Stories

Hard as it is to believe, another year is winding its way to a close – time to break out the holiday decorations, don the ugly sweater, and check that gift list twice. In the midst of the whirlwind of activity, though, don’t forget to grab your hot beverage of choice and make time to unwind with some holiday TV.

On October 11, communities across the United States will observe Indigenous People’s Day: a time to celebrate and learn about the diversity of indigenous nations who settled these lands long before the arrival of Europeans and who, in the face of enormous obstacles, maintain their rich heritage to this day. 

Every year, television networks and broadband providers converge in New York’s Times Square to celebrate and discuss diversity in their programming and within their companies. A week of conferences and educational sessions focused on a mission of sustaining diversity, equity, and inclusion across the internet, and media industries. Recently, an oft-overlooked area of diversity is gaining more attention in the industry: people with disabilities. 

Representation matters, and the need to increase diversity in programming is a vital priority for television studios. This emphasis has borne fruit in recent years, with top-rated shows such as Insecure, Lovecraft Country, Vida, and Ugly Betty charting an innovative path across genres and networks.  But while these and other advances are welcome, more attention needs to be placed on programming for the most impressionable demographic: children. This is where an industry leader – Disney Junior and Disney Television Animation – is making diversity a daily reality, both on-screen and off.

Over the past decade, television has made important strides in terms of diversity, featuring onscreen talent from a widening range of ethnicities, cultures, genders, and sexual identities. While this work is to be applauded, however, it needs to go even deeper. For true diversity is not just about the actors in front of the camera: it’s about who gets to tell the story, and what that story is. Let’s explore the personal story of how Paula Madison, the principle owner founder of The Africa Channel, found a way to research and tell her own story—on TV. 

June is Pride Month, a celebration of the struggles for justice of the LGBTQ+ community in commemoration of the Stonewall Riots of June 1969. It’s a time to take stock of how far we’ve come in creating a more diverse and tolerant society—and how far we still have to go.

This week marks 100 years since the violent destruction of the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the murder of hundreds of Black Tulsans during a two-day massacre. This tragedy and its aftermath are the subject of National Geographic’s upcoming documentary, “Rise Again: Tulsa and The Red Summer,” which premieres on June 18th to coincide with Juneteenth.

Streaming video has been the savior of the pandemic. When we stream a program, we usually take for granted that it is safe and private. And most of the time, it is. But unlicensed services and pirated content can put us at risk in a number of different ways – often, without our even noticing it.