I don’t think it was planned this way, but this Billboard article on tonight’s telethons clued me in to the fact that Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast features mostly white artists and celebs while BET’s S.O.S. (Saving Ourselves): The BET Relief Telethon features pretty much all black artists. That feels kind of weird to me, especially since BET’s telethon gets downplayed in the article and, I think, elsewhere as well.

While BET announced S.O.S. in an August 31st press release, the earliest mention I can find of Shelter From the Storm is on September 2nd. You’ll notice in the comments section of the A+E Interactive post that Ifè Oshun, About.com’s Rap and Hip-hop Guide was already raising this issue by September 3rd and pointing to a lack of media coverage of the BET announcement. Good looking out, Ifè.

Obviously the BET telethon and the combined MTV, VH1, and CMT telethon on Saturday aren’t in conflict because they’re all owned by the same company, Viacom, Inc. So the scheduling issue could simply be about competing businesses not checking in though a lot of people must have been in the loop for Shelter From the Storm. But it also means that the telethon featuring black performers related to a disaster featuring black survivors seems to be getting downplayed.

I think it’s great that a lot’s happening but, given the tensions around who got abandoned in the Katrina disaster, it feels kind of insensitive. Am I offbase on this, dear readers? Let me know.

By the way, SIRIUS Satellite Radio is dealing with the conflict by promoting and broadcasting all three live, a real indication of their strength and flexibility in the media wars.

Update: I just went back to the A+E Interactive blog mentioned above and found this post, Katrina telethons for the weekend:
“A quick note that two major telethons will air this weekend to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina.”

Guess which of this weekend’s three telethons wasn’t mentioned?