By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com

Can BET handle the truth?

The news division of the long running Black Entertainment Television channel will launch its newest talk show, aptly titled 'The Truth With Jeff Johnson,' Aug. 15.

Hosted by the young, hip and debonair political motivator and social commentator, who first debuted as "Cousin Jeff" on 'Rap City,' the weekly half-hour program promises to use a mix of investigative reporting and one-on-one interviews with leading experts to review the week's events and examine exactly what the top headlines mean for the Black community.

But is BET ready for it? The 28-year-old network – mostly known for its music programming – has tried its hand at several news oriented programs throughout the years with hosts such as Tavis Smiley, Ed Gordon and Jackie Reid, respectively.

According to the network's Chairman and CEO, Debra L. Lee, the launching of the show is "necessary.""BET News is committed to informing our audience with the news they can't get anywhere else, with a diversity of voices and opinions that our audience demands," she said in announcing the ambitious show, which resembles the HBO political hotpot 'Real Time with Bill Maher' -- but of course with a black perspective.

But don't try to put him into a box. That's a no-no.

"I don't want us to be the "black show" as much as a show that provides a different perspective and covers issues that other networks don't view as news," Johnson, a native of Cleveland, told BlackVoices.com yesterday.

"I like to peel back the layers," he said of his no-holds-barred interviewing approach.

"People are people, no matter what they have been able to accomplish in one area of their lives," he continued. "I want to know about the side of them we don't normally see. Additionally, I want to get to the heart of the issue. Most people don't answer the question. I like to keep pushing."

Johnson, himself a University of Toledo alum, is the former National Youth Director for the NAACP and also served as the Vice-President for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. As a talking head, he's been featured on CNN and several radio shows.

As for 'The Truth,' the timing for an engaging, politically-savvy show geared towards the urban demographic couldn't be better; no matter what goes down during the election process Senator Barack Obama is still making history.

Because of that, the show will travel to Denver for the 45th Democratic National Convention for special daily editions of the show -- broadcasting live from inside the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field. Johnson will be joined with other leading media figures such as political strategist and BET J host Keith Boykin; San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris; and political pundits Jamal Simmons, Keli Goff, and Angela McGlowan.

Whether the BET audience will stick with the show or not remains to be seen, however.

Johnson, who previously fronted his own show 'The Jeff Johnson Chronicles' and appeared on 'Meet The Faith,' is optimistic of the prospect.

"This is one of the things our audience has said they wanted," he said. "I want the audience to be critically supportive. Watch the show, that's the only way we continue to add more programming like this. But, I also want viewers to hold us accountable at the same time. We need the audience to help us be our best even while they watch."

Celebrity Quotes

Word for Word -April, 18, 2008

"I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse."-- Barack Obama, 2008 Presidential Candidate

(R)Sergei Chuzavkov, AP (L)Valerie Macon, Getty Images
"What wedding? I was watching a movie on Friday night." --Gwyneth Paltrow refuses to confirm she attended pals Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles' nuptials in New York on Friday.

R)Kevin Mazur(L)KMazur, WireImage.com
"She's 100-per cent better now. She was really sick. She had bronchitis. She's in Japan right now. She's better and doing all the promotion that she didn't get to do because she was sick when the album launched." --Janet Jackson's longterm boyfriend Jermaine Dupri has put the superstar's fans minds at rest - assuring them she has fully recovered after a bout of illness.

Mark Mainz, Getty Images
"It's a massive compliment. Personally I've got a lot of hard work to do." --Leona Lewis, on being compared to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.

Damian Dovarganes, AP
"I've always had low self-esteem, and I still do. What's weird about that is being onstage, and the love that you get, and the adoration that you feel from your real fans." --Mariah Carey's self-analysis.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images
"There's lot of motion in the ocean. It's almost like riding a wave. I have to be the glass and Karina is the water."--Dancing With The Stars contestant Mario, on his fluid moves, to People Magazine."

ABC
"My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama. As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess." --Former president Jimmy Carter, one of a handful of high-profile Democrats who have remained publicly neutral during the primary season thus far.

(R)Rick Bowmer (L) Ric Feld, AP
"We were together when he was recording that album. I was in the studio with him on most of those songs, so I guess people just don't do the math with it all. We didn't break up because of infidelity or anything like that. We broke up because we just did not work, and that's it."--TLC star Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas has finally spoken out about her split from ex-boyfriend Usher. Thomas insists the album had nothing to do with the break-up, telling Sister2Sister magazine.

Jemal Countess, WireImage.com
"When I was in Texas recently and we were pulled over by the cops my initial reaction to the guy who was driving was: 'Don't put your hands in your pockets, put your hands on the steering wheel.' Because that's the way I came up. That's the way I understood my relationship with the cops, at least in my neighborhood."--That neighborhood was South Central Los Angeles - where "Street Kings" is set. Whitaker says he understands what it's like.

Fox Searchlight
"I think there's a certain way of making comedy where you're a dangerous genius and you throw things across the room, and that's not how we do things over here."--Tina Fey, star and creator of NBC's "30 Rock."

NBC Universal, Inc.