News anchor gets fired after responding to racial comments

[Chowder Head]

A reporter, that also does the weather, got fired for responding to racial comments left on the stations facebook page. Not only were the comments aimed at her but alsi local children shown during a news coverage on a christmas give awat type contest. The reporter asked the station to respond to the comments or atleast take them down, but the station did d neither. The reporters responses to the racial comments were not angry or ugly.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/entertai ... -viewer-co

mment-facebook

[Chowder Head]

http://thegrio.com/2012/12/12/reporter- ... -her-hair/

A Petition is already circling.

http://www.change.org/petitions/ktbs-tv ... m=36468426

[Chowder Head]

The View just covered it. Oo

[BravaAmica]

Such bullshit. That station is going to go down in flames. Not from any local pressure, mind you, but from it going viral on the internet. If The View covered it, you can bet ABC knows about it and will be investigating. (The station in question is an ABC affiliate. Like ABC wants this kind of bad publicity.)

I hope this firing leads to bigger and better things for the news anchor. She's proved herself to be graceful and professional under pressure. Any station would be delighted to have her.

[Alecto]

Not too surprised, considering it happened in Shreveport. I used to work in that market, although in radio.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I really hope this lands her a far better position elsewhere.

If the station actually had a policy, they should have documented it to the hilt, and documented any conversations that they had with her about it.

As well, while I can appreciate the whole unfettered free speech aspect of the internet, I do think that you do have some responsibility when you provide the space that makes it possible for people to leave ignorant comments. The station allowed the comments, they didn't respond to them officially, and then they tied her hands so that she couldn't respond. The responses that she posted were not controversial or inappropriate. The station, if they didn't want employees to post on their own, should have responded themselves or at least had a way to allow employees to respond after approval.

[PennySycamore]

This story was already reported on DailyKos two days ago so yeah I'd consider it to have gone viral somewhat.

If this woman has real meteorology chops, I'd love to The Weather Channel hire her. Some stations in the past have hired people without a background in meteorology to be the "weathermen" or " weather girls". That's frowned upon now. It's better for the station if their meteorologist actually be ameteorologist and even better for that person to have the AMS seal.

There is a lot of pressure for women in broadcasting to be attractive and that includes being slender. I think this woman's. only crime was having black skin and nappy hair and well, not knowing her "place."

[BravaAmica]

Pardon my ignorance. What is "nappy hair"? I didn't think there was anything wrong with her hair- it's a tasteful, short do that looks great on her and is also professional.

[valsa]

Pardon my ignorance. What is "nappy hair"? I didn't think there was anything wrong with her hair- it's a tasteful, short do that looks great on her and is also professional.

"Nappy hair" is a traditionally derogatory term for AA hair, usually aimed at AA women (I don't think Penny was actually using it that way, only pointing out the mindset of the negative commenters) The more accepted term (though not all like it) is "kinky" which, imo, is the best descriptor of anything ever.

[snarkbillie]

"Nappy hair" is a traditionally derogatory term for AA hair, usually aimed at AA women (I don't think Penny was actually using it that way, only pointing out the mindset of the negative commenters) The more accepted term (though not all like it) is "kinky" which, imo, is the best descriptor of anything ever.

Nappy hair also seems to insinuate that there is something "wrong" with the hair, like it is unclean or not kept well. I tend to say "curly hair" rather than "kinky" though because kinky has a sexual overtone these days.

[PennySycamore]

Yeah, I did not use nappy to be derogatory. I have heard some AA women describe their hair as being nappy and they use it with pride.

What would these racists think about an Afro worthy of Angela Davis or well, Art Garfunkel?

[AddieBelle]

Yeah, I did not use nappy to be derogatory. I have heard some AA women describe their hair as being nappy and they use it with pride.

What would these racists think about an Afro worthy of Angela Davis or well, Art Garfunkel?

My mother inlaw always refers to get hair as "a nappy mess". It never is. I know lots of AA girls who do the same.

[brigid]

It can also be used to slight someone's hygiene as to infer that they should get themselves to the beauty parlor for a perm. The women who use the term with pride are somewhat analogous to feminists who don't wear makeup. The venn diagram would have a lot of overlap.

SMash the Patriarchy

[Kitty]

Good on her for responding to the comments.

The comment about her hair has been addressed already, so I'll say this about the kids: I looked up Shreveport's demographics. The city itself is 51% black. I'm not sure about the surrounding area, but local news stations are more likely to focus on cities with larger black populations than suburbs and small towns that are typically mostly white. So if the kids were picked at random, yes, a lot of them will be black. Why does the color of the kids' skin matter, anyway? I also think that whoever posted that comment thinks that more than a token black child or two is too many black people for him to handle.

Anyway, local news sites seem to attract a lot of SODRT nutjobs, so of course they're going to be racist. It's why I stay the hell away from the Facebook pages for the local newschannels here...

[Chowder Head]

The same news station also fired a male white reporter for doing the same when he comment on hate messages about gays. The reporter is gay. KTBS also release an email showing this so called policy. The email say "we suggestion not to respond"

[salsa]

so I googled "doing the dame" and got nothing but links to Notre Dame. Explanation, please?

[Kitty]

so I googled "doing the dame" and got nothing but links to Notre Dame. Explanation, please?

Typo. She meant "doing the same".

[Chowder Head]

Sorry. Typing by phone. On other notes, KTBS has used social media to respond to the blacklash. Which is very ironic since that is basicaly what they fired her for.

[PennySycamore]

Did the two reporters know about the policy or was it something cooked up after the fact?

A few years ago, there was a meteorologist here that was fired for being gay and refusing to stay in the closet. His name escapes me at the moment.

[Chowder Head]

The policy actually is a suggestion in an email , not an actual rule in an handbook.

[emmiedahl]

Yeah, I did not use nappy to be derogatory. I have heard some AA women describe their hair as being nappy and they use it with pride.

What would these racists think about an Afro worthy of Angela Davis or well, Art Garfunkel?

I had only heard "nappy" in a descriptive, non-racist sense until several months ago. I think in some areas it is just a word to describe a certain hair texture and in others, it is negative. I stopped using it when I learned that it was pejorative in some areas.

I am glad the reporter said something, and I hope job offers from more liberal areas pour in.

[Alecto]

Good on her for responding to the comments.

The comment about her hair has been addressed already, so I'll say this about the kids: I looked up Shreveport's demographics. The city itself is 51% black. I'm not sure about the surrounding area, but local news stations are more likely to focus on cities with larger black populations than suburbs and small towns that are typically mostly white. So if the kids were picked at random, yes, a lot of them will be black. Why does the color of the kids' skin matter, anyway? I also think that whoever posted that comment thinks that more than a token black child or two is too many black people for him to handle.

Anyway, local news sites seem to attract a lot of SODRT nutjobs, so of course they're going to be racist. It's why I stay the hell away from the Facebook pages for the local newschannels here...

I worked in the market for about 3 years. The station is very much a regional station, covering East Texas, South Arkansas and Northwestern-North Central Louisiana. It is very much focused on the small towns, which while are mostly minority population, are controlled by the wealthy, white minority. There was a significant gap, at least as recent as 10 years ago, of coverage on positive stories on minorities who weren't stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City.

[BlondeAgent007]

This really grinds my gears. My youngest brother was adopted by my family, and he is black. I swear he will be the president one day. He breaks all racial stereotypes of all kinds. I get all the time, "I don't like black people, but I like Ryan..." Well fuck you. I could easily say that IN GENERAL Italians annoy me and are needy, but I don't go into a situation, see someone is Italian(or similar), and assume they will annoy me. It is something I have encountered but I give everyone a chance. I went out with an Italian man two weeks ago who fit the bill to a T and made me feel uncomfortable. I gave him another chance. I will still date another Italian.