The president of CBS has explained that he fired Don Imus because of how “deeply upset and revulsed” the network has been by the vile, on-air statements of the radio host about a group of fine young women, and you will excuse me while I roll on the floor laughing at the hypocrisy.
I am OK now, back on my feet, and I would like to make a few remarks, starting with the observation that Don Imus has been saying mean, bigoted things about women, gays, Jews, blacks and others for years now, and CBS didn’t give a hoot.
Neither did advertisers or guests. The advertisers were getting a good return on their investment, CBS was pulling in an estimated $20 million a year in revenues and the guests were having their names, causes and agendas promoted in front of 10 million listeners.
Imus’ latest words about a women’s basketball team at Rutgers were hugely offensive, but Imus’ words are not newly offensive. It is not as if he had previously been Mr. Decorum, then got exposed to a full moon one night recently and showed up at the office the next day as a kind of airwaves werewolf.
Despite his serious political interviews and fundraising for charities, he has long been a tasteless shock jock engaged in mass nastiness for the sake of attracting mass audiences, and he has been abetted by advertisers, networks and dozens of radio stations for the very simple reason that it meant money in the bank.
What changed is not that the Imus comment about “nappy-headed hos” led a conscience-stricken CBS to contemplate “the effect language like this has on our young people,” in the words of the CBS president, but that the comment began to get lots of attention, public anger began to grow, lots of people began to complain — and sponsors saw that their Imus ads could do them more harm than good. A show without advertisers is not what keeps network executives employed or gets them bonuses.
They were not wrong in that decision. It’s just that their tardiness shows they could care less if Imus ranted about “thieving Jews” or Arab “ragheads” or called PBS journalist Gwen Ifill “a cleaning lady” as long as they were making a good return on their investment.
Reprimands in the past could have avoided the past week’s headlines. Guests on “Imus in the Morning” — namely journalists, top politicians of both parties — were looking for benefit, too, and the idea they were ignorant of Imus’ shock jock side is simply beyond belief.
In my view, a financially motivated CBS is preferable to a quiescent one. To me, the market as a reflection of social opprobrium is a good way to quell some of the worst that pops up in the popular culture, as William Bennett has persistently preached.
Many have castigated him for worrying about the callousing, degrading, mean-spirited content of rap music, among other things, but he has long understood the truth that vileness has many venues and that expressions of vileness can have vile consequences.
Ifill said on TV Sunday morning that she hoped this moment in our cultural history will have lasting meaning. Well, yes, if it doesn’t mean political correctness will grow in its oppressive ways, that bigotry will be confused with innocent or honest discussion and be defined as being only about race and sex, that the government will intrude more in what’s said, that critics will always aim for ruin instead of rectification, or that genuine satire disappears. The trick is to stand for free, open, vigorous speech while also recognizing how public crudity lessens us.
Examiner columnist Jay Ambrose is a former Washington opinion writer and editor of two dailies. He may be reachedat [email protected]
