ABC

All About Race: Shopping While Black

Friday, March 27th, 2009

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In the latest installment of its ‘What would you do?’

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series, ABC News turns on its hidden cameras to show the world what racism, indifference, compassion and solidarity look like up close in the real world.

The setting for ‘Would you stop racism?’ is an upscale New York boutique. Actors portrayed a black woman verbally insulted and falsely accused of stealing by a white actress who plays a racist sales girl. The black actress is then patted down in rough style, and further insulted, by a white male portraying the security guard. We watch the actors’ every move. But, the hidden cameras are also capturing the reactions of the shop patrons. Watching the array of reactions is compelling and informative.

Many shoppers avert their eyes in discomfort, but just say nothing. Another woman is so troubled by the sales woman’s racist accusations and the scene playing out right beside her that she breaks down sobbing. These folks represent what happens when we feel helpless.

But when people feel empowered, they can go one of two ways. They become part of the solution or part of the problem. In one instance, the cameras caught the racist statements of a white man shopping with a companion. As the black actress is loudly defending herself, the white man says “I bet she’s played the black.” Why am I not surprised? But here’s the kicker. When John Quinones confronts the man outside the store, the man cops a sympathetic tone, completely distancing himself from what every viewer just heard (watched) him say. Later, a black man shopping with his wife and daughter protests loudly against the store personnel. He urges the young woman to contact officials and refuses to stay and shop.

But the moment that most moved me is the final one in the piece. A white woman is so disgusted with what she is hearing and seeing, she not only refuses to continue shopping but she inspires the other patrons to drop their purchases and storm out of the store. It is a beautiful moment—it will warm your heart.

Read more by Carmen Dixon on her blog, All About Race.

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Amuse Bouche: On the Run Again

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

The Season 5 premiere of Lost is just seven short weeks away [Ed note—short! it's like an eternity!], and ABC has started to promote the show in earnest. Pay no attention to the horrendous new “theme song” for the show by The Fray. Instead, check out the two-minute clip from the premiere, posted below:

Kate is on the run again! Oh happy day. (Of course, she didn’t pack a suitcase for Aaron, but he doesn’t need his own change of clothes, right?)

There are so many questions that need answering this season: How will the Oceanic Six transport Locke’s body back to the Island? Where did the Island go? Who knows Kate isn’t Aaron’s real mother? And what’s up with that smoke monster? (OK, so maybe we won’t learn the answer to that last one.)

Kate starts running again on Jan. 21.

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Gibson’s ABC Interview With Palin Reveals Holes and Old Tricks

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Charlie didn\'t bring many softballs...Does Sarah Palin have any foreign policy and national security experience? The media jumped on this question quickly after John McCain introduced his running mate just under two weeks ago.

Last night, Sarah Palin had the chance to answer this bedeviling foreign policy and national security question herself. How did she do?

Charlie Gibson: When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

Sarah Palin: Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.

Gibson: I know. I’m just saying that national security is a whole lot more than energy.

Palin: It is, but I want you to not lose sight of the fact that energy is a foundation of national security. It’s that important. It’s that significant.

Speak to your strengths, even when they aren’t that strong, and even if they don’t really relate to the question at hand. In other words, evade, evade, evade!

If there’s a lesson in this, however, it’s to let the candidate do the talking, instead of the surrogates. Palin may have dodged Gibson’s question, but her response was succinct and more convincing than either Bounds’s or Sheunemann’s “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” strategy (see below).

From now on, we know what Palin will say to any foreign policy or national security question: “energy independence.”

With the first “impromptu” press appearance out of the way, let’s revisit how McCain spokesmen handled the first two goes the MSM had at Palin’s foreign policy qualifications:

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Questions on Charlie Gibson’s Short List for Sarah Palin

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

ABC’s Charlie Gibson scored a major media coup last Friday, when senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt offered him exclusive access to Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin. Despite essentially being an unknown candidate, Palin has yet to participate in any major interviews.

Since Friday’s announcement, every media outlet worth its salt has released its own list of suggested questions for Gibson to ask Palin. Google “questions to ask Sarah Palin” and you’ll get 289,000 hits. The voting public is hungry to get straight answers from Palin. Hundreds of readers submitted questions to ABC’s World News blog, and NPR got more than 800 suggestions on its own blog post when it called for questions. At one point yesterday, the blog’s monitors, who approve each comment, said they were completely overwhelmed by readers’ submissions.

Some writers have imagined the entire interview, like Slate’s media critic Jack Shafer, who even suggests follow-up questions for Gibson to ask when Palin starts getting evasive with the original question line.

This assumes, of course, that Gibson will ask hard-hitting questions. He has every reason to do so, because he was soundly criticized for the Democratic primary debate he co-anchored that critics claim avoided substantive topics.

But sometimes realities get in the way of one’s best intentions. Gibson will interview Palin multiple times on Thursday and Friday, so he can’t begin with tough topics. The McCain camp has a notably itchy “cancel” finger—it stopped the candidate’s interview with today’s premier softball question tosser, Larry King, after fellow CNN anchor Campbell Brown pushed McCain advisor Tucker Bounds about Sarah Palin’s leadership experience. Charlie Gibson also has a relationship with the McCain campaign, which Gibson has a strong interest to preserve. He  was the only major network anchor to secure an interview with John McCain during the Republican National Convention.

ABC World News Executive Producer Jon Banner said all questions were on the table for the Gibson/Palin interview. But when it comes to interviewing, it’s all about how you phrase the questions you ask. We have a prediction of what Gibson is working on during his flight up to Alaska. Here are 10 questions undoubtedly on his list.

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