Photo by Walter McBride/Getty Images
Over the weekend, CBS News announced its official election coverage team for the 2020 election, and there wasn’t very much melanin in the line-up of reporters. Although she doesn’t foresee herself going into politics, Kerry Washington took note and brought up a very important question: “Who will you turn to for a perspective with nuanced & personal understanding of the African American experience?”
But, can you blame her? With issues of social justice, immigration, poverty and so many other matters that are ongoing in today’s society, it’s only right to have representation from all sides…including the black side.
Even Maxine Waters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to social media to acknowledge how wrong and “unacceptable” it was for there to be no black journalists represented. “This WH admin has made having a functional understanding of race in America one of the most important core competencies for a political journalist to have yet @CBSNews hasn’t assigned a single black journalist to cover the 2020 election,” expressed Ocasio-Cortez. And Auntie Maxine just wanted to know the reasoning behind it all:
While many people, including politicians, are trying to figure out why CBS News decided to go with these journalists, radio host Jesse Kelly is agreeing with the outlet’s decision. He took to Twitter to insinuate that “many black people have no interest in journalism”:
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1084525238313017344
And, he was met with some very surprised and confused reactions by black journos who would beg to differ. Their argument had a lot to do with the fact that there’s a whole organization dedicated to training and advocating on behalf of black journalists worldwide, and it’s called, the National Association of Black Journalists.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get the memo. But as for the former Scandal star, she’s always been a champion for diversity. This isn’t the first time she’s spoken up about the uniformity of CBS. In December, during an appearance, Washington called out the network once again for not having a single woman of color at the center of any of its programming. She urged them: “Come along for the ride, CBS.”
Last year, at the 49th NAACP Image Awards, the Broadway star also spoke about how the work that she and other entertainers are doing will allow people to continue to dream and strive for equity in Hollywood. Watch below (start at 2:10):
When she’s not fighting for change, Kerry is busy producing her upcoming comedy about modern-day pastoring and blended families, inspired by Sarah Jakes-Roberts, and her husband Pastor Touré Roberts.
TELL US: Which black journalist would you like to see on CBS News’ election coverage?
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