Minorities fail to dent TV news

I don’t know if other African Americans feel as I do about the anticipated changes we thought President Barack Obama’s election would bring, but I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in the lack of diversity I thought his election would bring to television news reporting and shows.

Before he made his big splash as a true candidate for America’s highest elected office versus a symbolic one, African American and other minority commentators on Sunday mornings and weekday evening telecasts were few and far between.

As I’ve written before, the only time black experts appear on TV in question-and-answer formats is when there is or was a racial crisis-type issue. An example was when radio talk jock Don Imus made his now infamous disparaging remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, which is mostly black. Another was years ago when Rush Limbaugh said that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donavan McNabb, who is black, was only praised because sports television had a socialist agenda – the NFL needed a black quarterback to promote as equal to great white quarterbacks.

Following the 2006 midterm national election when Democrats won majorities in the House and Senate I thought there’d be more African American politicians on TV news shows as experts, and more black and other minority news reporters asking them questions. And surely there’d be more minority commentators offering their takes on the latest crisis.

Because of Congress’ seniority system, that election elevated more African American committee chairmen. However their new positions brought no discernable change in minority representation on Sunday morning shows.

Then with Obama’s emergence as a legitimate candidate for president, I felt that, finally, there’d be more black opinionates on TV. Again, there was no change.

As Obama’s star rose and he eventually won the Democratic nomination, CNN and MSNBC finally increased black and other minority experts on the air. Ironically, Fox News already had a regular African American commentator, Juan Williams, on its weekly Sunday morning Fox News show.

It seems that when it comes to national issues – either economic or security, only white (and a few – very few, white women) men have the knowledge or expertise to offer insight or solutions. In the past, during President George W. Bush’s term, Secretary of State Colin Powell would make his rounds on the Sunday morning network news programs. Following his resignation, Powell’s replacement, Condolezza Rice, made appearances on Sunday shows to discuss or explain the latest national security problem or position.

More recently, NBC’s “Meet The Press” regularly has a person of color as a guest panelist. So far though, ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and CBS’ “Face The Nation” continue to have only white so-called experts.

So why aren’t African American and female committee chairpeople on the news shows? Is the problem the same as the one Obama faces – that try as it might America isn’t ready for an expert or president who isn’t white?

Maybe, like the president’s detractors, I’m expecting too much too soon.

Nelson Graves, of Augusta County, is a columnist for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .