Joey / TJ Stream of Consciousness - Don Imus

TJ,

I was reading this article...well it was more like a rant on the whole Don Imus thing. And I was wondering what you thought of it, because it seems to cross a few really important issues pertaining to radio, racism, free speech, etc.

This thing i read is not very good. it makes some good points, but is poorly argued. I think its kinda sad. Especially how it relates to Michael Richard's explosion. It seems to really allow for a space to deal with issues of racism in the open and public, the way everyone discusses them in private. And maybe it would get worse if we acknowledged that, but maybe it would get worse before it gets better.

But also I was thinking about the radio part of it, and i was wondering what you really think about shows like Imus or Howard Stern or i don't know, Opie & Anthony. Like is it just talk for the sake of talk? Does it do something constructive? Does it have a purpose?

Because Radio is a public space and it has to fulfill a public good. doesn't it?

Joey

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Joey,

I actually thought that was a pretty well-reasoned article (although not written very well). I can understand why the guy is pissed, and he doesn't simply say that the Imus thing was Sharpton playing the race card and then left it at that. Too many people have just said "oh well he's playing the race card" and then moved on to why it's not fair instead of explaining why he's doing it. I'm right in the middle of Barack Obama's book, and the chapter on race, so this is really a strange topic for me to try and approach right now. So I guess I won't.

From a purely radio-guy perspective, I am happy Don Imus was fired. I'm not happy with WHY he was fired, or HOW he was fired, but I'm just glad he's gone. Good riddance. These types of shows -- his being some ridiculous fusion of Stern's Morning Circus format and Limbaugh's Right-wing squawkbox format made for what I consider to be a pretty watered-down, crappy show in general. It wasn't as ever as outrageous as Stern, nor was it as extreme as Limbaugh -- it just sucked. It's even weirder to me that such a show would be simulcast on MSNBC, masquerading as a news show every morning.

I'm glad he's gone because, as you well know, I'm not a big fan of either format, or what they're doing to radio, or the amount of money or listeners they manage to pile up. I don't like what Stern, Limbaugh, Hannity, O&A, or Imus are/were doing to radio. Now, of course, one of them is gone and we now have Michael Smerconish to fill in where Imus has left, but I like the idea that this may send ripples throughout the DJ world, letting broadcasters know what is and is not allowed. And I don't care about the political correctness of it -- Imus used his microphone to trash a group of people that had no rebuttal. Pre-1987, that station COULD have lost it's license for something like that, unless he agreed to give them time on-air to defend themselves. Now, without the Fairness Doctrine, people just say whatever the hell they want to on-air without fear of consequences. It has led to a severe erosion of civil discourse in broadcast media, and that's hurtful to our democracy and our culture at large. It's the reason no one can talk about something like why "nappy-headed ho's" is unacceptable to say without people shouting and pointing fingers and getting all defensive right off the bat.

So yeah, while I agree people need to lighten up, and that Sharpton is a race-baiting hack, I also think that the Rutgers team didn't deserve to be trashed on national radio. And I also am glad for the effects this will have on other talk-show hosts to clean up their acts and not abuse their positions as national broadcasters to character-assassinate defenseless people. I hope we see some more constructive on-air conversations now that this has happened, but I'm doubting it.

The guy who wrote this article is being very cynical when it comes to the "public airwaves" when he says that it's a government lease. He's ignoring the fact that voters control that government, so the "parent company" at that rental center is still, indeed, the American public. However, they're not the ones that got upset about the Imus comment. Sharpton got upset, then he got advertisers upset, and then Imus got yanked. There was no real sense of outrage at the networks that carried his show, and until this got all the publicity, nor was there outrage among the public. So, unfortunately, this guy is half-right about how if the public isn't involved in the equation there, why bother making mention of it being on the "public airwaves"? This entire incident was dealt with in-house, without any repercussions from the FCC or from the listening audience (at least not until well after the fact). For that reason, I'm not optimistic about the potential for change in the talk format.

But whatever. I'm talking myself in circles here, I think. I've had so much time to think abotu this and hear about it from every perspective that I just don't know what to think anymore. Does the end justify the means in this case? I'm tempted to say no....which means, then, that realistically, I think Don Imus should still have a job.

TJ

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TJ,

I like the points you made. I thought the article said some good things too, but it was unstructured and had very little to support the arguments made. It jumped around a lot which make me think it was poorly thought. or written in the heat of the moment.

I'd like to talk to you more about the obama book when you finish.

but the whole issue makes me think of the phrase "going through the motions" because that's what i feel is going on.

that IMUS has to be controversial and this "nappy headed hos" comment is the best he can do.

that CBS or NBC or whoever, fired him because thats what they were supposed to do

that Al Sharpton had to react so strongly, because you know what, that's what he's supposed to do.

But do you think that he's just going to get hired somewhere else when this blows over just like Opie and Anthony?

Joey


To Be Continued....

Devil made me say it

Check out this from Atrios:

This morning on CNN Howard Kurtz pulled the "what about the rappers! that's where the word ho comes from!" stunt. What this has to do with Don Imus calling the Rutgers Women's Basketball team whores for no apparent reason other than the crime of being mostly black I do not know. In any case, we're seeing a pretty quick creep of this collective responsibility thing. Because many of the women are black, and rap is a black thing, and some rappers use the word "ho," it's absurd to focus on Don Imus calling these women a bunch of whores without pointing out that other people have used the word ho in other contexts. Or something. I really can't follow the logic.

The thing I really don't get about this Imus thing is the mad rush by people to come and defend this guy. We've heard some dumb shit from people trying to explain away these comments, but using this "he wasn't the first to say it" defense is some weak sauce. For some reason, people aren't distancing themselves from Imus like ESPN did from Rush Limbaugh, or like the cast of Seinfeld did from Kramer. What is it about Don Imus that makes people feel he should get different treatment from those lepers?

Let me, then, contradict myself somewhat by saying that Imus should not be fired primarily for the racial insensitivity of his comments. Don Imus ought to be out of a job because, as a steward of the airwaves, it's irresponsible and kind of dangerous to be making personal attacks on the air. Although it's not illegal after the corollary to the Fairness Doctrine expired, it's an abuse of the power of the mic. The Rutgers women's team can't simply respond in kind with their own broadcast or by calling a press conference -- and now they've been slandered for pretty much no good reason and with no ethical means of protest available to them.

This kind of one-sided fight is why we shouldn't be talking about what Imus said so much as how he said it. Here we are bickering over the words that left his mouth instead of talking about how he even got close to a microphone with those words in the first place.

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