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Could TV get any less diverse? It seems so.

Research from Media Matters finds that evening cable news guests were overwhelmingly white and male in the month of April. During that month, 76 percent of the 1,677 guests on CNN were men. And women did not make up more than 33 percent of guests on any network, reports the organization. Often called out for its racially insensitive  reporting, Fox News had the largest proportion of white guests — 83 percent. Despite the lack of diversity across the board, African Americans were the largest non-white group on all networks, representing 19 percent, 10 percent, and five percent of guests on MSNBC, Fox, and CNN, respectively.

White women, who represent 32 percent of the population, were only 21 percent of guests on cable, found the study. (White males make up only 31 percent of the U.S. population.) And non-white women who make up 19 percent of the population, were only eight percent of all guests on cable. Only 13 percent of guests on cable were non-white men yet they make up 18 percent of the population.

As far as having women on, out of 109 on CNN’s Outfront guests during the month of April, an overwhelming 81 percent were men. And, no evening show on CNN hosted women more than 29 percent of the time. Out of 128 guests who appeared on the CNN program On the Record guests in April, only 22 were women. This represented the smallest proportion of women on any evening cable news show studied. Surprisingly, The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity hosted women more often than On the Record or Special Report with Bret Baier. However, men still dominated guest lineups at 64 and 66 percent, respectively.

Over at MSNBC, they hosted more women than all of the other cable networks. On that network, All In with Chris Hayes and The Rachel Maddow Show had a higher proportion of women than any of the other programs. However, Hardball with Chris Matthews hosted women only 21 percent of the time. Although The Rachel Maddow Show had a higher percentage of women, most of its guests were white. Out of 65 total guests, only seven were non-white.

By contrast, All In With Chris Hayes not only hosted the largest proportion of women it also had  the largest proportion of non-white guests — 41 percent. All In also had the lowest proportion of white men making it the only evening cable news program to obtain such diversity.

Long story short, cable news needs to do better to represent varying perspectives. You can’t speak to everyone when everyone isn’t represented on the screen.

Are you going to be there this year? Don’t worry if you can’t make the Essence Festival. For the first time, the festival, which hosts more than 400,000 attendees each year, will be broadcast live daily from Friday July 5 through Sunday, July 7 on MSNBC.

“MSNBC’s live programming during the Essence Empowerment Experience, from the heart of the Essence Festival, underscores their commitment to broaden the national reach and impact of conversations with thought-leaders, politicians, authors, celebrities and artists who will address the critical issues facing our communities—especially those of people of color and women,” said Michelle Ebanks,the president, Essence Communications in a press statement.

Beyonce, Maxwell, Jill Scott, Brandy, LL Cool J, Trey Songz, New Edition, Janelle Monae and Jodi Watley will all be on board for this year’s Essence Festival.

Launched in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Essence magazine is now one of the country’s “Top 10 Leading Brand Events,” according to Advertising Age. Held in New Orleans, the event now attracts such major sponsors as Coca-Cola, Ford, McDonald’s, Verizon and Walmart.

Kris Connor/Getty Images

From Essence

New dad T.J. Holmes is officially on diaper duty.

The former host of BET’s late-night talk show Don’t Sleep says he does his best to help his wife Marilee Fiebig with caring for their two-month-old daughter Sabine.

“I probably change more diapers than her because she breastfeeds and she has to do that,” Holmes told ESSENCE.com at the premiere of Free Angela. “So I do the thing that I can do and that’s change diapers.”

Awww, isn’t that sweet! Men don’t really like to help with diaper changes (it isn’t a woman’s favorite thing either) so it’s nice to see he’s become a pro at it. You can read the rest over on Essence.

What have been some of your most memorable moments as parents?

via MSNBC

MSNBC has announced a new weekend show host: Karen Finney, the first African-American spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee and a political analyst who has been appearing on the network since 2009, will be the new face of the network’s weekend programming between 4pm and 5pm. The move is a latest in a number of changes that have taken place at the network. Chris Hayes has given up his weekend morning hosting gig and is now hosting a primetime weekday show, All In, which debuted strongly this week, for example. Details about Finney’s program are TBA.

But certainly, the addition of Finney adds to the diversity at the network. Already, MSNBC has seen its viewership grow, particularly among African Americans. But more than that, Finney is a highly qualified pundit and commentator. According to the MSNBC statement (via NewsOne):

“Karen’s rich background in both education policy and politics will add a unique point of view to our expanding live weekend programming,” said MSNBC President Phil Griffin in a statement.

Prior to her time at the DNC, when she led the party’s media strategy during the 2006 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential elections, Finney served as the deputy press secretary to then-first lady Hillary Clinton and deputy director of presidential scheduling for President Bill Clinton.

NewsOne adds, “Because with the addition of Finney, weekend coverage is dominated by two African-American women, a level of diversity unheard of in cable news but in keeping with the network’s commitment to avoid the White, male trap. Melissa Harris-Perry‘s show airs Saturday and Sunday mornings.”

But here we go with the crazy talk. Tim Graham, the media analysis director for the Media Research Center, a right-wing group, chimed in with his 140 characters, tweeting:

This amid the RNC’s efforts to reach out to African Americans with a nationwide “listening tour.” When the Republicans lose another election, they can add this to the long list of reasons. Of course, Graham got a number of responses to this ignorant statement.

But who cares what he thinks right? Congratulations Karen Finney! We’ll keep watching MSNBC.

Prince on a recent episode of “The View.”

Prince is full of surprises! The award-winning and much-beloved musician who can simply do no wrong has composed a song for Tamron Hall’s MSNBC program NewsNation. 

The Huffington Post describes it as “a funkier, more languid Cosby Show’” theme song, which is pretty accurate. It sounds like something Cliff Huxtable would jam to with his old man dancing on a Sunday afternoon.

But the bigger question is why Prince would be interested in doing the theme music for a TV show. A news program at that. The MSNBC site offers no further insight. And Prince is on his own level, so he’s just doing his thing without concern for things like logic and reason.

The music industry has changed and artists are always looking for new ways to get their music and their names out there. A daily program with a host like Tamron Hall who has a following is a good way to do that. And MSNBC seems to be touting such a huge get, so it’s built-in PR.

What do you think?

CNN’s Jeff Zucker. Photo: Patrick Mcmullan/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa Press/lauersinaisipa.006/1112091721 (Sipa via AP Images)

Jeff Zucker has already achieved a level of infamy in certain circles for making the decision to take Soledad O’Brien out of the morning lineup and replace her with Chris Cuomo and evening anchor Erin Burnett. (Though it looks like Soledad is landing on her feet just fine, thank you very much.) Now he can add a ratings dip to his troubles.

Deadline Hollywood reports that the network saw a five percent decline in daytime viewers for the month of February, and a one percent decline for evening viewers, compared to January. Part of the problem could’ve been the network’s extensive coverage of the stranded cruise ship Triumph’s tug to port in Alabama on Valentine’s Day. Many questioned that decision. And there’s no more election to cover (which could explain the cruise ship bonanza.)

The year-over-year results are even worse. CNN is down 10 percent in daytime viewers compared to February 2012, and 18 percent in the evening, attracting 424,000 viewers between the hours of 8pm and 11pm this month. That said, last February’s numbers were affected by not only televised Republican presidential primary debates and the broadcast funeral for Whitney Houston.

Fox News Channel, which came in number one, pulled in 1.79 million primetime viewers on average for the month.

On a positive note, some of CNN’s programs saw ratings increases, reports TVNewser, including Erin Burnett Outfront, which was up 15 percent (an up 11 percent in the important 25-to-54 demographic) and Starting Point, O’Brien’s soon-to-be-canceled morning show, which was up 27 percent broadly and 21 percent in that key demo.

TVNewser has the CNN press release that touts the narrowing gap between its ratings and MSNBC.

Zucker assumed his role at CNN on January 20, so it’s barely been more than a month on the job. We’ll have to see what sort of impact his changes have. Will you tune in to the post-Soledad morning program?

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Over the last few weeks there had been rumors that CNN would be shaking up its on-air personalities and that it probably would involve Starting Point morning host Soledad O’Brien being replaced. The industry buzz has proved to be true as the cable network just announced that Chris Cuomo will be heading to CNN to host a new morning show.

According to an AP report (via Black America Web), Cuomo, the co-host of 20/20, will leave ABC News and is expected to be paired with current evening anchor Erin Burnett. It is all in an effort by new CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker to try to boost sagging ratings.

There are many changes actually. Network managing editor Mark Whitaker quit earlier this week, longtime political consultants and commentators James Carville and Mary Matalin (who are married to each other), are also leaving.

No word yet on just what new job O’Brien will now be handling. “CNN said Tuesday it was discussing other job options with Soledad O’Brien, who will be ending her second stint as morning show co-host,” reports AP.

O’Brien started hosting Starting Point on January 2, 2012. Prior to this, she co-anchored American Morning, from July 2003^] to April 2007, with Miles O’Brien (no relation). She also  worked with the In America documentary unit on CNN. And in 2007 made headlines with Black In America, her multi-part series of documentaries.

O´Brien is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, which named her the Journalist of the Year 2010 and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She was inducted as an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated in February 2012.

Over on MSNBC, things are looking much better, with that network reporting a 60 percent increase in African-American viewers.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Perhaps it wasn’t as much of an historic occasion this time around (although the re-election of our first black President is a very big deal). That could explain the viewing drop off for Monday’s inaugural events.

The 2013 Inauguration of President Obama pulled in fewer television viewers than in 2009, when he became the first African American to take the highest office in the United States. According to The Hollywood Reporter, cable news viewership dropped by roughly 10 million during the half-hour swearing in, with CNN topping MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Nielsen’s Fast National ratings for the Monday event were not surprisingly down.  Combined averages from CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel was just about seven million viewers.

For the special coverage, CNN averaged 3.14 million viewers during the swearing in, 1.11 million of them in the key 25-to-54 age demographic. During primetime, CNN averaged 3.57 million total viewers, with 1.27 million adults ages 25-to-54 watching.

Compare this to Obama’s 2009 inauguration ceremony, which averaged nearly 38 million viewers with cable and broadcast networks combined.

Did you watch this year?

The 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama
(Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com)

If you can’t make it to the Presidential Inauguration, tune into BET. BET and CENTRIC With LIVE BET will feature Inauguration news and MLK dedicated specials. This special programming began over the weekend with airings of films like Queen and Roots, and today the cable network will air live coverage of the 57th Presidential Inauguration of President Barack Obama titled “From King to President: America Celebrates” that starts at 11am ET.

According to a press release, BET News will provide extensive on-air and online coverage of the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, as well as celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Award-winning journalists Ed Gordon and Cynne Simpson will anchor coverage of the Inauguration and will include a discussion with renowned civil rights activists, political pundits and pop culture experts from the roof of the Newseum in Washington, DC.

BET News will also be on the spot with contributors reporting from the U.S. Capitol and along the Inauguration parade. The coverage will also include interviews from the inauguration with Civil Rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams, the first laywoman to give an invocation at a presidential inauguration; national African American vote director for Obama for America, Stefanie Brown James; Commander in Chic author Mikki Taylor; and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s daughter Elder Bernice A. King.

It doesn’t stop there. BET Networks will also host an Inaugural Ball on Monday, January 21 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

If you’re looking to channel surf throughout the day, there will be no shortage of inauguration coverage. A quick look at the dial shows that CBS and NBC along with CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and a number of other stations will also be airing inauguration coverage throughout the day.

(Photo by Brad Barket/PictureGroup) via AP IMAGES

With the popularity of MSNBC soaring, it makes sense that the network’s talent would be tapped to spread the wealth.

Discovery Communications has announced (h/t Indie Wire) that MSNBC’s Tamron Hall will be hosting a new show on Investigation Discovery (ID) called Deadline: Crime With Tamron Hall, starting this fall. It’s a 13-part series, each part is one hour, and each episode will take a detailed look at a crime and “explore not only what happened, but why it happened, and how it was investigated.”

The release points out that Hall is uniquely qualified to host a show focused on law enforcement and investigative procedure because she’s had a personal tragedy: her sister was murdered and the case remains unsolved.

This new program is brought to you by NBC’s Peacock Productions.

Total aside, that first line in the Indie Wire story (“One of the reasons why MSNBC is quite possibly the *blackest* cable news network broadcasting right now…) is a weird one, no? Besides the awkward wording, it has little to do with the announcement.