Minorities make inroads on TV

A coalition pushing for greater ethnic diversity on television says the picture is brighter, with one network even earning A-plus grades for hiring more Latino actors and producers.

But the four major broadcast networks must increase and intensify their efforts to reflect the diversity of America, including Asian Americans and Native Americans, the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition said.

“We’ve had five years of doing this, and we can see the trend is upward, always upward, but slowly,” said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, part of the multiethnic coalition.

Among areas of improvement for Latinos on prime-time shows: ABC, given A-plus marks for its inclusion of Latino stars, writers and producers; an A-plus to CBS for the number of Latinos in recurring roles; and an A-plus to Fox for Latino directors.

Networks received overall grades, with ABC and Fox earning Bs, CBS getting a C-plus and NBC earning a C. Other subcategories included Latino casting in reality shows, with NBC earning an F.

Asian Americans and Native Americans have less to celebrate, according to the coalition. (Black representation on TV is monitored by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, which did not participate in the evaluation.)