Is TV Diversity Drive Slowing?

The president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People couldn’t have been more clear when he descended upon Hollywood in August to protest what he called “the most segregated industry in America”--the television industry. This time, things were going to be different.

“To a person, I think the heads of the [television] networks clearly understand where we’re coming from, what is driving us and why we won’t be turning back,” Kweisi Mfume declared after holding meetings with the entertainment chiefs of the four major broadcast networks to criticize the lack of casting diversity in their new fall television series. “We’re not just rattling our sabers or beating our chests.”

With that, the civil rights leader threw down the gauntlet to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, saying there had better be an immediate change to increase the number of minorities in front of and behind the camera, and in the executive ranks of those networks. Otherwise, there would be consequences. Demonstrations. Viewer and advertiser boycotts during the November ratings sweeps. Legal action.

But with the announcement Wednesday by the NAACP that a November viewer boycott was being jettisoned in favor of more drawn-out strategies that require further accumulation of data, the organization has left itself open to speculation and the perception that its campaign against the networks may be losing focus and momentum.

Some Express a Sense

of Confusion on Strategy

Already, some leaders of local and national minority advocacy groups that had joined hands with Mfume in a united effort to push the issue have privately expressed feelings of confusion, feeling that the NAACP has failed to capitalize in a timely manner on the hot-button issue that has gripped the industry since before the fall season started in September.

And some observers fear the new course of action may be heading in the direction of past efforts by minority leaders, particularly the Rev. Jesse Jackson, that similarly started with strong rhetoric against Hollywood and then fizzled without a trace.

“Those at the networks who were reluctant to listen to what the NAACP was saying can take comfort that this negative publicity may be slowing down,” said Gregory Rodriguez, a research fellow on racial matters at Pepperdine University. He added that the NAACP campaign had been mostly about the number of minorities, when it should have been about giving minority talent the opportunity to tell its own stories: “It’s about dealing with the cultural shift.”

Todd Boyd, a screenwriter and USC cinema studies professor, said he felt the NAACP campaign was ill-planned from the beginning. “This whole situation suggests that they are a bit passe in terms of their attitude and approach to contemporary culture. They are operating on 1960s ideals in the 1990s. To focus on what’s going on at the four networks is not really dealing with how television has changed. No one would ever expect the networks to be benevolent and affirmative when it comes to minorities. The NAACP is really missing the boat.”

Mfume on Thursday defended his moves, saying that suggestions that the NAACP was backing down on the diversity issue were ludicrous.

“To win a war, you have to construct the battle,” the civil rights leader said in an interview. “We didn’t have the body of information before that we have now. And we’re not an organization that jumps when others say ‘jump.’ There is an increase, a crescendo of work that we are doing.”

Instead of a November boycott, Mfume announced Wednesday that the organization would hold hearings in Los Angeles, beginning Nov. 29, examining racial and ethnic diversity at the networks and whether the industry is guilty of discrimination. Television executives, performers, studio heads and writers will be invited to participate and testify in a forum that he said would establish “a public record on the issue.”

He said the NAACP will also present ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox with “measurable and verifiable goals and timetables” for increasing diversity, and said that if they don’t agree to them, the organization will pick one network as the target of a nine-week boycott beginning Jan. 1. Mfume declined to spell out those goals but said the organization is opposed to quotas.

Mfume also said that he has approached 75 national organizations about joining in the effort.

“There has to be effective strategy,” he said Thursday. “We have a clear timetable of events, and we would caution anyone who would suggest there is a decline in what we are doing. We are even more determined in our efforts to make the television industry more inclusive.”

Still, the new direction has met with confusion and a dissatisfied response from some leaders of the numerous groups that have aligned themselves with Mfume. The Los Angeles hearing, they point out, is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving, when many Hollywood workers and executives will be trying to catch up after a long holiday weekend. They also said that top television executives are extremely unlikely to show up at a public meeting where they would be criticized, while performers and writers may be reluctant to testify because of possible ramifications to their careers.

In addition, they questioned the purpose of the hearings, since the networks have already admitted that they need to do more to increase diversity and have instituted several corrective measures, including adding minority performers to some of their shows and making deals with minority talent for programs that will be developed for next season.

Coalition Survey Finds Low

Number of Minority Writers

A recent survey compiled by the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP and the Coalition of African American Television Writers reported that out of 839 writers then employed on prime-time network series, 69 were minorities: 55 African American, 11 Latino and three Asian American.

“We’ve had enough talk,” one local civil rights leader said. “We don’t need to hear any more. We need to see some action.”

Some black entertainment insiders complain that Mfume has failed to take them up on their offers to educate him about Hollywood and key players. Meanwhile, Mfume has said for nearly two years that he would establish a national office in Hollywood to monitor the TV and movie industries, but the office has still not materialized.

Mfume refuted those concerns Thursday, saying he has had discussions with influential Hollywood insiders that were instrumental in forming the new strategy. He added that the organization had just authorized $300,000 for the funding of the local watchdog office.

Despite the uncertainty of some activists, however, some network executives say they do not yet feel that the protest is going away or losing focus, and that the NAACP’s influence in keeping the issue on the table should not be underestimated.

“The NAACP really brought this issue to the surface, and diversity is still very important to us,” said one executive. “Everyone’s aware of it. It’s here to stay.”