WATCH: Jon Stewart Shows C-SPAN How To Handle Racist Callers

[democracy1st]

"The Daily Show" did an enjoyable segment about the recent on-air incident on C-SPAN, in which a caller from North Carolina went on a racist diatribe about how the network takes too many calls from black people and should thus be renamed as BLACK-SPAN.

What was very nice about the clip was the way Jon Stewart was not afraid to be servicey, offering host Bill Scanlan some advice on how to handle the situation. Like: don't just casually shuffle your papers, as if nothing is happening! Like: don't adopt a "the customer is always right" attitude about the racist idiot mumbling nonsense on your teevee show.

To demonstrate how Bill Scanlan was doing it wrong -- which is something I imagine Jeffrey Goldberg can appreciate -- Stewart helpfully scripted how calls like this should go in the future.

STEWART: Uh, we're going to take a call from St. Pauls, North Carolina. Yeah, Bill, what's on your mind?

CALLER: Yeah, I'd like to make a little respectful criticism here about C-SPAN.

STEWART: Okay, absolutely Bill, thanks very much, go right ahead.

CALLER: If you keep on with the way you have been programming you should change your name from C-SPAN to BLACK-SPAN.

STEWART: Yeah, I'm going to cut you off right there. Go fvck yourself.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/01/jon-stewart-shows-c-span_n_521619.html

[Bolo Boffin]

1. The thing is

If Scanlan had done something like that, C-Span would have been inundated in complaint calls for days. I think they just decided to give people all the rope they need to hang themselves and then move on.

"Appreciate your input" was idiotic, though. Scanlan should have just moved on to the next item of business without any comment.

[Warpy]

2. The problem is that they always move on without comment

giving tacit agreement to the idiot callers. It's disgraceful.

A smirk along with "Well, it's always nice to hear from our friends in the Klan," would have been much better.

[Bolo Boffin]

7. Usually the only "tacit agreement" they have with the idiot callers

is that they have exercised their First Amendment rights. They are the real "we report, you decide" network. They give people a chance to express themselves, and if the caller has nothing to express but their rank stupidity, well, that's the caller's problem, not C-Span.

I've seen a lot of Washington Journal, and that's the attitude they try to cultivate in the hosts, a non-judgmental acceptance of other people's opinion. I just wish Scanlan had realized that he was in the middle of a viral video when the caller said "Black-Span". Instead of saying that he appreciated the caller's input specifically (idiotic), he could have reminded the viewers of C-Span's commitment to air any opinion, and that they appreciate ALL viewers' input, and then moved on.

[mrdmk]

9. Really, you think? OMG

As soon as Bill said that you have too many Black Callers, the appropriate response would be to cut Bill off or the air and say, "As a public broadcast show, we are not going to entertain or limit a population's opinion due to their ethnic background, now for the next caller..." As for the complaints that C-Span might receive, take the name and address of complainant and send them a pamphlet on Civil Rights Act (1964), with this part in bold letters:

SEC. 201. (a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

End of story.

Now for "appreciate your input", idiotic, this whole event was idiotic in a civil society. Now if you want a society that is in civil unrest, go ahead and entertain these ideas in a public forum, because that is what you will get and far as I am concern it is here now!

[asdjrocky]

3. Check the clip from the cspan site.

At about the 45 minute mark I got in and I think I was the first to call them on not cutting the guy off.

I'm kind of a washington journal junkie.

[theoldman]

4. You have to speak to people in a language they understand.

When Biden said that the health care bill was a big fucking deal even my right wing friends understood what he said.

[brewens]

5. How about, "put your fucking teeth in you inbred idiot! I can't

understand a word you're saying! You sound like a fucking hog shit in your mouth!"

[notadmblnd]

6. I saw that on CSPAN and wondered why the caller wasn't cut off

By the host not cutting him off, it told me that he agrees and condones the caller's statement. To me, if you don't call someone on their racism and bigotry, then, you're no better than them.

[Bolo Boffin]

8. Because the caller was challenging him and C-Span on letting calls like his go through

I've seen a lot of Washington Journal, and I've seen them cut callers like that off, and I've seen them let the callers ramble on. They can't win with callers like that.

[Doctor_J]

10. I don't watch WJ, too right-wing for me, but as I understand it,

every caller gets to talk for 1 min or until (s)he's done, whichever comes first. So the host wasn't condoning anything, just following his procedure.

[notadmblnd]

12. Ido watch CSPAN and I've seen the cut off people within 10 seconds

of them opening their mouths. The message I got from the host letting this caller go on and on is that he condones it. We don't have to agree.

[HipChick]

11. So just from the way a person speaks you can tell they are black?

Idiot