GIANTMAG.COM AND THEURBANDAILY.COM SELECTED AS OFFICIAL HONOREES BY 13TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS

GIANTMAG.COM AND THEURBANDAILY.COM SELECTED

AS OFFICIAL HONOREES BY 13TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS



Interactive One Sites Receive Internet’s Most Prestigious Honor,

As Well As Being The Only African American Websites Honored



New York, NY April 20, 2009 – GIANTMag.com and TheUrbanDaily.com, two industry leading websites and part of InteractiveOne, LLC The Digital Connection For Black America were named official honorees by this year’s Webby Awards, the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Additionally, they are the only African American websites, not cause-related to be named as official 2009 honorees.


GIANTMAG.COM AND THEURBANDAILY.COM SELECTED
AS OFFICIAL HONOREES BY 13TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS

Interactive One Sites Receive Internet’s Most Prestigious Honor,
As Well As Being The Only African American Websites Honored

New York, NY April 20, 2009 – GIANTMag.com and TheUrbanDaily.com, two industry leading websites and part of InteractiveOne, LLC The Digital Connection For Black America were named official honorees by this year’s Webby Awards, the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Additionally, they are the only African American websites, not cause-related to be named as official 2009 honorees.

The 13th Annual Webby Awards will be presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences to GIANTMag.com and TheUrbanDaily.com on June 8th in the categories of “Magazine” and “Celebrity/Fan” for excellence and outstanding performance. Over 10,000 entries are submitted each year, but only a select few are awarded honorable mention. GIANTMag.com, which is being honored in both categories, is the digital extension of GIANT Magazine, a bi-monthly urban magazine dedicated to showcasing celebrity, fashion, art, lifestyle and culture that has featured everyone from Beyoncé to 50 Cent. TheUrbanDaily.com, which was honored in the “Celebrity/Fan” category, has its fingers on the pulse of the entertainment industry, providing entertainment news, information, gossip and opinion and original celebrity interviews.

Both sites are powered by BlackPlanet.com, the largest African American social network. Parent company Interactive One connects BlackPlanet to these sites as well as NewsOne.com and HelloBeautiful.com to create diverse content that meets the needs of the diverse African American community. Altogether, the sites reach 50% of the African American online community.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by the Webby Awards,” said Smokey D. Fontaine, Chief Content Officer, Interactive One. “We are very proud of the communities we are building around our sites, and of course, it is an even greater honor to have the only African American sites breaking through and creating quality content that is engaging our audience. It speaks to our company’s mission to be the leading and highest quality destination for anyone seeking out the African American perspective.”

Interactive One was launched by Radio One in 2007 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, serving more than 9 million users. Interactive One is powered by the mission to create an online community that engages and positively impacts the lives of African Americans.

ABOUT INTERACTIVE ONE
Interactive One has over 15 million members and reaches over 10 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; GIANTMag.com (www.GIANTMag.com), which highlights today’s hottest celebrity, style, and culture; and Elev8 (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..

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.

Newsone exclusive:How US Drug Policies Destroy Our Inner Cities And The Third World

How US Drug Policies Destroy Our Inner Cities And The Third World
By Casey Gane-McCalla March 18, 2009 1:13 pm


Drugs are a serious problem in America but, unfortunately, so is the war on drugs. Drugs mess up peoples’ lives, but not as much as the war on drugs where blacks and Hispanics are scapegoated for America’s problem. Despite the fact that studies show that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate, blacks are incarcerated for drugs at a rate 6 times that of whites 4.2% vs. 0.7%.

By arresting minorities, America tries to show that it’s fighting the drug problem while whites in the suburbs stay free to use and abuse drugs without solid police interference. In fact, while use of the stereotypical drugs associated with African-Americans (i.e. crack and marijuana) is declining, there are major meth and prescription pill epidemics occurring across poorer rural and more affluent white communities. This problem has gone virtually ignored even though this level of drug addiction has become a silent killer in many of these areas.

One of the biggest problems with the war on drugs is the level of guns and violence involved. By criminalizing drugs, the US puts the distribution and manufacturing of drugs in the hands of violent, competing criminals. Gangs like the Bloods and the Crips all get their guns from US manufacturers. Often these guns are bought by gun runners who buy or ’steal’ the firearms from Virginia and then sell them up and down the east coast. Most guns used in drug related gun violence are illegally sold, but there has been no action by the US government to crack down on these illegal sales and, whether legal or illegal, all firearm profits somehow still get into the hands of gun manufacturers.

American gun laws not only fuel the drug war at home but also around the world. Recently on 60 Minutes, Mexican officials complained that most of the guns used in Mexico’s drug wars were bought in the USA. The Mexican drug wars are caused by American need for drugs as the cartels fight over who gets to service American addictions, leaving thousands of Mexicans dead, injured or kidnapped. The high level of money that American drug addiction brings into the United States makes it impossible for the Mexican government not to be corrupted. When the only Third World billionaire is a drug dealer, it’s obvious that drugs have become that part of the world’s major industry.
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