Overt Bias Against Persons With Disabilities

Bias at WGBH-TV, PBS, Emily Rooney, Greater Boston, Beat The Press

Beat The Press is a weekly PBS Boston (WGBH-TV) show criticizing media abuses, a regular feature of Greater Boston TV news show hosted by long term journalist Emily Rooney. The archives on the web pages for Beat The Press only go back to March 2009. It is not clear when this show began. But Ms. Rooney, former news director at WCVB-TV, and daughter of prominent CBS news journalist Andy Rooney, was put on notice by me that her shows exhibit open bias against persons with disabilities. Except for one ten-minute segment of one show she has never had any discussion of the pervasive bias against persons with disabilities. She regularly has discussions on discrimination against women, Black Americans and homosexuals but never for persons with disabilities.

On Friday September 2, 2011 the first show of the 2011-2012 season one of her journalist guests Kara Miller explained that when she was looking for her first job she noticed that one place had never had a woman journalist. She applied and got the job.

Beat The Press is very diverse, regularly having women, homosexuals, Black journalists, Asian journalists, Harvard and academic journalists as guests. Rooney has never had a guest journalist with a disability. Of course there may be journalists with disabilities who pass for normal. Few journalists openly admit they have a cognitive disability. The last time I suggested that Greater Boston was denying access to her shows for persons with disabilities, Ms. Rooney made it clear that she would have me banned from Boston. Since that threat I never had a letter published in the Boston Globe. Hmmm. She does have her power and influence and knows how to use it.

The issue is larger than Rooney and her news show. PBS is a taxpayer subsidized television operation. They should not be allowed to provide access to some vulnerable groups and exclude others. It is illegal. But that is what they do. The President of WGBH said that they do shows about disabilities. That may be true but it is always from the business perspective of corporations which provide goods and services to persons with disabilities.

The issue is not their policy allowing persons with disabilities to visit the station and to volunteer. The issue is giving them jobs as they gives jobs to other vulnerable groups. Disabled persons remain unemployed at a rate of 70 percent far above any of the other groups. The issue is to have persons with disabilities on screen talking about disabilities as PBS has Black Americans, women and homosexuals talking about their unique experiences. But PBS indicates it is unable to rid its management of its bias toward persons with disabilities. That is shameful.

Instead of criticizing other journalists, Beat The Press should do some self examination to see how biased their panelists are.