Diversity still lags on network television

LOS ANGELES -- Black characters get more television time than other minorities but they tend to be relegated to sitcoms, a study released Tuesday found.\nDespite the large number of African Americans on television, they continue to be 'ghettoized,' according to the study from the University of California, Los Angeles. \nBlack characters were more likely to appear in comedies, with 39 percent of all black characters in sitcoms compared to 31 percent for whites, 23 percent for Hispanics and 21 percent for Asians. \nOne of the least-watched networks, UPN, featured the most black characters, the study said. Blacks represent 28 percent of the characters on UPN series, compared to about 12 percent on other networks. \nMore than half of all black characters who appeared on the screen for more than 10 minutes per hour of programming were on UPN and most appeared on two nights, Monday and Saturday. The latter is the least-watched TV night. \nCBS was the network with the second-largest percentage of all African American characters, 17 percent. \nOther minorities have their own cause for complaint, the study found. Black and white characters combined represent 92 percent of all prime-time characters in the study but constitute 82 percent of the U.S. population, it said. That left scant room for other ethnic groups. \nHispanics were the most underrepresented group in prime-time television, accounting for 2 percent of all characters although they make up 12.5 percent of national population. \nAsian Americans comprised about 3 percent of all characters, and American Indians were "invisible," according to the report. \nCalls seeking comment from most of the six broadcast networks included in the study were not returned Tuesday. \n"We are very proud of our record of diversity on air," said WB spokesman Paul McGuire. He noted WB will air a new Hispanic family sitcom next fall, "Greetings from Tucson." \nThe networks have been under pressure from civil rights groups since 1999, when a mostly white lineup of new shows aired. \nBut there has been scant movement toward real programming diversity, said Darnell Hunt, the study's author. \n"Much of the promise of change on behalf of the networks has been lip service to appease people," said Hunt, director of the UCLA Center for African American Studies.\n"There's been all this anticipation of change and there has been very little. Most of the networks have thrown out a few symbolic gestures and left most of the programming practices intact." \nWhile nearly all series episodes were multiracial, ethnic characters typically served as background "props" unimportant to the story, the study found. \nHunt, the author of a 2000 Screen Actors Guild study with similar findings, said diversification has been stymied by white control of the entertainment industry. \n"Minorities are even more underrepresented in key behind-the-scenes creative and decision-making positions than they are on the screen," according to the UCLA study.