CNN-The Caucasian News Network

When my family installed cable in our home back in the early 80's, one of the things as a news junkie I absolutely loved was CNN.  From James Earl Jones distinctive voice in its commercials announcing 'This Is CNN' to having Bernard Shaw as one of its early anchors.  It was one of the channels I turned to when I wanted to keep up with what was happening in the nation and the world.

But that's over now.   I've been more than pissed at CNN for a lot of reason from the rightward drift in its coverage, CNN President Jeff Zucker's initial hires only being white journalists to its refusal to have non-white anchors on except on the weekends and in the mornings.

The CNN relaunch ad that is at the top of the post didn't help, since the only non-white folks in it are Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria.  It also served to bitterly remind us in the African American community CNN has lost Black and Latino anchors off its airwaves such as TJ Holmes, Tony Harris, Rick Sanchez, Soledad O'Brien and  Roland S. Martin in stark contrast to rival MSNBC embracing diversity. 

My fellow Houstonian and 2013 NABJ Journalist of the Year wasn't shy in verbalizing his thoughts as to why CNN has had a problem with diversity.

"You have largely white male executives who are not necessarily enamored with the idea of having strong, confident minorities who say, 'I can do this,'" he said. "We deliver, but we never get the big piece, the larger salary, to be able to get from here to there."



People of color are all over MSNBC in a variety of capacities from contributors to anchors such as Tamron Hall, Rev. Al Sharpton, Melissa Harris-Perry, Karen Finney, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and Joy Reid just to name a few of the faces you'll see there along with Martin Bashir and Alex Wagner.  It's also led to an astounding 61% growth in MSNBC's African-American audience as well. 

The dearth of CNN African-American and Latino anchors has led me to stop watching what I sarcastically call the 'Caucasian News Network' and go elsewhere to channels like MSNBC, for national and international news.  I'm not supporting a channel that won't hire or use pundits who look like me.   

It ain't just me complaining about the ethnic cleansing that's happened at CNN.  The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists also ain't liking what has happened at CNN either.

In a multicultural nation, it is vitally important if you want balanced news to have viewpoints coming from a diverse group of people.   News executives, 'diverse group of people' doesn't mean old white men, young white men, liberal white men, or conservative white men with a white female or two thrown into the mix.

It means Black and Latino folks need to be at your news anchor desks since we do represent a sizable chunk of the US population.  I can even tolerate conservatives as long as somebody is sitting at that desk to counter their crap.  

I also want somebody sitting at that desk that reflects my lived experiences as well.