NBC NEWS WITHHOLDS HIRING STATS AMID DIVERSITY TALKS

NBC NEWS WITHHOLDS HIRING STATS AMID DIVERSITY TALKS

By Robert "Rob" Redding Jr.

Editor & Publisher

WASHINGTON, May 02, 2005, 7:30 a.m. - NBC News President Neal Shapiro has refused to divulge the networks minority newsroom hiring statistics during ongoing talks with a black journalist organization, despite the networks lead anchor and manager downplaying diversity last year.

Bryan Monroe, vice president of print at the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ), told Redding News Review that though Shapiro has met twice with his diversity touting organization - since NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams told a magazine there are "bigger problems" than diversity in the newsroom - the network news head still refuses to discuss minority staffing numbers.

"He characterized them as consistent with the industry," said Monroe, who is also the assistant vice president over news for San Jose-based Knight Ridder. "But what that means in real numbers we don't know."

The numbers would help in determining how far the General Electric owned unit has to go before it reaches parity with the country's rising minority populations.

There are currently no black lead anchors in network news, and Williams, 45, started in the job late last year after replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw, 64, who is also white.

What's more, Monroe said although he is "pleased so far with the conversations" held with Shapiro, he said Williams has not participated in the talks, since his remarks sparked the meetings in December.

Williams, the lead anchor and managing editor over more than 40 staffers at NBC's Nightly News, came under fire from NABJ after Redding News Review first reported he told United Airline's November edition of Hemispheres magazine that the network was not concerned about diversity.

"We have bigger problems," he told the in-flight magazine in the interview conducted in August. "There are no black members of the U.S. Senate. We should keep some perspective on this. Nevertheless, I am constantly interested to hear of examples in our coverage where viewers think we got it wrong in one way or another because of a skewed viewpoint."

Williams would later issue two statements clarifying his comments, and Shapiro promised to redouble the network's efforts to alert black journalist of opportunities in the company's newsroom.

"I am passionate about the need for diversity in our nation's newsrooms and particularly here at the network level,” said Shapiro, according to a joint news release posted on the NABJ website.

NBC spokeswoman Allison Gullust said Shapiro was unavailable for comment about his talks with NABJ, but defended the network's diversity efforts.

"We don't release those numbers, but we would characterize them as above the national average," said Gullust, who pointed out all major news networks withhold the numbers.

When asked she did not know what the "national average" was.

Meanwhile, NBC has had a rocky history with minorities.

The New York Daily News reported last year "that NBC has lost a number of journalists of color to other networks, including Joe Johns, Dan Lothian, Suzanne Malveaux, Soledad O'Brien and Fredricka Whitfield."

NBC also acknowledged last year the veracity of at a television host's account of two nooses being left hanging in work areas in NBC's world headquarters over the last five years. In the first incident no one was disciplined, and in the second an employee was fired, said the former WNBC-TV employee.

What's more, the host said, television star Conan O’Brien collected about $8,000 "as a going away" for the man fired for hanging of the second noose.

"These are old allegations that were resolved ages ago," said Kevin Sullivan, NBC/Universal's head of corporate communications. "NBC Universal abhors discrimination in all forms."

Return to ReddingNewsReview.com

Or read our past stories on this subject:

BRIAN WILLIAMS FLAP SPURS NBC VOW TO HIRE MORE BLACKS

Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw's successor, says diversity not a big issue

NBC's Brian Williams Criticized for his diversity comments

BLACK JOURNALIST RAP WILLIAMS ON DIVERSITY; TO MEET WITH NBC