CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Interviewed Head’s of State of Sudan and Liberia
• The conscious voice of BET
• Described by Source Magazine as one of hip hop’s political leaders
• Developed Inspirational CD with hip hop music beats “What are you going to do?”
• Former Vice President of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network
• Former National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division
• Former Youth Pastor of the Empowerment Temple AME Church

SPEAKING TOPICS

• Unclaimed Legacy: Who Will Lead The Next Social Movement?
• Empty Prayers – The rise and fall of Church leadership
• Pulling Back the Sheets: Sexuality and Hip Hop
• BECOME Activists: Building Effective Campus Organizations & Maintaining Excellence
• CREAM: Communities rule everything around me
• Building positive brand image through community relationships
• Hip-Hop & Civil Rights: An Intergenerational Dialogue for Intergenerational Understanding

MULTIMEDIA SAMPLES

Jeff Johnson discusses a number of issues or problems he sees within the African-American community, such as lack of proper leadership and focus, lack of proper direction in education, and lack of outreach to the community.

Click the image to play the clip.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT JEFF JOHNSON

I appreciate your empowering message. I thought that your message was very timely and pertinent. Without any doubt, your presentation was one of the most outstanding guest presentations I've ever heard. Thank you for your availability and great presentation. Your remarks were empowering and stimulating, in a word, tremendous.

-G. E. Williams, Student Leader, Fayetville State University

"Jeff Johnson’s address to our leadership team on May 8th lived up to every expectation we had of him. He was engaging, informative, challenging and though provoking—all of which we needed to move our Leadership Development initiative forward."

—Judith Jackson, Chief of Staff Services for the UnderServed

FULL BIO

Jeff Johnson is a Washington, D.C. based award-winning journalist, social activist and political commentator.

From his celebrated conversations with marquee world figures in the political, business and entertainment arenas to his grass-roots trench work to inspire the next generation of leaders; investigative journalist, political correspondent, and activist, Jeff Johnson continues to be a trailblazing social entrepreneur and authentic voice for change. Recently, Tom Joyner named him as part of the tag-team commentator duo on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show.

Johnson has spent the last decade merging the worlds of politics and popular culture including his work as Senior Advisor for Media and Youth Outreach for People for the American Way, National Director of the Youth & College division of the NAACP, and an appointment by Russell Simmons as the Vice President of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).

Currently, he is managing editor and chief correspondent for The Truth with Jeff Johnson, a hard-hitting, talk show airing Friday’s at 11pm ET on BET where he has earned a reputation as the “conscience voice” of network for his positive force among youth and young adults.

The only American reporter to receive an exclusive post-inauguration interview with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state and Liberia’s first elected female president. Johnson is also one of only two news correspondents to receive an exclusive interview with Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir, who has not granted interviews with American media outlets for thirteen years.

Recently, he won a 2008 NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for BET’s “Life & Death in Darfur, Jeff Johnson Reports” series. A source of information quoted in Newsweek, National Journal and Boston Globe, he regularly contributes commentary and analysis about issues related to race, politics, popular culture and socio-economics for news broadcasts and publications such as MSNBC’s Dayside and Hardball with Chris Matthews, CNN, Fox News Channel, Huffington Post, CNN.com, The Root.com, Upscale, J’Adore, N’Digo and EbonyJet.com.

Jeff is also one of 30 young leaders under 35 selected by the British Council to be apart of its Transatlantic 2020 team who are joining together from Europe and America to begin a new cross-border dialogue at a critical time to reinvigorate traditional alliances and mend transatlantic rifts.

Jeff Johnson consistently challenges audiences to innovatively weigh solutions to resolve historic and systemic social imbalances and inequalities.

Jeff Johnson Media Articles

BET's Jeff Johnson will provide a black perspective to news

BY RICHARD HUFF
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR
Wednesday, August 13th 2008, 4:00 AM

BET's Jeff Johnson says there are stories affecting African-Americans that simply don't get the coverage they warrant.

Among them, the impact of the rising cost of college tuition and racism on college campuses.

He's hoping to cover some of them in his new weekly show, "The Truth With Jeff Johnson," launching Friday at 11 p.m.

"The goal of this show is to have some level of substance and provide news," Johnson said. "There's always going to be enough to do in 20 minutes of television. That's much more of the challenge than are we going to be so slow that we have to do Britney Spears and Paris Hilton."

"The Truth" will be shot in New York on Thursdays for telecast the following evening. Each week will include a mix of reporting, interviews and analysis about what current events mean for the network's target audience.

Those topics, Johnson said, can range from the economy to race in the elections, the Olympics and Bernie Mac - all of which have been covered elsewhere on some level.

"Most of the audience, unfortunately, hasn't seen a group of African-American's discussing it, or done from an African-American perspective," Johnson said.

Yet that doesn't mean all of the folks weighing in on the show will be African-Americans, he said, noting he wants to have a mix of views.

Later this month, the show will come from the Democratic National Convention.

For BET, "The Truth" is the latest effort to launch a serious news program that fits within its regular schedule of original programming, reruns and music videos.

"I think it's a step in the right direction for the network," said Chris Cathcart, a Los Angeles-based media consultant and social critic. "In terms of black America, this type of dialogue takes place almost entirely via talk radio, so it's good to have another television vehicle in the mix, and Jeff Johnson's appeal should help engage younger viewers. Most important, I hope it allows for fresh voices and perspectives to join in the discussion. The debate always benefits from new energy and ideas."

Indeed, Johnson wants the show to reach a crosssection of age groups, which he hopes will watch together and talk about the topics at home.

"We understand there are people who don't watch the network," Johnson said. "This is the perfect kind of show to get them back to the network.

"We're not making any promises," he added. "We're just saying, 'Come, tune in and you'll be surprised.'"

rhuff@nydailynews.com

Interview with Jeff Johnson, BET Host and Producer, A Care Giver

http://www.whatisgoinon.com/podcast/2007/08/25/interview-with-jeff-johnson-bet-host-and-producer-a-care-giver/

This is what Jeff Johnson is about.

When I interview someone like Jeff Johnson, I always wonder why they aren’t known by everyone, every where. I am almost ashamed to admit that I had no idea who he was before the interview. So much for knowing “What Is Goin On?” And many thanks to Grayson Daughters for helping steer him my way.

If you want to know more about who Jeff is, you can read his bio. Or you can go to Jeff’s Nation or Truth Is Power.

Regardless of whether or not you are impressed by bios, and websites, the impressive thing about Jeff is the simple fact that he cares, not about himself, but about others. He cares about My Nation and your nation. He cares about youth in particular.

People like Jeff always bother me because they make me face the fact that there is too much talk and not enough action in this world. I become aware that I talk to much and do very little. It is one thing to talk about poverty and racism and education and politics, but it is another thing to get out there and actually do something about it.

Issues are about people and people are more important than issues. While we can talk around and about issues, it is very hard to stare a real person in the face and ignore the issues that control their existence. Until you experience their existence, I don’t think you can understand their issue. Having said that, I should shut up because I have a lot of thougts and opinions about issues I have not ever experienced: poverty, prison, gangs, drug addiction, rape, abortion, racism and many more.

Jeff is a doer and a motivator. He wants you and me to become doers and motivators. Not all of us can do it on the scale that Jeff does and there is no condemnation in that. We can’t experience it all. We can’t fight it all. We can’t change it all. But we can do something. No matter how small our world is, there is at least one other person it in. And, no matter our circumstances, we can care! We can care about someone more than ourselves. We can care about something that costs us more than words. We can care enough to do that one small thing that makes a difference is someone’s life.

It is in caring that we find worth, not only someone else’s, but our own worth, as well.

PAIR TO SUCCEED SMILEY ON 'JOYNER':

Fan voting left Jeff Johnson and Stephanie Robinson in 'dead heat.'

(September 15, 2008) http://www.eurweb.com/int.../commentview.cfm?id=47042

*Turns out it takes two people to fill Tavis Smiley's shoes at Tom Joyner's syndicated radio program.

After fan voting resulted in a tie between BET's Jeff Johnson and Harvard lecturer Stephanie Robinson, both were announced Thursday morning as the newest commentators for "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."

Their selection follows a two month on-air search to replace contributor Smiley, who exited the show in June after 12 years. Johnson will deliver his commentary on Tuesday and Robinson on Thursday at 8:10 a.m.

"'I am honored to be part of the TJMS family. This is truly a bridge-building opportunity as Stephanie and I bring a gender balance to commentary,' Johnson said in a statement.

Also, journalist Roland Martin has left his gig at Chicago's WVON-AM, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, to join the TJMS as a commentator. There's no word yet on when his commentaries will air.

•Jeff Johnson, a Washington, D.C.-based award-winning journalist, social activist and political commentator who merges politics and pop culture, is the managing editor/host of the BET talk show, "The Truth with Jeff Johnson." He has served as senior advisor for media and youth outreach for People for the American Way, national youth director for the NAACP and vice president for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

• Stephanie Robinson is the founding president and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank that focuses on democracy. She is a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and former chief counsel for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and a recognized expert on social policy, women, race and family.