Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 04, 2009 at 09:50:39:
TV anchor in the news with racial bias claims
Phil Rosenthal | Chicago Tribune
February 4, 2009
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The biggest story in local broadcast news Monday night had well-known names, controversy, plenty of TV reporters on the scene - and it didn't air on a single station that night.
WMAQ-Ch. 5 lead anchor Warner Saunders accused former Chicago Sun-Times TV/radio columnist Robert Feder of bias at the local American Federation of Television and Radio Artists chapter's annual meeting, where Feder was a guest.
Saunders, 74, brought a prepared speech to confront Feder before 100 or so at the Allerton Hotel.
Saunders said Feder diminished "the accomplishments of black talent while placing the spotlight on our deficiencies." Noting it was Black History Month, the Channel 5 anchor said inviting Feder was "like choosing David Duke to serve as mohel at a circumcision."
The comparison was loaded: Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan leader. Mohels perform Jewish circumcisions. Feder is Jewish.
"From the very beginning, [it] became a personal attack," Feder, who did not want to speak to the Chicago Tribune, said Tuesday to WLS-AM 890's Erich "Mancow" Muller and Pat Cassidy.
WBBM-AM 780's Craig Dellimore, AFTRA's local president and an African-American, was unavailable. But Eileen Willenborg, AFTRA Chicago executive director, said, "It was a forum for free speech to happen, and free speech sure happened."
WMAQ declined comment.
Saunders alluded specifically to Feder's take on African-Americans such as NBC's Lester Holt, ex-anchor Diann Burns and WBBM-AM's Felicia Middlebrooks.
"What I was writing about in each case had nothing to do with the individual's race," Feder said.
Much of Saunders' remarks focused on Feder's treatment of him and his health woes in 2002 and 2006.
Left unmentioned was the fact that Feder, whose 28 years at the Sun-Times ended with a buyout in October, said Saunders, set to end his 40-year broadcast career in May, had stayed too long.
"I simply wanted to confront him, face to face," Saunders said. "I just spoke my truth in front of a person who I felt has been unfair to me and to black journalists in this city. … Very few people who are not in our skin can understand this."
Saunders plans to expand his work as a diversity trainer after retiring. He believes everyone has racist thoughts, including himself, "and our simple task is to recognize it, admit to it and then move to change it."
A check back to 1992 found Feder calling Saunders "one of Chicago television's all-time greats," and, in 1993, a "community conscience."
But things were changed by a 2000 Feder column on an appearance by Saunders at Northwestern University. The anchor said those who cover TV don't know enough to write about it and accused a reporter of ageism.
Feder quoted him: "I'm always telling people in diversity classes that if somebody says something to you that may be racist or sexist or homophobic or ageist, confront them with it."
Feder said Tuesday his feelings were unhurt: "People in the room had read my column long enough to form their own judgments about the kind of person I am."
Said Saunders, "I've seen my wife cry too many times over the vindictive approach this person has taken."