Watch Out -- The Media Can Get You

As I'm sure most everybody has heard, CBS radio has just fired its long-time radio personality, Don Imus, for making a racial, sexist comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Since the comment was made Imus has been all over the media, with various people, including Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, calling on CBS to take him off the air. Apparently, the media pressure has worked, and Imus is now out of a job. This begs the question: if the media had not jumped on this issue and discussed it to such great (and often obnoxious) length, would Imus still have gotten the boot?

It is probably an impossible question to answer, because the media was going to have a field day with this issue no matter what. However, it is interesting to see how many other celebrity-type figures have been hurt by excessive media coverage of something they have said or done. It is obvious that we live in a time where if you say something wrong or offensive, the media is going to pick up on it very quickly and likely ruin your reputation/career in no time. I am certainly not saying that I disagree with any of this, because personally I feel that what Don Imus said was in very poor taste and he deserved to lose his job, especially knowing that this was not the first time he has said something of this nature. What is interesting is how much of a role the media has played in his downfall, and the fall from grace that many other prominent people have received as well.

Michael Richards, for example ("Kramer" on Seinfeld), was also publicly reprimanded not long ago for his racist remarks during one of his comedy acts. This got a massive amount of media coverage and sparked much discussion and debate on racism in America and our rights to free speech, just as the Imus case has. In both of these cases, the media played a crucial role in broadcasting these remarks and stirring up debate over them. Even for beloved TV characters like Kramer, the media that one day loves them can just as easily turn on them. This just goes to show that the media can be a fickle friend, and that nothing gets by it unnoticed.