Study Exposes Failure Of Prime-Time TV Shows To Hire Black Writers

Jet, Nov 1, 1999

Blacks make up only 6.6 percent of all the writers who work on primetime shows on the networks, according to a survey conducted by the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP and a coalition of Black writers.

The report said that of the 839 writers who work on dramas and sitcoms, only 55 are Black. And the majority of those 55 writers (40) are working on UPN and WB shows. Only 15 are employed on shows airing on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX.

According to the report, NBC had only one Black writer among its 189 staff writers. CBS has 2 Black writers out of 144, ABC has 9 out of 171 and FOX has 3 out of 160.

Billie Green, president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP, told the Hollywood Reporter: "The lack of diversity in writers' rooms throughout television is even more startling than the lack of diversity on the air. Whereas shows such as "Spin City," "Touched By An Angel" and "Veronica's Closet" feature African-American characters as series regulars, there are no African-American writers or writer-producers working on these shows."

The survey found that the only NBC show that features a Black writer is "Third Watch" while the only CBS show with any Black writers is "Cosby" with two. ABC's hit sitcom "The Hughleys" has five.

On the other hand, UPN's "The Parkers" has 10 Black writers and "Moesha" has eight. On the WB, "The Jamie Foxx Show" has seven Black writers and "The Steve Harvey Show" and "For You Love" both have five.

Green also told the Reporter: "When a pattern such as this is so blatantly pervasive, is it a matter of happenstance or oversight? Or is it racial discrimination? We'll let the numbers speak for themselves."