The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) met with NBCUniversal’s head of diversity yesterday to discuss concerns about recent changes that have affected the Black voices seen and heard on air every day. While NBCUniversal leadership has assured us they are committed to elevating Black voices, we are disappointed by the removal of Joy Reid from her slot. Reid is a longtime journalist and host of The ReidOut, a major political commentary program.
While we congratulate Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez on their new roles in Reid’s former time slot, we remain concerned about industry-wide patterns in which Black talent is disproportionately affected by corporate changes. We have also learned that other journalists and commentators representing diverse communities have been removed from their slots.
As we continue examining this issue and working with NBCUniversal on their commitments to diversity, we urge news leaders across the board to recognize that removing Black voices affects how networks shed light on issues of great importance to our communities. Reducing those voices also limits the diversity of content and viewpoints. Networks must also ensure that more Black journalists by trade have opportunities to contribute. We urge all news platforms to add rather than subtract from the diversity of their talent—both on-camera and behind the scenes.