Why is NPR Losing “Hosts of Color?”

A headline from The Wrap tells us:

Audie Cornish Joins CNN+ Amid Exodus of Nonwhite Hosts From NPR

CNN announced that former NPR host Audie Cornish is joining its forthcoming streamer and and existing podcast network Monday, just days after her NPR exit raised eyebrows…

Cornish announced her exit from “All Things Considered,” which she co-hosted since 2012, last Tuesday. Her exit promped a flurry of online chatter and headlines revolving around the fact that numerous Black hosts and hosts of color have been walking away from the public radio behemoth. She was preceded in her departure by “Weekend Edition Sunday” host Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, who moved to the New York Times in September, “Morning Edition” host Noel King, who headed to Vox Media in November, and former “1A” host Joshua Johnson, who landed at MSNBC.

“If NPR doesn’t see this as a crisis, I don’t know what it’ll take,” tweeted “All Things Considered” co-host Ari Shapiro last week.

A representative for NPR did not immediately return a request for comment on the mini-exodus…

I can’t speak for all POC – but I want to be clear. I do not have to. Our experiences at the company vary and there are some common threads. A number of people have been waving their hands in the air trying to draw attention to them…

There have been many many times when I was the only person of color ‘on the campaign bus’ ‘at the press conference’ ‘at the table’ ‘on the sunday show’ and all that entails. [Over] the years that has changed and for the better! There are many amazing talented black and brown people in front of the camera/mic, in high profile gigs, are executives and more. The flipside is that plenty of voices are speaking out about the work that still needs to be done…

Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see any accusations of racism directed against Cornish at NPR. On the contrary, she claims that:

I am leaving of my own accord with no malice or resentment. I have had a great run with a company full of people I respect and admire. And I am ready to try something new.

If so, then what exactly is the “common thread,” what is “the crisis,” and what “work still needs to be done?”

Luckily, Cornish does answer this question, by pointing out that:

There have been many many times when I was the only person of color on the campaign bus, at the press conference at the table etc.

This sounds a lot like a complaint that there weren’t enough non-whites at NPR – In other words, there were too many whites.

Too many whites in an organization where the average salary for a host (she was a host) is $52,000/year – when she was making almost $70,000/year.

What does the average CNN host make? The typical CNN anchor salary is over $101,000/year. Some make several million a year. Given Cornish’s experience, it’s safe to assume that she’ll be making a lot more at CNN than she could ever hope to make at NPR.

I don’t listen to NPR, and it’s perfectly possible that Cornish is worth every penny that she’s paid – but why the “exodus of hosts of color” from NPR?

The answer is in the story above. If it’s considered a “crisis” that too many “hosts of color” are leaving a network, that means that there’s a premium on them. Aside from whatever skills they may bring to the table, they have additional value simply by being “hosts of color.” If this were not the case, there would be no story.

The Cult of Diversity has created a situation where “hosts of color” have more value than white hosts. As a result, these “hosts of color” are in more demand. It’s simple supply and demand. Once there’s more demand for “hosts of color,” then networks will be willing to pay more for them, assuming they’re otherwise effective of course.

But NPR can only pay so much, and CNN seems to have deeper pockets. Not surprisingly, the “hosts of color” drift to where the money is.

NPR is a woke organization, and it helped create the market distortion that it now “suffers” from. This is how it appears to me, and it would be interesting to get a more inside perspective on this matter; I could be wrong.