The National Latino Media Council (NLMC) this month released
its 11th annual Network Television Report Cards, giving the Big Four broadcast
networks poor grades on diversity, with all but one -- CBS -- receiving either
"Ds" or "Fs" in at least one of eight categories of evaluation.
"If I believed in conspiracies (I don't), I would think
there is a conspiracy behind all this," Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the NLMC,
half-jokingly told Hispanic TV Update.
"I just think the networks were just not paying attention."
Nogales was referring to the fact that Latinos did not make the
strides in the media that other groups did, including African-Americans and
Asian-Americans.
"Don't misunderstand me: We don't want what African Americans and
Asian Pacific Americans received -- the pie is much bigger than that. We only
want what we deserve as the largest minority consumer population in the
nation."
The
networks' overall grades were based on their employment of Latino actors in
primetime scripted and reality programming; their employment of Latino writers,
producers and directors on primetime programming; and their employment of
Latino entertainment executives. The NLMC also assigned specific grades for
program development, procurement and network commitment to diversity and
transparency.
The
grades were derived from on information the networks submitted to the NLMC as
part of the Memoranda of Understanding, signed by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC and the
Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition, a group comprised of the National Latino
Media Council, the National Asian/Pacific American Media Coalition, the NAACP
and American Indians in Film and Television. Grades are weighted according to the number of
weekly primetime programming hours per network.
Overall, according to the latest report cards, NLMC said it
was "very disappointed" with the diversity performance of the Big Four.
CBS received the highest overall grade among the networks
(B-plus), while Fox received the lowest grade (C-plus). Both ABC and NBC were
awarded a B-minus.
The full report is available here.
