Egypt is an African country. So why are the networks using more commentators/experts of color

[Empowerer]

in their coverage of the situation?

Certainly, a commentator's race/ethnic heritage should not be the sole or even primary determinant of whether they are consulted, but, by the same token, it would be helpful if there were a broader array of voices involved in the coverage.

That would not be unprecedented since the networks often go out of their way to bring in experts and analysts of particular ethnicities and religions to cover certain stories. For example, when the Pope visited the U.S., the networks brought in numerous Catholic reporters and commentators to give context, background and depth to their coverage. This was a good thing.

Yet, in this instance, it seems that no effort is being made to diversify news coverage, even when diversity would add tremendous value and perspective to the coverage. There are countless men and women of color across the country and world who are outstanding expertd on Egyption, Middle Eastern, African and international issues, history and politics, and their impact on and relationship to American interests
and the larger global scope. Why aren't we hearing from them?

We seem to be dealing with the same status quo we often see: minorities are welcome to discuss politics and culture, but when it comes to hard news - especially "serious" international stories - let's cut to the chase and bring in the "experts," who, of course, are white folks, to explain to the rest of us what is really going on over there.

We really need to do better.

[karynnj]

1. I have seen many many Arabs speaking

I think you are trying too hard to split people between black and white - ignoring that most of the people in the Cairo footage do not look like either white Northern Europeans or blacks from further south in Africa.

[Empowerer]

2. I understand your point but I'm not referring to people being interviewed in Cairo . . .

I'm referring to the "experts" that the networks are bringing in to offer analysis. While a few have been Middle Eastern - very few - most have been the usual cast of characters they bring in to offer their perspectives on most international situations - almost all white and primarily male.

Unfortunately, this is a longstanding problem the networks have - they can't seem to see past their very limited views of who are the experts in every area of discussion. Perhaps because it still puts resources into covering international news, CNN seems to be doing a better job than the others. But for every Fareed Zakaria, we get dozens of Mark Halperins, Andrea Mitchells and Richard Haasses. There seems to be little recognition of and even less regard to the fact that people of color can be experts on something more important and complex than whether the President has his mojo back.

[karynnj]

7. To be fair if you include Mitchell, include all the black CNN talking heads too

They are there. I did see Harold Ford brought in - even though he really was not a foreign policy expert. If you wanted a Congressman - Ford is former one - I would prefer Howard Berman, who is the ranking member of the foreign relations committee - and I don't care that he is white. I have seen several experts on who were women. (Our ambassador there is a woman and Hillary Clinton is of course the Secretary of State.)

I did not see Halperin speaking on foreign policy - and wouldn't want to, because his expertise is snarky political writing, leaning to the right. Haass is a foreign policy expert. In addition to Zakaria, there were several other middle eastern men, including one from Al Zajeera.

To me, this is a time where there should be a disproportionate number of people who actually lived in the middle east or at minimum studied it.

[Teaser]

3. Can you give us a breakdown of all Egypt commentators

by race and/or national origin? It would help evaluate the extant of the problem.

[butterfly77]

4. I think it is because they want to ..

follow a certain storyline as this progresses and they don't want people who really,really,know the people on the ground expressing certain opinions. I believe there are a lot of comments cut from some of the footage we see..

[DavidDvorkin]

5. It's African geographically

But it's part of the Middle East demographically and culturally.

[Empowerer]

8. That's a matter of perspective

And one of the reasons that having more diversity in the discussion would be instructive to the audience.

Many Egyptians see themselves not only as Middle Eastern but also as African - they don't view it as an either or situation. It's complex and nuanced, as is the history that led to the apparent dichotomy.

For example, CNN recently ran a crawl that referred to "African pirates" when referencing pirates from Somali. I was pretty surprised at that, not so much because although Somali is also considered to be part of the "Middle East" even though, like Egypt, it is clearly part of Africa, but it is very unusual for the residents of particular countries on other continents to be identified by continent rather than their country of origin. We don't hear Scandinavian criminals referred to as "Europeans" or suspects from the United States referred to as "North Americans." Yet some people, even highly educated ones, tend to think of Africa as one common spot rather than a combination of many different countries.

Westerners, sadly, are woefully ignorant about Africa and the Middle East. One of the reasons for this is a lack of diverse perspectives concerning these regions and their people, culture and politics in the media. We would all benefit if the news media tried harder to remedy this.

[Uzybone]

6. lets face it

as far as we (America in general) are concerned we have enough minority faces on TV and in the movies. We don't need any more. Besides the President is black, what more do you want?

:sarcasm:

[golfguru]

9. Every so called "expert" is a dunderhead since

not a single one saw this crisis coming. They are no better than the
"economists" since not one of them predicted the banking crisis either.

[jenmito]

10. I've seen several Egyptian-Americans and Egyptians commenting on the situation. n/t

[Empowerer]

14. Who have you seen?

I've seen a few, but very few. And the experts I have seen have been almost universally white Americans.

I've been following a lot of this on NPR, which is doing a great job in bringing on a diverse array of experts. But cable news has, as usual, done a poor job of reaching outside of its comfort zone.

[jenmito]

15. I don't know any of their names, but there were people from al Jazeera, as well as another

similar news network, and Egyptian-Americans who have family in Egypt. There were other people considered "experts." All Egyptian. The only white person (who is a reporter who lived in Egypt for 4 years is Richard Engel.

[Empowerer]

16. That's good to know.

But I do wish this were more prevalent. I've been watching quite a bit of the coverage and have seen very little of this. And while I've seen more people being interviewed on the ground as eyewitnesses, I'm seeing very few of them interviewed as expert analysts. Instead, I'm seeing folks like Richard Haass, Fran Townsend and Erin Burnett being brought in to offer analysis.

Let's hope that as time goes on, the people you're seeing get more exposure.

[RockaFowler]

11. My Father is from Alexandria

And he is white. What does color have to do with it??

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x300388

[Empowerer]

13. Color has plenty to do with it when so few people of color are presented as experts on any topic

but particularly when it involves a Middle Eastern/African country.

The fact that your father is white does not obviate my point. I did not say or even imply that ONLY people of color are experts on this issue. Instead, I was pointing out that, once again, the media seems to believe and continues to convey the impression that people of color are not experts on topics outside a limited scope while whites are presented as experts on every topic. The lack of effort at bringing in different perspectives is very glaring and very troubling.

[Hippo_Tron]

12. Most black people have ancestors from Sub-Saharan Africa, not North Africa

The two regions have a very different racial makeup. Some countries such a Sudan are on the borderline and contain a mixed-race population. But Egypt is distinctly part of North Africa by any definition.

[Beacool]

17. You do realize that Egyptians' racial make up is not the same as that of southern Africans, right?

There have been plenty of Egyptian and other ME experts all over the airwaves.

:shrug: