The black Rush Limbaugh...hmmm
NBC’s Today show broadcast a fine little story today about Tom Joyner, a disc jockey whose morning show on urban-oriented radio stations draws an audience of 8 million each day.
Weatherman Al Roker, in a promo for the piece, said: “We’re going to be talking soon with Tom Joyner, who has been called the black Rush Limbaugh because he gives voice to people who normally don’t have a voice in radio or mainstream media.
Roker seemed to immediately acknowledge the awkward comparison he had just made, so he added: “Rush Limbaugh in terms of audience, which is normally not heard from.”
Roker was acknowledging that Joyner, unlike Limbaugh, is not known for his conservative political views.
The comment about Tom Joyner, I think, holds an opportunity for us to discuss diversity in journalism.
First, it is clear what Roker was trying to do – to use the familiar (Rush Limbaugh) so that we can better understand the unfamiliar (Tom Joyner). Similar techniques were used about a year ago in the coverage of Bishop T.D. Jakes, who was described as a “black Billy Graham.”
Jakes has a superchurch in Texas, has been around for at least a decade and has millions in assets – a mansion, private aircraft. Will the next aspiring televangelist be described “as a white T.D. Jakes?” Or will the next disc jockey on the verge of making it big be described as a “white Tom Joyner?”
Neither is likely, of course. Nor would it be smart journalism. The truth is: Our audience simply wouldn’t recognize the name Tom Joyner and it would leave readers and listeners confused.
Which tells me the solution is to more stories about people like Tom Joyner, T.D. Jakes and a host of other business people/celebrities of color who have a huge following among their ethnic group. What do you think?