Page 4
May 2014
The AC Phoenix
Protect Your Income
By Jeffrey A. Williams
to replace your income until your family is and then turn around and excluded those
not reliant on it any more. who do not agree with them politically.
Jeffrey A. Williams is an Independent
Representative for AmeriLife. He may be
reached at 336 854 1000 or 800 854 6161,
email address: amlhl52@amerilife.com
Black Media Need
Ownership—And
Control
By Raynard Jackson
Jeffrey A. Williams
As an income earner, your contribution to
your family's financial security is significant.
Your loved ones depend on your ability to
earn income to meet the demands of day-to-
day expenses, as well as long term financial
commitments. With money tight, and what
seems like never-changing "uncertainty,"
your income earning power is becoming
more important to your financial security
every day.
Now, take a moment to consider what your
family would do if death suddenly took you
out of the picture. Surely, your family will
struggle with the emotional void left behind.
They would also face an economic hardship
left by the absence of your income-earning
potential. How would they pay for day-to-
day living cost, such as food, clothing and
other bills? Would additional daycare or
household help be needed? How would
the famjly save for retirement, pay for a
mortgage or other outstanding debt? This
is where an income replacement strategy
can help.
What is income replacement?
An income replacement strategy is a basic
financial concept that protects your income
earning potential in a cost-effective manner.
Consider protecting your income-earning
potential until your family is no longer
soley reliant on your earned income. So, a
45-year-old income earner might consider
protecting income-earning potential for 20
years until age 65, when she/he retires and
begins drawing on retirement savings. Social
Security or a pension. A 55-year-old might
consider protecting her/ his income-earning
potential for 10 years, until 65.
How much do I need?
The answer to the question depends on
a number of factors, such as how much
income you need to replace and for how
long, among other things. A simple example
illustrates the need to replace your income.
Your circumstance will differ from this sce
nario, but this method of calculating income
replacement need, provides a starting point.
Leaving taxes out of the picture, to replace
income of $50,000 / year in today's dollars
for 10 years {the number years to replace
income could be longer dependent on your
situation ), increased by an inflation factor,
you would need a lump sum of $460,00
to replace your income. If you have assets
totaling $460,000 set aside today, then you
may be able to replace $50,000 / year. If not,
consider looking at a cost-effective solution
Raynard Jackson
With the continued consolidation
going on within the media (radio, TV,
newspapers), there is never-ending
debate over the issue of ownership
and diversity. But how do you define
ownership? Is ownership the issue or
editorial control or both?
As members of the National Newspa
per Publishers Association (NNPA) like
to remind me. Black media is by defini
tion Black-owned and operated. The
NNPA is composed of approximately
200 Black newspapers in the United
States and the Virgin Islands.They have
a combined readership of nearly 20
million and the organization also has a
digital presence in BlackPressUSA.com
, which enables newspapers to provide
real time news and information to its
national constituency.
There is no question that these news
papers are wholly owned and operat
ed by Blacks, unlike media outlets such
as The Grio, The Root, Essence maga
zine or Black Entertainment Television
(BET), These outlets are merely White
media masquerading as Black-owned
media. The Grio is owned by NBC, The
Root is owned by theWashington Post,
Essence is owned by Time, Inc., and
BET is owned by Viacom.
Each of these outlets is run by Black
people who serve as the public face of
their White-owned companies. Each
of these outlet's owners are all liberal
and that seems to carry over into the
work they produce.
So, with these corporate owners and
their designated staffers from these
Black outlets all being politically lib
eral, there seems to be no thought or
interest in diversity of views. For the
most part. Blacks crave to inclusion
The Black operators have effectively cre
ated a false narrative that they represent
the views of the Black community. Noth
ing could be further from the truth. They
represent the views of some of the Black
community.
If you the Republican National Committee
(RNC), it makes more sense to cultivate
strong relationships and spend money
with Black newspapers instead of those
sickened by an identity crisis. The reason
is quite simple.
Black newspapers are not beholden to
white, corporate masters. Black newspa
per owners are a better reflection of the
true thinking within the Black community
and their newspapers better reflect the full
range of thinking within the Black commu
nity. Do you really think it is a coincidence
that these Black outlets that are owned by
white corporations are aggressively push
ing a homosexual agenda or amnesty for
illegals? This is in keeping with the agen
das of these corporations.
You do not see these issues pushed
within Black newspapers. Some individ
ual owners may support these issues on
a personal level, but it is rarely reflected
in their newspapers. These corporations
have invested in Black media outlets not
to promote issues of relevance to the Black
community, but to push an ideology and
promote a cause, i.e., liberalism, homo
sexuality, amnesty.
Why is diversity of thoughts beneficial?
Is diversity of ownership within media
necessary?
What can we extrapolate from the Fed
eral Communications Commission's (FCC)
report that stated, "As of 2011, whites
owned 69.4% of the nation's 1,348 tele
vision stations? That's up from 63.4% in
2009, when there were 1,187 stations."
The report continued, "While white own
ership increased, most minority ownership
decreased. Blacks went from owning 1%
of all commercial TV stations in 2009 to
Just 0.7% in 2011. Asian ownership slipped
from 0.8% in 2009 to 0.5% last year. Latino
ownership increased slightly from 2.5%
to 2.9.""Females owned 6.8% of all com
mercial TV stations in 2011, compared to
5.6% in 2009.
The same report indicated that Whites
own almost 80 percent of all AM and FM
radio stations, with more than 70 percent
owned by men.
So, I think ownership and diversity are Sia
mese twins; you can't separate one from
the other. Only when Blacks own their
own media outlets can they control the
message that comes out of their outlets.
When Whites are masquerading as Black
media, their goal is to push an agenda;
and in the vast majority of cases, it is anti
thetical to the thinking in the real Black
community.
Black newspapers provide a variety of
issues within the Black community, liberal
and conservative. The philosophical diver
sity of their ownership is more diverse with
Black newspapers than in all the other media
combined (radio,TV).
So, if the RNC is trying to establish a diaiogue
and a relationship with the Black community
and they are trying to maximize the effort;
there is no question that Black newspapers,
including their websites, provide the most
bang - and authenticity - for the buck.
Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Ray
nard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washing
ton, D.C.-based public relations/government
affairs firm. He can be reached through his
Website, www.raynardjackson.com.Youcan
also follow him on Twitter @raynardl223.
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