CBS came under fire this weekend after it announced its 2020 coverage lineup—with no Black reporters or producers in sight.
CBS associate producer Ben Mitchell first tweeted the lineup on Friday, saying, “It’s Official: The @CBSNews 2020 Election Team has assembled!”
https://twitter.com/bfmitchell/status/1083834166175846400
Twitter users were quick to notice that the team didn’t include any Black journalists.
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1084276819770073088
https://twitter.com/NM_Che56/status/1084473235012550656
https://twitter.com/dijoni/status/1084334288596697089
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) got involved, tweeting, “This WH admin has made having a functional understanding of race in America one of the most important core competencies for a political journalist to have, yet @CBSNews hasn’t assigned a *single* black journalist to cover the 2020 election. Unacceptable in 2019. Try again.”
This WH admin has made having a functional understanding of race in America one of the most important core competencies for a political journalist to have, yet @CBSNews hasn’t assigned a *single* black journalist to cover the 2020 election.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 13, 2019
Unacceptable in 2019. Try again. https://t.co/h7tmiBr9Fi
I keep thinking about this exchange bc there are many aspects that are concerning to hear from an *editor.*
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 13, 2019
This is what false equivalence looks like: diminishing Trump‘s “enemy of the people” talk as “scolding” & describing my call to hire a black journalist as the same thing. https://t.co/P0PVfsTE4t
Meanwhile, conservative radio host and writer Jesse Kelly critiqued the backlash to CBS’ 2020 lineup.
“People are dragging CBS for not having enough black people, but has anyone considered the obvious explanation that many black people have no interest in journalism? Cultures are different and value different things. Doesn’t make CBS the KKK.”
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084525238313017344
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084525549274439680
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084525990506885121
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084526329654099971
Kelly then cited statistics about the demographics of journalism majors, without citing his source or providing context, like the fact that journalism programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, can be incredibly expensive, and journalism doesn’t pay particularly well.
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084813023020240899
Black journalists weren’t having it.
1.) Do you think all journalists have journalism degrees?
— Jane Coaston 🏔️ (@janecoaston) January 14, 2019
2.) Do you think that behavior is 100 percent attributable to innate racial characteristics?
And 3.) out of curiosity, did you ask any black journalists for their take on why these disparities might exist? We’re around!
— Jane Coaston 🏔️ (@janecoaston) January 14, 2019
1.) In general, getting a job in journalism is extremely difficult — and also takes a long time, a length of time a lot of folks don’t have or couldn’t afford.
— Jane Coaston 🏔️ (@janecoaston) January 14, 2019
2.) Black journalists are often treated as if they are incapable of being “journalistic” — impartial, evenhanded.
https://twitter.com/NM_Che56/status/1084823752532262912
Jesse Kelly, this statement is absolutely ignorant. Newsrooms NEED to reflect the diverse communities they serve. Most importantly, African Americans and other minorities deserve higher paying contracted positions within the newsroom-writers, digital prod., assignment editors▶️ https://t.co/Uo0h5wxe0o
— Ava Pittman (@AvaPittmanTV) January 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/ungaro/status/1084837976604110849
You honestly don’t have the bandwidth for this convo. I speak at colleges & universities all the time, where there is significant interest in journalism among ppl of color. But I get it, it’s so much easier to blame us than critically look at the lack of access/opportunity. https://t.co/IDLMofuA4u
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) January 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/SirWruthless/status/1084836140270534659
There’s literally a huge organization at many university dedicated to black journalists… @NABJ https://t.co/fhdy1f9HnT
— IG:ChazLondon (@ChazLondonB) January 14, 2019
Hi @JesseKellyDC. Black journalist here. To point out the breadth of your ignorance would be wasting words on the obvious. Your baseless statement proves why diversity is important, especially in news orgs. Also, Google @NABJ. Then sit down and be humble. https://t.co/spUFYoBdmc
— Nia Clark (@NiaAClark) January 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/chalibay/status/1084840846216683520
As a former black journalist: “Shutchoassup, man.” https://t.co/v4WzMDeNkT
— BJW (@GQBound) January 14, 2019
Journalist Imani Gandy weighed in with a pointed takedown.
This is the most ignorant shit I’ve read so far today.
— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) January 14, 2019
There’s an entire association of black journalists with thousands of members, you doorknob. https://t.co/c1S6NISCcg
White folks love to ignore structural and systemic racism in favor of individual racism.
— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) January 14, 2019
They re-define racism so that they can pretend it doesn’t exist and that they don’t benefit from it.
Black people don’t have any interest journalism? Are you fucking high?
The Columbia Journalism Review has explored the issue of diversity in newsrooms. It’s a documented problem, and it’s historically led to poor coverage of, or complete ignorance about, issues like lynching, the Civil Rights movement, and voter suppression.
