Now Gwen Ifill ! WTF is wrong with Don?

Posted by Frank James at 8:44 am CDT

Who knew this Don Imus controversy would mushroom into The Big Story?

Last week, when I predicted that Washington politicians and journalists would probably still appear on Imus's show despite his "nappy-headed hos" comment, that was in part based on what appeared to be a fairly low outrage level last week. There were very few stories about it.

It was also because Imus has said many controversial comments over the years and Washington types still appeared on the show.

Must've been the pre-holiday doldrums.

Now, the Imus story has emerged into a major national story, at least judging from the news coverage.

His show has been suspended for two weeks by the corporations that air it. Imus, sensing his career to be in mortal danger, went on the Rev. Al Sharpton radio show yesterday. Didn't do as much good as Imus might've hoped. Sharpton is still calling for his firing as is Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led an anti-Imus protest in Chicago on Monday.

Some have noted the contradiction of two Christian ministers not accepting the apology of a penitent and telling him to go and sin no more, but I digress.

The story has picked up so much momentum that Imus is now officially radioactive in Washington.

That means no politician with a real chance to gain the presidency is going to risk the guilt by association that would come from appearing on Imus's show anytime soon. The same likely goes for big-name Washington journalists.

Imus is getting scorched here. Gwen Ifill, a senior correspondent for the Jim Lehrer Newshour, which is based in Washington, gives him both barrels in an opinion piece in today's New York Times which I excerpt.

I was covering the White House for this newspaper in 1993, when Mr. Imus's producer began calling to invite me on his radio program. I didn't return his calls. I had my hands plenty full covering Bill Clinton.

Soon enough, the phone calls stopped. Then quizzical colleagues began asking me why Don Imus seemed to have a problem with me. I had no idea what they were talking about because I never listened to the program.

It was not until five years later, when Mr. Imus and I were both working under the NBC News umbrella - his show was being simulcast on MSNBC; I was a Capitol Hill correspondent for the network - that I discovered why people were asking those questions. It took Lars-Erik Nelson, a columnist for The New York Daily News, to finally explain what no one else had wanted to repeat.

"Isn't The Times wonderful," Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. "It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House."

I was taken aback but not outraged. I'd certainly been called worse and indeed jumped at the chance to use the old insult to explain to my NBC bosses why I did not want to appear on the Imus show.

I haven't talked about this much. I'm a big girl. I have a platform. I have a voice. I've been working in journalism long enough that there is little danger that a radio D.J.'s juvenile slap will define or scar me. Yesterday, he began telling people he never actually called me a cleaning lady. Whatever. This is not about me.

It is about the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. That game had to be the biggest moment of their lives, and the outcome the biggest disappointment. They are not old enough, or established enough, to have built up the sort of carapace many women I know - black women in particular - develop to guard themselves against casual insult.

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. To his credit, Mr. Imus told the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday he realizes that, this time, he went way too far.

Yes, he did. Every time a young black girl shyly approaches me for an autograph or writes or calls or stops me on the street to ask how she can become a journalist, I feel an enormous responsibility. It's more than simply being a role model. I know I have to be a voice for them as well.

So here's what this voice has to say for people who cannot grasp the notion of picking on people their own size: This country will only flourish once we consistently learn to applaud and encourage the young people who have to work harder just to achieve balance on the unequal playing field.

Please note she blasts not only Imus, but her journalist colleagues who appear who appear on the Imus show. (That means you Tim Russert.)

Then there's this editorial in today's Washington Post which I excerpt:

Why would anyone appear on this program and legitimize this kind of lowest-common-denominator banter? "Imus in the Morning" has been a must-do on the media circuit for politicians trying to prove they have the common touch, authors touting new books, and journalists, including some from The Post Co. No doubt the millions of people who watch and listen to Mr. Imus every morning are a big draw for them. The show is broadcast on WFAN-AM in New York, is distributed by CBS radio to 70 stations around the country and is simulcast on cable television by MSNBC.

At first, Mr. Imus tried to brush off the incident as "some idiot comment meant to be amusing." Mr. Imus then apologized on his show Friday and on other shows yesterday, saying, "I'm a good person who said a bad thing." He then took his mea culpa tour to "The Al Sharpton Show," where the Rev. Sharpton called on Mr. Imus to resign his radio perch throughout their two-hour interview. "Don't you think I'm embarrassed?" Mr. Imus asked. "Don't you think I'm humiliated?" We're more interested in how the Rutgers basketball players feel.

MSNBC and CBS Radio have suspended broadcasts of "Imus in the Morning" for two weeks, starting next Monday. Whether Mr. Imus stays on the air at WFAN is a matter for his employers and his conscience. But those who bask in the glow of his radio show ought to consider whether they should continue doing so. After all, you're judged by the company you keep.

After this sort of line-in-the-sand drawing, for a well-known journalist to still appear on Imus is going to take guts.

While it's likely high-ranking politicians and journalists will now avoid Imus, at least on the air, I believe that represents a certain lost opportunity.

Imus has indeed apologized in his inimitably prickly way. He has said he went too far. This could be what educators of children call a teachable moment for the nation.

Instead of treating him as a pariah, perhaps Washington types could go on Imus when and if he returns to the airwaves and engage him in honest discussions about race and racism.

Maybe that would turn off many in Imus's audience who tune him in for the type of humor that got him in trouble. But it might do some good for many other listeners. And it would demonstrate, in a real way, redemption, something we could all use from time to time.