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The Spectacle Blog
In their rush to pack the presidential debate moderators with far-left liberals, the Commission in charge of these shenanigans somehow managed to miss PBS’s Gwen Ifill who was reported to be “livid” at being snubbed.
On Monday night, ABC and Yahoo! News broadcast over the Internet a video in which a Yahoo! reporter (their Washington bureau chief) named David Chalian was heard saying, regarding Mitt and Ann Romney’s reaction to Hurricane Isaac hitting the Gulf Coast, “They’re not concerned at all. They’re happy to have a party with black people drowning.”
(You can hear him starting about 5 seconds into this video.)
On Wednesday, Yahoo! fired Chalian, offering this statement: “David Chalian’s statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo!. He has been terminated effective immediately. We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.”
While I am more than tired of reporters being fired for one statement, even a stupid one, it’s interesting to note Gwen Ifill’s response to the events, as posted on her Twitter feed: “One mistake does not change this. @DavidChalian is God’s gift to political journalism.”
On his own Twitter feed, Chalian apologized: “I am profoundly sorry for making an inappropriate and thoughtless joke.”
He should be sorry, of course.
And while I cannot say with utmost confidence that Chalian should have been fired, his comments certainly reinforce our understanding of the intensity not just of “liberal bias” in the media but of the outright disdain that so many “reporters” hold for all Republicans.
We have seen a couple of welcome pangs of conscience and professionalism from non-conservative journalists such as Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper (must see video here). For me, this is like a patient getting the results of an initial test suggesting cancer. The question now becomes whether the media sticks its head in the sand, or takes the next test to confirm, the first major step toward radiation and chemotherapy to cure a disease which is most likely otherwise to be fatal.
Meanwhile, today’s events suggest a small shred of wisdom among the Commission on Presidential Debates to avoid Ms. Ifill.
View all comments (9) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Ross Kaminsky
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/08/29/snub-this-gwen
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Bob Grant| 8.29.12 @ 5:35PM
"Meanwhile, today's events suggest a small shred of wisdom among the Commission on Presidential Debates to avoid Ms. Ifill."
A little late for that. The damage has been done. If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Awful was hawking a gushing book about Obama when she hosted a debate in '08 and no one seemed to think this could cause a conflict of interest.
Like Chevy Chase used to say about the status of Francisco Franco on his SNL news bit, ..."The mainstream media is still dead"..."we'll update you on any late breaking developments".
spike59| 8.30.12 @ 5:57AM
"...thank you and have a pleasant tomorrow..."
Bob K| 8.29.12 @ 6:06PM
I, on the other hand, am not tired of seeing reporters fired for making one statement, stupid or not. Reporters work for an industry which has no problem ruining the lives of people who make stupid statements or do stupid things and which makes good money doing so. It is good for reporters to be treated like "simple" folk.
Butch| 8.29.12 @ 7:46PM
Somewhere, Jimmy the Greek is smiling.
Alej| 8.29.12 @ 8:30PM
Pravda lives. Just changed locales, readership.
Except that in the old days, most Russians could read. The crap of America, enfranchised, needs only to turn on their welfare-furnished TV sets and prepare to vote.
spike59| 8.30.12 @ 5:56AM
Ifil would be even more livid if she had another unreadable book to flog, as in 2008...she's just another hack from the race-baiting Left
Martin kzovich| 8.30.12 @ 6:50AM
The word is not disdain it is hatred and there lies the point of trying to placate the media or not appear at all critical of Obama by name. The Republican Establishment raises my eyebrows when they claim to want to be above the fray. No they just seem phoney. And instead of treating their supporters (voters ) as adults as they claim to do, the treat the voters as children. For me honesty in appropriate langauge ( i.e. free of four letter words that accurately describe Obama's polcies and consequences should on the table.
Fin| 8.30.12 @ 11:54AM
Ms. Ifill doesn't know Mitt. She's trying hard to understand the real man. Santorum is in full agreement - he doesn't know the man either. And Rick's too smarmy and naive to know he's being played. The left is desperate for Mitt to give them something - anything to use against him. That's why they want his tax returns; they just need a word, anything at all that they can turn into a noose. That's how they operate.
soljerblue| 8.31.12 @ 3:30AM
I venture to suggest that Chalian was sorry only for being caught. And, he damwell should have been fired; it was absolutely deserved. I've said before that the mainstream media collectively serve the function of a towel boy in the progressive bordello. Chalian just happened to make the point clearly.