{
  "id": 5647651,
  "title": "BET Digital goes the way of MTV News",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/bet-digital-goes-the-way-of-mtv-news",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-04T21:05:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The A.V. Club",
    "slug": "the-a-v-club",
    "url": "https://www.avclub.com/bet-digital-wipes-news-archive"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "BET Digital, a media outlet owned by the same Ellison family that controls CBS, has decided to remove its news archive, according to social media's top news reporter, Phil Lewis. Lewis reported that the decision is part of a shift toward video content. All digital news articles have been permanently removed from the website, and some writers were able to save their stories while others were not. This action erases the perspective of Black voices during a crucial period in American history. The removal of this archive is reminiscent of a similar move by MTV News, where decades of music news were wiped from their website. Moreover, the Ellison family's company, Paramount, is currently in talks to acquire Warner Bros., which owns CNN. Given their history of discarding valuable news archives, it's clear that the Ellison family has little regard for journalistic integrity.",
  "summary": "A trove of news is now lost to the digital dark age as BET clears house in, you guessed it, a pivot to video.",
  "key_points": [
    "BET Digital removes news archive, shifting to video content",
    "Archive erases Black voices during crucial American history period",
    "Reminds of MTV News' removal of decades of music news archive"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}