Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 19 December 2002 — Page 5

The Muncie Times, December 19,2002, page 5

NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS BRIEFS FROM PAGE 4 In the meantime, Smiley, a staple on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," landed his own program on National Public Radio and serves as a special correspondent on other network programs. It is not clear what role, if any, that Gordon will continue to have at BET. Gordon has been the public face of BET since its inception and top executives are discussing how best to re-deploy its hottest on-air talent. Everything is being discussed from having him bump Jacque Reid, the host of the nightly news program, to finding a role for him at CBS

News. Gordon also will have other options outside of BET, including the possibility of syndicating his own celebrity interview program. Bob Johnson has often said that "Lead Story," originally telecast in September 1991, was his favorite program on the network. However, the journalists' roundtable had begun to lose some of its edge, some suspect deliberately. In January, Cheryl Martin voluntarily resigned. For some inexplicable reason, Amy Holmes was hand-picked by Johnson to be the regular "guest host," even after it.became clear to viewers that she did not have the depth or polish

of Martin. Another substitute host was Cassandra Clayton, an accomplished former NBC network correspondent. Although Clayton was the clear choice of the journalists that appeared on the program, she was never offered the job as permanent host. BET had already decided to award the jo£> later this year to another substitute host, Beverly Kirk. When it became clear that BET would not replace Cheryl Martin with a journalist of equal talent, DeWayne Wickham, a columnist for "USA Today" and the longest-serving panelist on program, quietly resigned. Although he was unwilling to

criticize the show publicly, Wickham let it be known to friends that he was dissatisfied with the direction in which "Lead Story" was headed. When Martin quit as host, BET executives decided to rotate the journalists rather than retain the regulars: Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, former "Emerge" editor George E. Curry and conservative columnist Armstrong Williams. While the show became a vehicle for more journalists, it lost much of its fire, especially the acerbic exchanges between Curry and Williams. It did not help matters that its time slotwas changed to 11 a.m.

Sundays, when many would-be viewers attend church. "Teen Summit" also experienced a change of character when its operations were shifted from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles. The brainchild of Johnson's ex-wife, Sheila, the 13-year-old program had won numerous awards for its excellence, including seven NAACP Image awards. "What this means is that BET will have virtually no programming," says one former BET official. "We were already down to skin and bones and now we don't have that."

NEWS BRIEFS SEE PAGE 6

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