Letters to the Editor
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Why I'm not signing the "Fire Imus" petition I got from NOW
I don't know much about Imus. I agree his comments were racist and insulting. However I'm not signing any petitions to have him fired either. I've never listened to his show, and I don't plan to start now. People who do like his show are free to turn it off if they disagree with it. CBS Radio can choose to fire Imus. (I'm pretty sure it's CBS Radio - it wasn't mentioned in the Broadsheet article, but according to the NY Times link they own his syndicated show.)
It's not a free speech issue either - as DurianJoe points out, free speech gives you the right to express your opinion, not the right to use broadcasting to express your opinion. But I'm unsettled by this for the same reason I'm unsettled when an evangelical Christian group tries to get a TV show off the air because they find it offensive, or a liberal group tries to get the 700 Club thrown off the air, or when there was the big brouhaha over Bill Maher's comments on 9/11. If you don't like a TV show or radio show, turn it off! Something is always going to offend someone.
As someone who worked in the broadcast industry for several years, I guarantee that every receptionist at every TV and radio station in the country gets their share of crank calls daily from people complaining about something that offended them and should therefore be taken off the air. Yes, Imus's comments are especially egregious. So I won't listen to his show. I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern either, but I'm sure I'd be every bit as offended if I listened to them. So my advice to all of you is what the receptionist at my last job used to tell people when they complained about TV shows we aired: try using the "off" switch.