All 4 Major TV Networks Respond to NAACP Memo

By Monday evening, all four of the major television networks had submitted written responses to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People’s memo on diversity, according to NAACP President Kwesi Mfume.

On Nov. 10, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC received the memo, which outlined a series of sweeping requests for network policy changes from adding a black to corporate boards by September to increasing the number of development deals with minority writers for the 2001-2002 season.

The memo specified a deadline of Dec. 20 to respond to the requests.

That NAACP missive followed months of outcries by minority activists protesting the dearth of minority actors on the new fall prime-time schedule; a July threat issued by Mfume for a national viewer boycott targeting the network that was least responsive to calls for diversity; and a public hearing late last month conducted by the NAACP.

Though all the networks began preliminary discussions with Mfume in August, Leslie Moonves, head of CBS, was the only network executive to appear at the public hearing. ABC, NBC and Fox sent representatives, who left early. That move earned them Mfume’s public condemnation, and only a series of closed-door conferences since has delayed the boycott plans.

“They were productive talks,” Mfume said from his Baltimore office. “I wouldn’t say they were incredibly encouraging.”

Mfume added that the NAACP’s 1,700 worldwide branches remain “on alert” until Jan. 3, when the organization plans to make clear its final decision on boycotts, demonstrations, pickets and efforts to drive down network stock prices.