Are White Critics Missing in the Coverage?
Don Imus said Tuesday morning he would “make an effort” to add a black person to his radio show and have more black guests as he reacted to his two-week suspension for calling the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University “nappy headed ho’s.”
Imus accepted the suspension, he said, but he denounced NBC’s coverage of it on Monday night’s “Nightly News” as “disgraceful,” and after Matt Lauer’s tough questioning of both Imus and a critic, the Rev. Al Sharpton, on the “Today” show, said he had already told NBC executives that “Matt is going to be on Rev. Sharpton’s side.”
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Meanwhile, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, also appeared on “Today,” with Jackson using the occasion to talk about the lack of African American hosts on NBC news shows.
“It seems that this is a slap on the wrist,” Jackson said. “But this is NBC’s standard. The same station has no black hosts on MSNBC, no black hosts on CNBC. If this is their standard, it says an awful lot about this station and . . . and about CBS Radio and the distributorship which, I might add, likewise has no blacks. I guess our mission now is, can we use this moment to desegregate the media?”
With Imus hosting a parade of white men to testify in his defense, and blacks being set up as Imus critics, much of the media seemed to be framing the controversy as one of white men vs. African Americans. White women, white men and other people of color who think Imus should be removed were missing from the equation, members of the e-mail list of the National Association of Black Journalists noted Tuesday morning.
CBS correspondent Jeff Greenfield was one guest who departed from the near-blind expressions of support for Imus on his show Monday morning. “You really don’t need the crude . . . racial stuff that has occasionally infected your show,” he told Imus.
“Those of us who do the show have to realize the rules are different now, and if we haven’t called you on this,” we should, he said. “I don’t know that you need a quota system, or an African American voice every day,” he added. But he added that there were “300-plus years of American history” to consider, and that “the central American dilemma has to be thought about in a different way,” that dilemma being race.
Imus replied that there are conversations that go on in the black community that should be discussed. “There is a vicious racism between light-skinned blacks and dark-skinned blacks,” he said. “And young black women are . . . dehumanized” in the hip-hop community. “They live with that daily,” he said, and the culture favors “black athletes who only want to date white girls. So it’s doubly hurtful” when Imus makes such comments as “nappy headed ho’s,” he said.
Greenfield mentioned Floyd Flake, the New York pastor and former congressman who is now president of Wilberforce University in Ohio, as a good candidate.
Former congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee has been a frequent guest, and Imus again mentioned his talk Sunday night with the Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr., senior pastor of the 7,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, N.J., who called for Imus to be fired.
“Imus in the Morning’s” executive producer is African American, Meredith Vieira said on “Today,” referring to Tom Bowman.
Other guests on Tuesday’s Imus show included Hamilton Jordan, former aide to President Jimmy Carter, and comedian Bill Maher.
“Your critics just don’t get it,” Jordan said.
“We’re not going to make you go away,” said Maher.
Bill White of the Intrepid Foundation, a partner of Imus’ in charity work said, “in my hour of need years ago, you were there. It is my day to be here” for you.
On the “Today” show, which interviewed Sharpton and Imus in a portion that was simulcast on “Imus in the Morning,” Sharpton called the two-week suspension “too little, too late. . . . This kind of use of the airwaves must be stopped.”
The arguments followed the pattern established Monday, with Imus and his supporters emphasizing, as Imus said, that “I’m a good and decent person,” and Sharpton and other critics making the issue one of accountability.
“Butch” Graves said, “Whether or not he should be removed completely, I’m not sure that that’s the punishment. But both CBS, which is primarily responsible because this is a radio show, and NBC have got to take a much stiffer stance with this. Otherwise he’s being given a slap on the wrist and it will continue and continue and continue. This should be a punishment that’s in months, not weeks. And the advertisers, from a business perspective, also need to be held responsible. They need to say then they’re not going to advertise, they’re not going to be a part of show that Imus is involved in.”
In a recorded segment, Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, who once had Imus take a pledge not to engage in racist talk, said of the two-week suspension, “This sends a very bad signal and it’s a bad use of the public airwaves. And, frankly, I don’t think it’s even fair to other shock jocks who’ve lost their jobs over doing a lot less.”
James Carville, the former consultant to Bill Clinton, said he was “sickened” by what Imus said, but like the other Imus supporters, “could not in good conscience turn my back on a man who’s been a friend of mine that long.
“This is a very upsetting thing to me. I’m usually on the same side. I’ll be much more comfortable being with Reverend Jackson, I understand completely where he is. But, yes, I would go on his show. . . . I feel the pain he’s in. I would say he deserves it, given what he said, but I think that — I believe in redemption. I believe that we’ve got to use this to do better,” Carville said.
Meanwhile, “Baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., who was to appear on Imus’ show later this week, canceled the appearance, according to the Washington Times,” the Associated Press reported.
“The ‘Today’ show’s Al Roker said today on his show’s official blog that it was time for Imus to go. ‘I, for one, am really tired of the diatribes, the “humor” at others’ expense, the cruelty that passes for ‘funny,”‘ Roker said.
“Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain , whose presidential candidacy has been backed by Imus on the air, said he would still appear on Imus’ program.
“‘He has apologized,’ McCain said. ‘He said that he is deeply sorry. I’m a great believer in redemption.'”
On washingtonpost.com, political blogger Chris Cillizza reported responses from Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, McCain, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, or their representatives. None said he or she would refuse to go on Imus’ show.
One of the few African Americans to defend Imus has been conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, who appeared Monday on MSNBC’s “Countdown.”
“I can never forget during the time of Hurricane Katrina that he was one of the few people who had a national audience in this country who spoke out and said, ‘What is wrong with America? Why are they singling out these people for this kind of treatment and this kind of neglect?'” the National Journal’s Hotline quoted Williams as saying.
“He said there’s only one conclusion that I can come to is the fact that they have black faces. And this is not right. This is not who America is. And I’ve got to tell you, I can’t forget that. You can be outraged with him, and you should be outraged with him, but you’ve got to take the man’s life in balance. He’s one of the few people who brought attention to the plight of those people in New Orleans, and they happened to be black,” Williams said.
- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.: AKAâ??s respond to sexist/racist comments by Don Imus
- Editorial, Charlotte Observer: Racism for fun and profit
- Editorial, Star-Ledger, Newark: Words can cut like an ax
- Editorial, Washington Post: Shocked Jock
- Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting: Racism Is to Be Expected From Don Imus
- Tim Giago, syndicated: Hypocrisy and Hanging Imus Out to Dry
- Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Imus Got His Trash Talk Pass Yanked, Now Yank it for Blacks Who Talk The Same
- Gwen Ifill, New York Times: Trash Talk Radio
- Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle: Women need to raise voices on Imus insult
- Bryan Monroe, National Association of Black Journalists: For free speech to work, there must also be responsibility
- James Poniewuzik blog, Time, and 300+ reader responses: Imus in . . . a Fortnight
- Roy S. Johnson “Pass the Word” blog: “Nabby-Headed” Imus V: Staples Hits the “Easy” (Off) Button
- Richard Muhammad blog: Enabling Imus
- Steve Politi, Star-Ledger, Newark: Imus Should Get to Know These Young Stars
- Richard Prince, “Here & Now,” WBUR-FM, Boston: The Imus Fallout
- Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press: Get rid of Imus — and sexist rap, too
- Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Misogyny in the Morning
- Butch Ward and Bob Steele, Poynter Institute: Don Imus and the State of Public Discourse
MESSAGE BOARDS: Feel free to post a comment on this subject and view those from others.
Procter & Gamble, Staples, Bigelow Tea Drop Imus
Procter & Gamble Co., Staples Inc. and Bigelow Tea stopped advertising on radio host Don Imus’ morning show to protest his racially charged remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
“Effective Friday, April 6, we pulled all P&G’s brand advertising from the MSNBC daytime rotation,” said P&G spokeswoman Jeannie Tharrington, Reuters reported. “P&G would not advertise again ‘until we can evaluate the Imus situation fully,’ she said.
“Tharrington said she did not know how many of its ads MSNBC carried or what P&G’s advertising budget was for the network, but said ‘several brands’ had been advertised on MSNBC.”
Bloomberg reported, “Staples, the world’s largest office-products retailer, ran its last ad on Imus’s MSNBC simulcast yesterday, spokesman Paul Capelli said. Bigelow Tea, the closely held maker of specialty teas, suspended its ads and future sponsorship is ‘in jeopardy,’ said Cindi Bigelow, co-president of the company.
“‘Our company does not condone or support in any way the unacceptable comments made by Imus,’ Bigelow said in an e-mailed statement. ‘We are deeply saddened by Imus’ remarks.’
“The decision by advertisers to withdraw advertising may step up pressure on CBS Radio and MSNBC, which air the show.
“. . . Fairfield, Connecticut-based Bigelow has advertised on the show for nine years. Spokeswoman Deborah Greaves wouldn’t say how much the company spends on the show.
“‘Recent comments that were made on the program about the Rutgers basketball team prompted us to revisit our decision to advertise and we decided to stop advertising on the program,’ said Staples’ Capelli. He declined to say how much Framingham, Massachusetts-based Staples spent on advertising.”
“Imus probably drives about $12.7 million of revenue to New York radio station WFAN, or 25 percent of its sales, said Mark Fratrik , vice president of BIA Financial Network, a consultant to the broadcasting industry based in Chantilly, Virginia,” according to the Bloomberg report.
“An executive for a leading media-buying agency said various clients were asking to pull ads from Imus’ show, a ratings heavyweight for MSNBC and CBS, but declined to give names,” Reuters said.
- Brian Steinberg and Sarah McBride, Wall Street Journal: P&G, Others Pull Imus Ads [April 11]
- Jacques Steinberg, New York Times: Imus Struggling to Retain Sway as a Franchise [April 11]
MESSAGE BOARDS: Feel free to post a comment on this subject and view those from others.
Clinton Is 3rd to Spurn Fox-Black Caucus Debate
Sen. Hillary Clinton has joined Sen. Barack Obama and former senator John Edwards in spurning a presidential debate sponsored by Fox News Channel and held by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, throwing the event in jeopardy, Michael Learmonth of Variety reported on Tuesday.
“The Congressional Black Caucus contracted with Fox to co-sponsor two of its debates — one Democratic and one Republican — and gave the two others to CNN,” the newspaper reported.
“But now the top three Democrats in the race have said they will not participate in the Democratic debate co-sponsored by Fox, which was scheduled for Sept. 23 at the Fox Theater in Detroit.
“A spokesman for Clinton told Daily Variety that she was only committing to debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, which the Fox debate with the CBC is not.
“The Democratic party is attempting to make an issue of the perceived close ties between Fox News Channel and the Republican Party. Edwards pulled out of a Democratic debate that Fox was co-sponsoring with the Nevada Democrats, which was later cancelled.”
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Misreading the Congressional Black Caucus’s Fox Deal
