White Noise: Voices of color scarce on urban public radio
Saturday, April 9, 2005 at 01:30PM
TheSpook
"[Public broadcasting] should provide a
voice for groups in the community that may otherwise be unheard...[and]
help us see America whole in all its diversity."-- 1967 Carnegie
Commission Report, which served as the basis for the Public
Broadcasting Act of 1967 An Extra! survey finds that the dominant
voices on the leading public radio stations in seven U.S. urban markets
are overwhelmingly white and predominantly male. The survey, which
looked at the ethnicity and gender of the stations' daytime hosts and
news anchors, found that 73 out of 83 were non-Latino whites (88
percent). Fifty-seven of the daytime hosts and anchors were male (69
percent). Six of the hosts were African-American, two were
Asian-American and two were Arab-American. (Hosts who appeared on
multiple stations were counted once for each station.) Just one Latino
host appeared during any station's daytime broadcasts, while no Native
American hosts showed up in the survey. The dominance of white, male
voices contrasts with public radio's professed mission of
inclusiveness, especially when considering the diversity of the
metropolitan areas the stations serve. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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