The Hollywood Reporter Stays on Brand, Features All Men on CNN-Centric Cover

The Hollywood Reporter released a new cover, and—big shocker here—it’s exclusionary. The basis for the story is that CNN Chief Jeff Zucker plans to dominate digital media with a brilliant new strategy. Among the members of his crack staff are Van Jones, host of The Messy Truth; noted chef Anthony Bourdain; YouTuber Casey Neistat; and comedian W. Kamau Bell. It’s great that they’re bringing in new talent and spotlighting their current staff, but where the heck are the women?

Was Angela Rye not available? Lisa Ling stuck in the bathroom? I suppose the fault here lies more with CNN than THR, since Zucker’s plans seem to be pretty male-oriented. It points to a greater issue in media that, despite employing a number of intelligent and capable women, they’re not seen as a priority. And for CNN senior producer Josiah Daniel Ryan to tweet that all male cover with the caption that the “future of media looks like this” is just as insulting.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having the same conversation over and over again. Just a few months ago, we pointed out that THR’s animation roundtable featured neither women nor people of color. Before that, we called them out for a notoriously homogeneous roundtable made up of white male Hollywood directors. Both THR and CNN are trying to brand themselves as the go-to source of news in their respective genres, but how can I, a woman, believe that when they choose to ignore half the population?

If this is what the future of media looks like, it’s time to regroup and go in a different direction.

(via Twitter, image via The Hollywood Reporter)

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Keisha Hatchett

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