by Tony Palmeri
February 11, 2001
From June of 1999 to mid-February of 2001, seventy guests appeared on Commentary. Take a look at the guest list and it easy to draw at least three conclusions about them: they are very white, very male, and very middle-class. Mr. Mather and I have unfortunately had to spend too much time since June of '99 just trying to keep the show on the air--time that could have been spent trying to diversify our guest pool. In addition, we do not have any production assitant(s) to help recruit guests. Be that as it may, I think we can and should do a much better job in the next year of trying to make sure that Commentary features more diversity.
Below I have divided the guests into 6 categories (Pundits, Elected Officials, Candidates for Office, Fox Valley Community Guests, Guests from outside the Fox Valley, and UW Oshkosh guests). Let's take a look at each category individually and assess the level of diversity within each:
Category #1: Pundits
Pundits are "experts" on political issues. For the Commentary program, a good pundit is someone who has a good grasp of local, state, and national issues. They should also be articulate, which on television means the ability to speak concisely in a language everyone can understand. Jim Mather and I have called on UW Oshkosh political scientist Jim Simmons and former editorial writer Dan Rylance to play this role most often. The two have appeared together on the program 8 times, always with a favorable response. Bartender and comedian Johnny Romano, Cumulus Broadcasting General Manager Jeff Schmidt, and for Chuck Chvala press secretary Chris Micklos have also appeared on the program in the pundit role, though only Romano has appeared more than once.
These pundits have been outstanding, but we clearly need more diversity in this area. Part of the problem is demographic: in the Fox Valley there simply are not enough people of color in those fields (e.g. print and television broadcasting, teachers in the humanities and social sciences) that typically produce talk-show pundits. As for women, we simply have not tried hard enough to locate those UW Oshkosh professors, Fox Valley print and television media personnel, former elected officials, or others who might be willing to serve in the pundit role.
Category 2: Elected Officials
Government in the Fox Valley is predominantly white and male, so it should not be surprising that our guests in this category meet that demographic. After all, only 1 woman sits on the Oshkosh Common Council, and only 6 of the 38 Winnebago County Supervisors are women. Three of 7 Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education members are women, and I am happy to say that two of them (Karen Bowen and LuAnn Bird) have appeared on the program. County Executive Jane Van De Hey has appeared on the show several times, as has county board supervisor Julie Pung-Leschke.
Category 3: Candidates For Office
Here too, Mr. Mather and I limited to inviting what the community provides. Charlene Lowe, Jane Van De Hey's opponent in this year's election, has already appeared. Only one woman is running for Oshkosh Common Council, and one for School Board. We do plan to have them both on (along with all the other candidates).
Will people of color ever run for office in the Fox Valley? Perhaps the more important question is, is the Fox Valley capable of becoming an environment in which not only will people of color feel empowered to run for office, but feel comfortable living here? A good question for candidates to answer, perhaps.
Category 4: Fox Valley Community Guests
Here we have done much better. Of the 20 guests labeled as "Fox Valley Community," 11 have been men and 9 women. Unfortunately, we have not had any people of color or ethnic minorities appear. We can do a much better job in this regard, but we need help from the community. If you know of people that would be good guests on our show, please let me know who you have in mind by calling (920-424-4422) or e-mail palmeri@uwosh.edu.
Category 5: Guests From Outside Fox Valley
Only 5 guests have been in this category. Part of the problem is that we have no budget or production staff, so it is difficult to get people to come from a distance to appear. What we need to do, however, is try to coordinate our program with other organizations and groups that are bringing speakers in to the community and try to get them to appear on our program while they are in town. That is how we were able to get famed Historian Howard Zinn (he was brought to Oshkosh by the UW Oshkosh Speakers' Series) and CQI guru David Langford (brought to Oshkosh by the School District), for example.
Category 6: UW Oshkosh Guests
I was surprised to see that only seven guests (not counting Jim Simmons, Kevin McGee, Matt O'Malley, and Steve Hintz) have been from the University. In one sense, this is good as it demonstrates that Commentary has truly been a community based show. On the other hand, there is more diversity on the campus than in any other part of the community, and we appear not to be taking advantage of that.
Conclusion: All of our 70 guests have been outstanding. In saying that they have been too white, too male, and too middle-class, I do not mean to suggest that there is something wrong with that. A community based program, after all, will always in large part reflect the community in which it is produced. Yet since the local corporate media are already dominated by mostly white, mostly male, and mostly middle and upper-class viewpoints, it is vital that programs like Commentary go further. Mr. Mather and I need to do more, in the rest of 2001, to make our program more diverse.
I would urge the Oshkosh Northwestern, Cumulus Broadcasting, and the Fox Valley television networks--all of whom unlike Commentary have the budget and resources to make it possible--to also be more conscious of how their presentations of issues are framed in ways that are too narrowly white, male, middle and upper class.
Below you can find a list of the 70 guests.
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Guests From Outside Fox Valley
University Of Wisconsin Oshkosh Guests