Will J. Wright has been named Executive Producer for BET NIGHTLY NEWS in an announcement today by Nina Henderson Moore, BET Senior Vice President for News, Public Affairs and Programming Acquisitions; and John Frazee, Senior Vice President, News Services, CBS News. Wright's appointment is effective immediately.

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Wright will be responsible for BET NIGHTLY NEWS, the flagship weekday evening news program of the BET Network anchored by Jacque Reid. Beginning Monday, February 25, the program -- including its studio, primary newsroom and staff -- will be headquartered in the CBS Broadcast Center in New York.

"This is a continuation of the infusion of talent and production resources first announced last summer as part of our partnership with CBS News," said Moore. "Will's experience and award-winning news production expertise will mesh very well with the talented and dedicated team of news professionals already guiding BET NIGHTLY NEWS, still the only newscast on television covering news from an African-American perspective."

Wright had been news director of WWOR-TV in New York since 1992, overseeing all facets of the station's news operation. Under his leadership, WWOR-TV News not only won numerous industry honors, including the Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence and three Emmy Awards for Best News Operation, but won the highly competitive 10:00 PM news battle in New York, the nation's largest market.

"We are incredibly fortunate to have an executive with the experience Will has in many competitive local markets," said John Frazee. "Will has successfully built news departments from the ground up and is a respected industry leader. He will bring the resources of CBS News and the BET News teams together to produce an important, must-see news program for African Americans. His skills and expertise and our combined worldwide resources will enable BET NIGHTLY NEWS to reach further, dig deeper and better serve its audience with the highest quality journalism."

Before joining WWOR-TV, Wright was Vice President/News Director of KRIV-TV Houston (1987-92). He was assistant news director of KYW-TV Philadelphia (1984-87) and, prior to that, worked for CNN when that cable channel was being created, initially as a senior copy editor and later as a senior producer (1980-84). Wright began his broadcast journalism career at CBS News as a desk assistant and worked his way up to producer before leaving the company (1972-79).

He is the recipient of 13 Emmy Awards, 20 Associated Press Awards and eight International Film Festival Awards. Wright was honored with three Communications Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) Awards and the Harmony Award from The Congress of Racial Equality for his work in television in fostering racial understanding.

He serves as a Trustee of the Radio Television News Directors Foundation and of Fordham University. Wright was a member of the RTNDA Board of Directors for 10 years and was an Associated Press Board President in Texas (1987-92). He is a currently an advisor to The Project For Excellence In Journalism. Wright and his wife, Pat, founded The Broadcast Journalism Coaching Foundation for the purpose of helping less-experienced journalists succeed in the business. He also served as a trustee of Fordham University from 1996-2000.

Wright was born on September 9, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Fordham University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications, and he received the Michele Clark Fellowship at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1973. Wright lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

ABOUT BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

Black Entertainment Television (BET), a subsidiary of Viacom, is the nation's leading 24-hour television network providing quality entertainment, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience. The BET Network reaches more than 71.3 million households according to Nielsen media research. BET is a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of branded businesses: BET.com, the Number 1 internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks -- BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip-Hop, a new alternative for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; and BET Books, the nation's leading publisher of African American-themed romance novels under the Arabesque Books label.

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SOURCE: Black Entertainment Television

Contact: Michael Lewellen of BET, +1-202-608-2003, or
michael.lewellen@bet.net; or Sandy Genelius of CBS News, +1-212-975-7525, or
smg@cbsnews.com

Website: http://www.bet.com/