leading television network providing
quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs
programming for the African-American audience. The BET
Network reaches more than 80 million households according
to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United
States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is a dominant
consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse
group of branded businesses: BET.com, the Number 1 Internet
portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks -
BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives
for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions,
specializing in a full range of event production services,
including event management, venue selection, talent
recruitment, sound, lighting and stage production; and
BET Books, the nation's leading publisher of African-American
themed romance novels under the Arabesque imprint which
also publishes compelling fiction under the Sepia imprint
and inspirational fiction and nonfiction under the New
Spirit imprint.
PRESS CONTACT:
Michael Lewellen, (202) 608-2003
michael.lewellen@bet.net
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