Diversity of skin color and ethnicity is now mandated by the President of ABC News, but what about some diversity of ideological opinion?
ABC producers have a good incentive to air soundbites based upon racial identity politics, USA Today’s Peter Johnson revealed on Monday, because “ABC News has compiled a database of 480 people — all minorities — to turn to for on-air or taped comments” and “employees have been told evaluations will be based in part on how many of these sources they call.”
In his February 18 “The Media Mix” column, Johnson quoted from a January 19 e-mail sent by ABC News President David Westin:
The goal here is to make sure that when we are seeking experts outside the news division to help explain stories we're working on, we include in the group we're considering a wide variety of possibilities, rather than simply going back to the same, limited group.
Somewhat reassuringly, Johnson noted that “word around ABC News is that the memo was largely ignored, which prompted Westin to revisit the issue last week with top producers.”
Making sure the threat was clear, these producers, Johnson learned, “reminded staffers that evaluations would include a diversity component.”
But ABC may just be catching up with the other networks. Johnson reported: “Both CBS and NBC say that they have rules similar to ABC's and grade producers on the issue accordingly. CNN has diversity plans but doesn't grade producers on it.” Fox News spokeswoman Irena Steffan conveyed a novel approach: “We pick knowledgeable people who know what they're talking about.”
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider proclaimed to Johnson: “We're proud of our efforts to try to reflect the great diversity in our country.”
What about ideological diversity?
Click here for the entire USA Today article.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
