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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 20:00 |
 | Roland Martin
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CHICAGO ?? A few days after ABC named Charlie Gibson as the sole anchor of its ?®World News Tonight?∆ franchise, the veteran newsman found himself in the middle of a brouhaha after New York magazine published an inflammatory comment he reportedly made about reporting from Africa.
In a May 29 story by Joe Hagan, Gibson was asked if he would be traveling the globe like his competitor, NBC??s Brian Williams. According to Hagan??s report, Gibson responded: ?®That??s because of Katrina; you saw him going down there. Now he??s in Africa. I don??t know why you do that. Why the hell do you go to Africa? It??s certainly an interesting choice. We??ll do travel, when it warrants.?∆
?®Why the hell do you go to Africa??∆
Those eight words stood out big time for me when I read the story after visiting the broadcast trade website TVSpy.com.
I was taken
aback because Gibson has always seemed to be a personable and
intelligent guy, and making such a remark appeared to be out of
character.
So the next day
we dealt with the issue on my radio show on Chicago??s WVON-AM. I was a
bit hot under the collar and wanted Gibson to explain what he meant.
After leaving a few messages with the network, Gibson??s name popped up
on my screen.
He wasted no time in slamming Hagan and his reporting.
?®This guy, who I
will never talk to again from New York magazine, who is something of a
snake, he took my quote and I think perverted the meaning of it to
indicate in some way that I was insensitive to news from one of the
five major continents in the world,?∆ he said.
Gibson said he
discussed the issue with Hagan as it pertained to why Williams would
report on Africa because of rock star Bono, who has traveled across the
world to raise awareness to issues on the continent.
The ABC veteran
said he initially posed the question after receiving an e-mail
congratulating him on his appointment as the solo anchor from his
longtime friend, NBC News executive producer John Reiss.
?®You??re not
going there to look at the issues (of Africa), and it (the story)
becomes about Bono. It doesn??t become about the problems of Africa or
the issues of Africa ...Why do you do that? I was curious about why NBC
made that decision,?∆ he said.
Gibson said that
ABC has long been committed to coverage of Africa, noting that the
network is the only broadcast news division ?®with a full-time reporter
on the continent?∆ and has reported extensively of AIDS on ?®Good Morning
America,?∆ ?®primarily because of my interest.?∆
Hagan was called off air and declined to discuss the story on air, but did tell me, ?®I stand by the article.?∆
Some might think
the story is no big deal, but African-Americans ?? and a few others ??
have long complained that issues on the continent are ignored.
President Bill
Clinton continues to apologize for his complete inaction during his
tenure, when as many as 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda.
The continent is
certainly ravaged by a variety of issues ?? AIDS, hunger and genocide,
just to name a few. Yet few media outlets are willing to explore the
continent beyond the horrific tragedies. What about the exploding movie
industry in Nigeria? How about the president of Liberia (a country
formed by ex-American slaves), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman
in modern-day Africa to lead a country on the continent? Since Libya is
no longer on our terrorist watch list, are they stories of substance
from the country?
I know so many
of us don??t care about what??s happening around the globe. Heck, we
barely care about our neighbor next door! But if Americans are going to
think more globally, we are going to have to demand ?? and watch ??
something other than ?®American Idol.?∆
Thankfully, I??m
pleased that a fellow colleague, Bob Reid, is leading the Africa
Channel, a 24-hour cable network devoted to the continent. When Al
Jazeera launches their U.S. network, it would be nice to see stories
through their eyes.
I don??t think
for a second that ABC and Gibson will purposely ignore Africa. But he
did say one thing that I agree with, and that is if the ratings show
that the viewers want more international news, then we will see it.
Unfortunately, I just don??t hold out much hope that Americans really care that much about our global brothers and sisters.
?ÿ
Roland S. Martin, editor of The Chicago Defender newspaper, is author of ?®Speak, Brother! A Black Man??s View of America.?∆
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