Imus Calls Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "Nappy Headed Hos"

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Conservatives fear that Don Imus is the first casualty in a liberal-led media purge to force right-wing talkers off the air.

By Alex Koppelman
salon.com, April 16

First they came for Don Imus. And now they'll come for Rush.

At least, that was the fear at the Free Congress Foundation on April 13, where a panel discussion of an ancient broadcasting regulation quickly turned into a discussion of Don Imus and how his firing might portend a similar fate for some of the right's best-known media personalities. In the absence of any compelling evidence, participants in the latest of the conservative think tank's occasional Next Conservatism Forum series managed to convince themselves that the Fairness Doctrine, a rule that was scrapped by the Federal Communications Commission 20 years ago, was poised for a comeback, and was about to become a weapon in a liberal jihad against the right wing's freedom of speech.

In fact, the prominent conservatives, addressing a crowd of 30 on the ground floor of a Washington row house, described what sounded like a conspiracy. Panelist Ken Blackwell, formerly Ohio's secretary of state and the Republican candidate for governor last fall, said Imus was "not a conservative" and that "the left has sacrificed one of their own to give them a platform to go after true conservative talk show hosts." Cliff Kincaid, of the conservative media watchdog Accuracy in Media, said the Imus firing had been a revelation. "It wasn't exactly clear to me how [liberals] intended to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but I think now with the Imus affair, we know ... [And it's a] short leap from firing Imus to going after Rush Limbaugh."

Established in 1949, the Fairness Doctrine was an FCC regulation that required broadcasters to give balance to opposing viewpoints in any opinion programming. Its abolition by the FCC during the Reagan administration is widely credited with making the explosion of conservative talk radio possible.

With the return of the Democrats to power in Congress, conservatives have become concerned that the Fairness Doctrine might be on its way back. William S. Lind, director of the Free Congress Foundation's Center for Cultural Conservatism and moderator of the April 13 panel discussion, said the choice of topics had been occasioned by an "emergency" -- the Fairness Doctrine's seemingly imminent return.

But fear of its return isn't restricted to the Free Congress Foundation. Since Imus' firing, conservative pundits have been painting a picture of an entire ideological community under siege. In an article April 13, Byron York, White House correspondent for the conservative National Review, asked the question, "What's next for the activists who called for Don Imus' head," then answered himself, "Two words: Fairness Doctrine." York's colleague at the National Review, radio host Mark Levin, wrote a post in which he said that "there is now a campaign underway ... to force conservative talk show hosts from radio ... It appears we have a rather sleazy effort afoot to silence the one broadcast venue the Left can't control." Attributing this effort to liberal media watchdog Media Matters, Levin linked to conservative blog Sweetness & Light -- Sweetness & Light, which wrote that Media Matters president and CEO David Brock "jumps on any chance to try to control free speech in this country." It added that "if Media Matters has its way the only people who will be allowed to use the public airwaves will be Messrs. Brock, [George] Soros, [Noam] Chomsky, Ms. Hillary Clinton and other officially approved Democrats." On NewsBusters, the blog of conservative media watchdog Media Research Center, Dan Riehl wondered, "Does Get-Imus movement foretell Fairness Doctrine reinstatement?"

But at the forum, conservatives were already thinking of ways to fight back. From the audience, Wes Vernon, a former broadcast journalist and now a conservative commentator, said he believes "the best way to combat this is public outrage. Al Sharpton knows how to stir it up, Jesse Jackson knows how to stir it up ... There ought to be some kind of effort to raise money to put ads on the air and in the newspapers alerting people about this."

Dick Morris, the political consultant and pundit who managed Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, said it came down to language. "Let's try to replace the word 'Fairness Doctrine,'" he told the audience. "Vocabulary is so important in politics." Morris gave as examples the phrases "right to work" and "prevailing wage," and jokingly offered a free trip to Hoboken, N.J. for the person who could come up with a new formulation for the debate. Morris himself seconded Lind's suggestion that the Fairness Doctrine be rebranded the "Unfairness Doctrine," and added that the current absence of any regulation ought to be called the "Freedom Doctrine." In an interview with Salon after the discussion, Morris explained that when searching for language like this, he's looking for a "positive message" to deliver to voters, and that he rejected an audience member's suggestion of the "Hypocrisy Doctrine" because "the concept of hypocrisy is, 'I'm admitting that I'm bad, but you're bad too.'"

At the forum, Morris actively cheered the firing of Imus. "'Thank God' is my reaction," he said. He accused the radio host of making "bigotry and ethnic hatred entertaining and fun" and cited several examples of previous racially charged statements Imus had made. Morris added that he hoped the incident would be "part of a revolution in manners ... [that] signals the death knell for ethnic jokes in public." Talking to Salon afterward, however, Morris drew a distinction between Imus and people like Limbaugh. "I think there's a vast difference between humor that seeks to demean, or rhetoric that seeks to demean," Morris said, "and issue positions that happen to be against the views of a certain community."

Kincaid drew a similar distinction in an interview with Salon, saying he favored the FCC's monitoring of broadcasts for sexual indecency, but that he would not support similar measures against racist speech. "Then you're getting into political speech," Kincaid said, "and what one defines as, quote, 'racism.' How do you define the term? I don't want the FCC to define that."

Indeed, much of the panel seemed of two minds -- on the one hand happy that an "indecent" voice was gone from the airwaves, and on the other worried about what Imus' firing portends for conservative free speech and concerned that liberals are trying to use the power of the state to silence them. "This is very much an issue of censorship, and it's interesting, isn't it, that hate speech is only hate speech when it's directed against the carefully designated victims' groups of cultural Marxism," Lind said. " You can say all the hate speech you want on radio or television directed at Germans or Swedes ... This is our old opponent, cultural Marxism, doing what Marxists do -- trying to use the power of the state to make it illegal to disagree with their ideology."

Blackwell, for his part, said liberals are trying to use the Fairness Doctrine to accomplish what they could not in a free market, and asserted that liberals are "terrible" at making talk radio. "If liberals think it is just too hard to compete with the Sean Hannitys of the world," Blackwell said, "then they should focus on what they do best -- make ice cream."

The panelists tried to assemble proof to support their Fairness Doctrine fears. They mentioned Sharpton's call for the FCC to step in and his vow that this was only the beginning of the fight; they pointed to the Huffington Post's listing old examples of controversial statements by Limbaugh and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. There were also the ritual invocations of favorite boogeyman George Soros. Kincaid repeatedly referred to Media Matters as Soros funded, and a pamphlet and fundraising appeal that Accuracy in Media distributed at the forum talks about a dark "conspiracy" that puts "in jeopardy ... all of the progress that conservatives have made in the media over the last several decades."

But perhaps conservatives are projecting a little bit. Though there are media organizations on the left -- some funded by Soros -- that have called for its return, the evidence for the Fairness Doctrine's imminent reappearance is not overwhelming. Free Congress Foundation panelists warned that a Democratic president would be able to appoint FCC commissioners who could unilaterally reinstate the rule. They didn't mention, however, that it hadn't happened in the eight years of the Clinton presidency.

Return of the Fairness Doctrine via an act of Congress isn't exactly looming either. An effort to bring it back died in the House in 1993, when Democrats controlled both chambers and the presidency. Fourteen years later, the law has its proponents in both chambers, but they're not the sort of legislators who are known for corralling veto-proof majorities -- Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among others. Meanwhile, those who could realistically be the catalysts for such legislation don't seem to have much interest. Reached April 13, a spokesman for Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who chairs one of the relevant House subcommittees, didn't know what the Fairness Doctrine was. In the Clinton era, by contrast, Markey had been a key proponent of the doctrine's return.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader, dismissed conservatives' concerns. "I'm not aware that there's any kind of debate about the Fairness Doctrine," Manley told Salon. "To be honest, I barely even know what it is ... [Sen. Reid] is not contemplating anything like that. It truly is not on his radar screen."
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Tom DeLay sees it that way, and says that Rosie should be taken off the air too.

NY1 News

April 17, 2007

In an interview with NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter, Mass. Senator John Kerry says radio-show host Don Imus should not have been fired by CBS – and won’t rule out appearing on a future program hosted by the controversial shock jock.

Kerry is the first high-profile Democrat not to support Imus’ ouster – who was fired last Thursday after making remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

Here is a transcript of Kerry’s remarks:

Kerry: “I think that the…you know the punishment has to fit the crime so to speak. I think a long suspension, or a strong suspension met with his appropriate level, given that the team forgave him. To me it was in the hands of the young women. They made the judgment that they thought he was genuine and they felt they could forgive him. And I think it was appropriate to pay a price on the airwaves but I’m not sure that it was appropriate to say you’re off forever.”

Dominic Carter: “If Mr. Imus has a show in the future would you appear on it?”

Kerry: “It would depend on what the context of the show was obviously. If he goes back to doing the same old same old I’d have trouble doing that, but if it’s a different show and he says it’s going to be different sure.”
 
Vivian Stringer is writing an autobiography. I wouldn't call it cashing in because she was dragged into it involuntarily.
 
Well Imus has certainly cashed in on years and years of his slur filled speech. It's a shame that it took this incident for someone to offer her that opportunity, if that's the case.

Criminals have cashed in on their crimes by writing books, so I think she's pretty low on that ladder.

http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/04/17/rutgers-coach-parlays-don-imus-flap-into-book-deal/

It's about an incredible woman with an extraordinary life story," said Tina Constable, executive vice president for publicity at Crown, who declined to say how much the company will pay Stringer. "She's a pioneer, a legend, an icon and a role model."


Although the Imus incident is obviously going to be the main selling point for the book, it should be noted that Stringer's life story was interesting even before Imus insulted her team. She has 777 coaching wins, she is the only women's coach to have taken three teams to the Final Four, she has a daughter who was paralyzed by spinal meningitis, she has a son who was kicked off the North Carolina State football team for his role in a fight that led to someone being shot and killed. It's a book that could be worth a read.
 
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And in other news.....

John Kerry has announced........

That IMUS has been unfairly treated!!!!!!

Wow, I agree with Kerry on something!!!!!! Mark this on your calendar.

I believe Kerry has said...the punishment should fit the crime.
 
[Q]Well Imus has certainly cashed in on years and years of his slur filled speech.[/Q]

Yep, it certainly wasn not the quality guests and political analysis that went on that helped him "cash in" cause only biggots and hate filled people would send him $$$$.
 
I never said people who listen to his show are bigots and wouldn't say that, but if you want to insist that's what I mean for whatever purpose go right ahead :shrug: I'm talking about what various stations paid him (he wasn't paid by listeners other than more listeners= more sponsors), and they let him go on with that speech for years and years-in addition to his interviews and non-slur filled speech.

It's sort of the point of this whole incident that it took it before such an accomplished African American woman was offered an autobiography-when did Imus write his and how many books has he written? Imus was famous long before she could and would ever be famous.
 
not that it matters, but he's written one novel, and he and his wife have issued a few other books... cookbooks, photobooks, etc... to benefit his ranch. he's never written an autobiography.

and for the record, i never said it was a bad thing that the rutgers coach is using this incident for her own financial gain, or that the press conferences were used as recruiting tools, or any of that. they weren't asked to be dragged into this, they might as well get what they can from it.
 
Prank call to Chinese eatery ignites new shock jock uproar
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 | 1:10 PM ET
CBC Arts

CBS Radio has suspended two New York City shock jocks after they broadcast a racially charged prank call to a Chinese restaurant.

Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, hosts of WFNY-FM's The Dog House With JV and Elvis, are in hot water over a prank call that involved asking one Chinese man to "tell me about your tiny egg roll" and placing an order for "very large slimp flied lice."

CBS is still recovering from the Don Imus scandal, involving racially charged comments about the black members of a women's basketball team. New York shock jock Imus was fired over his remarks, which sparked an outcry from African Americans.

The Imus scandal sparked a renewed sensitivity over the kind of language used on radio and over the so-called humour practised by shock jocks.
Click to expand...

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2007/04/24/shock-jocks.html
 
(CBS) NEW YORK Three female minority police officers claim they were insulted with the same language radio host Don Imus used. But they said the abuse came from fellow officers.

The three officers said they were denigrated and insulted by two other officers in their stationhouse.

"We felt violated, hurt, humiliated," officer Tronette Jackson said.

The officers' attorney, Bonita Zelman, had a much more colorful characterization.

"The Imus virus has spread to the New York City Police Department," Zelman said.

The three women said the incident happened where Abner Louima was assaulted a number of years ago, the 70th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn. It was April 15, a few days after Imus was fired by MSNBC and CBS Radio for referring to the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio show.

"Sgt. Mateo addressed roll by stating, 'stand up hos,'" Zelman said. "My clients refused to stand. At that time, Officer Montenez stated, 'Sarge, they are not just hos, but nappy-headed hos.'"

Said police officer Karen Nelson: "I was stunned and humiliated almost to the point of disbelief. It was an experience I will never forget."

Added officer Maria Gomez: "We just couldn’t believe we cold hear that at a place we work by own supervisor."

The sergeant has already been transferred and stripped of his supervisory duties.

And this isn't the only alleged case. Another officer said it happened to her in Queens three days earlier.

Detective Aretha Williams, working Queens Narcotics, said a white sergeant made a similar remark to her.

Williams said the supervisor -- now on leave -- told her not to give him "lip," or he'd call her "a nappy-headed ho."

"If it did happen, it's totally unacceptable," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said. "It's reprehensible. We simply will not tolerate it."

Kelly said investigations are underway in both incidents that could result in further disciplinary action.

All four women have filed complaints with the NYPD's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.
 
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former radio talk show host Don Imus has hired one of the country's top trial lawyers to sue CBS Radio following his dismissal last month for making racial and sexual on-air comments about members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Attorney Martin Garbus told CNN Wednesday that he has agreed to represent Imus in a wrongful breach of contract suit against his former employer.

Garbus would not disclose when he was retained by Imus but said he plans to file an action against CBS in the near future. Calls made to Imus by CNN were not returned.

A CBS spokesman declined comment.

Imus had $40 million remaining on a multiyear contact that began in 2006 and included a clause that CBS wanted him to be "irreverent" and "controversial," according to CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who was shown part of the contract.

"Company (CBS Radio) acknowledges that Artist's (Imus') services to be rendered hereunder are of a unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial and personal character and that programs of the same general type and nature containing these components are desired by Company and are consistent with Company rules and policies."

Toobin said the legal issues in the Imus case are simple: "Did Imus breach his contract by saying what he did about the Rutgers basketball team?"

CBS dismissed Imus on April 12, eight days after he called the Rutgers players "nappy-headed 'hos" on his radio show, "Imus in the Morning."

"What stands out in the contract is he is supposed to be controversial and irreverent. That's what his statement about the Rutgers basketball team was," Toobin said.

"How is CBS going to argue that what he said was so controversial and so offensive that it isn't what they asked for in the contract?"
 
Smallville said:
Good for Imus! I hope he wins. He shouldn't have been fired.
Click to expand...

I agree.

It seems like there was some sort of pressure from the media where if you didn´t agree that he should have been fired then you were being racist as well or at least conding racism.
 
BrownEyedBoy said:


It seems like there was some sort of pressure from the media where if you didn´t agree that he should have been fired then you were being racist as well or at least conding racism.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, people are foaming at the mouth in this country to call someone a racist, well as long as they are white.
 
Irreverant? I thought that was just conservative-speak for racist/sexist/bigoted. As in, if I say pics of Serena Williams belong in National Geographic some old tired white con would call me "irreverant" but to the rest of the world I'm a racist.

CBS are the hypocrites here...they wanted him to do exactly what he did, and then fired him for it. This could be kind of fascinating depending on how far it goes...I'm guessing not far, and they settle on some amount to make him go away.
 
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