NAACP Will Fight Network TV Lineups

The NAACP today will launch an attack against the four major broadcast networks in reaction to the near-exclusion of minorities in their new fall prime-time TV shows. The multifaceted plan will be outlined in a keynote address by President Kweisi Mfume before the 90th annual NAACP convention in New York.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has never taken on the major television networks en masse. The last time the civil rights group took an aggressive stand against the industry was in 1951, when it denounced a single prime-time series, “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” characterizing the comedy as stereotypical and offensive.

The recent announcements by the networks of their fall programming lineups resurrected the organization’s scrutiny of the media. Mfume stressed that the NAACP’s effort would be both comprehensive and long-running.

Under consideration in this new initiative is a wide range of action--the most severe being possible litigation--against ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. Mfume on Sunday angrily characterized the virtual absence of minorities in the new shows as a violation of the 1934 Federal Communications Act, which provides that the airwaves belong to the public, and said that any legal recourse would be based on that.

Moreover, Mfume told The Times, he will call for congressional and Federal Communications Commission hearings on network ownership, licensing and programming. Other measures under consideration include calling for a viewer boycott of the networks, and of advertisers who “feel it is OK to advertise on these highly segregated shows,” he said.

Top management at the four targeted networks will receive a letter from Mfume this week calling for increased minority representation in front of and behind the cameras, and demanding a meeting to address the issue.

In the days following the networks’ announcements in May concerning their fall lineups, Tom Nunan, entertainment president of UPN, which features several shows with minorities in starring and supporting roles, said the major networks had taken “a shortsighted approach.”

ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses conceded that her network is woefully lacking in diversity and said she is trying to increase the number of blacks and Latinos on new shows. Fox Entertainment President Doug Herzog downplayed the significance of the absence of series featuring minorities on his network, saying he wants “the best show on the air.”

The lack of minority characters this season comes despite previous pledges by network executives that diversity would increase. Instead, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, Mfume said.

“The airwaves belong to the public,” he said. “African Americans make up 13% of the population; we feel that our presence should be appropriately reflected during prime time.”

Mfume will press for the establishment of an ad hoc steering and advisory committee made up of minority industry representatives. And by Oct. 1, he expects a nationally run bureau of the NAACP to open in Hollywood to serve as a watchdog for the industry.

In its last major effort against the TV industry, the NAACP was instrumental in eventually getting “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” which began airing on CBS in the 1950s, pulled off the network in 1966.

Today’s announcement by Mfume comes six weeks after the networks unveiled their new prime-time shows for advertisers, who are considering how and where to spend $6.5 billion on commercial time during the fall season, which begins in mid-September.

Of the 26 new comedies and dramas premiering this fall, none features a minority in a leading role. Secondary minority characters are sparse, with few blacks in supporting roles, and with Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and other ethnic groups almost nonexistent.

The initiative is being launched a few weeks after the formation of a coalition of several local groups, including the Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter of the NAACP and other industry-themed organizations, such as Nosotros, a Latino arts group; the East West Players, an Asian American theater group, and a newly formed performers group called We Won’t Be Ignored. The still-unnamed coalition is expected to announce its own strategies against the networks within the next few weeks. It remains unclear whether the national and local factions will join forces.

In recent years, other civil rights leaders and groups--such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Brotherhood Crusade and the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP--have staged periodic protests on minority images and the lack of diversity on television. Last season, several of these groups targeted the UPN Civil War-era comedy, “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” for being racially offensive; however low ratings were the principal reason for the show’s eventual cancellation.

The pronouncement by Mfume, who is also chief executive officer of the NAACP, is the strongest public attack on the new season’s lack of diversity by a national leader. Already the networks have been hastily scrambling to increase minority cast members on the new shows.

Among the high profile shows premiering this season with all-white casts are NBC’s “The West Wing,” a drama set in a liberal White House; ABC’s “Wasteland,” about six young adults who live in New York City; CBS’ “Love or Money,” a comedy about romance in an upscale New York City apartment building; Fox’s “Manchester Prep,” set at a prestigious New York prep school, and NBC’s “Cold Feet,” about three couples in varying stages of relationships.

“When the television viewing public sits down to watch the new prime-time shows scheduled for this fall’s lineup, they will see a virtual whitewash in programming,” Mfume said Sunday. “This whitewash exists because none of the 26 new shows have a minority in a leading or starring role. This glaring omission is an outrage and a shameful display by network executives who are either clueless, careless or both.”