Rep. Maxine Waters played the race card with CBS — and it worked.
After CBS’s 2020 election coverage team was announced, the California Democrat was infuriated there were no black members on the reporting staff — so she demanded CBS hire one, and the network agreed.
UPDATE: Within 24hrs of my Tweet, @CBSNews reps met w/ me on Capitol Hill.
CBS admitted they had a lot of work to do & committed to including Blacks on their 2020 election team & all other teams.
True diversity is the inclusion of ALL.
I won’t let them off the hook! pic.twitter.com/K11Esx0gHG
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) January 16, 2019
Wrong Again
Maxine Waters accused the network of not being diverse enough.
When you look at the lineup of reporters and producers, though, it appears CBS did compile a diverse field of candidates, both male and female, whose names and appearances hardly reflect a white, European background:
It’s Official: The @CBSNews 2020 Election Team has assembled! https://t.co/0GBCw4mj7s pic.twitter.com/E0rUDAkzf7
— Ben Mitchell (@bfmitchell) January 11, 2019
Fellow Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) was actually the person that got this “controversy” started with a Sunday tweet.
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.
Unacceptable in 2019. Try again. https://t.co/h7tmiBr9Fi
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 13, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez’s main point was that people of color need to be represented — and we agree.
But just because one specific demographic is not represented does not mean the staff is not diverse.
What Happened to Most Qualified?
Indeed, there are only a total of eight reporter positions and four associate producer positions available for the network’s coverage.
What if no black reporters or producers wanted the job?
What if the network did not have any qualified candidates in the pipeline eligible for these positions?
[show_poll poll_id=7575]
And even more grueling questions remain.
Is the network going to now terminate someone on the team?
Or are they simply going to add more positions to pacify Waters and Ocasio-Cortez?
The network should be able to assign the most qualified individuals on its team to the position. Period.
