EthnicMajority

(The Root) The near-whiteout at the 2011 Emmy Awards drew criticism from The Root and other sources. But the problem for this show, or for its sibling, the Oscars, is about who the directors are. Producers hire directors, and the directors decide who and what goes on the screen. But Hollywood's overwhelmingly white male producers rarely hire blacks, Latinos, Asians or women of any background as directors. 

A new Directors Guild of America report shows how woeful the record is, but it's the same news — just a different day. The report analyzed more than 2,600 episodes produced in the 2010-2011 television season for more than 170 scripted television series shown on broadcast TV, basic cable and premium cable. The shows were produced by production companies including ABC, CBS, Fox, HBO, NBC, Sony and Warner Bros.

White males directed 77 percent of the shows, and white females directed 11 percent of the episodes. Minority males directed 11 percent, and minority females directed 1 percent. The racial and gender near-shutout was more striking for one-hour series, in which white males directed 80 percent of episodes.

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(Los Angeles Times) Further evidence has emerged that Hollywood has made little progress in hiring women and minorities to work on prime-time television shows.

A survey conducted by the Directors Guild of America of more than 2,600 television episodes from 170 scripted TV series for the 2010-11 season found that white males directed 77% of all episodes, and white females directed 11% of all episodes. Minority males directed 11% all episodes and minority females directed just 1% of the shows, according to the survey of programs from the major broadcast and cable networks.

The directors guild, which over the years has prodded production companies to establish diversity programs and improve hiring practices, expressed disappointment with the findings, noting that the results show little change from a similar survey in the 2009-2010 television season.

The guild singled out nine shows that hired no women or minority directors for the 2010-2011 season, including HBO's "Bored to Death," Showtime's "Weeds" and FX's "Justified." Sixteen other shows hired women and minorities for fewer than 15% of episodes. Those include Fox's "House" (produced by NBC) and Lifetime's "Army Wives" (produced by ABC).

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(Los Angeles Times) "Undercovers," a glossy drama about married caterers moonlighting as spies, was positioned by NBC as more than just a glittery entry in its fall lineup when it premiered last September. The series featured two black leads — a rarity in prime-time network TV — and was the centerpiece of the network's aggressive campaign touting its commitment to boosting diversity.

NBC trumpeted "Undercovers" as a response to opponents of the network's merger with cable giant Comcast who contended NBC had a historically poor record when it came to placing African Americans in front of and behind the camera. But despite heavy promotion, "Undercovers" never caught on with viewers and was canceled by early November, leaving some observers to speculate that NBC's push for more minority presence would wither.

Network honchos were reassuring. Then-diversity chief Paula Madison maintained in a February radio interview with noted sociologist Michael Eric Dyson that Comcast's NBCUniversal was committed to increasing diversity "in all facets of our business.…Those commitments are in writing, and they are on file with the FCC. There is no likelihood that we would revert. We're not going to put shows on the air that are devoid of diversity."

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(TV Guide) To paraphrase NBC’s marketing slogan, has prime time become “less colorful”? Looking at the casting of this fall’s new TV series, the groups that monitor TV diversity think so.

Unlike last year, when at least nine new shows boasted leading roles for black, Latino and Asian-American actors (including NBC’s now canceled Undercovers and Outlaw and The CW’s returning Nikita), next year most minority characters are supporting roles. The networks are also airing more comedies next fall — and in recent years, half-hour sitcoms have been less diverse than dramas.

That’s why there’s concern that the strides made by network diversity efforts are being erased. The trend is to “sprinkle in some African-Americans or Latinos as the second or third character,” says Vic Bulluck, who heads the NAACP’s Hollywood branch. That’s despite 2010 census data, which show that the U.S. Hispanic/Latino population now makes up 16.3 percent of the country, while Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders constitute 5 percent and African-Americans 12.6 percent.

Execs say they take diversity seriously but could do better. “Network TV has come a long way…but there is always a need for and a desire to improve,” says Nicole Bernard, Fox’s senior VP of audience strategy.

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(Huffington Post) When Comcast first proposed its joint venture with NBC Universal in October 2009, skeptics correctly asked, “What’s in it for African Americans and other underserved communities?” We wanted to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t rubber stamp a corporate giveaway that didn’t deliver real benefits to the public.

I hope these critics will now take a hard look at what was achieved for African Americans as part of the Comcast-NBCU review process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Any fair review will find a number of positive advances, particularly in the areas of broadband adoption and minority media ownership, which are significant enough that I felt compelled to offer my strong support.

Broadband Development and Adoption

As access to broadband has become increasingly essential to educational and employment opportunities, African Americans and members of other underserved communities have lagged behind in broadband deployment and adoption. Leaving these communities out of the broadband revolution is unacceptable.

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(Daily Caller) The pending merger between NBC Universal and Comcast appears to have received Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s support because of the companies’ recent promises to the NAACP, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the National Urban League and several Hispanic and Asian civil rights organizations. The two media giants promised more “diversity” in new and existing programming, and in all levels of the company and they promised more minority characters in existing television programs and more new programs targeted at the specific racial minorities.

Comcast and NBC Universal promised black leaders four new channels “in which African Americans have a majority or substantial ownership interest,” two of which would be created within two years of the merger. Comcast also promised the black leaders $20 million within six months of the merger closing for a program to expand opportunities for “minority entrepreneurs.”

The media giants also agreed to allow black leaders to have influence over NBC’s news programming.

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(The Hill) Lawmakers are increasingly divided on whether Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC Universal would help or harm the amount of diversity in the media.

The proposed merger has drawn scrutiny from competing media companies and advocacy groups who fear the deal would concentrate too much control over media ownership and distribution in the hands of one firm. Lawmakers, especially those representing districts with significant minority populations, have increasingly found themselves choosing sides in the debate.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) recently added his name to the list of minority lawmakers backing the transaction; in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission dated Oct. 21, Rush argues Comcast’s diversity commitments, including a pledge to add ten minority-owned cable networks, would benefit minority businesses and media representation.

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(San Francisco Chronicle) The prime-time sitcom is a curious beast.

On the one hand, it’s the Great Equalizer — the small-d democratic medium that more than any other demonstrates the shared common ground that exists across class, creed and culture. On the other, the way sitcoms establish this universality is generally to stamp characters into molds, reducing them to standard lowest-common-denominator icons: The hot girl, the geeky guy, the eager beaver, the oily weasel.

That’s not entirely meant to be criticism. When we hit the couch around 8 p.m. (7 p.m. Central), boilerplate is where we want to begin: Sitcoms are media comfort food, the comic equivalent of mac and cheese. But just as a non-stop diet of Kraft Dinner rapidly loses its appeal (unless you happen to be my six-year-old son), the level playing field of stereotype is merely where the game begins. To survive long-term, a sitcom needs to surprise and engage beyond those initial expectations. It must prove it can be both provocative and sophisticated — while remaining true to the format’s roots.

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(Radio Survivor) Radio One, the nation’s biggest African American oriented radio network, has endorsed the proposed Comcast/NBC Universal merger, now being evaluated by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

Its CEO Alfred Liggins III praised Comcast for helping Radio One develop its TV One cable channel.

“The result is that today, as one of the nation’s two major African-American-oriented channels (and the only one owned by African-Americans), our network now reaches more than 50 million homes via cable and satellite and has an audience with enormous race, gender and generational diversity.

In addition to supporting TV One, Comcast has a history of giving diverse voices a megaphone. The company assisted in launching African-American-owned channels like Hip Hop on Demand, the Africa Channel and Crossings and boasts an unrivaled package of 50 Spanish language channels and 150 titles available on-demand. The newly formed company plans to build on this track record in a number of exciting ways.”

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(OpEd News) On July 13th, citizens from Chicago piled into a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public hearing on the Comcast-NBC Universal merger to weigh in on the merger and give public comments that would become part of the FCC’s legal record for and against the merger. The legal record would be referred to when making a decision on whether to allow Comcast to merge with NBC or not.

The hearing was held at Thorne Auditorium on Northwestern University’s campus in Chicago. It was possibly the only public hearing the FCC will be holding on this merger in the country.

Each person in attendance had an opportunity to sign up and give two minutes of public testimony. About ninety people signed up. Most were from Chicago but some were from California and other parts of the country.

Those giving public testimony voiced their opinion on a media consolidation move that would put production and distribution into the hands of one company. This would make it a vertical merger. The merger would also mean that Comcast would control one in every five television viewing hours and could potentially push its competitors in the industry to raise prices on cable subscribers by charging them more for NBC content.

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