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From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images |
by Jason Rosenbaum :: Filed Under Music and Culture :: September 25th, 2007 @ 6:22 am EST
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A Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing is going on right now to discuss the “degradation” of our culture. It’s just as stupid as it sounds.
Watch it live now if you want (link on the left side of the page). I’ll have more to say on this later.
I think these people, have no idea what they are talking about!! I think the whole Imus Issue, was taken out of context. I think it was political, and a hit job, all anyone has to do is turn into the news cycle and watch the same org Media Matters trying to target other on air personalities lately Bill O’Reilly. Censorship under the guise of cleaning up the airwaves…That is what the FCC is for we don’t need the SPEECH POLICE. Obviously these people on this sub committee, have never read Orwell’s 1984. I know they are hoping the American Public, has been dumbed down enough…sorry to disappoint. IT is a Presidential Election Cycle started early. Whoever controls the Medium, that delivers the Message, controls the People. Thank God, for the Internet, new Tech is going to save us all from old Tech.
Was Imus the Boogey Man? I don’t think so I think the Boogey Man is the little Political Stooge who was monitoring him for 2 years by Media Matters, who took credit for establishing Media Matters, Senator Hillary Clinton at a Daily Kos convention…who is running for President? Wake up America, it is just your right to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression these yahoos are trying to SAVE you from. File this on who gets to hear what in America.
Imus was parodying hip hop lingo, in the context of schtick, his producer was qouting from a SPIKE LEE MOVIE dialoge the wannabes and the jiggabos. Why hasn’t Spike Lee thanked him for plugging his movie? This was an attempt at humor a joke…no one since this has happened has framed this in context. Who in this country has been so protected and sheltered, that hearing the sound bite “Nappy Headed Ho” destroyed them? And who made sure that sound bite was played over and over again so more people would have their ears assualted? That would be the Rev Al Sharpton and Rev Jesse Jackson. Who has now made a whole cottage industry spring up around that sound bite, you can get it on t-shirts, hats, caps, teddy bears, cups you name it and it is being printed up. How can this be…Free Speech, the FCC never investigated, never fined Imus in the Morning Program, WHY, they didn’t break any FCC rules. Imagine Free Speech in a Country, that prides it self on Inviting a Terrorist Dictator from Iran to Columbia University…but fires American Citizens, over “Schtick”
http://www.supportimus.org/2007/09/the_imus_ranch_on_rfdtv.html
Grow Up America Free Speech isn’t Pretty Speech!
Actually, Imus was forced out exactly as he should have been. No federal agency got in on this. There was no censorship. Imus’s advertisers pulled out on him, as is their right, and he was fired. That’s really how it is supposed to work.
No actually your wrong, and you don’t have to take my word for it, here it is straight from a lawyer. The Secondary Boycott is in question, boycotting the network that employed Imus was one boycott, going after the network’s advertizers, was the 2nd boycott and there is a question of legality concerning secondary boycotts.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20070423.html
We just had the President of Iran speak at an American Ivy League college, he isn’t even an American with American rights…but firing Don Imus was alright because somebody doesn’t like him mimicking hip hop lingo really? That is illegal in this country? None of his listeners called for his firing, only special interest groups, and if they can take down one American, they don’t like to listen to, who will they take down next? Remember that, when you think taking away Freedom of Expression, from fellow Americans is a good idea…some day they may not like what you are saying and come after your right to Free Speech…oh that’s right they are already, Hip Hop has to clean up it’s language, says who? We have an FCC to regulate the American Airwaves, we don’t need The Morals Police- Speech Police…as I recall Afghanistan had the Morals police how did that turn out for them again? Ready to give up your right to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression, go ahead climb on the short yellow bus, don’t be suprized when you look around and don’t have alot of company. This isn’t about just shutting up people, you don’t like…this is about everyone’s rights.
Imus’ former employers have been marginalized by mismanagement of the “Imus Debacle”. MSNBC Morning program went from 2nd place in morning cable with Imus to last place without Imus, no recovery in sight. The channel has furloughed many employees and was forced to cut back on live programming due to lost revenue and resulting budget cuts. WFAN once the highest grossing radio station in the US billing advertisers $1500/min with Imus to $200/minute without Imus with no recovery in sight. CBS in canceling the Imus program breached their contract with Imus as a result paid him $20M, comes right out of the bottom line.
Advertisers of high end consumer products no longer have available a dependable method for reaching the knowledgably, influential, affluent audience characterized as Imus listeners.
The market has spoken, MSNBC and CBS Radio have been critically impacted and may never recover. Advertisers are struggling to understand how to reach a dispersed Imus audience going into the holiday season.
Imus will return as he should.
ChannelXRFR
Firing someone for saying something racist isn’t illegal, nor should it be. Sure, Imus may have been parroting hip hop lingo, but they bleep out those words on the radio too. When you use the public airwaves, you have a certain responsibility. Were this on XM or something, the result would have been different.
J-Ro
These words Nappy Headed Ho, are fine with the FCC, there was NO investigation, NO Rules were broken, there were NO FINES. There was an 8 second delay button, that neither networks, CBS or MSNBC thought was necessary to deploy. Until it was brought to their attention from a media monitor minion, they didn’t have a problem with it. Till a Markerter “Blew It Up” the sound bite heard round the world, the sound bite , that went into heavy rotation all over the American Airwaves. The Airwaves were saturated with Nappy Headed Ho…if all the networks were bowing to the New Politically Correct Speech Police…we would not have heard it repeated over and over again. So what was the purpose? The Democrats want “The Fairness Doctrine” back. They need an excuse- cleaning up the airwaves is as good as any! The only problem we all AMERICANS, we have the 1st Amendment, and the right to Freedom of Expression. That includes politically incorrect Shock Jocks. Free Speech isn’t about protecting Speech people want to hear, it is about More Speech, not Less Speech. MSNBC is cable, and nappy headed ho, was not on the list that they were not supposed to use because the producer Bernard McGuirk checked. They were being paid and their contracts were being renewed, they were getting raises for being controversial and edgy…well what does that mean, you fullfill your contract, expect to get fired ??? All these years being broadcasted by CBS and MSNBC the WFAN ect.. and they just discovered Imus was a Racist? Really they were paying him and renewing his contract, all that time and they didn’t know? Becuase he isn’t a racist, making a racial comment is not the samething as making a racist remark. This is why people either don’t want to or are afraid to discuss race in this country, depending on who you are and what color you are, you get called “RACIST” personally I think it is time for people to talk to each other as people period. Check out Supportimus org link I posted, those are also African American Children at the Imus Ranch for children with Cancer and Blood disorders…it was Deidra Imus even after her husbands firing, who went to Harlem because of children with sicklecell..The Imus’ went in front of Congress to testify for the rising epidemic of children with Autism…They asked that children vacine’s perservatives be looked into as a possible contributor to Autism…NO BIG PHRAMA did not like it. No the Pentagon didn’t like Imus slamming them for the treatment of our wounded coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan…Yes Hillary Clinton was a proponent of these children vacines when she was 1st Lady. Yes, Imus called out companys like Halliburton, for the Intrepid Heros Fund, for the Fisher House a Hospital being built with private money for our wounded coming home without limbs…Imus said, if Halliburton, was going to profit from the War, they should also pony up a contribution to the facility. Imus made alot of powerful enemies if you think this is about an attempt of an aging, white shock jock, saying something pretty tame, compared to other things, I have heard on Cable and the Radio…well maybe you should take a closer look at the Firing of Don Imus and the Removal of his Imus In the Morning Program. What does Corporate America think is okay for us to hear? How many politicians used the Imus in the Morning Format? Quite a few and who wouldn’t Imus have on his morning program the junior senator from New York- Hillary Clinton….the front runner of the Dem ticket, no one else can get any traction, would it have helped if the other Dem and Rep canidates could have gone on Imus in the Morning for exposure and their message…well, we will never know will we. I did see recently where the Clinton campaign strong armed GQ into killing an article on her Campaign staff…Does Hillary Clinton have a problem with The Media, only the media, she can’t control. Then again she did state at the Daily Kos Convention, that she established Media Matters. So what Media is outside of her grasp?
All
If anyone wants to read more about Don Imus and his firing, you can go to my blogs, there are Imus links, I have inserted the Supportimus org blog already.
http://www.myspace.com/cantgetherefromthere
One could argue the NHH comment wasn’t funny and I would agree. But the joke wasn’t racist. How could it be when comics such as DL Hughley and Chris Rock have incorporated NHH into routines which were broadcast on national TV! How could it be when there exists commercial enterprises called “Nappy Headed Whatevers” and how could it be when Imus refers to his own wife as the “Green HO”?
Imus is not a racist. He has supported Harold Ford for the Senate in the face of death threats, he was one of the first persons to speak out on the racial inequities of New Orleans and Katrina disaster relief…etc.
The art of comedy includes satire; the joke was an old man talking “Hip-Hop”!
I watched every minute of this hearing. I don’t know what news coverage it got because I was so sick of the tv news coverage, I didn’t watch any of it for days.
The whole thing was a big show and I noticed there were only a few congressmen in attendance, and it got fewer and fewer as it went on, until no one was left but the chairman, Mr. Rush. Congress should be focused on the dishonesty of the media and censorship by the media. What the American people hear is a bunch of news that has been sanitized by minds who want to control us.
We have the FCC as the controling factor of what is not acceptable on the airwaves. If we don’t follow the law, it is then left up to whims and beliefs of individuals somewhere who have no accountability whatsoever to the American people.
The whole Imus debacle has been noted on by website, which I started as a direct result of my favorite program being removed from the air without any input from me. I tried to give input, but the media giants did not want to hear it, and they did not broadcast the true story that about 75 percent of the people did not think Imus should have been fired. http://www.myspace.com/bellaluo for the story of one ordinary person, a fan of the Imus in the Morning Program, who has been ignored and disinfrancised, in you will, because my point-of-view and wishes were wiped out as meaningless by MSNBC, in particular, which is where I watched the show.
As for Imus, to understand the show, you would actually have to watch it. What he did was art, and it pointed out the absurdities that we as human beings engage in every day. He used humor and satire to do this. Art is not always comfortable and is not meant to be. The Imus in the Morning Program was really a genius of a production, by a genius crew. But you cannot get the full impact or sense of what it was about by three words, or anyword, for that matter, taken out of context from the whole program. It’s loss is a loss to many that is profound.
Correction on the link I posted above. It should be:
http://www.myspace.com/bellalu0
See, you’re really missing what happened here. There was no government involvement. No fines were levied. No laws passed. Citizens were angry, as is their right. Corporations pulled advertising, as is their right. Imus was fired by his employer, as was their right. I’m with you. I don’t want government censorship. This was not government censorship.
This was how the process is supposed to work. Imus is free to say what he wants, but that doesn’t mean he’s free from a backlash. If people don’t like what he says, they are free to tell him and others so. And they should. If his employers can’t take the heat, they are free to fire him. This is all fine, and well within the bounds of how society is supposed to work.
J Ro,
I don’t think you are going to get this is extended to the next person that gets axed by a “Special Interest Group” you will see a pattern of MSM manipulation. We live in a Republic, ruled by the Majority, with protections for the Minority..not the other way around. There is a Presidential Election Cycle, that started early this year. Imus was a casualty, the Junior Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton wants to control the medium and the message, she wants to be the leader of the Free World. All Imus did, was the samething he did every day Schtick. Media Matters had a little troll, with headphones, monitoring Imus for two years to find a sound bite, they could use to target him with, the best they could come up with was Nappy Headed Ho-to Smear him so his format, Imus in the Morning would be taken off the Air…now no one can use his morning show NO PRESIDENTIAL CANIDATES. The secondary boycott came up again when orgs like Move On, threatened to make a list of the new FBN channel’s advertisers, they were going to threaten the advertizers, with a boycott if they ran commericials on this new Channel FBN (This should fall under Extortion Law Ricco) These Orgs do this is to intimidate and threaten “Media Outlets” to control what they broadcast. If you can’t see that the Mainstream Media is being manipulated, it is because you don’t want to see it.
Bella, I am glad Mr Rush was left to himself, I hope he had an echo in the chamber, and he could hear his own message. The remedy to Unpopular Speech, isn’t LESS SPEECH it is MORE SPEECH.
J Ro, I am glad you blogged about this subject, thanks for the discussion.
But here is the problem J Ro: What about those of us who were not angered by Imus or his program. What about those of us who loved the program, as I did. And what about those of us who are boycotting the advertisers who bailed out since that day in April when Imus was removed from the air? And those of us who no long watch MSNBC because of their horrible treatment of him and us, the viewers? If no laws were violated and no FCC regulations were broken, then this show should still be on the air.
And since CBS settled the lawsuit Imus had drawn up before the suit was even filed, is pretty good proof that they did wrongfully terminate him and violated the contract. There is a way to handle things in an honorable fashion, and this was not hendled well.
I mean, I understand your complaint, but such is the will of the majority. Look at it this way: if there is enough demand for Imus’s brand of entertainment, he will be back on another venue. It probably won’t be on the public airwaves, but he’ll be back. And that is how it is supposed to work.
In a fair and SANE society, legality should reflect a weighing of public interest versus individual rights. When one individual has the speech power of a gigantic corporation like NBC or Viacom, then i would not say it is a matter of individual free speech rights.
They are getting you to conflate individual rights to speech that you have as a human person, with rights of huge corporations to pollute public airwaves. Imus speaks for a corporation because the corporation allows him to speak via their outlet — which is of course on OUR PUBLIC AIRWAVES that they lease FOR FREE. There is an implicit endorsement of the content, and by firing Imus, Viacom acknowledged that.
So when you argue against “censorship” know what sort of speech and whose speech you are talking about. What the position against censorship permits is the right of corporations to spew hateful and sexist speech that has been measured by psychologists to have negative effects on girls and women. This is not up for debate. As a woman, I get nauseous watching TV, any sort of media.
This position privileges corporate rights — not Imus’s rights as an individual — to air content that is very much detrimental to the public interest.
Do anyone remember what the public good is?
The most logical answer to this problem is to bring back the Fairness Doctrine removed by corporate dregs in the 1980s, and apply it to all media industries.
Moreover, the Congress just passed the Hate Crimes Bill, so perhaps there is argument under that as well.
I’m not sure I’m there yet. The Fairness Doctrine was not good legislation. But you’re right on the principle. The public airwaves are public, and as such, there is a responsibility that goes with them. That responsibility, as far as the government is concerned, should be basic. You don’t allow certain words, certain images, etc…
Beyond that, it is the public’s right to boycot and to make a ruckus, which they did here. The corporations listened, and it worked out. Hey, the system works!
The system did not work for me. I am out my favorite program. Where do I go to get back my right to simply watch a tv program? No laws or regulations were violated, so the program should be allowed on the public airwaves. Then if a person chooses not to watch or listen, it’s a simple matter of turn the dial. But where is my right to watch now? Gone. It’s no longer a simple matter of turn the dial on or off for me. And Steve Capus denied the advertisers threatening to pull out had anything to do with his decision. He said the turning point came for him when some of his employees told him they wanted to uphold the “integrity” of the network and therefore the show had to go. Now, come on. Since when do employees get to control how a big corporation like NBC is run? It’s incompetence. And I am enraged, frankly, that a few employees of MSNBC wielded such power over what I choose to watch.
And, furthermore, those who watched the show would have continued to support the advertisers, as they had in the past. Mr. Imus made his apologies to the appropriate parties, and he would have followed whatever guidelines they set down for him, but no he had to be fired. All you have to do is read the contract they had just signed a few months earlier to know that they knew for a certainty that what they were signing up for.
Now they have an unwatchable show on to replace Imus in the Morning, with fans of Imus, such as myself, refusing to buy any P&G products, or GE products, or GM products, or any of the other advertisers’ products, and with MSNBC off my tv dial. And a whole bunch of bad PR and disgruntled people. Millions of people watched the program. Don’t think everybody I know and come in contact with hasn’t heard about it. I’ve got everybody from distant relatives to the hairdresser checking labels so they won’t buy any P&G products.
So I continue to boycott, but when does the system work for me?
You seem to still be confused here. This really isn’t a government or free speech thing. This was a business thing. Imus was forced out because the market responded in a negative way to his style. That happens. That’s ok. That is how it’s supposed to work. Of course it’s not going to work for everyone.
You should boycott. And as I said, if there is still demand for Imus, the market will give him another outlet, which will work for you.
Jane Winsome,
The remedy for Unpopular speech is MORE SPEECH not LESS SPEECH, the Fairness Doctrine was overturned because it is Unconstitutional, we have the 1st Amendment. All that I have listened to, and corresponded with, in other countrys, have stated over and over again, don’t let them pass “Hate Speech Laws” this is a backdoor effort to erode American’s 1st Amendment rights…Now either you are a socialist or misinformed. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives Americans the right, NOT to be offended. Don’t like what your listening to or watching, change the channel. This is the Pussification of America, there is an age old rule, that the 60s Generation appears to have forgotten. Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. Politically Correct Speech is not American Culture it is Socialist Culture, the first person who used “Politically Correct” was Joesph Stalin. I encourage everyone who has not read George Orwell’s 1984 to do so, and if you have read this book and forgot the content, I suggest a refresher. We are living “1984″
Again Americans have the RIGHT to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression, I for one am not going to give up any of my Freedoms, that so many have fought and died for…But if you feel like giving up your Free Speech for a Socialist Speech Fashion- Politically Correct Speech, be my guest but you should know, there are alot of us out here, that were awake and participating in our “Civics
Class” and are not going to just give up and abdicate our Hard fought for Freedoms, for a Socialist movement under the guise of tolerance. Tolerance only gets employed, when it is in the interest of the group think…the collectivist. I am not going to follow the cattle, the herd, into the cattle pen. This is what listening and watching Imus did for a person He encouraged people to think for themselves.
Like Your Free Speech, Thank an American Military Service Person.
J Ro
You are right about the Free Market their is real boycotts and threatened boycotts, so Al Sharpton goes and hires day labors and gets himself some card board attaches sticks and writes whatever he thinks will inflame the viewing public, he will be posturing on TV., and he knows how he needs to appear. I didn’t elect Al Sharpton or anyone else as my AMERICAN MORAL AUTHORITY, I didn’t appoint him either..he doesn’t speak for me. The Taliban tried out the Morals Police thing remember..what happened to them?
Both CBS and NBC evening news ratings are down and have been for some while MSNBC is in the toilet they have to run canned programs at night and the weekend. This is going to effect their advertizing dollars..as mentioned above by Channelxfr WFAN has had to change what they charge for a commericial spot…why? The viewing and listening public have repsonded to the Firing of Imus not a pretend threatened boycott but a real one. We all watched and listened when Imus and his program was taken off the Air in the middle of his Marathon for his children charities…Children with Cancer and Blood disorders,Autism,SIDS,Sickelcell ect….right in front of all of us and the MSM think we have a short attention span and are going to forget it isn’t working out that way. We see what MSNBC,WFAN and CBS did as caving into a “Special Interest Group” in a Free Market Imus would have been pulled because all his viewers and listeners phoned in and contacted the Networks for his firing that wasn’t the case. We have been boycotting since Imus was fired last April. This is one of many sites promoting the boycotts of the Networks and the Advertizers who deserted Imus and the Imus in the Morning Program. ChannelX, has posted CBS last quarterly report it isn’t looking so good for Katie Couric or Brian Williams for that matter.
http://www.wewillhaveaction.com/
This isn’t new behavior from the socialist. Here is a link.
http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjI1M2QzNGM2YWE5YTc1ZDFhMTU0Nm FiZmQ0OWMxNzc=
Imus will be back and that’s for sure. But this thing had nothing to do with the Free Market. In a business context, it was a contract violation. A violation for which CBS paid big time and the case never even got filed.
What part does an organization like Media Matters, who employed someone for two years to listen and record every word of every program, play in a free market place? Then they brought into play a well-oiled political network of special interest groups and willing and ready media giants to create an outrage by playing on race. These sort of tactics have no place in a free marketplace nor in America. This is deception is what it is. It is manipulation, not freedom. And way beyond the fact that my freedom to choose a program has been taken away, it is a sin to use race and people of color in this manner.
I believe Mr. Imus should sue a bunch of people for character assasination for labeling him as a racist when he clearly is not.
Jane,
Who would decide what it is fair - you or me? Why should it be you or me? Maybe it should be Newt Gingrich or Nancy Peloisi or Al Gore. That doesn’t sit well either. Maybe a congregation of religious leaders (mulahs, ministers, rabbis, priests). Point is no one should be deciding what is “fair”. Let the market decide, not individuals or government agencies or religious groups. Its okay to trust the body politic through the market to make good decisions on what they want to see or hear. Would much rather trust the markets then you, me Gingrich, Peloisi, Gore, government or religous to make the decision over what is “fair”.
What Imus said was not racist, it was satire the joke was an old white man talking “Hip-Hop”. In the entertainment industry advertisers pay for audience not programing. CBS and NBC Corps paid a heavy price for a misguided decision. Programs have been canceled, employees laid off, shareholder profits reduced. The market spoke the Corps lost. CBS violated its employment contract the law spoke the Corp lost. Advertisers have lost entree to a sophisticated and affluent audience which consumes high end services and goods. The market spoke, advertisers spoke. Indeed a heavy price to pay for a misguided decision which was predictably bad!
Imus will return, his audience will return, advertisers will return, CBS and NBC will be poorer for it.
The Imus situation was handled badly, from start to finish. The Imus program was almost level with the CNN morning show, so the public’s interest was not served - especially when you look at the ratings now, where even HLN is ahead of MSNBC (Go, Robin Meade!)
If the public had been PC outraged, the ratings would have been trailing off, and the show would have been cancelled because of bad ratings. That was definitely NOT the case.
I miss the great interviews and Imus talking back to power. I don’t especially miss the toying with race and ethnicity. If I did, I would watch Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle or Carlos Mencia on Comedy Central - almost every night, they are doing their version of the Imus show, and only the naughty words are bleeped out, not the attitudes.
Gee, wonder how they get away with it? - no, I don’t wonder at all.
Because Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle (but not Carlos Mencia, he’s just a jackass) have social commentary on their race issues. Imus is a white male with a microphone talking shit about black women. Rock and Chappelle use comedy to talk about black people, not only about black people, but their relation with respect to the privileged white dominant group.
FIGHT ROBOT-ISM!! Promote Independent Thinking!
Don Imus has invited Black sickle cell teens to the Imus Ranch in New Mexico every year to live with his family. He fully supported African-American Congressman Harold Ford Jr. for U.S. Senate in the face of death threats. He was the FIRST white person that I heard say: “President Bush didn’t care about the Katrina victims because they were BLACK!” He’s featured artists like Aaron Neville and The Blind Boys of Alabama on his show.
That’s no s***! Imus speaks to a large audience regarding race and backs up his words with action.
Alex,
Really, Chris Rock worked “Nappy Headed Ho” into his comedy routine at the Gracie Awards, in fact eveyone that night was doing HO jokes, White and Black people..This is the Isaiah Thomas defense Black people can say things that White people can’t NO not in America, that isn’t how Free Speech and Freedom of Expression work. I see why you left out Carlos Mancia, if he doesn’t fit your template he has to be discounted. Dave Chappelle makes fun of white people, should I start a movement to have him taken off the Air? No! If I don’t like what Dave Chappelle is saying, I just turn the channel..but I don’t because I think he is funny. I think Imus is funny too. You don’t want equality, you want to be dictating what people can hear in America. This is why we have Free Speech and Freedom of Expression in the first place…not for some Americans for All Americans.
You believe what you want to believe, the truth is, what Imus said, was TAME compared to some of the things, Americans can see and hear, today on Cable TV and in Rotation everyday on the Radio. There are NOT two rules for Americans, that is a double standard, and big time hypocritical.
This just in the latest on Imus. Imus Fans the long wait is almost over.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/blog/
“privileged white dominant group” - gosh, that takes me back several years, when an Asian co-worker remarked how easy it must be for me to get ahead in the company, as a blonde white male. All I had to do was show up most days,
apparently …
I remembered my grandfather’s life, and my father’s life before the war and the GI bill, in the small western Pennsylvania mill town we came from. Catholic Hungarians were not privileged or white or dominant - well, maybe
white as in white trash …
You want a loan