Today's Date: December 8, 2023
K2 Corporate Mobility embarks on an incredible expedition to Nepal, trekking to Everest Base Camp and volunteering at Nepalese s   •   U.S. Institute of Peace Announces Pétronille Vaweka the 2023 Women Building Peace Award Recipient   •   A new book was released at CIIE: "Green Rural Revival Programme" makes the Rebirth of an Isolated Village and Overflowing with C   •   Glenfarne Energy Transition’s Texas LNG and ABB Partner on Core Electrical and Automation Equipment   •   Hampton Roads Workforce Council Receives $14 Million from U.S. Department of Defense to Bolster Maritime Workforce   •   Williams Mullen Earns Top Score in Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index   •   Bureo Completes Series B Funding Round, Advancing Work to End Fishing Net Pollution   •   HH Global discloses environmental impact through CDP   •   McDonald’s and Paramount Among Latest Top-Tier Organizations to Join the Financial Literacy for All Movement   •   East Point Energy Developed Project Becomes Virginia’s Largest Operational Energy Storage Facility   •   Stamford Hospital is Recognized by U.S. News & World Report for Maternity Care   •   Scholar focusing on God's human qualities wins Grawemeyer religion prize   •   DICED Culinary School Earns Coveted Accreditation from Tourism HR Canada   •   Tis the Season: Elmhurst 1925 Fan Favorite OatNog Returns for the Holidays, Featured in Walker Hayes' "Fancy Like Christmas" Mus   •   California Community College Expands with 17-Device Order   •   Scott Cooper Miami Project Announces New Scholarship Winner: Aban Khan   •   Energy Tech Giant Kraken Wins at S&P Global Commodity Insights’ 25th Annual Platts Global Energy Award   •   Surf Air Mobility and Purdue University Enter Agreement for Privately Subsidized Commuter Air Service Between West Lafayette / P   •   Code Ninjas Elevates National Hack-A-Thon to New Heights in 2023   •   San Diego Angel Conference at USD Opens 2024 SDAC VI Fund to Angel Investors as Applications for Founders Seeking Funding Close
Bookmark and Share

National Black Journalists: Cable News Networks Moving Backwards

 WASHINGTON -- The following letter was released today by the National Association of Black Journalists:

Dear Cable News Executives:

It is 2010, but the National Association of Black Journalists sees our cable news networks moving backward when it comes to who they believe is worthy of anchoring prime-time news shows.

NABJ was founded in 1975 to encourage news media companies to hire and to promote more Black journalists. At that time, black journalists originally hired to cover riots during the turbulent 1960s found they were not being assigned to other meaningful beats or were only allowed to cover "Black" stories.

NABJ's advocacy for fair hiring practices paid off. Many of our founders, including columnists Les Payne in New York andDeWayne Wickham in Washington, D.C., and anchor Maureen Bunyan in Washington, D.C. remain prominent figures in the media.

NABJ continues this advocacy today. To be candid, we have been focusing our talks with media executives on ways they can increase the diversity of their news management teams. It is our belief that a diverse management team improves coverage decisions and hiring practices. It seems, though, that the companies have taken that to mean that we don't care about who is on the air. We're watching, and we do.

Over the past several years, NABJ Executive Board members have met with leaders of the top media companies. Our message: "Let us help if you are looking for diverse talent."

Some of the companies have reached out, but the names we have submitted never seem to be called in for interviews.

Three years ago, Ebony magazine's Kevin Chappell noted, "While CNN has the most Black news anchors with eight, the other cable networks don't (fare) as well... and none of the national cable stations has any Blacks in prime-time slots."

Nothing has changed. NABJ questions CNN's decision to hire former New York governor/attorney general Eliot Spitzer to co-host a new show in Campbell Brown's old time slot. The company missed another opportunity to place a person of color in prime time. It just seems that cable news can never find diverse candidates who are good enough to meet their standards. We want to know your standards.

Are you telling us that CNN could find no one better than an ex-politician who quit being New York governor after consorting with prostitutes to grace America's living rooms each night?

CNN does have Tony Harris anchoring in the morning, and Fredricka WhitfieldT.J. Holmes, and Don Lemon on the weekends. But that's not prime time. The same can be said about MSNBC which last week named veteran Lawrence O'Donnell as the anchor of its new 10 p.m. show. The prime-time host line-up at Fox News also lacks any racial diversity.

"In his story, Chappell talked with NABJ Member and CBS News anchor Russ Mitchell who summed up what many of us have witnessed over the years. Mitchell told Ebony "I've been to journalism conferences over and over again, and heard some executive say 'I'd like to hire more African-Americans, but I just can't find any qualified ones out there.' That was b.s. then, and that's b.s. now."

NABJ couldn't agree more.

Sincerely,

The National Association of Black Journalists

 



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News