“Don Imus needs to be fired for what he said. And while we?re at it, his producer, Bernard McGurk, needs to be canned as well. McGurk is just as guilty, often egging Imus on.” — Al Roker, NBC News.
“I want all of us to be mindful of the diversity issues we have in our control. Think long and hard about the people we choose to use as pundits… for sound bites… and to help shape our journalism. Let’s make sure that our work is reflective of America. Let’s encourage a diversity of opinion in our newsrooms.” — Steve Capus, President of NBC News in an internal memo.
“There’s not one black or latino host of a show on MSNBC. So there’s no sense of balance, no sense of diversity in the programming options, so we could not go just for the two-week cooling off period, we must now really look at MSNBC’s hosts, writers and producers and the breadth of its news coverage.” — Jesse Jackson, to MSNBC correspondent David Gregory.
“The reason I’m not going to go on there and debate Al Sharpton and Matt Lauer is because Matt is, for whatever reason, is going to be on Rev. Sharpton’s side, whether he is or not. I thought the report that NBC News last night did and Brian Williams was disgraceful.” — Don Imus, apparently unhappy with the way NBC News has covered his situation.
“There ought to be a black person on this show every single day to add some perspective, and we ought to have more black guests.” — Don Imus, attempting to pander to black America.
Quotes courtesy TVNewser.
