Source for the statistics about the announcers: https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/562133-nba-commentators-racial-bias-is-showing-according-to/

Why is it that most of the players in the league are black but most of the voices commentating on the games over the airways are white?

It’s because we have a bias toward white voices and white-sounding people. We don’t want a “black-sounding voice” commentating on our basketball even though that would be more representative of the league today. Most of the black people who commentate games are color commentators rather than play-by-play. They provide the “basketball knowledge” while the white play-by-play man is the voice we want on the big moments. For some reason, the voices of Kevin Harlan, Mike Breen, and Marv Albert feel right to us. We say that they just have the “right voice for announcing.” But do we realize that when we imagine the “right voice for announcing” it’s basically always a white cis-man’s voice in our head? That’s what represents gravitas and dignity for us. Even black announcers like Mark Jones clearly have to whitewash their voices in order to be fit for the American airways

I think we would all benefit if we were more mindful of this disparity and found ways to give more of the radio and television jobs to black people, until the distribution matches that of the league.

​

  • SoKrat3sBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Most of the black people who commentate games are color commentators rather than play-by-play.

    • Former players provide insight and knowledge over the game. That leads directly to color commentary, not play-by-play.

    For some reason, the voices of Kevin Harlan, Mike Breen, and Marv Albert feel right to us.

    • Because they are great at what they do. There are plenty of white play-by-play commentators that get hate.
      • see: Chip Caray, Joe Buck, Kate Scott, Doris Burke, Sean McDonough, Joe Tessitore, Steve Levy

    But do we realize that when we imagine the “right voice for announcing” it’s basically always a white cis-man’s voice in our head? That’s what represents gravitas and dignity for us

    • the voice of James Earl Jones represents gravitas and dignity
    • the voice of Keith David represents gravitas and dignity
    • people often seek out Idris Elba even for voice-only roles.
    • even tho you probably don’t know their name, Phil LaMarr & Kevin Michael Richardson are some of the most-used voice actors in animation
    • Done well people do not care about the skin color of a voice.

    ​

    There are arguments to be made about representation in the media. This isn’t one of them.