Kudos to CBS and reporter Mark Strassmann for fairness. Strassmann, on the CBS Evening News and CBS Mornings shows, was the only journalist to repeatedly note that the powerful Los Angeles politician who went on a racist rant is a Democrat. ABC barely noticed it. NBC briefly covered the story on Monday and Tuesday mornings, but made no mention of party affiliation.
Nury Martinez, who just resigned as the President of the Los Angeles City Council, in a secretly recorded audio tape from 2021, complained abut “the blacks,” the “dark” Koreans and sneered at the child of one council member as a “monkey.”
Journalist love to generalize all Republicans as guilty when there is a comparable scandal. When it’s a Democrat, the party affiliation is often hidden. But credit to CBS’s Strassmann. On Monday’s Evening News, he noted, “On a tape obtained by the L.A. Times, the Democrat talks about the city’s Koreatown.”
On Tuesday’s CBS Mornings, he reiterated, “The first Latina chosen to lead the Los Angeles city Council caught on tape making racist and offensive comments during a redistricting committee meeting with three Latino Democrats.”
In contrast, NBC’s Nightly News skipped the story on Monday. On Monday and Tuesday, NBC’s Today briefly covered it but avoided mentioning that Martinez is a Democrat. Here's Craig Melvin on Tuesday:
The President of the Los Angeles City Council has stepped down from her leadership role after an audio recording of racist remarks surfaced. During a meeting last year, Nury Martinez likened a colleague’s black son, who was two-years-old at the time, to an animal. In a statement yesterday she apologized saying, quote, “I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. Martinez, however, did not say she was resigning from her council seat.
ABC’s Good Morning America also avoided the story on Tuesday morning. On Monday, World News Tonight anchor David Muir ignored party ID.
Back in 2006, then-Senator George Allen used the word “Macaca” to describe an Indian-American staffer of his Democratic opponent. The Washington Post ran 112 stories on the word by election day, repeatedly implying Allen was a racist. In contrast, the coverage of someone like Democrat Nury Martinez will be much more gentle.
But credit to CBS and Mark Strassman for choosing fairness.
NBC hiding the political ID of a racist Democratic rant was sponsored by Chevrolet. Click on the link to let them know what you think.
Partial transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more:
Today
10/11/2022
7:31AM ET
26 secondsCRAIG MELVIN: The President of the Los Angeles City Council has stepped down from her leadership role after an audio recording of racist remarks surfaced. During a meeting last year, Rury Martinez likened a colleague’s black son, who was two-years-old at the time, to an animal. In a statement yesterday she apologized saying, quote, “I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. Martinez, however, did not say she was resigning from her council seat.
CBS Mornings
10/11/2022
7:10AM ETNATE BURLESON: In Los Angeles, the big political issue right now is a blockbuster tape recording that could force three city councilors to resign. Nury Martinez has already stepped down as the President of the L.A. City Council and apologized for making profane and racist statements on that tape. The council will meet for the first time since the recording was made public. As Mark Strassman reports, the incident has exposed racial fault lines in this multicultural city.
MARK STRASSMANN: Nury Martinez, a rising star in L.A. politics, potentially faces a career in ruins. The first Latina chosen to lead the Los Angeles city council caught on tape making racist and offensive comment during a redistricting committee meeting with three Latino Democrats.
NURY MARTINEZ: It's not us. It’s the white members on this council that will [BLEEP] you in a heartbeat.
STRASSMANN: That tape, obtained by the L.A. Times, talking to local labor leader Ron Herrerra and fellow council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leó At one point Martinez talks about the black child of Mike Bonin, a white council member, in Spanish, calling the boy a little monkey.
MARTINEZ: There's nothing you can do to control him. Parece Changuito.
STRASSMANN: And then she describes the boy allegedly behaving at a MLK parade.
MARTINEZ: They’re raising him like he’s a little white kid. This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and I’ll bring him back.
STRASSMANN: Council member Bonin and his husband said they are “appalled, angry, and disgusted. No child should ever be subjected to such racist, demeaning, and dehumanizing comments especially from a public official.” Herrera, the labor leader, resigned his post overnight. Within hours of the recording surfacing, Martinez said she was sorry, saying “I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt. I ask for forgiveness from my colleagues and the residents of this city.” But even after she resigned her powerful post as council president, protesters outside Martinez's home and at city council demanded more. She should also resign her elected seat on L.A. City council.
UNIDENTIFIED: We're appalled that these people claim to represent us. They don't represent us. We're better.
STRASSMANN: mayor and the two candidates running to succeed him should resign. All have apologized, but none have shown any sign of resigning despite mounting pressure for them to do just that. Tony?
CBS Evening News
10/10/2022
6:36
STRASSMANN: Tonight, Nury Martinez faces a crisis of her own making. Her political career in tatters. The first Latina chosen to lead L.A’s city council caught on tape making insulting, racist remarks last year.
NURY MARTINEZ: F*** that guy. He’s with the blacks.
STRASSMANN: On tape obtained by the L.A. Times, the Democrat talks about the city’s Koreatown.
MARTINEZ: I see a lot of little, short dark people.
STRASSMANN: And she insults the black child of Mike Bonin, a white city council member. In Spanish, she says [clip] like a little monkey.
