ABC = America's Brownpeople Channel?

Word just hit that Elizabeth Vargas will join Bob Woodruff as anchors of ABC's “World News Tonight.”

This is the latest in a long line of moves the network has made to "Latinize" itself including Hispanic charters on shows like "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Hot Properties" with my mamacita Sophia Vergara "Freddie" (which features his all-Spanish speaking grandmother in subtitles) and "The George Lopez Show."

Hispanic Business Magazine recently had an article called Latin Kings about ABC's moves, and how it's allowed them to cut into Fox's lead in this demographic. The article had two good quotes from ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson I wanted to pass on:

1) On Diversity: "The idea of diversity … has been put under the category of 'the right thing to do,' but I look at it as a business decision. There's a gigantic Hispanic audience out there. If you're in the broadcasting business and you're not looking to reach the broadest audience, I think you're making a mistake."

2) On not pandering to Hispanics: "It's one thing to say, 'OK, we're growing our Hispanic audience. We'd love to get that audience to watch ABC.' It's another thing to make sure that programming is something they're going to respond to. You just don't want to put people of Hispanic heritage on the air. There are all different angles in how to approach our audience, as opposed to the forced 'do-good' way as it was in the past: 'We've got a show with all white males - let's put in a black guy!' The audience is very sophisticated; people are going to respond to that kind of broad, multicultural look in TV shows ... When it feels organic and truthful, people will respond. If it's being forced or 'managed,' they really won't."