Networks Court Black Audience

Television: In the battle for Big Three survival, blacks take center stage in the search for ratings. But behind-scene power is still a white enclave.

Bryant Gumbel is king of the “Today” series, Oprah Winfrey is queen of daytime TV and Arsenio Hall is the hottest new late-night star in years.

All, of course, are black--and significant daily proof of how TV’s lily-white on-screen past has changed for the good.

No fewer than 10 of the 52 weekly comedies on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV in this fall season star black performers. Black actors also are prominent in such weekly prime-time dramas as “In the Heat of the Night,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Law & Order,” “Pros & Cons,” “Homefront” and “L.A. Law.”

From morning to night, the on-camera TV presence of blacks is indisputably much more visible than ever before.

So, in terms of TV, did the NAACP have its priorities straight this week when it announced plans to open an office here to push for more employment in the entertainment industry?

You bet.

Because what’s on the TV screen is only part of the picture of minority employment in show business.

It may not be the 1950s anymore, when NBC had trouble finding sponsors for a variety show that starred the black singer Nat King Cole. But even now in the 1990s, when many stereotyped and distasteful portrayals of blacks have finally been put to rest, one hugely important racist sickness remains in television.

That is the rejection of blacks--and other minorities--in their attempts to truly become an influential part of the fabric of the television industry in the power areas behind the scenes, and even in the daily, off-camera work force.

There are exceptions, of course. Here and there, a handful of blacks and other minorities have made progress, finally penetrating network executive suites and the upper echelon of local television stations.

Johnathan Rodgers, a black, is head of CBS’ owned-and-operated stations. At KCBS Channel 2, a Latino journalist, Jose Rios, is the news director.

But the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People could not be more on target in pressing its case in both TV and the film industry, where blacks are a distinct minority in more than just one sense as studio executives.

The power to change things comes when an Oprah or an Arsenio or a Spike Lee or an Eddie Murphy or a Bill Cosby becomes of such vast financial value that they can impose their wills, as they should.

Changes won’t come through charity in TV or films. It’s clout all the way.

There are not, for instance, many black producers in TV. Cosby is one. Quincy Jones is another with NBC’s “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Winfrey owns her syndicated series.

Well, then, you say, there is progress. Indeed.

But not in TV’s heart of hearts. So long as talented minority artists and executives can’t penetrate the clubby confines at the networks in reasonable proportion to their numbers, a lingering, subtle but ultimately racist stereotype will remain. To wit:

The image of blacks as entertainers, and not much more. People who can sing, dance, clown, act, but are denied the power and respect of ultimate decision-making that many have earned but few are allowed.

In short, the classic white supremacist view. You can dress it up with praise, awards, a smile and a slap on the back, but that’s what it is.

Historically, blacks have used the power of pressure in TV more effectively--at least thus far--than Latinos and American Indians in improving their on-screen employment and images.

But because TV is a crass and totally profit-driven medium, it invariably will do the right thing for the wrong reason. A ratings study this week that confirmed that blacks watch a lot more TV than whites will probably provoke the networks to deal more equitably with the minority.

In fact, the networks are already doing just that. Their comedies with black stars this season include “The Cosby Show,” “A Different World,” “True Colors,” “Roc,” “In Living Color,” “The Royal Family,” “Teech,” “Family Matters,” “Pacific Station” and “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

The networks may deny that these shows and others with strong black appeal are suddenly more prominent because of anything so crass as ratings. But don’t you believe it.

All the networks have been aware for some years of the different TV viewing habits of black and white audiences.

Thus, in a supreme irony, the statistical racism that CBS, NBC and ABC practiced almost since TV was born--keeping blacks secondary in prime time because of ratings, and failing to sufficiently depict real black family life--now has turned on them.

As the networks struggle to survive economically, they now must court the very same black audience that they underrepresented and misrepresented for years, because it has suddenly become one of the props of their very existence.

A. C. Nielsen Jr., longtime head of the all-powerful ratings firm that bears his name, once conceded to this writer that some black areas may not have been thoroughly surveyed because pollsters were afraid to enter certain tough neighborhoods.

A ratings company source also disclosed that although survey samples supposedly are in proportion to census figures, they were weighted to reduce the percentage of minorities because advertisers wanted it that way.

All that is changing. Under pressure, the ratings companies promised to adjust their survey samples. And the Nielsen firm, for example, is adding Latino and black ratings services--which, alas, smacks of another form of ghettoization, although they may at least yield a truer picture of who’s watching what.

This week’s survey showed that black households watched 48% more TV each week than all others last November. Overall, black households tuned in 69 hours and 48 minutes compared to 47 hours and six minutes for the other homes measured. Black households reportedly had 41% more children between 2 and 17 years old.

How fine it would be if the networks really did the right thing and put on good shows about blacks and other minorities without caring about such stuff. But they do care.

Like the NAACP’s dramatic announcement this week, what is at issue here is simple respect for human beings.