Race Issues

"George W. Bush is a racist."  Those where the first words I heard about modern American politics when I came here to study back in 2000.  How did my friends know?  Well, he was the Republican candidate.  I wouldn’t want to be associated with someone like that, so I became a Democrat.  That scenario is not uncommon.  That is how a large number of Hispanics get their feet wet in American…

In April, CBS and NBC found no time to cover the protests against Michelle Obama's planned graduation speech to high school students in Kansas. But both networks on Monday hyped the bullying of Condoleezza Rice from speaking to Rutgers University. Some of protest signs included an ugly caricature of the first female African American Secretary of State. Instead of discussing this, CBS This…

Appearing as a guest on CBS’s Sunday program Face the Nation, liberal Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson used the Donald Sterling controversy to make an unnecessary and disgusting swipe at Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI).  Dyson claimed “I see a relationship between what Paul Ryan says when he talks about inner-city people who are urban with all the code words being articulated…

Much like their English-language counterparts, the flagship evening news programs of the Univision and Telemundo television networks found plenty of time to cover the scandal over racism that rocked Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, but no time to devote to news developments which cast President Obama and his administration in a negative light. Over the course of four days between…

A new YouTube channel, Digitas Daily, has an amusing little montage about MSNBC's non-stop talk about racism. It's a clever one-minute look at how the Lean Forward network has been Johnny One-Note. So we thought we'd give you a look at it below the page break. As an added bonus, we also embedded another video Digitas Daily did a few weeks back, headlined, "He Reports. They Recite," about the…

On the Wednesday, April 30, Hardball with Chris Matthews, guest and MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman -- formerly of Newsweek -- mocked Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's intent to visit impoverished areas as a plan to "introduce himself to the bro," and went on to complain that Ryan's budget "whacks away at" programs to help the poor.

CNN's Jake Tapper gave a full segment to Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom," but the broadcast networks completely ignored the controversy on Wednesday evening. The networks' blackout of a Democrat using a racial insult against a Justice shows a clear double standard after their deluge of coverage of Los Angeles Clippers owner…

On the Wednesday, April 30, The Reid Report, MSNBC host Joy Reid attacked Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, claiming that it "guts" programs to help people in poverty, and ended up cracking that he, like Mitt Romney, "wants to fire Big Bird" because the budget would end federal government funding for PBS. [See video below.]

On Wednesday, Jake Tapper set aside a full segment on his CNN program to Rep. Bennie Thompson's "Uncle Tom" insult of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Tapper spotlighted the "racially-charged" and controversial" remarks, where the Mississippi Democrat also denigrated Senator Mitch McConnell and opponents of ObamaCare in general as "racists." The anchor turned to correspondent Dana Bash…

MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Wednesday found a way to connect conservatives to NBA owner Donald Sterling's racist rant. Talking about Republicans in Congress, he sneered, "Not raising the wage, the minimum wage, is every bit as racist as comments made by Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. It's just displayed in a different way." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Ascribing bigotry to any political…

ABC, CBS, and NBC have set aside over 146 minutes of air time on their morning and evening newscasts to the controversy surrounding a racist tirade by L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. However, as of Wednesday morning, the Big Three networks have yet to pick up on a Tuesday scoop from Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski, who discovered "shocking racial comments" by a sitting Democratic congressman…

Donald Sterling, the beleaguered owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, has been banned from the NBA for life. But for some in the media, the league's disciplinary action is something that should be pursued against socially conservative owners by virtue of their political beliefs. [Video below. MP3 audio here.] Take Esquire political blogger Charlie Pierce, for example. Appearing as a guest on…

When network journalists decide a story is important, they make sure it dominates the airwaves. Over the course of three and a half days, ABC, CBS and NBC vigorously investigated a racist rant by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, offering 146 minutes and 39 seconds of coverage since Saturday night. CBS devoted the most, a whopping 52 minutes and 13 seconds.  NBC came in second with…

MSNBC guest Dorian Warren thinks that racism is behind the GOP's opposition to Medicaid expansion, affirmative action, and a minimum wage hike. Warren is a professor of political science and public affairs at Columbia University. "There's a distinction we should make between racist words and speech, and racist practices and policies. We should be focused on the policies and the racial impact…