The National Urban League Policy Institute just released a study showing that over a recent 18-month period blacks made up only 8 percent of appearances on the major Sunday morning political talk shows. And 69 percent of those appearances can be accounted for by just three people: Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powel, and regular FOX contributor Juan Williams.
Studies like this one pop up fairly frequently, and I always wonder to what degree the under-representation is a function of a very real corresponding under-representation of blacks in the power elite that the shows draw from, and how much is just boneheaded booking. But the study wisely points out several incidents – like when the shows were doing their Reagan funeral era hagiographies – when more commentary from the black community would clearly have been quite appropriate. Either way, it’s pretty pathetic.
