| Text of Letter to the Networks
Recently, NBC announced that Brian Williams will eventually replace Tom Brokaw as the network's lead anchor. We in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists congratulate Mr. Williams and wish him much success. NBC's decision, together with the recent appointment of George Stephanopoulos by ABC to host its Sunday morning "This Week" program, however, highlights a persistent and disturbing reality in network news: white male journalists now hold the anchor spots on all evening news programs and on all the Sunday morning network news shows, including CNN, Fox News and PBS.
We are deeply concerned about the continuing underrepresentation of Hispanics at the network news divisions. Many local television stations (WNBC in New York is just one example) have made considerable progress in diversifying their news staffs over the past few decades, so there are plenty of qualified Hispanic -- as well as African-American, Asian-American, Native American and female -- journalists to choose from. At the networks, however, the picture is dismal. Hispanics make up less than 1% of on-air talent, and the highest-profile promotions rarely seem to involve those few that are on the air. At NAHJ, we are dedicated to encouraging Latinos to pursue careers in journalism, but all of our efforts will be fruitless if the opportunities for Latinos disappear because of a glass ceiling at the highest levels of the profession.
The lack of opportunity has a direct impact on the quality of news coverage, as we have documented in NAHJ's annual "Brownout" report on the portrayal of Latinos in network television news. We are enclosing a copy of our 2001 report with this letter and urge you to review its findings. At a time when network television audiences continue to erode, the U.S. Hispanic population is 35 million strong, disproportionately young, and exploding in size. By 2050, one of every four people in this country will be of Hispanic origin, yet Latinos remain an audience (and market) base poorly served by network news.
This trend has to stop -- for your sake, for our sake, for the viewers' sake. We urge management at all the networks, including CNN and Fox News, to seriously address issues of diversity at the highest levels of their news divisions. We look forward to discussing any of these matters with you in person and are ready to cooperate with any effort aimed at meaningful change.
Sincerely,
Juan Gonzalez
President
Art Rascon
Vice President, Broadcast
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