"A Digital Brushfire"--Wall St. Journal describes, 4/13/07

• For those who missed it, a passive public silently allowed a political group to take away its voice and culture--under the guise of tolerance and compassion. (The idea that someone should lose a job under these circumstances is of course insane). From the Wall Street Journal, 4/13/07 (which I originally posted at that time. KEY: An apology "made the story explode.")

"Behind the Fall of Imus, A Digital Brushfire

In a Blur, Watchdogs, Blogs, Email, Spur Radio Host's Firing

April 13, 2007

• "At 6:14 a.m. on Wednesday, April 4, relatively few people were tuned into the "Imus in the Morning Show" when Don Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's."

• Ryan Chiachiere was. A 26-year-old researcher in Washington, D.C., for liberal watchdog organization

• Media Matters for America, he was assigned to monitor Mr. Imus's program.

• Mr. Chiachiere clipped the video, alerted his bosses and started working on a blog post for the organization's Web site.

Yesterday, after eight days of dizzying activity, CBS pulled the plug on Mr. Imus's hugely successful radio show. One day earlier, MSNBC had canceled its broadcast of the show on cable TV. CBS had originally suspended Mr. Imus for two weeks, but succumbed amid an escalating national outcry and an exodus of big advertisers. "All of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air," CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said yesterday in a written statement.

Mr. Imus, who didn't respond to repeated calls seeking comment, had for years been making outrageous and frequently crude remarks about risky subjects such as race, sex and gender, a style that millions of listeners had embraced. The media executives and advertisers profiting from Mr. Imus's popularity stood by him as protests occasionally surfaced. They usually subsided after a few days....

The group (Media Matters for America) is a Web-based nonprofit organization devoted to monitoring "conservative misinformation" in print, broadcast, cable, radio and Internet media outlets. It frequently complains about Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. Although the Imus show isn't generally considered conservative, some of its guests are.

(NBC News President Steve) Capus called an emergency meeting with MSNBC's management team, the producers for the TV version of "Imus in the Morning" and the head of public relations for NBC News. Among other decisions, Mr. Capus asked his PR team to draft a statement apologizing on behalf of MSNBC but clearly pointing out that "Imus in the Morning" was a CBS Radio production. MSNBC and NBC are owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal....

Friday morning, there was again scant mention of Mr. Imus's travails in the newspapers, although TV stations were beginning to pick up the story. Mr. Imus began his program, at 6:06 a.m., with an on-air apology. People close to Mr. Imus say he felt pressured to apologize by NBC and CBS executives. He also realized he needed to try to defuse the brewing storm.

• "Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark," he said. "Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we're sorry."

• It was Good Friday and many people already were off for the holiday weekend. News was supposed to slow to a crawl for several days.

• Instead, the apology made the story explode....
  • Mr. Imus's problems were compounded by a power vacuum at CBS Radio, which produced his show....

  Other controversial radio hosts have gravitated to satellite, where there are fewer rules governing on-air standards....

• From the Wall StreetJournal By BROOKS BARNES, EMILY STEEL and SARAH MCBRIDE

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