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Study: White Men Dominate Network TV
Sound accurate?
Of course not. But a study conducted by Children Now, a children's advocacy group, has concluded that TV shows airing during the first hour of prime-time (8-9 p.m.) feature less ethnic diversity in casting than programs running in later time periods.
"As America's primary cultural storyteller, television creates a common picture of who's important and who's not," Children Now president Lois Salisbury said. "Prime-time programmers appear to have forgotten that America's children--in all of their diversity--are a big part of the evening viewing audience."
The study examined last fall's lineup of the six major networks and found that only one in eight shows was likely to feature a racially diverse cast. Only 13 percent of the programs airing from 8-9 p.m. had ethnically diverse actors in lead roles, compared with 67 percent of shows at 10 p.m. Dramas, which air later in the evening, are three times more likely to have racially mixed casts than sitcoms, which are broadcast earlier and are more popular with children and teenagers.
The study found that only 2 percent of shows had Latinos (the fastest-growing ethnic group in the country makes up 12 percent of the population), down from last year's 3 percent. Meanwhile, 60 percent of characters under the age of 18 on prime-time shows were male and 78 percent white.
"On the whole, prime-time television still does not reflect the diversity that youth find in their everyday lives or the diversity that they will no doubt encounter as maturing adults," the study's authors wrote. "There has been some progress, but there is still much work to do."
The networks are not responding to the report, claiming they haven't read it.
"Having inclusive casting and programming is win-win, and the networks clearly see this with later [programs]. But we are left with the poignant irony that when children, the most diverse segment of the population, are watching the most, television at its least diverse," said Salisbury.
Last year the networks agreed to work on improving the amount of diversity in its programs. Executives were hired and committees formed in large part because of pressure from the NAACP and other groups.
But, echoing a November report by a multiethnic coalition, the Children Now study found that only marginal improvements have been made.
"Prime-time is the single biggest part of [children's] television diet, and what kids get from the mass medium is a sense of recognition, respect, and roll models--or they don't," Salisbury said. "In this sense many of America's kids are finding people like them invisible or cast in very limited ways."
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