Asians on TV: Do Networks Make the Grade?

Asian Pacific American Media Coalition releases latest diversity "Report Card"; Fox gets an Incomplete.



Over the last few years, we've seen some decent strides in the number of roles for Asian Americans on television. But how do the numbers actually stack up? The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition (APAMC) just released its most recent "Report Card" grading the four major television networks on their progress toward diversity and inclusion of Asian Americans for the 2016-17 season.

At the top of the class: ABC. On the strength of its 21 regular and 23 recurring Asian American actors in prime time television -- including an unprecedented three series featuring Asian American actors in lead roles last season -- the network scored an A-, the highest grade the Coalition has ever given in that category. ABC also led the networks in the categories of Writers/Producers, Directors and Commitment to the Diversity Initiatives, ultimately receiving an overall grade of B. (Let's skip the jokes about "The Asian F." For now.)

In contrast, CBS had 16 Asian American regulars and 22 recurring for a grade of B- in the Actors category, and only 15 Asian American Writers or Producers for a grade of C in that category. NBC had only 11 Asian American regulars and 24 recurring for a grade of C+ in the Actors category, and a total of 18 Asian American Writers or Producer for a grade of C+ in that category. Because both CBS and NBC have a significant number of programs featuring AAPI actors, writers and/or producers in Development (receiving a grade of B+ and B-, respectively, in that category), there's hope their numbers will improve in coming seasons.

Here's the report card:

Surprise! Hollywood is a Straight White Boys Club.

New report on diversity in the entertainment industry tells us all the things we already knew.



Surprise: Hollywood is a "straight white boys club," according to a new study of the entertainment industry. File this one under shit we've known forever, but it's certainly always nice to have the numbers to back it up.

From C-Suite to Characters on Screen: How inclusive is the entertainment industry?

A new report from USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism takes an exhaustive look at the state of diversity in Hollywood, and determines that films and television produced by major media companies are "whitewashed" and that there is an "epidemic of invisibility" in the industry when nit comes to women, minorities and LGBT people. Again: shit we already knew, but thank you for confirming.

The study, entitled The Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity, includes an "inclusivity index" based on 414 stories produced by ten companies through movies, television and digital platforms. It involved more than 11,000 speaking characters as well as 10,000 behind-the-scenes creators and 1,500 executives.

The report paints a portrait of pervasive underrepresentation.

Gene Luen Yang talks diversity at the National Book Festival

Award-winning author talks about diverse books, doing your homework, and the freedom to make mistakes.



Over the weekend, our friend Gene Luen Yang, the celebrated, award-winning graphic novelist behind American Born Chinese, Boxers & Saints and The Shadow Hero, delivered one heck of a speech at the 14th annual National Book Festival's gala in Washington DC.

Read This: Gene Luen Yang's rousing diversity speech at the 2014 National Book Festival gala

To a room full of notable literary figures, including respectable author-types and representatives from the Library of Congress, this self-professed "comic book guy" spoke about the importance of diversity and the power of comics to reach and engage readers of any background.

Here's the transcript of Gene's remarks, re-posted from The Washington Post:

Why We Need Diverse Books

Guest Post by Ellen Oh



Young adult author and educator Ellen Oh, founder of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, shares some of the personal reasons that compelled her call-to-arms for more diversity in contemporary literature.

So the first thing people ask me these days is how did the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign come about? There's the basic answer -- the one about how I've been fighting for diversity and against racism for years. And then there's the series of events that all lead up to it. I haven't felt up to talking about the private stuff before. But I realize it is an important part of how I ended up here.

Earlier this year, my dad had a major stroke so severe that the doctors told my family to say our goodbyes. And then a miracle, he survived. But at what cost? He was paralyzed and his memory was so badly affected that he didn't remember our names, and sometimes even who we were.

As I tried to deal with the emotional turmoil in my personal life, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness. I couldn't fix my father. And the help I could give felt useless. I didn't know what to do but I focused on supporting my mother with my dad. It was in the midst of my personal despair that news about the BookCon Blockbuster's Read program hit Twitter and I remember talking to Malinda Lo about the continued lack of representation at these major book events. We kept talking about it and I began to feel a growing rage within me. And then something just snapped. I was just so angry and frustrated and feeling so helpless. I just wanted to hit something. I just needed to do something. I needed to channel my rage into something positive. And I kept saying over and over again "We need to do something really big. So big that no one can ignore us anymore." There were quite a few people who scoffed at me. Told me I was wasting my time. However, there was even more people who came to me and said, "What do you want to do? I'm in!"

American Girl discontinuing its only Asian American doll

Popular doll brand retires two historical characters of color



The wildly popular American Girl doll brand has announced that it is discontinuing several of its historical characters, prompting swift backlash about the line's lack of racially diverse dolls. The discontinued dolls include Cécile, an African American doll, and Ivy, the line's only Asian American character.

American Girl Discontinues Two Dolls of Color

Ivy and Cécile are two of only four American Girl dolls of color, from amongst the line's eleven "historical character" dolls. Ivy was originally introduced as a sidekick to Julie, a blond-haired doll from the 1970s. Yes, an Asian sidekick, but as many fans have pointed out, it was better than Asian nobody. Now, it's Asian nobody.

The Diversity Gap in the Academy Awards

You knew it was bad. This infographic shows how bleak it really is.



The 86th Academy Awards, which celebrates excellence in filmmaking, will take place this weekend. It's Hollywood's biggest night! As a movie fan, I used to be avid follower of the Oscars, only to become increasingly disillusioned, year upon year, by the Academy's glaring racial and gender disparities.

The handy infographic above, created by as part of a recently released Diversity Gap study by Lee & Low Books, breaks down the racial and gender representation of the Academy Awards.. I don't think it's going to be a mind-blowing revelation to anyone that Oscar's diversity gap is stunningly awful.

Where's the Diversity, Hollywood? 85 Years of the Academy Awards

You knew it was bad. The numbers show just how bleak it really is. The Producers and Writers branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are both 98% white. Academy voters are 94% white and 77% male. In 85 years, only eight people of color have ever won Oscars in the Best Actress or Best Actor categories. Only one woman has ever won Best Director -- and that was only four years ago.

Lee & Low Books is an award-winning children's book publisher focusing on diversity and stories about everyone, for everyone. To read the rest Diversity Gap study, which includes interviews with independent actors and filmmakers, go here.

Still no Asian Americans on Saturday Night Live

38 years of SNL's diversity problem, all in one chart



After a recent revival of criticism over a lack of diversity on Saturday Night Live, this weekend marked the much-hyped debut of Sasheer Zamata, the show's first black female cast member in seven years.

In honor of the occasion, here's an interesting and informative Huffington Post infographic outlining the sketch comedy institution's legendary lack of racial diversity in its 38-year run. It specifically points out, as I am reminded every time we inevitably revisit these discussions of SNL's notorious race problem, still no Asians.

Check it out:

Lee & Low Books receives $500,000 award from First Book

Lee & Low Books is an independent children's book publisher specializing in diversity. With an emphasis on publishing works by artists of color, the company's goal is to meet the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that all children can enjoy. Pretty cool, right?

Even cooler, some cool news: Lee & Low was recently awarded a $500,000 award from First Book. The award, The Stories For All Project, aims is to introduce a significant number of multicultural books into the hands of low-income children: First Book, Stories for All Project Chooses LEE & LOW.

Lee & Low was one of two publishers chosen to receive the award. Here's part of the announcement by publisher Jason Low:

Asian American Performers Action Coalition releases diversity report for 2011-12 New York City theater season

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition recently released its annual report, "Ethnic Representation on New York City Stages," detailing the ethnic distribution of actors hired this past theater season on Broadway and at the top sixteen not-for-profit theater companies in New York City.

In the 2011-2012 season, African American actors were cast in 16% of all roles, Hispanic American/Latino actors in 3%, and Asian American actors in 3% (others, including Arab American/Middle Eastern and Native American actors, comprised 1%).

Caucasian actors filled 77% of all roles, and surprise! continued to be the only ethnicity to over-represent compared to their respective population size in New York City and the Tri-State area.

Diverse images rejected from Canadian currency

Remember that original design for Canada's new $100 bill that was rejected because focus groups thought the woman scientist featured in the image looked "too Asian"? There's apparently more where that came from: Report: Gays, blacks nixed as images on Canada's new plastic bank notes.

Internal documents show that focus groups and a Bank of Canada team reviewed a series of currency images intended in part to reflect the diversity of Canada's population, including a Chinese dragon parade, the swearing in of a new citizen, Toronto's annual Caribbean festival, children of different ethnic backgrounds playing hockey or building a snowman, and a person in a wheelchair playing basketball.

Alas, none of these images made it on to the new notes. And the images that were finally approved for the bills didn't really reflect the themes of "diversity, inclusiveness, acceptance of others/multiculturalism" the focus group participants supposedly valued:

diversity report card gives fox a fail

The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition recently issued its annual report card grading the top four television networks on their efforts to include Asian Pacific Americans in their programming and business dealings.

And while diversity on prime time network television has had some small gains and setbacks, for the first time ever, one network failed: Fox Receives F/Incomplete In Asian Pacific American Media Coalition's Annual Television Report Card.