Pausetape Radio Weekly Journal

Stay Tuned …

Updated January 21, 2025.

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Current State of the “Urban” Entertainment Industry in the United States

October 17, 2021.

Updated April 15, 2022.

The world experienced the effects of COVID-19 since late 2019. The United States first experienced COVID-19’s effects around March 2020. Through it all, we have seen people be forced to communicate through the internet. Public contact was a risk, so a lot of entertainers began to create video shows and video blogs/ vlogs. 

Today’s entertainers are different, because they lack the authenticity as it relates to the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement.  Entertainers were never sought out for their expertise in politics.  In inner-cities throughout the United States, entertainer’s have actual influence over the community. Unfortunately, mainstream society takes advantage of that critical flaw.  In the “Black-American” community, intellectuals and scholars have less influence than entertainers.  The overall climate of America is entertainment-based, but nowhere near the extent of what we see in inner-city communities.

A company called BE (Black Effect) is producing podcasts by a growing number of celebrity voices.  Variety magazine published a story on September 9, 2020 titled, Charlamagne tha God Launches Black Effect Podcast Network With iHeartMedia. BE is the same as usual in the “Black-American” community.  An entertainer partners with a mainstream corporation, yet sells the venture as community progress.  None of the entertainers that we see who are “Black-Americans” are willing or qualified to set examples to represent real leadership.  The ventures we see are examples of opportunists taking advantage of their positions. 

With everything happening in the world, an entertainer’s opinion is not needed right now.  This is why: they are talking about serious issues, and are largely misinformed.  Our solution here at the Pausetape blog is to speak the facts.  The bottom line is that most entertainers are self-centered and self-serving, yet their opinions are sought on serious issues.  Think about it…female rapper Cardi B. was allowed to talk extensively to presidential candidate Joe Biden, before he was elected to the office of the U.S. President.  Why? Because he knew he would not be required to answer any critical questions.  What public policy questions were going to come from a rapper like Cardi B?  When Joe Biden did an interview with radio station Power 105.1, Biden kept looking at his watch and saying he had another appointment he had to attend and the hosts had to hurry up and ask their questions.  Haha!   What critical questions would be asked by mainstream Hip Hop radio hosts?  None, which is a perfect reason why he made an appearance there.  It wasn’t Biden’s fault that he did what he did. The community allowed it.  There was no outcry for Biden avoiding qualified critics.

It was implied that New York’s Hip Hop community would become its own power base.  The people in Hip Hop did not embrace establishing their own economic, political, and social infrastructures. They were happy with integrating with mainstream society. By the mid-1980s, it was clear that the mainstream music industry did not acknowledge the genre called Hip Hop. Outside of a few instances, Hip Hop artists were outsiders within the music industry.  When Hip Hop was embraced, they forgot about building structures in their own communities and opted for inclusion.   Now, it is clear that Hip Hop was a money grab and the “powerful” people in Hip Hop are selfish, yet deceive the public into thinking that they are community-based artists.  Their content isn’t in tune with their own people.

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The Role of Media

July 21, 2021

Updated October 16, 2021.

Forget about which radio station,  radio show, or podcast is being watched or listened to, and  always remember the reason “why” it is being listened to. All media outlets deliver some type of information, therefore Pausetape Radio strives to simultaneously inform and entertain. 

OfficialPausetape.com is where it is found.   Pausetape Radio stands on a platform of facts. Being informative should be based on fairness, and that is important to strive for.  Fairness means that we are not vindictive or mean-spirited, just because we might discuss a topic that is uncomfortable, sensitive, or controversial. When we examine, Global Journalism Ethics, by Stephen J.A. Ward, we must  acknowledge his point of view. Ward states how, “The rules of ethics are universal in the sense that they apply to all persons in similar circumstances. There is no special pleading in ethics. There are exceptions to rules.”  The problem is that exceptions have become the rules. Few people hold themselves fully accountable for what is said or done anymore, nor do we hold them accountable like they once were. An excuse can conveniently cover up poor conduct, and there are countless examples in mainstream media. A call for all of us to adhere to ethical standards and the truth  is erroneously called “hate,” “hate speech,” or a number of other  terms that foster coerced conformity.

Ward goes on to state that, “To be impartial is not to lack feelings or goals. It is not a bloodless objectivity.  We adopt an impartial stance because we care deeply about being fair and about reaching the correct ethical judgment. We value impartiality as a means to these goals.” People mask irresponsibility with excuses that have contributed to the fog and delusion that guides U.S. society today.  When we look at the downfall of other  global empires, many of those civilizations began their downfalls from within. Their failures were based on a reluctance to adhere to certain standards of conduct. 

Music, art, culture, and current events are topics that we will discuss on Pausetape Radio.  Our main method will be to present information and allow the reader or listener to come to their own conclusions.  We mention ethics, because it is important to uphold standards of conduct in our own work. Anyone can report the news, but reporting the news can not be done at the expense of  overlooking complete objectivity.

The book, Understanding Media Ethics, by David Horner points to something specific. Horner states how, “Firstly, moral rules are not formally made by anybody or any authoritative institution. There is no inherent moral structure to the universe. Secondly, moral systems don’t usually entail formal institutions of detection, trial, or punishment. Thirdly, legal rules define an action as wrong (illegal) on the basis that is was, in Warnock’s phrase, ‘antecedently objectionable’. Fourthly, in the case of legal rules there is a clear distinction to be made between the ‘effect’ of the rules and the ‘basis’ of the rules. The ‘effect’ is to make certain kinds of behavior illegal (or to constitute certain rights). Fifthly, the effect/basis model doesn’t seem to work for morality. In the case of morality, the forming of a rule seems to add nothing to the view that certain kinds of actions are morally wrong, for example, lying.” The philosophical questions that address morals and ethics take varying amounts of effort to comprehend. The simple method for journalists is to inject unbiased balance, and to represent accurate facts. Using insight, we should apply fair standards equally.

Although we are writing about Pausetape Radio here, the same standards should apply to everyone, regardless of whether they are mainstream or independent. We say “United States” because freedom of the press is not available to everyone around the world. From another perspective, the book, Real-World Media Ethics: Inside the Broadcast and Entertainment Industries, by Philippe Perebinossoff, addresses the fact that the purpose of media is not just about sharing information.  Perebinossoff states that, “One cannot and should not forget the business aspects of the media. Among the creators of entertainment are many committed artists; our entertainment would be sorely lacking if only out-to-make-a-dollar entrepreneurs were involved. But entertainment is a business.”  Many people focus on the entertainment aspects of media, and forget to address the need for balance. Practicality is necessary, but we must apply of integrity.