Study: Few Blacks Seen on Talk Shows

The three major television networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- have been criticized by other groups for lack of diversity in news and prime-time programming. In 1999, the NAACP launched a campaign to get more non-white characters on television after noting the paucity of minorities on hit shows such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld," both set in New York, one of the most diverse cities in the world.

Williams, a senior correspondent for National Public Radio and an analyst for Fox News Sunday, is the only African American who appears regularly on a Sunday morning talk show. "I don't go anywhere in the country without people saying, 'Thank God you're there,' " he said. "They say they watch for that reason."

Sunday shows interview the most powerful people, Williams said, and African Americans often do not fit the bill. "The ideal guest is the president of the United States," he said.

Race normally is not discussed unless there is a crisis, Williams said. Once, when he raised the idea of discussing black comedian Bill Cosby's criticism of black youth culture, Fox agreed, even though the subject was unusual for the network, he said.

The Urban League study contends that Sunday morning talk shows are particularly important because they help Americans digest complex political issues, from the war in Iraq to Supreme Court nominations to the pitched battles over affirmative action and abortion.

Paul Brathwaite, executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, said his organization joined the Hispanic and Asian caucuses in pleading with the networks to include more minority members of Congress in Sunday discussions. The study showed that only three black House members -- Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) -- and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have appeared as guests.

"Who are the bookers of these shows, and who are they going to reach out and talk to from week to week?" Brathwaite said. "At the end of the day, they make the decisions. We're not at the table when decisions are being made in the newsroom. The decisions are affected; we're not there, and we're not covered."

The Urban League study did not include appearances by members of other minority groups, but Lisa Navarette of the National Council of La Raza, agreed that lack of diversity on the shows is a problem.

"People of color are not quoted as experts, and they don't appear frequently," she said. "I've seen many discussions of the Latino vote and immigration done with people who are not terribly knowledgeable about the people or the subject."