Comments on: On Don Imus and Racial Slurs

By: Bryce Beattie

Bryce Beattie — Wed, 16 May 2007 04:38:32 +0000

I’ve never really understood why people continue to listen to/watch programs that offend them. Watching and being outraged on air or anywhere just adds fuel to the fire and keeps it going.

I agree with what was said above: if you don’t like it don’t listen.

Listeners = advertising money = show stays on the air

It doesn’t matter to advertisers if the listeners agree or disagree. Only that people are listening…

By: Keith Johnston

Keith Johnston — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:33:20 +0000

One of these days, some Christian commentator will be discussing what the Bible says about homosexuality, and that commentator will be punished for ‘hate speech’. Once censorship starts, who gets to decide how far to take it? What if praying ‘in Jesus name’ is offensive to someone?

By: Dan Case

Dan Case — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:33:55 +0000

Barbara, thank you for your thoughtful response. A couple of thoughts to ponder:

1) You could have shut Harry’s line of questioning down in five seconds with the same response you gave me . . . “It’s not right for anyone to say those words.”

2) Your explanation of the mission of NABJ describes a good and noble cause. Why not call the organization the “National Association for Diversity in Media” or some similar name that is racially neutral? Such a name would seem more consistent with the stated goals.

3) I agree that this should not be a racial issue. Someone should pass that thought on to Al Sharpton. He’s done more to drive racial groups apart than to unify.

Thank you for your comments. I used to work in Norfolk. Nice market.

By: Barbara Ciara

Barbara Ciara — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:51:23 +0000

Hello Dan,

I am the person you saw in the CBS morning show. You wondered why I avoided answering a question about other people who have used bad language. Allow me to respond. I had two minutes to get the message across …and I didn’t want to spend 30 seconds on a subject I was not there to talk about. Grant it, more should be said and done about the BIG picture regarding these types of remarks….but on that particular day I was scheduled to talk about our groups position on Imus and I was determined not to be distracted by sidebar topics. That said, I don’t think it’s right for anyone to say those words. That has been my position for years. It’s funny, not in a ha ha kind of way but when the women in our group walked out on a rapper who was using bad language at our convention almost ten years ago it was on the inside page below the fold. Timing is everything and I think the outrage that has been expressed over the last nine days is a signal in this country that most people of all colors are tired of the assault on our ears.

Why do we need a National Association of Black Journalist? As a group we have members who are white, asian, hispanic who are working with us to increase the numbers of African American journalists in our nations newsrooms. If you look at the number of newsroom managers, senior editors, General Managers of color you too would agree we need to work harder to achieve diversity.

I hope that answers some of your concerns. Try not to make this a race issue, most of us are trying to reach the same goal.