Democratic Women's Working Group Call For Equitable Representation On Cable News Networks

Press Release

DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S WORKING GROUP CALLS FOR EQUITABLE REPRESENTATION ON CABLE NEWS NETWORKS

Today members of the Democratic Women's Working Group called on America's cable news networks to provide more equitable representation of women and minorities as guests and hosts on their news programs. Congressional leaders cited a recent Media Matters for America study, "Locked Out: The Lack of Gender and Ethnic Diversity on Cable News Continues," that found a disturbing lack of gender and ethnic diversity on America's cable news networks especially in light of the recent controversy over former radio and television host Don Imus' remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"I am very disturbed by the results of this study because it shows that the gender, racial and ethnic disparities in cable network programming are even worse than I had originally anticipated," said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Vice-Chair of the Democratic Women Working Group. "This study shows that women and minorities are grossly underrepresented on the cable networks and that they do not reflect the diversity of their audience. In light of these results, I hope that the cable network executives will now make a real commitment to improving the diversity of their hosts and guests."

"This report's findings highlight a troubling and deeply disappointing truth about the content of our country's cable news - that it is dominated by white male hosts and guests," said Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA), Chair of the Democratic Women's Working Group. "The lack of gender and ethnic diversity on these cable news programs is startling and should serve as a powerful wake up call for network executives. Today women make up 51% of the United States' population and serve in positions of leadership in government, business, and academia, yet their insight and expertise are virtually ignored when it comes to delivering and analyzing the news. This is simply unacceptable."

KEY FINDINGS OF THE MEDIA MATTERS REPORT:
*During the week of the Imus controversy, the cable networks brought on a significant number of African-American guests. But both before and after the controversy, members of all minority groups, including African-Americans, were scarcely seen.

*On shows airing between 4 p.m. and midnight on cable news networks CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, and Fox News, there are 35 hosts and co-hosts: 29 are men and 6 are women -- and all 35 are white.

* In the three weeks covered by the study, less than 2 percent of the guests on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC were Latino, despite the fact that one out of every seven Americans is Latino. Almost half of the small number of guest appearances by Latinos were made by Geraldo Rivera.

* Excluding African-Americans, in the three weeks covered by the study, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and members of other ethnic groups never made up more than 5 percent of the guests on any of the three cable networks, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.

*On none of the networks, in none of the weeks studied, did women comprise half of the guests appearing. In some cases, they represented as little as one-fifth of all guests.

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