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    GLAAD Study Finds More LGBTQ Characters, Fewer Women On TV Series

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1970 Views
    This image released by NBC shows, from left, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally in "Will & Grace." (Chris Haston/NBC via AP)

    By Lynn Elber, Television Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    TV series are including more LGBTQ characters and adding gender-nonconforming ones, but there's a need for richer, more complex stories about them, according to the media advocacy group GLAAD.

    LGBTQ depictions increased in the current season across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, the group's annual Where We Are on TV study released Thursday found.

    Shows contributing to the change include NBC's reboot of "Will & Grace" and "The Deuce" on HBO.

    "While we're pleased to see numbers on the rise, consideration of how LGBTQ characters are woven into story lines and whose stories are making it to screen is crucial for judging progress of the industry. And there is still work to be done," Megan Townsend, GLAAD's entertainment research and analysis director, said in a statement.

    Of the 901 characters set to appear regularly on prime-time network series in the 2017-18 season, 6.4 percent are identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender or queer.

    That's the biggest percentage on network shows found in the study's 22 years, topping last year's record-high of 4.8 percent. The numbers also are up on cable and streaming platform series, although the study found fewer depictions of LGBTQ characters of color on streaming as well as broadcast.

    For the first time, GLAAD counted "non-binary" characters — those that don't identify strictly as male or female. It found four non-binary characters across all TV platforms, including actor Asia Kate Dillon's Taylor Mason on Showtime's "Billions."

    The study also looked at how women fare on TV and found it wanting.

    While women make up an estimated 51 percent of the U.S. population, they're 43 percent of the regularly appearing characters on broadcast TV — a 1 percent drop from last season, GLAAD said.

    Among regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on broadcast networks, lesbian representation rose to 24 percent on broadcast and 21 percent on cable, both representing a 7 percent increase after the 2016-17 season in which a number of lesbian or bisexual female characters were killed.

     

    Category:News
    Tags:diversityGLAADLGBTQ



    Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance

    Saturday, November 23, 2024

    Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.

    The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.

    "This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."

    The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."

    And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.

    Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.

    Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.

    Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."

    It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More

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