Imus Suspended for 2 Weeks

Radio Host’s Critics Call It a Good “First Step”

Radio host Don Imus was suspended for two weeks at the end of a long day of apologies in which his defenders rallied around him but the criticism was unrelenting.

“NBC Nightly News” announced the suspension, saying it starts April 16. Anchor Brian Williams broke the news, following it with a report on the controversy by Rehema Ellis, a black journalist.

An NBC statement said:

“Beginning Monday, April 16, MSNBC will suspend simulcasting the syndicated ‘Imus in the Morning’ radio program for two weeks. This comes after careful consideration in the days since his racist, abhorrent comments were made. Don Imus has expressed profound regret and embarrassment and has made a commitment to listen to all of those who have raised legitimate expressions of outrage. In addition, his dedication — in his words — to change the discourse on his program moving forward, has confirmed for us that this action is appropriate. Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word.

“The previously scheduled Imus radiothon in support of the Tomorrow’s Children’s Fund, the CJ Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome research and the Imus Ranch will air, as scheduled, this Thursday and Friday on MSNBC.”

CBS Radio, which transmits the show to more than 70 stations around the country, followed with this statement:

“Due to the events of the past week, CBS Radio will suspend Don Imus and the broadcast of his show for a period of two weeks, effective Monday, April 16. The program will continue to broadcast this week due to WFAN’s previously scheduled on-air charity fundraiser on Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13.”

The announcements did not mollify Imus’ critics.

“If CBS fired Imus, there’d be nothing for MSNBC to broadcast two weeks from now,” the Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr. told Journal-isms. He called NBC’s action “a step in the right direction.”

Soaries, senior pastor of the 7,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, N.J., and a former New Jersey secretary of state, said he had just talked with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who concurs. Soaries is the pastor whose congregation includes the coach of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. Imus said he spoke with Soaries for 45 minutes on Sunday.

“Imus seems to believe that apology is tantamount to resolution,” Soaries said, “when apology is a step toward resolution.”

Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, which had called for Imus to be fired by Monday morning, said, “We think this is good first step by NBC and CBS. Now it is time for them to finish the job. What Mr. Imus said about these young women was so hurtful and so vicious, we still believe it is time for him to go.”

The host declared “I am not a racist and I am not a bigot” Monday morning as he said he would try to meet with the women basketball players at Rutgers University whom he called “nappy headed ho’s.”

He appeared Monday afternoon on Sharpton’s radio show, along with Monroe. Both had called for Imus to be fired.

Sharpton told Imus that if the Federal Communications Commission could fine Janet Jackson over a “wardrobe problem” that exposed her breast at Super Bowl halftime, “how can we stand for something like this?”

“I don’t think the issue is whether you’re a good guy, but whether you can say something racist and sexist and it just be glossed over,” Sharpton said.

“Don’t think I’m not humiliated,” Imus replied.

Imus was also told how hurtful his comments had been to all women, but especially the young black women at Rutgers.

The conversation became heated, and Imus said at one point, “I can’t get anyplace with you people,” and “I didn’t come here to be slapped around.”

He asked why more isn’t said about the disrespect toward black women shown by some hip-hop artists, but Sharpton replied that he had spoken out on that issue, but that that was separate from Imus’ accountability.

A college student who called in from Georgia told Imus that when he talked about the good things he did for young blacks, “I was waiting for you to say ‘some of my best friends are nigras.'”

“I don’t think you understand the impact of what you said,” Sharpton told Imus.

“I’m trying to,” Imus responded.

“I’m not a bad person but I said a bad thing,” a contrite Imus said earlier on his own radio show. “I’m not a racist and I’m not a bigot but they don’t know that,” he said of the Rutgers women. “Do I want these young women to walk away and say, ‘OK’?” No, he said. “But there’s a difference between premeditated murder and a gun going off accidentally.

“Because the climate on the program has been what it’s been for 30 years,” he said, it doesn’t mean it has to be that way for the next five or so. “It has to change,” the host said.

Soaries had said that if that if Imus were not fired, CBS Radio and MSNBC should be boycotted.

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, who expressed the pain she said she felt over Imus’ remarks, attends Soaries’ church.

The radio host also said he had been in touch with the Rutgers athletic director, trying to set up a meeting with the basketball players.

He said he would tell them what he told listeners and viewers Monday morning: about how he and his wife, Dierdre, worked with children terminally ill with cancer and sickle cell anemia at their New Mexico ranch, and that nearly half are Native American, Hispanic, Asian American and African American. “I’m not a white man who doesn’t know any African Americans,” he said, adding that he tried to learn more about sickle cell anemia as a result, and that “no black journalist called me about any of that.”

“Do you want to know what people called me for supporting Harold Ford?” Imus asked, referring to the Tennessee Democrat who lost his race for the U.S. Senate last fall. Ford has been a frequent guest on the Imus show, and Imus said he spoke to the former congressman over the weekend. Imus also said he had taken verbal abuse from racists when he hosted African American musicians on his show.

Later in the program, Tom Oliphant, the former Boston Globe columnist, defended Imus and challenged a piece by David Carr in Monday’s New York Times. Carr wrote that “Mr. Imus . . . generously provides airtime to those parts of the news media and political apparatus that would generally be expected to bring him to account.”

Why would people like himself appear on the show? “The answer is simple: We know you,” Oliphant said to Imus. He said of Imus’ critics, “If you don’t know him and you can’t even talk about what happened in context, why do you open your mouth? . . . Unless they have some other agenda.”

Oliphant cited the support by Imus and his wife for environmental causes, which he labeled one of the biggest civil rights issues today, disproportionately affecting people of color. On the “ho’s” comment, Oliphant said “even I could see the beginning of what appeared to be a riff,” saying that sometimes “the train goes off the track.”

Another guest, Evan Thomas of Newsweek, also stood by Imus.

But Newsweek editor Howard Fineman told Imus, “[I]t’s a different time, Imus . . . it’s different than it was even a few years ago, politically,” and added that “some of the stuff that you used to do, you probably can’t do anymore.”

Imus denied having called Gwen Ifill of PBS a “cleaning lady,” as the late Lars-Erik Nelson reported in 1998 in the New York Daily News.

On Sharpton’s nationally syndicated program, which airs on the Syndication One radio network, Imus said the Ifill story originated during the Reagan administration after he did a “bit” on his show that included a character patterned after white supremacist David Duke. It was the Duke character that made the cleaning lady reference, Imus said. Ifill has declined to comment publicly.

Phil Griffin, senior vice president of NBC News in charge of MSNBC, which simulcasts Imus’ show, met with Sharpton, Imus said, to arrange the appearance on the Sharpton show. The activist told his listeners he had refused an offer to appear on Imus’ show and instead invited Imus on his own program, and that there would be no private meetings.

“Sharpton said he still wants Imus fired for his racially charged comments about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team,” Marcus Franklin reported for the Associated Press. “Sharpton said Sunday he intends to complain to the Federal Communications Commission about the matter.”

Continuing the discussion after Imus left Sharpton’s show, Monroe said it appeared that “there’s still some learning” for Imus to do. He said listeners should ask local stations the same questions they asked Imus and query those who go on Imus’ show about “whether these are the words they want to be associated with.”

“I didn’t hear anything to change my mind,” Sharpton said. “In fact, it made me more determined. He didn’t want to be held accountable.” He said he would call on presidential candidates not to appear on the show.

One of the most telling moments, Monroe said, was when Imus said he didn’t know what an appropriate punishment would be.

And when Monroe reminded Imus that in 2000, he had taken an on-air pledge administered by Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page to refrain from such behavior, wondering how seriously his current apology should be taken, Imus replied, “That’s a good point.”

Sports columnist Stephen A. Smith, who wrote about Imus on Sunday in the Philadelphia Inquirer, joined the discussion, saying, “If I had said this, I’d be out of the job, make no mistake about that.” Radio hosts should not be given “license to say anything they want to about black people and get away with it.”

Meanwhile, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and about 50 people marched Monday outside Chicago’s NBC tower to protest Imus’ comments, according to David Bauder of the Associated Press. Jackson said MSNBC should abandon Imus and MSNBC should hire more black pundits, Bauder reported.

Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board of directors, said it is “past time his employers took him off the air,” according to Bauder’s story.

Women’s groups such as the National Organization for Women, Journalism & Women’s Symposium and the Women’s Media Center also spoke out on Monday. The National Association of African Journalists on Sunday asked its members and other Africans in the United States to boycott the Imus show.

“Imus hurt a lot of people with his insensitive remarks, so we join NABJ today to urge our members and fellow Africans in the United States to stop listening to his show,” said NAAJ President Eyobong Ita, a reporter at the Kansas City Star and a Kiplinger fellow in public affairs journalism at the John Glenn School at Ohio State University.

Soaries, who said he had spent the entire day with the team, told Journal-isms he was disappointed with the Rutgers University response. Had the entire football team been accused of being rapists, there would have been a quick reaction, he said. However, Soaries said university officials would stand publicly with the athletic department and the team members at a news conference on Tuesday.

At the New York Times, standards editor Craig Whitney felt compelled Monday morning to remind staffers about the Times policy on broadcast appearances, according to Gawker.com.

Whitney wrote:

“In light of the recent Imus flap, the newsroom staff might remember that Paragraph 102 of Ethical Journalism says: ‘In deciding whether to make a radio, television or Internet appearance, a staff member should consider its probable tone and content to make sure they are consistent with Times standards. Staff members should avoid strident, theatrical forums that emphasize punditry and reckless opinion-mongering. Instead, we should offer thoughtful and retrospective analysis. Generally a staff member should not say anything on radio, television or the Internet that could not appear under his or her byline in The Times. Paragraph 101 also says that as a courtesy, staff members should let their department head know about their plans to appear on other programs.'”

• Hal Boedeker blog, Orlando Sentinel: Don Imus on MSNBC: That’s news?
• Eric Deggans blog, St. Petersburg Times: Imus Apology Tour: Will It Save His Job?
• Suleman Din, Star-Ledger, Newark: With Rutgers U. coach at church, pastor demands that Imus quit
• Ray Hanania, Southwest News-Herald, Chicago: Imus Controversy Shows Power, Not Morality, Defines American Racial Limits
• David Hinckley, New York Daily News: Black radio fired up over Imus ‘ho’ remark
• Earl Ofari Hutchinson, syndicated: Why Imus Won’t Go
• Bishop T.D. Jakes: Official Statement Concerning Racist Comments by Radio Talk Show Host Don Imus
• Carol Jenkins, Women’s Media Center: How to Finally Answer Imus
• Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com: In Wake of Don Imusâ?? â??Nappy-Headed Hosâ?? Comments, Efforts Underway for His Ouster
• Journalism & Women Symposium: Women journalists condemn Imus slurs
• Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Imus can talk, but we don’t have to listen
• Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Whatâ??s the Cost of â??Shame Fame?â?? As Don Imusâ?? Episode â?? and Others â?? Prove, Apparently Nothing
• National Association of Hispanic Journalists: NAHJ Condemns Radio Host Don Imus for Racial Remarks
• National Organization for Women: It’s Time to Dump Don
• Rem Rieder, American Journalism Review: Shunning the I-Man
• Carol Slezak, Chicago Sun-Times: There’s no quieting hate speech
• Mark Starr, Newsweek: Imus Is Us

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NBC’s Ron Allen Says Issue Is Media Environment

“Ultimately, this is more important than one radio talk-show host,” NBC News correspondent Ron Allen wrote about the Imus controversy Monday on “The Daily Nightly” blog. “It’s important because the ‘mainstream media’ has a tremendous influence on how we see each other, how we think of ourselves, how we determine what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

“Organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists and other advocates for diversity have long argued that if America’s newsrooms looked like America — if the faces we see on the air, behind the scenes, and in the management suites — looked, thought and had sensitivities and experiences more like everyone, the culture inside these institutions would be much different.

“And so would what’s considered to be a joke.

“Think of how you’d explain this to a young little girl, with tightly curled hair, when she asks, ‘why did he call people who look like me that?’

“Something more has to happen. Not just with one individual, but also with the environment that produces all of this. Something that people in power can look back on a few years from now and tell that little girl that we tried very hard to do the right thing.”

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Obama Pulls Out of Fox-Black Caucus Debate

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will be the second Democratic presidential candidate to boycott a proposed debate to be broadcast by Fox News Channel, ABC News’ Jake Tapper reported Monday for ABC News.

“‘CNN seems to be a more appropriate host,’ an Obama campaign aide said.

“Obama and Fox News Channel have had frosty relations ever since January, when the channel hyped and repeated untrue allegations that Obama had attended an extremist Islamist madrassa as a child living in Indonesia,” Tapper said.

Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina was the first to formally boycott the Fox News debate, which is sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. Obama is a member of the caucus.

The debate is to be held on Sept. 23 in Detroit.

Ben Smith of Politico.com reported on his blog, “Obama is the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus running for President, and his decision allows other candidates to skip the debate without facing criticism that they are turning their backs on a leading black institution.”

Smith said an aide reported that Obama himself had not called Black Caucus leadership or Fox executives to deliver the news. “It was handled at a staff level.”

“The aide said that Obama will participate in the six officially-sanctioned Democratic National Committee debates, whose existence provided candidates a measure of cover to drop out of the Fox-sponsored debate,” Smith wrote.

ColorOfChange.org, the organization opposing the Caucus’ partnership with Fox because of its right-wing tilt, urged Hillary Clinton and other presidential candidates to follow the lead of Edwards, Obama and the Democratic National Committee in rejecting Fox.