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For many years, minority groups in the United States have been keeping track of how they are shown on television. These groups include Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and many other ethnic groups that make up American society . They want television networks to show more diversity. Today's TV shows do not reflect how diverse America is, the groups say. To fix this, networks need to hire more people from different backgrounds.

Groups that keep track of diversity in the media say the networks are doing a better job today. Still, they can do better, the groups say. There could be more diversity on TV. There could also be a better mix of people working behind the camera.

Alex Nogales is president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. This group works to support American Latinos in the media. Nogales says one important issue is jobs. More Latinos need to be hired as actors, writers, directors, and producers, he says. He says Latinos are seen more on television today than they were six years ago. Still, there are not enough Latinos in top jobs behind the scenes.

"Who else is going to tell our stories?" he asked. Who but Latinos will understand how Latinos act and who they are? "Other people will try, and they'll get it half right," he said.

They will also get it half wrong, he added.

Faces In Front, And Behind, The Camera

Nogales says television helps make minority groups more visible in America. In real life, Latinos may be judges or doctors. They hold many types of important jobs. This is not usually shown on television, he said.

If you are not on television, the American public does not see you, Nogales said. He said viewers learn how to treat people based on what they see on TV. If they don't see any Latinos on TV, they will not learn about them. If they only see negative representations of Latinos, they may think that all Latinos are this way. That would not be accurate.

Groups who fight for minorities say ABC is setting a good example. This network has worked to increase diversity. It has put more minorities in TV shows. Many ABC shows, including Commander-in-Chief, have Asian-American writers, producers, and directors.

ABC is also the only network with two Hispanic-themed programs. One is "The George Lopez Show." The other is "Freddie."

Diversity Ratings

The groups say all of the networks, even ABC, have a long way to go. Their programs are not yet diverse enough.

The groups rated four big networks in a yearly Diversity Report Card. The big networks include ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. The Report Card showed something interesting. The groups found that Native Americans are the most poorly represented group on network television.

Mark Reed is a Native American actor. His ancestors were in the Mohawk and Apache tribes. He says, when producers show his people, they often try to do it in a good way. Still, what they show is often not accurate or true.

The Native American traditions they show are not real, he said. He said that the people who make these shows do not care about showing real Native American culture.

There are at least 600 tribes in the United States, he said. Each is different from the others. On TV, these tribes are often lumped together, he said.

Alex Nogales says Latinos alone make up 14 percent of the U.S. population. They spend about $700 billion a year. Networks are making a mistake by not showing them enough, he said. Instead, the networks should try to speak to Latinos. They should feature Latinos in their programs and advertisements, he said.

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Glossary

accurate (adj) -free from failure, error, or defect

ancestor (n) - one from whom a person is descended. whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time

tribe (n) - a socially, ethnically, and politically cohesive group of people

lump (v) - to group; to treat as a single unit

© 2019. Minorities See Improvement, Demand More Diversity for the AE ETeacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by FHI 360. This work is an adaptation of Minorities See Improvement, Demand More Diversity by Voice of America. Adapted content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/