Fannie Flono: Journalistic Goddess

I have spilled a bit of ink criticizing professional journalists for performing their jobs poorly. My degree in journalism, that has sat around gathering dust for a number of years, apparently gives me the right to offer this criticism - at least in my mind.

Today, though, I am calling out a journalist in order to heap praise. Fannie Flono, as associate editor at The Charlotte Observer, has written a column that has me cheering. She handles the explosive Imus and Duke cases with grace and speaks with a voice of reason. She also manages to smack down professional journalists and bloggers without really saying anything unkind. Ouch!

On the Duke case and Imus incident:

As Don Imus was getting canned for racist and misogynist remarks about the female Rutgers basketball team, members of the male Duke lacrosse team were being exonerated of specious and unsubstantiated rape charges in Durham. Imus, a middle-aged white radio "shock jock," aimed his incendiary words at black female athletes. A black female exotic dancer aimed her incendiary accusation at white male athletes.

She says so much more on each case and she does so using a minimum of words. I love the way she writes.

On professional journalists:

Many in the media performed badly in the Duke case. What passes for journalism these days is too often stenographic, "he said-she said" reporting. Too many of us have forgotten the main imperative: "Seek the truth." Giving both sides a say isn't the same thing.

I know BlueNC's Anglico and I have often referred to professional journalists as stenographers, especially when they parrot a candidate like Robin Hayes or an organization like the John Locke Foundation without doing personal research to determine if the information they have been given is actually true. It happens all the time. We're sick of it.

Blogging has exploded as a form of news gathering and distribution because the corporate media no longer practises real journalism. Some bloggers only present their side. The difference is that they don't do it under the guise of being an objective news source. We are openly biased.

About "denigration as sport" (shock jocks, shock bloggers, etc.):

When Imus cavalierly called the women on Rutgers basketball team "nappy-headed hos," he exposed the racist and sexist discourse many of us -- blacks, whites and others -- accept and applaud. Under the protective cloak of raging against "political correctness," Imus and others make sport of denigrating people.

Black women are a particular target, especially dark-skinned black women. Curiously, Imus called the women on the Tennessee team that beat Rutgers for the NCAA championship "cute," though many of them were light-skinned black women.

And yes, rappers, music producers and far too many men, especially black men, are guilty, too......

Flono didn't specifically say this applies to bloggers, but too many of us have strayed over the line of decency in the name- calling arena. I include myself in this group.

Fannie Flono's most recent column isn't just food for thought, it is a feast.

Don Imus: Beyond Offensive and Controversial

Don Imus is someone I can honestly say should never have been let out of his cave. This man has his head shoved so far up his ass there is no hope that he will ever truly enjoy the beauty of this world for the thin film of excrement that clouds his vision.

He appears to be so afraid of strong women, black women and strong black women that he can't discuss a women's basketball team without making a derogatory or racist comment.

Now, for those of you who have seen Imus you know the biggest thing on the man is that hat he wears. It has to intimidate the guy hiding under that big old hat that any one of these women could kick his ass seven ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat. It's got to bother the guy that he couldn't hold his own against any of these women physically or in any test of intellect or wit.

So, what did Imus do that has me breaking my new year's resolution and calling him names?

According to the Charlotte Observer, Imus and his producer, Bernard McGurk both referred to the players on the Rutgers Women's basketball team as "hos". Bernard called them "hardcore hos" while Imus called them "nappy-headed hos".

Sure, the two apologized. Called their words "thoughtless and stupid". They said they were sorry. We should be good with that, right?

Only, I'm not. I have two daughters. I would like to think that we have come far enough in this country, that my daughters could accomplish great things without having to face the misogynistic, racist, ethnic slurs that men like Don Imus toss about to make themselves feel better about their sorry, miserable lives. I would like to think that women are safe from being publicly ridiculed or smeared by a hate mongerer like Don Imus.

Unfortunately, we're not.

So, let's take a little bit of action.

First, let's send some support to the Rutgers Women's Basketball team.

Email them here.

Their mailing address is:
Louis Brown Athletic Center
83 Rockafeller Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854

Send a donation here. You can specify women's basketball.

The National Association of Black Journalists has called for a boycott of his show and initially called for Imus to be fired. Let's help them out. Contact Kristin Palmer. Her contact information is:

Kristin Palmer
Communications Manager
(301) 445-7100 Ext. 107
kpalmer@nabj.org

To email MSNBC TV and urge them to drop Don Imus go here and click on "Letters to MSNBC TV" and it will open an email form. If anyone knows a better way to contact MSNBC, please let me know.

Update: I changed the title of the piece to be a little more reader friendly. Also, I mistakenly posted to have MSNBC "fire" Imus, but they aren't his employers. It would be more appropriate to have MSNBC drop Imus from their lineup.