Post by Keith on May 26, 2007 18:11:10 GMT -8
In the world of talk radio, especially on public talk radio, you only get one strike. Don Imus should by no means be an exception to that under no circumstance. It's basically your merits are all tarnished and cancelled out by one demerit. In Imus' case, it was definitely one major demerit. When Imus referred to the girls' basketball team of Rutgers as "nappy-headed hoes," it really offended a bunch of people and not just the Black community. That comment was very derogatory and uncalled for.
It mirrors the incident with the New York City based Hot 97 around late 2004 after George W. Bush was re-elected into office. After the re-election, a big tsunami hit most of Southeast Asia and continued towards India and the east coast of Africa. Tens of thousands of people were killed during that tsunami. And Hot 97 aired this song which was dubbed the "Tsunami Song." The song mocked and insulted the Tsunami survivors which most of them being Asian. Miss Info one of the known DJs for Hot 97 was against the airing of the Tsunami Song and openly protested against it. Being Asian herself, Miss Info was extremely offended at her co-workers for airing such a travesty.
There happens to be a huge Asian population within NYC and the song basically offended a good amount of the NYC population. I'm not from NYC but I myself am Asian and was extremely offended by this song. My other Asian friends took offense to this. I told a friend who's a law student about the song and felt that a song like this would bring a bunch of lawsuits. And a good number of people were suspended from the job for airing that Tsunami Song. The Tsunami Song caused a lot of damage and brought on a lot of backlash from the Asian community.
The same goes for Imus' remarks to the girls' basketball team at Rutgers University. Instead of the Asian community, Imus brought forth backlash from the Black community. No matter how long you've been on the radio for, you can't afford to make one major mistake like that. That should be an automatic means of getting fired from the job speaking some prejudicial remark on live radio. Personally, I can understand that people screw up. But you're on the job and screw-ups such as that remark is very costly. This is the real world, you mess up, you're gone.
Of course they're sorry for the remarks they made. On a personal level, I'm cool with that. They apologized, let's move on. But you have to take in consideration the business aspect. The money that comes in pays for people's jobs. Puts food on ttheir table, clothes on their backs, children into school, etc. Not only did Imus endanger his job, but he endangered the livelihoods of others working for him and with him.
Like TV, public radio is funded by ads from various businesses. The more viewers that tune into a certain radio station, the more people that are going to hear their ads on the radio. When Hot 97 aired the Tsunami Song, sponsors pulled their ads from the radio immediately until the people responsible were gone. Hot 97 did just that. What Miss Jones and Star did with the Tsunami song was financially devastating.
And what Imus remarked about the girls' basketball team was also financially devastating. NBC and CBS pulled the Imus show off the air. There are going to be sponsors that will pull ads from the radio show; ads that bring in a good source of revenue to the radio station. Out of protest, listeners are going to probably boycott the radio station let alone the Imus show. You lose listeners, you're going to lose ratings. Lose the ratings, you'll lose the sponsors. Lose the sponsors, lose the money. Lose the money, lose your job. If a station stops receiving the proper funding, there's going to be plenty of layoffs on the way. And those people are going to have a difficulty finding new jobs because most of the places are probably not hiring any new people.
To say the rest, you're going to have to sacrifice a few. In a situation such as this, Imus needs to be fired. In the world of talk radio, there are no booboos.
From a business standpoint, yes Imus needed to be fired.
Personally, it's freedom of speech. And freedom of speech is an Amendment right in the United States Constitution. There are plenty of shock jocks that have said things far worse than what Don Imus said. Bill O'Reilly's spewed plenty of garbage and yet he's still on the air. I don't listen to Imus and I definitely do not listen to O'Reilly.
Overall, though I fully understand the business and political standpoint, I just find it uber retarded for Imus to be fired. If Imus got fired, why is someone like Bill O'Reilly still on the air? And the people that are ticked off at Imus, do they really listen to his radio show? Why are those other shockjocks still on the air?
If Imus made a remark towards the Asian community, I wouldn't care. Mainly because I don't listen to the guy in the first place. Compared to the Tsunami Song incident with Hot 97, Imus' racial remark was very tame. Only one person got fired while there are a lot more people that should've been fired.
Of course Imus was stupid for making that remark, the two-week suspension should be more than enough. Unfortunately which some stupid action, people are going to want a piece of the publicity. If only one person got fired for the Tsunami Song, why did one person get fired for just a simple remark? I hardly see the "fairness" in it.
But unfortunately, business and political tends to outweigh personal views. And what happened with Imus got way overexaggerated.
www.helium.com/tm/265950/world-radio-especially-public
It mirrors the incident with the New York City based Hot 97 around late 2004 after George W. Bush was re-elected into office. After the re-election, a big tsunami hit most of Southeast Asia and continued towards India and the east coast of Africa. Tens of thousands of people were killed during that tsunami. And Hot 97 aired this song which was dubbed the "Tsunami Song." The song mocked and insulted the Tsunami survivors which most of them being Asian. Miss Info one of the known DJs for Hot 97 was against the airing of the Tsunami Song and openly protested against it. Being Asian herself, Miss Info was extremely offended at her co-workers for airing such a travesty.
There happens to be a huge Asian population within NYC and the song basically offended a good amount of the NYC population. I'm not from NYC but I myself am Asian and was extremely offended by this song. My other Asian friends took offense to this. I told a friend who's a law student about the song and felt that a song like this would bring a bunch of lawsuits. And a good number of people were suspended from the job for airing that Tsunami Song. The Tsunami Song caused a lot of damage and brought on a lot of backlash from the Asian community.
The same goes for Imus' remarks to the girls' basketball team at Rutgers University. Instead of the Asian community, Imus brought forth backlash from the Black community. No matter how long you've been on the radio for, you can't afford to make one major mistake like that. That should be an automatic means of getting fired from the job speaking some prejudicial remark on live radio. Personally, I can understand that people screw up. But you're on the job and screw-ups such as that remark is very costly. This is the real world, you mess up, you're gone.
Of course they're sorry for the remarks they made. On a personal level, I'm cool with that. They apologized, let's move on. But you have to take in consideration the business aspect. The money that comes in pays for people's jobs. Puts food on ttheir table, clothes on their backs, children into school, etc. Not only did Imus endanger his job, but he endangered the livelihoods of others working for him and with him.
Like TV, public radio is funded by ads from various businesses. The more viewers that tune into a certain radio station, the more people that are going to hear their ads on the radio. When Hot 97 aired the Tsunami Song, sponsors pulled their ads from the radio immediately until the people responsible were gone. Hot 97 did just that. What Miss Jones and Star did with the Tsunami song was financially devastating.
And what Imus remarked about the girls' basketball team was also financially devastating. NBC and CBS pulled the Imus show off the air. There are going to be sponsors that will pull ads from the radio show; ads that bring in a good source of revenue to the radio station. Out of protest, listeners are going to probably boycott the radio station let alone the Imus show. You lose listeners, you're going to lose ratings. Lose the ratings, you'll lose the sponsors. Lose the sponsors, lose the money. Lose the money, lose your job. If a station stops receiving the proper funding, there's going to be plenty of layoffs on the way. And those people are going to have a difficulty finding new jobs because most of the places are probably not hiring any new people.
To say the rest, you're going to have to sacrifice a few. In a situation such as this, Imus needs to be fired. In the world of talk radio, there are no booboos.
From a business standpoint, yes Imus needed to be fired.
Personally, it's freedom of speech. And freedom of speech is an Amendment right in the United States Constitution. There are plenty of shock jocks that have said things far worse than what Don Imus said. Bill O'Reilly's spewed plenty of garbage and yet he's still on the air. I don't listen to Imus and I definitely do not listen to O'Reilly.
Overall, though I fully understand the business and political standpoint, I just find it uber retarded for Imus to be fired. If Imus got fired, why is someone like Bill O'Reilly still on the air? And the people that are ticked off at Imus, do they really listen to his radio show? Why are those other shockjocks still on the air?
If Imus made a remark towards the Asian community, I wouldn't care. Mainly because I don't listen to the guy in the first place. Compared to the Tsunami Song incident with Hot 97, Imus' racial remark was very tame. Only one person got fired while there are a lot more people that should've been fired.
Of course Imus was stupid for making that remark, the two-week suspension should be more than enough. Unfortunately which some stupid action, people are going to want a piece of the publicity. If only one person got fired for the Tsunami Song, why did one person get fired for just a simple remark? I hardly see the "fairness" in it.
But unfortunately, business and political tends to outweigh personal views. And what happened with Imus got way overexaggerated.
www.helium.com/tm/265950/world-radio-especially-public
