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Quote of note:

He said the station's management insisted he do an interview with Pastor Butler, even after the pastor repeatedly refused an invitation from the show's producer, Tony Motley. But he finally agreed to the interview, which centered on his anti-gay marriage platform and his preaching of prosperity messages, i.e., that faith (and giving money to the church) could translate into a Mercedes Benz or a luxury house in suburban and affluent Grosse Pointe Woods.

A strong supporter of President George Bush, Rev. Butler is a leading Black conservative minister. During the interview, Mr. Dawsey questioned why the pastor has not stood up against Pres. Bush' cuts to programs important to Blacks instead of focusing on polarizing issues like gay marriage.

Pastor Butler got upset and said he would not answer any more questions.

Detroit PBS station dumps popular Black host
By Bankole Thompson
The Michigan Citizen
Updated Apr 20, 2005, 02:35 pm

DETROIT (NNPA) - Detroit Public Television (WTVS channel 56) a part of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has fired Darrell Dawsey, host of the “American Black Journal,” the station’s only program that deals specifically with Black political and social issues.

The program, now in its 35th year, had been through several hosts in recent years until Mr. Dawsey, a native Detroiter and prolific writer, took over and the ratings for the show went up.

“We disagreed on how we should do the program, and so we’ll be going with other hosts in the future,” said Jeff Forester, the station’s vice president for production. “There will probably be a guest host until we have a permanent host in the future. I don’t care to go any deeper.”

But Mr. Dawsey said the station’s management did not like his progressive-leaning views and saw an opportunity to let him go after he had a rapid-fire interview with the pastor of Word of Faith International Christian Center, Keith Butler.

He said the station’s management insisted he do an interview with Pastor Butler, even after the pastor repeatedly refused an invitation from the show’s producer, Tony Motley. But he finally agreed to the interview, which centered on his anti-gay marriage platform and his preaching of prosperity messages—i.e., that faith (and giving money to the church) could translate into a Mercedes Benz or a luxury house in suburban and affluent Grosse Pointe Woods.

A strong supporter of President George Bush, Rev. Butler is a leading Black conservative minister. During the interview, Mr. Dawsey questioned why the pastor has not stood up against Pres. Bush’s cuts to programs important to Blacks instead of focusing on polarizing issues like gay marriage.

Pastor Butler got upset and said he would not answer any more questions.

Mr. Dawsey ended the show by saying that, maybe there is no difference between Pastor Butler and Rev. Frederick Ike, a renowned television minister who anchors his preaching on money.

“He bristled, looked like he wanted to come after me, hurled a very un-Christian insult at me, threw off his mike,” Mr. Dawsey said. “In an effort to avoid telling him what I really think of him and his politics and his cult ministry, I walked off the set and went to my other job.”

The tape was never aired and was then erased at Pastor Butler’s request.

When contacted on his cell phone, Pastor Butler said, “I’ve got nothing to say. Have a nice evening. See you later.”

“The Butler interview was a convenient excuse to dump me,” Mr. Dawsey said. “After all, Butler never asked to be on. Tony and I didn’t want him on. I repeatedly told them I didn’t want to talk to him.”

Mr. Dawsey said he felt Butler had nothing to say that would be important to the city’s Black population.

“A week later,” he said, “after hearing nothing about this from management, the little man [Forester] called me and told me he felt compelled to ‘sever our relationship.’ It was such a weak move,” Mr. Dawsey said. “He didn’t like the unapologetically pro-Black tone of the show. I’d also asked for more money; he’d lied and said I’d get it. I think this was also an attempt to not have to pay me more.”

But he admits he took a particularly tough stance with Pastor Butler.

“I admit that my line of questioning was tough, even hostile. I wasn’t very polite to this man who I consider a functionary of White supremacy. All I kept thinking was, ‘What am I doing here? I’m being used. The show’s being used. This is wrong.’ So I grilled him.”

Mr. Forester denied talks about salary increase had anything to do with the matter. “That had nothing to do with it,” he maintains. “We just disagreed on programming.”

Mr. Forester also denied that the move had anything to do with the station’s plans to move to Wixom, Mich., which Mr. Dawsey said was the case.

“We are purchasing a building in Wixom and have started a capital campaign,” Mr. Forester said. “This has nothing to do with location. We do seven individual programs a week and this [ABJ] is just one of them.”

ABJ has had a long history since it first started in 1968, when it was called “Colored People’s Time,” serving as a public forum for Blacks at a time of racial turmoil across the nation.

In 1970, the name changed to “Detroit Black Journal” and then to the “American Black Journal” in 1995. Some of the show’s popular hosts have included, Ed Gordon, Ron Scott, Tony Brown, Juanita Anderson, Jim Ingram and Darrell Woods.

According to an insider at the station, who chose to remain anonymous, since taking over as host, Mr. Dawsey has increased viewer response to the show, and emails keep coming every week.

“He is the most popular host we had since Ed Gordon,” the official said.

Gordon, who now works for NPR, hosted the show from 1986 to 1988.

Would the departure of Mr. Dawsey affect the quality of the show especially in an election year?

“It probably will affect the political content of the show,” said Ron Scott, who served as producer and host of the show from 1976-1980.

Mr. Scott said the show used to be known for its “cutting edge on politics, public affairs and journalistic endeavors that principally served the information needs of the Black community.”

“That is why the incarnations of the show have taken different forms, because of the political perspectives of the hosts,” he said. “One of the reasons I was fired was because they did not want to have anything Black on TV.”

A replacement has not been named, Mr. Forester said. Presently, the show is operating on a guest-host basis.

Mr. Dawsey, a former staff writer for the Detroit News, Philadelphia Enquirer and Los Angeles Times, said it never occurred to him that he’d be gone so soon.

“Even in my short time, Tony and I proved beyond doubts that viewers of all colors will support a program that is smart, strong and unafraid to speak truth,” he said. “I hope that the renewed interest in the show will prove to other outlets that giving people strong, smart issue-oriented programming can be successful.”