In the early 1980s, Don Henley hit the charts with the song "Dirty Laundry," a sarcastic view of television news. It begins:
I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundryWell, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
On February 4, Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal provided an insider's view of dirty laundry within the mainstream media. His column "TV anchor in the news with racial bias claims" starts:
The biggest story in local broadcast news Monday night had well-known names, controversy, plenty of TV reporters on the scene—and it didn't air on a single station that night.WMAQ-Ch. 5 lead anchor Warner Saunders accused former Chicago Sun-Times TV/radio columnist Robert Feder of bias at the local American Federation of Television and Radio Artists chapter's annual meeting, where Feder was a guest.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓Saunders, 74, brought a prepared speech to confront Feder before 100 or so at the Allerton Hotel.
Saunders said Feder diminished "the accomplishments of black talent while placing the spotlight on our deficiencies." Noting it was Black History Month, the Channel 5 anchor said inviting Feder was "like choosing David Duke to serve as mohel at a circumcision."
The comparison was loaded: Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan leader. Mohels perform Jewish circumcisions. Feder is Jewish.
"From the very beginning, [it] became a personal attack," Feder, who did not want to speak to the Chicago Tribune, said Tuesday to WLS-AM 890's Erich "Mancow" Muller and Pat Cassidy.
WBBM-AM 780's Craig Dellimore, AFTRA's local president and an African-American, was unavailable. But Eileen Willenborg, AFTRA Chicago executive director, said, "It was a forum for free speech to happen, and free speech sure happened."
WMAQ declined comment.
That's ironic. WMAQ, like many television outlets, routinely sticks its microphones in the faces of people - even grieving parents who've just lost a child - in search of footage they can show viewers. Yet when one of their major personalities attacks a newspaper writer for racism, the station doesn't have a word to say.
Apparently, neither do most of the mainstream media. A Google search today for news items on Warner Saunders turns up only the Rosenthal column and references to it. The Tribune in this instance deserves credit for reporting the news.
The media love dirty laundry. But some stuff is apparently just too soiled to air on television.
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Comments Policy
Saunders vs Feder
February 8, 2009 - 15:09 ET by rockyracoonI suppose it's not just the color of one's skin, but the thiness, or lack of thickness, as it were, that upset this tv anchorman Saunders, who, in my opinion. reacted quite unprofessionally in letting a columnist's remarks get under his skin.
In never ceases to amaze me that Ann Coulter's, Larry Elder's and others thesis on victim mentality continues to be proven right at all levels of society.
I also suppose that FTA a non-black is not qualified to comment on anyone in any manner if they do not share the same color/culture/whatever.
Playing the race card
February 8, 2009 - 16:38 ET by Mike BatesWhat went unsaid in the article is that at least two of the African-Americans cited by Saunders - Burns and Middlebrooks - played the race card to their great financial advantage. It was, by Felicia's own admission, Jesse Jackson who helped make her the highest-paid anchor on any all-news station in the country.
And then there's Lester Holt. . . .
News-worthy-ness
February 8, 2009 - 15:13 ET by KC MulvilleThe most important editorial decision is also the one taken most for granted - whether to air the story in the first place.
For this report to get on the air, some editor in the local media has to declare that the media's conduct is, itself, newsworthy. No one addresses the media's conduct because the news media wants to conduct themselves without being noticed. That's the fiction of "objective" news reporting - i.e., that the media is only delivering the news as it is, not as the news media sees it. To air this story is to confirm what they've always denied: namely, that they are not objective.
Not being from Chicago, I can't say whether the accusations are accurate. But that doesn't really matter, does it? If the accusations aren't addressed by the media, the accusations are proved, de facto - that the news media is biased.
The most important editorial decision
February 8, 2009 - 16:39 ET by Mike BatesThe most important editorial decision is also the one taken most for granted - whether to air the story in the first place.
Exactly. Much of the time, news is what they say is news.
Lately I've noticed people are quick to hammer Jews.
February 8, 2009 - 15:56 ET by delmarThis story probably doesn't have anything to do with a nationwide conspiracy, but lately it's been happening a lot. The Gaza business. Anti-Semitism. That woman yelling for Jews to--Go back to the ovens. Why was that woman never identified? Or was she? If she was I missed it. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult. Maybe Feder is biased. But there seems to be less restraint in those that have been tearing into Jews lately.
The bubble-headed bleach blonde
February 8, 2009 - 17:05 ET by thebutlerdiditcomes on at 5. She can tell you 'bout the plane crash, with a gleam in her eye. It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry. Yep, that's them. I don't know the people involved in this imbroglio, but it was definately an act of cowardice. And pettiness. Nothing less than I would expect from those vermin. I think the paparazzi who chase stars have as much credibility as the supposed real journalist. At least their agenda is clear at all times, and they don'tmake excuses for it.
All a Democrat needs is the upper-story window of public attention and the chamber pot of rhetoric. How else to explain the rise of Joe Biden? P.J. O' Rourke
Lately? Lately?
February 9, 2009 - 03:20 ET by old croTry for about 3000+ years.
My best guess...
February 9, 2009 - 08:51 ET by mikefisk...is that it's a convenient argument in the "racial victim" arsenal... the idea of proportional voice.
Some feminists complain how there's not 52 female Senators, some of the usual race hustlers complain there's not 12 black Senators... in Chicago, a majority-black city, there are probably some dealers of the race card who are upset that one of the most powerful voices in the news there a) is of a group that has almost no numbers within the city and b) doesn't look anything remotely like them.
To wit, it's how the race pimps come up with the arguments about institutional racism...they practice what they rail against.
You better take a look at
February 8, 2009 - 23:31 ET by ZoneDaiatlasYou better take a look at "Warner Saunders" at Wikipedia before someone changes it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Saunders
Diversity education
February 9, 2009 - 00:14 ET by Mike BatesWhen he retires from TV, Warner's gonna be a "diversity trainer." I wonder if Obama's stimulus package will pump money into that desperately needed sector of the economy.