NewsOne.com To Air Historic Live Video Debate Regarding The Highly Controversial Six Time Academy Award-Nominated Film Precious Tonight at 7:30pm

NEW YORK, March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Interactive One, LLC the digital connection for Black America and the digital division of Radio One, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROIAK and ROIA), the largest African American multimedia company, today announced that its news site NewsOne.com will air a live streaming video debate over the highly acclaimed film Precious.  Tonight, two days before the presentation of the Academy Awards, dvRepublic.org and NewsOne.com will square off world-renowned cultural critic Stanley Crouch against leading NYU professor Sheril Antonio to get at the heart of the issues that have generated huge debate in the African American community. Precious has received more Oscar nominations than any Black film in the history of the academy awards, but has also been accused of perpetuating stereotypes.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091130/PH18189LOGO )

"This is a historical moment in Black film and we're excited to partner with dvRepublic and provide our audience with the opportunity to join the debate and share their perspective," says Smokey D. Fontaine, Chief Content Officer for Interactive One.  "NewsOne was created to provide the African American community with provocative news that affects our community."

NewsOne.com was launched by Interactive One in 2009 and has been one of the fastest growing news sites created for the African American community through leading original editorial and comprehensive curation of the stories that are most relevant to the community.

"Our goal was to bring the discussions that were happening offline, online in to our digital public square," said Warrington Hudlin President of the Black Filmmakers Foundation and founder and chief of dvRepublic.org. "Collaborating with NewsOne allows us to expand and promote this public square for dialog to NewsOne.com and the other Interactive One digital platforms."

The Debaters

Stanley Crouch is a renowned music and cultural critic, syndicated columnist, and author of, among others, The All-American Skin Game, Or, the Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994, Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives, and Don't the Moon Look Lonesome: A Novel in Blues and Swing.   Stanley Crouch is the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" grant.

Dr. Sheril Antonio is a film scholar, lecturer, and author of "Contemporary African American Cinema" and "Matriarchs, Rebels, Adventurers, and Survivors: Renditions of Black Womanhood in Contemporary African American Cinema." Dr. Antonio is the Associate Dean for Film, Television, New Media, & Recorded Music and a Professor in the Department Art and Public Policy at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. 

The debate will be moderated by Warrington Hudlin, the President of the Black Filmmaker Foundation (aka BFF) and founder and chief of dvRepublic.org.

ABOUT DVREPUBLIC

dvRepublic.org uses the Internet and social media to build a  "digital public square" for an online community of "citizens" who engage in online discussions and debates as they monitor the intersection of media, technology, and social justice.

ABOUT INTERACTIVE ONE

Interactive One has over 15 million members and reaches 8 million Black Americans each month. With approximately 8 billion annual page views on its suite of sites, the Company has become the definitive social network for Black America through BlackPlanet, as well as a number of leading content sites.  These sites include: NewsOne (www.NewsOne.com), which provides up to the minute, comprehensive coverage of newsworthy events relevant to African Americans across the country and the world through syndicated news, original news reports, local content and opinion blogs from some of the most provocative minds in Black America; TheUrbanDaily (www.TheUrbanDaily.com), which serves as the eyes and ears for African Americans looking for a one-stop, comprehensive destination for entertainment news, information, gossip and opinion and original celebrity interviews; HelloBeautiful (www.HelloBeautiful.com), which celebrates the lives and style of African American women with a dynamic daily mix of fashion, beauty, entertainment and relationship content; and Elev8 (http://www.elev8.com) which is a personal empowerment website dedicated to uplifting and enriching the lives of African Americans by offering services, tools, information and community.

Interactive One was launched by Radio One in the last year to complement Radio One's existing portfolio of media companies targeting the African American community. Since its launch, Interactive One has quickly become the #1 online platform for the African American community.  Interactive One is powered by the mission to create an online community that engages and positively impacts the lives of African Americans.

ABOUT RADIO ONE

Radio One, Inc. (www.radio-one.com) is one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners. Radio One owns and/or operates 52 radio stations located in 16 urban markets in the United States. Radio One also owns Magazine One, which publishes Giant Magazine (www.giantmag.com), interests in TV One (www.tvoneonline.com), a cable/satellite network programming primarily to African Americans, Reach Media (www.blackamericaweb.com), owner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and other businesses associated with Tom Joyner, and Interactive One.  The company is led by Chairperson and Founder Catherine L. Hughes, and her son, Alfred Liggins, III, who is Chief Executive Officer and President.

SOURCE Interactive One, LLC

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