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« n+1, Bruce Lee, and Angela Davis's afro | Main | Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut » Thursday, April 12, 2007Ifill v. LehrerIn Tuesday's New York Times, Gwen Ifill wrote an Op-Ed about the Don Imus-Rutgers women's basketball story. She was very critical of Imus: For all their grit, hard work and courage, the Rutgers girls got branded "nappy-headed ho's" -- a shockingly concise sexual and racial insult, tossed out in a volley of male camaraderie by a group of amused, middle-aged white men. The "joke" -- as delivered and later recanted -- by the radio and television personality Don Imus failed one big test: it was not funny. Agree all around. Ifill also mentioned that she was told, though she didn't hear the show in question, that Imus once said, about her coverage of the White House for the Times, "Isn't The Times wonderful. It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House." This was reported to her secondhand, and Imus denies ever having said it. But two journalists, Lars-Erik Nelson and Philip Nobile, have said they remember the comment. (Is there an audio clip or transcript out there?) I have a few doubts, truth be told, because surely this would have been a big story at the time, no? In any case, another interesting element of the Op-Ed comes here: Why do my journalistic colleagues appear on Mr. Imus's program? That’s for them to defend, and others to argue about. I certainly don't know any black journalists who will. It is true that many fine journalists appear on Imus, including most of the nightly network news anchors present and past. I have heard Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, and I think Dan Rather and the late Peter Jennings on the program. Prominent politicians also can be heard, including Kerry, Edwards, McCain (Imus is a fan of his), and more. The quality of his guests is now likely to precipitously decline. But back to Ifill's comment. What is interesting is that Jim Lehrer, Ifill's current boss, in a manner of speaking, on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, appears regularly on Imus. Oooh. That underscores just how hot a button Imus pushed. Posted by Evan Hughes at 10:12 AM
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