The pioneering African-American television journalist Gil Noble has died at the age of 80. Since 1968, Noble hosted the award-winning public affairs program “Like It Is” on WABC in New York. Guests on Noble’s show included Fannie Lou Hamer, Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, Michael Manley and Stokely Carmichael. He received seven Emmy Awards. The legendary actor, singer and activist Harry Belafonte appeared on the show many times.

Harry Belafonte: “Gil was really right on target, right on the money. He was uncompromising. He could have been, from a national and even an international perspective, one of the biggest broadcasters in America, but he chose to stay deeply committed to the community, to black history, to truth.”

In an interview in 2010 with the Visionary Project, Gil Noble talked about the importance of having voices from the black, Latino and Asian communities in positions of power within the world of journalism.

Gil Noble: “Who determines not only what gets in the funnel, but all that extra stuff that doesn’t? And what I’m saying is that the people who make that decision are neither black, nor brown, nor red nor yellow, or have they had any educational background that tells the truth about the people who are black or brown or red or yellow. So there’s a presumption that we’re getting the skinny on what happened today. That’s not so.”

Anchor: “Misinformation instead?”

Gil Noble: “Yes, I think misinformation is indeed a weapon of mass destruction.”