The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released what it’s calling its ninth and final edition of the network responsibility index (NRI) on Thursday, saying that the report was no longer needed after the changes TV has undergone with regard to portraying gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in the past decade.
“As representation of LGBT people in popular media continues to flourish, pushing networks to make those representations more diverse is essential,” wrote GLAAD CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis. “And doing so now requires a different set of tools than the NRI provides, which is why in the years ahead GLAAD will shift focus to its annual diversity report – ‘Where We Are on TV.’”
To examine how well these populations are being represented on television, GLAAD looked at both broadcast and cable, focusing on primetime, from June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015, a total of nearly 3,000 programming hours. On the broadcast side, GLAAD looked at ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW. On the cable side, it examined ABC Family, A&E, FX, HBO, History, MTV, Showtime, TLC, TNT and USA.
Of the broadcast networks, Fox and The CW tied for the most representation of LGBT-inclusive programming at 45%. Fox improved 9% from last year, while The CW did 12% better.
That’s the highest percentage GLAAD has tracked for any broadcast network since it first started putting together the NRI in 2006. GLAAD also noted that “thanks to shows like Empire, the network also had the second most racially diverse representations on broadcast, with 36% of its LGBT impressions made by people of color.”
The CW, which was just a tick behind Fox with 44.8% of its original programming hours including impressions of LGBT people.
“With shows like America’s Next Top Model and The Flash, however, The CW led all broadcast networks in LGBT racial diversity, as 38% of its LGBT impressions were made by people of color,” the report noted.
ABC, which had made a name for itself by programming shows featuring people of color, actually dropped off a bit this year, declining 2% to 32%. However, ABC also produced the highest total number of original programming hours at 812 of any network. GLAAD reports that ABC had the lowest percentage of LGBT impressions made by people of color at 17%.
In fourth, NBC lost more ground than any broadcast network, declining 9% to 28%, although its racial diversity improved, surging to 32% this year over 11% last year. NBC also included more transgender impressions than any other broadcast network, with 4.7% of its LGBT-inclusive hours featuring such characters. This was largely due to the drama American Odyssey.
Wrapping up the broadcast networks, GLAAD notes “as has often been the case, CBS came in last among the broadcast networks in LGBT-inclusive hours.” CBS dipped 1% this year to 27%. Most of CBS’ LBGT-inclusive programming comes from reality shows such as The Amazing Race or Big Brother, the report notes.
Moving over to cable, ABC Family led the field by a large margin, with 74% of its primetime programming including LBGT impressions, the largest percentage ever tracked by GLAAD. Moreover, due to programs such as The Fosters, nearly 80% of those impressions were made by lesbians and 49% were made by people of color. The network also featured a transgender character, for which GLAAD applauded it.
FX followed ABC Family with 54% of its programming LBGT-inclusive, up 5% from last year. From there, came Showtime at 41%, up 7%; HBO, which stayed the same at 31%; MTV at 30%, which was a severe drop-off from last year’s 49%; USA up 7% to a 23%; TNT up 10% to 19%; TLC up 1% to 18%, A&E up 2% to 8% and History, which was again given a failing grade at 0% impressions out of 362.5 hours of original programming.
Read more: GLAAD
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