In a recent article for Multichanel News, author Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn reveals that Black actresses have begun to portray more three-dimensional roles as scripted series characters, who benefit from actual storytelling. This is in contrast to the attention-seeking nature of reality-show characters, who gain more recognition and popularity through increasingly outrageous, often negative, behavior.

Although scripted series have a long way to go in accurately representing Black women and all women of color, in today’s modern TV landscape, even supporting characters are uniquely diverse and more complex, with their own lives, goals and dreams–no longer simply the “Black sidekick” whose only importance to the story is their interaction with a main (White) character.

To read the entire article, click here.

If your business is in Bismarck, North Dakota, then you can probably ignore Black consumers and get away with it. The 996 African Americans who live in Bismarck account for less than 1 percent of the population. You can also ignore Hispanics (only 1 percent of the population) and Asians (less than 1 percent). If blacks, Hispanics, and Asians do not frequent your establishment, it might not hurt your bottom line. But if your business is almost anywhere else in the United States, you can no longer ignore the African American market, the Hispanic market, or the Asian market. The era of generic marketing to the majority consumer is over—finally. It’s over because minorities now account for more than one-third of the population, and that makes a difference.

In sociology, there is a theory known as the One-Third Rule. The rule posits that when a demographic segment—say, minorities—grows to represent one-third of a population, it reaches a tipping point and begins to make a difference in politics, the economy, and your bottom line. The minority population of the United States passed the one-third mark in 2005, when Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians expanded beyond the 33 percent threshold for the first time. Since then, the minority share of the population has climbed to 37 percent and continues to rise. In 2043—three short decades from now—minorities will be the majority.

We don’t have to wait until 2043 for diversity to make a difference. The difference is already in the history books. In 2008, the first African American was elected president of the United States thanks to the electoral muscle of blacks in particular and other minorities as well. Anyone who harbored the illusion that the 2008 election was a fluke might have had second thoughts when the 2010 census counted 3 million more minorities than had been expected—and 3 million fewer non-Hispanic whites.

In 2012, President Obama was reelected handily thanks to record turnout among Blacks and the overwhelming support of Hispanic and Asian voters. His easy victory surprised the talking heads who had dismissed the power of Blacks and other minorities to flex their political muscle. Obama’s victory also surprised cavalier business leaders who had publicly adopted what they assumed would be a safe political stance in defiance of Obamacare in the months running up to the election. (Google “restaurants and Obamacare” to read all about it.)

They assumed wrong. They discovered instead the economic power of their increasingly diverse customers—customers with the clout to punish those who disrespect them. By assuming a business-as-usual stance instead of adjusting to the new reality created by the One-Third Rule, these business leaders tarnished their image and lowered their profits. They provide a cautionary tale for other businesses: if you ignore the growing diversity of your customers, your bottom line will suffer.

Yes, Dorothy, you aren’t in Kansas anymore. But if you are, be aware that the Black population in Kansas grew 24 percent between 2000 and 2011. The Hispanic population grew 65 percent and the Asian population 58 percent. Meanwhile, the state’s non-Hispanic white population increased by a miniscule 0.1 percent.

Zoom out to the nation as a whole, and you see the number of African Americans expanding from 45 million to 51 million in the next 10 years (2013 to 2023)—a 14 percent increase, according to the Census Bureau’s new population projections. The number of Hispanics climbs from 55 million to 68 million, a 25 percent increase, and the number of Asians grows 16 percent. Meanwhile, the number of non-Hispanic whites inches up by less than 1 percent, the population peaking in 2024 and then beginning to decline. You can’t ignore Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians and get away with it anymore.

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Black Viewership: MSNBC Grows African-American Audience by 60%

‘I think we made a commitment, we decided, that in order for this channel to succeed, that we had to reflect the country. This meant that we had to be part of the country in ways that the other channels weren’t.’ –MSNBC President Phil Griffin

MSNBC “. . . enjoyed significant (around 20%) ratings increases across the board” in 2012, “but made astonishing gains with their already-large African American audience, growing that audience by 60.5% for the Mon-Sun 8pm-11pm period,” Tommy Christopher reported Monday for Mediaite.

“MSNBC President Phil Griffin told me, in a phone interview, that he is ‘thrilled’ with that result, and that it ‘says a lot about what we’ve been doing over the last few years.’

[...]

” ‘This has been steady growth for us for some time,’ Griffin noted. ‘I think we made a commitment, we decided, that in order for this channel to succeed, that we had to reflect the country. This meant that we had to be part of the country in ways that the other channels weren’t.’

“Part of that commitment, according to Griffin, is the ‘look’ of the channel. ‘We have a diverse on-air group of people,’ Griffin said, ‘because that matters, and people want to know that we reflect their world. And it’s not just a single show – [it's] across the board. You look at the guests every hour and we make sure that we have women, African Americans, everything, and I think to spend a day watching MSNBC is to see America as we have seen it.’

“That diverse array of talent, including hosts like Tamron Hall, Touré, Melissa Harris-Perry, and Rev. Al Sharpton, and ubiquitous contributors like Joy Reid, Goldie Taylor, Karen Finney, Prof. Michael Eric Dyson, [former Republican National Committee] Chairman Michael Steele, Eugene Robinson, and Jonathan Capehart, is an organic result of the network’s editorial philosophy, rather than an end unto itself, says Griffin.

Read the entire article here

TBS, Lifetime Wins Multiple Awards

BET took home the lion’s share of NAACP Image Awards during a ceremony held recently winning three Awards, including best comedy series for The Game. Lifetime and TBS both took home two Image Awards, which celebrate multicultural excellence in several categories. Showtime, TV One, OWN and The Disney Channel also won Image Awards during a live ceremony.

To read the complete article and see a listing of the 44th annual Image Awards winners in the television category, click here.