to increase racial diversity
Other networks to follow, averting boycott
It looks like the NAACP isn’t going to have to carry out its long-threatened boycott of the big four television networks during the February sweeps.
NBC has outlined a detailed plan, ratified by the NAACP, for increasing diversity in all aspects of programming, production and distribution.
ABC is expected to announce a similar NAACP-approved diversity program by tomorrow.
CBS and Fox are also hashing out agreements with the organization, and are expected to announce their respective plans by mid-January.
Though all four networks came under attack in August for what NAACP president Kweisi Mfume called a "virtual whitewash" in their fall schedules, it was NBC that caught the most flak.
Appropriately, it has been the first to respond to the NAACP’s demands, and its program of initiatives is expected to be the most comprehensive.
Though early protests from the NAACP focused on the lack of minority on-air talent, the emphasis of the new agreement is on what takes place behind the camera.
Among the many measures set forth, NBC has agreed to provide additional funds for the hiring of a minority writer for every second-year show.
Executives and producers will be educated, through seminars and memoranda, in the importance of achieving diversity goals.
The network will also create an associate program offering year-long training in a variety of programming fields to 25 minority individuals. At the lowest level of employment, NBC will make a point of hiring a significant number of minority pages.
Steps will also be taken to encourage the development of more minority-produced and -directed programming, and to use minority-owned media to promote existing programming.
Though both NBC and the NAACP seemed pleased with the arrangement, not all parties are equally satisfied. The Latino Media Council has expressed its displeasure at being left out of diversity negotiations with NBC, claiming it would have pushed for more extensive reforms.
ABC’s diversity plan, though reportedly not quite as thorough as NBC’s, is close in overall form. CBS and Fox have been vague in discussing the details of their own diversity programs, but they are also expected largely follow NBC’s prototype.
Leslie Moonves, president of CBS Television, was the only network president to show up at diversity hearings held by the NAACP in November. After the hearings he drafted a letter outlining CBS’s plans for reform.
The NAACP has said it will spend $500,000 for the creation of a Hollywood office to supervise the networks’ compliance with diversity agreements.