That intrepid LGBT media watchdog GLAAD — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — released its fifth annual Network Responsibility Index this morning. The report “maps the quantity, quality and diversity of images of LGBT people on television.” The organization evaluated Primetime programming on all five broadcast networks, and 10 of the major cable networks.
Highlights:
The CW remains the top broadcast network with 33% of its primetime programming hours being LGBT-inclusive. Fox came in second at 29%, and both networks received a “Good” rating this year.
ABC remained in third place in terms of its percentage of LGBT-inclusive programming hours (23%). ABC received a “Good” rating because of the strong quality of its LGBT images, and the network broadcast the greatest total number of LGBT-inclusive hours (253).
CBS remained in last place with 10% LGBT-inclusive hours of primetime programming. After receiving their second “Failing” score in a row last year, however, they improved enough to receive an “Adequate” score this year.
Over on the cable side of things, ABC Family came out on top. “Of its 103 hours of original primetime programming, 55% included LGBT-inclusive images which also reflected the ethnic and racial diversity of the LGBT community.”
Additionally, “Showtime (37%), TNT (33%), HBO (31%), Lifetime (31%), AMC (29%), and Syfy (22%) all received ‘Good’ ratings for the quantity and quality of their LGBT-inclusive original programming.” And “USA increased their LGBT-inclusive hours from 4% to 18%, which improved their score from ‘Failing’ to ‘Adequate.’ While, “A&E (5%) and TBS (5%) both received ‘Failing’ ratings for their lack of LGBT-inclusive images.”
We can understand GLAAD not including SpikeTV, but what, no HGTV? Food Network? Bravo? Geez.
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