Social media can be the new microphone of debate, a veteran of radio and television told students at Western Kentucky University on Thursday evening.

Paul Porter, CEO and founder of raprehab.com and former program director for Black Entertainment Television, said it is “easy to go through life as a fraction of yourself,” but much more important to challenge ideas, corporate stereotypes and manufactured mainstream messages. 

Porter spoke at a black history program presented by the WKU Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion at Gary Ransdell Hall.

“The effort to change things comes from the drive within. I question everything I hear and see,” Porter said.

He said it scares him that today’s young people say they get the majority of their news from Twitter and Facebook.

“Everyone is controlling what you see and hear on the Internet,” Porter said.

Porter said he knows the price of questioning. When he was told years ago by a 12-year-old girl that a rap song on the radio about a “b—-” being hit by a baseball bat hit too close to home for the girl since her mother was hospitalized from a baseball bat beating, he went to the top of the company he worked for to pull the recording off the playlist. It was pulled, but his boss didn’t like it and fired him.

When he was at BET, the owner of the network sent out emails saying programming should reflect the “gangster” style of the African-American experience. Even though Porter had changed the programming, and the ratings for the network increased, he told the students that he lost that job, too.

He said the issues that need debate today are more than just black versus white. “We need more unity.”

Porter said he’s doing his part registering more hits on raprehab.com, and he’s in the process of purchasing a 500-watt radio station in Orlando, Fla., where he lives. He will be able to play the music he wants on that station, bypassing the corporate-dictated playlists.

He said the future of media will be in the palm of everyone’s hands as mobile phones become the source of information that has long been dominated by television. But rather than just staring at the screen, he urged the students to blog, to debate, to get involved.

“If you want someone on your side, I’m here. Prepare to do it together but be ready to do it alone,” Porter said.

Eppiphanie Benton, a WKU junior from Atlanta studying biology, said Porter’s comments were refreshing.

“It is refreshing to have a speaker to actually have opinions that are not the norm,” Benton said. “We need to develop our own opinions.”

Kiara Schott, a WKU freshman from Wisconsin studying communications, agreed with Porter that the media delivery systems are changing. 

“It’s different than what it was for the older generations,” she said. 

— Follow education reporter Chuck Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnschools or at bgdaily news.com.