CBS’s dilemma and our lack of a sense of humor Posted by: McQ
on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Both will probably end up costing these two their jobs:
Still recovering from the Don Imus scandal, CBS Radio suspended two local shock jocks after they twice broadcast a racially charged prank call to employees at a Chinese restaurant.
The hosts of the daily morning show, WFNY-FM's "The Dog House With JV and Elvis," have been suspended indefinitely without pay, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo told The New York Times in an e-mail Monday. One of the hosts, Jeff Vandergrift, apologized on Monday's show, she said.
Local chapters of the Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, released a statement Sunday protesting the segment. By Monday, California state Sen. Leland Yee and others joined the campaign.
In the segment, broadcast on April 5 — a day after the infamous Imus comment on CBS — and again last week, a caller to a Chinese restaurant intersperses an order for takeout with lewd language.
The caller tells one female employee he wants to come to the restaurant to see her naked and refers to a part of her body as "hot, Asian, spicy." The caller also attempts to order "shrimp flied lice."
The show's hosts, Vandergrift and Dan Lay, have been campaigning online and on the air in support of Imus since his firing for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on April 4.
A CBS Radio spokeswoman did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages from The Associated Press late Monday.
Community advocates pushed for CBS to fire the hosts of the show, which can be heard only in the New York City area and on the Internet.
"If they don't fire the DJ's, it will be a double standard," said Vicki Shu Smolin, president of the New York City chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
The last line is pretty key if you ask me. Now that the precedent has been set with one of their premier radio guys, how do they justify a lesser punishment for these two?
Obvious answer? They don't.
"Shrimp flied lice"? "Hot, Asian, spicy" bodypart (OK, yeah, I don't know what the "bodypart" is and that could be a bit much)?
I guess those are worse than "ching, chang, chong, chong, Danny Divito, chong, ching, chang, chong." All that needed to blow over was an apology.
But hey, CBS set the bar with Imus. Now they have to live with it.
First shouldn’t that be "Shlimp Flied Lice", and secondly, good. As a Conservative, not a libertarian I’m glad to see shock jocks go....and note it’s the corporate suits doing the firing, not John McCain or Jerry Falwell. Finally, if Imus or those schlemiels find work on XM or Sirius, that’s OK with me....you want to PAY to be offended or hear what passes for humour, feel free. Though, I guess, that wouldn’t protect you from the wrath of those you annoy. I mean being on Sirius doesn’t get yu off the hook with the people you prank call, does it?
I listened to only a part of this "humorous" routine, but I heard enough to know that those two morons should have been fired long ago. Evidently the target demographic for this show is white males aged 10-13. I have heard Rush Limbaugh described here as vile, etc., yet he has never, to my knowledge, been as flagrantly vulgar or offensive as either Imus or these two. The fact that they were disciplined only after they crossed the PC ethnic slur line does not speak well for their management or their listeners.
1. Federal Communications Commission has the regulatory authority to investigate CBS RADIO to make a determination of whether the BROADCAST and the REBROADCAST of Dog House’s "Chinese Food" prank call violated INDECENCY regulations. FCC should make the determination of whether CBS RADIO should be sanctioned, e.g., $10,000 for the BROADCAST and $15,000 for the REBROADCAST. If you are upset by the "Chinese Food" prank call, contact the FCC by sending an e-mail to fccinfo@fcc.gov. Ask FCC to protect children from unwanted INDECENT, OBSCENE, PROFANE, and, yes, also VIOLENT, material involuntarily transmitted by TV stations and Radio Stations into our homes, especially during daytime (6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.). We also have the right to privacy in our own homes.
2. DOG HOUSE hosts should NOT be fired without cause. Don’t bark at the wrong tree. Do you want to go to a comedy show where the comedian is focusing on compliance with each and every imaginable federal, state, local and judge-made law and regulations? Let’s give comedians some artistic licence, and allow them to be funny. If CBS Radio is pressured into firing Dog House hosts without cause, more than 90% of Americans, including myself, would believe that another injustice has been created . We should not commit an INJUSTICE in response to a prior INJUSTICE. Let’s be FORGIVING, and not REVENGEFUL.
3. Let’s reaffirm our LOYALTY to the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Let’s reaffirm FREEDOM OF SPEECH under the FIRST AMENDMENT. Let me be blunt: I am ethnic Chinese and a naturalized American citizen, and came here and choose to live here because I like it here and respects our LEGAL SYSTEM. If you don’t like our CONSTITUTION and have no respect for our LEGA SYSTEM, you can vote in the next election and try to make a difference through the electoral process, petition your Senators, House Representatives, State Assemblymen or Assemblywomen, City Councilmen or Councilwomen, or, if nothing works through the LEGAL PROCESS, you can exercise your CONSTITUTIONAL right to travel by moving to Canada, Mexico, Cuba, China or any other country of your choice.
WE CHOSE AMERICA. LET’S BE AMERICAN. GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Albert Wang...........a Romantic Realist aspiring to be a valiant seeker of TRUTH, LIBERTY and JUSTICE (a/k/a the lawyer who got some impartial justice for the First Baby of the Year)
p.s. If you like what I just said, or if you are upset by what I just said, before you make any comment, or criticism, educate yourself on these "Freedom Of Speech?," "Indecency?" "Social Responsibility?" "Racism?" issues instead of making a lot of irrelevant and/or irreverent "Ben Ben" noises. Get educated first. If you like to get educated by me, go to my Blog, "BenBenXiong" ( i.e., "Stupid Foolish Bear") at Wenxuecity.com.
P.P.S. I am not the BenBen one, i.e., I am neither Stupid or Foolish. Draw your own conclusion as to whether anyone is Stupid or Foolish.
From: Albert Wang To: Vicki Shu Cc: Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 5:42 PM Subject: Albert Wang’s position re CBS Radio: Please DO NOT fire Dog House’s hosts
Albert Wang’s position re CBS Radio: Please DO NOT fire Dog House’s hosts
As the first reader of Ming Pao Daily News who brought the “Chinese Food” prank call incident to the attention of OCA-NY, and as the first concerned citizen who brought Ming Pao’s news articles to the attention of CBS Radio and engendered the current controversy, I believe that I also have a social responsibility to try to inject some reason and attempt to quickly end this controversy with a “win-win” proposal.
We should not rectify a mistake by creating another mistake. Based on my personal personal observations in the past week, and after reviewing CBS’s most recent annual Social Responsibility Report and CBS’ statement of Business Conduct, I believe that we should defer to CBS’ internal decision on what disciplinary sanction the Dog House hosts should accept.
It appears to me that CBS, in good faith, has promptly taken remedial actions against the Dog House hosts, and is probably in the middle of completing its internal investigation. CBS appears to be a socially responsible company and is proactively rectifying this careless (but not harmless) mistake. Therefore, it is inappropriate to use or racial or political pressure to coerce CBS into terminating the employment of the Dog House hosts, if such termination would be effected without cause.
I believe in the Freedom of Speech guaranteed under our Constitution. Dog House hosts are free to say anything that do not constitute defamation, extortion or other torts. CBS Radio, as their employer, is responsible for editing the content of Dog House talk shows before their broadcast. What happened might be merely and unintended “glitch” in CBS Radio’s quality control system.
Our collective focus should be how all of us can work constructively to reduce such “glitches” and prevent future harms to Asian Americans, Hispanics, Blacks, gays and lesbians and other minority groups. Firing the Dog House hosts is not the optimal solution. Moreover, such termination might have the adverse effect of creating more divisiveness in our American society.
As an aspiring seeker of TRUTH, LIBERTY and JUSTICE, I feel compelled to ask everyone concerned to be reasonable and rational, focus on our commonalities, and work together for a better tomorrow.
Last Saturday, I brought this incident to CBS’ and OCA-NY’s attention, because I sincerely hoped to correct an injustice. Let’s not create another injustice by summarily terminating the Dog House hosts without cause.
Let’s keep our sense of humor, and play some healthy jokes on each other.
Albert Wang,
The lawyer who got some impartial justice for the First Baby of the Year.
From: Albert Wang To: tchiusano@cbs.com ; Vicki Shu ; Yudkin, Greg ; Leo Y Lee ; Jerry Cheng ; LizOuYang@aol.com ; john.mainelli@cbsradio.com ; karen.mateo@cbsradio.com Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 7:05 PM Subject: Re: NY Area OCA Chapters Outraged by 92.3FreeFM — Station owned by CBS
TO ERR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE, DIVINE.
It is time to work together with CBS and move forward.
According to CBS’s website (see attached), the effort and commitment that CBS places in areas like community outreach, public service announcements, responsible programming and diversity are initiatives that CBS takes very seriously at CBS Corporation – they are the core of what it means to be a public trust.
All of us should give CBS the opportunity to show that it takes very seriously the responsibility that comes in being a global mass media company.
Let’s work with CBS and help CBS to strengthen its community outreach to Asian American communities and take Asian Americans into proper consideration as CBS continues to promote diversity within CBS companies.
It would be a more productive use of our time to work together, instead of coercing CBS to terminate two of its employees - which is definitely the end result I intended when I brought up this issue last Saturday.
P.S. If you have time, please take a look at the 100+ page Social Responsibility Report on its corporate website. http://www.cbscorporation.com/our_company/corporate/responsibility/index.php. I read part of it, and believe that we should work with CBS constructively instead of destructively continuing this fight.
——- Original Message ——-
From: Albert Wang
To: tchiusano@cbs.com Cc: Maggie Zeng Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 8:18 AM Subject: Fw: NY Area OCA Chapters Outraged by 92.3FreeFM — Station owned by CBS
When you make a mistake, the right thing to do is to apologize. To err is human. To ask for forgiveness, divine.
From: Albert Wang To: Mateo, Karen L Cc: maggieyzeng@hotmail.com ; Yudkin, Greg ; tchiusano@cbs.com ; john.mainelli@cbsradio.com ; Forman, Robert ; Hope Chu ; mlin@ocanational.org ; Florence Chen ; John Tandana ; Jerry Cheng ; lizOuYang@aol.com ; Leo Lee ; Vicki Shu ; [et al.] Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 3:22 AM Subject: Re: CBS - 2005 No Social Responsibility Report; 2006 Social Responsibility Report - Albert Wang to CBS: "SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLD!!!!!"
Karen,
I am still waiting for your 2006 Social Responsibility Report.
CBS’s 2004 Social Responsibility Report is outdated. Bear in mind that this Report was for year 2004, the year that CBS got fined $550,000 by the FCC for its broadcast of Janet Jackon’s "costume reveal" during Super Bowl 2004. I took some notes using your 2004 Report, and I have a pretty lengthy list of comments. Here are a few examples:
- CBS should post its job listings in Chinese papers in order to attract Chinese American applicants. I note that Greg Yudkin, according to CBS Radio’s Equal Opportunity Report, sends job listings to various community organizations, including a Korean American organization, but does not have any contact in the Chinese American community.
- CBS should partner up with an Asian American non-profit organization in Tri-State area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) to enhance the effectiveness of CBS’s outreach programs in Asian American communities in the East Coast. I note from your 2004 Report that you have an Asian American non-profit community partner in the West Coast. However, I do not believe that such Los Angeles-based Asian American non-profit community can effectively assist CBS in reaching out to Asian American communities in Tri-State area.
- CBS should consider a separate Appendix to the Social Responsibility Report, indexing/cross referencing/summarizing/highlighting CBS’s social responsibility efforts relating to Asian Americans. Such Index/Summary/Highlight would make it easier for users/readers of CBS Social Responsibility Report to take a quick glance and get a quick picture CBS’s commitment to Asian American communities. If possible, include a table with some relevant statistics, and disclose in terms of measurable achievements, e.g., number of Asian Americans hired and promoted by CBS Corporation, aggregate amount of financial investments in the Asian American business communities, number of times Asian American events are covered by CBS, etc. Please have more numbers than rhetorics.
The list goes on and on, and many of my comments probably were intended to be addressed in CBS’s unpublished 2005 Social Responsibility Report, and probably have been addressed in your 2006 Social Responsibility Report. That is, it is quite possible that many of my comments to your 2004 Report are MOOT, in the sense that I would be merely regurgitating your 2005 unpublished report and 2006 yet-to-be published report, which would be somewhat embarrassing and not a good use of your time.
Can you e-mail me a copy of CBS 2006 Social Responsibility Report? I don’t need a printed copy. An electronic copy via e-mail should be satisfactory to me. On Monday, April 30, 2007, you told me, via e-mail (see your e-mail below), that you were close to finalizing the 2006 Report. It is reasonable to assume that you have made substantial progress in the past 4 days, and therefore, please e-mail me the 2006 report TODAY, so that I can review the 2006 Report over the weekend.
Thank you in advance for your prompt socially responsible response to this socially responsible request.
Very truly yours,
Albert
——- Original Message ——- From: Albert Wang To: Mateo, Karen L Cc: Forman, Robert ; john.mainelli@cbsradio.com ; tchiusano@cbs.com ; Yudkin, Greg ; maggieyzeng@hotmail.com ; Shiuyin Wang ; [et al] Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 6:34 PM Subject: Re: CBS - 2005 No Social Responsibility Report; 2006 Social Responsibility Report
Karen,
Given that CBS did not prepare a Social Reponsibility Report in 2005, and the 2006 Report is not available as of May 1, 2007, I will make my comments based on your outdated 2004 Social Responsibility Report.
By the way, please forward this e-mail to CBS Corporation’s independent directors, and let them decide whether they should discuss at the next regular Board of Directors meeting to find a way to improve your preparation and dissemination of CBS Social Responsibility Reports.
CBS prepares and disseminates Annual Reports on Form 10-K on an annual basis, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q on a quarterly basis, with strict deadlines.
Shouldn’t CBS publish and disseminate its Social Responsibility Reports on a timely and periodic basis?????
Regards,
Albert
——- Original Message ——- From: Mateo, Karen L To: albertwang221@hotmail.com Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 6:22 PM Subject: Re: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report
As I mentioned Albert, we did not do a report for 2005 and the 2006 version is still a couple weeks away. I will forward you a copy as soon as it’s done. ————————————— Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
——- Original Message ——- From: Albert Wang To: Mateo, Karen L Cc: Forman, Robert; Mainelli, John; Chiusano, Tom; Yudkin, Greg Sent: Tue May 01 20:50:50 2007 Subject: Re: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report
Karen,
I am still waiting for a copy of CBS’s 2005 Social Responsibility Report and 2006 Social Responsibility Report. I would appreciate it giving me a status update. As you know, these CBS documents should be public records, and I hope you don’t give me a hard time and compel me to obtain a copy through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Albert
——- Original Message ——- From: "Albert Wang" To: "Mateo, Karen L" Cc: "Forman, Robert" ; ; ; "Yudkin, Greg" Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 6:34 AM Subject: Re: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report
> Why didn’t you prepare a Social Responsibility Report in 2005????? > > CBS claims that this is an ANNUAL report, not a BIENNIAL report. > > Is it because there were incidents in 2005 that CBS would prefer not to > disclose in a Social Responsibility Report??????????????????????? > > Look forward to receiving your explanation, and hopefully the explanation is > a reasonable one. > > > ——- Original Message ——- > From: "Mateo, Karen L" > To: "Albert Wang" > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 6:30 AM > Subject: RE: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > > > We did not prepare one in 2005. > > ——-Original Message——- > From: Albert Wang [mailto:albertwang221@hotmail.com] > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 9:29 AM > To: Mateo, Karen L > Cc: Chiusano, Tom; Yudkin, Greg; Forman, Robert; Mainelli, John > Subject: Re: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > Importance: High > > Karen, > > Please E-MAIL me a copy of CBS’s 2005 Social Responsibility Report, > which should be readily accessible to you. If CBS did not prepare a > Social Responsibility Report in 2005, please let me know. > > As soon as your 2006 Social Responsible Report is ready, please e-mail > it to me (so that I can get it a few seconds later), or let me know that > it is available for distribution to the general public, and I will have > it picked up by messenger. As you know, my office is only a few hundred > steps from yours. > > I do not take any unreasonable excuses, unless such excuse constitutes > force majeure. > > Have a wonderful day. God bless America. > > Sincerely, > > Albert > > > > ——- Original Message ——- > From: "Mateo, Karen L" > To: "Albert Wang" > Cc: "Chiusano, Tom" > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 6:22 AM > Subject: RE: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > > > Albert: > > We are currently finalizing the 2006 version. It will be going to print > within the next couple of weeks. When it is complete I will make sure > you have a copy. > > Thank you for your interest. > > Karen Mateo > > ——-Original Message——- > From: Albert Wang [mailto:albertwang221@hotmail.com] > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 9:20 AM > To: Chiusano, Tom > Cc: Mateo, Karen L; Mainelli, John; Yudkin, Greg > Subject: Re: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > > PLEASE SEND ME THE 2006 CBS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT THIS MORNING > (OR THE MOST RECENT ONE). THE REPORT IS READILY AVAILABLE TO YOU, AND > IS A PUBLIC DOCUMENT. THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD E-MAIL ME A COPY WITHOUT > ANY DELAY. > > > ——- Original Message ——- > From: "Chiusano, Tom" > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 6:16 AM > Subject: Read: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > > > Your message > > To: Mainelli, John; Chiusano, Tom; Mateo, Karen L; Yudkin, Greg > Cc: > Subject: CBS - 2006 Social Responsibility Report > Sent: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:55:28 -0400 > > was read on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:16:27 -0400 > > >
If you have any comments to my viewpoints, feel free to e-mail me at albertwang221@gmail.com.
You might want to get additional information about my thoughts, reflections, positions, and FCC complaints by visiting my blog, BenBenXiong at Wenxuecity.com.
blog.wenxuecity.com/dashboard/blog.php
For latest information re: this DOG HOUSE Chinese Food controversy, visit the following websites (at your own risk). For more information on THE DOG HOUSE ARMY, please contact them via e-mail at doghouserights@gmail.com or visit their sites.
If I say "f*** mother, sister, daughter and girl friend of the Gog House hosts" Do you think it is a sense of humor, freedom of speech, something funny or something they will be very happy about if they hear that? If they are happy, I think they don’t have to be fired and I admit they win. Otherwise, they should be fired or removed from the surface of this earth!!!
I agree 100% Only they should not be fired if doctor says they are insane. If somebody say this is ’lack of humor", then what do you feel if they dog hosts ask your mother, sister, daughter and girl friend to n*k* or if they want to touch them???
