Roland Martin Launches Digital Show

defendernetwork.com

SEPTEMBER 13 | 2018 | DEFENDER 7

entertainment

Roland Martin launches digital show

NNPA News Service

Journalist Roland Martin has launched a digital show, “Roland Martin Unfiltered.” The show will feature a live stream broadcast on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Periscope and IGTV, Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. Central. It will then replay four times on all of the same platforms, providing several opportunities for views to watch shows and recover ones they may have missed.

“I can’t sleep! I’ve been waiting for this day for almost 9 months. Gonna happen in 18 hours!” Martin wrote on his Facebook page the day of the launch.

The popular journalist has close to a million “likes” on his Facebook fanpage. He is asking viewers to “support independent fact-based journalism” in the form of the #BringtheFunk fan Club to support the new show.

In the wake of President Donald Trump attacking the press and the First Amendment on a continuous basis, some in the profession are taking an offensive position. Memberships for Roland Martin Unfiltered can be seen at: http://rolandsmartin.com/unfiltered/.

“I’ve always been an early adopter of the digital space,” Martin said. “When I ran the Chicago Defender, I launched the first Black news audio podcast in 2005, and one year later, I launched the first Black news video podcast. I’ve also launched numerous websites such as BlackAmericaWeb.com with founding editor Tom Joyner.

“I’ve always understood not only the power of the digital world but also where we were going in terms of the future and the role the digital world would play…I’ve been waiting for the day where you had broadband capabilities to be able to do exactly what we’re

doing right now. Even when I was on NewsOne, we were doing things on the digital side, and

I even proposed that we should livestream the show.”

In an Instagram post in August, Martin outlined the past, future and present.

“Over the last eight months, we’ve had numerous discussions about what I would do next with TVOne,” he said. “As that was happening, I was planning my own daily digital show, #RolandMartinUnfiltered, to take advantage of this new media world we are now living in.

“I am eternally grateful for all of the folks at TVOne who I have encountered over the last 13 years. To be on the frontlines of watching a Black cable network become one of the fastest growing in history has been eye opening. I’ve learned so much about this business and have truly grown as a journalist.”

Martin said TVOne gave him a chance to speak his truth, unimpeded.

“TVOne gave me a level of freedom my peers at broadcast and cable networks have never had. I never did take that lightly,” Martin said.

His new digital show has a studio in downtown Washington, D.C. and promises to bring some of the same energy and news insight that was seen on “NewsOne Now.”

Martin is a veteran journalist who has twice won an NAACP Image Award. He was also a CNN contributor and is a regular guest on MS- NBC. In 2013 Martin launched “News One Now” on TVOne. The popular Black news show focused on politics, entertainment and sports news in the Black community. In 2013, TVOne cancelled the show due to “budget cuts.”

“One can never say never,” Martin said. “Even though I’m launching this daily digital show and working on other projects, I may end up doing something for TVOne down the line. But as for now, we’ve come to the end of a road. All I have left to say, is thank you,” Martin added in the final words of his Instagram post.

Roland Martin, a native Houstonian and former Defender managing editor, asks viewers to support his new show.