It’s not about Rick Sanchez it is about Diversity

By Elinor Tatum
Publisher and Editor in Chief

On Friday October 1 Rick Sanchez was unceremoniously yanked from CNN’s airwaves, after he ranted about TV show host Jon Stewart, CNN management, and the media in general on a radio show. During this “rant” Sanchez said, “… He’s such a minority … Please, what are you kidding? … I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.'”

Sanchez was removed from the air so fast that it would make your head spin. CNN did not act the way it did with Lou Dobbs- who was allowed to spit out anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant rants for years – Sanchez’s firing was practically instantaneous.

Because Sanchez is a minority— though he was not particularly well known for being a champion of minority issues before his radio aired statements- he was in fact dismissed for the statements he made on the radio show, so I think it would be appropriate to address what he was talking about and what he so inartfully tried to address.

But before we get into the details- and the devil is always in the details- let me say that Rick Sanchez as a journalist tends to be more Ted Baxter than Walter Cronkite. Indeed, he is the guy who is until his recent foot in mouth statement was probably known most for tasering himself on the air— obviously not one of your brighter journalistic moments.

Sanchez however was in his own way trying to address a fundamental problem on broadcast and cable television, the issue of minority inclusion.

Network news and cable news in particular has increasingly become more-and-more white. Who are the standout African American and Hispanic faces on the major cable news networks now? CNN was the pioneer of cable news, and we all remember the deep baritone and stellar leadership that Bernard Shaw brought to the Network. Shaw was the face of CNN during the first 21 years of its existence. He was the face of trust in the cable news industry. And for a generation of young people growing up, including myself, he was a source of great pride. Upon his retirement in 2001 little was done to replace him. In 2007 Shaw voiced his displeasure with the state of people of color in the industry and his personal status while accepting a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

While other Blacks and Hispanics have followed him and have had roles at CNN none has had the central role of prominence that he held at the network. Soledad O’Brien had her own show for years. She anchored “American Morning” for four years. But she always seemed to play second fiddle to the Anderson Coopers of the world, and with little fanfare or explanation she was booted to the sidelines. CNN claimed lackluster ratings.

To keep their diversity “issues” at bay they gave her, her own franchise of sorts doing the documentary series “Black in America,” and now more recently “Latino in America”— in her case they cynically had a threefa— Black, woman and Hispanic. But despite the obvious corporate public relations cynicism she is only given a limited role, not someone who we see on a daily or regular basis telling what is going on in our world.

And Soledad wasn’t the only one facing short shrift from the folks over at CNN. Roland Martin, who came to CNN in March 2007 as a contributor, guest-hosted “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” while Brown was on maternity leave in the spring of 2009. After that he was used as a contributor and a talking head when a Black face was needed- but yet again no permanence.

At least CNN had some prominent people of color to start with. There is no one of significance of color at Fox news or on MSNBC. Both stations lack diversity and it is not just on the talent level. And while I expect little from Fox News, since it is essentially a mouth piece for the Republican Party, MSNBC prides itself on being a more progressive network, but they are not particularly progressive when it comes to news talent.

Behind the scenes all three major cable networks have woefully inadequate numbers of producers and managers. The National Association of Black Journalists has been pushing this issue for a generation, and the network big wigs have only been giving token lip service.

So all too often there are far too few voices to give us multiple perspectives, and more often than not there is too little balance when it comes to real life minority experiences. And when they do try the networks lack of diversity shows through and through.

Our airwaves, be they cable or other belong to the people of this country, our tax dollars and favorable tax codes were used to build out their infrastructure, and they should reflect the country as a whole. We need to show a broad range of races, gender, ages and the like. And there needs to be diversity in positions of authority as well. Our media must reflect us and be sensitive to the issues that affect everyone. There are stories that need to be told, and their needs to be folks who fight to make sure that those stories see the light of day.

Rick Sanchez getting fired is not the story. The story is how do we continue to fight this battle of inclusion in the media. Because without diversity in the media we know that only one or a limited view of the world will be seen. And you and I know it is not the world that we see and live in every day.