Study Finds Blacks Seen Most on Comedies, New Networks

Despite their relatively large numbers on network television, African Americans arelargely segregated on shows, primarily relegated to situation comedies, series on the fledgling WB and UPN networks, and to programs that air on Monday and Friday nights, according to a Screen Actors Guild-sponsored study released Thursday.

“The African American Television Report,” designed as the most comprehensive study of black portrayals and casting in prime-time television, concluded that blacks account for nearly 16% of characters seen on the networks, even though they represent 12.2% of the population.

But that “over-representation” is not evenly distributed among genres, networks or days of the week, and a lack of African American writers and a pattern that may be prompted by racism has led to the exclusion of blacks from dramas and more significant roles on television, the study said.

The report’s author, Darnell Hunt, director of African American studies at USC, said the study demonstrated how minority groups are included or excluded from television, and that it reflects “in strikingly visual terms, unresolved questions about power imbalances in our society.”

The study, which will be finalized in March, comes only a few weeks after the four major networks, pressured by the NAACP and other ethnic groups, announced agreements and strategic plans to increase diversity in front of and behind the camera.

Actress Anne-Marie Johnson, who is chair of SAG’s Ethnic Employment Opportunity Committee, called the report “the most exhaustive and nuanced look at African Americans on television.” Defining the study as “an educational tool,” she said the report would be taken to network executives, producers, writers and casting directors to show “missed opportunities” in not hiring blacks.

Johnson said the methodology for the report would also be used in future studies focusing on other minorities. The study examined 384 episodes of 87 prime-time series on ABC, CBS, NBC, UPN and Fox and looked at all recurring fictional programming during five weeks selected to include three different programming conditions: pre-sweeps, sweeps and post-sweeps. “Sweeps” are four annual periods used by the networks to put on their most popular programs to determine advertising rates.

Fox and NBC came in for the harshest criticism in the study, which concluded that blacks were most underrepresented on those two networks. Fewer than 10% of characters appearing on Fox were black, while about 11% of characters on NBC were African American. More than half the black characters appearing on Fox and nearly half those appearing on NBC were on screen for less than a minute, the report concluded.

During Thurday’s press conference, Johnson showed clips from NBC shows that showed “missed opportunities” in terms of casting blacks. A scene from “Freaks & Geeks” shows an all-white classroom in an urban high school. Another scene from “Frasier” showed a formal crowd at a benefit. No blacks were in the scene.

In a statement, NBC responded: “NBC is proud of the minority representation in our air in all our day-parts. Quality has always been more important to us than quantity when it comes to presenting minority characters who are good role models. From Eriq La Salle on ‘ER’ to Jesse Martin on ‘Law & Order’ to Dule Hill on ‘The West Wing,’ NBC takes pride in having a number of minority actors in leading roles. Diversity on and off our air remains a top priority at NBC.”

The report also noted that Fox had almost no black series regulars on its prime-time shows, with 72.7% of its comedies and dramas having no black series regulars. By contrast, the study found, two-thirds of CBS shows had at least one black regular, and 100% of UPN shows featured a black series regular.

A spokesman at Fox said that the network was committed to more diversity and was implementing several initiatives, including hiring a vice president of diversity.

A UPN spokesman said: “It is our hope that our programming will always reflect the diversity of this country. We feel we have made great strides in the last few years in this area, but there’s still room for improvement.”

CBS, ABC and the WB could not be reached for comment.