What's sauce for the honkey...

Phone-in radio is the cheapest and lowest form of entertainment and one which demonstrates an absence of broadcasting imagination. If I had the power I’d close down RTE’s Liveline and ban the phone-in, other than for gardening queries. In the USA this format had created a number of so-called shock-jocks who get cranks and bigots calling in on all sorts of dodgy and sensitive topics.

One currently in the news, and I’d never heard of him until now, is Don Imus, whose CBS radio show is syndicated across the USA. His show is a major revenue generator for CBS and Imus himself earns about $10 million a year, according to the New York Times. He has recently signed a five-year contract extension.

Last week, watching a women’s college basketball game on TV, Imus referred to Rutgers University coloured players as "nappy-headed hos", a racial reference to whores.
Leading members of the black community including Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev Jesse Jackson have demanded that Imus be fired by CBS. "The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds," said presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama who recently promoted his book on Imus's show.

So far, CBS has resisted those demands for dismissal, but they have suspended the Imus show for two weeks.

I’d be happy if they fired Imus and any other shock-jocks out there stirring up rednecks, bigots and cranks. However, I’d be more impressed by black community leadership - Sharpton, Jackson, Obama & Co - if they were also calling for the dismissal of radio & TV executives and DJs who routinely play black gangsta rap which is dominated by the language of violence and misogyny e.g. women are routinely referred to as “bitches” and “hos”. What’s sauce for the honkey……