»» Columnists

Is Meet the Press Trying to Diversify its Panels?: An Update

by Michael Triplett | 4:26 pm, March 19th, 2010

» 4 comments

A few weeks ago, Mediaite reported that Meet the Press has pledged to diversify its panels of guests and commentators. So how are they doing?

Well, the show has gone four weeks in a row where African American men were featured on the show. This week’s show will actually go one better: an African American guest and an African American journalist on the roundtable.

On Feb. 28, the show featured National Urban League president Marc Morial and Nancy-Ann DeParle. The next week, March 7, the show featured former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.). Ford has a contract with NBC to do commentary and it was his first week back after ending speculation that he was running for the Senate.

This past Sunday featured House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and on tap for this week are Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele and Public Broadcasting System‘s Tavis Smiley.

The month is a good showing for MTP, which has and up-and-down history with diversity on its shows. While the shows have mixed it up–a little–in terms of race, the show is overwhelmingly male in terms of guests. DeParle, who has Chinese ancestry, was the only Asian-American. There were no Latinos. Katty Kay of the British Broadcasting System is the only female journalist who has been featured.

MTP’s diversity pledge came after NBC’s Jeff Zucker was beat up in Congress over diversity issues at the network. Following the criticism, an NBC spokeswoman declared the network was “committed to having a more diverse group of voices on the show whose opinions and expertise reflect, not just the news of the day, but the cultural, economical and political landscape of our country.”

As for the rest of the Sunday shows, Fox News Sunday continues to outshine the competition largely because of regular panelist Juan Williams from National Public Radio. On a Sunday when Williams was gone, Fox had no non-white guests of panelists.

For this week, Face the Nation will feature Clyburn. CNN will have Donna Brazile. ABC This Week–which just announced the addition of Christiane Amanpour as host–will have no non-white guests or analysts.

Donna Brazile, Harold Ford Jr., James Clyburn, Jeff Zucker, Juan Williams, Katty Kay, Marc Morial, Meet the Press, Michael Steele, Nancy-Ann DeParle, Tavis Smiley

MichelleF

More evidence:

As for the rest of the Sunday shows, Fox News Sunday continues to outshine the competition largely because of regular panelist Juan Williams from National Public Radio. On a Sunday when Williams was gone, Fox had no non-white guests of panelists.

Great article, Michael!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Gordon-Bloyer/537945868 Gordon Bloyer

Somebody is confused. You seem to think diversity of opinion has some relationship to skin color. The fact is most of the people on MTP are liberals no matter what their skin color is. Amanpour is loony left and the panel will be as well. Diversity of opinion on the MSM networks means it is okay to kill babies anytime or just at six months.
http://www.thecobraslair.com Cobra

Gordon Bloyer writes:

“You seem to think diversity of opinion has some relationship to skin color.”

You would challenge the assessment that network Sunday News discussions on the networks are blizzard-white and Eurocentric with what evidence?

Gordon Bloyer writes:
“The fact is most of the people on MTP are liberals no matter what their skin color is. ”

LOL. You actually believe that?

“In fact, Newt Gingrich, despite not having held any position in government for over a decade, was the single most frequent guest on “Meet the Press” in 2009 of any political figure in the United States. Literally.

From March to December, Gingrich appeared on “MTP,” on average, every other month. No one else in American politics was on the show this often. [...]

Keep in mind, “Meet the Press” didn’t have the actual Speaker of the House on at all this year. It also featured zero appearances from all of the other living former House Speakers (Hastert, Wright, Foley) combined.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has also appeared on more than a dozen Sunday talk shows this year even though he “is not president, he chairs no Senate committees, he represents two percent of the U.S. population, he lacks a strong constituency even among his own party.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/29/gingrich-mtp/

Gordon Bloyer writes:

“Diversity of opinion on the MSM networks means it is okay to kill babies anytime or just at six months.”

You’re not one of those “I’m Pro-Life, but against the SCHIP program, AFDC, Headstart or School Lunch Programs”, types are you? I LOVE calling out folks with that kind of mentality.

–Cobra
sibat0705

Juicy clothes
Buy full line Juicy couture products from our site at a low price to make yourself a fashionista! Dress juicy couture clothing, holding juicy couture
Shop prom dresses, formal dresses, prom shoes, 2010 designer prom gowns at dres4sale.
for cocktail dresses, dresses for prom, homecoming dresses, and evening dresses. Cheap prom dresses or couture designer evening gowns for your next formal.
evening dresses
Evening Dresses. Women’s Formal & Special Occasion Dresses … Welcome to Cheap Evening Dresses for Sale! … Buy Cheap Evening Dresses Sales & Accessories
prom dresses