NBC Launches NBC BLK to Cover Stories About Black Culture

In January 2015, NBC added a new platform devoted to stories about the black experience to NBC News Digital called NBC BLK. Due to the seemingly narrow focus of the platform, many people took to social media sites to question the authenticity of the web page announcing it, while others accused NBC of creating a "blacks only" web site:

When I see things like news about #NBCBLK on #MLKDay I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Like is this real?!?!

— Æ 25 Æ (@fenix_rising_) January 19, 2015

What the hell is #NBCBLK? Is this a real NBC page? Im leaving the internet #iCant.

— Asha Bee (@ItsMeAshaBee) January 20, 2015

According to the NBC BLK Facebook page, the network is hoping to create a "conversation around black identity and culture" with its new platform:

Amber Payne, who was an Associate Producer with NBC Nightly News from 2007-2009 and a producer for NBC Universal from 2009-2014, has been named the managing editor of NBC BLK:

NBCBLK tells stories by, for, and about the black community. Elevating America's conversation about black identity, politics, and culture today. Our stories engage, inspire, and inform communities of color.

Amber spent 10 years at NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams where she wrote, shot, and edited breaking news and feature stories.