Politics, Race And Our Narrowing Discourse
“Citing concerns about fairness and balance, WBEZ-FM (91.5) has dropped the weekly talk show hosted by Tavis Smiley, the PBS late-night interviewer, and Dr. Cornel West, the Princeton University professor,” Robert Feder reported for TimeOut Chicago last week.
“A Chicago Public Media spokesman cited audience erosion for the move, adding: ‘More importantly, the show had developed much more of an ‘advocacy’ identity, which is inconsistent with our approach on WBEZ. The goal is to present public affairs content that is reasonably balanced. We feel that Smiley & West had become a departure from this approach.’
“In explaining the decision to PRI, Torey Malatia, president and CEO of Chicago Public Media, said the show was ‘becoming like Democracy Now, and veering too far from WBEZ’s declaration of principles.'”
Here is Smiley’s response:
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Posted on October 16, 2012