FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 1, 2003

Contact:
Carolyn Wheeler, Communications
(301) 445-7100, x110
FAX: (301) 445-7101
E-mail: carolyn@nabj.org

NABJ Calls on ESPN, Disney to Step Away from Limbaugh

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) considers conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh's comments about NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb irresponsible and inexcusable and calls on Disney, the parent company of ABC and ESPN, to prove that it agrees.

"The sports network should go beyond its condemnation of the commentator and quickly separate itself from Limbaugh," NABJ President Herbert Lowe said.

"ESPN's credibility as a journalism entity is at stake," added Lowe, a criminal courts reporter at Newsday in Queens, N.Y. "It needs to send a clear signal that the subjects of race and equal opportunity are taken seriously at its news outlets."

NABJ considers this latest unfortunate Limbaugh episode a matter of objectionable coverage on the part of a major television network and calls on all journalists at ESPN to speak out loudly against such shallow comments.

Limbaugh is proving that the voices of Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder and Al Campanis - two others who inaccurately linked sports performance and race - are regrettably still allowed to speak freely on American television, Lowe said.

Limbaugh not only refuses apologize for his remarks, but now openly brags that he stands by his insensitive comments.

"The sad part is, few people are surprised that Limbaugh made racially inflammatory remarks about McNabb," NABJ Vice President-Broadcast Barbara Ciara said.

"The larger question is why would ESPN make the decision to put him on the air in the first place," said Ciara, news anchor/managing editor at WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va. "Limbaugh has no credibility to add his voice to a sports show but has proven he is amply qualified to drop race-baiting comments that help to divide our nation."

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the world, with 3,600 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.

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