diversity & inclusion

Vernā Myers will be stepping down from her role as Netflix’s head of inclusion strategy at the end of September. Myers, who was the first to ever serve in the position for the streamer when she joined in 2018, will remain as an adviser to Netflix while returning to her self-titled consulting company, The Vernā Myers Co. Upon Myers’ departure, Wade Davis, Netflix’s VP of inclusion strategy, who has worked under Myers for the past four years, will be promoted to oversee the team.

Warner Bros. Television’s decision to shut down its television workshop for emerging writers and directors sparked outrage from those worried about a major setback for women and people of color trying to make their careers in Hollywood. But on Wednesday, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery said it’s not giving up on programs to develop writers and directors of color after all. The company said in a statement that its pipeline programs will exist under its larger diversity, equity and inclusion umbrella, where they will focus specifically on working with writers and directors from underrepresented groups.

A group of minority-owned media, led by Fuse Media, is asking the FCC to collect data on the diversity of content vendors used by licensed media and telecommunications companies. The group’s petition wants streaming services owned by licensed media companies included among those who have to report on diversity, as well as traditional platforms like broadcast, cable and satellite TV.

NBCU Launch, the umbrella brand that houses the comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across NBCU’s television portfolio, has forged a new partnership with Telemundo to increase the number of Hispanic female directors in scripted television. This partnership is an extension of the Hispanic network’s award-winning corporate initiative Mujeres Imparables (Unstoppable Women).

The program, based at its WLBT Jackson, Miss., will prepare students for today’s unique operating environment, while simultaneously improving diversity, equity and inclusion in media, the station group says.

As Madison Avenue approaches year two in its commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry, most Super Bowl advertisers are either struggling to produce commercials that depict true representation or don’t appear to be trying at all.

Nielsen said it has launched a Diverse Media Equity Program, which is designed to highlight minority-owned media companies to advertisers and media buyers. Canela Media, a Latina-owned media company, was part of a pilot initiative and the number of campaigns it had that were measured by Nielsen tripled.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Marcus Riley, senior director of content strategy and inclusive journalism at E.W. Scripps, about what inclusivity looks like on a newscast and how newsrooms can begin addressing it right from a story pitch.

Anzio Williams, SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion at NBCUniversal Local, draws on his long tenure as a news director to guide strategies for sustainable changes in the industry, changes he says are finally taking root beyond “quick fixes.”

Despite the pandemic that stymied Hollywood production, there were varying measures of growth in the hiring of people of color — and women — in on- and off-camera jobs, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a new report. In return, audience enthusiasm for shows such as creator-star Issa Rae’s Insecure and the miniseries Watchmen with Emmy-winning actor Regina King proved that inclusion pays business as well as social dividends, said Darnell Hunt, dean of the school’s social sciences division. Above, Robin Thede (r), the creator, star and executive producer of the HBO comedy series A Black Lady Sketch Show, and executive producer Issa Rae pose together for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.

Dave Chappelle has spoken out about the controversy over his Netflix special The Closer in a new stand-up video, saying that he is willing to meet with transgender Netflix employees or other members of the trans community, but won’t bend “to anybody’s demands.”

More than a year after George Floyd’s killing focused attention on efforts to diversify newsrooms, the ability to measure real progress is proving elusive.

The multi-pronged commitment seeks to apply research, data and quantifiable targets to effect societal change, starting with racial equity and mental health.

As the entertainment industry looks to improve the ratio of female representation in television on screen and behind the scenes, a study finds that the youngest streaming services have made more progress than broadcast networks that have been around for decades. That’s one of the conclusions of this year’s Boxed In survey, an annual report on female employment in television by Martha Lauzen, executive director of San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

The Tegna NBC affiliate taps Ogas to play a strategic role in supporting and championing diversity, equity and inclusion.

NBCUniversal has created a new executive position to oversee diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across its television and streaming brands. Longtime ViacomCBS inclusion executive Jeanne Mau is moving to NBCU to serve as its first senior vice president, TV programming, diversity, equity & inclusion. She will dual report to Universal Studio Group chair Pearlena Igbokwe and entertainment content chair Susan Rovner.

RTDNA will be the canary in the coal mine for journalism conferences in September, when it convenes in Denver without the Society of Professional Journalists, its longtime partner. Executive Director Dan Shelley discusses plans for navigating the live event amid the Delta surge and the most pressing dangers and prerogatives facing journalists as unsteady times continue and attacks on reporters persist.

PBS on Tuesday introduced several new funding initiatives, revealed updated producing partner criteria and announced that it has hired an SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Jan Goldstein, SVP of human resources at Gray Television, says the 9-to-5 status quo has been permanently disrupted at TV stations by the pandemic. The new world of TV HR has also been reshaped by a deeper commitment to diversity and inclusion, a greater scrutiny of future work-related travel and the blurred lines between employees’ professional and personal lives after 15 months of remote work. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

CBS has ousted the leaders of its O&O stations in Los Angeles and Chicago after concluding a six-month investigation into misconduct claims at the CBS Television Stations group. Jay Howell is out as general manager of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV Los Angeles, as is Derek Dalton at WBBM-TV Chicago. The terminations were disclosed in memos Thursday about the conclusion of the investigation sparked by a Los Angeles Times expose on hostile working conditions for women and people of color at a number of CBS O&Os.

With a consolidation of CBS’s News and Stations divisions already underway, the network has now also finished its long external probe into various allegations of racist and abusive behavior at local outlets — and change is coming to the City of Angels and the Windy City ASAP and more, promise execs.

Grady Tripp, VP and chief diversity officer at Tegna, explains how fostering diversity, inclusion and equity at TV stations can be cultivated by maintaining an inclusive work environment, recognizing and valuing underrepresented groups and securing buy-in from leadership. This is the latest installment of How To, a TVNewsCheck original video series that solicits innovative, practical and actionable advice from TV experts in news, technology, sales and marketing. Earlier episodes: How To Make A Better News Story Working Solo, How To Sell Local OTT Advertising and How To Animate A News Story.

In A letter, first shared with The Associated Press, Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York, Yvette Clarke of New York, and Brenda Lawrence of Michigan along with Media 2070 said the FCC should conduct an assessment to “address and redress” the harm the agency’s policies and programs have caused Black and brown communities and identify the “affirmative steps the agency commits to taking to break down barriers to just media and telecommunication practices.”

For the fifth year in a row, representation of people of color in local TV news improved overall and, for the fourth year in a row, a record high percentage of the local TV news workforce are people of color. However, work remains.