The US has a history of black exclusion in the media. However, in recent years African Americans have started to take on leadership roles within the media. One of the first black network news anchors, Max Robinson, started at ABC in 1978 and moved to NBC in Chicago in 1984. Another black television news pioneer is Ed Bradley. He worked as the first black television corespondent for the White House in 1976 and then moved to CBS's 60 Minutes in 1978.
These two men have another thing in common. They are both very relatable to a mass audience. The African American population has people to relate to in the news, finally. However, these two are also extremely relatable to a white population. Both are very light skinned, which seems like both a good marketing tool and a cop out for the network stations. It makes sense to have anchors relatable to a wide audience because more people will watch, thus the network will get more money and a larger influence. On the other hand, these anchors are almost white. Why couldn't they have gone a little further with the diversity?
News anchors, even if they look different, are not diverse. All people in news sound exactly the same. No matter what race or where geographically the person grew up, everyone seems to be a white Midwestern person. If you play the videos without looking at the person (Max Robinson, Ed Bradley), you'll probably have no idea these men are black. The same thing happens with Asian newscasters (Connie Chung). It is very rare to hear a southern accent, a New Jersey accent, or a Minnesotan accent on network news unless it is an interviewee. It doesn't make sense to have the entire network news population come from one area of a very diverse country, even if it is so everyone can understand them.
News has come a long way from the days where diversity was completely excluded. However, there is still a long way to go. It's ridiculous to have anchors and newscasters talk the same. Even though we've come a long with with the racial diversity, television would seem more realistic if there were more of it and some accents to liven it up.
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