Tapper on Sunday Show Diversity: ‘Can’t Help It if Democratic Field is White’
Newly-appointed State of the Union host Jake Tapper waded this afternoon into the debate over the lack of gender and racial diversity amongst Sunday political show guests, which many maintain constricts the range of the shows’ viewpoints. This is slightly awkward territory for Tapper, who replaced the only female Sunday show host in Candy Crowley, leaving all five Sunday show hosts male*.
It started when ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum criticized the male paleness of this morning’s guests:
Featured guests on big 5 Sunday shows today (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN):
11 Men
1 Woman
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 5, 2015
A punchy Tapper quickly responded, to which Legum pointed out that gender and racial disparities are a recurring issue on all the Sunday shows:
@JuddLegum we had two presidential candidates on. The woman running for the Democratic nomination hasn't sat down to do one Sunday show yet.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 5, 2015
@jaketapper This is a systemic issue that occurs week to week. It's not just ABC. And it's not just during presidential runs. Look at the #s
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 5, 2015
@owillis @JuddLegum my roundtable today was two men and two women
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 5, 2015
And then the doozy:
@owillis @JuddLegum I can't help it if the entire Democratic field is white. Do I get points for interviewing Cruz, Carson and Rubio?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 5, 2015
@jaketapper @JuddLegum yeah, you're just gonna go ahead and be purposely obtuse on this i see.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 5, 2015
If you’ve ever been on Twitter before, you know what happened next: others joined, semi-irrelevant points were introduced, etc. Media Matters’ Oliver Willis argued that gender representation on the shows went far beyond an individual’s campaign, no matter how prominent, while Legum accused Tapper of blaming women for not getting themselves onto the shows. Meanwhile, conservative Twitter declared Tapper the victor.
Tapper did concede the importance of actively soliciting diversity on the shows…
@AnitaFinlay @owillis @JuddLegum I agree and make efforts to book diverse guests all the time
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 5, 2015
…by which not all were impressed:
*sigh*. https://t.co/ziloojjzdU
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) July 5, 2015
Not for nothing:
sunday shows are very bad w latinos, women, blacks, or anyone not a white man http://t.co/oUq8VIIbDp pic.twitter.com/Tm6ZBbzVFI
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 5, 2015
* Martha Raddatz co-hosts This Week, if we’re being precise.
[Image via screengrab]
