In The Age of Obama, Media Diversity Takes Some Hits

It was a historic victory I thought might never come.

But even as Barack Obama stepped onstage Thursday to celebrate the first time a black man has ever won a presidential caucus in Iowa, I was also struck by something else: the lack of diversity among those who were covering the event.

At one point Thursday night, MSNBC had a panel of four middle-aged white guys dissecting the returns -- Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Tim Russert and Brian Williams -- though at other points, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, who is black, joined the fray. CNN also had former Chicago Defender executive editor Roland Martin on its panel of pundits, while Fox News had Greta Van Susteren as a co-anchor with Shepard Smith.

Still, it says something when the field of presidential candidates sometimes has more women and minorities than the team of reporters covering it.

That jarring note reflects a couple of unfortunate trends I noticed from last year: there are no reporters of color among the top 20 journalists featured on network TV in 2007, according to analysts at The Tyndall Report. And the number of TV stations owned by black people dipped 60 percent down to just eight nationwide.

It's hard to know what some of these trends will mean for the future. Hispanic-owned TV stations, often part of the industry fast-growing Spanish-language TV industry, are growing in prominence. But the hope that other minority groups might have a significant stake in national media is shrinking by the moment -- a development which remains puzzling, given how the county's population is increasing in diversity.

Here's Tyndall's list of top reporters, with their network and number of minutes onscreen. In the past, CBS correspodent Byron Pitts or NBC correspondent Ron Allen might add some diversity to the mix, but they were absent this year.

I also found it interesting that only a couple of the top guys are heavily involved in covering the presidential election, though that is clearly one of the bigger stories of last year and this one. Following the list of top reporters, is Tyndall's list of most-covered stories, with Iraq unsurprisingly at the top:

TOP 20 MOST HEAVILY-USED REPORTERS (Anchors excl)
ABC Jake Tapper Politics 231 (at right)
NBC David Gregory White House 230
NBC Andrea Mitchell State Department 220
CBS David Martin Pentagon 217
CBS/ABC Nancy Cordes Domestic 200
NBC Tom Costello DC Bureau 199
CBS Jim Axelrod White House 195
ABC Lisa Stark DC Bureau 193
NBC Robert Bazell Medicine 190
ABC Martha Raddatz White House 183
CBS Steve Hartman Human Interest 177
ABC Dan Harris Domestic 176
ABC Jonathan Karl Pentagon 175
CBS Lara Logan Foreign 172 (at right)
NBC Pete Williams Justice 172
CBS Bob Orr Justice 162
NBC Lisa Myers Investigative Unit 162
CBS Sharyl Attkisson Investigative/Capitol 160
ABC David Muir Domestic 155
ABC Brian Ross Investigative Unit 154

TOP TWENTY STORIES OF 2007
mins Total ABC CBS NBC
Iraq: US-led combat continues 1157 370 379 407
Virginia Tech campus massacre 244 79 80 84
Wildfires in southern California 221 76 79 66
NYSE-NASDAQ market action 208 51 76 80
Winter blizzards, icestorms 182 59 47 77
Pakistan in political turmoil 165 53 48 63
Military injuries, disabilities 160 57 55 48
Real estate mass foreclosures 133 51 35 46
Illegal immigration debate 124 47 39 39
2008 Rodham Clinton campaign 120 41 44 35
Military families face problems 119 41 40 38
Hurricane Katrina aftermath 116 20 25 71
US Attorneys fired by DoJ 116 33 46 37
Tornado season 112 41 39 32
Airline delays, cancelations 108 39 26 43
Iran military expansion feared 106 32 37 36
2008 Iowa caucuses previewed 104 39 33 31
Global warming climate change 103 38 25 41
2008 Rudolph Giuliani campaign 95 30 28 36
Crude oil, gasoline prices increase 92 42 23 27

Comments

[bigyaz]

Wenalway: I think we should have more newspaper designers on these panels. They have the best credentials by far.

[Wenalway]

And while they do that, shallow-minded fools can clamor for quotas. Let's keep that pattern going for another 15 years or so.

[CMcK]

As long as we're using sarcasm, you are right, Wenalway. Let's keep the status quo. Let's let older white guys dominate the mainstream media because they're the ones with the best ideas and best credentials! Every one else can just blog or keep their mouths shut.

[Wenalway]

Yeah, CMcK, you got me. I mean, after all, we've heard these shallow, quota-based cries for "diversity" for at least 15 years, and they have accomplished SO MUCH. (Extreme sarcasm alert, for those who want to point out "elementary" things.)

You can pigeonhole from there, but the people who just call for quotas and don't propose any other solutions are shallow thinkers. They cling to a failed approach, and they should be criticized. Either come up with something resembling a thought-out idea, or be prepared to be questioned.

People like you want to look first at people's gender and skin color and second at their ideas. You are the problem, not the solution. In fact, you are a big part of the problem.

[CMcK]

Wenalway, if you are so worried about credentials, does Eric not have the background to start a sentence, "Those of us who have been covering media for a while..." Your complaint says more about your own insecurities.

Well, I too have been covering the media for a while (I'm a journalism professor). Perhaps Eric could have better articulated the assumptions behind his point from the start, but he didn't because it would have been too elementary for even mildly intelligent viewers who have ever watched the mainstream media (now that, for the record, is a less than backhanded slap).

Is it so hard to believe, Wenalway, that people of different races, sexes, classes, ages, parties etc., might have different opinions that would be valuable for a diverse audience to hear?

I think what you are proving is that there is a large group of media consumers out there who want to make a little nest for themselves of voices much like their own, perspectives like their own that won't be challenging/threatening.

Well, some of us want to learn something from a person of a different background.

Charlie Rose, for example, included in a four-interview night of three older white men the perspective of a 24-year-old black woman who was a grad student and documentary filmmaker at Columbia. As a 30-something white man, I enjoyed hearing what she said about Obama. Rose admitted that she didn't have the credentials of the other guests and that he had simply called Columbia U. and asked for a bright young person to explain why Obama had caught on with young people. He got a great guest, and I learned a lot from her. Mission accomplished!

[Wenalway]

Nice try, but you don't seem to be able to answer in the manner I described.

Also, your backhanded slaps about "covering media for a while" are pointless. All that means is you've probably been doing it wrong all this time. You know that you don't have to do any analysis, that you can just call for quotas and pass that off as deep thought, and the wimps and infopimps in today's media won't have the backbone to respond.

If there really are "lots of people" out there, then you should be able to name them off and cite their qualifications.

[Eric Deggans]

Those of us who have been covering media for a while know there are lots of people out there with the qualifications to help cover elections and speak on electoral issues.

Assuming that a panel on TV is lacking in diversity because they got the "best" people is a bit of a fallacy.

I would say that NBC should rethink having a front line of anchors in political coverage that includes Brian Williams, Tim Russert, Keith Olbermann, and chris matthews -- all middle-aged white guys in ties.

Couldn't lester holt be part of the mix? Shouldn't they have held onto Campbell Brown and given her a bigger role? Isn't it odd that there's so little diversity among their five biggest political anchors?

at any rate, the post wasn't intended to be an exhaustive exmaination of the issue. it was just something i noticed while watching the reporting and it seemed to fit with some other trends I'd seen, so I put it together in a blog posting...

[Wenalway]

I'll spend time coming up with a better response when you come up with a better argument than "fewer white people."

I'll help you out: You give us FACTS as to why a certain person should be off the air and why another person should be on it. Not skin color. Not gender. FACTS, such as "Soandso can explain this issue because ...," with the rest of that sentence being something other than Soandso has the same skin color or gender as another person.

I await your response.

[Eric Deggans]

I'm not saying MSNBC never had people of color or women providing commentary. But their main anchors forthe coverage were five middle-aged white guys: Brian Williams, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw.

I think MSNBC in particular needs to rethink that formula in the future...

And I find it very interesting that the poster who accuses me of limited thinking has nothing but buzz words and insults to back his criticism of my ideas. I've always felt the last refuge of a limited mind was an argument filled with insults...

[Wenalway]

Another idiot who thinks quotas are the solution. Another lazy person who thinks he's an intellectual by suggesting quotas.

Maybe we should strive instead to have a lower percentage of idiots in the media. Right now, you are driving up that number.

Let us know when you have a real thought that required some real effort.

CNN also had Donna Brazile, and two of its correspondents --- Gloria Borger and Suzanne Malveaux --- providing commentary.

[Scott H]

To be fair, MSNBC's 4 additional commenters, where Eugene Robinson was sitting, also included a woman, Rachel Maddow, from Air America. The other two were white men (can't get any whiter than Pat Buchanan).

[Eric Deggans]

You're right. And eugene is even a columnist I have met and read regularly.

That was a brain fart. Sorry eugene.

[Kim]

Do you mean Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post?