NBC Universal recently named Craig Robinson as its new chief diversity officer for the company.
Robinson, who is openly gay, had previously served as president and general manager of Los Angeles station KNBC. He is active in groups such as Asian Pacific Americans at NBC Universal, Black Professional Alliance and Out at NBC Universal. Robinson is also a longtime supporter of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, as well as the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
Less than a month into his new position, Robinson talked to PGN about the scope of his job and what he hopes to accomplish.
PGN: What made you the right person for this position at NBC? CR: I think there were a number of factors. They wanted someone who has worked in the company and understood the company and had operational experience. They wanted someone who could be effective. With issues of diversity, I’ve had 15 years with the company so I’ve had the operational experience. And I have the personal experience of involvement with a number of community groups — African-American community groups as well as Asian-American community groups. So it was my operational experience as well as my personal experience. And I think there is no question that it was partly because I am a diverse person, not just by birth but also that I have lived openly and out my entire career.
PGN: Does your job only deal with diversity behind the scenes at NBC or does it cover onscreen diversity as well? CR: It is across the board. It involves workforce diversity but one of the tent poles of my job is programming. I work closely with programming execs as well. It’s programming, it’s workplace diversity, it’s procurement, meaning where we go for sourcing and community investments. I know many people think of it as only being a workplace position, but it absolutely relates to programming as well.
PGN: What are some of the goals you hope to accomplish as chief diversity officer? CR: This job is huge, as you know, and I’ve been in it a couple of weeks. There are two goals in regard to workplace diversity: not only maintaining what has been a very open and welcoming environment for diverse employees of all types at NBC, but even growing that. It’s the concept of being able to bring your entire authentic self to work every day. To be able to come and not feel the need to in any way modify or suppress who you are. To be able to come and put all your energy into the job at hand and not be inclined to betray yourself. To build on a culture of acceptance and celebration for diversity. Secondly, to work with Bob [Greenblatt, openly gay NBC entertainment chairman] and his team to make sure that what we are putting on air are images that accurately reflect what the world looks like.
PGN: What do you think NBC can do to increase its appeal to the LGBT community? CR: In terms of entertainment, what we’re going to see from Bob Greenblatt is about creating the best possible programming that is smart and contemporary. If they do a good job of that, it will pull in the LGBT community and the general market as well. So from a programming standpoint, it’s about having the smartest programming from the best producers. From a workplace standpoint, we need to be known in the community as the workplace of choice for LGBT employees, a place that not only recruits LGBT employees but works to create an environment where you are nurtured and appropriately promoted. We need to be an employer of choice for a lot of groups and the LGBT groups are certainly one of them.
PGN: When something like the controversy surrounding NBC star Tracy Morgan and the antigay statements he made happens, is that a situation that you would be involved with handling? CR: When something like that happens, there’s a lot of people in the company who become involved in that across the board. So it would be something that I would absolutely be involved in, but I would not be handling it alone. I could assure you that when there are situations like that, I will be part of the team to discuss how it’s handled.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].