Sunday Morning "Apartheid" Continues

In 2006, the National Urban League released a report showing how racially segregated the Sunday morning talk shows are. According to their report, more than 60% of all of the broadcasts of the Sunday morning talk shows had no black guests on them at all. And 80% of the roundtables had no black participants.

Things don't seem to have gotten much better. Just look at last Sunday's Meet the Press. Tim Russert, once again, hosted an all-white roundtable to analyze the presidential elections. And who does he have on? James Carville, Mary Matalin, Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy - which he billed as "four of the sharpest minds in politics today."

This isn't the first time this foursome has been given this forum to pontificate about the presidential campaign. I know, I know - the standard defense for this "apartheid" is often - "there AREN'T any black people who are experts on this" or somesuch. That, however, is bull. Not only are there plenty of black people who could very knowledgeably discuss these issues, they TOO would be seen as experts pretty quickly if they were given a fourth of the airtime these people get.

And since when is expertise a requirement for being a talking head? Bob Shrum, who has lost everything he's touched (8 presidential campaigns). Jim Carville - what campaigns has he succesfully run lately? Mike Murphy - McCain's strategist ('nuf said). And Mary Matalin - the only one in the group who has been connected with a successful campaign in the last 10 years. These are the "sharpest minds" in politics?

From the study:

The Sunday Morning Apartheid study revealed, among other things, that during the two-year period studied:
• Sixty-one percent of all of the Sunday morning talk shows featured no black guests;
• Eighty percent of the broadcasts contained no interviews with black guests;
• Eight percent of the more than 2,800 guest appearances have been by black guests;
• One person—Juan Williams, a commentator for Fox News—accounts for 40 percent of all appearances by black guests;
• Three guests—Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Juan Williams—account for 65 percent of all appearances by black guests;
• The vast majority of interviews with black guests other than Rice and Powell focus on partisan political issues such as the 2004 Elections, rather than broader policy issues such as the economy, national security, and foreign affairs;
• Rice, Powell, and Williams have appeared almost twice as often as all other black guests.

The results of the Sunday Morning Apartheid study make clear that Sunday morning network and cable political talk shows, a significant source of information, analysis and opinion on government, politics, and social issues, consistently fail to include African Americans in their lineups.
http://www.nul.org/publications/policyinstitute/Apartheid_Report.pdf

Sunday Morning Apartheid

I love that statement.

It's so true.
And in so many ways.

They've been forced to racially segregate them to avoid to many progressive voices. This strategy might well help to even things out, much to their annoyance.

k&r

And welcome to the DU, too! :hi:

That's very kind.